Chapter Ninety-One: I Only Do What I Believe Is Right

"How much longer until ART-2 arrives?"

"Their advance is very fast. They will be there within three minutes of your reaching the foot of the Plati black market!"

"Can you give them another orbital strike to buy us a little more time?"

"I am sorry, Mr. Ye Hai. The final strike has been reserved to ensure Commander Tichy's absolute safety, and we will use it at the proper moment. As for your decision to rescue the survivors... the staff on the Bergen Star is not optimistic... There are still more than fifteen thousand mutants behind you, and on the east and west sides there are enormous hordes exceeding eighty thousand... According to our calculations, every minute you remain there increases the chance of total annihilation by one percent!"

"Thank you for your concern, Lieutenant. You had better pray that we pull this off, or else Tichy may end up buried with us at the Plati black market!"

"...."

After giving Tichy's adjutant a thorough dressing-down, Ye Hai cut the connection.

Without orders from Tichy or Javier, the other side refused to release the orbital strike at Ye Hai's command.

Zero stood beside Ye Hai and shrugged.

"Looks like they don't care much for your partnership."

"Maybe you should let me take one of that filthy pirate's arms off and make the people up there hear him scream..."

"I have no doubt they would give your opinion very careful consideration."

With an expression of disdain, Ye Hai shoved Zero aside.

"Go find a cool place to sit and stay there."

"I went through hell to save that man, and now you're talking about ripping his arm off."

"I might as well have let him die in the first place. Then maybe we wouldn't have to make an enemy of the Giant Tree Star."

He glanced at Lester, whose leg bones had been reforged with an alloy frame. By now, muscle tissue had only just begun to grow over half a thigh.

Clearly, he was no help.

Though reluctant, Ye Hai had no choice but to trust the madwoman before him. "In a minute, we'll split up and work separately. Get as many people out as possible."

"And don't you cause any trouble for me, sis."

"If this job goes well..."

"I'll find a chance to club Joe over the head and dump him in your room."

At once, a flicker of interest appeared in Zero's eyes.

"That sounds... pretty good."

Ye Hai finally let out a quiet breath.

"So Joe isn't entirely useless after all..."

As Joe continued teleporting Javier toward the mountaintop, he suddenly sneezed hard, and his eyelids began to twitch wildly.

But with both eyelids twitching at once, Joe was not sure whether that meant good fortune or bad.

Perhaps because they were moving too quickly, the cold night wind always left a chill down his back.

Soon, Ye Hai had the moray burrow up from underground to a point beneath the largest survivor camp in the area.

There were men, women, old people, and children in the camp, more than five hundred in all, making it one of the largest among the surrounding survivor settlements.

Although it was already deep into the night, the entire camp was lit brightly by clusters of campfires, and no one was asleep.

Earlier that night, gunshots and explosions from the mountaintop had jolted everyone awake.

Then the battle between Joe's group and ART-2 had caused a huge commotion of its own.

And when the final orbital strike came down, it briefly scattered the darkness of night.

Under one shock after another, even the stupidest and dullest sentries knew that something major had happened at the black market.

So the watchmen of every camp woke the others.

They were ready to flee at any moment.

They had seen upheavals at the black market before.

This time, though, the disturbance was simply too enormous.

Everyone couldn't help but feel a faint, ominous premonition.

Then, directly beneath the five-hundred-person camp, the ground shook violently.

In the next instant, the moray's hideous head burst through the earth.

Only a tiny portion of it was visible.

Even so, its massive body and ferocious fangs instantly sent terror rippling through the camp.

These survivors, who lived at the bottom of the hierarchy, had never seen a mutant from the eighth stage.

That monstrous thing, as though ripped from a myth, immediately spread panic to every single survivor.

All they could do was scream themselves hoarse and scatter in every direction, worsening the chaos.

Ye Hai and Zero stood inside the moray's gaping mouth.

They shouted toward the outside, trying to make the survivors understand what they intended.

But the clamor of five hundred people crying, shouting, and panicking outside swallowed their voices completely.

Ye Hai finally learned what it felt like to scream until your throat was raw and still be ignored.

"Damn it, this won't do. ART-2 will be here soon..."

"Once that happens, with the situation this chaotic, the rescue plan will be ruined entirely..."

Zero looked at the survivors who were shouting, running, and scattering in every direction.

Then she said helplessly, "Just let the moray swallow them all."

"Once people realize they're not in danger, they won't be afraid anymore."

Ye Hai shook his head. "No. First of all, if the moray starts swallowing people before they understand what's going on, it'll only make them panic more."

"And now that the crowd has already scattered, one bite can only take ten or a dozen at most..."

"At this speed, against a base of more than twenty thousand people, it's nothing more than a drop in the bucket."

