He turned to the man in red, smiling as he said, "Do you have faith in the Lord? But how are you sure I donât have this authority, did it tell you personally?"
The man in red stood there quietly, seemingly lost in thought, and then his expression went blank as if he had crashed like a computer.
Goodness, when you canât argue, just play dumb.
Su Changxing paused, thinking they might have a debate on religious philosophy, the existence or nonexistence, but unexpectedly, the other party flipped the board and started playing foul.
He raised his gun, aimed at the man in red, with a smirk on his lips, "The Lord says, I will judge you."
At this moment, a slightly aged voice echoed in the space.
"To casually defile anotherâs faith is an act of barbarism."
A gray-white shadow appeared behind the man in red, constantly changing, finally taking the shape of a hunched old man holding two balls in his hands.
At a glance, there was a familiar feeling.
Su Changxingâs expression remained unchanged, lifting his eyelids slightly, confirming this as the leader of the Hunters, "Politician": "Is that you?"
Yet why would he appear here in this manner?
"Yes, itâs me, I am the âLordâ he speaks of."
The old man was not tall, only reaching the man in redâs shoulder height, standing on the vacant ground further back, carefully scrutinizing Su Changxing, speaking softly and warmly:
"Hehe, young man, we meet again, surprisingly in this manner. Hmm, I didnât expect you to have such courage."
"... Let me introduce myself, Teng Beng, kind of the leader of this place. We are also some lonely ghosts and wild spirits left from the old world, so thereâs no real organization."
Teng Beng spoke a long piece, but Su Changxing did not detect any clear meaning, as if it was just small talk.
He had an immediate impulse to raise his gun and fire at the other side, somewhat impatient, but having such a thought was strange, possibly because he now held the Wolf Fang.
People wielding great power are always a bit more straightforward.
Su Changxing bluntly said, "Su Changxing, we seem to have no need for pleasantries, new and old scores will be settled together."
Teng Beng took two steps sideways, seemingly to ease his body, then said:
"Some things are not as simple as they seem, this world isnât just black and white, we might not necessarily be enemies."
Su Changxing took out two revolver bullets from his pocket, coldly said:
"Not enemies, what else could we be, friends? That might be a joke, a cold joke. You slaughter us, we resist, retaliate, what else could we be but enemies?"
The bullets slid, clicking into the magazine, the crisp sound echoing in the vast room.
Su Changxing was slow in his action, changing bullets under the otherâs watch, which could also be considered a provocation.
Teng Beng paid no heed to Su Changxingâs actions, solemnly said:
"Firstly, itâs a tragedy, and we are helpless, just like wolves must eat lamb to survive. Hmm, maybe this metaphor is a bit far-fetched, but itâs roughly like that."
"Secondly, they were already doomed, you should know this is merely the difference between dying sooner or later, and in this world, if death is inevitable, sooner is always better than later, donât you agree?"
Su Changxing closed his eyes and laughed, saying:"It seems reasonable, but putting aside these things, we are ultimately fighting each other to the death, and who knows where it will end..."
"Who knows where?"
Teng Beng licked his lips, smiling: "Young man, donât be too confident, some things are unavoidable, I know this all too well. Youâre not the first to come to this world, hmm, let me tell you the truth, youâre the fourth."
"Based on my experience, not many of you will survive, and even if you do survive, leaving is uncertain."
Uncertain if they can leave?
Though Teng Beng didnât say much, the information he revealed was substantial, possibly some of it was misleading...
Su Changxing swallowed a bit nervously, calmly said, "Some didnât leave? Was it their choice, or were they forced to stay?"
Teng Beng waved his hand, making a tower formed of gray shadows appear, with something like a fan rotating on it, said:
"This is the Energy Station, if you stand on the highest building at the eastern edge of the city, you can see this thing. Hmm, itâs also one of the wonders of our world, spread across the globe."
Energy Station.
Energy Net plan.
Even though Su Changxing pretended to be indifferent, he couldnât help but become serious.
This thing is the direct cause of the apocalypse descending on this world, and the person in front of him, Teng Beng, is the leader of the Hunters, possibly knowing more about the deeper reasons.
Teng Beng watched Su Changxingâs expression, smiling: "Youâre not surprised at all, you must have known before. Hmm, the Energy Net plan originally had the brightest intentions, but unfortunately... this thing has been running constantly, so the radiation turning humans into zombies keeps increasing."
"I vaguely remember we spent several months, all of humanity gradually turning into zombies. Later, with the arrival of you âDescendersâ, it was still okay, after a month, only half of them turned into zombies... we were quite mild, even discussing with them how to solve the problem of corpse transformations."
"Sadly, there was no result, instead, more of us died. Misery is merely a collection of many small unfortunate events."
Su Changxing contemplated, solemnly said: "So how much time do we have left?"
Teng Beng showed a reminiscent look, said:
"Iâm not sure, but definitely less than a month, because the people before you, on the twenty-ninth day, almost all had corpse transformation, and for some reasons, they didnât leave this world, eventually becoming one of us."
"Why?"
Su Changxing questioned: "Why didnât you stop the Energy Station, no way to stop it?"
Teng Beng looked at him deeply, with a helpless expression said:
"What do you think? If it could be stopped, we would have done it long ago. Hmm, weâre not fools... thereâs no way to get close, especially for us, getting slightly closer turns us into monsters."
Su Changxing asked puzzled: "Monsters?"
"Yes, monsters."
Teng Beng shrugged casually, said:
"We havenât figured out the exact principle either, but I guess itâs probably because of the excessive radiation from the Energy Station. This energy can indeed be utilized by some, turning into Power Users, or the so-called Extraordinary, those who canât utilize it become zombies."
"But ingesting too much at once turns you into a monster, so we canât approach, some have tried, but none succeeded... what you call the Screamers are the monsters that ran out of the Energy Station."
This explanation matched Su Changxingâs previous speculation that "radiation" was the influence of the giant hand.
Su Changxing thought about it, nodding, with a sarcastic tone said:
"Heh, in the end, youâre on a dead-end road as well, this radiation continuously increasing, the intake far exceeding what you can utilize... so you all end up looking similar to zombies."