Chapter 542.2: The End of Reincarnation is Nirvana

His troops might still pity unarmed survivors, but they wouldn’t hesitate when facing rioters.

“Stop!” Elisa suddenly stepped forward, spreading her arms wide in front of everyone. Fear was written in her eyes, but she didn’t back down.

Joey stared at her in shock and yelled, “Elisa, come here now! Stay away from those rioters!”

“No!” Elisa looked at him firmly. Her arms, stretched against the howling wind, did not waver. “They’re not rioters. They’re survivors of Boulder Town!”

“I will stand with them, and we will speak to the inner city residents together!”

Joey stared at her, stunned. He flicked off the rifle’s safety and screamed, “Have you lost your mind?! Do you even know what you’re doing?!”

Behind him, the soldiers were equally stunned. They exchanged looks and whispered over their communication channel.

“Did she freeze her brain or something?”

“Speak with inner city residents? About what, exactly?”

“Bet her dad’s gonna whip her ass raw with a belt.”

“Still... She’s an inner city resident, right?”

“So what? Look at her. She’s just a kid, clutching a rag doll.”

Lorette also stared blankly at the girl’s back. “Please, stand with us...” he whispered.

Elisa gazed straight at Joey, voice trembling with a hint of plea. Then she dropped to her knees.

“I don’t care what you say about me...”

“This is our last chance...”

...

The snow wasn’t just falling over Boulder Town, it blanketed Dawn City too, just 20 or 30 kilometers away.

Malvern staggered out of the Alliance Tower in a daze, walking like a man whose soul had been torn out, leaving behind footprints that the snow would soon erase.

By then, his eldest son, his most trusted child, was probably still making a final effort at the meeting... But it was no use.

If he could have convinced everyone to take one less bite, he wouldn’t have had to come to the New Alliance to beg a man with a heart of stone.

"Can you give me a cigarette?"

The expressionless Lu Bei behind him answered flatly, "I don’t smoke."

Lu Bei hated that guy. He was like a chameleon. When lying in the snow, he turned white. Crouched under the stove, he turned black. Come spring, he would be green again.

It was exactly because Boulder Town was full of clever people like him that the arrogant elites could pretend the wasteland on the other side of the wall didn’t exist.

And not just that. Lu Bei had a gut feeling the man deeply hated the administrator he respected most. It was hatred from the bottom of his heart.

But it didn’t matter anymore. To be hated by a shameless man like that was a kind of honor.

The administrator always told him everyone should walk their own path and never wait for others’ approval.

"You don’t smoke? Heh... Yeah, it’s not a good habit. Once you start, it’s hard to stop. Better not to touch it at all." Malvern chuckled bitterly and shook his head.

If only he had never started in the first place.

The air was getting colder.

He should’ve dressed warmer before leaving.

As he walked away from the exit of the Alliance Tower, he noticed the young man with the rifle following closely behind and frowned. "How long do you plan to keep following me?"

Lu Bei replied flatly, "The administrator said to keep an eye on you until the chaos in Boulder Town is over, or until you completely leave the New Alliance."

Malvern raised an eyebrow. "That’s all?"

Lu Bei added, "He also said, if you try to kill yourself, I’m to drag you out, and throw you outside to die."

Malvern paused for a moment, then let out a dry chuckle. "To think that’s how he sees me... I’m honored. Truly."

"He said that because you didn’t run away from Boulder Town with your family. You must still have some shred of responsibility left in you."

Malvern scoffed, "Or maybe I was just addicted to power, that emperor-like power... After all, you people could never offer me that."

"Nobody cares," Lu Bei replied, still indifferent. "At least in the New Alliance, no one gets to be an emperor."

Malvern gave a sly smile and asked with malicious curiosity, "Not even your administrator?"

Lu Bei remained impassive. "He said he would slowly return the power borrowed from our hands, and then watch over us... until the day he closes his eyes."

He remembered every word Chu Guang had ever said.

