Chapter 509.2: Feel Honored... This Was Originally Meant For The Adjudicator

Yunyi stood frozen, hands cold as ice, unsure how to help.

That was probably the closest she had ever been to a real battlefield...

"Oh, you’re decent," the woman smirked, eyes narrowing. "You’re nervous too. Is this your first time?"

Night Ten’s expression stiffened and he grunted, "Fuck you!"

She licked her cracked lips and whistled at Night Ten whose breath was getting unsteady, "Why not join us? Your big sis here can help you grow."

Night Ten sneered coldly. "Hehe."

Like hell I’m buying that.

He was sure that if he were to let go, that dagger would go straight into his mouth.

His hands were aching from the tension, and his rifle shook slightly under pressure. She was pressing down on him harder and harder.

Damn.

He hoped to capture her alive. Who would have expected her close combat skills to be so strong?

Both wore light exoskeletons, so setting that aside, her reflexes and strength were easily those of a third stage awakener.

"Hmph, you’re stubborn." She clicked her tongue, narrowed her eyes, and asked, "So how did you figure out I was fake?"

Night Ten slowed his breathing as his brain raced to come up with a plan. At the same time, he muttered in a low voice, "There are too many flaws... I started suspecting you the moment you walked in."

She chuckled dismissively. "Figures. Not having complete memories makes things tricky."

Night Ten gritted his teeth. "Even with full memories... You can’t become someone else."

"Oh?" she raised her eyebrows and said lazily, "You really think so?"

Just then, a violent tremor shook the ceiling.

Night Ten looked surprised, while the woman smiled gleefully.

"Looks like our plan worked. Hear that? That’s your airship crashing to the ground."

She stopped smiling. Her eyes turned cold like a snake ready to strike. "Join us. This is your last chance."

Hearing that, Night Ten snorted fearlessly.

So what if her stats were high? She was dreaming if a mere elite mob thought he would surrender.

Bah, at worst, I’ll just die. Three days later, I’ll be back! If you have the abilities, come stab me through the forums!

"In your dreams!"

Just as he was about to pull a grenade to go down fighting, a sudden white mist sprayed from the ceiling.

It hit the woman’s head, slid down her collar, and made her scream in pain as her face twisted in agony.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Dry ice?!

Why is that in the fire suppression system?!

There was no time to be surprised. Night Ten took the opportunity, dodged sideways, drew his pistol, and aimed at the woman curled on the ground and was frozen solid.

As he moved, the system switched from dry ice to foam gel, pinning her firmly to the floor.

"Don’t move! Stay down!" he shouted, backing away while keeping his aim steady.

If she dared to rise or break free, he would shoot without hesitation.

"You alright?" Yunyi came running in, panting. When the fight began, she had rushed to the records room.

She remembered there was a terminal there.

Thanks to the activated suppression system, the shelter’s safety systems had gone online.

It didn’t take much effort to gain control of the Zone X-13 fire suppression system and switch it to manual mode.

The fire suppression system wasn’t just for fires, it also had riot control modes. Depending on the alert level, it could spray water, dry ice, or immobilizing foam gel.

The foam was more effective than rope. Once stuck, one would be a mouse on a glue trap. They wouldn’t be able to move.

"I’m fine..." Night Ten looked from the woman frozen to the floor to Yunyi and panted, "Thanks."

"You’re welcome... If you hadn’t held her off, I couldn’t have restrained her this smoothly." Embarrassed by the praise, Yunyi let out a soft cough.

She pushed up the glasses on her nose with her index finger, and the light returned to her eyes as she stared at the woman on the floor.

"When I got off the elevator earlier, I already felt something was off. The access system showed eight registered entries... I thought the Academy’s dog got picked up by the scanner. Turns out, we had a little tail behind us."

Lying on the ground in a deeply humiliating position, the person didn’t struggle. She simply lifted her eyelids to look coldly at the two in the room without a word.

Yunyi frowned as she stared at her. "Who are you really?"

"Zhuang Lan," the woman sneered, her gaze shifting between Night Ten and Yunyi. "What’s with all the talking? Just get it over with."

Yunyi replied calmly as she looked at her. "We won’t kill you. But you’ll be charged with attempted murder. What awaits you is an endless prison sentence."

"Charged... Heh."

Zhuang Lan curled her lips with complete disdain for the threat.

