Chapter 121: Blood God Gang
's manner of "death" instantly silenced the warehouse.
Almost everyone watching the interrogation was so stunned by this phenomenon that defied common sense that they forgot to speak.
In a matter of seconds, the body had lost all its contents, leaving only a shriveled sheet of human skin.
Even for a , this method was a little too bizarre.
's brows knit tightly. He crouched down and used the tip of his knife to lift a corner of the skin.
It was very light, very thin. Indeed, aside from the epidermal tissue, the flesh, bones, and internal organs within seemed to have been drained and dissolved in an instant by some force reaching through the air.
"This... what the hell is this thing?" couldn't help swallowing hard, feeling a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
This was far more eerie and terrifying than being shot dead on the spot.
" , what do you make of it?" asked calmly.
[I don't know. Maybe it's some kind of remotely triggered biological mechanism,] 's voice came through the earpiece, speaking rapidly.
[But I detected no anomalous energy fluctuations, and I found no dangerous unknown organism.]
[Conclusion: cause of death unknown. Recommend staying on high alert.]
"Understood." straightened up, his gaze sweeping over the other bound prisoners in the warehouse. They had long since turned pale with terror, soiling themselves.
"It looks like this , the 's boss, is even more troublesome than we imagined."
***
The convoy finally came to a halt on the open ground west of 's camp.
Several infantry fighting vehicles and assault vehicles formed a new defensive line around the perimeter. Self-propelled mortar-howitzer vehicles took the high ground, logistics vehicles sat at the center, and Robots automatically unfolded their patrol routes.
The gaping black gun muzzles and the rotating radar gave this weather-beaten little camp an unprecedented sense of security.
However, when nearly a thousand survivors from were settled into a temporarily designated area, a considerable commotion broke out among the people in 's camp.
Especially when they saw the extra eyeballs that had grown, to a greater or lesser extent, on those survivors' bodies, many people wore looks of fright and revulsion.
But when brought out several crates of compressed biscuits, self-heating rations, and purified water—and made it clear these were aid supplies for 's camp—all the commotion subsided.
In the apocalypse, food is always the best pass.
That evening, more than a dozen bonfires blazed on the open ground of the logistics park.
A large iron pot was set over the fire, its rich beef-tallow broth base rolling as all kinds of meat rolls, vegetables, and canned goods were poured in without the slightest restraint.
The rich aroma drifted through the air, making survivors from both camps unable to keep from swallowing.
It was the most sumptuous meal they had eaten in months.
and the others, along with and his two deputies, sat in a circle around one of the bonfires, with a small pot set up in the middle.
"Let me introduce everyone," said, looking a little ill at ease, gesturing at the companions beside him. "This is Su Qing. She was in the student union at our University before. She handles discipline and logistics now.
This is Li Hao. He was a sports student, and now he's the captain of the patrol team."
"Hello, Gu!"
Su Qing was a short-haired girl with glasses, rather quiet and delicate. After being introduced by name, she simply smiled at and gave a greeting.
Li Hao, by contrast, was a dark-skinned, powerfully built young man with a clearly more outgoing personality. He raised a bowl of hot soup and smiled at . " Gu, on behalf of the brothers, thanks for this hotpot! This is incredible!"
"You're too kind." smiled and swished a chopstickful of beef in the pot. "We're an official search-and-rescue team. Providing timely aid to survivors is simply our duty."
"Official..." chewed on the word, his gaze complicated.
In the conversation that followed, quickly got to the bottom of 's little group.
All three of them had originally been students at Architecture University. After the disaster broke out, the three met by chance and took to the road together.
Thanks to the earth-controlling that had awakened, they made it all the way to without any life-threatening mishap, and had even gathered a group of survivors to huddle together for warmth.
"Speaking of which," said, dipping into a dish of sesame paste, "I'm curious—what's the situation inside City now?
I've passed through here before. Wasn't there a temporary disaster relief committee here?"
"Yeah," nodded, his expression darkening. "But it's gone now."
He picked up a slice of potato and dipped it into the sauce in his bowl, then slowly began recounting the bloody history of City.
It was much as had said. The number of ability users in City far surpassed that of other places, all thanks to that eerie " ."
This gave the survivors here an advantage when facing zombies, but it also caused order here to collapse with extraordinary speed.
At first, a relief committee made up of soldiers and public security personnel could barely maintain order—dividing up zones and distributing supplies uniformly.
It wasn't done perfectly, but at least there was a system to it.
At that time, City had four major powers in total. The committee was the strongest. Next were Middle School and the , which had occupied the city center, and the leaders of both were powerful ability users.
And at the very bottom was a thug organization called the " ."
But the turning point came from that man named .
"No one knows where he crawled out from," said in a low voice. "On the first day he came to , he killed the 's original boss in front of everyone and became the new boss.
Then he found out that someone on the relief committee was embezzling supplies—including a portion that should have been distributed to the ."
"And then?" pressed.
"Then, like a madman, he went around declaring that the relief committee was a pack of hypocrites feeding on blood-soaked buns under the banner of justice," said with a bitter laugh.
"Even after those few rotten worms had been publicly punished, he still had no intention of letting up.
He just kept saying things like, 'We're all beasts, so quit putting on human airs'—that the strong deserve to enjoy the world more than the weak, and that the relief committee was just morally blackmailing the strong, and so on."
