Chapter 164: Exit

"No, you cannot take Chief Chen away!"

"Chief Chen is a good person, what right do you have to judge him?!"

"Where is Chief Han Meng? If Chief Han Meng were here! He definitely wouldn't let you take Chief Chen away! Chief Chen is one of our Third District people!"

"That's right! You cannot take him away!"

Hearing that these people were going to take Chen Ling, the Third District crowd became angry. They took the initiative to protect the area around the train. Those with explosive tempers like Zhao Yi rushed directly toward the enforcers, waving their fists.

The Aurora City enforcers' expressions changed, and they immediately aimed their guns at these survivors. The next moment, curses came from beside them!

"Are you crazy?! Killing them now will cause a huge problem! Put your guns away! Drag all these refugees away for me!" The Enforcer could still see the situation clearly; there was no order saying they must kill these people, and acting rashly would only bring trouble upon themselves.

The surrounding enforcers immediately rushed forward, grabbing the indignant Third District citizens and dragging them away bit by bit. The two sides tore at each other, and the scene became extremely chaotic!

The sounds of clamor and roars were mixed together. Some were accusing Chen Ling, some were supporting Chen Ling. A dispute without justice or right or wrong unfolded in such a grand manner.

Just as the dispute was about to reach a fever pitch, a voice sounded calmly.

"This farce should end."

[Audience Expectation +5]

The moment this voice sounded, everyone stopped their clamor and fighting. They looked up at the train, where the expression of the blood-clad figure remained calm.

"Chen Ling, are you going to surrender?" The Five-Strip Enforcer saw this and said coldly.

"Surrender?" Chen Ling scoffed. "Relying on you?"

"You...!"

The disdain in Chen Ling's words completely enraged the Enforcer. He stared fixedly at Chen Ling, his gaze seemingly capable of killing.

"You are just a heretic who infiltrated Aurora City using hostages! Without Aurora City! You would have died in the Gray Realm convergence long ago!" The Enforcer's voice was extremely grim. "You want to survive by relying on Aurora City, yet you are still so unscrupulous?"

"Who said my purpose for entering Aurora City was to survive?"

"Then why did you enter the city?!"

"I have two purposes for entering the city..." Chen Ling raised a finger and pointed at the disheveled Third District crowd below, replying unhurriedly,

"First, I cannot stand Aurora City's hypocritical justice. I don't want to comment on whether your abandonment of the Seven Districts was correct, but your management of low-level enforcers and Enforcers makes me feel extremely disgusted..."

"Since the enforcers you label as justice are slaughtering civilians, I insist on bringing these survivors into Aurora City... I want Aurora City to hear what kind of demons are running rampant under the skin of justice."

As soon as this sentence was spoken, the survivors from the Third District, as if recalling something, began to have angry flames flickering in their eyes. And although the expressions of some Aurora City residents changed, not everyone could resonate with it.

The Five-Strip Enforcer's expression was a bit ugly. In his view, Chen Ling was undoubtedly the same as those heretics who were secretly inciting protests, all confusing the minds of civilians with nonsense...

He couldn't let him continue speaking.

At this time, the enforcers under the train had successively taken away the surrounding Third District residents, and the entire venue had been basically cleared. The two Five-Strip Enforcers exchanged glances, and after a brief eye contact, one of them quietly disappeared and approached Chen Ling on the train.

"Nonsense." The Five-Strip Enforcer narrowed his eyes, trying to attract Chen Ling's attention. "Since when is the quality of the enforcer system something for a heretic to judge?"

Chen Ling ignored him completely. A faint light from his [Secret Pupil] flashed across his pupils, and he glanced faintly at his side,

Then, as if he hadn't noticed anything, he continued calmly:

"Second... I have come to convey a 'warning'."

"A warning?"

