Chapter 196: The Damned

Inside the second armored vehicle.

Lin An, Zhang Tie, the Yun siblings, and Huang Haitao sat scattered.

The remaining base personnel were tasked with driving away the blocking trucks, and incidentally clearing corpses.

Mo Ling, meanwhile, rested in another vehicle.

Huang Haitao shouldn't have been here, but Lin An considered that since he wanted to "learn" a bit, Lin An didn't mind letting him gain more experience.

As for Zhang Tie, Xiong Hanzi simply enjoys joining the fun.

"Open the talent panel."

Lin An spoke calmly, looking at Yun Lin huddled in the corner.

Originally high-spirited and stubborn, the female police officer now stood frozen like a startled small animal.

No response.

Yun Tian suppressed the shock in his heart, looking worriedly at his sister.

Lin An furrowed his brow slightly, then repeated:

"Open the talent panel, don't test my patience."

Yun Lin trembled all over, as if she had just come to her senses.

Her eyes red, her voice hoarse, she asked Lin An:

"Why, why did you kill them all!"

"They clearly did nothing!"

Lin An replied indifferently:

"Does killing need a reason?"

"I gave you a chance; if you obeyed and made way, nothing would have happened."

"You should ask those corpses outside why they were so foolish as to think that just because they weren't afraid of death, no one would dare to act."

Zhang Tie sneered and interjected:

"Because no one dares to hit them for running a red light?"

Yun Lin, hearing that, flew into a rage and glared fiercely:

"You're too cold-blooded!"

"They just misunderstood! They just mistakenly thought you came to save them!"

"Yes! I admit they can be stupid sometimes, but that's not a reason to die!"

"If everyone were as cold-blooded and ruthless as you, where would there be any hope in the apocalypse?"

"You could clearly have explained things to them, you could clearly have helped them!"

"What wrong did they have? They just wanted to survive..."

Yun Lin's voice was hoarse, her eye sockets red.

After saying that, she began to sob softly.

She regretted not stopping everyone, she hated this cold-hearted executioner before her.

"You're even more disgusting than zombies!"

He couldn't even insult people properly; Lin An stared at Yun Lin before him with interest.

Really, so naive.

"Do you think they did nothing wrong?"

Yun Lin lifted her buried face and glared at him fiercely:

"The only thing they did wrong was running into you, this demon!"

Lin An's mouth curled up, after a moment's thought he slowly spoke:

"Actually, I don't want to explain some things, because I think it's purely a waste of time."

"Besides, no one is worth my explaining to."

"But, I'm quite interested in you two siblings."

"So, I can spare a little time."

"If, after hearing me out, you still hold hostility toward me, then I can only choose to kill you."

"Of course, before that I will get everything I want."

Lin An spoke very bluntly, with no intention of hiding his thoughts.

Yun Tian tightly gripped his sister's hand, his gaze pleading toward Lin An.

"Sir, my sister just hasn't figured things out yet..."

"Hmph."

Yun Lin suddenly snorted coldly, cutting off her brother's 'plea':

"Let him speak; I want to know how this executioner will explain himself."

Lin An didn't care, lightly tapping his fingertips:

"Do you think your crew did nothing wrong?"

"Then let me tell you what they did."

"Your brother is called Yun Tian, right?"

"First, Yun Tian, you can check your motorcycle's fuel tank to see if something was added."

As soon as Lin An's words fell, Yun Tian reacted with astonishment.

Watching Yun Tian hastily scramble out of the armored vehicle, Lin An continued:

"Second, among the corpses outside there is a man who has been secretly holding a gun, quietly aiming at my team members."

Of course, after Zhang Tie made his move, he gave up that action.

Under his powerful mental strength, all information on the scene was under Lin An's control.

Therefore Lin An noticed that man from the start, but the threat was almost zero, so he couldn't be bothered to warn everyone.

A broken handgun, even pressed against Zhang Tie's forehead, couldn't kill him.

"Impossible!"

