For a moment, Wang Dazhuang thought he was hallucinating, but the genuine reactions of the underlings behind him told him that he probably wasn’t.
“Y-you-you—you brought a demon beast in here?” Wang Dazhuang’s face was filled with terror, and he was even starting to stumble over his words.
Lu Li did not answer him. He merely swept an icy gaze over the underlings standing behind him.
“Weren’t you all laughing pretty loudly just now? Why aren’t you laughing anymore?” Lu Li asked with a sneer.
The underlings behind Wang Dazhuang said nothing. Instead, they silently put some distance between themselves and Wang Dazhuang. In the blink of an eye, an empty space had formed around him.
They followed Wang Dazhuang because following him meant they got meat to eat, but there was no way they were going to die for him.
If there had only been a few dozen people on the other side today, they definitely would have rushed to prove their loyalty. But the problem was that the other side had a demon beast.
Wang Dazhuang roared in exasperation, “What are you afraid of? There’s only one demon beast! Can it really kill all of us?”
When the underlings behind him heard this, the way they looked at Wang Dazhuang changed, as though they were looking at an idiot.
What did he mean, cant it really kill all of us? Even taking ten thousand steps back, if the other side didn’t kill everyone and only killed some of them, what if they happened to be among that group?
Wang Dazhuang also realized that these underlings were no longer very reliable. After berating them, he glared viciously at Lu Li.
“I don’t believe you can command a demon beast!”
“Everyone, listen up! If he dares order the demon beast to attack, we’ll charge over and grapple with their people. Then we’ll see who dies first!” Wang Dazhuang was still trying to incite his underlings and get them fired up again.
Lu Li laughed. When someone becomes speechless enough, they really do laugh.
This guy seriously had no grasp of the situation.
Forget the fact that such a huge Beedrill was standing right in front of him—was Wang Dazhuang really that unafraid of death? At this point, was it really so hard to kneel down, kowtow, and submit?
Lu Li was so angry that he laughed, then coldly ordered, “Little Yellow, kill him.”
The moment Lu Li’s words fell, a blur flashed in front of Wang Dazhuang. He did not even have time to react before Beedrill’s poisonous stinger pierced straight through his forehead and the backrest of the chair behind him.
Everything happened too quickly. Before anyone had even reacted, Wang Dazhuang was already dead.
This tyrant who had lorded over Anke Residential Complex for nearly a month had exited the stage just like that.
Right up until the moment of his death, Wang Dazhuang’s face showed shock and fury rather than fear.
Because he had never believed Lu Li could precisely command that hornet demon beast, much less that a demon beast possessing supernatural powers would actually be so obedient.
Clang—
The sound of metal striking the floor rang out. Like a switch being flipped, one clang after another echoed continuously across the sixth floor.
Some of the smarter people suppressed their fear, obediently dropped their weapons, then cooperatively knelt on the ground with their hands clasped behind their heads.
But some people threw down their weapons and turned to run. They were afraid of being called to account because they had been among Wang Dazhuang’s earliest followers.
Seeing that there were actually still people trying to flee, Lu Li coldly ordered, “Little Yellow, kill anyone who dares run.”
Upon receiving the order, Beedrill transformed into a merciless god of death, continuously reaping the lives of the thugs who tried to escape.
Beedrill was simply too fast. Within the span of a few breaths, it had nearly dealt with everyone who had attempted to flee.
As more and more people fell, blood spread continuously across the floor. The remaining people finally stopped daring to run, because Beedrill really was only attacking those who tried to flee.
“Why bother?” Lu Li looked at the corpses on the ground with a sense of frustrated disappointment. These had all been perfectly good expendable resources. It was a good thing Mimikyu did not know about this. If that “young miss” found out, it would definitely complain that he had wasted “food.”
Even Jun Shutong had not expected things to go this smoothly.
“These people probably did plenty of bad things while following Wang Dazhuang. Take them back and use them as sacrifices,” Lu Li said to Jun Shutong.
Although more than twenty people who failed to recognize the situation had died, that was actually a good thing. After this display, the rest had surely been thoroughly intimidated and would not dare entertain any other little schemes.
Jun Shutong nodded. Before the apocalypse, these people could have been shot a hundred times over for what they had done. Making them serve as sacrifices definitely could not be considered an excessive punishment.
As for those killed by Beedrill, Jun Shutong did not care much about that either. After all, she was kindhearted, not brainless.
Besides, if they did not kill a few to warn the rest, even more people might die later.
“Leave a few people here to watch them. If they refuse to obey, notify me. When that happens, my Beedrill will teach them what fear really is.” Lu Li said this to Huang Jiafei and the others, but it was also a warning to those who had chosen to drop their weapons and surrender.
