Chapter 733: General Kael?

Some survivors wanted to leave at once. Others refused to move without a clear safety measure.

The people with injured relatives wanted a shelter. The infected people who could smell blood wanted to leave before they lost control.

Beatrice struck her staff against the road.

The sound cut through the argument.

"Stop," she said. "Arguing here wastes the precious time we have."

The group became quiet, but the disagreement remained on their faces.

Beatrice looked at Rovan again.

He knew she would not abandon the search for her father. She knew he would not leave her alone.

Neither of them could force the survivors to accept the danger of returning to the inner city.

A man stepped out of the smoke before she found an answer.

He wore the dark uniform of a Human Empire general. Dust covered the long coat, but the gold marks on the shoulders remained visible.

A narrow cut crossed one side of his face.

Beatrice recognized him.

"General Kael?"

The man stopped several meters away and looked across the survivors.

"Beatrice."

She had only see General Kael a few times. He was not someone she trusted, but she knew he had worked with Alex.

More importantly, he had enough authority to know the situation better than them.

Rovan moved beside her.

"I thought the general was dead," he said quietly.

Beatrice had concluded the same, but the city had been in chaos since the attack began. She did not know what really happening.

Kael looked past them toward the broken wall.

"Where is your boss?" he asked.

The question removed part of Beatrice’s doubt. Few people knew about Alex in the city as he’s a newcomer. That mean at least he’s real.

"He went below the city with Lady Mingyue," Beatrice said. "The source of the formation is down there."

Kael’s eyes remained on the opening for a moment.

"Then did he found it?"

"You know what is below?"

"Enough to know none of you should remain near it."

Rovan studied him. ℯℯ𝑙.

"Can you lead these people out?"

Kael looked toward the smoke, then toward the damaged road behind the group.

"The northern service route is still open. It avoids the dangerous district and reaches the outer field. I can take them."

The survivors became quieter.

A general offering to lead them give them a sense of safety. It’s better than to be Dependant on Beatrice that want to leave.

"What about the shelters?" she asked. "My father was inside the medical district."

Kael answered without needing time to think.

"The Eastern Shelter remained active since chaos begin. If the hospital your father were in followed emergency procedure, that is where he would be."

Beatrice knew the shelter. It was beneath the eastern administrative hall, far enough from the city hall to still be safe.

"Is the road safe?"

"Not for a large group," Kael said. "Two people can pass through the damaged buildings. More would attract attention and slow you down."

Rovan looked at Beatrice.

"I’m going with you."

She considered telling him away again.

His shoulder was injured. His qi was unstable. But He was also the only person present who would hep her.

"Stay behind me if we meet any danger," she said.

"I was planning to stand far behind you."

His attempt at humor failed when another tremor passed beneath them.

Kael turned toward the civilians.

"Anyone who wants to leave the city comes with me. Anyone who stays take your own risk."

The frightened guard moved first. The woman with the child followed him. After a moment, the old maintenance worker joined them and began helping the injured people stand.

Beatrice faced the group.

"Follow his instructions. Do not try to fly, and stay away from those corpse."

Several survivors thanked her. Others were too tired or frightened to speak.

Kael’s face waited until Beatrice and Rovan turned toward the eastern district.

Beatrice didn’t find anything wrong. In the first place Kael cultivation realm is far above her and Rovan.

Even in normal situation she will not find anything weird.

But if Alex were here, he would have noticed something is strange.

The presence inside this man were not the same as the General Kael Alex had known.

But Alex was below the city, facing Thepes.

Beatrice and Rovan entered the smoke.

"Eastern Shelter," Rovan said. "You believe him?"

"Id on’t know, but i need to believe my father is still alright."

"With how bad the city is, I doubt any of the upper echelon survive. They probably already dead."

The Empire is very strict on this, any people in power escaping without justification on emergency will get capital punishment.

This is done to force them do their best to safe as many citizen as they can.

So both of them think this is the case, otherwise they should at least heard some announcement.

Beatrice kept walking. "We do not have enough information nor time to wait for a better solution."

Rovan looked back once.

Kael was already leading the civilians north.

"I still don’t like it," he said.

"Neither do I."

They disappeared between the damaged buildings.

Kael continued north with the survivors.

He walked at a pace the injured people could follow. Whenever someone fell behind, he stopped long enough for the others to help.

The northern streets became quieter.

Fewer people moved between the buildings. The stench of corpse and blood covering the road became thinner, and the smoke no longer hid the sky.

"How much farther?" the frightened guard asked.

"Not far," Kael said.

He led them past a collapsed transit station and into a wide service yard surrounded by damaged warehouses.

No one else was there.

The old maintenance worker looked toward the closed northern gate. They just need to leave trough it to escape the city.

Kael stopped in the middle of the yard.

The people behind him stopped as well.

"Why are we waiting?" the woman with the child asked.

Kael did not answer. He turned and counted the survivors one by one.

The injured stood near the center. The people strong enough to fight had placed themselves around them.

Kael smiled, "This much should be enough."