A threat removed

"Tang!" Ken called out as he noticed me.

"Where have you been? Everybody's waiting for you."

I frowned. "Everybody's waiting for me? What for?"

Ken looked at our surroundings and whispered next to my ear.

"Everybody heard about the incident between you and Qian Feng and are pestering us to give an explanation about why you killed someone. In their point of view, they think that past grievances should be left behind and work together in order to survive this apocalypse."

"Who started it?" I growled. Even dead, the idea that Qian Feng still managed to mess up my life still made me fed up."

"A pair of couples. They asked Liam about Qian Feng cause it seems that Qian Feng actually has a cousin in the school that we don't know about. Liam didn't even bother covering up the truth and told them you killed him. Now they're gathering the people to protest against you."

"So you mean that they have a lot of influence am I right?" I looked towards the hall and asked.

Ken didn't answer me but nodded his head silently.

I patted Ken's shoulders and said.

"Don't worry. I got this."

Ken grabbed my hand and looked straight into my eyes. "No killing, Tang. Once you kill them, things will escalate."

I patted his hands and pushed them away. Winking at Ken, I walked into the hall without saying anything.

"There he is!" Someone yelled over the crowd of people inside the hall, finger pointing straight towards me. In an instance, everybody turned their heads towards me and started rushing forward to trap me in a circle.

"Is it true that you killed Qian Feng? He's LV2, a strong boy that can help protect us! You shouldn't have killed him!"

"I heard that the two of you had some problems from the past, is it true that you were planning to kill Qian Feng ever since the apocalypse started?"

"You just killed a living human being, not a risen, how do you feel?"

"You should go to hell! You just killed a living person!"

Many voices started swarming inside my head, I gritted my teeth and yelled out.

"SILENCE!"

That worked out. The hall became silent in an instance.

"First of all. Yes. I killed Qian Feng. But it is because he wanted to kill me first. And I'm not making this up. I have witness. Am I right Liam?" I smiled and turned to face Liam. Hearing me turning the attention of the crowd back to him, he squinted his eyes and kept silent.

"C'mon, tell them the truth. Tell them how Qian Feng provoked me. I tried to let bygones be bygones. But it seems that Qian Feng was the one who crossed the line himself"

Liam started to mutter something under his mouth. Then he finally raised his head and nodded. "Indeed, Qian Feng was the one who provoked Tang first."

A girl started to push her way up to the front of the crowd. She tried to give me a slap but I grabbed her hands just before it reached my face.

"And what do you just think you're doing?" I smiled and looked at the girl while gripping her hands tighter.

"Let go of me you moron! You are just a murderer! A liar! You killed my cousin just because he provoked you! He didn't even hurt you! You could've just acted like it was nothing!"

I pushed her onto the floor. Then a boy rushed forward to pull her up from falling.

"So I guess you're Qian Feng's mysterious cousin eh?"

"Murderer!"

"Let me tell you the whole story, I've never wanted to start a fight with that braindead, but he was the one who crossed the line when he pushed Demetria. She's a part of my team and I won't stand by doing nothing when anyone of my team members get bullied."

I fixed my gaze at the pair of couples. Her name tag wrote Qian Yee. So that was her name… good thing I noticed it now.

"I don't care! You're just a liar and you must be lying! You're a murderer!"

With this sentence, the crowd started to protest again. Pestering me for answers, they even started to talk among themselves and started making up stories about me. I glanced at Liam and his team. Waiting for them to tell the crowd that I was telling the truth. That it was Qian Feng who hurt Demetria and wanted to kill me at the first place.

But all I got was a pitiful look from Liam. He muttered under his breath again and surprisingly, I could hear what he was saying this time.

"Lets see how are you going to handle this kind of situation Tang Jun Wen."

I gritted my teeth.

Taking a deep breath, I yelled again. "ENOUGH!"

The crowd went silent once more. I pulled out my spear and pointed its tip at Qian Yee.

The atmosphere started to become weird. Everyone was silent. The point that I killed Qian Feng was enough to strike fear into the hearts of the people that when I pointed a weapon at someone, they strongly believe that I had the gits to really end their lives.

