"Have you heard? Yu Wantang, the one who just awakened her ability in the elite squad, hoarded a whole warehouse of medicine."

"Really? No way, right?"

"How is that impossible? You know, my cousin's partner works at the mission hall. I heard that on the elite squad's hospital mission, she collected all the medicine by herself and didn't send even a tiny bit to the base's medical clinic."

"That's not right, it wasn't just medicine. What I heard was several tons of supplies."

Just as Jiang Li walked into the alley, she heard a few women huddled together in a corner, speaking in lowered voices.

She pressed close to the base of the wall without making a sound.

Hoarding medicine? Hoarding supplies?

The women abruptly shifted the conversation, and the topic changed direction again.

"If you ask me, the little girl Su Qingqing is still the kindest. The other day when my man had a fever and the clinic said they were out of medicine and couldn't treat him, only she was willing to lend a hand."

"Ain't that the truth? How precious are healing abilities, yet she doesn't ask for a single cent of reward for treating us ordinary people."

"I also heard that she went to the outer district to treat patients again today. Calling someone like her a saint is not an exaggeration at all."

A saint?

A trace of coldness welled up in Jiang Li's eyes.

She was holding half a bowl of thin porridge she had just gotten from the public stove, and the heat had long since dissipated.

She pinched the rim of the coarse porcelain bowl, her knuckles slowly tightening. How could these people's attitudes change so drastically before and after?

"Older sister, who is this Su Qingqing you all were talking about?"

The women were startled by her sudden voice. Turning around and seeing it was an unfamiliar young girl, their vigilance dissipated slightly.

One of the women wearing a gray cotton-padded jacket looked her up and down: "You must be new here, right?"

Jiang Li nodded: "Yes, I just came in today, and I'm still unclear about a lot of things."

The woman wore the expression of someone who had seen it all.

"It's normal not to know. The Su girl is a healing-type ability user, and she has a soft heart. She usually treats us ordinary people, unlike other healing-type ability users who reach out for payment before even treating you."

Another woman beside her chimed in: "Yeah, if you have a headache or a fever in the future, you can try your luck at the outer district health post. If you happen to run into the Su girl, she might just save your life."

Jiang Li seemed to have taken it in and asked smoothly: "Does she come every day?"

The woman in the gray cotton-padded jacket waved her hand: "How could that be? Her abilities didn't come for free either, and she's very busy. But she has a good heart and will save whoever she can."

"What you said just now about Yu Wantang having medicine, is it true or false? Didn't they say the clinic ran out of medicine? Then where did she get hers?"

The few of them exchanged glances.

The woman in the gray cotton-padded jacket said vaguely: "Everyone is saying it, so it should be true."

Jiang Li blinked, looking curious: "Are you sure? My younger brother just happens to be sick and needs medicine for treatment."

A thin-cheeked woman lowered her voice: "Someone brought it up by the porridge shed this morning, and they described it with vivid details. It definitely wasn't made up blindly."

Jiang Li didn't ask any further. She smiled, expressed her thanks, and went upstairs.

Their current residence was rented by her and Li Ming using crystal cores. Living together was firstly to look out for each other, and secondly because the two of them only had crystal cores in their hands and nothing else.

When she returned to her room, the smile on her face vanished.

Li Ming was squatting on the ground taking apart a broken radio with a screwdriver. He glanced up at her, and seeing her expression wasn't right, he asked: "What's wrong?"

"Some people downstairs are spreading gossip about Miss Yu."

Li Ming put down the screwdriver: "What are they spreading?"

"They're saying she hoarded supplies and didn't turn them in, and that she swallowed all the medicine on that hospital trip. They also said she takes advantage of other people's misfortunes and demands money before saving lives." Jiang Li paused, and then repeated what those people had said about Su Qingqing.

Li Ming was silent for a few seconds: "Do you believe it?"

"I don't believe it," Jiang Li said.

Li Ming was silent for a moment. "These words don't sound like they were improvised on the spot. The keywords are too precise: hospital, medicine, stockpiling, failing to turn them in. Every single sentence steps right on the most sensitive spots of ordinary people in the apocalypse."

"I think so too." Jiang Li put down the bowl.

Li Ming frowned: "Smearing one person and elevating another at the exact same time—when things are that coincidental, it's no longer a coincidence."

"Wanting to harm someone with rumors, this trick is too sinister." He raised his eyes to look at Jiang Li. "With rumors like this, people won't delve deeply into whether they're true or false; they'll only believe they exist rather than believe they don't."

Jiang Li raised her eyes: "You also think it's targeted at Miss Yu?"

"It's not a feeling; it's too obvious." Li Ming wiped the ash on his hands onto an old rag. "The sequence of those words you mentioned just now is very interesting. First, they say Yu Wantang hoarded medicine and didn't turn it in; then they say she demands crystal cores to save people; and finally, they praise Su Qingqing for saving ordinary people for free."

Jiang Li's brows furrowed slightly.

Li Ming continued: "One sentence tramples on her resources, another sentence tramples on her character, and then they use Su Qingqing as a comparison. What does the outer district lack the most? Medicine, food, and the protection of ability users. What are ordinary people most afraid of not having? Food and supplies."

"What is it in the eyes of ordinary people when someone hoards a warehouse of supplies and doesn't turn them in? It's robbing them of their life-saving rations. Once this rumor spreads, without anyone needing to lift a finger, just those people whose eyes have turned red with hunger will be enough to give Sister Yu a hard time."

The room suddenly fell silent.

Jiang Li picked up her bowl and took a sip of the cold porridge. The rice soup was bland, and she could barely taste any rice flavor, yet it couldn't suppress the chill welling up in her chest.

"She saved us," Jiang Li said.

She remembered how, when they were trapped in the office building, Yu Wantang had barged in all by herself and pulled them out of a certain death despair. At that time, Yu Wantang didn't say a single word of nonsense; wherever the blade light passed, zombies fell in rows.

Such a person was being called black-hearted and selfish, hoarding goods and swallowing medicine.

"We can't let her have dirty water splashed on her without knowing why." Jiang Li raised her head. "At least she needs to know that someone is stabbing her in the back."

Li Ming nodded: "So we can't pretend we don't know."

The two exchanged glances, both having made up their minds in their hearts.

Jiang Li put down her bowl and stood up: "I'll go talk to her."

Li Ming looked up at her: "Right now?"

"This kind of matter cannot be delayed." Jiang Li zipped her jacket up to her collar.

"Do you know where she lives?"

Li Ming didn't stop her. After falling silent for two seconds, he simply said: "Inner District XXX Garden Community, fifth floor, 502. I asked about it during the day when I was at the registration office."

Jiang Li glanced at him, nodded, and pushed the door open to leave.

Going downstairs, the night wind rushed straight at her face.

The night in the outer district and the inner district were two different worlds.

The inner district had generators, and a few streetlights were still lit. Over in the outer district, there was only light when the searchlights swept across; the rest of the time, they had to rely entirely on moonlight and the embers of bonfires blown crooked by the wind to find their way. There was stagnant water everywhere on the ground, and the mud splashes kicked up when stepping on it were mixed with wood ash and oil stains of unknown origin.

Jiang Li passed through two rows of tarpaulin tents and skirted around people curled up sleeping at the corners of walls. A woman holding a child leaned against a stack of cardboard boxes, half-opening her eyes to glance at her with a daze in her gaze, asking nothing at all.

It was a pity she could only guarantee her own basic food and clothing, having no extra energy to help others.

She quickened her pace, throwing all of this behind her.