Chapter 24: A Generous Gift Prepared for You
The survivors on the scene watched Shen Chengyin with bated breath, hope flickering in their eyes.
The night was pitch-black, and within Shen Chengyin’s eyes, not a single speck of light could be seen.
Right at that moment, a shout echoed from the distance:
“Shen Chengyin!”
Though they couldn’t clearly see through the dark, the survivors instantly recognized Su Han’s voice.
“It’s A-Han!”
Shen Chengyin paused, then turned around.
Everyone turned in unison to see a silhouette limping toward them.
He ran with a stagger, his knees seemingly devoid of strength, nearly stumbling several times.
That bastard Tang Qiao had been ruthless—the electrical shock had left Su Han’s knees so stiff he could barely bend them even now.
“Shen Chengyin! Take this!” Su Han hurried over and shoved an object into Shen Chengyin’s hand, looking up at him with eager anticipation.
It was a voice recorder pen.
Su Han had borrowed it from Shen Chengyin back then to test Li Tiangan’s motives and had never returned it; now it came in handy.
Right in front of the crowd, Su Han clicked the recorder on. Tang Qiao’s crisp voice played out:
“Leader, back then Shen Chengyin was carved open from chest to groin, his internal organs practically hollowed out. You watched with your own eyes as I threw him down into the swarm. It was impossible for him to survive.”
“Every single one of Shen Chengyin’s inner circle—including their dependents, old and young, men and women—was put to the sword. Not a single soul was spared.”
The entire exchange between Tang Qiao and Wang Jiafu had been recorded verbatim by Su Han while hiding behind the storage shelves.
Every word felt like an icicle stabbing straight into everyone’s ears.
The surrounding survivors froze where they stood, their very breathing grinding to a halt.
What had they just heard?
Wang Jiafu had not only betrayed Leader Shen, but had also slaughtered his confidants and their families.
“Didn’t Wang Jiafu demand evidence?” Su Han pulled several sheets of paper from his tactical pouch. “With his tongue sliced off, he couldn’t speak, so their conversation was one speaking and the other writing. Both sets of evidence happen to be preserved right here—in black and white.”
All the evidence was pressed into Shen Chengyin’s hands.
The man lowered his eyes, then pushed the recorder and papers back toward Su Han.
“The dead are already gone. These things are meaningless.”
Tang Qiao’s ambitions had been laid bare; given his ruthless methods, Wang Jiafu had no chance of surviving.
Su Han let out a cold sneer. “Letting Wang Jiafu die so easily would be letting him off far too lightly. He should be locked up in the holding cells by now.”
Shen Chengyin had gone through all that trouble to strip Wang Jiafu of his ability; Su Han naturally couldn’t just stand by and watch Tang Qiao put an end to him.
That was also why he had intervened to stop Tang Qiao.
Shen Chengyin started slightly, gazing down at Su Han.
In the dim gloom, all he could make out was the crown of Su Han’s light-colored hair.
The boy was a full head shorter than him, yet like a surgeon’s scalpel, he had effortlessly sliced through a tangled knot buried deep within Shen Chengyin’s chest.
Su Han gave Shen Chengyin’s sleeve a couple of gentle tugs, his voice hushed: “Come on, I’ve got another surprise for you.”
Shen Chengyin remained silent for a long moment, but in the end, he aborted his motion to store the fortress gate into his space and followed Su Han away.
Before departing, Su Han issued a warning to the survivors present: “Leader Shen’s return is an absolute blessing, and the sole hope of this base. As for what should be said and what shouldn’t, think it over carefully.”
The survivors here possessed no combat capability and had long since been won over by Su Han. They nodded vigorously:
“Don’t worry, A-Han! We only recognize Leader Shen as our leader!”
“That damned beast Wang Jiafu—just wait until he gets what’s coming to him!”
“As long as a single one of us draws breath, Leader Shen will always be our true leader! That bastard Wang Jiafu won’t get a single good word out of our mouths!”
“Damn right!”
Amidst the shouts of the crowd, Su Han and Shen Chengyin walked away, permitting no one to follow.
The ability users who had tagged along had just swallowed a massive bombshell; reeling in shock, they sprinted off immediately.
Before the zombie horde completely surged over the defenses, they had to make everything crystal clear to the squads defending the battlements.
Wang Jiafu was a despicable snake who stabbed his brothers in the back—they would never work like dogs or bleed for him again!
Cold, numb.
Tang Qiao forced his eyelids open with great difficulty, greeted only by pitch-black darkness.
His body was extraordinarily stiff; even curling a finger required immense effort.
As a lightning ability user, no one understood the physiological toll of being severely struck by electricity better than he did.
