Chapter 130: Panic Spreads

Chen Ling was not surprised by Uncle Zhao's request. Uncle Zhao had already hinted at it when they were at the breakfast stall, hoping Chen Ling would protect Zhao Yi a little, out of their childhood friendship. However, Zhao Yi's injury this time had truly frightened him. It was understandable that the old man was willing to set aside his pride and dignity, turning his hints into an explicit 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 not difficult; it was just a matter of a word. Hearing Chen Ling agree, Uncle Zhao felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from him, and he visibly relaxed. He repeatedly thanked Chen Ling, even offering to give him the entire breakfast stall, but Chen Ling refused.

"It's nothing, just a small favor," Chen Ling said, waving his hand. After speaking, Chen Ling bade farewell to Uncle Zhao and walked straight home.

Behind the frosted door, the halo of the oil lamp flickered in the room. Zhao Yi, covered in bandages and leaning against the wall, had tearful, red eyes.

On the dim street, a rickshaw puller hurried towards the misty foothills.

"How much longer until we arrive?" a middle-aged woman in her thirties, cradling an infant, softly asked from inside the rickshaw.

The man wiped sweat from his neck with a towel and replied, looking back: "Almost there, about another hour..."

"...Alright."

"Say, sister, what are you doing going to District Two in the middle of the night?"

"My child is sick... probably frightened by those monsters." The woman touched her child's feverish head with a bitter expression. "The clinics in District Three are all full, and the doctors won't even see us, so..."

"So, you're crossing districts to get treatment for your child?"

The man nodded. "Hold on tight, I'll speed up. Your child's health is important." After saying this, the man gritted his teeth and accelerated again, sweat dripping from him like rain as he quickly pulled the rickshaw towards District Two.

After speeding at full throttle for several tens of minutes, the man's strength gradually ran out. He pulled the rickshaw along the desolate road, surrounded by thick, pervasive fog that left everything a blurry white within his vision.

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

"Don't worry, I've taken this road hundreds of times. I couldn't get lost 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, his foot suddenly slipped, and he stumbled to the ground with a grunt.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine... What's this on the ground? It feels sticky."

The man mumbled, pushed himself up with his hands, and the oil lamp hanging on the rickshaw swayed slightly. He grabbed the handlebars, about to move forward, when he suddenly froze. Unbeknownst to him, his hands were already covered in crimson.

"Blood?" the woman exclaimed, pointing at the ground beneath him.

The man lowered his head and saw that, at some point, the street beneath him was soaked with blood. He looked up in shock, picked up the oil lamp from the rickshaw, and walked forward. The dim, yellowish lamplight pierced through the darkness in the dense fog, and the outline of a hill gradually appeared before his eyes.

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

The man's pupils involuntarily dilated. In the gloom, severed hands were scattered and embedded in the hill, like tangled thorns. Broken skulls were piled together, resembling a hill of bodies strung together with hair and entrails. An eyeball, dislodged from its socket, was held in the palm of a severed hand, staring straight at the man... At that moment, the man's heart stopped. He gaped, instinctively falling backward onto the ground, then scrambling to his feet with a cry of alarm. Unbeknownst to them, the entire District Two had fallen into a dark, deathly silence... Only a hundreds-of-meters-high mountain of corpses stood towering in a sea of blood.

"What's that noise outside?" Xi Renjie, who was organizing information on the victims in his office, suddenly looked up at the commotion outside the window, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

"Officer Xi, something's happened!" an enforcer rushed in from outside. "A rickshaw puller took someone to District Two and found that everyone in the entire district had been slaughtered and piled into a mountain of corpses..."

"What?!" Xi Renjie abruptly stood from his seat. "District Two was completely wiped out?"

"Not just District Two, we also sent people to District Four; there were virtually no survivors there either..."

Xi Renjie's face instantly changed. He paced back and forth in his office, his heart sinking to the bottom. The Gray Realm's convergence this time actually covered three districts? No, this was just what had been discovered; other, more distant districts might have been hit too. If that was the case, then the scale of this disaster truly far exceeded imagination; it was far more complex than just District Three. Suddenly, Xi Renjie remembered Chen Ling's deduction from earlier today, and his face began to turn pale.

"What about the public?"

"...Panic," the enforcer swallowed. "The news is spreading too fast. Although most don't believe it yet, many people are already going to Districts Two and Four to verify it... It won't be long before it's fully confirmed."

"This is bad..." Xi Renjie knew very well that once the public learned the truth, they would inevitably fall into panic, and the order they had so painstakingly maintained would completely collapse. He put on his black trench coat and hurried outside. As soon as he stepped out of the headquarters, he heard people running and shouting outside. The streets of District Three, which had already fallen asleep, were now lighting up bit by bit... The district was gradually being awakened by fear.

"Old Man Li? He must be dreaming, right?"

"Exactly! An entire district's population slaughtered and piled into a mountain of corpses? Don't be so ridiculous."

"It's true! My second uncle just ran over to see, and he was nearly scared to death. He said when he ran back, he even heard monsters roaring in the streets of District Two!"

"District Four seems to be deserted too? Is the scope of this disaster so large??"

"So, those monsters are still in Districts Two and Four, and could rush into our District Three at any moment?"

More and more residents were awakened in the dead of night. Having just struggled through life and death themselves, their faces turned ashen at the news. They gathered, speaking over one another, as an unprecedented panic began to spread rapidly.

"This can't go on," Xi Renjie said with an extremely grave expression. "We must first calm the public... Gather as many people as possible; I'll take charge..."

Before Xi Renjie could finish, an enforcer rushed out from the headquarters. "A message has arrived from Aurora City!"

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

"I don't know... Only you have permission to read that message."