Chapter 81: Escalation

For the first time in his life, Qi Chen truly understood the terror celebrities must feel when faced with a mob of fanatic fans.

All he could see was a sea of people, eyes bloodshot, charging madly in his direction. Under the influence of the candy, these ordinary citizens had become more savage than wild beasts, surging toward the two entrances of Minsheng Mall that could not be sealed off.

“Special Ops, deploy tear gas immediately!” Qi Chen knew that, on his own, it was almost impossible to block all the citizens at once. He could stop most of them, but there would always be some who slipped through.

Fortunately, the Special Ops teams stationed near the mall had already brought the necessary equipment. At his command, several squads who had followed him raised their tear gas launchers, aiming high.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

One after another, the tear gas canisters traced graceful arcs through the air. Once they landed, thick, acrid white smoke burst forth, instantly engulfing the onrushing crowd.

Even in their frenzy, the physiological functions of these people remained intact, and under the effects of the tear gas, the speed of the mob’s charge visibly slowed.

And yet, the red-eyed masses pressed on, unwavering in their determination to reach Minsheng Mall.

At this point, however, Qi Chen felt less pressure.

“Overlord!”

With a low shout, Qi Chen donned the gas mask provided by the Special Ops and charged alone straight into the crowd. The Overlord floated beside him, its force precisely controlled, its fingers like guns jabbing at the citizens’ knee joints.

Knocking them unconscious was difficult, but temporarily disabling these red-eyed citizens was not.

As he felled one after another, Qi Chen searched for anything useful around him. By the mall, there was only a wide road, empty but for the pile-up of crashed cars.

“Do me a favor and stay put inside for a while!”

A cold glint flashed in Qi Chen’s eyes. He yanked open a car door, and the Overlord, grabbing a red-eyed citizen in each hand, stuffed them into the sedan, even fastening their seatbelts at lightning speed.

He feared those locked inside might turn on one another under the strange influence.

Such incidents had already occurred more than once along the way.

In just a few short minutes, Qi Chen lost count of how many times he’d repeated the same motion, nor how many cars he’d opened or how many citizens he’d locked inside.

Yet the number of red-eyed citizens around him didn’t seem to decrease at all—instead, they kept multiplying!

“How many are there?” he thought, increasingly agitated. The Overlord roared in barely-contained fury, and Qi Chen gave himself entirely to the task at hand.

He no longer bothered to judge who among them had taken the candy; anyone who entered the Overlord’s range was immediately locked into a car without exception.

The Special Ops teams behind him exchanged glances, each seeing the same deep shock mirrored in the others’ eyes.

“So... this is the legendary Anomaly Walker?” a rookie whispered, drawing a sharp breath, unable to comprehend the figure darting through the mob, making citizen after citizen obediently enter the cars—though, admittedly, not of their own free will.

“Focus on our job!” their squad leader barked. But even after the reprimand, he found himself glancing unconsciously toward Qi Chen.

It was, indeed... hard to fathom.

...

“Officer Mask, the City Guard has dispatched units to support inside the city. Most of the citizens affected by the anomalous candy have been intercepted and contained en route.

“You should only have the last wave left on your end!”

The analyst’s voice in his earpiece was like a blessing from above. Qi Chen’s arms ached from opening car doors.

And it wasn’t just opening doors. Standing among the red-eyed citizens, he endured constant attacks from people whose minds had been twisted by the anomaly. His own body was only a little tougher than an ordinary person’s, while those affected by the candy were like wild beasts, even using their teeth in an attempt to rip flesh from his bones.

He was surprised he’d lasted this long.

Now, hearing that only the final wave was left, his taut nerves finally relaxed a little.

Once this mission was over, he’d have to ask Warm Guy to help with some physical training!

He adjusted his stance, preparing to face the last wave, when suddenly a volley of gunfire exploded behind him—the direction of Minsheng Mall!

He spun instantly. His earpiece crackled with the Special Ops captain’s shout: “Officer Mask! Someone’s coming out of the mall!”

“What?”

Qi Chen craned his neck toward the entrance. Sure enough, he saw figures emerging from the two strange doorways.

And those stepping out wore either Special Ops uniforms or security guard attire.

The gunfire just now had come from them!

“They’re the ones who disappeared inside earlier!”

The Special Ops teams engaged in the firefight kept relaying updates to Qi Chen and the intelligence division. Both fell silent at the news.

They’d believed those who’d entered Minsheng Mall were lost forever. Reality proved otherwise: these people had not died, but instead fallen into an even more tragic state.

“That’s Captain Liu! Captain Liu! Stop shooting! We’re on the same side!”

Even from a distance, Qi Chen could hear the anguished cries of the Special Ops, but their once-familiar comrades responded only with gunfire.

Ratatat!

Gunfire thundered, and from the other side came the deafening stampede of feet.

The last wave of red-eyed citizens arrived at that very moment.

“Mask, prioritize the citizens!”

Fu Ying’s cold voice rang in his earpiece, snapping Qi Chen back to reality.

He was not indecisive; he knew exactly what choice needed to be made.

Compared to those who had emerged from the mall, whose minds were irreversibly twisted, the citizens who had only ingested the candy stood a far greater chance of being saved.

Moreover... in City Three, whether it was the Anomaly Response Division, Special Ops, or the Security Bureau, there was one unwritten rule: when forced to choose between themselves and the citizens, they must always choose the citizens without hesitation.

This was the very foundation of City Three.

Qi Chen looked up abruptly. The Overlord stood solemnly behind him.

He would save them both.

...