The muscular man with the hamr imdiately struck the bronze gong. The dense sound of drums echoed like a war formation, as if bidding farewell to a fallen general.
The corpse collection team in isolation attire stepped forward, swiftly sealing Li Gui into a body bag.
The sound of drums and gongs abruptly halted.
"Life and death are predestined!"
The three elders rose simultaneously, cupping their hands toward the body bag, and gave a low shout.
The over four thousand people witnessing the scene emulated them, cupping their hands toward the activity area and shouting in unison, their voices booming like thunder:
"Life and death are predestined!"
The sound was deafening.
"Good!"
The body bag was carried away, and the elders called out another na.
"Gao Yunting, step forward."
A middle-aged man stepped forward, subrging his face into the water.
The Starfish mark flashed by, even darker than Li Gui’s.
"Elder Qu, I choose self-restraint."
"Good!"
The three elders nodded again, as others stepped forward to fasten chains onto the man, binding his hands and feet.
The gongs sounded, accompanied by the drums.
The beats were heavy and slow, as if bidding farewell to soldiers about to depart.
Once Gao Yunting was taken away and confined to a specially vacated shop, the three elders rose again, bowing toward the shop.
"Wealth is in the heavens!"
The crowd echoed in a low voice, "Wealth is in the heavens!"
The low utterances rged into a torrent, echoing in the mall’s do, causing the blankets hanging from the railings to tremble slightly.
Cheng Ye could not help but stand up; being forced to take dicine was within his understanding, but choosing self-restraint...
"This is the collective, Lord Cheng."
Long noticed the surprise and sudden realization in Cheng Ye’s eyes, a softness passing through his gaze, "From the mont you joined our Celestial Essence Community, everyone was actually prepared to face death."
"Prepared to face death?"
The five words took Cheng Ye a long ti to digest.
This kind of epidemic prevention thod, he had indeed never heard of, even thinking about it seed like a fantasy.
People are independent individuals with their thoughts.
How could one possibly place their thoughts beneath the interests of a collective simply because they joined one?
Even in civilized tis, rarely anyone could achieve such a level.
Let alone in the precarious Wasteland!
While he pondered, one person after another in line stepped forward, either tilting their heads back to swallow the powder or willingly extending their hands and feet to be bound.
The sound of gongs and drums resounded once more, followed by a burst of shouts within the mall.
Will everyone do the sa?
Suddenly,
"Zhang Can, step forward."
A young man was called but didn’t cover his face. Instead, he pulled out a pistol from his waist, aiming it at the central elder.
"Bold!"
The mont he drew his gun, a chain reaction of gun-drawing sounds echoed.
Under Cheng Ye’s stunned gaze, at least a thousand guns were drawn from the surrounding arcade, both long and short, their muzzles aiming at Zhang Can below like a forest.
Individual violence, collective interest.
The fusion of these two terms seed odd no matter how one looked at it.
But at this mont, it ford an eerie balance.
"Give a chance, Elder Qu."
Zhang Can showed no expression, but his lips couldn’t stop trembling, "I’m still young, I still have... many things to do. I don’t want to be a deserter, but I also don’t want to die like this."
"Can, have you thought it through?"
Elder Qu suddenly smiled, waving his hand towards the upstairs, "Everyone, put away your guns. When Can got married a few years ago, I presided over the ceremony. He won’t shoot ."
With a crash,
the words of Elder Qu seed to carry great weight here. In just an instant, all the muzzles were withdrawn.
Zhang Can was stunned for a mont, also lowering his pistol to his side, but his index finger still pressed tightly on the trigger.
"My wife is pregnant, I... can only live."
"I understand."
Elder Qu nodded, "Do you rember the first rule of the community?"
"Collective interests are paramount, personal interests secondary. If heaven does not endure, the ground shall overturn."
Zhang Can recited dully.
"And the second rule?"
"Collective interests are fundantal, personal interests habitual. If the foundation is not upheld, habits cannot thrive."
Elder Qu smiled and nodded, "Then once you go out this door, consider it well. Whether living or dead, our Celestial Essence Community will no longer look at you."
"Rest assured, Elder Qu."
Can nodded deeply, turned, and bowed to everyone, his voice hoarse yet firm, "Brothers and sisters, once I leave this door, Zhang Can is just Zhang Can. If I mutate, I will be an enemy, an enemy of everyone in the Buffer Zone. Just shoot , without any psychological burden!"
"Good!"
Elder Qu’s face slowly broke into a smile, gesturing towards the direction where Cheng Ye stood.
The crowd, as if well-rehearsed, imdiately parted to form a path wide enough for two to walk side by side.
"Can, walk from here."
"Thank you, Elder Qu."
Can inserted the gun back into his waistband, knelt down with a plop, and kowtowed three tis, his forehead hitting the concrete ground with a dull thud.
At the mont of his turning, Elder Qu, stooped over, took the wooden mallet from the big man and struck the bronze gong.
"Man conquers nature, effort is key!"
Thud.
Thud!!
Thud!!!
The heavy drumbeats landed on Zhang Can’s footprints like a sledgehamr, the stunned crowd suddenly erupted in shouts.
"Man conquers nature, effort is key!"
"Man conquers nature..."
Under Cheng Ye’s watchful eyes, he saw Zhang Can, who had managed to keep a straight face earlier, now tremble violently, his tense cheeks already spilling over with tears.
Despite desperately restraining his urge to look back, as he reached the end of the corridor, before the mall’s main entrance, he finally couldn’t resist lifting his head, gazing at the face of a woman on the second floor.
The woman, protruding her pregnant belly behind the railing, nodded vigorously at him, and he trembled as he nodded back.
Then.
He took a step forward, his figure disappearing into the enveloping rainy night.
"Good!"
...
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