"Then, one night, he led the 's people straight into the committee's office building under the pretext of demanding an explanation."
stopped his chopsticks. "Did the have heavy weapons by then?"
"No," shook his head. "That's the most baffling part.
By all logic, the committee had regular soldiers and no shortage of firearms and ammunition. They shouldn't have lost.
But the result was—they lost. And almost all of them completely vanished without a trace from then on. Only a few traitors survived."
"Ha! Funny thing is," 's tone took on a mocking edge.
"That former committee logistics director, the one had exposed for lining his own pockets, not only didn't die—he became the 's fifth-in-command, known as , specifically in charge of the accounts.
The reason gave was that although this man was corrupt, he had a sharp mind, was pragmatic, and knew how to weigh pros and cons—a rare 'talent.'
Unlike those rigid fools who could only chant relief slogans and had no economic sense or big-picture awareness whatsoever. Better bad than stupid."
"After that, City was completely thrown into chaos."
"Huh?" , who was eating fatty beef off to the side, asked curiously. "Why are all their names a surname plus a number?"
"That's a rule set down. Maybe because his own name is like that, he gave his subordinates names in the same style."
continued.
took a sip of soup and asked next, "Are these core leaders of his all ability users too?"
"Mm," nodded, his expression turning grave. "The has five core leaders: , , , , and .
's ability is rumored to be invisibility, but it seems to have its own limitations.
is already dead. 's makes his body impervious to blades and bullets—even bullets can't pierce him.
, supposedly, used to be a fugitive who killed several people. He's extremely skilled in combat, and now he also has the ability to release toxic mist. In terms of strength, he should count as a top-tier powerful ability user beneath ."
"As for himself..." 's face turned exceptionally ugly. "No one knows what his ability is. Of the people who've seen it, very few survive—other than the 's own people.
He looks to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, but his mind is terrifyingly vicious.
The process of torturing people to death seems to give him a great sense of superiority. He often holds public executions in the city's squares of survivors he considers to be 'wasting air' or to have 'offended him,' and his methods are extremely cruel."
silently noted all this information, then asked one final question.
"What about Middle School and the ? What's their stance?"
"The two have joined forces and are putting up a desperate defense. Their leaders are at least a bit better than , but they've been crushed by the the whole time. They can barely defend themselves," sighed.
"I thought about going to join them before, but taking more than two hundred people through the 's territory is too risky."
The broth in the pot rolled and tumbled, the red oil glistening with a warm sheen under the lights.
was silent for a few seconds, then set down his bowl and chopsticks.
"Do you want to turn this situation around?"
Hearing this, immediately raised his head and met 's gaze frankly, with no trace of shock on his face.
From the moment he chose not to lead his camp's people on the run after the clash with , but instead accepted the aid of and the others, this young man had already made his choice.
"Of course I do." The young man's voice was very soft, but very firm. "But on my own, I don't have the ability to do it."
"It doesn't matter that you don't have it now." nodded. "We do. That's enough."
***
Late at night, inside the command vehicle.
"The situation in is complicated too!" rubbed his brow. "This place is special. Although the density of zombies isn't low, the number of advanced mutants isn't high.
On the contrary, the greater danger here comes from the conflicts among the survivors themselves."
"But regardless, this is one of the few cities we've found along the way where humans hold the numerical advantage.
The survivor base is estimated at possibly over ten thousand. Add in the generally higher physical fitness and ability-awakening rate—if we can integrate it all—"
[That makes it a ready-made transit base,] 's voice came through the vehicle's communication system. [ City's geographical position and survivor base give it the potential to become our core node in the central-southern region.]
[But we also need to stay alert to the anomaly in the sky over this place. All things considered, though, I agree with your judgment.]
"But the prerequisite is that we can quickly and efficiently unify the forces in and establish a new order," 's tone turned cold.
"Especially where the is concerned—we'll need to carry out at least one 'purge.'"
[But you must remain cautious. 's ability is still unknown, and in all likelihood it is extremely dangerous.
Until you figure out his trump card, you must all stay on high alert.]
"I understand, which is why I need more intelligence." looked at the map of City on the screen. "I'll find a way to make contact with the people at Middle School and the first, and see whether we can form a united front."
[Alright. The drones can coordinate with your operations at any time.
Also, 's team has made some preliminary findings on the eyeball samples brought back from . Those eyes seem to possess some kind of 'special vision.' The detailed report has already been sent to you.]
"Good, then it's settled for now." rolled his neck. "Tomorrow I'll contact Middle School and see if we can get a line to them. As for the side—"
But just then, an urgent alarm suddenly blared from the sentry post on the camp's periphery.
"Report! A convoy has been detected to the northeast of the camp—five vehicles—rapidly approaching our position! Among them... among them are two wheeled armored assault vehicles!"
The blare of the alarm instantly shattered the camp's tranquility.
rushed into the command vehicle at the first moment, his face tense. "Is it the ?"
Looking at the two familiar figures on the perimeter surveillance screen, his voice was strained. "The ones leading them are and ."
He had already prepared himself to gamble everything and fight to the death against the other side.
But when directly confronted with the 's main force, he still felt fear by instinct.
"Relax! It'll be fine." patted his shoulder in reassurance, then smiled as he issued orders over the communication channel.
"Be careful! The other side has an ability user who can release toxic mist.
Mortar-howitzer crews, stand by. Don't let them get near the defensive line.
Today I want to see whether this so-called imperviousness to blades and bullets can withstand a shell."