Zero was never one for thinking, so she could only purse her lips and ask, "You make the call. Tell me what to do, and I'll do it... Just remember your promise."

"Otherwise, I don't mind cutting you into pieces... You won't die anyway."

Ye Hai's mouth twitched.

So she had really taken his casual promise to heart.

Indeed, a man had to watch himself at all times.

Forget it. Better him than me.

Joe had already survived the T virus by now. He shouldn't be so easy to kill.

"Release all the Tyrants, Hunters, and Lickers. Take the people by force!"

Following Ye Hai's instructions, Zero quickly unleashed all the Tyrants, Hunters, and Lickers.

The whole scene exploded as if someone had poured water into a pot of boiling oil.

There was sobbing, screaming, and the occasional crack of gunfire from those putting up desperate resistance.

Ye Hai stood at the position of the fish's mouth, quietly watching these bio-weapons drag people one after another into the moray's belly.

When a Licker used its tongue to coil around an old man and sprang into the mouth, the old man stared blood-red-eyed at Ye Hai.

Then he cursed loudly, "I know you. You're Ye Hai from the Corpse Collector Organization..."

"You beast, you won't even spare infants. Are you even human?"

"You feed mutants with human beings. You heartless monster..."

"May you die horribly!"

"One day you'll be ground to dust with no place to be buried. Just wait..."

"Just you wait!"

Ye Hai frowned slightly and looked the old man over.

At the same time, he waved a hand and summoned the Licker holding him to his side.

"Old man, whether you believe me or not, I'm here to save people today, not kill them."

"It's been many years since I last saved anyone who had nothing to do with me. Mind your mouth."

"Don't erase the little kindness I still have left."

Hearing Ye Hai, the old man spat a mouthful of saliva straight at his face.

Ye Hai shifted slightly and dodged it.

Without saying a word, he stared at the old man.

A savage aura flared up from within him, but it quickly faded into nothing.

With a helpless shake of his head, Ye Hai no longer paid the man any mind.

Yet the old man seemed dissatisfied that the spit had missed.

He kept spitting at Ye Hai again and again, forcing him to step back a few paces.

From the old man's unwavering eyes, it was clear he had already resolved to die and felt no fear at all.

At that moment, Zero's eyes turned bloodthirsty and mad.

Her right hand transformed into a claw.

"Ye Hai risked his life to come save you people. Fine if you don't feel grateful, but you dare treat him like this?"

"How many pieces do you want to be cut into?!"

"How about a thousand?"

With her eyes blazing red, Zero stuck out her tongue and licked the corner of her mouth.

Her right hand came down like a flash of wind, slashing toward the old man.

Just as the old man was about to die, another arm shot out from Ye Hai's shoulder blades.

He grabbed Zero by the neck and yanked her back.

Seeing the two of them change before his eyes, the old man first froze, a trace of fear crossing his face.

But rage soon swallowed it.

He continued cursing, "You two monsters... you'll both be reduced to ash..."

"I curse you with my life."

Holding Zero aloft, and watching her flailing in midair in a fury, Ye Hai let out a quiet sigh.

He waved lightly at the Licker.

The Licker immediately carried the old man into the dark belly of the moray.

"Ye Hai, let go of me! I'm going to cut down that ungrateful old bastard myself."

"I'm so pissed... so pissed..."

"Forget him! We don't save this one!"

"What the hell do those ants have to do with us if the mutants catch them or kill them?"

Holding Zero up in front of himself, Ye Hai gave a wry smile.

"On Zombie Star, there is no trust, and there is no gratitude."

"If you think what you're doing is right... then keep doing it."

"You can't blame this on any one person."

"It's the environment that made them this way."

"Since I promised the teacher I'd help him change Zombie Star..."

"I'll do my best to try."

"As for the outcome and the reward, I don't want to think too much about them..."

"Because it doesn't matter. At least in Zombie Star's current environment, it means nothing."

"We've wasted too much time here. We need to head to the next camp."

As Zero gradually calmed down, she stopped speaking to Ye Hai and went off to the side to sulk by herself.

Ye Hai was too lazy to coax the madwoman. That wasn't his job.

But just one five-hundred-person camp had already taken two minutes.

With only one minute left, ART-2 would be here.

At this pace, let alone twenty thousand people, even two thousand might not be saved.

Ye Hai couldn't help shaking his head and muttering, "Being good is really hard."

"Why was I bewitched back then and agreed to the teacher's request?"

Hearing Ye Hai talking to himself, Zero shot him a contemptuous look.

"Tsk. Another one who can't face his own heart..."

"Spineless man."

"Even when you lie to yourself, you still have to find some lofty excuse."