Chapter 83 - Cowardly But Obedient Lambs
What did make Bai Zemin feel just, very slightly uncomfortable, was that even if he did not know these people before this and even had no idea that they were among the survivors, when he killed them he did not have the right to choose whether he wished to know them or not.
The reason? It was because every time Bai Zemin broke a survivor's neck, the following messages appeared in green letters flashing in his retina:
[You have acquired the Soul Power of Chen Luochen level 0].
[You have acquired the Soul Power of Mei Xiao level 0].
[You have acquired the Soul Power of...].
[You have acquired...].
Again and again, a small part of each person's Soul Power was absorbed by him and Bai Zemin was able to learn their names and some simple things like how old each one was. As for getting some kind of power from them... Considering they were just normal survivors, Bai Zemin naturally didn't expect something like that.
People often said that the eyes were the window to the soul and that a look said more than a thousand words, he confirmed it at this moment. Raising his head, Bai Zemin saw that everyone was looking at him with different expressions; some were looking at him with fear, others with gratitude, shock, disbelief, and many other emotions or thoughts that were difficult to decipher.
"Who was the first person to cause all this mess?"
Amidst so much silence and uneasiness, his voice was the only thing that could be heard inside the subway with the occasional roar of some distant creature.
Every time his gaze met that of a survivor many of them did not dare to look directly at him and unconsciously looked at the corpses on the ground as if they wanted to remember that this person with an indifferent expression had just killed them.
Bai Zemin also did not press the matter too much and nodded: "I see. Since none of you want to talk, then I guess you don't need to eat anymore."
His words seemed to have some effect as many people's faces changed slightly; this was especially so for the female students who had suffered almost a week locked up in the female dormitory.
"I don't think that among so many people present not even one of you can remember anything." Bai Zemin shook his head and waited patiently while looking towards no particular point.
The place was silent for a few seconds and Chen He looked like he wanted to step forward to say something but Shangguan Bing Xue stopped him. He also looked at Wu Yijun for help but she just shook her head. With no other option, he had no choice but to remain silent.
After almost a full minute of silence, a female student stepped forward, attracting everyone's attention.
"What is your name?" Bai Zemin looked at her and smiled slightly, a smile that was somehow calm but also contrasting sharply with the current situation.
Hesitantly, the female student spoke softly, "I... My name is Nie Yue."
"Nie Yue? I see." Bai Zemin nodded and asked once more, "Nie Yue, did you see something? You don't need to worry about any kind of consequences or much less. I assure you that if anyone dares to verbally assault you, give you unkind looks, or even try to touch a hair on your head after this, I will personally make sure that person or persons regret not letting themselves be eaten by zombies."
Some people's expressions changed for the worse while the expression on Nie Yue's face eased noticeably. After a deep breath, she turned away from the crowd of people and began to point at some survivors while saying in a serious voice:
"I remember when big brother Bai and big sister Shangguan went to help big brother Chen, these people started pushing and shouting. Some of them even beat up some people before mingling with the crowd!"
"It's a lie!"
"Big brother Bai, that girl is a liar! You can't believe her!"
"How could I beat up someone? Can't you see that I'm injured too?!"
...
Among the more than six survivors who were pointed out by Nie Yue, some of them immediately turned pale and started shouting words of injustice.
While it was true that Nie Yue might be lying, Bai Zemin's reasoning was simple; did she gain anything by lying? She had absolutely nothing to gain and on the contrary, she would be risking being marked by the other survivors, which would lead to Bai Zemin potentially killing her or expelling her from the group, which was basically the same as ending her life.
"Fu Xuefeng, Cai Jingyi, Zhong De, Kang Lan! Take them out and bring those ungrateful dogs here!" Bai Zemin's voice thundered and his calm expression finally disappeared, being replaced by fury.
Hearing the clearly angry tone of voice from him, the four named people did not dare to delay and using their superior stats and levels easily pulled the targeted people out of the group of survivors, dragging them out by force; even the weakest of the four of them, Kang Lan, was at least two to three times stronger than a normal person so any resistance or attempt to resist was futile.
As the survivors were pulled out of the crowd, Shangguan Bing Xue narrowed her eyes and took a step forward as she looked at an old acquaintance.
"Lian Xuan?" She stood a short distance away from Bai Zemin and looked at the past vice-president of the student association with coldness.
Lian Xuan was a level 3 evolved person, so among the survivors, he was basically invincible. However, when he tried to resist, Cai Jingyi easily reduced him thanks to her overwhelmingly superior Agility.
"I- I didn't do anything! I really didn't do anything! Bing Xue, haven't you known me for several years? D- Don't you know what kind of person I am?!"
At this moment Lian Xuan had lost his past polite and glorious demeanor. He looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and began to yell and beg with a pale face, clearly knowing that death was the only thing that awaited him.
Seeing such behavior, Lilith could not help but chuckle. This Lian Xuan had sacrificed a girl's life during the first day of the apocalypse to survive and had not even thought twice about it when he threw her before the blade of the Fast Mantis, yet now he looked like a fish jumping on a chopping board awaiting his inevitable fate.
Bai Zemin looked at Shangguan Bing Xue and announced indifferently, "Even if he is your friend he is not being spared from this."
Since all these people still did not understand the cruelty of this world and the danger of the monsters running rampant outside was not enough, then he was going to show them all that if they did not behave in obedient lambs then only death awaited them!
Since they wanted to be cowardly lambs, he was going to turn them all into cowardly but obedient lambs! Obedient to the point where his word was more valuable than God's decree!