Dawn of a New Era-Chapter 503 - 477: Taboo

"Ring, ring, ring..."

The city began to regain its vitality.

Passersby, steamy breakfast shops, and dense bicycle traffic formed a perfectly normal and peaceful scene.

Who could have imagined that to contain the spread of terrifying forces, this place had been sealed off from the outside world for more than three months?

"Let’s have breakfast first!" Zhu Xueqing suggested.

Everyone had no objections.

The three quickly entered a breakfast shop, with only a handful of people inside. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Each of them ordered breakfast, eating silently while listening to the conversations around them.

"You know the limping Zhang who picks up garbage in our neighborhood every day? He’s disappeared too!" A tall young man said in a suppressed voice full of fear.

"Ah, he was quite kind! He’s a good person!" the young man with a short haircut across from him said in surprise.

"Good person? Nonsense, who knows what bad things he did in the past? Otherwise, how could he become a ’messenger of evil’..."

"You two have a death wish, don’t you? Stop discussing this or go somewhere else if you want to die." A middle-aged man nearby angrily interrupted.

The two young men’s faces turned pale, and they dared not speak again.

For a moment, the entire breakfast shop became eerily silent.

Chen Shouyi and the others exchanged glances, all finding it somewhat baffling.

After breakfast, Wang Lie paid, and the three walked out of the breakfast shop.

"Messengers of evil... from what those two said, it seems like those mysteriously influenced and transformed into monsters are specific people, like those who’ve done evil deeds," Wang Lie suddenly said.

"It seems so!" Chen Shouyi looked at pedestrians on the street with a strange and silent aura, saying, "But how do we judge good and evil? Subjectively or absolutely objectively? Does killing Barbarians count? Does killing chickens or sheep count?

If all of this counts, then we would have been evil through and through, and no one in humanity would be innocent."

"Speculating here is useless. Let’s head to the county government." Zhu Xueqing said.

...

The winter sun was lazy and powerless, providing no warmth when it shone on them.

It wasn’t long before the dilapidated county government building appeared in front of them.

Many windows in the building were broken, simply covered with newspapers, the fences wrapped in barbed wire, and occasionally embedded bullets and patched craters with slag could be seen on the road.

The entrance was heavily guarded, and it was evident that fear loomed on the soldiers’ faces.

Wang Lie stepped forward and presented his credentials.

A soldier took a glance and quickly ran into the building to report, soon coming out with a large group.

...

"Hello, hello, I’m Shao Qianjin, Secretary of the Guangcheng County Party Committee. I’ve been eagerly awaiting your arrival." A small, middle-aged man in his forties or fifties rushed excitedly towards Wang Lie and shook his hand vigorously.

Wang Lie shook his hand slightly, then released it, taking a step back nonchalantly and said with a smile, "Let me introduce you, this is our leader, General Manager Chen Shouyi."

Everyone was surprised, having thought the oldest among them was the leader, only to find out it was the young, handsome man beside him.

"General Manager Chen, I apologize, I didn’t recognize you. Please forgive me!" Shao Qianjin quickly apologized and shook hands with Chen Shouyi.

After some pleasantries, everyone welcomed Chen Shouyi and his group into the county government building.

...

A small meeting room.

"What you’re talking about is just rumors, distorted as they spread. It’s hard to carry out public propaganda work now, rumors are widespread, and people often believe anything they hear." Shao Qianjin’s eyelids trembled as he spoke with a strained voice:

"Of course, there are creatures from another world, but there’s nothing to hide about that, and where isn’t that the case? You’re all Martial Artists, surely well-versed in these things, don’t you think?"

"Stop avoiding the question, you should know, this area has been quarantined, and without concrete evidence, such measures wouldn’t be taken. This concerns the lives of tens of millions of people, so I hope you will cooperate." Zhu Xueqing slammed the table and said coldly.

Shao Qianjin’s face showed a struggle: "Why force me? Since we are already sealed off, let us be left to our own devices!"

"Barely surviving?" Zhu Xueqing continued sternly, "Don’t forget that you are a high-ranking official of the county."

He sighed, his face suddenly looking haggard and weary: "Ask what you want to know!"

"Why are you so afraid when we ask?" Chen Shouyi asked.

"No one isn’t afraid; this topic is taboo here. ’Gaze into the abyss, and the abyss also gazes into you.’ This phrase came from Tuoan City and has been proven true, without exception. ’Messengers of evil’ are everywhere, hiding in every corner, and no one can escape their pursuit."

At this point, Shao Qianjin glanced nervously under the table as though shadow creatures were lurking there.

Chen Shouyi listened half-credulously, but looking at his terrified expression, he couldn’t help but believe him.

He took out a triangular badge and placed it on the table: "What is this?"

Shao Qianjin examined it carefully and, after some thought, said, "This is likely something from the Justice Sect, popular in rural areas. With the current chaos, all sorts of cults like the Fear Demon King Sect and the Shadow God Sect have emerged. Given the current situation, we dare not crack down on them."

"So there’s no Barbarian God?" Wang Lie asked.

"I’m really not sure about that..." Shao Qianjin replied, a flash of fear crossing his face: "Tuoan City is far from here, how would I know..."

Afterwards, he began to frequently lose focus, falling into a state of anxiety, sometimes even giving irrelevant and incoherent answers.

Chen Shouyi and others could only give up.

...

The guest house next to the county government.

The group stood at the entrance, watching the people coming and going outside.

Wang Lie offered a cigarette, and seeing Chen Shouyi refuse, he lit one himself, exhaling a thick smoke ring and asked seriously, "Do you think they were lying?"

"Hard to say, true and false mixed together!" Chen Shouyi said, his fingers stroking the triangular badge.

There was some oppression in his heart.

This matter was truly too bizarre.

Suddenly, he felt a strange sensation and abruptly looked up. From a room in the county government building’s fifth floor not far away, behind a gap in the curtains, a pair of eyes stared directly at them.

It was Shao Qianjin!

Chen Shouyi frowned slightly.

Not sure if it was a play of light and shadow, but the man’s face seemed gloomy, as if shrouded in shadow.

Perhaps he noticed Chen Shouyi’s gaze.

He hurriedly pulled down the curtain and disappeared.

"What’s wrong?" Zhu Xueqing asked.

"Nothing!" Chen Shouyi said, applying a bit of force to crush the badge into fragments, which he then threw into a trash can: "We’ll stay overnight and head to Tuoan City early in the morning."

"Alright!" Wang Lie said, extinguishing the cigarette butt.

"Oh, and be careful at night." Chen Shouyi suddenly reminded. "If what they said is true, tonight may not be peaceful."

"If it’s just those shadow creatures, we’ll kill as many as they come." Zhu Xueqing said, feigning lightheartedness.