Yun Lin was a little panicked; she reached for the gun at her waist and then suddenly let out a breath of relief:

"My gun is still on me; why are you making this up..."

"Thump thump thump."

Before Yun Lin could finish speaking, Yun Tian stormed in with an angry face, followed by the base's trainees.

"Sir, the weapons have been found."

Hearing that, Yun Lin looked at the gun in the trainee's hand, and her pupils suddenly contracted.

She recognized that gun; she remembered clearly having hidden it in the cockpit.

Instinctively, she looked toward Yun Tian.

"Sis! Half of my motorcycle's fuel tank has been siphoned out and replaced with water and all kinds of junk!"

Lin An saw this and gave a light chuckle.

When he used his mental power to suppress the mecha, he felt something odd; the flesh-and-blood mecha's movements had become noticeably stiff.

Combining the explanation in Yun Tian's skill (that flesh-and-blood mechs are affected by mechanical constructs), the answer could only be one of those few.

Something that could escape his notice could only be a problem with the engine or the fuel tank.

Yun Lin's breathing grew rapid; she could not accept this fact.

She choked up, as if struggling:

"These two points don't prove anything!"

Lin An slightly shook his head and spoke:

"I don't need to prove anything; I just want to tell you something."

"Someone stole your gun and wants to kill your brother."

"If nothing unexpected happens, there is something else among these events."

"If you're not an idiot, you should be able to guess what they intend to do."

In an instant, Yun Lin thought of that man in the team, as well as the several older women who later urged her to have Yun Tian search for supplies.

She found it hard to believe, muttering to herself:

"Impossible, they clearly need my protection..."

Lin An's gaze filled with pity, he slowly spoke:

"You seem to have gotten something wrong."

"On what basis do you think they need your protection?"

"Although I don't know how you escaped, judging from their behavior."

"You've hardly fought zombies at all, right? Or they have never directly felt fear."

"Moreover, you have also come into contact with other survivors."

"So."

Lin An paused for a moment, his peripheral vision catching a flicker of unusual color in Huang Haitao's eyes:

"So, they have never experienced danger, so why would they need your protection?"

"If nothing unexpected, they must have secretly colluded among themselves."

"As for what they discussed, it doesn't matter."

Yun Lin gave a bitter laugh; she could not accept this fact:

"That's not how it is; they wouldn't conspire to harm me. And even if they did, someone would surely tell me..."

Yun Lin asked herself how she had taken extra care of this group along the way, to the point that she and her brother had repeatedly risked their lives to save many people.

Lin An turned his gaze toward Huang Haitao:

"If you've figured it out, explain it to this officer."

Huang Haitao hesitated, nodded slightly, and spoke to Yun Lin without much confidence:

"I think you might have gotten something wrong."

"To them, you are not a threat, because you are easy to deceive, and indeed easy to bully."

"So they don't fear you."

"But on the contrary."

"If the man who got the gun is so inclined, he could privately threaten and coerce them."

"One good person, one bad person; everyone would surely fear the bad one."

"So, when faced with threat versus no threat, that group's choice is obvious."

"Moreover, they aren't trying to kill you; they want to get rid of your brother, a person who truly poses a 'threat'."

Killing the Awakened Ones who protect themselves, though it sounds foolish,

but given the intelligence level of that bunch of middle-aged people, it's not surprising.

Before the Apocalypse, there weren't too many people who would do such a thing.

After Huang Haitao finished speaking, he nervously looked at him.

Lin An nodded in acknowledgment, then lifted Yun Lin's chin with his fingertip, their eyes meeting:

"No one."

Will be afraid of good people.

So, good people should die.

So now.

My good cop, you can tell me your secret now.

Or rather, mine.

Clang!

The car doors were shut tight; inside the armored vehicle shrouded in mental power, only Lin An and Yun Lin remained.

Zhang Tie lifted Yun Tian and jumped out of the vehicle.

Kid, what's left is not something you can hear.

Hmm.

Huang Haitao tightly pressed his lower lip, closely following behind, his expression complex.