Chapter 124
Fu Suxi’s words were clear and icy. Every syllable was like a sharp blade slicing through the air, making everyone present feel a chill in their hearts.
Compared to his threatening tone, what shocked them more was that single sentence—
There were no survivors in the temporary resettlement zone.
At least a hundred people had failed to leave the temporary resettlement zone. Not a single survivor?
They were all dead?
The buzz-cut man who had collapsed onto the ground gaped, his face filled with stunned disbelief.
The air seemed to freeze, so silent it was suffocating. The heavy sound of the crowd’s breathing was painfully clear.
Fu Suxi lifted his eyelids slightly, his gaze drifting lazily across the crowd.
[Checking personal information…]
[Checking personal information…]
[Checking personal information…]
“Click—”
The sound of a lighter flicking.
Fu Suxi lit a cigarette and cast an indifferent glance at the equally stunned armed soldiers. The leading soldier snapped back to his senses, hurriedly pulled the buzz-cut man up from the ground, and dragged him beyond the cordon.
The man’s legs were so weak he couldn’t stand steady. With a thud, he slumped back onto the ground in a daze.
The suffocating silence was shattered by intermittent sobbing.
At first it was faint, but soon it gathered like trickling streams converging into a river. More and more people began to cry, louder and louder, until the entire space was shrouded in thick grief and heaviness.
Among the crowd, a curly-haired woman stared at Fu Suxi with eyes burning with almost tangible hatred. She suddenly stepped forward, gripping the warning tape tightly with both hands, and demanded sharply:
“How did they die?”
“Were they killed by monsters?”
“Or—just like my husband—did you decide they were contaminated and shoot them directly?!”
Her voice was hoarse and trembling, but her piercing questions carried clearly to everyone present.
People began looking at Fu Suxi. Gradually, many recognized him as the Special Operations Bureau ability user from the city gate—the one who had shot someone dead before ordinary people even finished testing.
“Th-that gay ability user…”
“Yes, that’s him!”
“I heard he’s the Bureau’s minister…”
Yu Zhi heard the murmurs drifting on the wind. He looked over and recognized the curly-haired woman questioning Fu Suxi.
On the day Fu Suxi had demanded the Bureau follow the principle “Better to kill a hundred by mistake than let one slip through,” he had shot her husband dead at the city gate.
Yu Zhi blinked and turned to look at Fu Suxi.
Fu Suxi tilted his head slightly, as if glancing at the woman. He ignored her entirely, slowly exhaling thin strands of bluish-white smoke, his posture languid and his expression utterly unconcerned.
Seeing his attitude, others couldn’t bear it either and joined in shouting:
“Isn’t this supposed to be a safe zone?!”
“How could there be variants? How could there be monsters?!”
“Why wasn’t there even a warning alarm?!”
Accusations overlapped and echoed endlessly.
Fu Suxi flicked the ash from his cigarette. His tone was light and casual, easily suppressing the crowd’s noise:
“Who told you a safe zone is absolutely safe?”
The moment the words fell, everyone froze.
“Even if it’s not absolutely safe, shouldn’t you at least explain it clearly to us?” the curly-haired woman pressed on.
Fu Suxi bit down on his cigarette and walked forward step by step, stopping directly before the cordon.
Still ignoring her question, he swept his gaze over the crowd and said calmly:
“Those who want to leave the safe zone, stand on the right. Those who want to stay, stand on the left.”
“If you want to die—”
He paused, changed the magazine of his handgun with one hand.
“—come find me.”
The chaotic environment plunged into silence again. An oppressive atmosphere spread soundlessly.
Though a contamination incident had occurred in the safe zone, outside it was obviously even more dangerous.
Seeing no one move, Fu Suxi lowered his gaze to the buzz-cut man at his feet.
Coldly, he uttered one word:
“Choose.”
The man felt the gaze on him as if he were already a corpse. Cold sweat poured down his forehead. Trembling, he crawled up from the ground and staggered to stand on the left.
