Chapter 309

Chapter 309: Winner Takes All

The majority must adhere to the overt rules, but behind the scenes, these rules often manifest in a very straightforward manner—winner takes all.

The entire day stretched like an extended intermission, with everyone compelled to feign normalcy.

Particularly those with dual identities, who had to mask their lingering trepidation from the previous night’s raid while resuming their so-called duties.

Daylight hours were the domain of the Clean-up Team and the security bureau.

Like voracious carnivores, they swiftly apportioned the spoils of the night’s endeavors, akin to a pack of predators on the savannah.

As dusk descended, the peripheries of the inner city once again simmered with unrest.

That evening, El came to a realization: not everyone was as naive as he had presumed, and he was not the sole discoverer of the sewers’ utility.

Equipped with gas masks and armaments, the sewers transformed into an expansive, unscrutinized, and remarkably secure repository of nearly boundless capacity.

Several obscure factions utilized it as their storage, allowing goods procured through unconventional means to occupy much of the space, guarded by only a handful of sentinels.

Yet, the previous night’s incursion shattered the existing order, casting the once-dominant figures into the mire, with the fortunate survivors unlikely to glimpse the world beyond the high walls again.

As night cloaked the area, the sewer sector bid farewell to two carnivore teams and greeted an influx of scavengers.

Hope City, a metropolis forged and sustained by humanity, was bound to encounter certain inevitabilities.

With a void in this ecological niche, those who had survived or fortuitously absented themselves from the prior night’s events began to entertain unwarranted aspirations.

Why not me?

A throng of individuals, each harboring such thoughts, converged like vultures squabbling over carrion.

El and Li Rui were amidst this throng.

Their identities were not so much cleansed as obliterated.

El had long been cataloged among the missing, while Li Rui’s remains had just been carted off by the Clean-up Team as the prime suspect in the Heart Snatcher case. Even if he were to confront the Clean-up Team now, none would wish to shoulder the colossal blame.

Thus, conflict was inevitable. The Public Security Team and the Clean-up Team’s sentinels stationed themselves two kilometers distant, establishing an isolation area above ground.

Some impassioned Young Men could not fathom such indulgence, but others were inured to it.

In principle, such conduct was impermissible, yet from the vantage of the enforcers, these circumstances were more advantageous than detrimental.

The inner city’s sewers were a labyrinth, and a swarm of aimless entities could precipitate a spike in the crime rate in the ensuing months.

Should they yield to a new overlord, at least the inner city’s nights would ostensibly remain tranquil.

As for whether this new overlord would amass power, it was of little concern; after all, livestock are reared for slaughter, and none desire their stock to be emaciated.

With this tacit sanction, skirmishes erupted in the sewers, rivaling the previous night’s forays.

In the shadowy, noxious depths, an individual capable of navigating walls and passageways with ease held a distinct advantage.

As for Li Rui, as the adage goes—the minion with Taunting Effects must be dealt with first…

The duo’s initial encounter was far from straightforward.

This was one of the rare wild superpowered individuals El had the fortune—or misfortune—to meet.

At that moment, a man aglow with white light stood at a nearby bend.

A retinue of followers accompanied him, their path illuminated by his radiant form.

This flavorless yet regrettable ability seems perfectly tailored for the sewers, but El still firmly believes that even without him, this giant humanoid light bulb before him could never become the boss—

A light bulb belongs in the darkness, not at the switch.

Under the glow, El’s ability to appear and disappear became somewhat diminished.

He didn’t want to reveal all his powers so quickly, but if he didn’t act, the bullets Li Rui might pull from his body today could weigh more than his own.

However, El soon found his way to turn the tide.

All the ammunition that could fall into these individuals’ hands in Hope City was limited to cased bullets.

Naturally, the firearms they used were of the common variety.

El and Li Rui needed captives, not corpses; under this premise, the firearms facing them began to misfire one after another.

The magazines seemed filled with nothing but empty casings, not a single live round in sight.

The battle quickly turned one-sided, and five minutes later, El had a massive light bulb—no, a certain superpowered individual’s head—stamped under his foot.

The middle-aged light bulb flickered erratically, either due to unstable voltage or sheer nervousness, like a filament on the verge of snapping.

The flickering light stung El’s eyes, and with a glance, Li Rui bent down and delivered two solid slaps to the light bulb, stabilizing its brightness almost instantly.

So even in the realm of superpowered individuals, a good slap can fix most maintenance issues.

“Hey, big brothers,”

The tremor that seemed to come from the man’s very bones now echoed in his shaky voice.

“Big brother, and this second brother, little brother too, please spare me.

“Everyone calls me Lightbulb. I’ve been navigating these sewers for three years; I could walk them blindfolded. You two must need someone like me.”

El and Li Rui exchanged a glance, no words needed.

They weren’t bloodthirsty killers; though this guy had folded quickly and seemed unreliable, as long as they maintained their Control over their subordinates, such individuals would naturally fall in line.

After a brief silence, El lifted his foot:

“Alright, starting today, you and your friends will follow us.

“There are plenty of rookies like you in the sewers; watch closely, learn well, and stay in line.”

The light bulb man scrambled up from the shallow sewage, trailing behind Li Rui along with a few others.

As the group prepared to move out, the light bulb man asked, his voice tinged with fear:

“I haven’t had the chance to ask… what should we call the two big bosses? And what’s our… our new name?”

“Oh, that?”

El seemed to recall something, replying casually:

“Call it ‘Ashes.’ No matter how many times it’s extinguished, there’s always something left behind.”