"I'll take you to see their situation, but you have to promise that if what I say is correct, you won't take any risks, and you'll agree not to put yourself in danger to save people recklessly in the future.
Of course, if what you say is correct, if Zuo Xiong hasn't done this and has indeed tried to protect these people, then in the future, I won't just stand by if there's someone you want to save; I'll help you save them. How about that?"
Park Su knew Xu Nuo well; he was usually cold-hearted, often disapproving of Park Su's desire to save people and even giving him a cold look.
Now, for the sake of this bet, Xu Nuo was willing to help him save people? It seemed Xu Nuo was quite confident that they would act this way.
However, if Xu Nuo's guess was correct, it would mean that even if he saw someone pitiful or in need of rescue in the future, he couldn't easily step in to help.
But Park Su didn't feel like he was losing anything. As he had told Xu Nuo before, in his view, he had no particular connection with others; his sense of social responsibility just made him willing to lend a hand when he could.
However, he wouldn't rush to save someone he couldn't save, and he had been on the receiving end of ingratitude before. In his past life, there were instances like that, but since his rebirth, he had largely stopped meddling in others' affairs, especially after being tricked by that woman the first day he went to the supermarket for supplies.
Now, he would only act if he felt he could withdraw safely or if it was within his capabilities, like dealing with zombies in their village, not out of a desire to help but because he thought killing zombies there was just as effective as anywhere else, and it would make his night's rest more comfortable.
So, when Xu Nuo agreed to help save people if he lost the bet, Park Su didn't feel he was gaining much. He rolled his eyes and said, "Can we change the terms of the bet?"
"What do you want to change it to? Let's hear it."
"If they really throw the ordinary people from the convoy into the zombie horde to buy time for their escape, then I'll agree to what you said earlier; I won't save people without your consent in the future.
But if they haven't done what you described, if they've actually helped those people escape, then you have to agree to give me twenty talismans: ten attack talismans, five isolation talismans, and five purification talismans. How about that?"
Xu Nuo was quite pleased with Park Su advocating for his own benefit, not feeling like Park Su was trying to take advantage of him.
Moreover, he had actually thought about it before; once they found a suitable place for him to break through, he would definitely give Park Su some talismans before the breakthrough.
After all, he couldn't predict what might happen during his breakthrough, and if someone came looking for trouble, how could Park Su handle it alone?
So, giving him some talismans would put his mind at ease. He didn't want a situation where his cultivation was disturbed, leading to a failed breakthrough and damaged meridians.
Of course, he didn't realize that even in such a situation, he would think it was wrong to stop his breakthrough to help Park Su, something he would never have considered before for someone else.
Therefore, when Park Su asked for talismans now, he didn't feel like he was losing out. If Zuo Xiong really did what Park Su said, then he would just give him the talismans meant for the breakthrough in advance.
Thus, he agreed to Park Su's proposal quite decisively, although he didn't know what expression Park Su would have if he realized that the conditions he set were what Xu Nuo had intended to give anyway.
He raised the corner of his mouth and specifically instructed Park Su, "No matter what you see later, don't intervene. Otherwise, the bet is void. Understand?"
He wouldn't openly say it was because there were many zombies on the other side, and there were probably many people needing help, and that acting recklessly to save people would easily get them entangled. He really didn't want Park Su to take such risks, so he had to give this instruction.
Park Su nodded with a frown, aware that Xu Nuo was worried he might not resist the urge to save people if Zuo Xiong really abandoned those ordinary folks as Xu Nuo had suggested.
They instructed Chen Jingxuan to stay at home, take good care of his mother, and not to go out randomly, then Xu Nuo took Park Su to the back row of the residences, finding a perfect spot to watch the show.
Although Park Su had mentally prepared himself, seeing the dense mass of zombies still made his heart skip a beat.
There must be close to a hundred zombies, almost reaching their vantage point. With such numbers, it was practically a small zombie horde, making escape difficult even for those people, even if they were all low-tier zombies. Even as a third-tier ability user, he wasn't confident he could get away unscathed.
