Saving Unpermitted

Chapter 87: Massacre Proclamation

Just as Yi Ning had anticipated, Marshal Zhu’s approval rating fell instead of rising.

Zhu Yanchen had rarely appeared in public before, and when he did, he maintained a silent and indifferent demeanor. The unexpected shooting incident and the comical way that Xia Yufeng fainted during the program only reinforced the perception among the public that Marshal Zhu was “putting on an act”.

However, Yi Ning had no time to relax.

He was currently sitting in Luo Duan’s room, repeatedly watching the surveillance footage from the past few days. Luo Duan’s disappearance had been very discreet, and they hadn’t captured the moment he vanished. It was only when Xia Liang accidentally exposed Luo Duan’s disguise that they realized he had disappeared.

But even with Luo Duan’s “motionless” disguise, even if it hadn’t been discovered in advance, it could have lasted at most a day.

After watching the surveillance footage multiple times, Yi Ning found no signs of Luo Duan interacting with anyone else. Most of the time, the captain remained quiet, spending his time reading. Occasionally, during his leisure time, he would sit on the window seat in the room and gaze outside.

The command center building was relatively tall, allowing for a relatively distant view. But whenever the sky turned overcast, the surroundings would be swallowed by gray mist. Most of the time, there was nothing of interest outside the window except a hazy city. The evenings were slightly better, with lights flickering in the buildings, emitting a festive atmosphere.

When sitting on the window seat at night, Luo Duan would often move his lips. Yi Ning initially thought it was a way of communicating with his comrades, but even after lip-reading experts deciphered it, the results were disappointing. Luo Duan’s words were full of past memories, interspersed with some confessions and small talk.

It was as if he was conversing with an invisible family member.

Yi Ning closed the screen and once again surveyed the small “prison” room.

It was too strange. Luo Duan had deliberately come back with him after the Reunion Festival, but he had only stayed in the command center for a while and didn’t cause any trouble. He seemed to have no demands whatsoever. Even his escape wasn’t difficult to guess—it was clear that Zhu Sheng was planning to seriously lock down the city, and as a synthetic human, Luo Duan would undoubtedly suffer if he didn’t find a way to leave.

And Luo Duan’s departure wasn’t without premonition—

[As a parting gift, here’s another hint for you. Zhu Sheng is not solely obsessed with power. As long as you find his weakness, you’ll have leverage over him.]

Looking back now, there were undoubtedly hidden meanings in Luo Duan’s words during their last meeting.

Why did Luo Duan come back with him in the first place? Yi Ning couldn’t understand.

When it came to the relationship between a superior and a subordinate over the years, Yi Ning found it laughable even to mention it. Over the years, there had been no camaraderie or personal feelings between them. In recent months, they had spent more time together than all those previous years combined.

Moreover, for a synthetic human like Luo Duan, with his powerful abilities and calm rationality, he was a valuable force at the leadership level. It was peculiar for the synthetic humans to allow him to act alone.

…Wait a minute. A force at the leadership level.

Without Luo Duan, the synthetic humans would undoubtedly have other leaders. But if Luo Duan was still there, why would they need to find another leader? Even if Luo Duan’s ideology clashed with that of the main synthetic human forces, he didn’t need to come to Y City specifically for self-preservation. With Luo Duan’s abilities, he could have comfortably settled in any settlement.

Fragments of clues floated in Yi Ning’s mind, and he gradually furrowed his brows.

Apart from Luo Duan’s unusual behavior… A while ago, Zhu Sheng was attacked at a special stronghold and, upon his return, immediately put the city on lockdown. The Tang family had sent people to investigate and learned that the special stronghold had been attacked by a synthetic human capable of summoning monsters, and Zhu Sheng almost didn’t escape.

And that stronghold was the very stronghold where the real Zhu Yanchen had been kidnapped. The mutant beast that attacked him was said to be “highly humanoid”.

Yi Ning took a deep breath, feeling as if a significant portion of the temperature in his body dissipated along with it.