Even though Lu Bei believed that instead of letting a crafty wolf like Malvern covet that power, the Administrator should just keep it for himself forever.

He swore loyalty for life. He was willing to be the man’s sword, to help eliminate all who opposed him.

Whether they were from the shelters or from the wasteland, everyone who stood against the administrator would die!

Looking at the not-so-bright young man, Malvern sneered. "And after he closes his eyes?"

"I’ll watch it in his place," Lu Bei answered calmly.

"And if you’re gone?"

"Then everyone else will watch in his place," Lu Bei snapped. "You don’t need to worry about our business, just like we can’t be bothered with your mess."

Malvern chuckled but said no more.

He felt that the New Alliance wasn’t really all that different from Boulder Town. Both had once grand beginnings and supposedly limitless futures.

Of course, that was just his personal opinion.

To be fair, there were some differences.

The extreme weather in the wasteland was gradually improving. Even Deathclaws, once believed to be untamable, could now be domesticated...

Boulder Town had long been trapped in its own cage, while the New Alliance was actively moving forward. He had heard they’d even reached the Great Desert!

It was a place he had never visited. Only recently did he learn it even existed.

Maybe the New Alliance really would have a different ending than Boulder Town.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

For just a moment, Malvern didn’t hate that idealist so much anymore.

Even Slime Mold had evolved, but they remained stuck in an endless loop, repeating the same cycles in a well that stretched up into the clouds.

Even if the New Alliance saved them this time, centuries from now there would be someone not named Malvern but worse than Malvern groveling before the wastelanders outside the walls, begging them for mercy...

It was exhausting.

It would be better to let it end.

"... Before I came to the New Alliance, I set up an account for Elisa," Malvern murmured, "It’s got some silver coins. It’s enough for her to live comfortably the rest of her life."

Lu Bei frowned. "Who’s Elisa?"

"My daughter." Malvern looked at the young man beside him. His voice suddenly carried a trace of pleading. "Please tell the administrator, she’s innocent. That child has always lived in a fairy tale. After we’re gone, please don’t drag her into this. At least don’t hold her accountable."

Money wasn’t enough.

He knew better than anyone how insignificant wealth was before power.

The administrator only needed to say a word to confiscate everything.

He could simply declare the savings as property of all Boulder Town, and toss her to the angry mob that was up in a frenzy.

That man didn’t even need to do anything evil, people would cheer his wisdom and righteousness.

No one would care whether a single speck of dust had fallen on the innocent.

Lu Bei looked at the man with contempt. "Relax. We’re not like you. We can’t be bothered keeping score over endless old debts, and we don’t care about your crap."

"The administrator said that we’re here to end the wasteland, not to end a specific person."

Malvern exhaled in relief.

He would assume they were telling the truth.

Yeah...

At least, for now, they were still young. They still needed lofty-sounding mercy to fool the naive Wastelanders.

But before he could feel too relieved, Lu Bei’s next words made his heart lurch. "As for your ending, that’s for Boulder Town’s residents to decide. After all this rambling, your family’s still in there, right?"

"I heard your own people have surrounded you."

That should’ve been the end of the conversation. Lu Bei hadn’t planned to speak further.

But seeing Malvern’s face filled with despair, knowing that even bastards could still be fathers, he couldn’t help but add, "Why couldn’t you just do one good thing? You would rather kneel to us than ask your own people for forgiveness."

Malvern shook his head, mumbling like a man possessed, "You don’t understand. It’s too late."

He couldn’t even imagine what would happen if his family fell into the hands of those rioters.

All he could do was pray the guards in the inner city held the gate, and that they voted the right way. He hoped they would get through the rare, devastating disaster in one piece.

"Did you ever even try?" Lu Bei shot him a look of disgust. "You did nothing, and then whined that it was too late."

He wanted to grab the old bastard by the collar and punch him.

The administrator had been right all along.

These people are beyond saving...

...