He turned to look at Xu Nuo and whispered, "You didn't attract all these, did you?"
Xu Nuo frowned, "Sort of. These are pretty much all the zombies from around our entrance. In short, what you see now is similar to what I saw outside our yard when I went out."
Hearing this, Park Su involuntarily shrank his neck, suddenly understanding why Xu Nuo was reluctant for him to save people. If he were standing on the second floor looking at this scene at their doorstep, he definitely wouldn't be as calm as Xu Nuo.
And to come up with a counterattack method in such a short time, the master was indeed a master, not comparable to ordinary people like them.
Seeing such a scene, he sighed silently. These people, by leaving zombies at their doorstep, should have realized they were complicit in the act.
Since they wanted to drive others to extinction, they should bear the consequences of failure. He sighed and soon heard screams coming from the houses where the convoy people were staying.
Although they were far away, since he had awakened his ability, his hearing was much better than before, so he could hear it faintly. Clearly, chaos had ensued over there.
Without a word, Xu Nuo grabbed Park Su's wrist, channeling his spiritual energy into Park Su's body. Park Su naturally knew what he was going to do, so he quietly closed his eyes, focusing his mind to use the spiritual energy Xu Nuo sent to spread out and observe the situation over there.
Then, unsurprisingly, they saw total chaos on the other side. Many ordinary people had already been torn apart by zombies, while others were crying out for help from ability users.
The bloody scene was hard for Park Su to watch, although he knew these ordinary people weren't his responsibility and that they had once helped Zuo Xiong and others to harm him, so they weren't worth saving.
But watching such a gruesome scene still made him uncomfortable, especially since there were elderly people, women, and children among the ordinary folks.
They had no power to resist in front of the zombies, almost being torn apart in a one-sided slaughter. What frustrated him was that after all this time, they had not seen Zuo Xiong or Zhu Xianhou appear.
While the ordinary people were shouting, there was an underlying unease; for ability users, their senses should be sharper, and they should anticipate danger earlier. By that logic, they should have appeared sooner, so why hadn't anyone come to help after all this shouting?
So, their initial slight hope and pleas turned into increasing despair, and their resistance waned. Had they been abandoned by the ability users?
Seeing this scene, Park Su understood that Xu Nuo might be right. If Zuo Xiong and Zhu Xianhou wanted to save people, they wouldn't have been absent for this long. Even if they weren't willing to risk their lives, they should at least have stepped in to manage the situation.
If they had appeared to organize things, the scene wouldn't be this chaotic, and fewer people would have died; perhaps with good leadership, most could have escaped safely.
Park Su, watching this scene, swallowed hard, feeling uncomfortable, and whispered, "Where are they?"
Xu Nuo gave a cold laugh, "Shall we look for them? Relax!"
At his words, Park Su relaxed his mind, and he felt his spiritual force merging with Xu Nuo's, searching for Zuo Xiong and Zhu Xianhou within this chaotic scene.
In fact, these two weren't hard to find because they were in the middle of organizing their convoy, packing up their supplies with the convoy's ability users, completely ignoring the cries for help from the ordinary people outside.
This sight made Park Su's expression darken; much of the supplies they were organizing now were provided by those ordinary people who were currently surrounded by zombies.
These people had willingly handed over these life-saving resources in hopes that they would be protected in times like these.
But now, they only cared about those supplies and not about those lives. Thinking from the perspective of an ordinary survivor facing people like Zuo Xiong, one would certainly feel despair.
Xu Nuo, seeing their behavior, had an unpleasant look on his face but also noticed Park Su's change of expression, and said, "I know what you're thinking, but they are not your responsibility. If you intervene, you might just invite trouble."
"Even if you manage to save them, you won't be able to take care of so many ordinary people who no longer have any supplies." After pausing, Xu Nuo asked, "Do you want to hear what these ability users, who collected protection fees, are talking about?"
Park Su knew Xu Nuo spoke the truth; he wasn't that noble to take on such a massive burden. He was no saint, just an ability user with wood powers, struggling to survive in this apocalyptic world, constantly looking for strong allies to cling to while trying to enhance his own strength.