Chapter 2: Are My Sins Clear Now?

The success rate of the public execution is around 50%, and throught other mean, the success rate can be artificially raised to 100%.

And when the execution is successful, the rewards that he would gain are substantial.

Using this talents of hers, whenever an opposition rises inside of his community,  Zuo Chan can easily frame that other party, easily toppling the leaders of the opposition within the community!

Ever since Zuo Chang obtained the Xue Qiangwei, he treated her as his right-hand woman. Even though her attributes were low compared to the other servants that followed him, he still nurtured her carefully, he used her from the very start of the game till the very end.

He still remembered when his community reached "1555." The situation was dire both internally and externally, his community had very low stability and high dissatisfaction. His policies couldn't be enforced, and there were protests on the streets every day.

In order to break through the predicament, even though the failure rate of public executions was 50%, he had Xue Qiangwei create wrongful cases, attempting to reverse the situation—

Unfortunately, it ended up in failure.

Just as it seemed he was about to reach a dead end, an unexpected turn of events occurred, giving him a lifeline to latch onto.

You must understand, the things that are needed to bring a community from the '99999' to '1555' are a lot, and it was not easy by any means.

During the impeachment, when his subordinates looked around, they all felt they didn't have the capability and decided to let "Heavenly King General" - Zuo Chang's game ID - lead them.

However, some treacherous officials had to be eliminated.

The person who bears the brunt first was this Xue Qiangwei!

Who was she?

Xue Qiangwei is both cruel and ruthless, to either her allies or enemies alike, she also has an arrogant and domineering personality, oftentimes she would frame the loyal and killing the innocent!

No one knew how many pillars of the community had killed this girl.

A proposition was laid out before Zuo Chang:

[Your ministers are willing to restore your power and serve you again, but they have a demand: execute Xue Qiangwei.]

[They sent representatives to negotiate with you...]

[1, Refuse. Game over.]

[2, Kill Xue Qiangwei. The more you rely on Xue Qiangwei, the more your subjects will hate her. By choosing this, you will gain unprecedented support and praise. There will be no opposition within the community, and your subjects will be more united than ever. However, your followers' loyalty will drop by 20 points, and they will be chilled by this decision. They will abandon you like rats fleeing a sinking ship. Your loyal followers will decrease.]

[3, Exile Xue Qiangwei. You back down, choosing to exile Xue Qiangwei and promise never to use her again. By choosing this, all values within the community will return to normal levels.]

After taking some time to calculate the gain and loss from each option, finally, Zuo Chang chose the third option.

Loading a saved game wouldn't have made much sense. The situation was dire at the time, and usual means couldn't restore all community values to normal levels.

As for why he didn't choose the second option...

Zuo Chang didn't think deeply about it.

At the time, he was just playing everything just like how a man would treat a game, without so much thought.

Now—

"Will I be able to meet her again?"

Zuo Chang inexplicably thought, then quickly shook his head.

"Does the thing that I had done when I sat in front of the computer have any relevance to what happened now? Still, I have to admit, if the thing that I had done inside the game has turned into reality, that's just too frightening. The number of people that I had ordered to execute has crossed the hundred mark, right?"

Moreover, in the last fight,  Zuo Chang lost against the Celestial God.

If all of that was real, how is he still alive now?

Navigating through the crowd, ignoring the beckoning of hustlers, Zuo Chang stepped over the city gates and officially entered the city before him.

Behind the city gates was a large square meticulously paved with square tiles.

Around the circular fountain, white doves perched, and a ten-meter-tall black stone sculpture stood in front. Squinting, Zuo Chang felt the statue was somewhat familiar.

"Mommy, mommy, look at that big brother."

A young voice sounded not far away. Zuo Chang lowered his head and saw a little girl with braided hair pointing at him, saying to a woman beside her, "That big brother looks like the statue of the Heavenly King General!"

Wait, wait a moment...

The statue of the Heavenly King General?!

Zuo Chang raised his head again, his head turned up and down as he scrutinized his eyes at the statue.

It didn't really resemble him.

You could say it vaguely resembled him, but there were significant differences in the details.

But "Heavenly King General"—

That was his game ID!

Zuo Chang walked toward the woman and asked, "May I ask, is this the statue of the Heavenly King General?"

Hearing his sudden question, the woman was taken aback and smiled, saying, "Yes. The Lord of Heavenly King City greatly admires the Heavenly King General. He wants to lead the community just like the Heavenly King General, he wants to turn the city into a single digit community and face the Celestial God like how the Heavenly King General did. So, he had this statue made for people to admire."

Listening to this, turmoil stirred within Zuo Chang.

He then asked, "Even such a cruel ruler as the Heavenly King General has admirers? I've heard he was a warlord who engaged in endless military expansion, turning farmlands into opium fields during his rule's end, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands."

