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Chapter 335: Riot (Part Two)

"A'Wei, why..." Covered in blood, with over a dozen knife wounds across his body, Gao Ling could no longer distinguish which blood on him was his own and which belonged to others.

He released the fruit knife in his hand, slumped onto the ground, propping himself up with both hands, and asked, panting heavily, as he looked at A'Wei, who was barely clinging to life before him.

"Those three words, 'why,' should be coming from me! Why do people like us always have to be commanded by you like dogs, and then have most of our earnings taken away? And you? With a casual word, you pocket hundreds of thousands, sometimes without even speaking, people just automatically hand over money! Why?!"

A'Wei, in his final surge of lucidity, his words still filled with resentment.

"Big Head, who died over there, was working on a construction site a few months ago. The foreman took their money and ran. They went after him, but got beaten back. If I hadn't helped them out for old times' sake, he'd probably be stinking by now."

...

"We are also human, living, breathing people. We're not just a few numbers on your big shots' documents, nor just a few names in your head representing your lackeys..."

As his body bled more profusely, A'Wei's thoughts grew more muddled, and his voice became increasingly faint.

"...At least I once rebelled against this rotten heaven. It wasn't in vain. I'll wait for you down there..." He moved his lips with difficulty, no longer even having the strength to control his facial muscles.

This was the last sentence Gao Ling could clearly hear. His own injuries were also severe, with wave after wave of faintness caused by blood loss. Yet, he forcibly kept his eyes open. He had watched too many TV dramas where it was said that if you closed your eyes after a severe injury, you would never open them again.

He had climbed to this position with such difficulty; he didn't want to die. It was precisely this ruthlessness that had led to them all dying, leaving only him.

In these past few decades of struggling and clawing his way up, he had indirectly caused the deaths of quite a few people, but this was the first time he had picked up a knife and stabbed someone like today.

The entire battle process was nothing to speak of. Gao Ling relied on his great strength and thick skin, exchanging injuries with the other few, and managed to last until the end by himself.

"A'Hong, you can come out now. Help me call the police..." Gao Ling was so exhausted he didn't even want to move a single finger. He slowly shifted to lean against a leg of the dining table.

"No need." A female voice, devoid of emotion, rang out. Just as Gao Ling felt something was amiss, he felt a fruit knife accurately plunge into his heart from behind.

"And you, why...?" His voice instantly became faint, like a wisp of smoke, expressing the multitude of questions in Gao Ling's mind. A'Wei had been like this just now, and now even she had betrayed him.

"I am your subordinate, not your mistress." The young woman, dressed only in her pajamas behind him, stabbed him a few more times, a tear tracing a path from the corner of her eye.

Countless killings were carried out in the name of rebellion, and led by those who wished for nothing but chaos and tried to fish in troubled waters, the raiding of shops and homes became increasingly frequent.

Many of these incidents could not even be called robberies; they were more like verbal skirmishes.

"Why are you still watching the shop? Selling jewelry all day, every day, and a month's sales won't even buy you one item from the display case. Might as well just break the lock yourself and take it now."

"Right! There are so many people now, and it's so chaotic. Smash the cameras, grab the goods, who's going to care?! It's utter chaos outside now; only a fool wouldn't seize this opportunity to grab something for themselves."

A group of people who had broken into the jewelry store, seeing the people standing ready before them, spoke these demoralizing words, one after another.

"It does seem that way. The boss is usually so stingy, giving us such meager wages, yet talking so grandly about learning advanced modern sales concepts and earning a living on commission."

"And monthly minimum quotas..."

The salespeople, who were on the front lines, the most burdened and exhausted among them, quickly began to waver under the guidance of these words, turning to look at the store manager and supervisor holding the keys behind them.

Watching the increasingly surging crowds inside and outside the store, and with the police still not arriving, the store manager clearly understood that perhaps the entire city's public order had spiraled out of control.

"If you don't hand over the keys now, you're going against the people!"

Just as the besieged individuals were still hesitating, such a phrase suddenly emerged from the crowd, instantly escalating the situation.

Several young people, wielding wooden sticks and water pipes, emerged from the crowd and issued a final ultimatum to the stubborn holdouts.

Anything, as long as it involves the collective and is carried out in the name of the majority, no matter how absurd it truly is, will be seen by its participants as perfectly righteous and proper in the fervor of the crowd.

"Here, here... they're yours." Under the pressure of countless gazes, the store manager and supervisor quickly chose to yield.

After all, this wasn't their property; there was no need to fight to the death for someone else's money.

"Where have all the police gone? Even the security guards are gone." The few disheveled individuals, watching the entire store filled with people scrambling for gold and jewelry, suddenly had this question.

But no one was there to answer this question. Because the police themselves were merely human; after being incited by the joint efforts of Gaia and the Red Radiance, they all went to resist the oppression they perceived in their hearts.

The few remaining individuals with extremely strong mental fortitude were all transferred to more critical locations for defense, to prevent the assault of rioters. Thus, the entire city fell into a vacuum.

Of course, not everyone would succumb to the will of the masses.

...

"How can you do this! This is robbery! Stop it now!" Similar scenes were unfolding in many places. Faced with aggressive rioters who had swept up the populace, some insisted on resisting to the very end.

The tempered glass in the jewelry store was quite sturdy. Robbers without suitable tools to hand, to avoid trouble, would generally first persuade the store clerks to open it themselves, and also try to get them to join their ranks.

"Don't mind these willing slaves; just kick him aside." Those who held their ground in the torrent of rioters were directly engulfed and swept away. Naturally, the keys in their hands were no longer safe either.

"I want to resist these rioters..." After being beaten for going against the tide of the masses, a flame named "rebellion" also sparked within them.

The Red Radiance represented nothing but pure rebellion. It was not limited to any particular social class; it was merely that the lower strata were generally easier to incite, which was why it appeared in the form of the Red Radiance.

In particular, the countless social contradictions accumulated during the Spirit Qi era, and the various problems brought about by the arbitrary actions of the strong, led it to choose this opportune moment to strike, to achieve the best effect.

In just two or three short hours, the order that humanity had established over a long period had largely collapsed. From a spark at the beginning, it rapidly evolved into a raging inferno spreading across the land.

"My thoughts and will have never needed them to believe; as long as they know, that's enough." Underground at the Tianqing Experimental Site, amidst the increasingly dense red light, watching its opponents struggle more and more fiercely, the Red Radiance muttered to itself.