RIACMET chapter 209

 

“…”

Qi Lao’er instinctively shrank his neck, fully aware that Yang Kai wasn’t bluffing. He forced himself to stay calm and pretended to be unfazed as he looked at Jiang Nian and spoke.

“If he didn’t have such a special ability, none of you would’ve realized you were caught in an illusion. Everything was fine at first, but Gao Xuyang’s consciousness started to become muddled some time ago. He began to instinctively favor zombies, allowing them to attack humans inside the illusion.”

“The zombies outside were only recently released by him. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have encountered them. Since we couldn’t escape the illusion, we had no choice but to call for help, using the name ‘Guanshan Prison’ and claiming that there were surviving children. That’s the real situation.”

With that, he let out a long breath, pulled at his injuries, and forced a twisted expression onto his face.

As a cold, sharp, and ruthless secret agent, Yang Kai was never easily swayed by sentiment. To complete his missions, he sometimes displayed a level of cruelty and madness that could terrify ordinary criminals.

Before the collapse, Qi Lao’er had planned to train Yang Kai to be one of his trusted subordinates.

“…”

Everyone remained silent for a moment. Chu Yi then asked again,

“How many survivors are in the basement? Why didn’t you bring them up?”

“There were 27… no, 30 survivors. All women and children…”

Qi Lao’er’s face twisted with pain.

“After Gao Xuyang lost control, he allowed the zombies to slaughter the superpowers. As things stand, there are now many powerful zombies in the basement. The regular survivors are hiding in the cells. They’re safe for now. To keep things in balance, we didn’t dare act recklessly.”

To minimize risk and avoid unnecessary trouble, they only kept women and children aside from their own team members because they were easier to control. This made it easier for them to disguise themselves and communicate with outsiders.

“Got family down there?” Liao Yu asked, pressing a cold pack against his head. He was worried he might pass out and miss the climax of Brother Kai’s interrogation.

Qi Lao’er looked momentarily stunned.

Liao Yu curled his lip.

“Don’t fake it. Someone like you wouldn’t ask us to go down and save anyone unless someone you loved was trapped. You wouldn’t be cooperating this well otherwise.”

“My wife and child,” Qi Lao’er admitted without resistance. “If you save them, I’ll do anything. They’re innocent. They flew in from overseas to visit me during the holidays and happened to be in Guanshan when the apocalypse hit, so they stayed with me.”

Chu Yi interrupted coldly.

“No one who benefited from you is innocent. Their comfortable lives were paid for with the blood on your hands. How could they be innocent?”

“…“

Qi Lao’er lowered his head.

“Please, just give them a way out.”

Yang Kai kicked him to the ground.

“Did you give others a way out? What about those you killed before the world ended? What about the survivors who came here after, begging for mercy?”

“…”

Qi Lao’er fell silent. After a long pause, he murmured,

“You’re official personnel…”

Yang Kai kicked him again, knocking him out of the tent’s shadow.

“And that makes us morally obligated to show you mercy?”

Qi Lao’er lay on the sloped ground, his lips moving slightly, but no words came out.

Unexpectedly, Yang Kai kicked him again. The sound of a bone cracking—clearly a rib—followed by searing pain radiating through Qi Lao’er’s chest. The blood he coughed up felt like fire.

But it didn’t end there. Yang Kai crouched down, placed his palm over Qi Lao’er’s chest, and began applying supernatural pressure directly over his heart.

He asked coolly,

“Everything you said makes sense and might even be true, but I still don’t believe you.”

“Ugh…”

The supernatural pressure crushed Qi Lao’er’s chest like a vise. His mind buzzed, but he clenched his teeth and forced out a denial.

“Why not?”

If Yang Kai didn’t believe him, his wife and child might not survive.

Yang Kai sneered.

“First, I have no reason to believe you. Second, your little squad doesn’t include a single official member. From our point of view, you’re just being nice. That’s not enough.”

The others stood by, watching coldly. Clearly, they shared the same sentiment.

Chu Yi pointed at the nearby legion members.

“This is a prison. Even if chaos broke out, trained personnel wouldn’t fall so easily. In terms of equipment and discipline, officials should have had the upper hand. They would have been the first to secure weapons. Why didn’t they survive?”

Qi Lao’er tried to argue.

“I’m telling the truth. The officials died in the initial chaos. They were either killed or infected while trying to maintain order. The rest were mutated or attacked after Gao Xuyang lost control!”

“Sounds logical! Say it again—I still don’t believe you!”

Yang Kai smiled faintly as he increased the pressure of his supernatural energy.

“You keep saying Gao Xuyang was confused and out of control. Psychic powers can easily affect others—and the user themselves. But was it him who lost control? Or did you lose control of him?”

“Cough…”

Qi Lao’er’s chest nearly exploded from the pressure. He gasped for breath but had no rebuttal.

Yang Kai continued:

“Even if Gao Xuyang’s memories were fragmented, he still clung to his desire to help humanity after being infected. Someone like that wouldn’t stand by and watch you hurt others. The only reason he allowed it was because you were controlling him.”

“The illusion we saw, where zombies appeared as normal humans, wasn’t his doing. It was yours. You set it up to confuse outsiders. But now that he’s truly out of your grasp, you’re the one who’s trapped.”

Yang Kai’s voice trembled with restrained fury.

Human nature doesn’t change. From the beginning, he never believed this bastard was ever truly “close” to Gao Xuyang.

“Pff…”

A burst of blood sprayed from Qi Lao’er’s mouth. His body convulsed violently under the supernatural pressure. He couldn’t speak.

Yang Kai stared coldly for a moment, then finally withdrew his power.

“…”

Qi Lao’er teetered on the edge of death, then was suddenly pulled back. In his daze, he mumbled faintly,

“Is that really the truth?”

“Yes… Survival is instinct. In the end, it’s always the same—winner takes all.”

Qi Lao’er could only admit that his bold gamble on cooperation had made him the biggest fool of all. The shame of being mocked drove him to fury, but he was utterly powerless.

If he had known he couldn’t bluff his way through, he would have gone all out and taken someone with him.
If only his wife and child hadn’t been involved, they might have had a better chance of being saved.