Resurrection Empire-Chapter 1029 - 397: I Am No Longer Pure

Since he could remember, Ren Zhong had never allowed himself to fall into a state of losing control.

This time he broke the rule.

The next morning, Ren Zhong sat up from his soft bed and checked the time.

It was already seven in the morning, and Ju Qingmeng had left early again.

Ren Zhong reflected on his loss of composure the night before, shook his head, and slapped his face.

After washing up, he did not immediately return to Lower Origin Capital City as planned, but instead dressed in armor, put on a mask, and strolled casually onto the street.

With the original citizens gradually retreating into the Yangsheng City District, the White Wall had long been dismantled.

The once White Wall District had transformed into the current Central Park, adorned with several buildings including the Town Government Tower and Ren Zhong's villa.

Ren Zhong had considered whether to tear down the walls around his villa, but ultimately changed his mind, unwilling to be too exposed.

Until now, not only had the walls not been torn down, but they had also been extended outward, forming a new wall that was not the White Wall.

He walked around the walls of his mansion. The surfaces were clean, without a single graffiti mark.

From time to time, he could see the edges of automated weapons showing, and he spotted many elite Guardians patrolling the area.

Whenever these people saw his concealed appearance, they instinctively approached to question him, but Ren Zhong would promptly activate the identity recognition system, letting the Guardians know his identity.

The people would immediately retreat, not disturbing his "disguised visits."

After moving away from his villa, Ren Zhong finally encountered other people in a small garden square.

The middle-aged people either gathered to practice martial arts or clustered together to read books.

Elderly folks stood together, smilingly watching a few three or four-year-old children playing in front of them.

Seeing this scene, the heaviness in Ren Zhong's heart slightly eased.

He did not plan to forgive himself, only trying to convince himself that he had no choice.

He also notified Sun Miao, reminding him to occasionally record the "prosperous scenes" outside to show the suffering volunteers, allowing them to understand the significance of their sacrifices.

Doing this might be even more cruel, but at least it provided some comfort, both to oneself and others.

Then, Ren Zhong went to the Gunsmith training camp where he met Yujin.

Although Ren Zhong wore ordinary armor and a mask, Yujin recognized him from afar and hurriedly approached.

Ren Zhong didn't let Yujin fall back but had him stand beside him, continuing to wander around the town.

After a long while, Yujin suddenly said, "Sir, you're not in a good mood."

Ren Zhong: "Yes."

Yujin: "Is it because of yesterday's personnel selection?"

Ren Zhong: "Mm."

Yujin: "That's the difference between us and you, sir, and precisely because of this, we firmly believe in you. But I think you don't need to blame yourself. We're all adults and will be responsible for our choices. You owe no one anything. Instead, we should thank you for creating this opportunity to pursue real dreams for us, rather than living like animals aimlessly for a lifetime, only to have our bodies and souls harvested by others."

Ren Zhong smiled, "You're a good kid, you learned to comfort me."

Yujin shook his head, "I don't have the ability to comfort you, sir, I only want to tell you how much we trust you. Unfortunately, I now have more responsibilities; yesterday, I thought more than once about writing my name, but I can't accompany them. As far as I know, several others had the same idea, whom I persuaded."

Ren Zhong: "Oh? What did you say?"

Yujin: "I said, 'What we need to do is similar to the process of crafting a machine: someone draws the design, someone is responsible for buying the parts, and someone is responsible for tightening the screws. Although different jobs may seem to have different importance, each job needs someone to perform.'"

Ren Zhong gave a thumbs up, "Nicely done. But haven't I said that only those with children can participate?"

Yujin blushed, "I recently froze an embryo."

Ren Zhong showed interest, "Who is the woman?"

Yujin blushed even more.

This straightforward young man, surprisingly felt a bit shy, but he quickly mustered the courage and admitted, "It's Hu Yang."

"Hu Yang!" Ren Zhong recalled the girl who exhibited tenacious vitality like her name in the Human Nature Park, nodded with a smile, "You two are indeed a good match."

Yujin: "Mm. I know."

"Alright, I need to return to Lower Origin Capital City. I'll leave the matters here to you."

"I won't let you down, sir!"

...

On the third day after Ren Zhong's return to Lower Origin Capital City, the Starfire Army fought against the troops stationed at the edge of the territory with a neighboring force.

It started when the opponent's soldiers dispersed into Ren Zhong's territory and brutally pillaged several important Ruined Beast resource sites from the Scavengers.

Zheng Tian judged it as the opponent's probing, and adhering to the principle of reciprocating, decisively sent a ten-thousand-strong army deep into the opponent's territory, destroyed a field camp of five thousand, and quickly retreated, as a warning.

Immediately afterwards, the opponent stood out to criticize the "arrogant and domineering" Ren Group, swiftly organizing a total of five factions and began advancing from all directions towards Ren Group's territory.

War broke out simultaneously on various fronts.

Ren Zhong had completely withdrawn from direct involvement, only listening to battle reports, without intervention, focusing his attention on his Pu Cha graduation examination.

The exam lasted for two days, with a total of eight subjects.

As always, Ren Zhong easily achieved full marks in all subjects, concluding the routine procedure.

Though the scores weren't important, he only wanted to graduate, but full marks still satisfied his compulsiveness well.

Next awaited Ren Zhong was the so-called internship examination.

He met his mentor, a middle-aged man about thirty-five years old, slender, possessing a hooked nose and visibly mixed-race features.

His name was Brown Jonathan, born into the Alson Group, but a collateral illegitimate child, with no chance to enter the core circle of the Alson Group, later becoming a Pu Cha officer, having quite a "reputation" within the Source Star's Pu Cha officer system.

This "reputation" was actually a notorious reputation.

Wherever passed, it was always chaotic, never peaceful.

Everyone knew his "Pu Cha" essentially meant extortion, usually whichever town paid the most survival money could survive. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Besides, he had many strange habits; any disagreement or dissatisfaction immediately flipped to hostility, endangering lives.

His professional proficiency was exceedingly high, always finding reasonable theories and data to support his decisions, so much that the internal monitoring department of the Pu Cha officer system could never catch his faults, unable in any way.

After all, bribery and extortion on Source Star were legal, merely termed differently as donations.

As long as Brown Jonathan paid the appropriate taxes on the cash he received, his actions remained reasonable.

Before being designated as a mentor by the academy, Li Yang had sent confidants to ask Ren Zhong if he wanted to change someone.

Ren Zhong refused Li Yang's suggestion, wanting to personally meet this person and possibly gain some benefits along the way.

His reasoning was that it facilitated pretending to still hold enmity with the Mengdu Group.

Li Yang agreed.