Hell's Handbook

Chapter 175: A Leader or a Ruler

Su Jin looked toward where the sniper could be. His vision was much better than the average human, and he quickly found the sniper. It was a ball shaped machine suspended in the air, located a good 50 kilometers away. The machine resembled an eyeball, and there was a greenish smoke around the pupil area. That was probably left behind by the attack earlier.

“Oh? He’s still alive?” Su Jin thought that Andrew was dead, but Andrew moved a little as he lay on the floor with a pained look on his face. He was definitely still alive.

Su Jin used his psychokinesis to examine Andrew’s wound and was shocked to discover that this man was truly one of the best soldiers in the world. Just before he was hit by the bullet, he had actually shifted himself enough so that the bullet would not puncture his heart. That was why he was actually still alive.

Su Jin stood in front of Andrew to protect him. After all, if that machine continued firing, Andrew was definitely going to die.

“Do you know who’s attacking you?” asked Su Jin.

“The leaders of the other four cities,” said Andrew through clenched teeth. The burning sensation from his wound caused him excruciating pain.

Su Jin retrieved a leaf from the Tree of Longevity and fed it to Andrew. After consuming it, his wound healed up almost instantly. These leaves had a miraculous effect on ordinary humans.

.

“This… this must be a blessing from God!” If Andrew previously thought that Su Jin might be an apostle of God purely because of his strength, then now he truly believed that Su Jin was sent by God. There was no way anything created by humans could have healed a wound that was almost fatal.

Those in higher positions often used a mixture of methods to both gain respect and gratitude from their subordinates, which translated into loyalty, and Su Jin realized that this tactic worked on Andrew as well. He figured that if anybody suspected he wasn’t from God, Andrew would be the first person to defend him. Su Jin could sense that Andrew had that sort of reverence toward him.

By this time, that eyeball machine had already come much closer to the two of them. A light screen shot out from the eyeball and four faces appeared on it.

“Mr. de Roo, are you going to betray mankind?” shouted the old man. They didn’t know exactly what happened earlier, but according to the reports from the staff in the building, more than ten soldiers with Andrew had died mysteriously, while Su Jin and Andrew had proceeded to the top floor of the building. To the leaders of the four cities, Su Jin couldn’t have escaped from the wall of electricity in the safe room by himself, so Andrew must have let him out.

Andrew was now seen as the traitor, which was why they shot him earlier. But to their surprise, Andrew did not die.

“Andrew, you’ve betrayed mankind and you should be punished for doing so!” yelled the plump man.

“I didn’t betray mankind! He has been sent by God to save us! We… we shouldn’t…” Andrew tried to fight back.

“Shut up, you shameless traitor! Sent by God? Ha! If there was really a god, then why did humans suffer such a disaster?” the beautiful lady reprimanded Andrew.

Su Jin made a face and said, “Disasters are a punishment. Humans have tried to play God, but God gave you a chance. The time for punishment has ended, and I was the one who brought you relief from it.”

His words did make him sound like he was some sort of deity, but the four in the screen weren’t stupid and were unwilling to just take Su Jin at his word. Besides, they were way too far away from Su Jin, so he couldn’t use his Psychokinesis to control them even if he wanted to.

“Humph! And you think we’d believe what you say? I can only agree that your appearance is indeed a mystery. You fell from the sky ten years ago and suddenly disappeared after that. You’ve reappeared now, but your face hasn’t changed even in the slightest. You… may not be an apostle of God, but you’re definitely not human,” said the old man.

Su Jin laughed. He didn’t care what others thought of him. He just wanted the Key to Immortality now. He said to Andrew, “How many more vials are there?”

“These eight are the last ones we’ve discovered. I don’t know if there are any more that have been hidden and have just remained undiscovered.” Andrew shook his head.

Su Jin paused to think, then said, “Did you guys keep the formula for making the Key to Immortality?”

Andrew blinked in surprise, then shook his head vigorously. “No. The Key to Immortality used to be the most important secret to mankind, so even those who took it were only allowed to take it and were not given access to the formula, never mind us who have never even taken it before. I heard that an AI computer linked across governments was responsible for safekeeping this formula, but after the apocalypse hit, that AI computer was the first thing to be destroyed.”

Su Jin frowned slightly. Meanwhile, the four faces on the screen looked even more infuriated now. They had never been ignored like this before.

“Su Jin, was it? On behalf of the World Government, I am asking you to remain where you are and await arrest. Otherwise… we will wipe you out!” said the beautiful lady in a frosty voice.

Su Jin burst out laughing. “Wipe me out? With this ball? Did you think you could kill an apostle of God just because you want to?”