Things had gone more smoothly than he expected, but if these people still dared to play any tricks, he would not mind having Beedrill send them to meet their boss, Wang Dazhuang.
When the people kneeling on the ground heard this, their bodies trembled even harder. Inwardly, they all prayed that none of the colleagues around them would be stupid enough to resist, because they were afraid someone else’s actions would implicate them as well.
“Cai Cong, right? Take us to your camp,” Lu Li said to Cai Cong, who was desperately trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.
After being called out, Cai Cong gave an awkward smile, but he still hurriedly became an eager guide.
When he brought Beedrill and Jun Shutong up to the ninth floor, the survivors there all looked at the Beedrill beside him in terror.
Everyone avoided Lu Li as though he were the plague, doing their best to put as much distance as possible between themselves and this harbinger of disaster who had a demon beast following him.
“There’s actually a demon beast following him.”
“Why does that demon beast listen to him?”
“There seems to be blood on the stingers of that poison-stinger demon beast. They must have killed someone on the way here, right?”
“They seem to be from Dawn Camp. Could Wang Dazhuang already have been dealt with?”
Although the survivors whispered among themselves, no one doubted Lu Li’s strength. The Beedrill at his side was the strongest proof imaginable.
The entire building looked like a refugee camp. Lu Li even saw quite a few tents, while those in worse conditions had no choice but to spread bedding directly on the floor with their entire families.
The sight moved Jun Shutong as well. There were at least three hundred people on this floor, and some had their whole families with them. She even saw several sickly children letting out faint, kitten-like groans.
“Lu Li, after we get the supplies later, can we give some aid to these people?” Jun Shutong asked, her face full of sympathy as she tugged on Lu Li’s hand.
Normally, as the leader of the camp, she was fully qualified to directly order the food storehouse opened and provisions distributed. But now, Lu Li was the one who possessed absolute strength.
No matter how much it pained her, she did not dare let emotion go to her head. When it came to matters of real importance, Jun Shutong still understood the bigger picture.
Lu Li, whose voice had suddenly grown a bit heavy with emotion, nodded: “Mm.”
In truth, Lu Li had been shaken as well. Dawn Camp had gone through a period of hardship, but the scene before him today was far more shocking.
The people of Dawn Camp lived frugally, but at least they could guarantee two meals a day, and there were not that many of them. The miserable scene before him was far more impactful than anything they had experienced back then.
Lu Li frowned and urged, “I can’t stand seeing these people suffer. Hurry up and take us to the tenth floor.”
Only then did Lu Li realize that having physique far beyond an ordinary person was not always a good thing. His sense of smell was several times sharper than normal, making the environment here especially unbearable.
The place was filthy and chaotic, with waves of stench rolling through the air. He nearly passed out from the smell.
More than three hundred people had been crammed onto the same floor to eat, drink, relieve themselves, and sleep, and they had already been packed in here for at least half a month. The floor was completely unfit for human habitation.
As they walked, Lu Li asked, “Didn’t they ever think about moving to the eighth floor or the seventh floor?”
“Wang Dazhuang made a rule that all ordinary survivors could only live on the ninth floor. Every other floor was his private territory. If survivors dared enter, at best their legs would be broken and they’d be thrown out. At worst, they’d simply be beaten to death,” Cai Cong hurriedly explained.
Hearing this, Lu Li could not help cursing, “That b*stard died too quickly. He really got off easy.”
The environment on the tenth floor was much better than on the ninth. The ninth floor was one enormous office, while the tenth floor was a hotel.
There were not many people on this floor, and most of them were women, because the men had all been dragged down to the seventh floor by Wang Dazhuang to bolster appearances.
Cai Cong added from the side, “The tenth floor is where the families of the camp’s upper ranks live.”
Lu Li frowned and, without the slightest hesitation, said, “Have people take all of them away later. Since they enjoyed the benefits brought by evildoers, they’ll have to pay the price for aiding and abetting them.”
Jun Shutong nodded.
Although federal law had no provisions for implicating family members, Jun Shutong also understood that in the apocalypse, federal law had long since ceased to function, so this land needed new rules.
Lu Li, who wielded the power of demon beasts, was precisely the person capable of establishing those new rules.
Seeing that Lu Li was preparing to go up to the eleventh floor, Cai Cong hurriedly explained, “The eleventh floor is Wang Dazhuang’s palace. His family and women live on that floor.”
Jun Shutong, standing beside him, also frowned when she heard the word “palace.”
The group made their way up the emergency passage to the eleventh floor, only to find that the emergency exit door on this floor had already been locked.
“Hm?” Cai Cong pushed at the door in confusion. When he found that it would not budge, he helplessly turned to report to Lu Li, “Leader, it looks like someone locked the door from the inside.”
