A minor disturbance ultimately ant nothing in the face of absolute power.
Soone quickly disposed of Xu Zhuang’s body to avoid attracting zombies.
Those whose loyalties had begun to waver sobered up instantly after seeing Li Xingye’s reaction. Li Xingye alone could clear a wide path to Rongcheng Center, and that wasn’t even considering the rumors of Seventh or Eighth Rank zombies in the city’s heart.
With Li Xingye’s power, who could possibly resist if he truly decided to move against them?
But the base he ran had clear rules and daily rations that could be considered a luxury. You didn’t have to worry about being used as cannon fodder to fill trenches during a zombie horde. Even ordinary people had enough to eat and warm clothes to wear, and they weren’t treated as food for superpower users.
So what was there to complain about?
Even if they died, at least they would die on a full stomach and with so dignity.
Chi Wan had opened her eyes long before Li Xingye finished speaking. Seeing that he had handled the situation, she finally asked, "Brother Xingye, you knew where that man ca from, didn’t you?"
Otherwise, he likely wouldn’t have dealt with the matter so decisively. He would have at least interrogated the man.
Li Xingye had nothing to hide from Chi Wan. "Yeah. He was discovered while trying to pass information. When we brought Liang Yushuang’s team in, one of her people, Wu Yao, could mask their presence. They’re on the patrol team now."
Realization dawned on Chi Wan. No wonder Li Xingye had anticipated a situation like this from the very beginning.
She breathed a sigh of relief and listened for a bit as Li Xingye outlined his future plans for the base. Besides utilizing the city’s existing buildings and infrastructure, his main goal was to get the various large, inactive pieces of equipnt running again. If he could reactivate them, it might be possible to restore parts of the city to what they once were.
The base’s population wasn’t very large compared to the vast, empty city, but Chi Wan believed that with people like Duan Qianyu on their side, Rong City was bound to grow and prosper.
By the ti Li Xingye had taken care of everything, Chi Wan was already fast asleep. But she hadn’t closed the entrance to her personal space—perhaps she’d forgotten.
The mont Li Xingye entered the space, he was greeted by the sight of Chi Wan’s serene, sleeping face.
Unlike the vibrant energy she had when she was awake, Chi Wan looked completely defenseless in her sleep.
Li Xingye watched her in silence for a while before leaving the space, a warmth slowly filling his heart.
Just as he exited the space, he heard Qiangzi’s voice. "Boss, you asleep?"
Li Xingye was staying in a private tent. "Co in," he called back.
Qiangzi, Liang Yushuang, and a few others walked in. They had been on many missions together, so they all got along quite well.
"Boss, that Xu Zhuang... was he sent from the Imperial City?!" Qiangzi blurted out the mont the door was closed. "Are they finally making a move on us?"
Cheng Peng rolled his eyes. "You almost sound excited."
Qiangzi plopped down onto a nearby chair. "It’s gonna happen sooner or later, so sooner is better. Otherwise, I’ll just be stressing about it all day."
Not long after joining the base, Liang Yushuang had told Qiangzi and the other core mbers about the conflict between the two Imperial City bases and the shady experints being conducted at Dawn. Because of that, Xu Zhuang’s appearance wasn’t much of a surprise.
The only thing they couldn’t figure out was why Xu Zhuang chose to reveal himself now, at such an awkward and ineffective mont.
Haozi asked, puzzled, "Do those people from Dawn really think a few words from Xu Zhuang are enough to make our base disintegrate?"
To be blunt, the core of this base was Li Xingye. If people didn’t trust him, they were free to leave. After all, they were the ones who needed help, not him.
Liang Yushuang, having co from Dawn Base, had a better understanding of how they operated.
"I’m thinking... perhaps their real goal in using Xu Zhuang to expose the leader’s superpower wasn’t to divide the base."
Qiangzi looked at her. "Whaddya an? Was he just being an idiot, then?"
Haozi slapped Qiangzi on the back of the head. "You hang out with Sister Qianyu all day. How has none of her intelligence rubbed off on you?"
Qiangzi rubbed his head, not at all angry. "Heh, you’re just jealous I have soone to rely on. Anyway, it doesn’t matter if I can’t figure it out, as long as Qianyu can. When she’s done with her work, I’ll just go ask her."
Lately, Duan Qianyu had been busy researching how to modify the form of High-level Crystal Cores for wider applications, so she’d had no ti for Qiangzi.
Haozi couldn’t be bothered with Qiangzi’s shalessness and continued along Liang Yushuang’s train of thought. "I think Xu Zhuang’s stunt was probably just the beginning. Maybe they want to subtly spread the word that the boss’s superpower is unique?"
"So what if they spread it around?" Cheng Peng was also confused. "They can’t beat the boss anyway. What’s the point of trying to slander him?"
But Liang Yushuang’s expression turned grim. "What if... their goal is to use the leader for their research?"
What?!
"In their dreams! Even if you lined them all up, they wouldn’t be enough for Brother Xiao Li to take down by himself."
Qiangzi found the speculation ridiculous. "And they can’t seriously expect to use just empty words to make our entire base turn on the boss and tie him up for them, can they?"
Only Li Xingye seed to understand what Liang Yushuang was getting at.
He spoke slowly. "If we fully rebuild Rong City, and as long as we can maintain the food supply, the population will naturally grow. Once all the other problems of survival have been solved, only one question will remain."
Liang Yushuang said grimly, "The apocalypse itself."
"What does that an?" Seeing that the two of them seed to have reached an unspoken agreent, Qiangzi nudged Haozi with a baffled look. "You’re the smart one, explain it."
Following Li Xingye’s train of thought, sothing clicked for Haozi. Forgetting to mock Qiangzi, he said in disbelief, "So, their goal is to first build a narrative and spread the word about the boss’s uniqueness, and then use the future of all humanity to force him to agree to let them study him?!"
If one day the only remaining mystery of the apocalypse was the origin of zombies and superpower users, wouldn’t the researchers at Dawn exploit the fact that Li Xingye’s superpower was different from everyone else’s?
They could use the most tempting reason of all—"ending the apocalypse"—to pressure Li Xingye.
If Li Xingye actually agreed to hand himself over to Dawn for research, there was no telling what kind of deranged things their selfish ambition would lead them to do. Liang Yushuang had said they’d developed serums that could temporarily suppress a superpower user’s abilities.
Paired with their own leader’s Spiritual Ability, if Li Xingye really fell into their hands, no one could guarantee he’d make it out alive.
But if he refused...
...then Li Xingye would be positioning himself against every survivor in the apocalypse.
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