Chapter 1062: Some Roads Are Doomed from the Start (3/4)

Chapter 1062: Some Roads Are Doomed from the Start (3/4)

He had barely made it this far!

Why?!

His convulsing hands instinctively clawed at the dirt on the ground, leaving shallow furrows in the mud.

He didn’t want to die!

But.

It was no longer up to him...

“Hey!!”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing! Put the gun down!”

Seeing the boy who had just killed a man, the soldier shouted and rushed over at the sound of the gunshot.

If not for the boy’s age, they might have already opened fire.

Yet Kumit paid no heed to the adults’ roars, merely pressing the smoking muzzle against his own gaunt chin with a look of annoyance.

So noisy...

What a bore.

“Bang—!”

With the second gunshot, he collapsed like a broken puppet, as if freed from it all.

Everyone stood frozen—whether the refugees in the residential area or the soldiers who had followed the sound of gunfire.

Only the grotesque echoes lingered in the air...

The commotion in the residential area drew the attention of the Alliance soldiers, and the Quanshui group soon arrived from the helipad.

After confirmation, the deceased was Vega himself, the owner of the Vega Trading Company, and the killer was his adopted son, Kumit.

The killer had taken his own life at the scene and showed no signs of life.

Further background investigation revealed that the former had once been the white-glove agent of Sid, a noble from the Inner City of Boulder City, and had slipped away unscathed when the Inner City collapsed, bringing a vast fortune to Bugar Free State to continue running the Vega Trading Company, while also adopting the helpless widow and child of Lord Sid.

As for Kumit’s motive for the murder, it was fully preserved at the crime scene.

“How twisted...”

Back at the security office, Zuihui inserted the chip from the holographic stylus into the terminal, glanced at it, and couldn’t help but mutter.

No one else spoke, except for Old Brother Quanshui, who silently pressed pause.

“Forget it.”

There was nothing left to see in the footage—just the process of one deceased person abusing another.

That guy named Vega had a fetish for recording.

He had recorded the entire process of Bonnie’s mental breakdown, and somehow her son Kumit discovered it.

Maybe it was part of that bastard’s perverse amusement, maybe he miscalculated, or maybe an enemy set him up—after all, how Kumit got a pistol from the safe zone was also suspicious... but these trivial details no longer mattered.

The locals who died in this settlement were already too many to burn, and outsiders were even lining up.

Just maintaining basic order in the safe zone was enough to exhaust the new authorities’ security personnel.

At this critical juncture, piled high with troubles, no one had the extra energy to seek justice for a beast.

Let it end here.

...

At the crime scene.

The crowd lingered, buzzing with chatter about the two deceased.

Especially those who had come from other residential areas to gawk.

Baffled by the murder, they eagerly asked nearby refugees who had once lived in Boulder City about the identities of the two and the grudges behind it.

Others were inquiring about “resources.”

After all, in a place lacking entertainment, anything that could amuse became a diversion.

Not far away, a plump, fair-skinned boy stood in the crowd, sighing as he looked at his father lying dead on the street, being lifted onto a stretcher. His face wore a sorrowful expression, and his chubby lips murmured to himself.

“Dad, don’t you think it’s too tiring? We fled from Boulder City to Free State, and who knows where we’ll have to run next...”

His feigned grief was a perfect mirror of his father’s.

“I’ve pretty much gotten bored of this toy, Kumit—can’t squeeze any new tricks out of him... I’m no match for you in that regard; you trained Aunt Bonnie so well, she did whatever you said.”

“But wasn’t it a shame to kill someone so obedient? Since you were bored of her anyway, why not leave her to me?”

Piru suddenly sighed with a hint of loneliness, shaking his head with disinterest.

“Oh well, you can’t hear me anymore... Anyway, I’ll take good care of that inheritance for you—I won’t let all your hard work go to waste.”

“Rest in peace.”

Like a fat ghost, he clumsily turned and melted into the crowd that seemed so out of place with him, vanishing as if he knew no one there at all...

...

South of Bugar City, about fifty kilometers from the urban area, lay the wasteland, home to the largest stronghold of the Refugee Home in the vicinity.

Though the vast majority of refugees remained in the city, a considerable number of survivors had fled.

The Alliance would not stop refugees from leaving, no matter where they planned to wander next.

But for those willing to stay and rebuild their homes, the Refugee Home would provide food, fresh water, and essential daily supplies and medicine.

In fact, with basic survival needs met, most people preferred to stay.

After all, for those whose understanding still lingered in the year 215 of the Wasteland Era, the outside world remained a cannibalistic place. No matter how fierce the civil war in Bugar, plenty of tall buildings remained.

Though the latter was not uncommon in the wasteland, survivors born in this settlement had never seen them.

Many had never even left the streets where they lived, let alone the world beyond the city.

People like players, who scurried everywhere, were a rare minority in the wasteland.

At the center of the camp, Chu Guang once again met Mayor Odo of Bugar.

Unlike their last meeting at the Great Rift, the man had changed considerably—from a steady bureaucrat to a true leader.

He was a talent.

After exchanging pleasantries, the two chatted idly about the scene in the camp.

“...There are still many in this world who must struggle with all their might just to survive.”

“Yes.”

Hearing that unfeeling reply, Odo couldn’t help but think of those who had died in the war, and he posed a relatively sharp question.

“Even so, can this still be called a ‘New Era’?”

He did not mean to blame the Alliance, or Enterprise, or the Academy.

After all, for others to help them was a favor, not to help was only proper; by both sentiment and reason, he had no ground for complaint.

Moreover, while they were waging their civil war, the other factions on the wasteland were all dealing with far more dire threats.

They did not cause trouble for others, but essentially they were of no use whatsoever.

Yet even so.

The Sticky Commonwealth's announcement at this time of the arrival of the "New Era" and the resolution concerning Nanmen II did, to some extent, hurt the feelings of the citizens of Bugra.

It felt as if they had been left behind.

And in the earlier Torch War, they had clearly contributed some effort...

Reading the look in Odo's eyes, Chu Guang's thoughts did not change much; he simply nodded as usual.

"Yes."

Odo's expression could barely hold; he opened his mouth to ask.

"Why…"

Chu Guang cast his gaze toward the distant camp and spoke in a gentle tone.

"The initiative we launched in the Sticky Commonwealth regarding the New Era does not proclaim that we have built an earthly utopia. Rather, it means we no longer wait for a savior to arrive, no longer indulge in the fantasy that the Age of Prosperity can be sustained. Instead, we save ourselves, and become our own light."

"If you truly understand the weight of these words, then you too are members of the New Era. We will never abandon you, just as we stand here today. If you cannot understand, then it means you still need a little time."

This settlement was not entirely without hope.

Apart from the mountain of body bags, he also saw one person supporting another on their shoulder.

No one had ever abandoned them.

Even though many had long hated this sinful place and wished to blast it to nothing with a nuclear bomb.

When people saw their determination to resist, they still extended a helping hand.

Odo was silent for a long time.

Those eyes, which had still held a trace of confusion, finally showed a glimmer of understanding.

"...So that's it. I understand."

His face regained its smile; he looked at Chu Guang beside him and sincerely extended his right hand.

"Thank you, and... please, grant us, grant the residents of Bugra, a chance to move forward together with others in the New Era."

"We have actually been doing this for a long time."

Chu Guang smiled and grasped his hand.

"Welcome."

A relieved smile appeared on Odo's face; he cast his somewhat haggard and weary gaze toward the distant city and wilderness.

"I wonder how future generations will judge us... and the New Era in which they are about to begin living."

They were neither as prosperous as the Age of Prosperity nor as thoroughly desolate as the Wasteland Era.