Beneath Self-Interest / A Clash of Ideals

Looking up, I saw a dark figure falling from the building.

She swiftly reached out her hand, then suddenly grew larger, and the falling shadow landed precisely in her hand.

Seeing the unconscious boy covered in wounds, Suika looked at Xia Li, who had also rushed out.

Looking at the boy on the ground, she felt as if her heart had been violently ripped apart.

"I've always believed in settling scores, getting revenge, and venting my anger!"

After saying that, he suddenly pushed off with both legs and jumped onto the roof of the house. He saw four people on the roof who looked shocked and were preparing to retreat into the building.

The four men who had thrown Leite down looked at Suika was flying up, with expressions of horror.

"If you like playing like this, then all of you get off!"

Before the others could react, she grabbed two people and threw them off the roof.

Then, less than two seconds later, the remaining two people who had run into the stairwell were also grabbed by Suika and thrown off the building without any hesitation.

After doing all this, she stood high on the roof, then jumped down from the sky without flinching, looking coldly at the four people who were coughing up blood from the fall.

Chapter 124 Under the Influence of Interests

Xia Li nervously examined Leite and found that although his injuries looked serious, most of them were superficial.

It's clear that he protected himself very well before falling from the building.

At this moment, she was very glad that she had listened to Suika's advice and brought her here. Suika had saved Leite at the last minute; otherwise, she would have been so heartbroken when she received the news of Leite's death later.

At this moment, she looked at the few people lying on the ground, barely alive, without any sympathy.

She now felt some regret. Her long-standing tolerance of them had led them to have the wrong ideas. If she had been stricter on the way and made them understand the consequences of their mistakes, they probably wouldn't have done such a heinous thing.

"Help..." One of the men, still clinging to life, looked at Xia Li with a glimmer of hope in his eyes, but before he could finish speaking, a foot was stomped on his chest.

Already severely injured, his eyes widened as if they were about to burst. As soon as he breathed his last, he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Suika turned to look at the Infected behind Xia Li who had come out of the house to observe after hearing the commotion.

"You should be grateful for your luck. Xia Li, take that child to the side first, the police should be here soon."

Shortly afterward, a squad of Victoria military police arrived in a vehicle.

Upon seeing the several corpses lying haphazardly on the ground, the leader's expression changed. Although this was an Infected area, he was in a difficult position to explain the deaths of so many people in full view of everyone.

"What's going on?" the man shouted angrily at Suika, who was standing among the corpses.

"Could you please contact Commander Marlon Swire for me? I have something to report to him."

Suika looked at him with neither arrogance nor servility and spoke.

The man looked at Suika with suspicion. As a colleague, he naturally recognized the Marlon Swire that Suika mentioned. Although the Swire Family was not a major noble family, they were rich. With his connections, the entire police station had good relations with them.

The person standing in front of Suika right now is one of Marlon's connections within the police station.

Who are you?

"Just tell him about the Catastrophe Messenger who arrived today. He knows, and also that I'm not Infected." After Suika finished speaking, the military policeman's hostility towards her greatly decreased.

"Please wait a moment."

The man walked back to the car, picked up the walkie-talkie, and returned a minute later.

"Please wait here for a moment. Brother Marlon said he happens to be nearby and will be there in ten minutes."

Could he tell us what this place is all about before he came?

The officer winked, his meaning quite clear.

Given that Suika was standing in the middle of the corpses, she should have been the prime suspect. Logically, they should have questioned the people around her to get information and then gathered all that information before questioning the suspect.

But he had Suika speak, clearly intending to characterize the case according to Suika's interpretation.

Suika also understood what the other party meant, and pointed to the four people, saying...

"These guys must be members of some cult. Before I arrived, they were punching and kicking the child and then throwing him off the building."

I happened to witness this and saved the child. When these people saw that the child was still alive, they jumped down from above while shouting something like "Blood sacrifice to the blood god, skull offering to the skull seat".

I suspect there are other cult members in this house."

After speaking, Suika pointed to the house where the other Infected who had come with her were currently located.

The reason she did this was because of the indifference of those people.

She wouldn't have made this decision if even one of them had been willing to step forward and explain the situation, but Suika couldn't accept their actions.

Those Infected are already the lowest of the low. Instead of thinking about how to band together and save themselves, they are so apathetic and selfish.

In Suika's view, they had neither the right nor the value to be saved.

Xia Li, who was standing to the side, was shocked when she heard Suika's words. She understood what Suika meant.

Although there are many religious sects in various parts of Terra due to various Catastrophe and man-made calamities, cults have always been the target of official crackdowns, especially those sects that incite people to their deaths.

Suika said that, no one in the room, even those who weren't part of a cult, could stay in Karaton anymore.

After all, for Karaton's capital, the reason they need Infected is because Infected cost-effective.

However, if Infected form a group and belong to a cult that readily sacrifices or sends people to their deaths, then capital will decisively abandon them.

If they weren't Infected, the worst that could happen would be for them to be driven away and dispersed to other districts. But since these people are Infected, there's only one outcome for them—expulsion from Karaton.

Although Xia Li wanted to argue that not all Infected are bad, considering Suika's several encounters with these Infected, their behavior had probably already earned them the lowest possible score in Suika's eyes.

Sure enough, right after Suika finished speaking, the officer glanced around at the building Suika had pointed to, then waved his hand.

"Surround this area and don't let a single person escape!"

Seeing what was happening outside, the people in the other buildings lowered their heads even further, fearing they might be caught in the crossfire.

Soon after, Marlon arrived at the scene. He was somewhat surprised to see Suika standing calmly amidst the pile of corpses. He had met Suika three times, and each time he had a different impression of her.