Zhu Sheng personally went to investigate the special stronghold, and the initial “humanoid mutant beast” might have played an important role in this matter. And Yi Ning had kept the Y City incident involving Luo Duan a secret from Zhu Sheng. With this secret clue, he had a terrifying guess—

The synthetic humans had another leader. This person possessed great power—enough to overshadow Luo Duan in terms of influence—and had different views from him.

Luo Duan had deliberately come to Y City, and there was no evidence of espionage. It was highly likely that he was trying to avoid this person. From this perspective, that leader must be extremely dominant and authoritative. Taking all these clues into consideration, the only one who fit the criteria was…

No, Shu Jun was already dead.

Wait, when did that “humanoid mutant beast” appear? Yi Ning stood in the white room with a momentarily blank expression.

The strongest soldier might still be alive and had transformed into some kind of… monster, which matched the information about the attacker at the special base. It made perfect sense why the thirty thousand synths disappeared so cleanly and hadn’t been caught all this time—their leader had long since disconnected from the player system, giving them plenty of time to prepare.

So, Luo Duan’s warning to “pay attention to formidable characters” in the settlements wasn’t just about “supporting formidable characters to protect the settlements”.

Shu Jun was still alive, but he alone couldn’t handle the supplies for thirty thousand people. He must have a collaborator, and that collaborator was inevitably a human within the settlement. Now, in retrospect, facing himself as a marshal, that “Gray Claw” implied that he had another boss, making the situation quite delicate.

By deliberately coming back with him and leaving behind hints, Luo Duan was giving him his support.

Yi Ning’s eyes brightened. He knew that Luo Duan had always had a gentle personality and an outrageously good temper. How could he possibly be willing to incite a bloody battle?

What about Luo Duan’s second hint? To grasp Zhu Sheng’s weaknesses…

Intense contemplation left Yi Ning with a headache, and he couldn’t find a way forward. Just as he was pacing in the room, his assistant came to his rescue. “Commander, the opening ceremony for the new elections is tonight. We should leave.”

“I know.”

Yi Ning adjusted his uniform collar, and as soon as he stepped out, a shrill alert sound came through the communicator—

“Sir, there’s been activity detected from a massive Erosion Swamp in the southeast of Y City. It is moving toward Y City and passing through Settlement γ-31329. The settlement’s residents have already discovered it and sent the highest level distress signal.”

“How much time do we have?”

“The time for the Erosion Swamp to reach Y City?”

“No, the time for the Erosion Swamp to reach the settlement.”

“One week.”

“Then let’s try to finish this election within three days.”

However, his estimate was still overly optimistic. Zhu Sheng, who also received the news about the Erosion Swamp, showed no intention of expediting the election process. In fact, he deliberately dragged it out.

And the Erosion Swamp’s actions were faster than they had imagined. In less than three days, the giant Erosion Swamp was nearing its target settlement. It was only when the Erosion Swamp approached that people realized the severity of the situation. The giant Erosion Swamp’s acceleration wasn’t without reason—it was being guided by hundreds of Corpse Parasites, running towards the settlement.

He hadn’t been able to find Zhu Sheng’s weakness, but Zhu Sheng had already seized his own weakness.

Yi Ning sat at the election campaign venue, feeling restless. Currently, Zhu Sheng was still the nominal leader, and he couldn’t forcibly lift the city lockdown to provide assistance to the settlement.

“Marshal Yi.” As if seeing through his thoughts, Zhu Sheng’s assistant approached and saluted him. “Mr. Zhu kindly invites you to have dinner at the command center at 7:30 tonight.”

He didn’t even ask if Yi Ning agreed, saluting again and then turning to leave.

At the same time, at the settlement.

Yu Jin’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. “Shu Ge, you made us wait, and we waited. Now the Erosion Swamp is about to hit us head-on. We have many elderlies and children in the settlement. Shouldn’t we evacuate? Groundwater and Blackbirds are legitimate fighting teams, but we are just ordinary people.”

In a rare occurrence Hu Yan also spoke up. “There are too many Corpse Parasites on the other side, Shu Ge. Even if you’re formidable, you might not be able to handle it alone. I think Yu Jin is right. It would be better to evacuate the humans first.”

