Chapter 521: 521

Chapter 521: Forced into a Corner

A’Ji’s eyes went wide and he cried out, “What?!”

He seemed to be even more shocked than when he heard the news about the village chief’s death.

After all, to the twelve-year-old or so Leprosy Village boy, the village chief was old, weak, and distant.

Ms. Mulian, however, was a goddess sent to save those who were suffering.

The weight of these two people in his heart was completely different.

“First go and get information. I’ll explain things to you when you come back,” Meng Chao said. “Remember, the village chief is already dead. The things I predicted will come true one by one. So, if you run away this time, no one will save Leprosy Village anymore. You, Ms. Mulian, everyone in Leprosy Village, and your only home will disappear into dust.

“On the other hand, if you trust me, no matter how strong our enemies are, we will definitely save Leprosy Village and win this war. Then, all the Leprosy Village villagers will eat steak!”

A’Ji thought about this for a moment.

“I trust you, Uncle. We’ll definitely save Leprosy Village and win this war.” A’Ji widened his sparkly eyes, and his crystalline left eye was especially bright. It shone with a light that seemed to be able to see through the human heart. He stared at Meng Chao and asked, “But what if those powerful people still occupy all the steaks after we win the war and would rather feed their dogs instead of us? What should we do then?”

Meng Chao found himself speechless.

“Uncle, if that really happens, will you snatch the steaks from the powerful people for us?” A’Ji asked with great expectation.

Meng Chao sank into deep thought.

In his mind, he saw the scene of ten thousand supernovas exploding above Dragon City.

In his previous life, Dragon City had always been under the firm control of the mega corporations.

At their peak, when Dragon City’s civilization was known as the Extraordinary Disaster, the peerless superhumans from the mega corporations were indeed powerful.

But in the end, all of them died, and they could not save Dragon City from being devoured by the apocalypse.

So, in this life…

“I will.” Meng Chao looked at the boy and spoke firmly. “As long as we win the war, we will definitely figure out the fairest way to distribute the loot. If anyone occupies too many spoils and would rather feed their dogs instead of letting you fill their stomachs, I will stand together with you and snatch the steaks from their hands!”

A’Ji was clearly stunned.

He had said it without much thought, perhaps he had even done it out of spite, but he did not expect that Meng Chao would actually make a serious promise to him.

He cast Meng Chao a deep glance and said softly, “Thanks, Uncle.”

Once he said that, he turned around and walked out.

Meng Chao stared at the boy’s thin figure and had a strange feeling.

“A’Ji?” he called out.

“What is it?” The boy turned around.

At the moment A’Ji turned around, a wave of spirit energy that was as fierce as lightning and had no form or shadow pierced the boy’s eyes.

If the boy was a powerful person hiding his strength, he would definitely sense Meng Chao’s ambush and instinctively blink, have his pupils shrink, or adjust his muscles minimally to instantly enter a battle state.

A’Ji’s eyelashes, pupils, muscles, breathing, and even heartbeat did not change in the slightest. He only stared at Meng Chao ignorantly.

“It’s fine. Be careful and quick. Come back soon.” Meng Chao frowned a little and waved his hand.

After the boy left, Meng Chao returned to the depths of the shadows in the alley and drank all of the high-calorie nutritional fluid and medicinal fluid he found on Corpse-eating Dog Du Ming.

Then, he used contribution points to exchange for three Middle Stage Healing Skills.

The more often he used the healing skill within a short period of time to heal himself, the greater the law of diminishing marginal utility became.

Not only did he have to use more contribution points every time, the period of time he needed to be healed became longer, and the effect also became weaker.

Originally, he could complete a healing session with just a few seconds.

Now, a progress bar actually popped up in front of him, showing him that he needed a few minutes to heal himself. Earlier, in his last healing session, he had actually needed dozens of minutes to complete one healing session.

Besides, even after the healing session ended, his wounds did not instantly heal. They were just suppressed for the time being and he recovered some of his spirit energy and fighting strength.

‘Kindling isn’t a perpetual motion machine. It can’t create energy out of thin air and let me endlessly return to full health!’

Meng Chao stared at the fog-shrouded wound on his chest and gathered his spirit energy before he threw a few casual punches. From the sound of air being pushed aside, he sensed his own strength.

Right now, if he fought against three people at the level of Corpse-eating Dog Du Ming at the same time, he would have a 50% victory rate.

If he ran into more of them, he could only execute a tactical retreat.

At this state, how would he be able to fight against his enemies even if he managed to find the Vortex?

By the looks of it, he would not be able to win without powerful reinforcements.

Even if there was a severe lack of manpower outside and they had to lock down the lair for the time being because they could not send anyone inside, Golden Tooth Lair had the Underground Emperor, Saber Jin Wanhao. He was a top-class fighter in Dragon City and a terrifying existence who was at the same rank as Battle God Lei Zongchao decades ago!

