Assistant Physician Anna's reaction was within Li Aoz's expectations.
After accidentally killing the professor at the very beginning, she had once taken her anger out on herself. But after Li Aoz gave her a beating, she immediately calmed down. She did not conceal the professor's death, merely claiming that he had "died at the hands of bandits."
Naturally, people were shocked that the professor, a Nethermark soul, had died. But Anna immediately displayed her forceful side. In the name of "self-rescue and self-sufficiency," she granted the patients a certain degree of freedom.
The infected who had survived the attack either possessed Aoneng and formidable Combat Power, or were so frail and physically deformed that they could not move on their own. The medical team had suffered heavy losses, while the patients had instead become the main force. This move greatly won over the people's hearts.
Assistant Physician Anna was not eloquent, but she did more than she said. In the current crisis, people did not need a decorative vase who could only spout pretty words. They needed a leader with capable methods, quick reactions, and a willingness to act personally—someone who could truly give them a sense of security and help.
Therefore, even though she knew Li Aoz had witnessed her accidentally kill the professor, and even though Li Aoz had displayed the overwhelming combat power of a one-man army, Doctor Anna still became wary of him.
She knew very well that she lacked the strength to kill him to silence him. She could only use this method to tactfully tell him: You have freedom now. You can go wherever you want.
Why prepare a vehicle? That was Outland subtext. To Outland People, a vehicle was no less important than a horse was to a Nomad.
Many people were born in vehicles, lived their lives in vehicles, and died in vehicles.
Doctor Anna giving him a vehicle basically meant, "I gave you a building. You can keep your mouth shut now."
"Payment for silence... She isn't openly driving me away, but she basically wants me to leave the political center. Interesting. Should I say that city people really are different? Her way of doing things is rather refined."
This series of actions made Li Aoz even more certain of his thoughts:
"Even if the professor hadn't died, Assistant Physician Anna would have seized power sooner or later."
From Assistant Physician Anna's perspective, she had no idea that Li Aoz's combat power was inflated, nor did she know how much luck had gone into "subduing" Nomi.
All she knew was that, in the current situation, as long as the cause of the professor's death was not exposed, she could use hatred to control Nordly's emotions. Then she would hold the overwhelming combat power of an Alpha Rank Martial Artist in her hands, enough to stabilize the situation.
As for whether the professor's death had been an accident, and whether he had agreed to be killed by Anna—Li Aoz did not know.
That would have to be asked of the professor himself.
For now, the professor himself did not seem to have any objections. The dead man's emotions were extremely stable.
Power struggles within Nethermark Humanity—or rather, conflicts of ideology—had always existed. From Li Aoz's first day entering the shelter, disputes surrounding the "Esha Virus infection theory" had never stopped.
In his previous life, Li Aoz had been a player from the Red Arrow Empire and had participated in the Red Arrow Empire's complex political struggle storyline. He had some understanding of such matters.
Nethermark was small, but it created myths.
In his view, three ideological factions had already emerged within Nethermark Humanity.
First, the supporters of the "Esha Virus infection theory," who could also be called something akin to the Reformist Faction. Represented by the professor, this faction firmly supported the theory that "the Esha Virus infected humanity and caused the current chaos." Based on this, they continuously carried out research and humanitarian relief. Their core ideas were clear, but the theory itself remained questionable. In particular, there was no scientific evidence proving the existence of the "Esha Virus," so their cohesion basically came from the professor's personal charisma alone.
Second, the conservative faction that doubted the Malefic Calamity theory but still respected humanitarian principles and adhered to original doctrine, carrying out rescue efforts and humanitarian work in the Outland. Represented by Head Nurse Nordly Crowe, this faction had not formed an obvious organization, but it existed widely in the hearts of ordinary Nethermark members. Their views were easily swayed and readily won over by other arguments.
Third, the faction represented by Assistant Physician Anna, whose attitude toward the Esha Virus was ambiguous—or perhaps indifferent—and which only concerned itself with the development and survival of the Nethermark Organization. In other words, what they cared about was the objective reality of how the Nethermark Organization could survive under difficult conditions in the Outland and expand its scale. Thus, they could be called the realist faction.
Although the three differed in ideology, under the professor's personal charisma, they could unite as one and work together to contribute to Nethermark's development.
But now that the professor was dead, they inevitably had to discuss practical questions of development.
Was human life more important, or did humanitarianism take priority? Questioning a humanitarian relief organization in such realistic terms sounded a little like a joke from hell.
The answer was that no matter what kind of organization it was, ensuring its own survival and safety came first.
Assistant Physician Anna seemed to respect and admire the professor greatly, but that did not change the fact that some of the professor's measures and ideas were difficult for realists to agree with.
For one thing, as a humanitarian relief organization serving Outland People, it had always maintained unclear, ambiguous ties with the Four Nations. Behind that behavior was itself a collision between humanitarianism and realism.