Lu Li’s gaze turned cold.
Someone had definitely tipped them off.
“Little Yellow, open it,” Lu Li ordered coldly.
Beedrill slammed headfirst into the door, and the heavy iron door burst open with a crash.
Immediately afterward, shrill screams rang out from inside.
“Ahhh! It’s a demon beast!”
“It’s a poison-bee demon beast!”
Listening to the terrified screams inside, Lu Li walked in expressionlessly.
Wang Dazhuang had taken over the entire eleventh floor, and it had even been specially furnished. It really did have a bit of a “palace” feel to it.
Lu Li sneered. “A generator, servants, a wine rack, even a kitchen. Wang Dazhuang really knew how to enjoy himself.”
An old woman saw Lu Li and immediately shrieked at him, “You beast! Was it you who colluded with that demon beast and killed my son?”
“This old hag is Wang Dazhuang’s mother?” Lu Li asked.
Cai Cong said with unmistakable disdain in his voice, “Yes. This old thing is poisonous too. Wang Dazhuang killed his own older sister and brother-in-law’s entire family, and she didn’t feel sorry for them in the slightest. She’s a beast among beasts.”
“You? The lackey who used to follow my son around? I heard you were a top student. My son treated you so well, and you actually betrayed him?” Pan Xiuli stared at Cai Cong in disbelief. Back when her son was still alive, this so-called top student had often cast aside his dignity and desperately tried to curry favor with her.
Compared to everyone else, who feared or even resented the arrival of the apocalypse, Pan Xiuli had actually been rather grateful for it.
Before the apocalypse, she had been nothing more than a rotten old woman who leeched off her son-in-law’s family, living under someone else’s roof. After the apocalypse arrived, she truly began enjoying treatment fit for an empress dowager.
Lu Li did not bother with the foul-mouthed old woman. He simply turned to Jun Shutong and said, “This old thing probably doesn’t have much fear left in her heart. After all, she’s already got one foot in the grave. Give her a job where she can observe plant demon beasts up close.”
Hearing this, Jun Shutong rolled her eyes at Lu Li.
Why not just say you want her used as fertilizer? Why put it so euphemistically, like you’re rewarding the old woman?
After saying that, Lu Li turned to Cai Cong again. “I’ll leave this old woman to you. If you can get her to obediently carry out the job I just mentioned, you won’t have to enter the Atonement Camp.”
Cai Cong immediately looked troubled upon hearing this. Pan Xiuli obviously no longer wanted to live, or she would never have dared to make a scene and talk back to Lu Li to his face.
Still, the old woman at least understood her own situation clearly. She knew that with her son gone, continuing to live in this apocalypse would only mean more suffering, so the moment they appeared, she had straightforwardly sought death.
At this moment, a beautiful middle-aged woman stepped forward of her own accord and asked with a face full of venomous hatred, “Can you leave her to me? I guarantee I can make her obedient.”
“This woman was originally the wife of one of the shareholders of the Anke Residential Complex property management company. Later, she submitted to Wang Dazhuang for her daughter’s sake, and Pan Xiuli often tormented her,” Cai Cong hurriedly introduced her to Lu Li.
Lu Li looked thoughtfully at the beautiful woman before him.
“What’s your name? How old are you?” Lu Li asked.
“Yao Xia. I’m 39 this year,” Yao Xia answered in a trembling voice.
This was the first time Lu Li had ever seen such intense hatred in someone’s eyes that it almost seemed tangible. The resentment was so thick that Lu Li could not help suspecting she alone could sustain a Shuppet.
Just when Lu Li was thinking that this level of hatred had already reached the limit, a sudden chill ran down his back. He hurriedly turned around and saw—
An iron cage beside the emergency exit’s door.
Inside the cage was a emaciated little girl. An iron chain was fastened around her neck, and at this moment, all ten of her fingers were tightly gripping the cold metal bars, her knuckles white from the force.
Her eyes, however, were fixed firmly on Pan Xiuli. The look in them was so vicious that it seemed as though she wanted to swallow Pan Xiuli alive.
“Uh—there’s actually another heavyweight here?” Lu Li exclaimed inwardly before frowning and asking, “What’s going on with this little girl?”
Cai Cong sighed and said softly, “Sigh… she’s Sister Yao Xia’s daughter.”
Lu Li:
What an unfortunate mother and daughter.
Wang Dazhuang really did die far too easily.
“I’ll leave this old thing to you. It doesn’t matter if she dies. She has no real value anyway. But preferably, don’t let her die too easily.” Lu Li, with a cold look between his brows, slowly spoke to the tearful Yao Xia.
“Little Yellow, hurry and get this little girl out.” Lu Li softened his voice and gently gave the order.
You can read ahead upto 20 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.