The woman seemed somewhat uneasy.

She looked around, then whispered, "Don't say such things! It's known that the Heavenly King General values human life lightly. This is common knowledge. But he was also a powerful figure, both feared and respected. Many ambitious people see him as an idol. Countless scholars also praise his courage to resist against the Celestial God!"

"..."

What a mess!

Zuo Chang recalled all his actions in the game, his mind blank.

No one told him that it wasn't just a game!

What should he do now?

He followed the tyrant's path in the game, prioritizing efficiency above all else.

Under his brutal rule, just for the construction of the necessary "wonders" required for upgrading the community, nearly a million laborers died on construction sites!

A million lost souls...

Would he be able to sleep well tonight?

Seeing Zuo Chang's pale complexion, the woman asked, "Sir, are you alright?"

"Nothing... nothing, I feel dizzy."

"Dizzy?"

Zuo Chang felt uneasy, not knowing where to put his hands, "Um... ma'am, how do you view the Heavenly King General?"

The woman glanced around again, whispered, "He's a tyrant! A demon! A full-fledged maniac, a butcher of tens of thousands!"

Tyrant, demon...

Maniac...

Butcher of tens of thousands...

The woman's succinct and forceful judgment echoed constantly in Zuo Chang's ears.

Zuo Chang forced himself to remain calm and asked, "Did the Heavenly King General die?"

"Some said that he died, but some say he disappeared instead. The only thing we can confirm is that the community crafted by the Heavenly King General has already fallen apart. Even if he reappears, he won't be the same 'General of Ten Thousand Victories' or 'Emperor Butcher' as before."

"... When did this happen? When did the Heavenly King General vanish?"

"Eh? You don't know about this either?"

The woman gave Zuo Chang a few glances, feeling suspicious, but still answered truthfully. "It happened a year ago—uh!"

She let out a cry of surprise, cutting off her own words.

Fear oozed out of her. Terrified, she widened her eyes and suddenly scooped up the little girl by her side, running for her life.

Slap!

Because she was wearing short heels, she hadn't run a few steps before falling.

Her knees and elbows hit the stone tiles, drawing blood.

People on the square noticed the commotion, and one person asked, "What's going on?"

Another person smirked sinisterly, "What's going on? Hehe! Anyone daring to discuss the Heavenly King General in Heavenly King City is asking for death! She thought speaking softly would keep her safe, but doesn't she know that the Heavenly King General's former favorite 'Xue Qiangwei' used to monitor the entire city? As long as a trigger keyword is activated, she'll be caught. Her whole family is going to die! I don't know which poor guy ended up marrying such a disaster, causing their family to be wiped out!"

The person who asked the question before was taken aback, exclaiming, "Really?!"

The other person shook his head, turning around and saying, "Let's go! When Xue Qiangwei acts, bystanders should avoid it to avoid unnecessary calamity!"

In an instant, the bustling square emptied, not a single person remaining. Even the white doves that had been hovering around the fountain flapped their wings and flew away.

The little girl in the woman's arms seemed to sense something, wailing loudly.

The woman, disregarding the pain, struggled to her feet and fled in panic. However, she couldn't resist turning back to look—

In her eyes, there was only despair.

Zuo Chang realized what was happening and turned his head to look.

And he saw the figure of a woman whom he had often looked at in the past.

Dazzling sunlight fell, casting a soft radiance on the woman's golden hair. She stood there in a daze, her blood-red eyes trembling slightly, staring at Zuo Chang in disbelief.

Zuo Chang looked at the black whip with spikes hanging from her waist and recognized it as the gift he had once given to Xue Qiangwei.

The "Soul-Draining Punishment Whip," which inflicted excruciating pain upon its target, trembling their very soul, was used for whipping targets.

Looking somewhat aloof, Zuo Chang took a few steps into her direction and spoke to the girl with a soft tone. "Xue Qiangwei, do you still remember me?"

"Heavenly King General..."

Seeing the figure who spoke to her, the woman's lips twitched, as if trying to smile. But before the smile could fully form, tears welled up on her eyes and began to fall silently.

She couldn't speak through her tears and hastily wiped her face a couple of times, but it didn't seem to help.

Choking back her sobs, she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her excited emotions.

Then—

She raised her head proudly, standing tall and saluting crisply, "General, Xue Qiangwei, Former Chief of the Security and Defense Bureau, ready to devote myself to you at all times!"

"..."

Zuo Chang was slightly taken aback, but quickly showed a faint smile.

In the game, he had set Xue Qiangwei as the mascot. Every time he returned to the hall, her illustration and lines were just like this.

Of course.

Back then, there was no "Former" in her title, she was just the Chief of the Security and Defense Bureau.