Chapter 132: A New Performance

He had followed Han Meng for so long that the sense of responsibility of an Enforcer was already engraved in his heart. He knew that if Han Meng were here, he would never choose to flee. But... even if he stayed, he couldn't do anything. And... that was Aurora City!

He wanted to enter Aurora City so badly; it was the dream he had sought his entire life but could never attain. Now, a path to Aurora City was laid out before him. How could he refuse? How could he possibly refuse?!

But if he really fled into Aurora City, how could he face Han Meng?

"Brother Jie?"

Tan Ming saw the struggle in Xi Renjie. After hesitating for a long time, he said, "Brother Jie, don't put too much pressure on yourself. Protecting the citizens is an Enforcer's duty, yes, but obeying orders is too. Whatever choice you make, I will follow you."

Hearing this, Xi Renjie fell silent.

He stood in the dim, thick fog, his black trench coat seemingly merging with the shadows.

"...Save... me..."

In the deathly silence, a faint, extremely weak voice sounded from the side.

Xi Renjie snapped out of it and turned toward the direction of the voice. He immediately started walking, heading into the darkness, with Tan Ming following closely behind.

The sound came from an open space. Once they got closer, Xi Renjie realized this was where the clinic had dumped people during the day. Over a hundred abandoned, critically ill patients were laid out here, silently waiting for death.

Some of these critically ill patients had been carried back by their families on the spot, while the rest were either alone or their entire families had perished, leaving no one to claim them.

Several hours later, most of the severely injured here had died silently, but a few still had breath... Whether due to extreme pain or despair, they were calling out, their weak voices as faint as mosquitoes.

Xi Renjie found the person who had made the sound and walked quickly to his side.

It was a figure covered in blood and filth, with bite wounds everywhere. Their eyeballs had been bitten out, leaving only blood and crystals in the pitch-black sockets. The person was twisted on the ground, and there couldn't have been many intact bones left. At a glance, they were no different from a corpse.

"How are you?" Tan Ming asked, unable to bear the sight.

"...Save... save..."

Seemingly hearing someone respond, the corpse-like figure moved their fingers and legs, a desire for life appearing on their blood-stained face.

Tan Ming was about to help him up when a hand grabbed his shoulder. He turned back and saw Xi Renjie looking at the man with complex eyes, shaking his head.

"You shouldn't have responded to him."

"...Why?"

"He is already dying... No one can save him. Responding to him will only make him die with hope... That will only be more painful."

Tan Ming was stunned. "Then what should I do?"

Xi Renjie didn't answer. A flicker of determination appeared in his bloodshot eyes... He walked in front of the man, slowly drew his gun, and aimed it at his forehead.

"...Save... save me... please... save..." The eyeless figure was still pleading, as if experiencing a final burst of energy, trying to sit up from the ground. Just then, his forehead touched the muzzle of Xi Renjie’s gun, and he suddenly froze.

"Thank you." Xi Renjie’s voice was calmer than ever. "...I understand what I must do now."

Bang—!

A gunshot rang out suddenly.

As the figure collapsed with a thud, Xi Renjie slowly stood up. Holding the gun muzzle that was still emitting wisps of smoke, he walked through this desperate purgatory abandoned by the world.

Bang, bang, bang—!!

Successive gunshots rang out. The black trench coat pulled the trigger in front of one person after another who still had a remnant of life, like the Grim Reaper’s scythe harvesting desperate souls. At the moment of death, there seemed to be no pain on their faces, but rather a hint of relief.

With every critically injured person he killed, a bit more determination appeared in Xi Renjie’s eyes. He was like a cleaner, excising all this rotting flesh abandoned by humanity.

When the entire magazine was emptied, the open space fell into deathly silence once more... From this point on, except for him and Tan Ming, there was not a single living soul left here.

"Brother Jie..." Tan Ming spoke with a complex expression.

"Incompetent mercy is a heart-piercing poison to those dying in despair." Xi Renjie turned his head slowly, his gaze seemingly piercing through the fog to see the massive city standing in the center of the Aurora,

"Perhaps, Aurora City is right."

"Then you mean..."

"Go gather the Enforcers on the list and have them wait for me at the station."

"...Alright." Tan Ming took a deep breath and nodded heavily. Then, as if remembering something, he asked, "What about Chen Ling?"

Xi Renjie fell into silence again. After an unknown amount of time, he closed his eyes gently.

"...Have him come see me."

……

In his sleep, Chen Ling slowly opened his eyes.

Without knowing when, he had arrived back on that twisted road leading to the firmament. At the end of the road was a star in the sky that was unreachable—it was also his home.

"Here again."

Chen Ling looked down and saw that he was already standing on the second step of this road. Although it was only one step higher than before, he had already ascended a great distance from the pitch-black abyss.

If one observed carefully, they would find that the distance between that star and himself seemed to have shortened...

"Next is the third step."

Chen Ling looked ahead. A tall step was a few meters away. This step was much larger than the second one in both height and distance.

According to what Han Meng had said before, it usually took an ordinary person one or two years to go from Tier 1 to Tier 2, and the time from Tier 2 to Tier 3 was even longer, starting at three years. Some who lacked talent might even be stuck at the Tier 2 level forever.

This was enough to prove that the difficulty of going from Tier 2 to Tier 3 was much greater than from Tier 1 to Tier 2.

Chen Ling tried to step forward, but his body felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead. No matter how hard he tried, he could only move less than half a centimeter... His mental strength was still too weak.

At the same time, Chen Ling’s gaze fell on the path between the second and third steps. He could see blurry small characters displayed on the area closest to him... and further away, there seemed to be another line.

"To promote from Tier 2 to Tier 3, one needs to complete more than one performance?" Chen Ling was somewhat surprised.

The line in the distance was impossible to see clearly from Chen Ling’s current position, so he could only squint his eyes and try his best to identify the small characters closest to him... After a long time, he muttered uncertainly:

"【Complete a soul-stirring exit in the presence of at least one hundred people】."