For an organization to survive, it needed financial support. But the Four Nations were all driven by profit. Why would they spend huge sums of money supporting an organization that aided the Outland without gaining anything in return? Thinking of the Watcher troops discovered earlier, Nordly's strange reaction to infected person ZX-102's isolation ward, and the rumor about Nethermark Humanity in the Outland—"Nethermark has always been conducting evil, forbidden human experiments underground."
"What if the Four Nations supported Nethermark Humanity in order to conduct research?"
Li Aoz had a guess, but he could not yet draw a final conclusion.
In his previous life, Azure Planet had been destroyed, burying all historical records. No one had continued investigating this direction. But Li Aoz felt that if he dug deeper along the Four Nations line, perhaps he could create some small changes in history.
A state machine was not so easily brought down. But once its credibility was destroyed, rebuilding it would take decades. That time would be enough to make citizens lose heart and make capital waver in fear.
And that was enough.
"Next, it was time to inspect the loot."
Before leaving, Li Aoz used needing the restroom as an excuse with Assistant Physician Anna—though now the "Assistant" could be dropped—and actually slipped into the Logistics Department.
Nomi was still wearing a confused expression after being dragged away by him, still agonizing over the issue of barking like a dog, when she heard Li Aoz instruct her:
"Go to the freezer, shut off the power for two minutes, then turn it back on."
"Huh? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to set me up?!"
"Just do as you're told." Li Aoz patted Nomi's little head and said unhappily, "There'd be no benefit in setting you up. Besides, have I ever lied to you? You were the one who kept jumping into pits yourself."
"You!" Nomi ground her teeth in anger and stomped her feet. "So annoying, so annoying, so annoying! If you dare set me up, Nomi will smash your head into mush with a wrench!"
Li Aoz did not care. He kicked Nomi's little butt. This little girl's mouth was truly hard—harder than Ultraman's pancake—but the moment someone got physical, she softened right up. A textbook case of bullying the weak and fearing the strong.
He had come to the Logistics Department partly to exchange for supplies. With Doctor Anna vouching for him, Li Aoz successfully received some emergency rations, synthesized food, and filtered water.
As for weapons, Li Aoz did not dare use them. Nearly every weapon here had passed through a biochemist's hands. Who knew whether they contained some "Composite Bacteria Pack," "Stealth Germ," or "Deterick Fortress enchantment"?
Mutants and biochemists were actually colleagues. Both were deeply versed in genetic engineering, except the former had a strong idealistic bent, while biochemists were thoroughgoing materialists.
Colleagues were natural enemies. A biochemist's specialized genetic strike abilities were especially vicious against Mutants in the early stages.
Of course, once he got through the first three mutations, Li Aoz, with his abundant experience, was absolutely confident he could grind those lofty biochemists into scraps.
"Not having weapons isn't a major problem. My Aoneng is gravity anyway. Other than biochemists, my minor natural enemies, I fear no one."
Omega-class Aoneng gave Li Aoz confidence. Before acquiring customized equipment, high-rank Aoneng was a Mutant's strongest equipment.
This place had previously suffered the worst damage at the hands of the White Fang Gang bandits. Massive amounts of supplies had been looted clean. It could not exactly be called a total mess, but at the very least, it was now utterly impoverished.
Among the Logistics Department staff working at full tilt, Li Aoz set his sights on a petite figure. She was a girl with an extremely distinctive long-and-short ponytail, pink-dyed hair, and an oversized cotton coat.
Although her manner seemed honest and dutiful as she constantly carried and counted supplies, Li Aoz noticed that sealed products passing through her hands would always end up a little short.
Li Aoz folded his arms and waited for an opportunity.
Before long, a Logistics Department manager suddenly covered his earpiece, listened for a moment, then said, "Ze Xi, there's a problem over at the freezer. Go take a look."
"Okay. I was the one responsible for that place anyway."
The pink-haired girl, Ze Xi, nodded with an expression that said she had it covered. She then put down the heavy object in her hands, turned, and left the Logistics Department.
Just as she stepped out of the Logistics Department's main entrance, she suddenly felt something and looked around. After finding nothing unusual, she finally headed toward the freezer in relief.
"Those bandits better not have wrecked the freezer's power facilities. I still hid some things over there..."
Ze Xi muttered as she arrived at the freezer and immediately began inspecting it.
"The circuits are normal, and the system is fine too. It just tripped—strange, why would it trip for no reason? Did it overheat? It shouldn't have... Could someone have sabotaged it on purpose?"
Suspicion in her heart, she suddenly caught sight of a black shadow appearing beside her hand. She hurriedly spun around, drew her gun, and pulled the trigger at the figures behind her.
Click!
The trigger would not move at all. Ze Xi's heart went cold. Trembling, she raised her head and looked at the two people standing before her, forcing a strained yet polite smile onto her face:
"Ahem, this is a fake gun. Just for show. You scared me... Honestly, hahaha, don't mind it, don't mind it."
Before you continue