Chapter 843: Haste Makes Waste (3/4)

Chapter 843: Haste Makes Waste (3/4)

"I have to talk them out of this! If this keeps up, someone will get killed!"

Sava's face was etched with anxiety, but Zaid showed no sign of letting go, merely staring expressionlessly out the window.

After another five or six minutes had passed, a gunshot rang out at the end of the street, and several Valiant soldiers stepped into the slum.

At the thunderous crack of the shot, the clamoring crowd fell silent, shrinking their necks as they looked toward the big-nosed men.

Those on the fringes of the crowd began to slip away, and the once-crowded alley suddenly emptied of its own accord, leaving only a dozen or so people standing in the middle, trembling and afraid to move.

Pete bit down on a toothpick, casting a cold glance at the gangster, battered and bruised, and then an extra look at the youth clutching the dagger.

"What's all this racket about! If you've got that much energy for a fight, you'd be better off working on the docks!"

His harsh voice echoed through the alley, and no one dared meet his eyes.

Pete's gaze grew even more contemptuous.

He held these people in utter disdain from the bottom of his heart.

Either they bullied the weak at home, or they picked on those weaker than themselves.

Spitting out the toothpick, he called out to the ones lying on the ground, playing up their misery.

"Anyone who can still move, get the hell up. Legs broken, are they? Waiting for me to fix them for you?"

"Yes, yes—oh no! No, no!"

Catching the impatience in his voice, the thugs who had been groaning on the ground scrambled hastily to their feet.

They bowed and scraped, thanking the Valiant soldiers, then scurried toward the alley's mouth, casting one last vicious glare at the workers before they left.

Watching them go, Pete stepped forward and hauled Eugène, who was sitting against the wall, to his feet.

Grinning through a bloody mouth, Eugène stared back at the big-nosed man without flinching, a cold smirk on his face.

These people might fear this guy, but he didn't.

He was, after all, a citizen of the Alliance, and he'd entered with an electronic passport.

Pete didn't hit him, just shoved him roughly and then slapped his collar hard.

As if straightening his clothes.

But anyone with eyes could see how heavy-handed that decurion was.

"We're watching you," Pete hissed through clenched teeth, leaning close to Eugène's ear. "If you try anything on our turf, I'll throw you into the sea to feed the fish."

The threat in his voice was no joke.

Eugène just grinned, spat a bloody wad to the side.

"Try anything? Teaching the poor to read on Valiant turf—is that what you call 'trying anything'? Then go ahead and say it loud and clear at the Co-Prosperity Alliance meeting! And don't try to scare me. If I were afraid to die, I'd never have come out of that Great Wall!"

"Hah, I hope you're this brave when a knife's at your throat."

Pete let out a cold laugh, didn't spare him another glance, and signaled his men to withdraw, heading toward the alley's exit.

As the Valiant soldiers left, the workers who had been frozen in place finally breathed a sigh of relief, beginning to tidy up the mess in front of their homes and pick up the litter scattered on the ground.

Just then, a man with a look of compassion on his face threaded through the dejected crowd.

First, he helped up the Green Family member, then checked on the injuries of the friends from Boulder City, and afterward went to see the young man named Amin.

Feeling the time was right, he cleared his throat and addressed the wounded family members.

"My family."

"I know you're all worried right now, even scared and terrified. You're worried about the Valiant's attitude, afraid of retaliation from those gangsters... But I still say, it's not us who should be afraid—it's them!"

Heads that had been hanging low lifted, and slumped shoulders straightened.

They all turned their gazes to that man, their eyes filled with anxiety, confusion, but also a glimmer of hope.

Especially the Green Family member lying on the ground, and the young man named Amin.

They knew who this young man was.

His name was Zaid!

He was their Golden Family!

Basking in those admiring looks, Zaid, imitating the manner of that other man, slowly continued, finishing his words, and repeated them in a resounding voice.

"It's them who should be afraid... those vampires riding on our necks, and the vampires' lackeys—not us, who have already united!"

His voice brimmed with strength.

Like a hand with bulging veins, it gripped those wide-open eyes and carved its own mark into them.

"...Because of fear, flies and mosquitoes have conspired together. They don't want us to get what is rightfully ours. What we win through unity, they take by force. It's not that they lack the money! But only by keeping us in suffering and hunger can they build their sinful empire!"

"The Valiant find it inconvenient to step in themselves and break their own rules, so they egg on those gangsters to do the dirty work they don't want to do... And those violent means are proof of their fear! They try to use force to make us submit, to break our unity! That is exactly what they fear!"

Eyes were filled with hatred.

Zaid looked into their eyes, or rather at the reflection of himself in those pupils.

He was pleased with their expressions.

And pleased with himself.

The pent-up hatred and anger had finally found an outlet.

In that moment, they were no longer a rabble.

They had found something to loathe with all their being!

"...But they are wrong! And terribly wrong! Because we will not surrender, nor will we break our spines at the crack of a whip! Never!"

The deafening voice echoed through the alley. Amin, leaning against the cold wall, felt his blood surge and couldn't help but respond.

"Never!"

Soon he realized he wasn't the only one who spoke; countless others like him joined in.

His eyes shone with light.

Standing in the darkness, he was not alone—beside him stood countless people who thought as he did.

Those people were his family!

Watching the fervor in the alley, Zaid wore a satisfied smile.

He gently raised his hand to quiet the noise for a moment, then continued in that unwavering voice.

"That's right!"

"We will never surrender because of this small setback. The fear on our enemies' faces only proves we are right!"

"On this road paved with hope, we will be more united than ever!"

"We are family!"

...

Behind him, the alley buzzed with noise, those rats squeaking again about something or other.

But it probably didn't come to blows.

Walking beside Pete, a soldier curled his lip and said in a reluctant tone.

"Why do we bother with those rats? Why not let them keep fighting?"

Pete glanced at him, then looked away, pulling a toothpick from his breast pocket and sticking it between his lips.

He'd been smoking a bit too much lately and was trying to quit with this trick.

"...And then watch them torch the harbor?"

He was just a decurion, didn't understand grand principles—he did whatever his superiors ordered.

But lately he'd been confused, because more and more things didn't match his expectations.

For instance...

What were they even here for?

Wasn't it for revenge?

Yet whenever he thought of it, that honest, simple face surfaced in his mind.

That man, seemed to be called Govinda, had frantically rattled off a long list of names before dying, but in the end couldn't escape death.

Calming down, that cowardly worm might not have actually killed any of his compatriots.

Not just that Govinda, but also a few women who couldn't even defend themselves.

They were more like victims than perpetrators.

After all, the bruises on their bodies couldn't have been left by Valiants resisting.

Every time he thought of this, his mood grew irritable, and he had to force himself to stop dwelling.

The men following him, however, didn't think much—they just burst out laughing as if they'd heard a great joke.

"Torch the harbor? Those guys?"

"Haha, would they dare?"

"I'd rather those cowards grow a spine, instead of surrendering at the first gunshot."

Pete didn't laugh with them. He just took the communicator off his shoulder and made a brief report.

"...Risk eliminated, crowd dispersed... Copy..."

He was about to end the call when a voice suddenly came through the channel.

And it was that very voice that froze him in place.

"...Survivors?! Silver Moon Sect church? The parents of those children are still alive?"

His head buzzed, unable to process the flood of information for a moment.

Still alive?

How is that possible?