Chapter 594 - The Vortex’s Tracks
Chapter 594: The Vortex’s Tracks
Meng Chao did not have time to deal with the “kind will” from Golden Tooth and Leprosy Village for the time being.
However, to heighten Golden Tooth and Leprosy Village’s morale, he still reached an agreement with Song Jinbo and Su Mulian.
Based on the agreement, Meng Chao was going to prove that Song Jinbo had noticed long ago what was strange about Su Lun and secretly contacted Meng Chao. Both of them then worked together to destroy the enemy’s scheme.
With this agreement, Golden Tooth, which was now led by Song Jinbo, was finally able to sigh in relief.
Naturally, they acknowledged Meng Chao and became even more thankful to him.
Golden Tooth, Poison Scorpion, and Black Bone were now dealt with, and the other middle-sized and small gangs naturally followed their lead.
But even when the gangs had become united, it did not mean that the chaos naturally came to an end.
The fire at the borders of the lair still raged, and there was an increasing number of refugees and casualties. Quite a number of densely populated residential areas and factories as well as warehouses with dangerous items stored inside still faced great threats.
Leprosy Village was located at the core of the lair, and it was shrouded by raging black smoke. It was like a black volcano that rose from the ground.
According to the deadline set between Meng Chao and Wild Wolf, Meng Chao had five more hours.
However, Meng Chao believed that the villagers would not be able to last another five hours, because they were continuously tormented by flames and smog.
At that moment, the lair was like a building that had the fire on its walls extinguished, but flames were still raging under the debris.
If they were careless, then all the problems they had solved might come back.
They had to mobilize all their forces and get rid of the fire within the shortest amount of time possible and set up a large number of temporary hospitals and shelters so that they could distribute medical and relief resources equally and in a fair manner.
That was the only way they could restore order and get rid of the “fire” completely.
Even though Su Mulian could represent Leprosy Village in communication with the gangs, the misunderstandings and conflicts that had been building over decades were not something that could be resolved with just a few words.
And asking the gangs to set up anti-fire walls, temporary hospitals, and shelters around Leprosy Village, as well as asking the lair citizens to fork out a large amount of resources to help the badly battered villagers was just impossibile, because they were in trouble themselves…
They had a host of problems, and everything seemed to be a mess. They had to bring out the maximum amount of patience and kindness to solve the problems slowly.
Fortunately, Broken Sword Ye Xiaoyue was serving as a garrison. Lu Siya also used her status as the Queen Bee to tempt as well as intimidate the people. With Meng Chao also acting as the mediator, they would definitely walk down the correct path.
The entire lair was like a machine with different parts mashed together, but they did not quite fit together. Now, it was starting to operate slowly.
Even if the parts clashed against each other and created noise as well as sparks, it operated with increasing smoothness, and everything would soon fall into place.
Now, there was one final problem left.
The Vortex.
This creature was full of schemes and still lurked in the dark. No one knew whether it had anything else up its sleeve.
Based on what Red Brows Su Lun told them, the Vortex could mobilize the former Reaper Squad members and robbers who took in Deification Capsules, though the latter was just a force it decided to assemble spontaneously.
These monster puppets who had betrayed humanity were practically all captured.
Ever since the Noble Descent Hotel ambush, the Survival Committee started mending the fence. They set up a lot of security networks with tight defenses underground to ensure that the monster civilization would be unable to use super sandworms or other underground creatures to dig tunnels and send batches of ferocious monsters under Dragon City while they were all unaware.
The Vortex was now alone.
And it was an intellect-type abnormal beast. Aside from changing its form by sticking itself on humans, it didn’t have any other powers. Its fighting strength wasn’t so horrifying that it could destroy the world, so it should be unable to cause much trouble.
But for some reason, once Meng Chao remembered that it was a Supernatural Entity, he still felt fear thrum in his heart.
It was as if there was a poisoned needle hanging on the back of his head and poking at him.
Even if the Vortex was already at the end of its rope, Meng Chao would not allow this creature to flee and escape its punishment.
This creature had taken his shape and committed heinous crimes. It also turned him into its scapegoat.
No one and no monster was allowed to walk away scot free after doing such things to him!
Meng Chao swore that he would rip the Vortex into shreds and expose it under the sun for 180 days so that it was reduced to ashes. Then, he would grind that ash into powder, pour cement over it, and throw it into Red Dragon River.
But no one knew where the Vortex hid.
Even Red Brows Su Lun had no knowledge of it.
Based on what he said, every time the Vortex appeared, it was to make a request or to give him orders.
Besides, every time, the Vortex popped up with the most unimaginable identity and at the most unpredictable time as well as place. It was elusive, and Red Brows Su Lun could not figure it out.
Hence, when Meng Chao pretended to be the Vortex pretending to be him to use his indistinguishable acting to trick Su Lun, Su Lun never doubted it.
Su Lun was smart. He knew his predicament very well, and he told everything he knew. Meng Chao did not think that there was any need for the man to hide anything.
However, just then, to capture Wandering Specter Zhong Li and the other former Reaper Squad members, Meng Chao did not interrogate Su Lun in detail, so they had yet to talk about many important topics.