Fu Suxi: “Next.”
The middle-aged woman beside him sensed the gaze and hurried to line up on the left as well.
Soon, more and more people stood to the left, all choosing to stay.
Not a single person chose to leave.
The curly-haired woman looked at them, then at Fu Suxi. Gritting her teeth, she lifted her foot and walked toward the right.
After only two steps, she found a short-haired woman in a black Special Operations Bureau uniform standing in front of her.
Shang Yu gave her a faint smile, patted her shoulder, and gently guided her back to the left. “This side is the left.”
“We truly can’t guarantee the safe zone is absolutely safe.”
“I’m sorry.”
The woman’s lips trembled. Tears burst from her eyes as she choked:
“Is one apology enough?”
“Over a hundred people died this time. Are you going to brush it off like this too?”
She forcefully shoved Shang Yu’s hand away and said through clenched teeth, “You make me sick.”
Shang Yu’s hand hung awkwardly in the air for a moment before she lowered it and slipped it into her pocket.
She looked around. Seeing that everyone had stood on the left—no one choosing to leave, no one going to Fu Suxi to seek death—she finally let out a breath of relief.
She quickly walked to the lead soldier and quietly instructed, “Send two teams to escort them to the emergency resettlement point. Deploy more people to keep watch over them.”
“Yes.”
[Livestream Room H310000: Now Live]
[Online Viewers: 7402]
[User “Pure Love Warrior” praises your temporary lover’s ruthlessness and tips you 10 universal coins.]
[User “World’s Cutest Girl” compliments your temporary lover’s cold cruelty and tips you 20 universal coins.]
[User “Strongest King” acknowledges your temporary lover’s arrogance.]
[User “Scarecrow’s Straw” glorifies your temporary lover’s disregard for human life and viciously insults you.]
Yu Zhi glanced at the scrolling comments, then tilted his head to look at Fu Suxi, who had just gotten into the vehicle.
Fu Suxi’s condition was no better than before he got out. A violent aura from overusing his ability lingered around him. If there was any difference, it was that he now carried a faint smell of tobacco.
Yu Zhi pressed his lips together. Ji Yangqiu had been right—when Fu Suxi’s eyes turned red, he needed to see blood to improve his condition.
But he hadn’t killed anyone just now. Which meant Fu Suxi hadn’t gotten out of the vehicle for the sake of stabilizing his own mental state.
As if sensing Yu Zhi’s scrutiny, Fu Suxi paused, sat in the seat to his left, lowered his head, and stared into his eyes.
“You want to interfere in their affairs too?” he asked pointedly.
In other words—not just the mole within the Bureau? You also want to meddle in how the Bureau handles ordinary people?
Yu Zhi wasn’t sure what kind of persona Fu Suxi had assigned him. Lazily, he replied, “I was just thinking—it’s surprising you didn’t go down to kill people, but instead went down to scare them.”
Firing warning shots, deliberately forcing them to choose between staying or leaving… given Fu Suxi’s personality, all of it felt intentional—meant to frighten.
Besides, Shang Yu had already handled the situation. Fu Suxi had no need to get out of the vehicle at all.
Getting out almost seemed… deliberate. Like showing himself publicly.
Yu Zhi’s gaze paused. He raised a brow. “You did it on purpose?”
Fu Suxi narrowed his eyes. “Why would I do it on purpose?”
Yu Zhi thought for a moment. “Because… you’re sick, maybe.”
Fu Suxi: “…”
From the driver’s seat, Zuo Feiyang: “…”
When Shang Yu got back into the vehicle, she saw the two in the back seat staring at each other at a distance close enough for their breaths to mingle.
She cleared her throat, shut the door, and reported to Fu Suxi, “We’ve increased manpower at the emergency resettlement point. There shouldn’t be any more problems for now.”
“Old Zuo, drive back to the Bureau.”