Chen Ling paused for a moment, his voice echoing clearly in everyone's ears, "The cold wind of the Frozen Sea has already blown to Aurora City. The fall of the Seven Districts is not the end of the story... Perhaps, it is just the beginning."

Everyone was stunned, seemingly not understanding Chen Ling's meaning, but the faces of several Enforcers changed drastically, their eyes filled with fear and anger!

"You are courting death!!" The Five-Strip Enforcer shouted, "Aurora City is as solid as a rock, how could it be desecrated by an outsider like you? What are you still standing there for? Take this heretic down quickly!!"

Before his voice fell, all the enforcers below raised their guns at Chen Ling again. At the same time, in the void beside the train, a figure carrying terrifying pressure suddenly attacked!

This Five-Strip Enforcer had already reached Chen Ling's side. At this distance, he was confident he could take Chen Ling down in one blow, leaving him with no way to escape!

However, the moment his palm was about to touch Chen Ling, the latter curled his mouth into an arc, and the gaze he cast sideways at him was filled with faint playfulness and mockery.

Chen Ling crushed several spell-script eels in his sleeve with force!

Boom—!!

As the bodies of the spell-script eels were crushed into fragments, raging flames instantly poured out from Chen Ling's palms. Looking from afar, it was as if a scorching sun had erupted on top of the train!

The extreme high temperature burned the surrounding light until it was distorted and chaotic, and the palm of that Five-Strip Enforcer was directly roasted to a charred black!

He was shocked and retreated violently, looking at Chen Ling with extreme shock!

No one saw where the flames came from. It was as if Chen Ling had just raised his hand, and a scorching sun with a radius of several meters burned out of thin air under the gaze of everyone. The blood-clad figure stood calmly in the raging fire, like a brilliant god standing in the center of light and heat.

"He... he??" Everyone present was stunned. No matter what, the Five-Strip Enforcer hadn't expected that Chen Ling would actually ignite himself?

"Is he crazy?!"

"He finally entered Aurora City, and in the end, he committed self-immolation?!"

"Heretic Chen Ling... heretic Chen Ling? A heretic went to such lengths to send the survivors of the Seven Districts into the city, and then just committed self-immolation? What is his purpose?"

"That doesn't make sense; there's no benefit to him at all... Or is it that he really just wanted to save people?"

"He sacrificed his life to save that group of Third District survivors... How could such a person be a heretic?"

"I believe the words of those survivors now. This Chen Ling is definitely not a heretic! If someone like him can be called a heretic, then what does that make the enforcers who abandoned the Seven Districts?"

"He shouldn't have died! Aurora City forced him to his death!! He is just a hero who saved the abandoned!"

“……”

Everyone stared blankly at the figure standing in the raging fire, their hearts shaken. Amidst the shouts that rang out one after another, the accusations the Enforcers had made against Chen Ling just now completely collapsed after Chen Ling ignited himself...

The heretic in the eyes of the Enforcers, the criminal who infiltrated the enforcer system, the despicable person who used hostages to force his way into Aurora City—under that raging fire, all the labels and questions pinned on Chen Ling were burned away!

Sometimes, actual actions are more convincing than pale words. This fire overturned the voices of the Enforcers and pushed the direction of the farce toward a result that was absolutely favorable to Chen Ling.

At this moment, only one label remained on Chen Ling...

That is the savior who would sacrifice himself to question Aurora City and save the abandoned refugees!

Amidst the raging inferno, Chen Ling’s body turned to ash bit by bit. He smiled at the audience below the stage, one hand resting gently on his chest, bowing slightly with elegance, like an actor about to take his final curtain call.

Those ashes danced and roared as they rushed toward the sky, transforming under the gaze of the crowd into countless playing cards, drifting down like snowflakes... in the crowded throng, on the distant streets, in the burning fire—

They were thousands upon thousands of [Hearts 6].

Just as everyone was stunned by this scene, a voice rang out calmly and slowly from the embers of the fire,

"Human civilization shall never be extinguished."