"Five hundred people, are you insane?"
"Impossible!"
Hearing this number, even Deputy City Lord Ding Shen, known for his composure, changed his expression at this mont.
Five hundred people—this number was simply appalling.
Even the 'Tails' behind Deputy City Lord Ding were now stretched taut, standing rigidly straight like venomous snakes, vigilantly watching the unknown spherical creature in the darkness.
Countless chaotic sounds echoed.
The spherical creature in the darkness emitted a chilling, sinister laugh as it slowly moved to the center of the hall.
What ca into Deputy City Lord Ding's view was a massive sphere ford from countless people entangled together.
These people were knotted together; so were only visible as a head poking out, their expressions vacant, eyes hollow, making it impossible to tell if they were dead or alive.
Others had only their upper bodies exposed, the rest of their forms subrged by the limbs of others.
There were also those with only an arm or a leg visible, the remaining parts similarly engulfed by others' limbs.
If Chen Ye, Chu Che, and the others were here, they would recognize it at a glance—this was the sa spherical anomalous creature they had encountered previously in Xining.
In Chu Che's captain's notebook, this spherical anomalous creature was referred to as the "Tangled Crowd."
This phenonon was sowhat similar to the "Rat King" phenonon.
It was rumored that regions where the "Rat King" phenonon appeared would experience disasters.
Yet, just a single glance at the "Tangled Crowd" before them was enough to make one's hair stand on end.
Countless "Concealnt Talismans" were affixed to the bodies of the "Tangled Crowd."
On each human arm, shoulder, and thigh, there was a "Concealnt Talisman."
Even though Deputy City Lord Ding Shen had made a deal with the Anomalies and had seen the "Tangled Crowd" countless tis, every sighting still filled him with despair and a bone-deep chill.
Back when the deal was struck with the Anomalies, the terms were that the Anomalies would not harass the Oasis, at least not openly.
But in return, the Oasis had to sacrifice a portion of its people to the Anomalies every month.
Each month, Ding Shen would lead people away from the Oasis to various human forbidden zones to gather supplies, and each ti, so of those who went never returned.
For instance, the very group that initially built the Oasis.
Those people had witnessed the Anomalies invading the Oasis and were fully aware of the agreent Ding Shen had made with them.
The final outco was that not a single one of those people survived.
Gradually, no one was willing to follow Deputy City Lord Ding Shen on supply-gathering expeditions anymore.
Thus, this ti, they ca up with the "No-Rules Race."
In the No-Rules Race, even deaths were permitted within the rules.
Those who died beca the price Oasis City paid to the Anomalies.
All to ensure the Anomalies would not harass Oasis City.
Of course, such a rule could never be openly stated.
All of this was to use human lives to sustain the operation of Oasis City.
Ding Shen had never regretted the decision he made today.
Cha Wu was quite opposed to making a deal with the Anomalies.
But since he had no better alternative, he could only turn a blind eye.
Yet this ti, the Anomalies were demanding five hundred people.
It was important to know that the entire Oasis City had only a little over six thousand people, many of whom were actually Anomalies mixed in among them.
Calculated this way, five hundred people was almost ten percent of Oasis City's population.
This demand was utterly outrageous.
Ding Shen could not possibly agree.
"Hehehe... Deputy City Lord Ding, don't refuse so quickly!"
"Your city has welcod many newcors recently. Five hundred people shouldn't be too difficult!"
"Moreover, the atmosphere in the city is quite tense lately. Tomorrow's competition will likely claim many lives. Just don't interfere, that's all!"
"Whether they are alive or dead is acceptable!"
"Five hundred people... really isn't that many!"
From within the Tangled Crowd, a person with only their head exposed opened their mouth to speak.
"Don't even think about it!"
Ding Shen decisively refused.
Five hundred people—just thinking about the number was terrifying.
Leaving aside whether it was even possible, even if it were, Ding Shen could not possibly agree.
Others only knew Deputy City Lord Ding Shen as cold, arrogant, and difficult to deal with.
Who would have guessed that even he was being bullied to this extent in front of the Anomalies?
And this was the number one expert in all of Oasis City!
Before the Anomalies, he could only resort to pretense and evasion.
"Deputy City Lord Ding, won't you reconsider?"
"There are many other Anomalies that have infiltrated the city. If you make up your mind, you can tell !"
This ti, the speaker was a man with half his body exposed.
The anomalous entity known as the Tangled Crowd spoke through a different person each ti.
The person who spoke each ti had a certain randomness to it, which only added to the fear it instilled.
As these words were spoken, the man whose lower body was subrged by others' limbs cast a subtle glance at Ding Shen's chest, where there seed to be sothing quite interesting.
After finishing this sentence, the Tangled Crowd slowly rolled back into the dark shadows until it vanished completely.
There was no path in that dark shadow at all.
The "Tangled Crowd" seed to have entered another space entirely.
Finally, everything returned to silence.
Ding Shen sat in his chair, unmoving for at least half an hour.
His gaze was vacant as he stared straight ahead.
No one knew what he was truly feeling at this mont.
The reason Oasis City could exist until now was entirely due to that one deal.
Ding Shen had never felt that he had done anything wrong.
If Cha Wu had a better solution, he would definitely listen to his advice.
But Cha Wu only knew how to oppose, only told him not to get so close to the Anomalies.
It was like how so people would always say what you're doing is wrong, that your approach will surely fail.
You can't do it this way, and you can't do it that way either.
They only knew what couldn't be done, but they didn't know what *could* be done.
When you asked them to co up with a reliable plan, these people would always be left speechless.
If he hadn't made that deal with the Anomalies, Oasis City would absolutely not exist.
He had heard the legend of the "legendary Oasis" long ago.
But that was just a legend; he had never seen it.
Since that was the case, he would simply build a "legendary Oasis" himself.
Ding Shen's face flushed red.
Five hundred people—this number had exceeded the limit of what he could psychologically bear.
This wasn't a one-ti transaction.
This ti it was five hundred, next ti it would be a thousand.
The ti after that, two thousand.
For the survival of Oasis City, he had already given everything.
The companions who once stood by his side... only he rembered them now.
There was no evidence left to prove they had ever been in this world.
The resolute Deputy City Lord Ding, for the first ti, began to doubt whether what he had done was right or wrong.
In a pitch-black, unknown place.
A sinister voice, utterly eerie, spoke: "I told you long ago, he wouldn't agree. Five hundred is too many."
Another equally sinister female voice emitted a sharp, thin tone: "He will agree. For the sake of the Oasis, he is willing to do anything!"
Then ca the voice of a young child: "I'm asking for so many because I want to eat as much as I can before the Oasis collapses!"
A third voice, that of an old woman: "The current Oasis already has many of our kind mixed in! These things won't listen to us."
A hoarse, elderly male voice: "Damnable bastards. These Anomalies possess great power but lack strong intellect. Humans actually lump us together with them!"
There was also the voice of a young man: "So of them even we find sowhat intimidating!"
A young girl's voice: "In a few days, this human city will beco a new human forbidden zone, just like all the others."
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