Chapter 130: Panic Spreads

Chen Ling was not surprised by Uncle Zhao’s request.

Back at the breakfast shop, Uncle Zhao had already hinted that he hoped Chen Ling would protect Zhao Yi a little, for the sake of their childhood friendship... but Zhao Yi’s injury this time had truly terrified him.

It was only natural that this old man would rather set aside his face and dignity to turn a hint into a direct plea for Chen Ling to protect Zhao Yi.

Chen Ling agreed. For him now, arranging a position for Zhao Yi within the Enforcer system was no difficult task; it was merely a matter of saying a single word.

Hearing Chen Ling’s agreement, it was as if a weight of hundreds of pounds had been lifted from Uncle Zhao. He felt much lighter, thanking Chen Ling repeatedly and even wanting to give him the entire breakfast shop, though Chen Ling declined.

"It’s just a small favor," Chen Ling waved his hand.

After saying this, Chen Ling bid Uncle Zhao farewell and headed straight for his own home.

Behind the frosted door,

The glow of a kerosene lamp flickered in the room. Zhao Yi, covered in bandages and leaning against the wall, had wet, red-rimmed eyes.

……

On the dim street, a man pulling a rickshaw hurried toward the mist-shrouded back mountains.

"How much longer until we arrive?" A woman in her thirties, sitting in the rickshaw and cradling an infant in swaddling clothes, asked softly.

The man wiped the sweat with the towel around his neck and replied over his shoulder:

"Almost there, about another hour..."

"...Alright."

"I have to ask, sister, why are you heading to the Second District in the middle of the night?"

"My child is sick... I think he was frightened by those monsters." The woman touched her child’s burning forehead with a bitter expression. "The clinics in the Third District are packed, and the doctors won't even see us, so..."

"So, you're crossing districts to get the child treated?"

The man nodded. "Sit tight. I'll pick up the pace; the child's health is what matters."

With that, the man gritted his teeth and accelerated again. Sweat dripped from him like raindrops as he pulled the rickshaw rapidly toward the Second District.

After sprinting at full speed for several dozen minutes, the man’s stamina gradually depleted. He pulled the rickshaw along the desolate road, surrounded by thick, pervasive fog, with nothing but a vast expanse of white within his field of vision.

"Master, are you sure we're on the right path?" the woman asked with some concern.

"Don't you worry. I've walked this road a hundred times; I wouldn't get it wrong even with my eyes closed."

"But why is it so quiet here?"

"It's the middle of the night, everyone must be asleep, right?"

As the man spoke, he suddenly felt his foot slip. He stumbled and fell to the ground, unable to stop a cry of pain.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine... what is this on the ground? Why does it feel so sticky?"

The man muttered, pushing himself up with both hands. The kerosene lamp hanging from the rickshaw swayed slightly. As he grabbed the handles to continue, he suddenly froze in place.

Without him realizing it, his hands were already covered in a deep crimson.

"Blood?" the woman gasped, pointing beneath him.

The man looked down and discovered that, at some point, the street beneath him had been soaked in blood. Startled, he looked up, lifted the kerosene lamp from the rickshaw, and stepped forward. The dim yellow light dispelled the darkness in the fog, and the outline of a hill gradually appeared before his eyes.

"This... this, this, this..."

The man’s pupils dilated involuntarily. In the dim light, severed hands were stuck into the hill like thorns. Broken skulls were piled between them, forming a hill of human bodies seemingly strung together by hair and entrails. An eyeball, detached from its socket, was gripped in the palm of a severed hand, staring straight at the man...

At that moment, the man’s heart stopped. He opened his mouth wide, fell backward instinctively, and then scrambled to his feet with a scream.

Without anyone knowing when it happened, the entire Second District had fallen into dark, deathly silence... save for a mountain of corpses hundreds of meters high, standing in a sea of blood.

……

"What is that noise outside?"

Xi Renjie, who was organizing files on the victims in his office, suddenly looked up at the window, where a commotion had broken out. A flicker of confusion crossed his eyes.

"Officer Xi, something has happened!" an Enforcer rushed in from outside.

"A rickshaw puller took someone to the Second District and discovered that the entire district has been slaughtered, piled into a mountain of corpses..."

"What?!"

Xi Renjie stood up abruptly from his seat. "The Second District has been wiped out?"

"Not just the Second District. We sent people to the Fourth District as well, and there are basically no survivors there either..."

Xi Renjie’s expression changed instantly. He paced back and forth in his office, his heart sinking to the bottom... The scope of this Gray Realm convergence had actually engulfed three major districts? No, this was only what had been discovered so far; other, more distant districts might have been hit as well.

If that were the case, the scale of this disaster was far beyond imagination; it was by no means limited to just the Third District.

Suddenly, Xi Renjie recalled Chen Ling’s deduction from earlier, and his face turned pale.

"How are the citizens?"

"...Panic." The Enforcer swallowed hard. "The news is spreading too fast. Although most don't believe it yet, many have already spontaneously gone to the Second and Fourth Districts to verify... It won't be long before it's completely confirmed."

"Damn it..." Xi Renjie knew very well that once the public learned the truth, they would inevitably fall into panic, and the order that had been so hard to maintain would completely collapse.

He threw on his black trench coat and hurried outside.

The moment he stepped out of the headquarters, he heard people running and shouting outside. The streets of the Third District, which had already been asleep, were lighting up one by one... This district was being gradually awakened by fear.

"Old Man Li? Is he dreaming or something?"

"Exactly. An entire district slaughtered and piled into a corpse mountain? Don't be ridiculous."

"It's true! My second uncle just ran over to see it, and he was nearly scared to death. He said when he ran back, he could hear the roars of monsters inside the Second District streets!"

"The Fourth District seems to be empty too? Is the range of this disaster attack this large??"

"Does that mean those monsters are still in the Second and Fourth Districts, and could rush into our Third District at any moment?"

“……”

More and more residents were awakened in the middle of the night. Having just struggled through life and death, hearing this news made their faces turn deathly pale. They gathered together, whispering to one another, and an unprecedented panic began to spread rapidly.

"We can't let this continue." Xi Renjie’s expression was grave. "We must appease the public first... Gather as many people as possible, I will take charge..."

Before Xi Renjie could finish, an Enforcer ran over from inside the headquarters.

"A message has arrived from Aurora City!"

"What?!" Xi Renjie’s eyes lit up. "What does it say?"

"I don't know... that message only has reading clearance for you."