“Do not look down on our determination. You are hiding many secrets, many that might become the hope of mankind’s future. But at the same time, you are a threat to humans. If you don’t cooperate, we are willing to pay a high price to eliminate you,” said the man in a suit.

Su Jin asked curiously, “Pay a high price? For example?”

“Nuclear weapons! Even if we end up destroying the whole city, we must make sure we don’t let you escape,” said the beautiful woman.

Andrew’s expression turned to one of horror and he shouted, “You’re crazy! 700,000 ordinary humans live in Sunshine City and that’s nearly one-sixth of all surviving humans left to propagate the world. How could you do something like that?”

“Propagate the world? Humans have a strong survival instinct and they’ll repopulate as long as we don’t wipe all of them out. He’s more important than that,” said the plump man as he pointed at Su Jin.

The four leaders were clearly determined to capture Su Jin at any cost. Andrew became like a provoked lion as he roared at them, “You bastards! I will not let you do such a thing!”

“You won’t let us? You’re a traitor of mankind, Andrew de Roo! The four of us have already agreed to withdraw your authority, so from now on, you have no right to even talk to us,” said the old man calmly.

Andrew’s eyes widened. It was true that they only needed four out of five of the leaders to terminate a leader. In fact, this was a policy that Andrew had set up back then. He didn’t expect the first execution of this rule to be used on him.

Su Jin said, “Don’t worry, Andrew. These people are supposed to be the leaders of mankind, yet they treat human lives like trash. They will face the consequences of their own actions!”

“Haha! Humans used to be called the Fools, and I think that’s a really appropriate term. Humans are fools and a vast majority of them can’t even think for themselves, blindly letting the people in authority lead them. And the four of us are the people in authority!” The man in a suit looked so confident, it was as though he had control over all life and death.

Su Jin nodded and pointed at the live streaming equipment around him. “Excellent. But everything you’ve said has been broadcast live to the people. I hope these humans won’t be as foolish as you imagine them to be and listen to your lousy explanations!”

The entire place fell silent and there was a look of joy on Andrew’s face, but the four faces in the screen merely burst out laughing and called Su Jin a fool.

“Haha! Did you think we’d make such a dumb mistake? Before talking to you, we already cut off all signals from this building. You’ve broadcast our conversation live? HA! Dream on!” said the plump man as he continued to laugh merrily.

Andrew looked disappointed but Su Jin burst out laughing as well. “You’ve gotten one thing wrong though. When I said I’ve been broadcasting this conversation live, I wasn’t referring to using YOUR methods of broadcasting. I’m using MY method.”

The four of them were puzzled and didn’t know what Su Jin was talking about. Just then, loud screams and shouts came from where the plump man was.

The plump man was surprised and shouted to the person next to him, “What’s going on? Go out and take a look.”

But before that subordinate could walk out of the room, another rushed in and said with a terrified look on his face, “Sir, bad news! The people have barged into this building and they said… they said…”

“What did they say?” asked the plump man with a fearful look on his face.

“They said that you’re not fit to be the leader of this city and they want you to get lost!” said the man in a stern voice all of a sudden as he pounced onto the plump man and stabbed him in the chest.

The plump man’s eyes widened in pain as the man went on, “We saw everything being replayed in our minds. You actually want to use nuclear weapons to kill your fellow humans! You think we’re all fools!”

Meanwhile, a similar chaos was happening in the offices of the other three leaders. They had a horrified and fearful look on their faces when they realized that Su Jin had been telling the truth. All the humans had seen and heard everything just now. In the blink of an eye, their offices were overrun and the seemingly lowly humans proved that they could stand up for themselves too.

Andrew was shocked at first, but when he remembered that Su Jin was an apostle from God, he figured that Su Jin must have used some supernatural powers to do this. That made him look even more piously and reverently at Su Jin.

Su Jin, on the other hand, was pretty proud of what he had just done. He had used one of the pieces of broadcasting equipment in the room to broadcast his psychokinesis earlier.

His psychokinesis was broadcast as a signal, so it didn’t cause any harm to the people receiving it. It just enabled them to see and hear everything that Su Jin saw and heard, so it wasn’t too difficult to do either.

Meanwhile, loud voices could be heard from the first floor of the building that Su Jin and Andrew were in as well. A large number of people had surrounded the building, making Andrew freeze and pale when he remembered what happened to the other four in their offices.

But that only lasted a moment. Andrew sighed heavily and said, “I suppose this is our retribution. The disaster ended ten whole years ago, but what have we done? The people have not lived any better. Besides no longer having to live with mutants, nothing else has changed, right? The people still suffer from a lack of food and our living conditions have not improved. In fact, you’re the one who helped us to destroy those mutants, so… we humans are really completely useless!”