Chapter 138: Angry Xi Renjie

“What are you going to do?” Zhao Yi asked, looking up.

“Naturally, I am going to fulfill my duty as an Enforcement Officer.”

“Duty?”

“The enforcers led by Tan Ming and Zuo Tong have disregarded human life, committed mass slaughter, and looted public property for their own use. As an Enforcement Officer, I have the authority to purge the District 3 enforcement system,” Chen Ling replied unhurriedly. “Of course, after that, I will also temporarily seize the train... Public property cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of criminals.”

Zhao Yi was stunned for a long time before he understood what Chen Ling meant. “You’re going to kill them and take the train?”

Chen Ling glanced at Zhao Yi and didn’t answer.

Zhao Yi seemed to think of something, his fists clenching involuntarily.

“Chen Ling... can I ask you for a favor?”

“What is it?”

“There is one enforcer... I want to kill him myself.” In Zhao Yi’s mind, the face of the man who had stabbed his father thirteen times in the crowd appeared—a face he would never forget until he died. A chilling murderous intent flickered in his eyes. “I want to avenge my father!”

Chen Ling looked at him. “Premeditated murder of an enforcer is a serious crime. Do you dare?”

“To hell with serious crimes!” Zhao Yi cursed in a low voice.

“If I can’t even avenge my father, what’s the point of living and entering Aurora City? I’ve been going against my old man for years anyway. At worst, I’ll just get another beating from him when I go down there!”

Seeing the fire burning in Zhao Yi’s eyes, a hint of approval flashed across Chen Ling’s face. He nodded slightly.

“Premeditated murder of an enforcer is indeed a serious crime...”

“But as long as there are no survivors... who can prove you killed anyone?”

Hearing the second half of the sentence, Zhao Yi was stunned. He looked at Chen Ling in astonishment; those smiling, narrowed eyes looked like a venomous, ruthless snake.

Raging fires burned beside them. Chen Ling turned his head calmly to look at the disappearing train.

“I won’t stop you from avenging your father... provided you can catch up to that train.”

As the words fell, Chen Ling’s figure turned into a blur, sprinting rapidly along the tracks!

With the buffs of [Blood Garment] and [Killing Waltz], it wasn’t difficult for Chen Ling to catch up to the steam train that had just left the station, but for Zhao Yi, it was a different story. The latter’s expression shifted. He looked down at Uncle Zhao’s corpse one last time and muttered to himself:

“Dad... I will definitely avenge you. I will live on well... don’t worry about me.”

Zhao Yi had wanted to take the body with him, but if he did, he would never catch the train. Besides, his father hated seeing him fight for his life; if he saw him seeking revenge, he probably wouldn’t rest in peace down there... Better to leave him in his hometown.

The fire spread across the ground, gradually swallowing the blood-stained corpse. Zhao Yi didn’t linger any longer, using every ounce of his strength to sprint toward the train!

[Audience Expectation +10]

……

A bone-chilling wind whistled beside the train as a black-clad figure rushed into the carriage.

“Officer Xi! You’re finally here!” Zuo Tong’s face lit up with joy. “Now that we’re all here...”

Before Zuo Tong could finish, the black shadow lunged in front of him. A hand clamped tightly around his throat, lifting his entire body with immense force and slamming him against the inner wall of the carriage with a dull thud!

“Who was it?!” Xi Renjie’s eyes were full of rage. He gripped Zuo Tong, his gaze sweeping across the entire carriage.

“Who gave the order to shoot the civilians?!!!”

This roar terrified everyone in the carriage. More than twenty enforcers huddled together, not daring to meet Xi Renjie’s eyes, all lowering their heads in silence.

*Clang— Clang—*

The only sound in the carriage was the howling wind.

“You are enforcers!! Your duty is to protect the people! How dare you open fire on civilians?!” Xi Renjie’s hand squeezed Zuo Tong’s throat until it turned purple. The latter couldn’t breathe, his eyes filled with terror.

“...Officer Xi, we didn’t want to either!” Brother Jing couldn’t help but speak up. “But they were like madmen, rushing forward without regard for their lives. If we let them all crowd onto the train, how would we ever get to Aurora City?”

“You want to go to Aurora City! They want to go to Aurora City too! They just wanted to survive! Tell me... what did they do wrong?!”

Xi Renjie released Zuo Tong with one hand and instantly drew his sidearm with the other, aiming it at Brother Jing and roaring in a low voice.

Brother Jing was speechless.

An enforcer nearby hurriedly spoke up, “Actually, the fall of District 3 was inevitable. Those people were going to die sooner or later... We shouldn’t forfeit our chance to live just because they wanted to...”

“Yeah, we were just acting in self-defense. We warned them, but they wouldn’t listen...”

“You...”

Xi Renjie’s eyes widened in fury. He glared at them, wishing he could execute them all on the spot.

“Brother Jie, calm down...” Tan Ming whispered, sweating profusely as he leaned into his ear. “The order from Aurora City was to send them into the city... If you kill them here, how will you explain it to Aurora City?”

Hearing this, Xi Renjie’s pupils contracted slightly. He struggled for a long time before slowly lowering his gun.

He took a deep breath and said:

“Once we get to Aurora City, I’ll settle this with you.”

Seeing this, the other enforcers in the carriage finally breathed a sigh of relief... They didn’t know when their backs had been soaked with cold sweat.

As the train’s speed gradually increased, the crowd that had been barely keeping up along the tracks was completely left behind. The steel beast sped along with the roar of steam, with only the endlessly extending black tracks ahead, disappearing into the mist.

For this carriage, thirty people wasn’t too crowded. The enforcers sat down, finding comfortable spots, and looked at the passing landscape outside the window, their expressions filled with excitement.

This excitement came from the relief of surviving death and the anticipation of entering Aurora City. After a while, the oppressive atmosphere of the previous incident passed, and they began to whisper among themselves.

“I heard people in Aurora City live in big houses, the kind five or six stories high. Is that true?”

“Of course it’s true. Aurora City has over three million people. The buildings are much taller than in our District 3. I heard there are buildings over a dozen stories high. It’s spectacular.”

“A dozen stories high? Don’t people get tired climbing so many stairs every day?”

“Tired? What are you talking about? They have elevators.”

“Elevators? What are those?”

“They’re boxes that automatically carry people up and down. You open the door, close it, and you’re already ten stories up.”

“That magical?”

“That’s nothing. I heard Aurora City has electric lights. At night, the streets are all bright, much brighter than kerosene lamps. One by one, they look like stars.”

“Because there aren’t many factories, they say the air in Aurora City is sweet...”

“……”

Everyone chimed in, their eyes filled with longing.

Xi Renjie sat alone in the back row. It would be a lie to say he didn’t have any expectations, but as he looked out the window at the streets shrouded in flames, his mood was indescribably complex...