The first time at the city gate, he was an ordinary person who followed the rules; the second time at the massage parlor, he was a somewhat confused and unlucky fellow. But this time, looking at Suika standing next to his colleague, pointing at the corpse and chatting without changing her expression, he finally understood why the family would give this priceless position of Catastrophe Messenger to this person he had never heard of before.

"Chris, what's going on here?" Marlon asked his colleague as he walked in.

[Transfer Station for Misanthropic Novels II 99 2 85 9 3 87]

The person then recounted what had happened here, using Suika's description.

After hearing this, Marlon didn't believe it at all. He had already noticed that the four dead men on the ground were the same guys who had tricked him at the city gate into going after Suika.

At that moment, Suika happened to be there, and these four people happened to die. To say that it was just good luck to run into them is an understatement; where in the world is there such good luck?

However, he wouldn't expose Suika's lies, since he could tell which was more important: a few insignificant Infected or the favorite in the eyes of his own superiors.

After listening to the man's words, Marlon nodded.

"You're right. If it's someone from a cult, we do need to be cautious. I'll call for backup immediately."

After saying that, he picked up the walkie-talkie and called his men down.

Chris breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Marlon's words, realizing he hadn't chosen the wrong side this time.

Chapter 125 The Clash of Ideas

Hearing their conversation, Xia Li sighed and picked up Leite, who was still unconscious.

"I'll take him back first."

Upon hearing Xia Li's words, both Marlon and the officer looked at Suika, Suika blinked.

"Okay, take Leite back and treat his wounds first. I'll come find you after this is all over."

Hearing what Suika said, the two of them shifted their gaze away from Xia Li.

The two men had already noticed the child's injuries, and it was true that these people had fallen from the building and died. As for what happened here, their subordinates would gather information from the surrounding area when they returned.

Although several Infected died, they were just Infected after all, and neither Marlon nor Chris would care too much about it.

In their view, the Infected are just a group of short-lived consumables. Even if they are not killed, they might fall to the ground one day and then turn into dust with a boom, polluting the environment.

Watching Xia Li walk away, Suika turned to Marlon and recounted in detail what had happened since she arrived.

Of course, he didn't hide it from Chris, who was standing to the side. After all, without Chris's help, he wouldn't have been able to resolve the incident so easily.

After listening to Suika's account, Marlon looked at the house, a cold smile on his face, and spat.

"They are indeed a bunch of heartless beasts."

Allowing these people to stay in the city will only cause more harm sooner or later.

I understand what you mean; they will be kicked out of Karaton.

Those who repay kindness with enmity do not deserve to live here.

"May I go now?" Suika pointed to the road she came from.

Chris nodded to Marlon, indicating that everything here would be done according to Marlon's ideas. Marlon then nodded slightly, indicating that Suika could leave.

"Alright, you can go back now. I'll handle things here."

"That will be troublesome. I will write a letter to Elisa to tell her about the situation here. I believe the family will provide you with more support." Suika's words made Marlon's eyes light up.

Why did he do all this? Wasn't it because Suika has connections with the family's higher-ups?

He was just a member of a side branch, but if he could gain the attention of the higher-ups, his chances of rising Karaton in the future would be much higher.

"Then thank you very much."

After saying goodbye to Marlon, Suika turned and walked to the other side. She didn't want to pay any more attention to these Infected; after all, every glance she took only fueled her anger.

When I returned to Verdant Spark, there was a sign on the door saying it was closed.

As I pushed open the door, I was greeted by Kugen, while Xia Li sat on the sofa not far away.

Upon seeing Suika, Kugen sighed.

"Sigh, although I want to say that those people are also unfortunate, I hope you can spare them."

However, from your perspective, these people's behavior is indeed foolish, and it's understandable that you'd be angry.

But this is actually what most Infected look like right now.

Before they became Infected, they might have been people who loved life and were willing to help everyone around them, whether they knew them or not.

But after becoming Infected, confusion, fear, loss, and terror constantly enveloped every inch of their hearts.

Over time, many people become sensitive, fragile, and indifferent.

"You can't find many people like Susie in the entire Karaton who can remain so positive even after becoming Infected."

"So you think I did something wrong?" Suika looked at the other person.

Kugen shook his head.

No, I didn't say you were wrong.

I just hope that in the future, when you encounter something like this, you can consider things from the perspective of those Infected.

After all, many times they didn't want to become this way; it was the land that made them this way.

Killing an Infected is not a difficult thing for you or me.

But isn't it more meaningful to help an Infected has lost all hope of living to rediscover the hope of survival?

Suika had originally planned to give Kugen a good beating if he admitted he was wrong, and then avoid contact with Rhodes Island for a while, since she really disliked saintly people.

But she didn't expect the other party to put themselves in such a humble position and speak so sincerely that she couldn't find an excuse to refute them.

In this situation, it would feel unreasonable to criticize those guys.

"Alright, since you've said that, it would be impolite for me to keep arguing. Besides, you're so quick-witted you could be a political commissar; I can't argue with you anyway."

I will think more carefully about this situation in the future.

But I feel there's a point that needs to be made clear.

I have always believed in distinguishing between gratitude and resentment, and I will always seek revenge; otherwise, I will not be able to live a peaceful life.

Dealing with evil people doesn't differentiate between ordinary people and those Infected, so if I encounter someone committing evil, I will still take action.

After listening to Suika's words, Kugen nodded.

"Of course, it's a good thing to help someone who is doing evil, so why would I want to stop you from doing it?"

I just hope that when you are at odds with someone, you will be cautious about killing unless absolutely necessary, especially when you encounter minor evil.