Almost the instant Wan Qianhong shouted these words, she hesitated slightly.
Should she say it?
When the truth was revealed, would the people be able to accept it?
What would become of this city beneath her feet? Would it spiral completely out of control?
The man who deserved to die was dead, but what needed to be done was far from over.
Even through her faceplate, her voice couldn't help but tremble slightly.
Right then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted “Bai Feifei” standing below, surrounded by the crowd.
“She” looked up slightly, grinned at her, and gave her a thumbs-up.
“Light this place up!”
Wan Qianhong felt her heart settle slightly, and she continued to speak loudly.
“What Liang Shuguang said just now is true! His conspiracy has cost many lives! And if his plot hadn't been exposed, even more would have died!
“Those potions you injected in the Inner City, those drugs that make you stronger, are part of an experiment! And the result of this experiment is that you will all turn into aberrations!
“Furthermore, the collaborators of this research are a group of people who worship the power of the Evil Gods of the Old Days!
“The crisis has never left us. That power which could destroy us at any moment...”
Before Wan Qianhong could finish her sentence, she was abruptly interrupted.
A grey shadow erupted from the ruins below on her flank. It was an Edgerunner from the Li family, charging straight toward Wan Qianhong in the sky.
Wan Qianhong dodged sharply to the side. Purple light condensed into a blood sword, and she lunged forward in a counterattack!
With her strength in this state, an ordinary Edgerunner stood no chance against her.
Yet before her sword could connect, the man's body suddenly blurred, dispersing like sand scattered by the wind before reforming in the distance.
In the next instant, four or five figures soared into the sky from behind the crowd, all of them targeting Wan Qianhong!
“Bewitching the public with lies! How dare you assassinate the City Lord!
“You killed the City Lord in broad daylight, yet you still have the audacity to stay here and talk big!
“Everyone, be careful! The aura on her is strange. Perhaps the aberration and Evil God power she speaks of are actually her own!”
Several voices exploded across the square at the same time, ensuring everyone heard their words loud and clear.
Most of them were from the Huang and Li families, while two others had highly unstable auras, looking like people who had only recently become Edgerunners.
Wan Qianhong condensed a blood shield in her hand and held it before her, staring grimly at the enemies rushing toward her.
Yet, she saw no trace of anger or a desire to “avenge the City Lord” in their eyes. Instead, she only saw madness.
Just moments ago, when they saw the City Lord die, these people felt no grief. They didn't even have time to be shocked—their very first reaction was sheer ecstasy!
Their power had come easily, and so had their status, but everything had depended on Liang Shuguang. Now, the man who could control them at any moment was dead!
They couldn't gauge the true strength of this Masked Hermit Society.
But even if it really was a terrifying organization that held massive historical weight, why would they care about a place like Dawn City?
Besides, hadn't Sinking Black, the rumored strongest whose power was completely unfathomable, failed to show up?
Therefore, this might have nothing to do with that organization, or at least not with the true powerhouses within it. It was likely just the rogue actions of these two newcomers!
In that case...
It was time to gamble!
Without needing any discussion, they had already convinced themselves.
Like gamblers who knew they were fantasizing but still chose to believe in their delusions.
This mess needed an explanation. If the City Lord were actually convicted of a crime, not only would the entire city fall into chaos, but they themselves would be finished too.
This was perfect. Using the pretext of these two killing the City Lord, they could eliminate them. From then on, they could rightfully take over Dawn City.
Since the supreme ruler had died so bizarrely, someone new had to take his place!
Greed and madness mixed to breed blindness—and this kind of blindness was often the most irrational.
Several people surrounded Wan Qianhong in the sky, launching attacks while continuing to shout their slogans:
“The City Lord's years of hard work finally bore fruit, ushering in a golden age, only for you to murder him!
“The City Lord died just like that, right before the dawn!
“The City Lord's death must be avenged!”
Down on the square, the crowd had already begun to panic.
Seeing Liang Shuguang killed and watching powerhouses they would normally never lay eyes on engage in a chaotic melee, many people began screaming and fleeing toward the outskirts.
But the crowd was far too dense. Once the chaos started, escaping became even harder. People began shoving, and small-scale conflicts even broke out as they threw punches at one another.
A stampede was on the verge of happening.
Many others, after hearing the elders' words, saw red. They joined in the angry shouting:
“Kill them!” someone yelled.
“Avenge the City Lord!” another shouted, their voice even louder.
“She must be making things up! How could the City Lord ever cooperate with the power of aberrations!
“She murdered the City Lord directly just so she could smear his name more easily!”
Looking at the dead man on the high platform, the people's expressions turned from bewilderment to fear, and from fear to rage!
To many, the City Lord's death felt as if the very pillar supporting their world had collapsed.
They could not bring themselves to believe that the faith they had relied on for so long was a lie. Fear of the unknown forced them to choose to believe the words of the elders over those of Wan Qianhong.
Just as Liang Shuguang had said before, the “savior” was dead. Now, the people desperately needed a “sinner.”
Liang Shuguang's death was like opening the gates of hell.
In an instant, the entirety of Dawn City collapsed!
In the center of the square, Xu Mo stood there calmly. He watched the chaotic crowd around him as if he were just visiting a tourist attraction, smiling as he muttered to himself:
“It really has turned into a pot of porridge.
“Shall we eat it while it's hot?”
In his mind, Bai Feifei saw that Xu Mo wasn't worried at all, even sounding as if he found it amusing. She couldn't help but feel anxious and spoke up:
“How did it turn out like this!
“Was... was our approach a bit too extreme? The citizens seem to have gone mad. They can't accept this at all.
“How about you stop controlling me and let me handle it!”
Bai Feifei was planning to use her power of Spotless White, employing her domain's ability to forcefully suppress the agitation in people's hearts.
But Xu Mo merely placed his index finger to his lips, making a shushing gesture.
“Shh... Quiet. What do you know? Dawn City is a terminally ill patient. Of course we have to administer strong medicine.”
As he spoke, he once again turned his gaze toward Liang Shuguang, who sat with his head slumped, dead in his wheelchair. The corners of Xu Mo's mouth curled upward.
“Besides, if the enemy doesn't move, we don't move. If others aren't in a hurry, we can't be in a hurry either.
“Right now, the show is only just beginning!”
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