Shen Feng hadn't expected to encounter such a situation. He had only left Pudong for four or five days when he suddenly received the dire news. Mu Ying, after all, was a powerful ability user, once among the four great masters of civilian ability users. Shen Feng was one of them; the other three were Mu Ying, Li Xiankang, and Wang Ao Ye. By all accounts, Mu Ying should have been very strong, yet she was now on the brink of death. It was all too strange.
Shen Feng couldn't just stand by and watch. After all, she was his sister-in-law. If he didn't go back, Mu Ying might die in Pudong. Although he didn't know what had happened, the situation in Pudong had been described as so serious that Mu Ying's condition was clearly not optimistic.
...
After Shen Feng left the conference room, everyone began to discuss how to break through the insect's nest. In their eyes, it was a simple matter to deal with a group of low-intelligence insects. In recent days, even children could stomp insects to death. With humanity's size advantage, the insects were no match for humans.
While those in the conference room were discussing how to fight next, in a luxurious manor in Pudong, a young man was kneeling on the ground. Before him, a middle-aged man paced back and forth, holding a stick, looking very stern.
"I already told you not to be greedy for small gains, but what did you do? You just wouldn't listen to me. Now your retribution has come, hasn't it? What can I say to you?" The middle-aged man was constantly scolding his son, while the young man knelt on the ground, his face ashen.
"Dad, I know I was wrong now. I shouldn't have embezzled the money for building the city walls, but I never expected the city walls built by the people below to be so fragile! They collapsed just from being soaked by the seawater!" The young man cried as he knelt on the ground.
It turned out that this person was responsible for the collapse of the city walls during this battle.
Upon hearing his son's tearful confession, the middle-aged man cursed, "How dare you say that? Is the money for building city walls something you can embezzle? Without the city walls, we would all be killed by various dangers. And you, you audacious fool, you even embezzled the money for building the city walls! Now the higher-ups are investigating, how can I protect you?"
Wu Kai quickly said, "It wasn't just me who embezzled. The old man's subordinates also took their share. I only handled the first part; the rest of the money was taken by the old man's subordinates. If they investigate, it shouldn't be my sole responsibility."
Hearing his son's defense, Wu Hexing shook his head helplessly and said, "Who told you you were in charge? No matter how much you took, you took it. And if you hadn't taken it, how would others dare to take it? It's difficult to protect you now. I really don't know what you were thinking, daring to embezzle the funds for the city wall construction. How can I help you now?"
Wu Kai continued to kowtow on the ground, begging his father to help him.
Wu Hexing was truly disappointed in his son because his audacity was too great. A little mischief now and then was one thing, but he had actually dared to lay hands on the money for building the city walls. Moreover, the entire city was now investigating who was responsible for building the city walls. Previously, everyone was focused on defending against insect attacks and had no time to deal with this matter. But now that the city was safe, everyone in the city was demanding to find the person responsible for building the city walls.
"I ask you, were there many people who received the money?" Wu Hexing asked urgently.
Wu Kai nodded quickly and said, "Many, many important people around the old man received it! I was instigated by these people to do it. Should I expose them? Let them take the blame?"
"Foolish! How can you do that? If you dare to expose them, do you believe they won't pour all the blame onto you? The most important thing now is to unite with these people. We are all in the same boat; no one can escape. Fortunately, the old man is confused now. As long as a reasonable explanation is given, the old man can be fooled!" Wu Hexing suddenly thought of a plan: to unite most people and create a fabricated truth.
"Will it work? What if someone sees through our trick, and it's all in vain?" Wu Kai couldn't help but ask.
"What do you know? The common people are blindly obedient. Our goal is not to make everyone believe the truth we've fabricated, but only to make the majority believe it. Then this matter will pass. You go find a few contractors and have them take the blame!" Wu Hexing scolded.
"Okay, okay, I'll go find people right away. I'll definitely make them confess their guilt!" Wu Kai saw a glimmer of hope for survival.
If this matter were ultimately discovered, Wu Kai would definitely be eliminated, even with a powerful father. But if someone could take the blame, he would have a chance to live.
Wu Hexing, meanwhile, seized the opportunity to quickly contact the others. As long as they united, no difficulty could not be overcome.
So, the next day, the people responsible for investigating the quality of the city walls in Pudong arrested several contractors who had cut corners. The biggest among them was the boss responsible for supplying the building materials. When the people heard that the culprits had been caught, they rushed to the front of the City Lord's mansion, demanding that these contractors be executed.
In the past, there would have been processes like trials. But now, the people's voices were incredibly strong, reaching a point where not executing them would be insufficient to appease public anger. Thus, that morning, those who were investigated were executed publicly.
"Good! These detestable scoundrels! Because of their shoddy construction, thousands of people were killed!"
"I think it's too lenient for these people. They die and it's over, but their families are still alive. Their families should be killed too!"
