EDEH Chapter 58

While other safe zones were in dire straits or enjoying themselves, the main city had become a complete mess.

 

Since Huo Yanji took office, this was the first time city order had been so chaotic.

 

People who had just learned the truth couldn’t control their emotions at all, anger and fear intertwined in their hearts.

 

Conflicts between deviants and ordinary people were on the verge of erupting again, with any small dispute leading to escalation.

 

A deviant stood on the street with clenched fists, while ordinary people nearby glanced at him occasionally with sympathy, but more with relief.

 

Human nature was like this—when disaster befell a large group, the most common thought was “thank goodness it’s not me.”

 

A fist came down, and the man fell to the ground unexpectedly, raising his hands in panic to resist the attack: “Are you crazy! Are you violating the Deviant Code!?”

 

“Fuck the code!” The man grabbed the ordinary person’s neck, punching his face repeatedly, eyes blood-red, “I’ve been tolerating you all for too long!!”

 

As he threw the final punch, a hand grabbed the man’s wrist. He instinctively tried to shake it off but couldn’t break free.

 

Turning back angrily, he found a youth with fair, delicate features.

 

Sang Jue said: “If you keep hitting, he’ll bleed, and you’ll infect him.”

 

The man couldn’t break free from those seemingly weak fingers: “I don’t care if he gets infected! Let go of me!!”

 

Sang Jue said seriously: “If you wanted to infect him, you wouldn’t be holding back your strength.”

 

“What do you know!? Don’t mind your own business or I’ll beat you up too!!”

 

The man cursed, and Sang Jue actually let go.

 

He raised his fist high, but seeing the terror in the man’s eyes below, his clenched fist tensed for a long time before weakly relaxing.

 

His nails dug deep into his palm, leaving five crescent-shaped bloody marks.

 

He slumped to the ground, seeming mad, laughing uncontrollably.

 

Laughing at years of self-righteous pride, at the sense of sacrifice from narrowly escaping death time and again over the past decade.

 

He asked crazily, half-laughing, half-crying: “I chose ‘evolution’ at eighteen, I’m thirty-three now. Tell me, how many years do I have left?”

 

Sang Jue pursed his lips: “I don’t know.”

 

The man covered his face, saying bitterly: “You’re also a deviant, right? Looking at your age, you just chose evolution recently?”

 

Sang Jue didn’t answer, unable to empathize with the man’s pain. After all, he wasn’t human, much less a deviant.

 

Sang Jue’s lifespan was very long, so long that after sleeping in a hibernation pod for many years, he still had the appearance of an eighteen-year-old. He kept growing but never aged.

 

Thus he couldn’t know how to respond when learning you only had a dozen years or even one or two years left to live.

 

Sang Jue wanted to say something comforting, searching his mind for a long time but finding no appropriate words.

 

In this situation, nothing seemed quite right to say. He could only quietly leave, letting the man calm down alone.

 

…

 

Breaking up fights was becoming impossible.

 

Sang Jue didn’t care about these people fighting, but if it got too violent, it would trouble Ji Ji.

 

In the distance, a voice called out—it was Bao Cang stopping a group fight: “Stop fighting, calm down! They didn’t know the truth either!!”

 

The cause was several ordinary people glancing at a deviant, who immediately cursed back. After a few words, they started fighting.

 

But people like Bao Cang were in the minority—those creating conflicts far outnumbered those breaking them up.

 

Some deviants vented their fear and confusion with fists, while others stood aside with red eyes, watching coldly.

 

For a moment, the vast main city was full of such situations everywhere. Ordinary people without combat ability immediately felt endangered, frantically avoiding nearby deviants. This attitude further intensified the conflicts.

 

A vicious cycle.

 

As Sang Jue passed by, he heard two ordinary people talking nervously: “Wasn’t General Huo’s charges cleared? Why hasn’t he come out to maintain order yet?”

 

“I don’t know, if he doesn’t come out soon, things will go completely out of control…”

 

When there’s trouble, it’s “General Huo”; when there’s no trouble, it’s “Huo Yanji.”

 

Hmph.

 

Sang Jue reluctantly said to them: “You should go home quickly, that’s the safest.”

