Chapter 191: 190 Don't Be So Extreme

This is the third day since Chi Zhi's disappearance, and the ordinary citizens of the city have not yet received any news about Chi Zhi's disappearance.

But the great families are always well informed; Chi Zhi, as the most prestigious leader—or rather, governor—of the First Base in Beiguang District for the past several hundred years, is naturally beloved by the citizens.

Under her rule, the First Base is among the best‑off bases in Beiguang District, with a large population and abundant resources, and can be considered the dream city for many of the district's vagrants.

On the way here, Wang Wu saw many vagrant settlements—various sized encampments outside the city that belong to these wanderers.

Living in the wild offers little safety and extremely scarce supplies; the pressure of life there is undoubtedly immense.

Chi Zhi has been the governor of the First Base for a hundred years, and for two hundred consecutive years she has held the position.

Although she considered stepping down and handing the post to a newcomer, not only the citizens opposed it, but even the great families were against it.

The reason is simple: over the past hundred years, Chi Zhi has essentially become the emblem of the First Base, the city's "face."

Almost everyone, when the First Base is mentioned, immediately thinks of Chi Zhi, the extraordinarily beautiful governor.

Indeed, because she is exceedingly beautiful, even though her abilities are top‑tier, her looks are what she is most famous for.

After all, she is a monster; not only is her appearance flawless, her figure is equally perfect.

Of course, her formidable governing ability is also a major reason for her fame and cannot be ignored.

Chi Zhi's disappearance, though only three days, still caused a massive stir among the city's great families.

The relationships among several great families in the city are not good; previously, due to Chi Zhi's suppression, a faction opposing her was constantly oppressed, yet even the families aligned with Chi Zhi are not a solid block.

Because Chi Zhi was present, they could unite.

Now that Chi Zhi has vanished, the families that were in Chi Zhi's camp and previously clashed with her naturally become the primary suspects.

Indeed, even families of the "same faction" as Chi Zhi occasionally have disagreements and quarrels with her, sometimes very serious ones.

Of course, they are not as antagonistic as the families that oppose Chi Zhi.

The Ling family, which should have been dealt with, is a family in Chi Zhi's camp; of course, while they share a camp, it is naturally for their own interests, not for Chi Zhi's personal—no, monster—ideals.

This incident, or rather, Chi Zhi had long heard rumors about the Ling family's affairs, but never obtained proof.

Moreover, the Ling family is indispensable for maintaining the city's stability, so despite reluctance, Chi Zhi could only…

That feeling is undeniably unpleasant, but nothing can be done; politics is like that.

Feng Guo is a very powerful monster empire; although Chi Zhi is merely a common town demoness of Feng Guo, she indeed possesses the talent, after all she graduated from the Imperial Academy.

The Imperial Academy of Feng Guo is the "university" of Earth for Wang Wu and his master; the academy Chi Zhi graduated from is not a top domestic school, but still a first‑rate university.

Although she was not a specialized political science student, she herself has no interest in politics.

But because the civilization's level is high, even without any formal training, the courses she studied in childhood make her political abilities extremely outstanding.

After all, monster races have long lifespans, so during their growth they can naturally learn more.

A full two hundred years of student life gave Chi Zhi a wealth of knowledge; in other words, she is an outright polymath.

After emerging, Chi Zhi's mind was no longer as dull as before; she quickly returned to normal and realized she must go back immediately to stabilize the city's great families.

"Thank you, Mr. Wang; another day I will visit your door to express my gratitude," Chi Zhi said to Wang Wu after clearing her mind, bowing solemnly before speaking.

Her mind was clear, but while speaking with Wang Wu, those images still popped up from time to time.

This caused her face to redden a bit, though it was certainly much better than before.

"No need to visit and thank me," Wang Wu waved his hand. "If there's nothing else, let's part ways here; we may never meet again."

"Ah, ah?" Chi Zhi was startled, but Wang Wu had no intention of speaking further; he waved his hand and left with Ling Luo.

Unlike Chi Zhi, he was still very grateful to Ling Luo; although she is far weaker than him, she still chose to help him without any complaint.

They toiled without complaint, no matter how hard or weary, never uttering a single "no."

Um, actually they said "no" quite a lot, but Wang Wu didn't hear any of it.

But that doesn't matter.

"What will you do with the Ling family?"

After parting with Chi Zhi, Wang Wu looked at Ling Luo again and asked, "What are your thoughts?"

"I have no particular thoughts," Ling Luo shook her head. "If you're asking whether I would be reluctant to see my family members slaughtered, I would simply say, go ahead and do it."

"They deserve to die."

"Um, that's not what I mean," Wang Wu patted her shoulder. "Don't be so extreme; don't kill everyone at the drop of a hat."

"B-but they've already worshiped the cult," Wang Wu's remark made Ling Luo a bit anxious. She said, "If we don't suppress these things, it will cause the whole city's living beings to be drenched in blood!"

"There's no need to kill them all," Wang Wu said. "Don't be so extreme; in my view, killing about ninety percent should suffice."

"Um..."

Ling Luo originally wanted to advise Wang Wu not to be so merciful, but after hearing his words she staggered, nearly falling to the ground.

"Um, this, that, then..." Ling Luo stammered for a moment, then nodded, "Then it's entirely up to Wang Wu's arrangement."

"Fine," Wang Wu nodded. "Then let's set out now."

The day after Chi Zhi returned to the First Base, another incident occurred within the base.

And it involved a master.

The Ling family was ambushed, and the attacker was the man who recently arrived at the Ling household as a guest, Wang Wu.

