Chapter 253 - 236: No Reincarnation, Only the Present

Chapter 253: Chapter 236: No Reincarnation, Only the Present

Yu Dong and half of the combat team were surrounded.

The combat team members were in the center, encircled by a ring of fully-armed soldiers.

They raised their crossbows and aimed at the soldiers. Though defiant, they were completely outmatched in sheer presence.

The cold metal, the dark muzzles of the guns, the ramrod-straight soldiers...

Whether the combat team wanted to fight or not, the outcome... was already set in stone.

Their firepower was on a completely different level from the military’s.

With just a few pistols and submachine guns... it wouldn’t even make a dent.

Yu Dong held out a hand, stopping Sun Yu and the others behind him from taking any further action.

He looked at Qiao Yunliang and said, "Qiao, do we really have to go this far? Couldn’t you have given me a heads-up? We could have talked this over."

Qiao Yunliang looked at Yu Dong and his private force, his tone filled with resignation.

"Yu Dong, did you talk to me before you did all this? Did you even have any respect for us, the military?! You’ve crossed the line! You locked up Wang Dingbei and the others. How could I dare come and talk to you? Or let me ask you... if I told you to come to my place, would you dare?"

He had tolerated Yu Dong as the leader here because Yu Dong used to have a bottom line, did a decent job, and was popular with the people. If the military took over the cruise ship, they would lose that public support...

But now, Yu Dong had no bottom line. And once this incident was exposed... Yu Dong would rapidly lose all public support.

Faced with Qiao Yunliang’s questions, Yu Dong fell silent.

Whether Qiao Yunliang was acting out of a true sense of justice or a desire for ultimate power, this was the move he had made.

Qiao Yunliang shouted, "Everyone, put down your weapons! Do not resist! This isn’t your fault; it’s your leader’s mistake. Don’t follow him down the wrong path. You can still turn back now before you make a mistake!"

He wanted to disarm Yu Dong’s side to prevent the situation from escalating into a bloody conflict. He didn’t want it to come to that.

At this, the vast majority of the combat team didn’t move. Instead, they looked to Yu Dong, waiting for their boss to give the order.

However, a few of them hesitated, their crossbows lowering slightly. After all, the situation was no longer in their favor. If they put up a futile resistance, it would only end in...

"Raise your crossbows! I said raise them! If any of those motherfuckers tries to shoot me, I’ll make sure they bleed!"

"The combat team conquered this world! It’s not their place to judge us!"

"A bunch of sons of bitches who want to take our cruise ship, acting like fucking saints!"

"Fuck!"

Sun Yu roared, ordering everyone to raise their crossbows. He then aimed his own crossbow right at Qiao Yunliang’s head, ready to pull the trigger at any moment.

Even if the helmet stopped the bolt from killing him, he’d at least give him a concussion. A fatal cerebral hemorrhage would be even better!

Sun Yu’s string of curses made Qiao Yunliang frown, especially that last part... those were truly vicious words.

Advisor Li quickly shot Yu Dong a look. "Yu Dong... stop your men from spouting nonsense. Put down your weapons, and we can still talk this over. You still have a chance..."

He was trying to tell Yu Dong: if you don’t resist, you won’t die. If you resist, you definitely will!

In his view... if Yu Dong wanted to protect himself and his men, he should lay down his arms and cooperate. Then he could fight for a lighter sentence.

Qiao Yunliang was also a man who valued old ties. Considering the great contributions Yu Dong had made in the past, he wouldn’t just write him off completely...

He felt his signal had been obvious. Yu Dong was a smart man; he would surely understand. ℴ

The huge commotion below had already attracted the attention of most people on the cruise ship. The decks were crowded with people.

Some who were working down at A Port scrambled up onto the ship to join the main crowd on the decks.

On the cruise ship, a sea of people had gathered. The shocking scene sparked a flurry of discussion among them.

"Why is the military making a move against our people? Is it just because of that argument over a few lousy cans of food?"