The armored vehicle slowly started, heading toward the Special Operations Bureau once more.
Yu Zhi looked out the window at the crowd lining up, escorted by soldiers toward the emergency resettlement point.
Each person wore a different expression—some numb, some crying in grief, many filled with anger and resentment, clearly cursing.
It wasn’t hard to imagine that once they arrived, they would spread every word and action of Fu Suxi’s.
They would resent the Bureau. They would resent Fu Suxi even more.
A cold wind slipped through the crack in the window, brushing against Yu Zhi’s face.
His lashes trembled. His eyes widened suddenly.
He finally realized what Fu Suxi was doing.
—He was intensifying the conflict between the Special Operations Bureau and ordinary people.
That’s why he had shot the parasitized contaminant at the city gate.
That’s why he had ordered Shang Yu to handle the contamination incident according to pre-apocalypse procedures.
From beginning to end, everything Fu Suxi did was planned and purposeful.
He was calculating and deep-minded, deliberately choosing violent and ruthless methods over gentle ones.
Sometimes, escalating conflict resolves problems faster.
Yu Zhi’s lips tightened. His heart sank heavier and heavier.
Fu Suxi had long known that Meteorite Biotech was manufacturing contamination sources and creating instance worlds.
That fact couldn’t be changed. But what Fu Suxi wanted to deal with wasn’t just Meteorite Biotech—it was something else.
What matter could force him to go this far?
A thought streaked across Yu Zhi’s mind like a meteor—gone before he could grasp it.
The armored vehicle suddenly stopped.
Yu Zhi looked up blankly. “We’re here already?”
Shang Yu immediately explained, “We drove faster. There’s still a lot to handle at the Bureau.”
Fu Suxi got out directly and strode toward the command building.
Yu Zhi followed, but after only two steps, he felt someone tug lightly at his sleeve.
He turned to see Shang Yu leaning close and whispering, “Brother Yu, because of the contamination instance at the temporary resettlement zone, several departments are holding a meeting.”
She looked at him expectantly. “Are you going?”
Yu Zhi subconsciously glanced at Fu Suxi. Seeing he hadn’t asked him to follow, he thought for a moment. “No.”
The meeting would certainly concern the follow-up handling of the resettlement zone. Rather than listening to their discussion, he might as well wait and ask for the result afterward.
Shang Yu stared at him, eyes full of disappointment. “Really not going?”
Yu Zhi shook his head. “I have other things to deal with.”
Hearing that, she stopped persuading him. Carefully glancing at Fu Suxi’s back ahead, she lowered her voice and asked, “If Minister Fu ends up arguing—or fighting—with the other ministers during the meeting, what should I do?”
Yu Zhi considered. “Stand farther away. Don’t get caught in the crossfire.”
Shang Yu: “…”
Still unwilling to give up, she pressed, “There’s really no other way?”
Yu Zhi: “Yes. Tell them not to provoke him.”
Shang Yu: “…………”
Beside her, Zuo Feiyang patted her shoulder in consolation. “Old Shang, it’s not your fault. It’s the world’s.”
Shang Yu twitched at the corner of her mouth. She grabbed his arm and declared, “If there’s trouble, we share it.”
Before Zuo Feiyang could react, she raised her voice toward Fu Suxi. “Minister Fu, Zuo Feiyang says he wants to attend the meeting too.”
Zuo Feiyang: “???”
Yu Zhi glanced at them, withdrew his gaze, and walked straight toward the research building.
He didn’t linger on the way back. He didn’t even pause at the cafeteria, returning quickly to his room.
He locked the door without even changing his clothes and immediately called out:
“System.”
No response.
Yu Zhi tried again. “H0516?”
The next second, the system panel popped up before him:
[Closing livestream for you…]
The words “Now Live” in the lower right corner switched to “Offline.”
Yu Zhi froze.
Then a familiar sweet female voice sounded in the air.
“Hello. I am System Pandora. It’s a pleasure to serve you.”