The Vortex had caused a bloody mess in Leprosy Village, which was located deep in the lair. How could Saber Jin Wanhao not have done anything yet? The Underground Emperor was reacting a little too slowly!

Meng Chao grumbled in his heart.

At this moment, A’Ji came back with hunched shoulders.

The Leprosy Village boy was gasping for breath and was covered in sweat. His cloak was in a mess. By the looks of it, he had spent a lot of strength gathering information.

“How is it? Is the village chief really dead? How did he die?” Meng Chao asked anxiously.

“He’s really dead.” A’Ji licked his dry lips. “The captors from the outside world said that— Oh, I mean the fake captors said that the village chief has been in cahoots with the wanted criminals all this time. He built a large Deification Capsule pharmacy in the village to create super gene medicine that is highly destructive, and it caused a lot of trouble to the businesses and citizens outside.

“They came to investigate this matter. In the end, the wanted criminals fought back and fled into the depths of Leprosy Village. The village chief’s crimes were discovered, and he committed suicide for fear of punishment.”

“Committed suicide for fear of punishment? That’s impossible!” Meng Chao’s mind raced, and in an instant, he denied the possibility of the village chief working together with the Vortex.

The reason for it was simple: The village chief had support from Saber Jin Wanhao, which allowed him to control Leprosy Village. Meanwhile, Saber Jin Wanhao had support from the mega corporations, which helped him remain the Underground Emperor and control the situation in Golden Tooth Lair.

To a certain extent, they had received approval from the government to maintain order in the gray areas of the underworld.

They obtained a lot of benefits from doing that.

The master of the gray order could definitely not be a good citizen who obeyed the law, but their possibility of joining the monster civilization and betraying their own kind, side, and direct interests was even smaller.

“That’s what we think too. That’s why there’s a completely different understanding among the people,” A’Ji said angrily. “The people heard that the village chief actually saw the captors going overboard in Leprosy Village and destroying an entire building to capture the wanted criminals. The explosion killed countless villagers because the captors didn’t care about our lives.

“The village chief could not stand it anymore and went to them, wanting to get some form of justice for the dead villagers and hoping that he could get the captors to restrain their actions, because he would otherwise go to the Supernatural Tower and the Survival Committee to report their actions.

“In the end, the captors refused to control themselves and instead made false allegations about the village chief… No, they made false allegations about all the people in Leprosy Village, saying that we’re working together with wanted criminals to create Deification Capsules with them and destroying Dragon City’s safety and order.

“The captors said that every person in Leprosy Village is an accomplice of the wanted criminals, that we’re all the criminals who created the Deification Capsules.

“Now, the humans and monsters are fighting in a pitched battle at the perimeter of Dragon City. If the humans lose the battle, Leprosy Village will be a major reason behind it.

“The captors also said that to ensure the victory of human civilization, they will do whatever it takes to find the wanted criminals hiding in Leprosy Village, and they won’t care about the cost. Also, they demanded that all the villagers work with them unconditionally to help them capture the wanted criminals.

“They seem to have given the village chief a hard deadline to force us all to find the wanted criminals. Otherwise, they would upgrade their measures in capturing the criminals, and they would do things like bringing out heavy artillery to blow whole buildings to smithereens or pump poisonous gas into the underground shelters, and it won’t be limited to just that. They would use any and all extreme methods to force the wanted criminals out.

“Naturally, we’re willing to work with the government unconditionally to capture wanted criminals, but we’re not professional secret police or special agents from the research department. If they’re wanted criminals that even you can’t capture, how can we capture all of them without missing a single one?

“If they really use heavy artillery or release poisonous gas, Leprosy Village will be completely ruined even if they manage to capture the wanted criminals!

“So, of course the village chief did not agree to it. He did everything he could to argue with the captors, and in the end, the captors from outside killed the village chief, though no one knows whether it was a mistake or whether they did it intentionally.”

“It’s false. We wouldn’t use such simple and crude methods.” Meng Chao scowled. “You can choose not to believe in the morals of the people outside, but believe in our intelligence, at the very least. If we did things like that, wouldn’t it be the same as us forcing all of you into a corner and giving you no choice but to rebel?”

“I didn’t say you’re not smart,” A’Ji said. “But now, all the villagers are really angry and panicked. The village chief was our chief for decades. He got us a lot of synthetic food and drinkable water. He even helped countless people survive. He had great prestige among the villagers, and now, he died in mysterious circumstances. Everyone is incredibly angry and want to take revenge for the village chief.

“But compared to revenge, the villagers are even more afraid of the ‘captors’ fulfilling their promises and bringing out heavy artillery and releasing poisonous gas to capture the wanted criminals. If they did that, Leprosy Villager would be a goner!

“So, everyone is going to Wild Wolf for a solution. They believe that he is the only one who can become our new chief and help everyone escape from death.

“I heard that Wild Wolf has already gathered all the powerful descendants of the infectees in the village and brought out all our weapons and gene medicine to arm the villagers. We’re going to defend the village!”