"That's going too far. Collective punishment is not advisable, and if it were truly implemented, it would implicate too many people!"
The people, having witnessed the execution of those who built the shoddy construction, felt immense satisfaction. They stood on the streets discussing the matter.
The realization of justice was naturally exhilarating, and everyone felt a sense of catharsis. Some even set off firecrackers to celebrate the eradication of Pudong's scourges.
However, such a situation could not be hidden from the truly intelligent. Some had keenly noticed something: the ones caught were all small fry, yet the city's people made a big fuss about catching and killing these few small fry, which was too abnormal.
"Heh, a ridiculous carnival!" The intelligent man saw a group of people who were unaware of the truth cheering and couldn't help but shake his head and leave. This carnival was destined to be blind.
These revelers were destined not to know the real situation. The information they received was filtered. They could only know what others wanted them to know. Therefore, only the higher-ups knew the most real situation.
The people of Pudong began preparations after planning to attack the insect nest. The first step was to find enough warships, as they couldn't fight at sea without them.
While everyone was preparing, Wu Hexing said to his son, Wu Kai, "This time, I've arranged for you to participate in the maritime operation. Of course, you're not going to the battlefield; you're just participating as a civilian staff member. While on the ship, don't do anything; just stay put!"
"Am I going to gain merit? I understand. I'll do it right away." Wu Kai became excited upon hearing his father's words.
In the apocalypse, it wasn't easy to get promoted. At the very least, one needed some merit. To accumulate merit, one usually had to fight in wars. As long as victory was achieved, one would gain some military merit.
However, Wu Kai knew he wasn't cut out for combat. He would likely be killed by the enemy the moment he reached the battlefield. But now that his father wanted to find him a job to gain experience, he had to participate. Anyway, he was just a civilian staff member and wouldn't be afraid on the battlefield, as he wouldn't be involved in combat.
"When you get on the ship, you must perform well. I will find ways to create momentum for you and ensure you have a good future. Just remember not to act recklessly on the ship!" Wu Hexing said earnestly to his son.
Wu Kai clearly took these words to heart and thus gained the qualification to participate in the讨伐虫巢 (attack on the insect nest).
During the day, thousands of soldiers arrived at the fleet. There were five ships, two of which were elite ships, and the other three were converted merchant ships.
Mu Ying participated in this operation. She remembered that when she left Jinling, she had specifically found Gu Yanxiao under the cover of night and asked her how to make her body weak.
Gu Yanxiao's answer was very simple: "There are many ways to make the body weak. Generally, it's by falling ill. After falling ill, the body naturally becomes weak. Another way is through injury, the most important factor being blood loss. Human blood production capacity has limits, so as long as there is significant blood loss, the human body will naturally become weak. However, one must be careful: if blood loss is excessive, even ability users can die."
Thus, Mu Ying had an idea: "If I lose too much blood under normal circumstances, Shen Feng will definitely see through my scheme. But if I lose too much blood on the battlefield, Shen Feng will have no choice but to accept it."
Mu Ying's goal this time was very simple: besides destroying the insect nest, she also wanted to find a way to intentionally injure herself during the battle. This way, she would have an opportunity to continue blackmailing Shen Feng.
The two insect nests were two hundred kilometers away from Pudong, and it would only take a day to reach their destination. These insects came to the coast every night following the ocean currents and launched attacks on humans. Although it was unknown how these insect nests were fixed at sea, there was no need to worry about that. As long as the two insect nests were found, a direct artillery bombardment would immediately destroy them.
"Miss Mu Ying, I didn't expect you to like looking at the sea so much. Do you have any special feelings for the sea?" Wu Kai suddenly appeared beside Mu Ying and said to her.
At this moment, Mu Ying was standing by the railing on the ship. With nothing else to do, she could only stand by the railing and look at the gently swaying seawater below, already contemplating the battle ahead. When the battle began, she would need to feign a weakness and create the illusion of bleeding and injury.
However, she hadn't expected someone to interrupt her thoughts while she was lost in contemplation. Turning around, she saw a young man in a military uniform standing beside her. However, judging by his build and complexion, he didn't seem like a real soldier.
"It's none of your business. It's best not to disturb me!" Mu Ying said indifferently.
In fact, Mu Ying didn't have a good impression of many men, which was largely due to her experiences. When the apocalypse descended, she and her boyfriend were hiding in a club, thinking they could leave once it was safe. Unexpectedly, they encountered a rich second-generation heir with many bodyguards. He then killed her boyfriend in front of her, violated her for a month, and finally threw her into a dirty sewer.
Fortunately, Mu Ying was very lucky. The sewer had enough zombie virus, which infected Mu Ying and allowed her to survive. Not only did she develop antibodies, but she also obtained extraterrestrial elements carried by the virus, ultimately becoming an ability user.
Therefore, after experiencing these events, Mu Ying developed an instinctive hatred for men.