The system wanted to show off the intelligence it had gathered, but Fang Zhiyi clearly wasn’t the least bit interested.
He was thinking about when to have Dace pry open his skull to dig out this annoying system.
With the help of the scent-enhanced poison prepared by Mingmei, the leader of this branch was quickly subdued. They were completely unprepared, never expecting anyone to attack them at such a time.
What followed was a methodical takedown. The group who had obtained the information each moved into action. Fang Zhiyi assigned tasks to every one of them and stayed behind to wait, accompanied only by Mia and the dozen or so bound leaders.
The scoundrels who had participated in that brutal incident were all brought before Fang Zhiyi under control. Wang Meng looked apologetic—two of his targets had already been killed by the Jackals Syndicate.
Fang Zhiyi simply patted his shoulder. The man was the same age as him, yet he looked incredibly burly.
“You must be wondering why. There is no why. The people you killed have come back for revenge,” Fang Zhiyi said, staring at the men before him. Then, one by one, he pointed them out. “You—you gave the orders. You—you carried them out. And you…”
He recited their crimes unhurriedly, as if presiding over a formal trial. Their mouths were gagged, muffling their desperate “mmph” sounds.
“Well then, I believe the sentence is death.” He struck a match.
A device at Mia’s waist beeped urgently. “Hurry,” she said. The detectors she had set up earlier had picked up the approach of a large armed force.
In an instant, flames engulfed everything.
The Jackals Syndicate operatives who stormed in from outside were baffled. Were the Nightshade members really this weak? Setting their own base on fire the moment they realized they couldn’t hold it?
No one noticed the group slipping away under the cover of the blaze.
As the war escalated, the already loose order in the Lower City completely collapsed.
Perhaps due to Ye Xiao’s formidable strength, or perhaps because of his protagonist status, he swiftly swallowed up most of the Lower City. Many factions either joined the Jackals Syndicate or fled to distant places to scrape by.
During Ye Xiao’s expansion, Fang Zhiyi and his group remained busy, with hardly a moment to rest. The chaos in the Lower City gave rise to even darker deeds.
Mia’s invention—the call devices—found their way into many hands.
The system asked, “So, host, are you trying to be a superhero this time?”
Fang Zhiyi was silent for a moment. “No. Superheroes don’t kill.”
“What impact does this have on the male lead?” The system didn’t understand. “If you just cooperate with me, you could replace him and become the true King of the Wasteland!”
Fang Zhiyi chuckled but said nothing more.
The reputation of the Underground Tribunal spread throughout the Lower City. Among the common folk, legends circulated—whenever injustice occurred, they would appear. Their identities remained shrouded in mystery.
The Jackals Syndicate, now controlling most of the Lower City, took notice of them again. Under the Syndicate’s rule, all smuggling, human trafficking, illegal trades, and other criminal activities required their approval. Yet someone dared to kill on their turf—and in brutal fashion.
Most crucially, the lowly citizens were beginning to show signs of rebellion.
This infuriated Ye Xiao. His inherently domineering nature couldn’t tolerate such audacity in his domain.
After his subordinates’ investigation, one of the call devices was brought before him.
Meanwhile, Fang Zhiyi was in the Upper City. Mia had already distributed the devices there. Before them now was the son of a councilman, stripped naked and bound, while Dace scribbled on his body with a marker.
“Given what you’ve done, your organs alone are far from adequate compensation,” Dace said, his face hidden behind a mask.
The gagged young aristocrat wet himself in terror.
“The judge declared you innocent, but we don’t accept that verdict.” Dace tapped the man’s cheek with a sharp scalpel.
The call device rang. Fang Zhiyi stepped aside and answered.
“Who are you?”
The moment he heard those words, countless images flashed through Fang Zhiyi’s mind.
“Who are we? We are the keepers of order. Ye Xiao, you will face judgment.” He ended the call.
Ye Xiao froze, then seethed with killing intent. It had been a long time since anyone dared speak to him like that!
The punishment for the perpetrator had already begun. Fang Zhiyi walked over to a man sitting rigidly and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Do you see the corruption of this city now?”
The man, his eyes red, glared at the one who had harmed his daughter and nodded through gritted teeth.
Fang Zhiyi smiled and said no more.
News of the councilman’s son’s death threw the Wasteland police into chaos. The clues they uncovered amounted to nothing.
Over the next year, the Upper City continued to see murders—merchants, spoiled heirs, even officials. Each crime scene bore different traces, some clean, others drenched in blood.
There were no witnesses. Or rather, many chose to keep their mouths shut.
“It’s those maggots from the Lower City!” A burly councilman slammed his fist on the table, his mind clouded by his daughter’s rebellion. That insect Ye Xiao even had the gall to threaten him? Then let the Lower City be purged! Did they think wearing fancy clothes and having money made them nobility? No! They would always be nothing but maggots!
The Upper City Council passed the resolution. The reason? The Jackals Syndicate’s growing influence had begun to rival their own—an unacceptable development for the rulers. Especially since Ye Xiao was now leveraging the Lower City’s mineral resources to negotiate terms.
Ye Xiao was still pondering the identity of the person behind the call device when his subordinate rushed in with panicked news—the Upper City had deployed a massive military force.
He wavered briefly but quickly steadied himself, ordering his private troops to hold the line.
This war between Upper and Lower City had arrived earlier than expected.
In an abandoned building, Fang Zhiyi watched from afar through Mia’s exaggeratedly designed binoculars.
The system asked, “Host, what exactly are you trying to achieve? You’ve forced them into war prematurely. Many will die.”
Fang Zhiyi ignored it as usual.
The system sneered. “Surely you don’t think training a few assassins is enough to deal with the male lead, do you? Right? You still need me. It’s not too late—”
“Shut up.”
The system actually let out a cold laugh. “I can’t sense any hatred in you. You’re a strange one, passing up opportunities like this.”
Amid the war, assassinations continued. The victims weren’t key figures, but each had intricate ties to those driving the conflict.