Chapter Thirty-Three: Vengeance Fulfilled

Witnessing the military’s collapse, the long-oppressed people felt a rush of exhilaration, as though their deepest grievances had finally been avenged. Excitement sparked in every heart, and all eyes turned to Long Yu with a blend of envy and admiration.

“If only I could be like him!” one man muttered to himself, gazing at Long Yu.

“Stop dreaming and get back to work!” someone nearby, overhearing him, immediately cut in.

Of course, Long Yu paid no heed to the opinions of the onlookers. With Zhao Yousan dealt with, his mind was now wholly preoccupied with how to eliminate Commander Li.

As Long Yu pondered his next move, Commander Li had already come seeking him. From the moment he received Zhao Yousan’s plea for help, he had rushed over, but he arrived too late—Zhao Yousan had already fallen to Long Yu. The sight sent a shock of rage through Commander Li; Zhao Yousan, his most trusted confidant and the right hand he had painstakingly nurtured, was now dead at Long Yu’s hands.

Yet, for all his anger, Commander Li did not lose his composure. If Zhao Yousan, whom he had so carefully cultivated, was no match for the man before him, then none of his other subordinates could hope to prevail. Realizing this, he decided to escape while he still had the chance, hoping Long Yu had not yet noticed him.

With his personal guards in tow, Commander Li hurriedly made for the outskirts of the city. He intended to flee—so long as he survived, there was always hope for a resurgence.

Life in the safe zone continued as always; the bustling crowds paid little heed to Long Yu’s upheaval. Vendors hawked their wares, hunting parties returned from the wilds, and patrons drank and chatted in taverns—everyone was absorbed in their own concerns. Perhaps they had not yet heard of Long Yu’s actions, or perhaps, pressed by the demands of survival, they simply lacked the time to care. After all, it wasn’t as if mutant beasts were attacking the safe zone; what difference did it make if the ruler changed?

Commander Li’s guards roughly shoved aside anyone blocking their way, but Li himself had no heart to notice any of it. He could not understand why fate had dealt him such a cruel hand—why it had to be him who encountered such a monster, why everything he had so painstakingly built was now destroyed by a single man.

“Ruined by a single man,” he seethed, his rage mounting. He had severed ties with the government for the sake of his ambitions, only for it all to come to naught.

His face flushed scarlet with fury, his nails dug so hard into his palms that they broke the skin.

“What are you doing? How dare you block Commander Li’s way—do you have a death wish?” came the familiar voice of one of his guards.

Commander Li looked up and saw, to his astonishment, that a group of soldiers had blocked the city gate. “How dare these people stand in my way?” he thought, bewildered.

Before he could make sense of the situation, another familiar voice rang out.

“It’s you we’re blocking, Commander Li.”

The speaker spat out the title “Commander Li” with deliberate scorn, as if to mock him.

“You…” Commander Li’s eyes bulged in disbelief, as though he was seeing a ghost.

Standing before him was Ren Kaiming—his former political commissar and old rival, whom he thought he had already eliminated after the catastrophe for obstructing his path to power. Yet here Ren stood, alive and well.

Ren Kaiming, once the commissar of the military district, had survived an assassination attempt orchestrated by Commander Li’s ambitions, thanks to the intervention of loyal officers who had managed to cover for him.

“Ha! Li, you never expected this, did you? I’m not dead—I’ve been alive all along, waiting for the day you would fall. The atrocities you committed will now be judged by the people!”

As a staunch party member, Ren Kaiming had long gritted his teeth at Commander Li’s brutality. The emergence of Long Yu had given him hope, and he decisively rallied those officers still loyal to the nation to block Commander Li’s escape.

Facing Ren Kaiming, Commander Li for the first time understood what it meant for misfortune to strike at one’s lowest ebb—he was almost in despair.

“No, I can’t give up. If I can just get out, there’s still a chance. Yes, I haven’t lost yet, not yet…”

Desperation to survive ignited a do-or-die determination within him.

“Follow me—break through!”

With a shout, Commander Li charged forward, his followers surging after him. They all knew that if Li died, their own lives would be forfeit as well—their crimes bound their fates together. Driven by the will to live, they unleashed a desperate strength that shattered Ren Kaiming’s defenses in an instant.

“Just a few more steps… just a few more, and I’ll be free,” Commander Li thought, a smile curling on his lips as the city gate loomed near.

“Ren, Long Yu—you two wait. I’ll be back. Just wait for me…”

His thoughts were cut short as the world spun and everything turned upside down.

“What’s happening?” he wondered, too late, watching as a headless body sprinted ahead of him.

“That… that…” He realized, with horror, that it was his own head.

As Li’s body fell, severed from its head, Long Yu breathed a sigh of relief—the last threat was now gone.

Long Yu had hurried over as soon as he received Ren Kaiming’s message, arriving just in time. Had Ren Kaiming escaped the city, he would have been much harder to catch, and Long Yu detested leaving hidden dangers behind.

With Commander Li’s death, his followers immediately lost the will to resist and surrendered in droves.

As order was restored, the officers under Ren Kaiming’s command busied themselves reorganizing the safe zone’s forces to prevent any uprising.

Ren Kaiming himself, beaming, strode over to Long Yu.

“Thank you, Comrade Long Yu, for standing up for the people of the safe zone and overthrowing Li’s tyranny,” he said, grasping Long Yu’s hand in gratitude.

Long Yu offered no explanation—it was vengeance for his parents and sister that had driven him, but even if it hadn’t been, he doubted he could have tolerated the state of the safe zone.

Let Ren Kaiming misunderstand, then—being thanked by these people didn’t feel so bad after all.

With this thought, Long Yu simply accepted Ren Kaiming’s words.

“So, Mr. Long Yu, do you have any plans for the future?”

“No particular plans. For now, I’ll stay here in the safe zone.”

“Would you be interested in taking command of the safe zone? With Li the traitor dead, we’re in need of a new leader.”

Ren Kaiming quickly got to the point, eager to persuade Long Yu to stay. With such a formidable figure on their side, the benefits to the safe zone were obvious.

“All right!” Long Yu agreed without hesitation.

Before Ren Kaiming could celebrate, Long Yu continued,

“But I do have a few conditions…”

“Conditions? Name as many as you like—even hundreds, if you wish!” Ren Kaiming replied, delighted to have won Long Yu over.