Chai Xuyang looked up at the ceiling, expressionless and silent.

“I just wanted to gather all of you, which would save me some trouble,” Shu Jun said in a relaxed tone, devoid of any hint of nervousness. “How much time do we have?”

“Less than a day, around twenty hours.”

“More than I estimated, but it’s enough.”

“What do you mean, ‘enough’?”

“Yu Jin, have everyone pack up valuable belongings in their homes and move to the underground stronghold. With just two remaining teams and all the residents, we should be able to squeeze in.”

“No, the Erosion Swamp is liquid. Even if we move underground, we’ll still be done for!” Yu Jin raised his voice.

“That’s exactly the idea.” Shu Jun calmly instructed. “The elite squads of Blackbirds and Groundwater, prepare the ‘Suppression’ equipment that was delivered a few days ago and block off all the entrances. Practice with it. It’s okay if it fails; I’ll have enough time to handle it.”

Hu Yan swallowed loudly.

Even without considering the erosion properties of the Erosion Swamp, it was like hiding in the basement when a flood was coming, fearing that others wouldn’t die fast enough. But Shu Jun didn’t seem like he was joking, and Hu Yan felt a bit stunned.

“Shu Ge, I think it’s possible to evacuate instead. Why use such a high-risk tactic?”

“First, the risk isn’t high.” Shu Jun still had a smile on his face. “What’s coming is just an ordinary Erosion Swamp so it’s quite easy to deal with. It’s not often we get such a relaxed practical exercise.”

“We can fight outside as well,” Hu Yan sincerely suggested. “I think I just developed claustrophobia all of a sudden.”

“No, everyone must hide underground.” Shu Jun’s smile grew wider, with a hint of rare mischief. “Your objection is invalid, Hu Yan.”

“Captain, what time is it? Let’s not joke around—normal people wouldn’t hide underground! We used to hide from people, not from Erosion Swamps. Underground strongholds provide no protection against erosion. We…”

“It’s precisely to hide from people.”

Shu Jun looked at Yu Jin.

“After this Erosion Swamp attack, half of the settlement’s people will die from the erosion, and the other half will be killed by me. As for the synthetic humans, they should also suffer ‘heavy casualties’.”

Yu Jin’s face turned pale. “What are you…”

Before he could finish his sentence, the remaining half got stuck in his throat.

Another “Yu Jin” suddenly appeared in front of him, and the next second, Shu Jun shot an arrow through his heart. The “Yu Jin” had black-red blood flowing from the corner of his mouth as he fell to the ground.

…And then he transformed into a trembling erosion mass.

“Just like this, dying from the Erosion Swamp or being killed by me,” Shu Jun said. “The distress signal has already been sent to Y City. Even if they don’t intend to come to your rescue, the detection devices will still be dispatched. Isn’t it fun? If Zhu Sheng wants chaos and war, I’ll give him ‘chaos’ and ‘war’.”

Yu Jin looked at the trembling erosion mass beneath his feet and took a silent step back.

“The accelerated movement of the Erosion Swamp—is that your doing too?” Chai Xuyang’s tone was as lifeless as stagnant water.

“Yes, and no,” Shu Jun happily admitted, waving the sword in his hand. Monday opened its mouth wide and exclaimed happily, “Me! Me!”

It even extended four thin arms from the sword’s body, vigorously waving its tiny hands to showcase its crawling speed. The other three people in the room, aside from Shu Jun, slowly turned their faces away—this creature itself was wide and long, plus with the four “legs”, it had a somewhat cockroach-like presence.

Shu Jun cleared his throat, picked up a cloth to wrap Monday completely, and continued, “This fellow chased after like a mad dog from behind. That’s why the Erosion Swamp and the Corpse Parasites were able to run at such speeds.”

“Luo Duan is still too cautious—his biggest miscalculation was sending a brainless Erosion Swamp over.”

The author has something to say:

Yi Ning: So the root of all evil is Shu Jun.

Shu Jun: Indeed, it is I. Let me perform a massacre of the people.jpg

——

Erosion Swamp: I’m so miserable.