Chapter Seventy-Six: Rivers of Blood

Listening to the string of words coming from the head of the Liu family on the phone, Gu Sha was utterly bewildered. He had simply offered a kind-hearted warning, yet the other party's tone made it sound as if he had committed some unforgivable crime, enough to warrant being shot dead on the spot.

"Speak up," the Liu family patriarch demanded angrily on the other end. "Gu Sha, how can you guarantee what you say is right? Do you realize that your words could jeopardize the entire bastion, risking the lives of millions? You could bring ruin upon us all!"

Gu Sha's lips twitched. At that moment, a swarm of fully armed soldiers stormed into the central building of the bastion. Some carried heavy machine guns and unleashed a wild barrage of bullets at Gu Sha. Yet, as the bullets sped toward him, they slowed dramatically upon entering the space around him.

Gu Sha activated his time manipulation ability, drastically slowing the flow of time in his immediate vicinity. With one hand gripping his phone and the other wielding a bone club, he swung it casually.

All the bullets ricocheted back.

A dense hail of gunfire rebounded in every direction, striking soldiers who screamed as they were wounded or killed instantly. Some bullets shattered glass and blasted through walls and bricks.

Gu Sha strolled forward as if he were wandering in a garden. Everywhere he passed, rivers of blood flowed, corpses littered the floor.

He still held his phone, speaking nonchalantly, "Are you an idiot? I gave you a well-meaning warning. Believe it or not, it's up to you."

The Liu family patriarch's voice was grim, "Evidence. Where is your evidence? How can you assert that an earthquake will occur in two hours? If it doesn't happen, how will you bear the consequences?"

"To hell with your consequences!"

Gu Sha smashed the phone to the ground, then looked toward the soldiers in the corridor and shouted, "Get out of my way, or I'll show no mercy!"

The next instant,

He dashed forward at speed, his bone club whirling furiously, heading straight for the central warehouse of the bastion. No one could stop him; the whole building blared with alarms, shrill and piercing.

Corpses were scattered everywhere along his path.

Gu Sha had already located the warehouse. He arrived with ease, kicked down the heavy steel door, and strode inside with swagger.

The alarm continued to ring.

Gu Sha walked straight in and quickly found the device holding the anomalous bones. He counted carefully—there were over a dozen pieces.

He let out a soft laugh and collected them all.

Meanwhile,

Outside the central building, an entire unit had deployed heavy weaponry—tanks, grenade launchers, and more—completely surrounding the place. Combat helicopters circled high above.

A military officer was on the phone with the Liu family patriarch: "Reporting, sir. The criminal Gu Sha has entered the basement. We've urgently evacuated personnel from the central building. Awaiting your next orders!"

High above the bastion,

The Liu family patriarch, Han Ze, and the Yang family patriarch sat in a helicopter speeding toward the center.

The Liu patriarch's face was dark as he gripped his phone. "Prepare all weapons. Be ready to act at any moment!"

After speaking, he turned to Han Ze, his expression twisted in anger. "Do you realize what you've done? He's killed over a hundred people at the bastion center!"

Han Ze grabbed the Liu patriarch by the collar. "I told you not to do it! You refused to listen. I warned you your actions would turn the bastion center into a bloodbath. Now you blame me?"

The Liu patriarch shouted back, "Can't you see what kind of person Gu Sha is? He's a lunatic! You still trust him, still think the bastion is a joke?"

"Go to hell!" Han Ze raised his fist, ready to strike.

The Yang patriarch quickly intervened, pulling Han Ze back. "Gentlemen, can you stop this? There's still a war raging outside the bastion. Us rushing here to handle this is already unreasonable, and now you're fighting? Can't we wait until we get there and ask Gu Sha directly, then decide?"

He looked at the Liu patriarch. "You acted far too impulsively. Whatever the case, you shouldn't have ordered an attack on Gu Sha. He hasn't done anything to harm the bastion. On the contrary, he's spent days hunting down mutated beasts—powerful ones, at that. He's contributed to the bastion. He went to collect anomalous bones with Chairman Han's approval!"

"Nonsense!" the Liu patriarch roared. "He hasn't harmed the bastion? Spreading panic and rumors at such a critical time is harming the bastion!"

The Yang patriarch's lips twitched. He glanced from Liu to Han Ze, utterly speechless.

These two—each more stubborn than the other.

One firmly believed Gu Sha spoke the truth; the other insisted he was inciting panic.

The Yang patriarch sighed. "Still, Gu Sha hasn't publicly spread panic. He only notified the bastion's leadership. Whether the information is true or false, as a citizen, isn't it right for him to inform us if he hears something troubling? Isn't it our responsibility to verify the facts? Ultimately, he just reported what he knew to the authorities—what's wrong with that?"

The Liu patriarch replied gravely, "But his information could waste the efforts of millions, destroy millions of lives. Haven't you seen the situation on the front lines?"

The Yang patriarch answered calmly, "What does that have to do with Gu Sha? He merely reported news. The decision was Chairman Han's. If anyone should be held responsible, it's Chairman Han. Frankly, if you want to kill someone, it should be him. Why target Gu Sha? He's a hero of the bastion—he reports a message to the authorities and gets shot for it? That makes no sense!"

The Liu patriarch paused, silent for a moment. "I... I was angry, so I acted rashly..."

"Ha!" Han Ze sneered. "Let's be honest, Liu Qiang, you're used to being above everyone else. Even if Gu Sha is the strongest extraordinary warrior humanity has, to you he's just a brute, a pitiful nobody. You vent your anger however you please, without considering the consequences. If I had argued with you, would you have simply shot me?"

The Liu patriarch's face grew darker.

Just then,

The helicopter arrived outside the bastion's center and quickly landed.

The three disembarked, heading to the troops at the forefront. The Liu patriarch asked the commander, "What's the situation?"

The commander held a tablet displaying surveillance footage. "Reporting, sir. Gu Sha is in the warehouse."

They looked over and, indeed, Gu Sha was calmly loading the anomalous bones into his backpack, eyeing the warehouse's cache of beast cores and searching for boxes.

The Liu patriarch said sternly, "Connect to the warehouse's surveillance audio. I want to speak with Gu Sha."

(End of chapter)