 

The communicator beeped twice—it was Shiwei calling.

 

Her voice carried exhaustion: “You heard it, right?”

 

Sang Jue nodded. Looking at the chaos around him, he said honestly: “I don’t think revealing the truth was good.”

 

A forced laugh came from the other end, Shiwei’s voice extremely hoarse: “I know, the truth will throw the safe zone into chaos, cause order to collapse… but aren’t the hundreds of millions of deviants who died from lies over the years innocent and tragic? Do the deviants suffering unfair treatment now deserve it?”

 

Sang Jue said: “They are indeed very pitiful…”

 

But even knowing the truth couldn’t change the outcome—it would only make them sink into pain and anger.

 

Whether to wait for death in clear pain or sacrifice life in ignorant numbness, it was hard to say which was better.

 

“The people have the right to know the truth, whether deviants or ordinary people.” Shiwei said calmly but firmly, “People shouldn’t sacrifice their lives based on lies. Past deviants deserved to know the truth, future deviants should choose whether to sacrifice after understanding the stakes, ordinary people shouldn’t feel justified in being protected, and shouldn’t look at others with strange eyes and discrimination.”

 

“—They deserve the respect that sacrificers should have.”

 

Sang Jue asked quietly: “But where did you find ‘Dawn’?”

 

This document had been destroyed in the main city’s network domain. 007 had spent several days restoring it to see the content.

 

Shiwei was silent for a long time before saying: “After you left last night, I sat in Old He’s house for a long time… when I was about to leave, I suddenly thought of a place to hide documents.”

 

Sang Jue asked: “Where?”

 

Shiwei said softly: “The Relics Management Office.”

 

Sang Jue was stunned.

 

Shiwei continued: “I went to check overnight and indeed found that Old He had made a relic commission long ago, in box 128 of the small warehouse. Inside I found ‘Dawn’ and ‘Dawn No. 2,’ evidence of the Supreme Court manipulating public opinion over the years, falsification of various deviant data, and his own video recording of framing the General.”

 

Sang Jue didn’t understand why Old Herman would keep evidence of his own framing of Huo Yanji.

 

“Old He deliberately kept these things for me to find.” Shiwei said softly, “Although I don’t understand the specific reason, I know he left these things in the Relics Management Office for me to discover and reveal.”

 

Before the call ended, Sang Jue heard Shiwei’s final words: “He is my father, I should inherit his will.”

 

Sang Jue could understand.

 

Just like how he came to this planet—not really wanting to save the world, just inheriting Dr. Anya’s will.

 

He walked through the streets, witnessing conflict and chaos everywhere.

 

Just as he passed old Karl’s tavern, a bottle flew out and blocked his path, glass shards scattered on the ground.

 

People who had been drinking were already more impulsive and angry than usual, let alone having just learned such a cruel truth.

 

Everything in the tavern that could be smashed had been smashed. The new owner was also an ordinary person who leaned silently against the bar, unable to find a reason to stop their venting and powerless to break up fights.

 

The communicator beeped again.

 

Seeing the caller, Sang Jue immediately answered: “Ji Ji.”

 

Huo Yanji asked quickly: “Sang Jue, where are you?”

 

Sang Jue said: “Old Karl’s tavern.”

 

“Stay there, don’t move, don’t fight, wait for me.” Huo Yanji instructed coldly, “If others start the conflict first, don’t hesitate—fight back directly.”

 

Sang Jue obediently stayed put: “Got it.”

 

In less than ten minutes, Huo Yanji appeared in front of Sang Jue.

 

He gestured to the supervisors beside him to enter the tavern and stop the escalating conflict.

 

After looking at each other for a long time, Huo Yanji asked: “Are you hurt?”

 

Sang Jue shook his head, eyes crinkled with a smile: “I didn’t fight, I even helped mediate several fights!”

 

Huo Yanji didn’t praise Sang Jue as usual, but silently took off his gloves and touched Sang Jue’s hair.

 

His expression was calm, but his voice was hoarse: “I wasn’t deliberately hiding it before, I just thought it was more important for you to live happily.”

 

Sang Jue blinked.

