Chapter 598

"So the money we collect from the believers..."

"We're helping them too—hardship in life hones their consciousness; the Beast God prefers ordinary commoners, favors the poor!"

"..."

Peng Xiangming climbed onto the city wall and sternly threatened the Shoushen Sect believers.

He ordered them to disband immediately; if they continued to assault the central district or disrupt order, the army would kill them on the spot!

"Brothers and sisters, don't believe these people's lies—we must seize Xicheng and dedicate it to the Beast God... What if we die? We sacrifice ourselves to spread the glory of the Beast God; after death, we shall attain eternal life!"

Over a thousand fanatical believers surged out from the crowd.

They carried homemade explosives and incendiary bottles, their faces filled with fanaticism and a willingness to die.

They even drove a modified heavy truck turned battering ram to smash the city gate!

Even ordinary believers were infected by the fanatics' fervor.

They too grabbed stones, hoes, and kitchen knives and charged toward the gate!

"Deputy Captain Peng!"

The mayor of Xicheng shouted.

Peng Xiangming glanced at Su Yang and suddenly realized he shouldn't have driven Su Yang off the wall.

Put Su Yang on the wall, and these Shoushen Sect believers wouldn't dare make a sound.

He climbed up, and these believers started rioting again!

Do they think Peng Xiangming looks easy to bully?

"Attack!" Peng Xiangming said. "The Western Army Command has ordered: under wartime regulations, anyone assaulting the wall, endangering safety, disrupting order, or threatening soldiers shall be killed without mercy!"

Fifteen minutes later, the base of the central district wall was piled high with corpses.

Of tens of thousands of Shoushen Sect believers, only a little over ten thousand remained alive.

Almost all the true fanatics were dead.

The remaining ten thousand or so had retreated far away and stood motionless, so the Western Army troops held their fire.

"Deputy Captain Peng, what do we do with the remaining Shoushen Sect believers?"

Peng Xiangming looked at the ten thousand-plus and felt torn.

Keeping them meant keeping a constant instability.

Killing them all seemed too cruel.

"They worship the Beast God, right?" someone suggested. "Just strip them of their household registration and expel them from Xicheng—let them go find the Beast God's protection!"

This suggestion was essentially no different from killing them outright.

The only difference was, these people would die at the hands of beasts, not ours.

"Send them outside to farm," Peng Xiangming said. "After all, Xicheng has already lost too many people!"

"Yes!"

Next, the emergency squad moved out to extinguish the fires within the city and kill rioters and Shoushen Sect believers who were setting random fires.

In this battle, the Xicheng garrison suffered minimal losses, but civilian casualties were severe.

Besides Shoushen Sect believers, many civilians hiding in their homes were also caught in the crossfire.

Many of them were simply at home when disaster struck from above.

Their houses were burned to ashes without warning; all their hard-earned possessions turned to ash.

Some were killed when rioters broke into their homes, taking their lives along with everything else.