Chapter 348

As the order was issued, the entire hall fell into desperate pleas for mercy.

Zhang Tie's expression was ice-cold.

He would unconditionally obey Lin An's orders.

Unlike Gao Tian's expectations, in his view these rabble should have been killed long ago.

Leading the subdued soldiers out, behind him rose and fell the wails of regretful pleas for mercy.

As Xiong Hanzi passed the dazed Cosman, he grinned.

"Not bad luck; our boss left a slot for survival with the military."

His whole body trembled.

Cosman dared not speak, merely watching helplessly as the soldiers knocked down the former nobles of Bolaka to the ground and then bound them.

Barring any mishap, they could probably survive until tomorrow morning.

"My lord! Lord Lin An!"

"Please spare us! We will surely obey your command and will not harbor the slightest thought of resistance!"

Bound into a bundle, the nobleman in a gold-threaded robe wept bitterly.

Just moments before, he had been secretly pondering how to profit from this upheaval and which political rivals could be eliminated with Lin An's help.

He hadn't expected it.

Another, the portly Minister of Food, trembled with the flesh on his face, frantically trying to flee the hall.

He hadn't even taken two steps.

"Ah!!"

A miserable scream.

The soldiers who received the order struck him down with a rifle butt, and four or five of them piled onto his body, binding him like a fat pig.

"I am the Minister of Food! You can't treat me like this!"

"The granary! Only I know the granary's password!"

Pleading and cursing.

Faced with an almost cruel order, many high officials and nobles shouted loudly.

Some begged Lin An to spare their lives, while others, losing their minds, tried to threaten Lin An with their status.

The Minister of Energy, who controlled the power plant, shouted hoarsely that the plant was his die-hard followers, and killing them would blow up the plant.

The official in charge of the water plant desperately pleaded, trying to convince Lin An that he must stay, otherwise no one would know how to operate the plant's purification facilities.

Lin An remained noncommittal about this.

He never intended to operate this safe zone.

What he wanted was to seize control of all forces on the continent within a month, or even half a month, and then lead them to war against the zombies.

No later, no future.

As for what the world will become after he leaves, that's none of his concern.

On the throne, Lin An casually set up a mental power barrier, blocking the noisy cries, and gestured for Anna to come forward.

He had been sitting here not for any other reason, but because this was the only place in the hall where one could sit.

Beneath the throne, after Anna saw clearly who Lin An was upon removing his hood, the shock in her heart was like an earthquake.

Isn't this the man who impersonated the Troy envoy!?

Her feelings were complex, hard to put into words.

As her mind cleared, sitting in the car, she gradually recalled what had happened the previous night.

Thinking of how she looked last night and her present shock, various strange thoughts made her feel as if she were dreaming.

Before she could recover from her shock, a strange force pulled her to the side of the throne.

"You said earlier, after Troy dispatched its air force unit, what was the final photo they transmitted back?"

"Does the high tower continuously produce zombies?"

Two questions, crucial.

Familiar mental power stimulated her nerves; Lin An stared straight at her, waiting for an answer.

"The high tower..."

As if pondering how to describe it.

Anna couldn't attend to the myriad questions and shock in her heart; she had to answer Lin An's question first:

"The final transmitted photo showed a beam of light shooting from the top of the high tower?"

"The high tower's appearance somewhat resembles a classical lighthouse, the kind that stands at sea to guide ships."

"Many patterns are depicted on it, which I cannot describe."

Taking a breath, Anna, somewhat dazed, looked at Lin An seated on the throne and added:

"We once tried to decipher the patterns on the high tower, but we had no clue where to start."

"The Troy safe zone should have retained the pictures; that was the last photo transmitted when the warplane crashed."

"You..."

"Not from the Troy safe zone..."

She did not manage to ask her own question.

Anna suddenly realized that the man before her was merely posing as an envoy, not truly part of the rebel group.

Seeing Lin An's gaze indicating she should continue, she took a deep breath and answered the final question:

"As for whether the high tower will continuously spawn zombie hordes, I'm not entirely sure either."

"My father once told me that someone had seen zombies 'spawning' near the high tower."

But it doesn't constantly increase zombies; it only does so sometimes.

Of course, it's also possible that there are simply too many zombies near the tower, so many that anyone who's seen them can't tell if their numbers have increased.

It's like adding a bucket of water to the sea.

Lin An listened, then frowned tightly, his fingertips rhythmically tapping the armrest of the luan gold.

Anna Bopolaka knows a bit more, but not much more.

However, according to them, the tower's secret is likely unknown to anyone.

In this world's history, sending an air force to scout the tower's airspace is already the limit of their capabilities.

Therefore, it's normal that no one knows.

The two pieces of information Anna mentioned actually aroused Lin An's strong interest.

Suddenly appearing, a mysterious pattern like a lighthouse, a light pillar shooting into the sky, generating zombies...

If there is any abnormality in this world, it can only be the tower.

Looks like, after I unify all forces, I'll have to go take a look no matter what.

If the zombie tide truly can't be killed no matter how, we'll use a sea of people to open a path, carving a road to the tower!

After waving his hand to signal Anna to step back, Gao Tian beside him, as if having struggled for a long time, walked to his side again:

"Lin Dui, I know my idea is very childish."

"But, do we really have to do this?"

"This approach will kill too many people, even doom the whole world!"

"If the zombie tide is truly endless and undergoes a change..."

"Then it will be suffering for all living beings!"

"Moreover, we haven't even confirmed how to complete this world's task, have we?"

"Using the military, the effect won't be better than..."

Lin An slowly straightened his body, took a deep look at Gao Tian:

"Are you trying to say that the lower-class people of this world are already pitiful enough, yet we still want them to go to their deaths, to face the zombies?"

"Obviously, using the military wouldn't make much difference and wouldn't kill many people, yet I insist they take up weapons and go to their deaths?"

Gao Tian mustered his courage and, with difficulty, nodded.

This is his last attempt.

If Lin An insists on his own way, he will still obey orders and do it.

But his inner bottom line is like a branding iron, burning him to the point of unbearable pain.

Lin An turned his head, looked toward outside the hall, then stepped down from the throne:

"Gao Tian, have you ever thought..."

"In this utterly rotten world, how is their living not a kind of suffering?"

"Do you think, if this continues, how many lower-class people and slaves in this world could survive?"

"Those who cannot survive..."

"They will only live more and more humbly, forever struggling on the line of death, ultimately dying in humiliation and endless torment."

"This world has been rotten from the root; people no longer want to return to normal society."

"A vicious cycle."

"Rather than this, it would be better to let them give it their all one last time."

"Fight the zombies to the death, to open a path for us."

"If we win, this world will eventually welcome light."

"If we lose, we die, and they will die sooner or later as well."

"Either we break this world's existing 'order' and head toward destruction."

"Or..."

Lin An walked out of the hall, raised his head to look at the sky above, the stars brilliant.