 

He suddenly realized that in Huo Yanji’s eyes, he was also a deviant, also a victim of the “Dawn” plan, with less than thirty years left to live, and should be angry, sad, and fearful like other deviants.

 

He hesitated for a moment, then said: “I don’t really have a concept of it.”

 

Huo Yanji gently hugged Sang Jue, stroking his nape without speaking. In his past boring thirty-plus years of life, he had probably comforted people only a handful of times.

 

So at this moment, he seemed particularly awkward.

 

Sang Jue wrapped his arms around Huo Yanji’s waist, looking up puzzled: “Are you very sad?”

 

So sad that he was actively seeking hugs.

 

“…No.” Huo Yanji brushed at non-existent dirt on Sang Jue’s chin, pausing slightly, “Things will be very unsettled for a while. You could stay home and not go out, or—”

 

“I can follow you.” Sang Jue added, “I won’t cause you trouble.”

 

Huo Yanji agreed quickly: “Alright.”

 

The conflict in the tavern was quickly resolved—

 

Not by persuasion, but by directly knocking people unconscious.

 

Huo Yanji walked in stepping on glass shards, seeing people lying all over the floor.

 

The supervising officer asked: “General, how should we handle this?”

 

Huo Yanji said: “After confirming no infection, send them home under house arrest.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Normally, such serious public disturbance would mean prison, but in the coming period there would be wave after wave of troublemakers—arresting them all would be impractical.

 

Having found Sang Jue, Huo Yanji immediately rushed to the administrative building. Twenty minutes ago, he had notified all high-level officials in the main city to come for a meeting.

 

Although he wasn’t the highest authority in the main city, now that things had become a complete mess, when someone voluntarily took on this burden, others were naturally eager to let him.

 

As soon as the elevator doors opened, countless gazes immediately focused on him.

 

Everyone was there—the administrator, deputy administrator, three generals, seven major generals, all Court members, supervisors from various district administrators, research institute directors… only Old Herman was missing.

 

Huo Yanji’s gaze swept over everyone, not too surprised.

 

Sang Jue hid behind Huo Yanji, sneakily and quietly observing these important figures. He also spotted Lance, whom he had scared into urinating—his face looked terrible.

 

Lance immediately questioned angrily: “Huo Yanji, what do you mean? Restricting helicopter travel!?”

 

Huo Yanji received food and water from Adjutant Zhang, who had been waiting, handed them to Sang Jue, then responded coldly: “The council members came here the same way they’ll leave—if you’re not afraid of being torn to pieces the moment you step outside.”

 

Now, below the administrative building, supervision center, and the building where Court members were temporarily staying, many deviants had gathered demanding an explanation.

 

It was because he didn’t dare take a vehicle out of the city that Lance wanted to take a helicopter out of the city to return to the underground city.

 

Zom didn’t say anything, turning to walk toward the conference hall: “Let’s have the meeting.”

 

Everyone followed. They had no particular reaction to Sang Jue’s presence—after all, they’d long heard rumors about Huo Yanji having a little lover. They’d already secretly investigated his photos and identity, just seeing him in person for the first time.

 

Seeing him bring the person to meetings, everyone had more calculations in their hearts—probably not just a simple “little lover.”

 

“Sit here and wait for me.”

 

“Okay.”

 

It wasn’t appropriate for Sang Jue to enter the conference hall, but that was fine—with 007 there, he would know everything they discussed.

 

He just didn’t expect the meeting to end so quickly.

 

Everyone sat in their usual positions, with the Supreme Court at the top, followed by Huo Yanji and the administrator.

 

Not long after entering, Huo Yanji directly threw out several military order documents, saying coldly: “From this moment, the entire first district is under lockdown. Only entry is allowed, no exit. Civilian signals are blocked to the inner city. Freshwater lakes, artificial underground wells, power plants, agricultural forests, and supply stations will all be taken over by the military within an hour.”

 

Zom suddenly looked up: “What are you trying to do, stage a coup during the chaos!?”

 

These facilities were the city’s lifelines. Being controlled by one person meant everyone’s life and death were in his hands, let alone the city-wide lockdown.

 

Huo Yanji raised his eyelids with a mocking smile: “Otherwise? Can ordinary staff handle rioters?”

