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If apologies mean anything, then what do we need the police for?

—-Mo Ke

Barely ten seconds into our ride, the elevator came to stop, opening up to a sea of people.

For the most part, everyone was clumped up into groups of three or four amongst acquaintances, each group being separated by a fair distance.

Individually, they weren’t talking too loudly, but the sheer amount of whispering, coupled with the confined space, created quite a din.

When the elevator door slid open, the closest ten or so refugees were slightly startled by our appearance. Now this wasn’t just me bragging or anything, but the girls were all top notch beauties, the kind who could win a pageant. Being surprised was only to be expected.

However, they merely gave us a cursory glance before returning to their own business. Perhaps the zombie apocalypse had dulled their interests in strangers.

Yet there was always an exception to the rule. One such person, sporting a garish hairstyle with a mix of orange, red and green, mouth smoking an unlit cigarette and curved into a lascivious smirk, approached with an equally garish bunch of men. With one look, I could already tell these were hoodlums.

“Look what we got here, boys. Who would have thought we would bump into a bunch of cuties like you four even in the middle of an apocalypse. Scared aintcha, girlies? Don’t worry, those monsters can’t hurt you now that big brother is here. All you need to do is lean in and he will handle the rest.” The leader of these hoodlums tugged on his collars as if to emphasize his point. “There’s more than enough room here for all of you…”

“Big brother…” Youngest amongst us, Jiaojiao immediately ducked behind me like a startled little rabbit.

“Don’t be scared, they don’t dare try anything funny here.” I patted her head while giving the five hoodlums a sharp glare.

Having slayed some zombies not too long ago myself, my cold glare that practically radiated murder was enough to make those hoodlums think twice, especially when I still had Icy Inferno in my hands. None of them dared push this matter further.

This was the underground shelter. Just from a quick glance, there were over a thousand refugees gathered here right now. Under such circumstances, there was bound to be a security system set in place. As long as we stirred up enough of a ruckus, the security personnel should come knocking. Most people wouldn’t start trouble here, not unless they were morons, of course.

“What are you lot cowering for?! She doesn’t dare use that sword to cut us!” The leader of hoodlums bellowed, both as a means of encouraging his lackeys as well as himself. Unfortunately, his four lackeys were still scared stiff, and even he himself wasn’t advancing a step further.

Seems like my sword didn’t even need to cut to scare them.

Bitong and Lixiang were just as fierce as I was. The former transformed out her magical wand, while the latter aimed her doll at the hoodlums, as if it was some kind of doomsday device.

These hoodlums were just as I expected, all bark and no bite. Bullying a helpless girl was one thing, but if the target was firmer like us, these scoundrels lost their spines in an instant. Scum of Gaia, I say.

This standoff lasted ten seconds more before a stern voice suddenly interrupted us from behind the hoodlums. “Hey! What’s going on over there?”

A black uniformed policeman swiftly stepped around the hoodlums, baton stretched out to separate us and the hoodlums.

The policeman didn’t have a face shield on so we could see that he was a young man, roughly twenty years of age.

“You lot again! Why can’t you people learn to behave?!” Clearly, this policeman knew these hoodlums and was even scolding them already.

The leader of the hoodlums seemed just as familiar with the policeman as well. With practised ease, he gave a weaselly grin and answered, “Officer Liao, we aren’t causing trouble at all. We just saw that these beautiful ladies were in trouble, so we decided to help them.”

“Help them? Do you think I was born yesterday?! Hmph. I’ll take care of you lot later.” The officer was finally done scolding the hoodlums and turned his attention to us. His eyes immediately went wide with shock, but quickly recovered a second later. “Miss, may I inquire as to why you have a sword on you? Did the guards just let it through? Forget it, just hand it over to me for now, it’s illegal for ordinary citizens to carry weapons.”

“First off, I’m a man. Second, I’m not handing my weapon over to you.” I firmly emphasized the first, and since I was already being rebellious, I decided to emphasize the second as well.

“But your current actions constitute a threat to the other citizens.” Officer Liao patiently tried to persuade us. “I know times aren’t very peaceful right now, but that weapon in your hands is no toy either. The law doesn’t allow you to bring a weapon into a public place.”

I knew he was in the right here, but I still raised an eyebrow at him and curtly rebutted. “You’re saying you want to take my weapon away then?”

“That’s right. For the safety of the others here, as well as yourself.” Officer Liao nodded his head; his words couldn’t be clearer at this point. In his mind, this zombie outbreak would be over soon enough. Once that happened, he would get into trouble for allowing a civilian to carry a weapon, while I would get punished by the law for doing so.

Naturally, all that was predicated on the zombie outbreak ending… In other words, on Southern Plains receiving aid soon.

Honestly, his concern was only to be expected. A weapon made a person bolder. Ideas that would not have existed before would start to rise to the surface, nefarious ideas.

Especially now that the entire city was in chaos, maintaining law and order was more important than ever. Allowing a sword-wielding maniac to run amok amongst the populace would cause as much of a disaster as those zombies.

At the very least, I could guarantee that I was no maniac. Whether or not he would believe me was another matter. Just like whether or not I was going to run foul of the law was another matter.

To be fair to him, no maniac had ever claimed to be anything other than sane.

“Perhaps you’re right, but I have to insist on keeping my weapon, for my own protection.”

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE