CHAPTER 67: CHAPTER 24 PERSECUTION_1

Upon Li Quan’an’s order, all the professionists around unsheathed their steel sabers and slowly approached the panicked crowd.

Those in the crowd who had been shouting they wouldn’t rush out were suddenly taken aback. However, as if emboldened by some unknown backing, they stood their ground with puffed-up chests.

"Who are you trying to scare? We have laws here in our country. I dare you to lay a finger on me!"

A middle-aged woman, hands on her hips, pointed at a professionist not too far away and shouted.

The middle-aged woman’s actions seemed to give newfound courage to those around her, who then joined in the shouting.

Upon seeing the unabashed defiance of these people, Li Quan’an simply signaled with a gesture.

The sharp steel saber pierced right through the chest of the middle-aged woman who had just spoken. She stared dumbfounded at the blade buried deep within her chest, then looked in disbelief at the professionist in front of her. After coughing up a mouthful of blood, she was silenced forever.

A deadly silence spread throughout the crowd.

"Everyone, let me say one more thing."

Li Quan’an broke the chilling silence. Upon seeing the crowd below showing no reaction, he coughed loudly.

The cough brought the stunned crowd below back to reality. Many clutched their throats, dry heaving. Others, gripped by fear, screamed as they saw the professionists draw even closer. The crowd erupted into a chaos of curses, pleas for mercy, and gagging noises.

"I said, SILENCE!" Li Quan’an roared. A professionist’s physical attributes meant his voice was powerful enough to make ordinary people nearby feel dizzy.

"Considering the current situation, don’t waste my time with irrelevant topics. Whoever wants to charge with me, stand on my left. Whoever doesn’t want to break out, stand on my right. You have two minutes."

"By the way, to ensure more people can escape from Hualin Town, I’ll kill everyone who isn’t prepared to charge. To those mutant vines, there’s not much difference between the dead and the living."

"The professionists in this entire camp have provided for you for so long. Now, in this situation, it’s time for you to pay your due."

Li Quan’an smirked coldly.

The commoners just stared blankly at Li Quan’an as he spoke. It was hard to believe that this was Mayor Li, the one they had put their trust in.

"Only one minute and thirty seconds remaining," Li Quan’an said flatly, glancing at his wristwatch.

With the countdown starting, everyone instantly went into a frenzy, discussing among themselves or immediately choosing to stand on Li Quan’an’s left.

Yet, some went directly to Li Quan’an’s right.

This group was made up of elderly people. When the countdown ended, approximately thirty-odd elders had chosen to stand on Li Quan’an’s right side.

The elderly man leading them, his eyes cloudy, looked at Li Quan’an. In a weary voice, he made his final request.

"Mayor Li, we are old and can’t move much. We aren’t intending to go to Chaihe Town. We only wish to die here in Hualin Town. That would be enough. Mayor Li, would you consider our age and not send us to our deaths?"

Mayor Li looked seriously at this group, their faces fraught with fear, helplessness, and indecision.

Only now did they understand what the end of the world entailed.

After a slight sigh, Li Quan’an leaped off the large truck, slowly made his way to the elderly, and bowed deeply before them.

The scene fell silent. Even Wen Yu watched Li Quan’an intently, wanting to see his decision.

Li Quan’an began to speak slowly, "Dear elders, now that things have come to this, you are the ones I have wronged the most."

"You’ve spent a lifetime raising children. Some of you haven’t even had a chance to enjoy life before this damned apocalypse arrived."

"For your children, for this society, you have labored and given so much of your time. You ought to have had a good ending."

Li Quan’an paused for a moment, and then his tone abruptly shifted.

"But have you ever considered this? If you’re gone, I’ll have to use other people’s lives to fill the gap. You don’t have much time left to live anyway, so why can’t you understand? Using your lives to save others—isn’t that your greatest value right now? Isn’t that your honor, the most glorious moment of your lives?"

"Does it really matter where you die or how you die?"

Li Quan’an’s voice grew louder until finally, he was roaring.

The elders behind him were stunned into silence; no one spoke another word.

"Now, considering your age, I’ll give you one last chance to choose. Left, or right!"

Hearing Li Quan’an’s ultimatum, those on the right hesitated for a moment before the majority slowly made their way to the left.

In less than a minute, when only a few immobile individuals remained on the right, Li Quan’an waved his hand.

"Kill them all."

Wen Yu watched as Li Quan’an’s men raised their steel sabers and cut down the few remaining elders. He sighed to himself.

This scene... it was all too familiar.

It was so much like what he had experienced in his past life when he was just cannon fodder.

The difference was, he had been lucky enough to survive, and he knew how to adapt.

"Welcome to the apocalypse, and congratulations on leaving it," Wen Yu muttered under his breath.

"Let’s go. And don’t feel burdened, or overthink things." Seeing Li Quan’an stride over, Wen Yu offered rare words of comfort.

Not just anyone could issue such cruel orders; any person with a conscience would feel an immense burden.

Li Quan’an was the leader of a settlement. Before the apocalypse, however, he had only been a small-town mayor, not a madman or a cold-blooded executioner. Suddenly burdened with hundreds of lives, Wen Yu worried that Li Quan’an wouldn’t be able to bear it.

"I know, I know. This is all just for survival." Li Quan’an was obviously not in the right state of mind.

Wen Yu forcefully patted Li Quan’an’s shoulder and said softly, "Snap out of it fast. Otherwise, you’ll be the one who dies next."

Li Quan’an forcefully tugged at his collar. Looking at the panicked crowd below, he no longer had the mood to give another speech and simply issued the final order.

"Non-professionists who can drive, get in the vehicles. You’ll follow Brother Wen Yu and charge out. Untransformed individuals, stay behind the convoy. We’ll save as many as we can. Professionists will cover the rear. Get ready! We leave in five minutes!"

Under the lethal threat of the professionists’ steel sabers, the crowd below hurriedly made preparations. Wen Yu also took out some jerked meat and began chewing quickly, not forgetting to summon Cyclops, who would be the main force in the upcoming breakout.

"Mayor Li, I have something to say."

Li Quan’an, who was arranging the preparations, looked back.

It was Sun Ruixing.

"What is it?"

"For the breakout, put me among the ordinary people."

"No problem."