"I don’t think so... I’ve interacted with the military folks, and they’re all pretty nice. That President Qiao is always smiling and approachable. He wouldn’t have his soldiers point their guns at Boss Yu unless he’d crossed a major line, right?"

"Damn! How could they do this? I don’t believe for a second that Brother Dong did anything wrong! Don’t you all know how good he is? Back when Brother Dong took control of the ship, he shouted ’Leap of Faith’ and saved so many of us... Have you forgotten? Everyone living on this cruise ship owes Brother Dong their thanks! Officer Wang and Sister Mo can’t even compare!"

"This isn’t right. We have to find a way to help Brother Dong. Maybe we can send a few representatives to talk to them? At least find out what’s happening."

"If the military takes Boss Yu down... then they’ll be in charge, right? Anyway, we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing, working for points to live. It’s all the same. Let’s just wait for the big shots to sort it out themselves. What does this have to do with me and my 2,000 points a month?"

Fu Yuanyuan: "Heh... boring. No matter who’s in charge, it’s still a man. When is Sister Mo going to snap, kill all the men, and let women take over? It would definitely be better than how things are now!"

Yang Yi: "Exactly! We women have a natural ability to love. The cruise ship would definitely be a happier place. These male leaders are too harsh... If you don’t work for a single day, they practically want to cut off your food. It would be great if Sister Zixue was the leader."

Behind them, quite a few other women voiced their support.

Lin Zhixue watched this unfold, a flicker in her eyes.

’A change of power on the cruise ship. This is a good opportunity...’

After a moment’s thought, she immediately went to find Lin Mo. As her secretary, she had to plan for Lin Mo’s future, and her own.

Besides... she had actually noticed that Yu Dong had been involved in some illegal activities recently. Many of the tasks Lin Mo had arranged were to cover for him.

She was a secretary, but she was also a smart woman. From Yu Dong and Lin Mo’s abnormal behavior, and the news that Wang Dingbei and the others were ’suddenly studying,’ she had deduced that they had been put under house arrest by the pair.

If the opportunity was right... she wouldn’t mind taking down the nepotistic Yu Dong and having the true power on the ship pass to smarter women like themselves.

When Lin Mo received the news, she slumped into her office chair, dejected.

Today’s outcome... she had expected it, but she hadn’t expected it to come so quickly.

And the most critical part was... the experiment had failed. They had nothing successful to show for it that could sway public opinion. Once this incident blew up, everyone on the ship would fear for their own safety, and their popular support would vanish.

’Is there any way to reconcile this...?’

As Lin Mo was thinking, a squad of soldiers burst in.

"Officer Lin, please come with us."

Lin Mo was taken away as well.

She was Yu Dong’s accomplice...

Wang Dingbei was released by the soldiers and brought down below.

Arriving at A Port, Wang Dingbei looked at Yang Ze standing by Qiao Yunliang’s side and Hou Qian by Yu Dong’s, his expression incredibly complicated.

He had misjudged.

He had underestimated the power of material goods, and he had underestimated the power of faith.

This time, he wasn’t the protagonist. He hadn’t guided the course of events; he was merely a bystander who had been rescued...

But looking at the result, things had still reached the point he’d wanted. The military had come to set things right.

Yu Dong and the newly arrived Lin Mo exchanged a look. She shook her head.

"Yu Dong, we’ve failed..."

At that moment, all eyes on the cruise ship were fixed on Yu Dong, waiting to see if he would surrender and confess, or resist stubbornly and be made a public example of.

Those were his only two options.

Yu Dong took a deep breath.

"Qiao, if this choice were yours, would you research the vaccine? Would you be willing to bear these crimes for the sake of humanity?"

"I would advance science within a reasonable and legal framework. I’d have death row inmates sign consent forms, and I’d recruit volunteers who are sick or terminally ill to try it. I wouldn’t secretly send people who don’t deserve to die to be forcibly used as test subjects. I wouldn’t have to bear any crimes, because my methods would earn the understanding and consent of the masses."