Yunyi went on. "I don’t get it. We have no grudge with you. Why would you attack us?"

"No grudge?" Zhuang Lan said coldly, "You’re really in no place to say that."

The hatred in her eyes made Yunyi instinctively furrowed her brows.

Just as she was about to ask more questions, Night Ten stepped in and continued, "You mentioned the airship... What did you mean by it crashing to the ground?"

"Just what it sounds like," Zhuang Lan said, a mocking tone creeping into her voice. "You haven’t figured it out yet? We’ve been watching you from the start, from the moment you attacked the Blackstone Mutant Human Tribe. When you set up camp, we ambushed you. When you entered this shelter, Lord Return to Ruin had me follow you in... The moment you walked in, our forces had already begun their assault. That thing modified with a frigate’s core? One phase cannon was all it took to send it crashing to the ground."

"Return to Ruin?" Confusion was written all over Yunyi and Night Ten's faces, they had never heard the name before.

Zhuang Lan wasn’t surprised. Her snake-like eyes swept slowly across their faces. "Heh... you're still the same. Arrogant and ignorant. Pity those who trusted you, who stepped onto the surface with eyes full of hope and passion, only to find a world in ruins... Aren’t you curious where they ended up?"

"What are you talking about?" Yunyi asked in bafflement.

But Zhuang Lan didn’t answer her. She just continued coldly, "The Post-War Reconstruction Committee's settlements are scattered across the planet. Survivors helped each other rebuild their homes... We grew up in underground shelters listening to your broadcasts. But when the doors opened, we found every word you said on the radio was a lie."

"The Post-War Reconstruction Committee collapsed over 100 years ago! And no one ever told us! We carried out the vows made generations before us. We searched every corner of the wasteland to trace your steps. We helped every fellow survivor we could. We took in the hungry. And what did we get? Your descendants shut us out, hid in safety, and pretended none of this mattered... Some even chained us up and forced us into slavery."

Night Ten couldn’t help but interject, "That was probably the Wislanders."

Counting the Great Rift Valley, only four fallen empires were left, and the Army was still practicing slavery. Those big-nosed bastards ruined the culture of the entire wasteland.

Even though the Enterprise and Academy were more efficient, most survivor camps and marauders clans preferred to copy the Army’s model.

But the woman ignored Night Ten entirely.

She stared only at Yunyi, the employee of the Enterprise.

"Those wastelanders aren’t any better. They’re like jackals, obedient like dogs when starving, greedy like rats when full. And the moment we showed weakness, they bared their fangs without hesitation. Compared to them... the mindless mutants were almost endearing."

"Look at the scar on my neck..." Zhuang Lan moved her neck slightly, revealing a centipede-shaped scar, her expression twisted as she glared at Yunyi.

"You know how I got this? If that snot-nosed old bastard hadn’t taken a liking to my face, my head would’ve ended up just like my parents', chopped off and nailed to a stake."

"And where were you then? You think the gap of a few generations wipes your hands clean? Lucky for me, the Enlightenment Society found me. Too bad I wasn’t strong enough to repay Lord Return to Ruin’s trust, I fell into your hands... Otherwise, I would’ve taken my time torturing you. Maybe... chop off your hands and throw you in with some Mutant Humans. So, sweetheart, what flavor do you want? Green or gray?"

Yunyi stood there frozen, as if stunned by the venom in her words. Her face went pale, and she instinctively stepped back, lips trembling. "T-There’s no point in telling me this... I-I’m not part of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, and... I... I..."

Night Ten rested a hand on her shoulder, steadying her nearly collapsed form and patted her gently. "Ignore her."

Staring at Zhuang Lan’s crazed, twisted expression, Night Ten took a deep breath. "Look, I don’t know what you went through. But that doesn’t give you the right to lose it like this. If you think the world sucks, then do something to make it better, or just disappear. But don’t take it out on people who had nothing to do with it. We’re not forcing you to stand with us. Just don’t stand in our way. Acting like this, you’re no different from those scumbags you hate."

"

Tsk tsk tsk

. You must be one of those shelter residents," Zhuang Lan sneered. "I thought you’d be one of us. What a shame, pretty boy... You can go get buried with those stubborn old fools."

"As for 'doing something for the world'..." she paused, a strange smile creeping across her face. "Don’t worry. Compared to you who’ve done nothing, we’ve done a lot behind the scenes. You’ll find out, very soon."