Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 288: Chapter 278: Saintly Halo

That night, Tang Mo provided a full meal for every one of the twenty-odd people in this small base.

Only with full stomachs could they face the new challenges of the coming day, help Tang Mo find the truth in the Illusion Realm, and uncover its true purpose and secrets.

The people of the Apocalypse Garbage Dump hadn’t had a full meal in a very long time.

While people outside could still eat the meat of mutant beasts if they couldn’t find other food, the only things to eat for those in the garbage dump—if they couldn’t find anything valuable to trade—were the rats and various insects skittering through the trash.

Back when she was at school, Tang Mo had seen people so hungry they resorted to boiling and eating insects. The foul smell was still fresh in her memory.

Now, the fresh milk and instant noodles in their hands brought tears to their eyes, whether their faces were young or old.

Although the food in their hands was past its expiration date, it tasted no different from fresh.

They would give anything to return to the days when they could fill their bellies without having to plunder and kill.

Because it was getting late, Mr. Hu decided everyone should rest well, pack their things, and set out for the place Tang Mo mentioned the next day.

Tang Mo naturally had no objections. Qin Fen and Zhang Chao wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon anyway, so it didn’t matter when her group went in.

That evening, Tang Mo sat at the entrance of her tent, gazing at the moon. She was reviewing everything she had experienced in the Illusion World that day, trying to extract any information that might be useful.

She wasn’t just sending the others; she was going down with them this time. She had a feeling there was something down there, that the Illusion Realm’s existence had a purpose. It couldn’t be this simple.

As Tang Mo was lost in thought, a big, furry head nudged against her.

It was Bo Niou.

Earlier that day, Tang Mo had casually fed Bo Niou a little something while she was eating, and now she’d started something.

After that, Bo Niou took every opportunity to come and nuzzle up to her, hoping to scrounge some food off this big shot.

”Bo Niou, come back!”

Seeing his dog bothering her again, Xiao Fei rushed over to call her back, terrified that Bo Niou would displease this powerhouse and end up in a dog-meat hotpot.

”Bo Niou seems to have gotten a little fatter. Looks like the food’s been pretty good since you left the base.”

Tang Mo had a Labrador named Zhima at home, so she was quite fond of dogs. She remarked on this while stroking Bo Niou’s big, fluffy head.

”You’ve met us before?”

Xiao Fei had initially been a bit intimidated by the person ranked number one on the leaderboards, but hearing that Tang Mo seemed to know Bo Niou, he boldly sat down beside her.

Evidently, Xiao Fei had no memory of ever meeting Tang Mo before.

”I bought something from you back when you were running a stall. You probably don’t remember.”

Xiao Fei nodded. The time he’d spent running that stall, when he had nowhere else to turn, had been the hardest days of his life. How could he possibly remember all the different people who had passed by?

”Did you come here with Xiao Mo?”

Tang Mo saw that Xiao Fei and Xiao Mo seemed to be on very good terms, and since they were from the same base, she figured they probably left together.

”Yeah. We couldn’t stay there anymore. I happened to run into Xiao Mo right after her mother passed away, so I brought her and Bo Niou out with me.”

Xiao Fei answered honestly. It hadn’t been easy for him and Xiao Mo to make it this far. Neither of them had much in the way of attribute values, and they were still young, so they had spent most of their journey hiding, dodging, and starving.

By the time they arrived here, they were on their last legs. If Mr. Hu hadn’t taken them in and given them food, he and Xiao Mo wouldn’t have lived to see today.

”How’s life here?”

’A person who chose to depend on a man, helping him do heinous things just to survive, was already living life on a knife’s edge.’

However, it did surprise Tang Mo that a girl as young as Xiao Mo could have survived this long in the apocalypse without an adult’s protection.

’There’s something to this little girl.’ From the first time they met, when Xiao Mo had proposed they become friends, Tang Mo had sensed there was more to her than met the eye.

’Independent, courageous, and doesn’t rely on others. A person like that can survive.’

”It’s pretty good here. We don’t always get enough to eat, but at least we don’t have to live in constant fear anymore. We just get by one day at a time.”

Xiao Fei said with a smile, stroking Bo Niou’s fur.

The look on his face wasn’t optimism, but rather a kind of resignation after seeing the truth of life—no longer struggling, just letting the currents of time toss him wherever they may.

”Mr. Hu is a really good person. He not only looks after the twenty-odd people in the base, young and old, but he even takes good care of Bo Niou.”

When he mentioned Mr. Hu, Xiao Fei’s face filled with admiration, completely captivated by the man’s strength of character.

He had fled his old, small base because too many people were eyeing Bo Niou.

But he later discovered that no matter where he ran, people would look at Bo Niou with drooling hunger, as if they were about to roast her over a fire the very next second.

The meat from mutant beasts could fill your stomach, but it had no flavor to speak of.

In their eyes, however, Bo Niou was dozens of kilograms of real, fresh meat.

And so, left with no choice, Xiao Fei could only keep running.

Until he met Mr. Hu. Not only did Mr. Hu give him food, but he even provided food for Bo Niou every day.

The food wasn’t great, and most of the time it wasn’t enough to feel full, but if the people got a share, Bo Niou was guaranteed a share too.

It seemed that in Mr. Hu’s eyes, Bo Niou wasn’t just food, nor was she a pet. She was more like a companion to them all.

”Whether before the apocalypse or after, I’ve never met a person as good as Mr. Hu.”

”Why doesn’t he leave this place? Is it because of the people in the base?”

A man like Mr. Hu, in the prime of his life at thirty-something, had no reason to be cooped up in a place like this. ’Is it really for the twenty-odd old and young people here?’ Tang Mo found it hard to believe someone could be that selfless.

”It is for us, but that’s not the only reason. If Mr. Hu were to leave the Apocalypse Garbage Dump, he wouldn’t be able to survive.”

Xiao Fei had been here a long time and knew quite a bit about the situation.

”Why? Are his attribute values low?”

’Even a man with zero attribute values, if he was in his prime and had a weapon, could still survive on his own.’

”No, Mr. Hu’s attribute values are very high. He’s a Power Attribute Superpower User. The reason he can’t survive out there is... he doesn’t kill.”

”He doesn’t kill?”

Hearing what Xiao Fei said, Tang Mo was genuinely shocked.