 

Everyone was stunned.

 

They knew that what they faced next wouldn’t just be ordinary conflicts. The revelation of truth had directly escalated the contradictions.

 

Currently, deviants in the city made up about a quarter of the total population, with others out on missions. Just thinking about it—at least a quarter of the city’s people were in extreme anger—they could feel the terror in it.

 

Everyone was still in shock now, but after another day of emotional brewing, there would be extreme violence, robbery, indiscriminate attacks, and even large-scale malicious contamination by deviants.

 

After all, not all deviants had thirty illusory years left.

 

Many people had already “evolved” for ten or twenty years—they didn’t have much time left before becoming monsters.

 

“Since I’m going to die anyway, no one else should have it easy.”

 

—At this moment, quite a few people probably had such thoughts.

 

So when Huo Jiangmin, Huo Yanji, Bo Qing, and Ji Zhen learned the truth in their youth, they had inevitable arguments.

 

Huo Jiangmin and Ji Zhen were passionate, unable to accept such cruel facts, wanting to make it public.

 

Bo Qing opposed it and was most pained. He predicted what price humanity would pay once the truth was revealed.

 

Bo Qing couldn’t accept so many people living toward death on one hand, while knowing that once revealed, the newly established order would be destroyed on the other.

 

Huo Yanji remained neutral, but being young and rebellious then, with anger difficult to vent, he ultimately left that ambiguous statement before the public.

 

The four struggled painfully in consciousness, unable to find the best outcome. Finally they went separate ways, each departing, separated by life and death.

 

The sins committed by predecessors and those in high positions had to be borne by them.

 

“This isn’t a discussion, it’s a notification.” Huo Yanji said coldly, “Or do you have better solutions?”

 

District 1 Administrator Fu Xi frowned: “Isn’t city lockdown excessive?”

 

Huo Yanji asked back: “Without lockdown, are you planning to let residents carry the news to other safe zones, causing overall internal chaos?”

 

Fu Xi hesitated: “You mean, continue hiding it from other districts?”

 

“It can’t be hidden.” The research institute director tiredly closed his eyes—the guilt accumulated over too many years, he was also exhausted.

 

“Of course it can’t be hidden.” Huo Yanji said calmly, “But it can’t be revealed without preparation. The truth must be officially announced, not through rumors.”

 

This would cause vastly different anger levels.

 

“But won’t city-wide lockdown cause reverse psychology among deviants in our district? Can’t we find ways to appease them?”

 

“Appeasement is necessary, but not now.” Huo Yanji showed a coldly mocking smile, “If you officers can find an effective way to appease deviants, withdraw them from anger and calm them down, you can treat everything I said earlier as nonsense.”

 

No one responded.

 

This was the first time Huo Yanji had used crude language, showing how much emotion he had pent up.

 

…

 

The meeting ended in half an hour, ridiculously fast.

 

It was called a meeting, but it was actually Huo Yanji’s one-man show. The Court members were effectively under house arrest in the city. Apart from Lance’s intense reaction, the other three remained silent without rebuttal.

 

Most people had no objections to the various orders Huo Yanji issued—no one could think of better solutions.

 

Among the military officers present besides Huo Yanji, only one was an ordinary person, named Yuan Deqiu, already over fifty.

 

He said gently: “General Huo, you should go back and rest. Staying in the interrogation room for a week must have been difficult. I’ll handle today’s matters.”

 

Before Huo Yanji could respond, Yuan Deqiu continued: “The hard part is still ahead. Today is probably the simplest day.”

 

Zom, who had only spoken once, slowly stood up, his gaze sweeping over everyone before finally settling on the military officers from various districts.

 

Apart from Huo Yanji and Yuan Deqiu, the other seven major generals and two lieutenant generals were all deviants who previously didn’t know the truth about deviation.

 

Yet they still prioritized the overall situation, with no mind for anger, rushing to this meeting travel-worn to maintain peace in the city together with others.

 

Zom looked at them: “We have wronged you all, but humanity is in grave danger. We still hope you can prioritize the overall situation.”

 

He bowed his head heavily, bending his waist to the lowest point, his forehead touching the conference table.

