Chapter 37: Keep Slaughtering Until the Way Out Opens, The Countdown to Death!

"Handsome, we’re all law-abiding citizens. What are you grabbing us for?"

Simpleton held up his hands, his iris aperture contracting, putting on an act of fear.

The piercing-adorned thug raged, "I told you to shut the hell up, or I’ll blow your head off!"

Simpleton chirped happily, "How about you give me a head to install, and I’ll let you blow it up?"

"Damn it, I'm gonna—"

"We've arrived."

Just as the thug was about to kick Simpleton, Su Cheng cut him off.

At this moment, everyone had been herded to the Carnival Camp. There were about two or three hundred people gathered there.

In the center, by the bonfire, sat Black Snake on a throne constructed from musical instruments. He looked grim, his four arms in constant motion. One hand propped up his chin, another tapped rhythmically against the armrest, while the remaining two gripped a pair of rifles. Four armed guards stood nearby.

All the local residents had been rounded up. Along the perimeter, members of the Death Rock gang stood watch with weapons in hand.

"Hmph, I'll deal with you later." The piercing-adorned thug walked away to keep watch.

"Damn it, what’s going on? Why drag us all here in the middle of the night?"

"No idea. They’re from the Death Rock gang—a bunch of psychos."

"Damn, they come to extort us every month. We were barely scraping by as it is, and now we have to support them too. Damned bastards."

"I tried to contact the HPC earlier, but the connection was blocked. What are they trying to do? We’d pay if they just asked."

"What good would contacting the HPC do? They’re just lapdogs for the wealthy; they won’t lift a finger for us. I heard a lot of them were killed. They came to investigate this morning, so this must be about that."

The crowd whispered anxiously among themselves.

"Cousin, could it be..."

Simpleton looked at Su Cheng and instantly understood. He immediately feigned a vacant, idiotic expression and stood perfectly still.

"Are you there?" Su Cheng whispered through his connection to Yang Siqi.

"I'm here. Everyone on your side has been captured by Death Rock. Are you okay?"

"You're certainly well-informed." Su Cheng was slightly surprised. "Do you know who their leader is this time?"

"I do. It's Black Snake, Black Ox's older brother," Yang Siqi replied, nodding. "He’s a mid-level leader in Death Rock and quite powerful. He arrived at the Carnival Camp right after you left last time. He’s had two D-tier mechanical prosthetic arms installed, along with two C-tier ones. The two C-tier arms have been specialized—one is equipped with a flamethrower, the other with a high-frequency cutting blade."

Su Cheng glanced at Black Snake. It was clear he was much sharper than his brother. "Does this count as an extra mission?"

"No, he’s looking for you specifically. But there’s a problem," Yang Siqi said, her delicate brows knitting together. "The external brain-machine interface I gave you doesn't have the capability to penetrate network shielding. How are you communicating with me, and why haven't they tracked your signal?"

"Secret."

Su Cheng wasn't even aware there was signal shielding or that anyone was tracing his signal. The immense processing power of his external photonic brain had simply ignored all of it.

Yang Siqi pouted. "Tch, keep your secrets then. Even though Black Snake is strong, he shouldn't be a match for you. They’ve physically disconnected all the surveillance cameras, so I can't monitor remotely. Be careful."

Su Cheng nodded. "Understood."

Meanwhile, by the bonfire:

"Boss, several people have been attempting external communications. We’ve pinpointed their locations." A subordinate whispered into Black Snake’s ear.

Black Snake’s eyes turned icy. "Bring them all here!"

"Yes!"

"Drag them up here!"

Moments later, everyone who had attempted to reach the outside world was hauled before the bonfire. Black Snake rose from his throne and slowly walked toward the group.

"B-boss, why did you bring us here? We didn't do anything!"

Black Snake sneered at the man. "Everyone who’s done something says they haven't."

With that, he pulled his gun and blew the man's head off. The viscous spray landed on the faces of those nearby, triggering a chorus of panicked screams.

"Please, don't kill me! I don't know anything, I swear! Why is this happening?"

"I—I can do anything for you! Please, I don't want to die!"

Black Snake waved a hand at his men. "If they try to contact the outside, regardless of their motives—kill them!"

The thugs understood immediately and opened fire. The people dragged up to the front collapsed into pools of blood.

The crowd erupted in chaos. Everyone tried to flee, but Black Snake fired his gun into the air, followed by his subordinates. Terrified, the people huddled back down, falling silent.

Su Cheng pulled the blank-faced Simpleton down into a crouch.

"Cousin, it’s over. I think they’re going to kill us all. I won’t forget you—I’ll stick with you in the next life!" Simpleton looked at Su Cheng with teary, sentimental eyes.

Su Cheng replied calmly, "To make sure you don't annoy me in the next life, I’m not letting you die today."

"Very good." Seeing that the crowd had quieted down, Black Snake nodded in satisfaction and shouted, "A few days ago, something infuriating happened right here. Someone killed my adorable younger brother! He was so innocent, he had no enemies—he just loved sleeping and killing. He’d only been in your district for one day before you murdered him! There is absolutely no law here!"

He gestured for his men to bring over a wooden board. On it lay the remains of Black Ox, sliced diagonally in two.

"Look at him! Such a sweet child, butchered so cruelly! One of you must have been unhappy about paying us, so you killed him! We send our people to protect you, and you pay us—isn't that only natural? You all deserve to die! We conducted an investigation this morning, and not a single one of you was willing to talk. Very well. If the killer doesn't step forward now, I will slaughter you all to accompany my brother in the afterlife!"

Black Snake’s malicious gaze swept over everyone.

"I will reward anyone who turns the killer in. You have five minutes. After that, I start killing at random!"

His logic was simple. If the killer didn't come out, he would keep killing. If the murderer was in this group, they would eventually crack under the pressure and lash out. Even if they weren't here, it didn't matter; he would simply expand the killing zone until the murderer was found.

Simple and brutal.

The camp fell into an eerie silence.

Black Snake sat back down confidently. "You have four minutes left."

"Damn it, who is it? Just surrender! Do you want us all to die for your sake?"

"God, we really don't know! We’re just ordinary people, we don't have powerful cybernetics—how could we possibly kill his brother?"

Black Snake grinned. "Three minutes left."

"Waaah, why me? I was just at home, I didn't go anywhere! I don't even have a girlfriend, I’ve only watched adult films, I’ve never even done it for real!"

"Don't let me find out who the killer is, damn it, making us suffer like this."

"Two minutes left. Your time is running out."

It was like a countdown to death. The two arms behind Black Snake’s back leveled their guns at the crowd, while the other members of Death Rock readied themselves for a massacre.