The ordinary citizens were only seeking the truth about the incident. Seeing that Minister Wang and the other leaders did not seem to be deceiving them, they also realized how absurd the entire event had been, and their anger gradually subsided. After being comforted by the leaders, they dispersed from the second floor and returned to the screening hall to wait for the investigation results.
What could have turned into a collective riot due to mishandling of the situation was finally diffused without any major incidents. Minister Wang and the others wiped their foreheads in relief, then, bringing a few of their team members along, they angrily marched to the first-floor corridor, where they found Xu Mo and the others, who were inspecting the cinema's defenses with Dong Tian.
"Hey! What's going on here? Didn't you promise that we would leave this space at exactly 8:00?" Minister Wang started off aggressively, ready to lay the blame.
"I never promised anything to anyone. I just said that, theoretically, it could be at 8:00." Xu Mo, also frustrated by the anomaly of the apocalyptic mirage, was in no mood to deal with these so-called leaders. After glancing at Minister Wang, he coolly replied, "Zombies could launch their fourth wave of attack at any moment. A lot of doors and windows have been seriously damaged and need immediate repair... If you have no other business, you should head back."
Mention of the zombies finally caused Minister Wang to calm down. He knew that now was not the time to clash with Xu Mo. Forcing back his anger, he asked, "Alright... so when exactly can we leave this place?"
"That... I don't know." Xu Mo gazed out at the mass of zombies outside the window, paused for a moment, and sighed, "Maybe tomorrow, maybe a month later, or maybe a year... There's nothing we can do except wait."
"Go to hell with waiting!" Minister Wang lost it, swearing loudly. "Don't talk to me about a month! Not even a week! Even if you can hold this place, this is a cinema, not a supermarket! What do you expect me to feed two thousand people? At most, we've got three days! We must leave here! That's an order!"
"Ha, funny... I'm not your subordinate. What gives you the right to order me around?"
Xu Mo had no patience for Minister Wang, who was now acting like a desperate gambler. Clearly, Wang had not understood the situation yet. Xu Mo was only protecting these two thousand citizens out of conscience and duty, not because he was responsible for them all. After fighting off three waves of zombie attacks and guarding the cinema for twelve hours, Xu Mo felt he had already done enough. Any further help would be a kindness, but he was under no obligation to accept any orders or commands.
Minister Wang, still enraged, was too blinded by his anger to see Xu Mo's indifference. The other members of the leadership team quickly intervened to calm Wang down and drag him away. They left behind Ms. Ma from the Women's Federation to apologize and comfort Xu Mo.
Once the leadership team had left, Chang Zitong approached Xu Mo with a worried expression. "Are you really not going to help those citizens anymore? There are over two thousand lives at stake..."
Du Zhizhang, who was behind, gently tugged on Chang Zitong's arm and shook his head. "Tengteng, don't put Xu Mo in a tough spot. We're not superheroes. We can't take on everything. As for those lazy leaders, forget about them. They've left their lives in the hands of others. If they die, they deserve it."
"Our fate is already tied to this cinema, so I will do my best to protect it..." Xu Mo's gaze swept slowly across their faces. His tone was calm as he continued, "As for other matters, we'll just let fate decide."
Just as Du Zhizhang had said, Xu Mo wasn't a saint with infinite power. In some ways, he was just another ordinary person struggling to survive in this terrifying space. Aside from contributing to the overall safety of the cinema, there was little else he could do.
Perhaps the first three waves of fast zombies had consumed too many, or maybe the zombie horde was preparing for an even larger-scale attack. Compared to the terrifying first day, the second day's defense was almost too easy to believe. There were no urgent situations throughout the day, and it wasn't until nightfall that a single "Lick Eater" suddenly broke through a second-floor window and killed several members of the guard team before Xu Mo and the others arrived to quickly finish it off.
Despite the significant decrease in casualties, a far worse problem than the zombie siege soon emerged in front of everyone.
Though the Liangyuan Cinema had a small convenience store, it was only stocked with snacks for moviegoers. The food that could actually fill stomachs was limited to a few packs of crackers, most of which had already been distributed by the first night. There was still a decent amount of drinking water, but it would only be enough to give everyone one more bottle each.
If they couldn't leave this apocalyptic mirage soon and couldn't find new sources of food and water, it was easy to predict what would happen next: the two thousand desperate citizens would fall into chaos. That would be even worse than the zombies breaking into the cinema.
"Xu Mo, while the guard team still has some control over these citizens, should we start preparing?" Du Zhizhang asked, struggling as he arranged the last few packs of crackers and bottles of water sent by the guards.
Xu Mo understood that Du Zhizhang was suggesting they take what little food and water remained and retreat to a safe place, relying on the strength of the three of them to survive, at least for a little while. However, that would mean completely abandoning the two thousand innocent citizens outside.
To be fair, Du Zhizhang's suggestion was a rational choice. After all, even if they kept the remaining food and water for themselves, it wouldn't be enough to save everyone, and it would cut off the last hope of survival for the three of them. But taking the last bit of food and abandoning the citizens completely went against Xu Mo's principles.
Even if that was the only way to survive and leave the mirage, Xu Mo felt he would be haunted by his conscience for the rest of his life.
After spending so much time together, Chang Zitong knew Xu Mo would have difficulty accepting such a cold-blooded suggestion. She shook her head and walked over to him. "If you can't accept it, why don't we ask the guard team for two more days' worth of food? If we can keep ourselves in good condition for an extra day, at least we can hold the cinema's defenses for a bit longer. Don't you think so?"
Du Zhizhang and Chang Zitong had already considered Xu Mo's feelings and agreed to stand by him. This was not easy. Xu Mo was not ungrateful, so he finally agreed to Chang Zitong's suggestion. Using his influence with the guard team, he managed to secure two more days' worth of food and water, which was his final concession to his conscience.
At 2:00 AM, the zombies launched their fourth major assault. Six windows were broken in rapid succession, and over two hundred fast zombies flooded in, attacking the hundred or so members of the guard team in the first-floor corridor. Unable to deal fatal damage to the zombies, the guard team suffered heavy casualties. They barely managed to repel the attack, thanks to Xu Mo and the others' assistance.
Due to the food shortage and the massive loss of guard team members, morale had sunk to an all-time low. The citizens no longer wanted to join the life-or-death defense. In their minds, it was better to stay inside the screening hall, at least they'd die later than those out fighting.
Faced with the masses' increasingly negative emotions, even the eloquent leaders couldn't do anything. They could only offer a few empty words of comfort before reluctantly leaving the screening hall with their trusted aides.