68

Cheng Yang swaggered through the city while being escorted by Yuan Jianzhe.

This was a situation that none of the safe zone residents had seen before.

Along the way, the army commander amicably chatted with Cheng Yang, trying to probe him for information.

When Cheng Yang finally passed through the barrier without revealing anything, Yuan Jianzhe was gloomy.

These last few days he had believed himself to be the most powerful person in the city. Even though the shop managers were clearly far more powerful than he was, since they couldn't leave the shops, Yuan Jianzhe was able to ignore their existence.

Today's events had shattered that illusion. That NPC, that man? Where did he come from? This world or the one the NPC's came from?

These problems plagued Yuan Jianzhe's heart and he was eager to find answers.

"Commander, are we just going to let them go?" Sita Fu asked.

Yuan Jianzhe motioned to a man behind him, "Old Ho, send some members from your Citizen's Defense Militia to intercept them. Fu, follow behind them secretly to observe their reaction."

Lao Ho, the former deputy mayor used to be on the same level as Yuan Jianzhe but now he could only obey him like a lackey. After the apocalypse, Yuan Jianzhe's authority experience massive growth.

Neither person dared to disobey his commands and promptly acted to follow them.

As Cheng Yang and the others walked back to Phoenix Village, Ma Tao was listening to his loved ones experiences during the apocalypse. Just like with any family, the end of the world drastically changed their lives.

The other three people just followed them nervously. Up until now they hadn't been able to determine why Cheng Yang had brought them. Although Ma Tao had been talking with his family, they weren't able to join the conversation.

They knew their fate was being controlled by the man leading their group if only because he was able to pressure Yuan Jianzhe into handing them over. Unless he was strong enough to do so, there was no way he would have been able to bargain with the military commander.

"Um, excuse me sir…" Zhou Jie couldn't stand the depressing atmosphere and took the initiative to greet Cheng Yang.

"You don't need to call me sir, I'm younger than you. Just Cheng Yang or my Lord is fine."

Ma Tao stopped the six refugees when he heard Zhou Jie start talking, "This is the Lord of Phoenix Village and if you want to live there I suggest you address him as My Lord and not by his name."

"Phoenix Village?" Zhou Jie asked in confusion, "I've never heard of a city with that name near here."

"After the apocalypse we built a village where Phoenix Slope used to be so naturally we called it Phoenix Village." Cheng Yang explained. "If you want to become a citizen of mine I will grant you the right to become a Professional but in exchange you must promise to become a government official and obey my commands."

Zhou Jie was overjoyed by those terms. He would be able to gain both literal and political power at the same time? Phoenix Village couldn't be in a worse state than Cloud City so what did he have to lose?

Cheng Yang grinned but didn't elaborate.

"My Lord, can you tell us why you came to find us?" Liu Wei asked at that time.

When Cheng Yang stopped and looked back at her she tensed up. Hopefully she hadn't escaped a pack of wolves to enter a tiger's den.

Right before Yuan Jianzhe's subordinates found her, she had been apprehended by the captain of the Red Cloud Militia. He wanted her to prostitute herself to him in exchange for a position in his militia. Although these were rather generous conditions, she had refused to sacrifice her dignity. If Cheng Yang hadn't taken her away from the safe zone, the Red Cloud Militia captain would have made living there difficult for her.

"Someone asked me to save you." Cheng Yang replied bluntly, "You should know her, Pang Sun."

"Pang Sun? How was she…" Liu Wei exclaimed.

"She's dating one of my good friends." Cheng Yang explained.

Liu Wei relaxed after hearing that. If Pang Sun trusted this man to find her, he was probably safe to be with.

Suddenly, a pair of militia members approached the group.

One of them walked over to Cheng Yang and said: "Whew, isn't she hot? How are you? Why don't you let us take that pretty lady somewhere nice?"

"Shut your damn mouth." Liu Wei snapped at him.

Whew… this one is feisty! I like that in a woman." The man laughed lewdly.

Cheng Yang tilted his head and sneered. It seemed like Yuan Jianzhe didn't respect him in the slightest, they'd only traveled half a kilometer from the barrier but someone had already jumped out to cause trouble for him. If claimed he wasn't behind this not even a child would believe him.

What a shame these people were too quick to try and test him. If they just waited a while longer and watched him slaughter a monster horde neither of these messengers would have to die.

"If you want to leave there's still a little time." Cheng Yang said coldly, "Otherwise, I don't mind killing you both."

Cheng Yang's vicious words shut up the man in front of him but he quickly recovered. He was acting under the orders of the military commander Yuan Jianzhe and this was his domain. Why would he be afraid of a single man even if he was a Professional?

"You want to kill us huh?" The lewd man asked, "If you're not careful I'm going to-"

Cheng Yang didn't even have the patience to let him finish. As soon as his Icicle Blast's cast time was over, he sent it flying into the man's chest. His voice went quiet and his life ebbed, but the look of arrogance in his eyes didn't even have time to get replaced with shock.

Cheng Yang didn't regret his actions in the slightest. He knew many of the original militia members and this one would have just harmed people if left alive.

"How dare you kill him?" The other militia member was panicking, he couldn't understand how his partner died. He didn't even recognize the skill Cheng Yang had used.

"Stop talking or I'll kill you too. Now scurry back to your master and let him know that I'm not someone he can afford to offend."

Cheng Yang cold attitude scared the militia member, the six refugees and even Ma Tao. Not one of the could help but let fear creep into their hearts when they looked at him.

The militia member swallowed his words and ran.

"Well, let's go." Cheng Yang turned around with a laugh. The look of his face was one of someone telling off a child, not someone who killed a man.

The six refugees had a complex expression on their faces but still obediently followed after him.

A couple hundred meters later, Cheng Yang slaughtered a monster horde.

The scene of him insta-killing monster after monster was almost more frightening for Zhou Jie and the others than when he committed murder. None of them could forget the insurmountable power of a monster horde and yet, Cheng Yang was tearing through them as if they were made of paper.

After exterminating the forty plus monsters in the horde, Cheng Yang turned around to stare at pile of rubble. Shortly after, his group left the area.

A few minutes later, two soldiers crawled out from under the rubble. Their hands were shaking and their eyes were filled with fear. Their imaginations couldn't help but think of a scenario where Cheng Yang wasn't killing monsters but their allies instead.

"Quickly, we need to report this to the commander! This man… this monster definitely isn't from Earth." One of them said in horror.

The duo was only able to calm down once they had safely reached the safe zone barrier.

Yuan Jianzhe had been waiting right inside the barrier for the last half hour and when he saw his subordinates faces, he knew he was about to receive bad news. He had already heard the story of the militia members Cheng Yang had threatened and was in a fowl mood.

"Commander, that monster he… he wiped out a horde of more than forty monsters all on his own." The soldier quickly reported.

The commander frowned, "Why did you ignore my orders? You should have kept following him."

"I'm sorry commander but we were discovered." The soldier admitted with a bitter expression, "If we had kept following him I'm afraid he would have killed us. Since this news was important on its own we retreated. We will accept out punishment commander."

　As Yuan Jianzhe thought about what punishment to administer, a loud voice boomed down from the heavens.

"Pitiful ants, congratulations! Today marks the tenth day of your pathetic struggles. Your hard work has pleased the gods and as such they have decided to bestow upon you a reward! They do very much hope you will enjoy it."

It was that voice again!

It was a voice that every human on Earth remembered since it had announced the end of their peaceful lives.

What horrors had that voice announced this time?

It claimed to be rewarding them but who would believe that? Last time it had promised them the next stage in human evolution but instead nearly half of the population died!