14: Section 14

Mark relied on his own strength to establish a firm foothold on the Lighthouse.

As for Charles, all he could rely on was his father-son relationship with City Lord Morgan. Making Morgan disappointed, or even disgusted, would be the most unwise choice for Charles.

Jing Yuan looked at Charles, anticipating his choice.

No matter what the other party chose, he had a countermeasure.

Charles ground his back teeth so hard they nearly shattered.

He had originally come to watch the show, but ended up becoming the "show" himself.

Charles struggled to calm his emotions and said to Jing Yuan, "If that's the case, then I won't ask any further. Let's go!"

After speaking, Charles prepared to leave with his people.

“Wait a minute!” Jing Yuan suddenly shouted.

Everyone was surprised. What else did Jing Yuan want to do?

“Lord Leader, these people who maliciously spread rumors to slander an officer haven't been dealt with yet!”

Charles couldn't stop the anger in his eyes. He indeed intended to sacrifice Berry and the others to achieve the effect of slandering Mark.

But now that Mark was unharmed, he still had to sacrifice them?

But since Charles had started this, he could only be the one to end it.

Charles gave Vandy a look, and Vandy immediately ordered: "Execution! Fifty lashes each."

“Lord Leader, we've been wronged!”

“Lord Leader, we know we were wrong, please let us go!”

“Execute them!”

A Law Enforcer pulled out an iron whip and struck Berry's back heavily.

Seeing this, Mark wanted to step forward to stop it, but was held back by Jing Yuan.

“Captain Mark, let's go!”

Mark was still somewhat reluctant and wanted to step forward to intervene.

Jing Yuan whispered in his ear, “He's beating his own people, why do you care!”

Mark was startled and gave up on the idea of stepping forward.

After this incident, no one was in the mood to eat anymore.

Mark and Jing Yuan walked out.

Mark asked in confusion, “Why did you step forward to speak just now?”

Jing Yuan smiled faintly. “Captain Mark, didn't you see that this was a trap set against you? Does that Lord Leader usually eat in the cafeteria? Why did he suddenly appear in the cafeteria today?”

Jing Yuan's question made Mark hesitate. Right! Why would Charles appear in the cafeteria?

Jing Yuan continued, “Captain, I'm very grateful that you were willing to help me hide the fact that I snuck down to The Surface. It's just that I didn't expect Charles to use this matter against you. This started because of me, and I can't watch you be maliciously slandered.”

“I understand! But by doing this, you've offended Charles!”

“Offend Charles? I already offended him in front of the City Lord last time; I don't care about this time!”

Mark suddenly remembered and hurriedly asked, “If Charles really asks you what the mission was, how will you answer?”

Jing Yuan smiled calmly and said, “We found a way to kill Phage Beasts. Doesn't that count as a special mission? If he insists on going before the City Lord, I can say that I theorized a method to kill Phage Beasts, you thought it was feasible, and so you took the opportunity to bring me to The Surface to test it.”

Mark thought about it, and that indeed counted as a special mission.

“Besides, for something this big, you'll definitely have to report to the City Lord!” Jing Yuan said. “Captain, you need to report to the City Lord before Charles finds out the truth. Otherwise, who knows what kind of trouble Charles will stir up!”

“Alright! I'll go see the City Lord right now!”

Mark left immediately. Looking at Mark's muscular back, Jing Yuan suddenly thought of an animal—a water buffalo!

A water buffalo works hard without complaint, yet is targeted by venomous snakes every day! When the buffalo is no longer useful, it's slaughtered for its meat!

Sigh! To hell with this apocalypse!

Chapter 14: The divine decree of the lord of light and shadow

By the time he returned to the dormitory, the news of Jing Yuan standing up to Charles in the cafeteria had already spread.

His three roommates were all die-hard fans of Mark. Upon learning that Jing Yuan had spoken up for Mark and rebutted Charles, they instantly admired Jing Yuan to the point of utter worship.

“But you have to be careful from now on. The Law Enforcement Office manages all affairs on the Lighthouse. Since you've offended the Leader, things will probably be very difficult for you in the future!”

“You guys know one thing, right? Charles is City Lord Morgan's son!”