He showed no intention to conceal his identity, acting flamboyantly and swaggering.

He slaughtered almost all the Ling descendants; anyone with kinship to the Ling family was almost entirely spared no mercy.

"No! Don't kill me! Please don't kill me! No!!!"

The Ling mansion— the Ling family holds many enterprises in the First Base, naturally including various grand commercial skyscrapers.

These buildings often house the headquarters or branches of the Ling family's companies, and many Ling descendants work there.

In Wang Wu's hometown, there is a saying called "prosperous descendants"; whether for ordinary or wealthy families, for the latter it may be even more important.

After all, ability cannot be inherited through blood; for a great family to thrive long term, it needs enough talent.

But genetics is quite fair; at least at the current level of this civilization, it is sufficiently equitable.

Even a top‑tier clan like the Ling family still needs to rely on massive numbers, sifting out the most outstanding offspring to lead the clan and hold key positions.

Thus, at the First Base, the Ling family, as the city's premier clan, numbers nearly one hundred thousand members.

And of those hundred thousand, half were killed on the very first day.

Wang Wu's killing efficiency is extremely high—very, very high.

Whether it's the Extreme Heaven Vajra Sect or the Dark Extreme Divine Sect, both are top combat‑oriented sects, whose techniques pursue battle and slaughter.

For disciples of these two sects, killing is nothing more than perfectly normal.

Moreover, the speed is tremendous and the efficiency is supreme.

"This… this…"

In a Ling mansion at the First Base, Catherine and Ling Luo, following Wang Wu, looked at the tear‑eyed boy before them, both hesitant.

The boy, with ruby lips, white teeth, and a pair of blue eyes full of terror, was undeniably good‑looking; it was hard to associate him with a ruthless villain.

"M‑Master! I can, I can…"

But Wang Wu showed no hesitation and kicked forward outright.

In an instant, the boy's upper body vanished; his half‑torso twitched on the ground, while the other half turned into a spray of fresh blood, shredded flesh, and bone.

One kick and it exploded.

"Brother Wang Wu, this… this is just a child, he probably hasn't done anything, right?" After a moment of hesitation, Catherine asked.

"Hasn't done anything?" Wang Wu turned his head toward her. "But I see him wrapped in resentment—not mere grudge, but the lingering will of the dead clinging to him."

Speaking, Wang Wu waved his hand, cutting across the two women's sight.

"Take a good look."

Accompanying Wang Wu's voice, the world before the two women changed completely.

Black twisted smoke coiled around the half‑body, howling, struggling, tearing madly at the dead boy's blood and flesh.

"This… this is…"

Both women were startled.

"I don't know, but that's how it is," Wang Wu shrugged. "If you've only killed many people, it's just resentment, but this… this isn't merely killing. You have to torture him to death before you can kill anyone else."

"Only those who have been tormented, whose spirit is utterly shattered, and who die with overwhelming hatred can reach this level," Wang Wu said. "The textbook says so; I don't know if it's true."

"You may believe it or not; I'm just showing you."

Ling Luo and Catherine fell silent.

The slaughter continued, and the First Base authorities gave no response to the tragedy at the Ling family, not even any action.

Apart from seizing the Ling family's assets and containing the corpses.

Of course, most corpses didn't need containment, because Wang Wu finished them in a single step, and the First Base authorities only had to help place memorial tablets for them in the city cemetery.

Only a small fraction could retain part of their body, or the whole body.

The third day of the massacre.

"Why don't you kill me too?"

The man slumped in the pool of blood, expressionless, staring at Wang Wu, and asked.

Wang Wu ignored him and had no intention to speak, and simply left with Ling Luo and Catherine.

"Is he a good person?" Ling Luo asked on the way out.

"I don't know," Wang Wu replied. "I kill according to my mood—if I feel like killing, I kill; if not, I don't."

"What, do you think I'm some kind of good person?" Wang Wu turned toward her, smiling, "Then you've got the wrong idea."

"But I think, Mr. Wang, you are."

Catherine said from beside him.

"If you think so, that's that." Wang Wu squeezed her hard; the exact spot didn't matter.

"When you're alive, you should follow your heart, do whatever you want." Wang Wu laughed heartily. "Heh, days like this are truly exhilarating, truly happy…"

"You should also live as freely as I do, a little more carefree," Wang Wu said.

"Carefree…?"

The two women, after hearing Wang Wu's words, were thoughtful.

Meanwhile, at Base Five in the North Light District.

Base Five is the core area of the North Light District, the largest survivor base in the region, housing seventy million people.

The North Light District and South Light District: the destroyed South Light District had a population of 370 million, while the North Light District's population was slightly larger, at 520 million.

Although the two major zones aren't huge in area, in a sci‑fi world, tens of thousands of square kilometres are enough to accommodate such populations.

"I heard a transcendent came to the First Base and slaughtered the entire Ling family there?"

In a conference room, a secret meeting was underway. A young man with white hair and purple eyes rested his chin on his hand and asked the woman beside him.

"Yes." The woman nodded; she had white hair, looked Western, but was actually of Eastern features.

As for the purple‑eyed white‑cat man, he had a Western face, of course, but it was a Western face within Eastern aesthetic.

"Your next target was slaughtered; do you have any reaction?" the man laughed, asking.

"What reaction?" the white‑haired woman glanced at the white‑haired man, "What do you think I should do?"

"Send troops to negotiate with the First Base, or send experts to kill him? Which can I do?"

"Even if you do nothing, at least you should make a statement, right?" the man laughed.

"Bored." The woman sneered coldly.

(End of chapter)