"What if the death row inmates don’t sign? What if there are no volunteers? How long would you have to wait before a vaccine could even be developed? By the time you finished your research, years would have passed... Would it even be useful then? How many people would humanity have left by that point?"

"I would not force a few to sacrifice their interests for the benefit of the many. Everyone has the right to choose. If it’s truly slow... then that’s a burden we must bear. Besides... compared to a vaccine, I have more faith in firepower. Once all the zombies are dead, we won’t need a vaccine."

"Because you only see the present! I see the future! The cycle!"

"There is no cycle, only the now!" Qiao Yunliang roared. "We all only have this one life! Your ’cycle’ is your own. It has nothing to do with us in this timeline. We are only saving this world. Other worlds... are none of our business."

How could Qiao Yunliang not have guessed what Yu Dong was thinking?

But even if a vaccine was created, allowing Yu Dong to save the world in another timeline, what did that have to do with them?

When Yu Dong died, he would be reincarnated. They would still be in this world.

Their world wouldn’t disappear just because Yu Dong died.

It would be great if the vaccine Yu Dong spoke of could be made, but if not... it wouldn’t affect the bigger picture. Their current firepower, combined with incendiary bombs, was enough to deal a fatal blow to the zombie horde in Yanhai City.

Yu Dong was stunned. He never expected... that this was how Qiao Yunliang thought. He didn’t care at all about a potentially perfect ending; he only cared about his one life.

Qiao Yunliang wasn’t playing his reincarnation game.

"Qiao, even if you’re only thinking about this one life... if we could create a vaccine that strengthens the body, not only would it make soldiers immune to the zombie virus, it would also significantly improve their physical condition. You’d have more ways to deal with zombies. When you run out of bullets, you could fight them hand-to-hand, charge in and out of the horde without fear of infection. Isn’t that enough?"

"How much could it improve your physical condition? Can it stop an armor-piercing round? One full magazine, and any carbon-based lifeform will be on its knees! I won’t hide it from you—I’ve contacted the provincial Wilderness Battle Corps. They’ve already eliminated millions of zombies with heavy firepower, including some mutants we’ve never seen before... Do you really think these old-fashioned light weapons I have for training are all the military has? Our real strength... you haven’t seen anything yet!"

To Qiao Yunliang, the vaccine was optional. It would be nice to have, but not having it wouldn’t affect their ability to fight zombies.

The Wilderness Battle Corps that their military had preserved had already begun large-scale operations across the country. His next step wasn’t to cooperate with Yu Dong, but with a truly powerful, high-firepower force.

If Yu Dong could maintain civilian peace, then he could stay in his leadership position. But if he couldn’t even meet that requirement and was still stirring up trouble in the rear... then Qiao Yunliang had no choice but to take him down.

He could just put Officer Wang in charge of the rear. As long as no one caused them trouble, they could handle the rest.

The current Yu Dong was no more valuable than Officer Wang.

At that moment, Yu Dong knew he couldn’t persuade Qiao Yunliang.

He was different from Wang Dingbei. He didn’t believe in the power of a vaccine; he only believed that firepower was king!

"Qiao, since it has come to this... I have nothing more to say. We believe in different ideals. But I hope this matter doesn’t involve Professor Meng. I forced her to do all of it. I sent the test subjects, I ordered her to start the work. In the future, please let her continue researching the vaccine. Even if it’s slower... there’s still hope."

Qiao Yunliang waved a hand. "Don’t worry, I won’t make things difficult for a scientific researcher... My men have already gone to the research institute to bring her here. We are going to establish a set of standard rules and regulations today, in front of everyone."

Yu Dong nodded. "That’s good. Actually, we already have a semi-finished version of the vaccine. It’s more valuable than you think. If used properly, it could be a great help against the zombies..."

"A semi-finished version?" Qiao Yunliang asked, puzzled.

Yang Ze had never mentioned it to him.

Just then, the color drained from Wang Dingbei’s face!

"This is bad!"