Once everything was in order, Memphis took a slow glance around at all the eyes watching him before speaking calmly:"Greetings, everyone. I am Memphis Jackman, a former office worker and a fortunate survivor of this brutal apocalypse."He paused briefly, then raised his voice, declaring:"I hereby announce that from this moment on, everyone here—regardless of age, gender, ability, whether you're an ordinary person or an extraordinary one, regardless of your status before or after the apocalypse—everyone is now free. You are free to leave whenever you wish, with no one stopping you."At these words, the crowd below was stunned, and then a wave of disbelief and shock began to spread rapidly.Free? Leave at any time without being stopped?Could it really be that simple?The ordinary survivors of Sunny Hills looked at each other in confusion, their hearts filling with a myriad of unspoken emotions. Fear, anxiety, bewilderment, exhaustion—all these emotions slowly turned into tears, trick
When the murmur of the crowd finally quieted down, Memphis raised his hand again and said:“I’m not one for many words—I believe in actions. The first thing I will do is restore freedom and personal rights to all of you. I declare here and now: the term ‘two-legged sheep’ will be abolished. From this day forward, it shall never be spoken again.”As Memphis made this declaration, over fifty women who had just been freed from the iron cages burst into tears. They had been humiliated, tortured, beaten, and reduced to tools for the men’s gratification, even prepared for ritual sacrifice. But Memphis had saved them, treated their wounds, clothed them, fed them, and provided them with protection.The sound of their weeping spread, awakening many of the other survivors. Some cried in sympathy, others wept in sorrow for lost loved ones, while some breathed a sigh of relief that the horrible term had been erased. There were even those who hung their heads in shame, remembering how they had part
In the deep black of Memphis’s pupils, endless swirling flames of red and orange were reflected. He watched the scene for a few more minutes, then turned his gaze away. All his complex emotions were now fully cleansed, replaced by the cold, calm indifference that had always defined him.With a light push off the ground, Memphis returned to his familiar pickup truck, opened the passenger door, and calmly spoke to Wallflower, who was seated inside:"This matter ends here. You should head back first. I have a few things left to do."Wallflower looked at him calmly, silently observing Memphis' demeanor for over a minute before slowly asking:
Memphis let them curse him out for five minutes until they finally ran out of steam. Then, he calmly and coldly said:"There are four points. First, I’m not a hypocrite. I’m a villain. You made the mistake of trusting a villain—that’s your error, not mine. And mistakes come with consequences. I don’t have any responsibility for your poor choices.”“Second, the order to arrest you came before the release order. What happens first takes precedence. What comes after follows. These two orders target different groups, and my team only needed to carry out the arrests, not the release. That’s following proper procedure, not deceit.”“Third, the arrests were done openly. All my team members knew what they were doing and agreed to it. There was no coercion or secrecy involved. Whether anyone witnessed it or spread the word—I don’t care. If they want to talk about it, let them. I’m not stopping anyone.”“Fourth, though I’m not a righteous man, even righteous people only show kindness to their a
Hearing this, Memphis raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the odd properties of the plant. He couldn’t help but ask: “So, what do you plan to do with it?"Leroy responded excitedly:"I want to try boiling or roasting it, separating and condensing it into two distinct layers—liquid and solid—to see if I can isolate these effects. When we’re struggling to sleep, we could use the dizzying effect, and when we need to stay awake, we’d have the alertness effect.""What the hell is this? A mutated drug?" Memphis thought, shaking off the odd idea. Pointing to the people still wailing, he said calmly:"Do whatever you want, but I need you to find one or two more wild plants. They need to be common and have seeds that can be cultivated, or at the very least, be capable of being grown somehow. These people will be your assistants.""Understood."With that task assigned, Memphis turned to the nine captives and said: “Stop making noise. You won’t lose your lives here. Stay in this place for nine days,
The pickup truck quickly approached the area near Hope town, but it didn’t return to the base gate. Instead, it stopped at a residential complex about 500 meters away. This was the housing area Lionel had rapidly set up to accommodate over 500 people from Sunny Hills.Though the night was growing dim under the moonlight, supplies continued to come and go. The rooms had been thoroughly cleaned, the rotting corpses and a few trapped zombies had been cleared out, and a few lights powered by car batteries were illuminating the area. All that was left was to bring in bedding, and a warm resting place would be ready.In the middle of the large courtyard were ten large rice cookers, three pots of food, a table full of bread, and a huge pot of steaming wild vegetable soup. The residents of Sunny Hills lined up in five long rows to receive their meals, their faces showing signs of renewed spirit.The aroma was incredibly enticing. Since the apocalypse began, this was likely the best meal most
Memphis took the report, briefly scanning the capabilities of the Sunny Hills soldiers, focusing on their levels, strengths, long-range attack skills, and their "attitudes" based on their past behavior.Nicky, being the second-in-command and responsible for communication within Cormac’s army, had provided exceptionally detailed and accurate information. From this, Memphis could discern who could be useful right away and who would need careful molding.The soldiers of Sunny Hills were all men, mostly aggressive, and showed great resilience on the battlefield. As long as they felt secure, they could endure pressure. Unlike the Hope militia, they wouldn’t cry or panic at the sight of fallen comrades. However, they were notably lacking in discipline, often needing the threat of guns to follow orders, and were prone to chaos when facing high-level danger."Mixing the two groups together could balance out their strengths and weaknesses."Another flaw of the Sunny Hills soldiers was their hi
It was the first time Doctor Beirne had received such direct orders from Memphis, so he couldn't help but focus 200% of his attention, hastily making all kinds of guarantees and promises.Memphis had appointed him as the head of the medical unit, giving him full authority over staff assignments, which was essentially the status of a hospital director before the apocalypse. If Memphis were to tell him to bring someone back from the dead, he'd still try his best.Memphis also asked him to take a look at the broken arm on his left bicep. But when he heard that it would take 30 minutes to cast a splint, he declined, saying he'd come back later.It was too costly—time was scarce.The system's healing abilities weren’t all-powerful, and the human body’s natural recovery was still key. Despite undergoing continuous healing, it seemed like his body had developed some resistance to it. Even with more treatment, his condition wouldn’t improve immediately; he had to rely on himself to recover sl