"Wh…what is the meaning of this…" Qian Yee asked cautiously with chattering teeth.

I facepalmed myself and sighed.

"Qian Yee, Qian Yee. I thought you were smarter than this. I already have the guts to kill you. Do you think bringing pressure to me from the survivors can pull me down? If I have to, I can kill all of you and start all over, saves me much more effort than needing to look after all you bloody parasites."

The crowd started muttering between themselves. Knowing that the time is right, I turned over and asked them.

"Everyone, let me ask you one more time. Qian Feng provoked me by pushing my teammate onto the floor and wanting to harm me so I killed him out of self-defense. Were my actions correct?"

The crowd looked at each other. After a brief moment of silence, someone spoke up.

"Qian Feng is a guy who liked to bully those that are weaker than him. If he were to be here now, who says that we're not going to be his next target?"

Hearing this, the crowd started nodding their heads.

Qian Yee started to panic. "No! it isn't like this! That isn't what you guys were saying just now! We need to stand together, they're so many of us here, Tang wouldn't even dare to…"

She didn't even manage to finish her sentence when I knocked her unconscious.

"Anybody next?" I asked coldly.

Everybody started lowering their heads. I fixed my gaze at Liam and smiled.

"Since the case of Qian Yee is now finished, lets talk about your case now Liam."

Liam forced a smile and raised his hands in apology. "C'mon Tang, the situation just now was perfectly under your control, I knew you could take it by yourself. You're awesome that way."

"So you think I'm an idiot." I summarized.

Liam blinked, trying to process how did I come to that conclusion.

"No, I…"

"YOU DARE CROSS ME?" I bellowed and slammed my spear into the ground.

Liam's teammates started to back away from him.

Liam was pretty sure that he wasn't able to stand up against me right now so he started to apologize. But that wasn't going to go through my mind now as I've already decided that there couldn't be another voice that appose me in this camp.

"Pick up your weapon. I challenge you to a duel." I said and stretched my back.

He couldn't back down, and it was just an opportunity too good to refuse. If I lost, he would gain everything from me and take over this camp. But if he lost, I could kill him and end this hidden threat just like that and nobody would even say anything.

Liam drew his sword and started coming forward.

"Tang!" Demetria squeezed to the front and grabbed my shoulders. "I'm ok, so don't challenge him. The level between the both of you are almost the same, it isn't a good choice to challenge him now."

I shook my head and said. "Don't worry, he wont be living till tomorrow."

Liam rushed forward and swung his sword straight at me. Stepping backwards, I smiled. "You're only LV3 Liam. You know I'm LV5, what gave you the idea that you could fight me?"

"Never try never know." Liam replied and continued attacking. I could only say that Liam was full of flaws. His attacks were too wide and I was expecting a better battle than this. Someone who could lead a group of more than 4 people was supposed to do… better.

"You will die." I stated as I parried an attack.

"You will lose." Liam gritted his teeth and replied.

"I really mean it, you will die." I sighed and used my skill. "Throwing stab." I commanded.

Just before Liam came into range, my spear hurled forward so fast a woosh sound came out and stabbed itself into Liam's thigh, and just as fast came back into my hands.

Liam widened his eyes and fell to the ground.

"Argh!!!" he yelled out in pain. I took a step forward and kicked him in the head. "You ought to do better Liam. Better than to think you can challenge me in a duel."

Liam started to breath faster, as if he could feel the feeling of death near him.

"Tang… Lets talk about this…" Liam started to speak but I stabbed his arm again.

"Oww!" Liam cried out in pain.

The crowd started to ruffle among themselves. Liam was a strong fighter to them and they probably thought that it was unwise for me to kill him. Unfortunately, leaving a threat like him in the group was just as unwise as well.

"I told you." I said coldly. "You will die."

"Wait! Wait!" Liam started to scramble across the floor. He started to pant heavy breaths. "I'll give you anything you want! I'll…" he did not manage to finish his sentence as I stabbed him again through the heart.

"You shouldn't try to cross me." I whispered next to his ear as he fell down flat. Eyes staring at me, he opened his mouth to speak but all that come out was one last desperate breath as his hands fell.