 

But his apology drew no reaction.

 

It even drew a sneer from one major general, whose nameplate on the table clearly identified him as Isaac.

 

The major general sitting across from him was named Tang Bai, formerly one of Huo Yanji’s subordinates. He said cutting words casually: “If today’s meeting notice hadn’t come from General Huo, do you think I’d be sitting here? I feel sick just looking at you people now.”

 

Lieutenant General Ling Gen, sitting on the same side as Huo Yanji, was relatively calmer. He said: “I chose gene fusion at twenty-two, I’m forty-nine now, with less than three years left. I had my gene sequence stability tested last month and got results showing gradual disorder.”

 

“…” Complete silence.

 

“From the day I chose ‘evolution,’ I anticipated this outcome. After all, fifty percent probability is quite high—but now someone tells me it’s not fifty percent, it’s one hundred percent.”

 

Ling Gen’s gaze swept over those sitting in high positions, saying flatly: “Though both end in death, being deceived into dying versus willingly going to death are very different.”

 

Everyone’s throats seemed gripped, unable to utter a word.

 

Ling Gen used calm tones to speak profanity: “When I heard the broadcast and saw the naked black and white words on the ‘Dawn’ document, my first thought was: fuck this! Whoever wants to guard this city can guard it, I’m done!”

 

“I even thought about simply bringing people to drag out all the knowing accomplices, pressing them one by one on the city walls, making them kneel and apologize to the nearly ten million deviants.”

 

Huo Yanji looked down, also saying nothing.

 

“But what’s the point?” Ling Gen scoffed and shook his head. “Just like Major General Tang Bai said, if today’s meeting notice hadn’t come from General Huo, I might not even be sitting here now.

 

“I just want to ask one thing—General Huo should have known about the ‘Dawn’ plan long ago, right? Ever think about revealing it?”

 

Huo Yanji leaned back in his chair: “You all haven’t forgotten the public trial eleven years ago—that was the result of attempting to reveal it.”

 

The one who wanted to reveal it was Huo Jiangmin, but because he bore the surname Huo, punishing him would be hard to explain to the people, so the Court made Bo Qing the scapegoat.

 

The details were too complex, involving not just revealing the ‘Dawn’ plan, but the Court’s manipulation of the public trial of Bo Qing did have this reason among others.

 

Ling Gen asked: “So you decided to keep silent?”

 

Huo Yanji looked up, and after a long while said flatly: “Back then I thought the best outcome would be for those in power to reveal it themselves, showing enough sincerity, letting deviants kill or maim as they wished.

 

“But they wouldn’t bear the consequences, wouldn’t accept eternal infamy, so I decided to become that sinner myself.”

 

Everyone present was stunned, all looking at him.

 

Sometimes, if people’s anger could be focused on one person or one thing, it would be much easier to bear.

 

Just like how the public knew that executing infected and disordered deviants wasn’t the supervisors’ fault, yet they still resented supervisors, resented Huo Yanji for taking away lives of relatives and friends.

 

Having an object of resentment allowed them to let go of burdens and continue living.

 

“But I was too young then, had too little power. Taking on the title of ‘eternal sinner’ seemed rather hollow. So I thought, when I was promoted to general [mfn]so here’s the thing – his current position is 中将 (zhōngjiāng) and he’s saying once he became 上将 (shàngjiāng), which is the highest general rank (上将) before executing his plan, but events have forced his hand earlier while he’s still at the 中将 level.[/mfn] and became the highest executive officer, I would reveal the ‘Dawn’ plan.

 

“The infamy they wouldn’t bear, I would bear.”

 

When hatred focused on him alone, the resulting social upheaval could be minimized, and wouldn’t continue betraying so many lives.

 

This was the best outcome young Huo Yanji could think of, and he had been working toward it, accumulating achievements.

 

In his life plan, the day he became general would be the day evil was exposed, the day he became infamous for all time… the day he died.

 

Huo Yanji spoke too matter-of-factly, leaving everyone unsure how to react.

 

After a long while, Ling Gen exhaled deeply, saying hoarsely: “General Huo’s words are enough. At least they let me know not everyone was taking our lives to pave the way with peace of mind.”

 

**

 

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