Damn that Li Tiangan—aside from Li Tiangan, nobody possessed the electrical voltage to incapacitate him like this.
As the only two lightning users in the entire base, the bad blood between him and Li Tiangan had been forged from day one.
Pity that Li Tiangan had no backing and lacked wits; leveraging Wang Jiafu’s authority, Tang Qiao had swiftly shoved him into an idle, godforsaken backwater post.
Who could have thought the punk’s powers would advance so quickly? He had likely crossed into the primary tier as well.
After resting a while, Tang Qiao forced himself to scramble upright, his legs shaking violently.
He gathered a glowing orb of static in his palm, using the faint, flickering illumination to survey his surroundings.
Guns—firearms of every make and model, along with countless crates of ammunition.
This was Hope Base’s central armory.
When Hope Base was first founded, it had sheltered a squad of mercenaries. After Shen Chengyin brokered a deal with them, their arsenal had been turned over to the base reserves.
Scavenging teams had subsequently salvaged munitions from local military wreckage, steadily expanding the armory’s stockpile.
Panting heavily, Tang Qiao ran his hands over the weapons.
Every single piece was live and loaded. It was no wonder Wang Jiafu had clung to power with an iron grip.
In the apocalypse, sheer firepower dictated everything; who wouldn’t covet a cache like this?
Tang Qiao felt his way along the armory corridor while searching for an exit.
He soon located the armory vault door. The thick alloy gate was fitted with an electronic cipher lock; even with an ability, blasting through was impossible.
Did they really think a place like this could hold him?
Tang Qiao sneered with inward disdain.
He had only glanced once at the password Wang Jiafu scrawled on that pad, but it had been burned into his memory.
Full of confidence, Tang Qiao punched in the code. Following a heavy mechanical thud, the vault door rolled slowly open.
Dim light filtered from outside, revealing numerous survivors gathered on the open staging ground. With the horde bearing down, Wang Jiafu had established several logistical staging posts near the armory to expedite the ferrying of munitions.
Tang Qiao swaggered out of the armory, utterly oblivious to the mechanism tripped the instant the door unsealed—a tiny burning fuse hissed beneath his boots.
“Commander Tang?”
“Why are you coming out from inside the armory?”
Hearing their questions, Tang Qiao realized immediately that the majority of the base still had no idea he and Wang Jiafu had been exposed, still regarding them as leaders.
Without missing a beat or batting an eye, he smoothly fabricated an excuse: “The Leader dispatched me to tally our munitions reserves. What’s the situation on the frontlines?”
“Word from the ability users up front is that things are holding relatively stable for now.”
Tang Qiao chatted amiably with the survivors, the scene almost appearing harmonious.
Five minutes later, having kept up appearances long enough, Tang Qiao turned to take his leave.
Suddenly, an earth-shattering blast erupted from the armory behind him.
The armory had been constructed flush against the outer fortification—its back wall was the perimeter barrier itself.
Tang Qiao whipped around in stunned horror just as a secondary blast tore through the structure, the shockwave bringing a shower of jagged masonry raining down like hail.
A blistering wave of flame and heat surged into his face.
The surrounding survivors froze in shock before snapping to their senses.
“The armory blew up!!!”
“Run!!”
One deafening blast roared after another.
Countless tons of stored explosives ignited in a cascading chain reaction, detonations continuing to rip through the complex.
Survivors scrambled on all fours, desperately fleeing the kill zone.
The violent tremors made it impossible for Tang Qiao to keep his balance. Scrambling forward on hands and knees, he lurched toward the perimeter as shattered concrete and glowing sparks hailed down around his boots.
Wails of agony rose from survivors struck by flying debris, dropping to the dirt.
The thick, reinforced fortification could not withstand the unrelenting bombardment; with another thunderous roar, the wall collapsed in a catastrophic landslide, exposing a gaping, colossal breach.
At the sight of that gaping breach in the wall, pure, unadulterated despair finally twisted across Tang Qiao’s face.
He finally understood why Su Han hadn’t thrown him into the holding cells, but locked him inside the armory instead.
Everyone had witnessed him emerge from the vault moments before the explosives went off—he had been framed as the indisputable saboteur, with no way to ever clear his name.
Tang Qiao’s expression warped into a savage snarl. Collapsing heavily onto his rear, he bellowed in manic despair:
“Madmen! You’re all fucking madmen! Lunatics with a death wish!!”
“Then let’s all burn together, Shen Chengyin!!”
Shen Chengyin had crawled his way back from the jaws of death, yet he didn’t want the leader’s seat, didn’t want the rations and munitions in the storehouses, and wasn’t even seeking ordinary revenge.
The bastard wanted every single living soul to die.
Apocalypse: Becoming The White Moonlight Of A Possessive Mad Dog
