238: Rumors spread

Waking up.

Hope City had another twenty-odd cases of zombies killing people.

In the apocalypse, in the vast Hope City, people died every day, sometimes one or two, sometimes possibly thousands.

Most were killed by zombies or mutated beasts outside, and a small number were due to infighting among humans.

Only twenty-odd people had died, which normally wouldn't be a big deal.

However, the people in Hope City became panic-stricken.

Because in everyone's mind, Hope City was an absolutely safe place; as long as they returned to the city, they could sleep soundly.

Now, man-eating zombies had actually appeared in the city, and the city's residents seemed to have returned to the early days of the apocalypse, their nerves suddenly tightening again.

Zhang Cheng rushed over early in the morning and said,

"Shi Lei, it's widely rumored in the city now that you're keeping a zombie as a pet. The deaths in the city are precisely because you're refining corpses. They even say that to cultivate a Zombie Emperor, you might have to sacrifice all the residents of Hope City in the future."

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaoli immediately retorted angrily, her face full of indignation, "Are those people pig-brained? There isn't a single zombie that can fight, so why would Qin Ge need to refine corpses?"

Qin Shilei's mind instantly recalled the scene of meeting Han Hongyu yesterday.

He thought to himself, "Han Hongyu wouldn't be so unwise as to frame me in this regard, would he?"

An Qian suddenly spoke up as well, "Shi Lei, look at the chat channel. Someone is spreading rumors about you on it."

Qin Shilei opened the regional chat channel and the national chat channel, finding that someone was indeed slandering him there.

"Extra! Extra! The City Lord of Hope City is actually a descendant of the Corpse Refining Sect!"

"Qin Shilei has always been far ahead of everyone precisely because of his identity as a member of the Corpse Refining Sect. He has been refining a Zombie Emperor since the beginning of the apocalypse."

"He was also able to quickly advance from the Bronze Realm to the Silver Realm because he possessed a secret Zombie Emperor manual."

"Qin Shilei's zombie pet already has intelligence and is currently residing in Hope City, requiring the fresh blood of hundreds of people daily."

"In the future, to allow his pet to advance into a true Zombie Emperor, Qin Shilei will definitely sacrifice all of Hope City. Everyone, quickly flee!"

People kept spreading various rumors on the chat channel.

Because messages sent on it only displayed a set of numerical IDs, it was impossible to tell who sent them, which is why those people were so brazen.

Zhang Xiaoli suddenly said with a grim expression, "Qin Ge, someone posted a set of photos on the chat channel, saying that Duan Tianhe is your zombie pet."

That set of photos actually showed Duan Tianhe without his glasses, and also photos of Qin Shilei and Duan Tianhe walking together.

Qin Shilei was already upset about the promotion issue; now, with this disturbance, his mood was even worse.

He wished he could immediately tear those rumor-mongers into pieces, and also electrocute the zombie hiding in the city into charcoal.

Qin Shilei said coldly, "I'm going to see Duan Tianhe."

An Qian and the others said in unison, "We're going too."

When he arrived at the residential area where Duan Tianhe lived, he found many people surrounding it three layers deep inside and three layers deep outside.

As Qin Shilei walked through, the crowd instinctively retreated to both sides, leaving a passage more than a meter wide.

Walking to the center of the crowd, he found that the ones surrounded were Duan Tianhe and his girlfriend, who were preparing to go out.

"Sirs, could you please take off your glasses and let us see?"

"Everyone, be careful he doesn't suddenly attack and injure someone."

"Wearing glasses all day long, it goes without saying, it must be to hide his zombie features."

Although the surrounding people were chattering, they hadn't dared to use force yet.

Duan Tianhe saw Qin Shilei appear and said delightedly, "Boss, you're finally here. I've become a monkey at the zoo."

Qin Shilei looked around and said coldly, "Everyone, disperse."

Suddenly, a voice came from the crowd, "City Lord, are these two really your pets?"

Duan Tianhe argued, "I'm not anyone's pet. I'm a human, Boss's loyal little brother."

Someone else exclaimed, "What a smart pet! Not only can it speak, but it speaks so fluently. It must be a Zombie King."

Someone echoed, "It's a pity it eats people, otherwise raising such a smart pet would be very interesting."

Duan Tianhe's veins bulged, and he said exasperatedly, "You are the pets! Your whole family are pets! I'm a human, do you understand, a human?"

"He must be the zombie that killed people in the city. For everyone's safety, let's go up together and kill him!"

Suddenly, a chorus of jeers erupted from the crowd.

"Finally found you."

Qin Shilei followed the sound, instantly teleported to the speaker's side, reached out, grabbed the back of the person's neck, and lifted him out.

"Let me go! We're just here to kill the zombie hiding in the city, we're not targeting you! Is this really your pet? Did the people in the city really kill them under his command?"

The person struggled and shouted.

"Speak, who instructed you to come here and spread rumors?" Qin Shilei asked coldly.

"What instruction? We're just here to denounce this zombie hiding among the people for our own safety," the person argued.

"Courting death!"

Qin Shilei threw the person to the ground, and with a clang, drew his Blood Soul.

"He's killing to silence! The City Lord of Hope City is trying to kill to silence to hide the secret of him raising zombies!"

Suddenly, another series of shouts came from the crowd.

Qin Shilei again followed the sound and teleported, but found the sound was coming from a small speaker on the ground.

The surrounding people quickly dodged away, fearing that Qin Shilei would think the small speaker was theirs.

Qin Shilei stomped on the small speaker, crushing it, then turned back to the person he had thrown to the ground earlier.

However, at this moment, a voice came from a small speaker in the distance again.

"Qin Shilei is a descendant of the Corpse Refining Sect! That person is his pet, a Zombie King! Otherwise, why wouldn't he dare to let him take off his glasses and let everyone verify the truth?"

"Is this never-ending?"

Qin Shilei summoned Little Strong, jumped onto its back, then flew into the air, looking around, hoping to find the person hiding in the shadows.

However, there were too many people around, and that guy was hidden in some corner, making it difficult to find him for a while.

"Down with the insane Qin Shilei! To raise zombies, he actually dares to dream of sacrificing all of Hope City!" The voice kept coming from the small speakers.

Qin Shilei waved his hand, sending out a bolt of lightning that shattered the small speaker.

Provoked repeatedly by that voice, the crowd below also began to whisper and discuss.

"You say, could that really be a Zombie King?"

"It's possible, otherwise why wouldn't the City Lord defend himself?"

"Is the City Lord really going to sacrifice all of Hope City? Then what do we do?"

"We can only escape. Do you dare to attack the City Lord?"

"Why don't we all go up and eliminate such a deranged fellow?"

"If you want to die, don't drag us down! You actually want to attack the City Lord? This day next year will be your death anniversary."

"That idiot must have just arrived in Hope City recently, he has no sense."