Thinking of this, Chu Yu's face immediately turned cold, devoid of any warmth.
"What are you doing at the Southern Base?"
Faced with Chu Yu's questioning, Zhou Haimei, with her fiery temper, couldn't hold back and retorted.
"And you? Why are you here? Chu Yu, why do they call you captain with such admiration?"
Zhou Haimei looked directly into Chu Yu's eyes and asked, word by word, "Who exactly are you?"
Xu An stood by, remaining silent. They were now outside the reach of light, enveloped by the mist. No one could see them.
"Does it matter who I am?"
Chu Yu's voice was as cold as if devoid of all emotion. "You people living in the lighthouse, do you care about the lives of others?"
"You enjoy the best survival resources. Do you have any idea how long it's been since people on the ground have eaten their fill, or what kind of suffering they endure?"
Each word was sharp and impassioned, like daggers flying through the air and piercing Zhou Haimei's heart. It reminded her of when she first arrived at the lighthouse, during a mission, she encountered those people refused entry. From their initial hopeful expectations to their final despairing resignation. It was that moment Zhou Haimei realized she was just a tiny, powerless ordinary person, unable to save anyone. Not even herself.
Noticing Zhou Haimei's drastically changed expression, Xu An keenly sensed the shift in her demeanor. She stepped forward, moving to Zhou Haimei's side and pulling her behind her, facing Chu Yu directly.
Xu An thought this wasn't the first time she had faced Chu Yu. Yet, this seemed to be the most tense encounter. Facing Chu Yu's icy expression, Xu An showed no signs of backing down.
"Thank you for what you did earlier, but..." Xu An paused for a moment, then her tone shifted abruptly, becoming as sharp as Chu Yu's earlier accusations. "What you're saying is a bit too much, isn't it?"
"Chu Yu, what you're talking about is a fait accompli. It wasn't caused by me, nor by Zhou Haimei. In fact, you're half a lighthouse person yourself. Are you calling yourself names too?"
"If you have the ability, change the situation yourself. Don't just vaguely blame us. This is the apocalypse, so stop using your high moral standards to judge others."
"While we're grateful you helped us out earlier, if you intend to use this to threaten us, you know we're not that easily bullied."
They had all come down from the lighthouse. What Chu Yu could figure out, Xu An could too. Chu Yu seemed to be helping them, but in reality, he was trying to gain favor. Nothing happens without reason. Xu An didn't believe someone who went to such lengths to get onto the lighthouse would help them out of sheer kindness. Xu An had intended to speak with him calmly. If they kept Chu Yu's secret of infiltrating the lighthouse, it would be a fair exchange. However, she hadn't expected Chu Yu to preemptively attack, starting with莫名其妙 accusations.
Did Xu An and Zhou Haimei cause the apocalypse? Did they set the rules of the lighthouse? Why should they be blamed just for wanting to live peacefully?
Chu Yu hadn't expected such a strong reaction from Xu An. He had merely lost his temper momentarily. Seeing the redness in Xu An's eyes, he knew she was genuinely angered. Normally, on the lighthouse, they were neighbors. They had lived as neighbors for nearly half a year, and the total number of words Xu An had spoken to him was less than what she had just said in one go.
"Why are you here? What's your purpose?" Chu Yu directly ignored Xu An's rebuttals.
Xu An looked at him, not expecting any response. If Chu Yu could be swayed by a few words, he wouldn't have been able to maintain his disguise on the lighthouse so well.
"No purpose, we're just passing through. What about you? With your current appearance, are you not planning to return to the lighthouse?"
"Whether I return to the lighthouse seems to have nothing to do with you. As for you, passing through unintentionally?"
After descending from the lighthouse, Chu Yu had constantly felt someone tracking him. Before the apocalypse, he was a soldier. Tracking and counter-tracking were his areas of expertise, which allowed him to perfectly disguise himself after infiltrating the lighthouse. The most perfect disguise was to become invisible; everyone might have seen him, but no one would remember him. Yet, his disguise was seen through by Xu An. On the entire lighthouse, apart from the person who colluded with him and knew his identity, only Xu An had been watching him with a wary gaze. This made Chu Yu curious. How did Xu An figure it out? Therefore, upon seeing Xu An at the Southern Base this time, Chu Yu naturally assumed Xu An was the one secretly tracking him. Unbeknownst to them, they had both misunderstood each other.
"Were you following us all along?"
Zhou Haimei couldn't help but chuckle. "No, Chu Yu, what kind of CEO drama are you playing here, 'He flees, she chases, he's cornered'? "
Seeing Chu Yu's confused expression, Xu An explained, "When we first came down, Sister Mei and I did notice you, but you disappeared quickly. We're genuinely passing through here; we're heading to the South China Sea."
"You have the mission map yourself. You should know that coming from the north, the only way to reach the destination is by passing through the Southern Base. Otherwise, you'd have to go through the forest on the side."
As Xu An explained, Chu Yu's expression softened slightly. He knew about the forest next to the Southern Base. Before the apocalypse, it was a large wildlife park, home to many fierce wild animals. Moreover, after the mutations during the apocalypse, the beasts within had become even more ferocious and difficult to deal with.
"Are you the captain of the law enforcement team here?" Xu An asked.
Chu Yu looked at Xu An, unsure what she wanted to ask, and nodded, saying, "What is it?"
"Then do you know that a small inn not far from the Southern Base is a black market inn?" Xu An's tone turned icy again. For such a large base as the Southern Base, there was a monster preying on its own people right at its doorstep, and these people weren't doing anything to control it.
Faced with Xu An's questioning, Chu Yu also felt somewhat bewildered. "I received a secret mission a year ago. I came down with you. I don't know anything about what you're talking about; in fact, I might know less than you do."