“That's just a relationship from the old world!”

“Even if it's an old world relationship, do you think Charles could have sat in his current position today without City Lord Morgan?”

Jing Yuan chatted a lot more with his roommates about things on the Lighthouse, but these were things that couldn't be spoken of outside... When resting at night, Jing Yuan suddenly woke up from a dream in a cold sweat.

In the dream, he had turned into a Phage Beast.

A blurred voice was summoning him forward.

But the distance was too far and the voice too muffled; he couldn't distinguish any useful information.

After waking up, Jing Yuan was still in the dormitory.

Recalling the scenes in the dream, Jing Yuan was somewhat puzzled.

Why would he have such a dream?

Was it because he had absorbed the life source essence of a Phage Beast?

He turned into a Phage Beast in the dream. Could it be that he would eventually end up like Mark?

Absorbing life source essence was originally an ability of Phage Beasts. Jing Yuan relied on the system to absorb Phage Beast life source essence to evolve his telekinesis; whether this was completely safe, Jing Yuan couldn't be certain.

However, it was just a dream, so Jing Yuan didn't dwell on it too much.

After lying down, he went back to sleep... The next day, having rested enough, Jing Yuan got up. Seeing that it was still early, he went out for a run again.

Having gone through two incidents, Jing Yuan's popularity had also increased.

During his run, many people greeted him, though they were all people from the Wasteland Hunters.

When Jing Yuan returned from his run, he encountered two members of the City Guard at the dormitory entrance.

They had come to take Jing Yuan to see the City Lord.

Arriving at the Council Hall, the only ones present were City Lord Morgan, Charles, Victor, and a middle-aged woman in a white lab coat.

Jing Yuan recognized her; this woman should be Dr. Carrie, the Director of Medical and ecology.

Jing Yuan knew of this person, but this was the first time meeting her.

“Dr. Carrie, it was Jing Yuan who found the method to kill Phage Beasts. If you have any questions, you can ask him!”

The first to speak was Charles. From his words, it could be inferred that Morgan had still informed him of the situation.

It seemed his father still loved him very much!

Charles definitely wanted to verify it but found it inappropriate to interrogate Jing Yuan himself, so he had called Carrie over.

Carrie was a research fanatic; she definitely wanted to know how Jing Yuan killed the Phage Beast.

Carrie looked at Jing Yuan. “You must be Jing Yuan!”

“I am!” Jing Yuan nodded, then asked, “Dr. Carrie, is it you who wanted to see me? Or is it the Lord Leader?”

In front of Morgan, Charles hadn't expected Jing Yuan to speak like that.

“It's me who wanted to see you. It has nothing to do with Charles!” Carrie wanted to get straight to the point.

Jing Yuan beat her to it, saying, “That's good. Lately, the Lord Leader has been constantly making trouble for Captain Mark. I thought I had committed some offense again!”

Charles said angrily, “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Jing Yuan!” City Lord Morgan spoke up. “Charles is responsible for managing the order on the Lighthouse; some questioning is normal. Don't worry excessively. Yesterday Mark told me about the two of you discussing going to The Surface to experiment on Phage Beasts, and you achieved results. Very good! However, next time you can speak up in advance to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings!”

Jing Yuan bowed and said, “Lord City Lord, it's not that I didn't want to inform you in advance. I was just worried that if I said it beforehand, some people would worry that Captain Mark's contribution would be too great and would interfere, making the experiment impossible to carry out.”

Charles began to grit his teeth again, but he didn't dare to lash out in front of Morgan.

“You're quite blunt, kid!” Carrie laughed. “But I like it. Tell me! How did you find the method to kill Phage Beasts?”

Jing Yuan was prepared. He said unhurriedly, “One night, I had a dream, and in the dream, the lord of light and shadow told me.”

Hearing this answer, Carrie was somewhat angry. “I'm being serious.”

“Dr. Carrie, I am also being serious! Is it not possible for the lord of light and shadow to convey a divine decree to me through a dream?”

“Impossible, how could the lord of light and shadow possibly convey a divine decree to you!” The first to speak was Charles. On the Lighthouse, he was the spokesperson for the lord of light and shadow.