Su Mulian, Song Jinbo, and Phantom Bear Xiong Wei went off to gather their manpower and resources in the lair to get rid of the fire and perform disaster relief.
Lu Siya, in the meantime, was in charge of interrogating Wandering Specter Zhong Li and the others in hopes that they could get the truth behind why they received monster modifications.
Broken Sword Ye Xiaoyue remained suspended above Mutual Gold Coliseum and looked down on the entire lair. He intimidated all the petty thieves who had ill intentions and wanted to steal from others while they were suffering. His actions increased the citizens’ morale by letting them know that the Survival Committee and the Supernatural Tower had not given up on them yet.
He also expanded his vitality magnetic field to the max to scan for existences that might appear to be the Vortex.
At that moment, Meng Chao decided to interrogate Red Brows Su Lun again.
Su Lun was detained under Mutual Gold Coliseum. He was currently in a monster cage used to hold monsters and connected to high-voltage electricity.
Even though Phantom Bear Xiong Wei had beaten him to the point that his organs shifted, everything under his knees was gone, and not a single spirit flame could burn under his blood-red eyebrows, the lair citizens placed shackles that weighed hundreds of kilograms on him, as if they were trying to vent their rage. There were even three self-destruct collars on his neck.
They were treating him like the most savage and cunning monster.
Red Brows Su Lun looked pathetic. He was covered in wounds and his clothes were dishevelled. He no longer looked as high-spirited and energetic as he did when he was the temporary highest commander of the lair three hours ago.
Meng Chao did not pity this person, who deserved all he got.
He would rather pity a vermin rolling in torment on the ground because of the sun instead of a traitor who betrayed his comrades, hometown, and even civilization.
He was just curious.
In the Noble Descent Town ambush, the Demonic Abyss Eye had also lured a group of humans into being its puppets.
Meng Chao remembered that there were also a lot of humans whose minds were corrupted by the monsters, so they also became puppets.
But these people were either mentally attacked by the abnormal beasts or completely hypnotized or brainwashed.
Some even had bacteria, viruses, or spores implanted in them, just like the legendary Gu poison in China.
Others were taken over by parasites, who crept into their brains and physically controlled their central nervous systems. Their bodies were no longer their own, which was why they helped the enemies.
But Su Lun’s mind was completely clear, and he retained all his mental faculties.
After Phantom Bear Xiong Wei and Broken Sword Ye Xiaoyue checked him, they excluded the possibility that he might have parasites or worms in his body or that his brain had undergone pathological changes.
In other words, he joined the monsters in their goal to destroy Dragon City completely of his own free will.
This was definitely more terrifying than any hypnotism, brainwashing, or parasites.
Meng Chao wanted to understand Su Lun’s motives, so he could guess whether there were more people like him. People who fell into decadence on their own without being brainwashed or infested by parasites and helped enemies become ticking time bombs buried in Dragon City were really difficult to get rid of.
“Su Lun?”
Meng Chao crouched down in front of the pile of rotten flesh that gave off a really strong stench of blood.
When the former vice gang leader of Golden Tooth who bore the electromagnetic shackles that weighed hundreds of kilograms heard his voice, he raised his head with difficulty. He flashed a grin at Meng Chao.
At the sight of Sun Lun’s twisted smile amid the coagulated blood, Meng Chao’s heart let out a loud thump.
After a few hours of calm contemplation, Su Lun seemed to have removed himself from the state of being horribly defeated. He regained his usual calmness and sharpness. In truth, he appeared to be even sharper than before.
When someone realized that they were definitely going to die, they would either descend into despair and break down or would squeeze out a power that exceeded their limits from the depths of their soul. In their final moments, they would become a brand new person.
“Hello, Meng Chao, judging by your expression, you’ve already caught Wandering Specter Zhong Li, but you haven’t captured the Vortex.”
Since Xiong Wei knocked off half of his teeth, Su Lun had a lisp when he talked. His intonation was a little strange, but his tone was sincere. “Regrettably, I’ve already told you that I don’t know where the Vortex is hiding. There’s no meaning for you to continue wasting your time on me.
“I’m someone who’s willing to admit defeat. I don’t have the stupid thought of dragging the whole lair down with me. The Vortex and I were in a purely mutually beneficial relationship. I don’t need to help it hide anything.”
“I know,” Meng Chao said. “That’s why I stopped Gang Leader Xiong and the others from using torture to interrogate you. You should know that there are plenty of people in the gangs who want to cut you into pieces and eat you. That amount of flesh you have isn’t near enough to satisfy them.
“I don’t want to lie to you. With the crimes you committed, we wouldn’t be going overboard even if we cut you into pieces.
“And as Dragon City switches from defensive strategies to tactical offensives, sending death row convicts into Reaper Squads will gradually become inappropriate, and this system will be slowly removed.
“You will definitely die. I cannot save you, nor do I want to.
“But you can choose to die a quick death. Do you want to have a bullet straight into your head, or do you want to be tortured for a long time by Gang Leader Xiong and the furious gang members? In their hands, you won’t be able to die even if you want to. The difference is big, don’t you think?”