Apocalyptic Wasteland Simulator-Chapter 323 - 318: Torrential Downpour

Chen Pingchuan's voice rang out once more.

"The real reason you're angry yet dare not speak is the inequality, the unfairness. Now, I will bridge that gap. Whether you can seize your own destiny after this is up to you."

With that, Chen Pingchuan waved his hand. Countless points of light scattered from his palm, merging into the bodies of the ordinary people.

Like a spark igniting a prairie fire, the moment the light entered their bodies, it triggered miraculous changes.

First, they felt a warm current course through them, filling their once-exhausted frames with strength. Then, they were astonished to discover they had a subtle sense of the dark power in the surrounding area.

The young man who had been beaten nearly to death by the guards slowly got to his feet. He clenched his fists, feeling the power surging through him, his eyes filled with disbelief and elation.

He tried to channel this power. The air around him vibrated gently, and a faint but clearly visible Dark Energy Ball materialized in his hand.

"This... this is real! I have power now!" the young man shouted, his voice filled with irrepressible joy.

Seeing this, the others also began to experiment with the power that had suddenly appeared within them.

One person's hands began to glow with a white light, the power of life. Another's body started to mutate into a terrifying shape, radiating a bizarre energy, like that from radiation.

The scarred man's eyes widened. He stared at the scene unfolding before him, his heart filled with fear and resentment. He never could have imagined that this stranger, who had just walked in from the roadside slope, possessed such miraculous abilities that he could grant power to a group of ordinary people in an instant.

"Who... Who are you? What do you want!" the scarred man yelled, his voice a bluff to hide his fear.

Chen Pingchuan didn't spare him a glance. His gaze swept firmly across the crowd as he declared, "This is only the beginning. Remember, from this moment on, you are no longer lambs to the slaughter!"

Just then, a commotion erupted outside the camp. It sounded like a large contingent of troops was rushing toward them. It turned out the higher-ups in the City of No Night had learned of the upheaval and sent the army to suppress it.

"So what if you've given them power? It's nothing but a futile sacrifice," Yang Jian said, approaching Chen Pingchuan. He gazed with a grave expression at the dust clouds rising outside the camp.

"Do you know why I chose today to show you the true face of the world?" The corners of Chen Pingchuan's mouth lifted, a hint of exhilaration in his eyes. He then looked up at the sky. "It's about to rain."

Puzzled, Yang Jian looked up and saw that the sky had indeed filled with dark clouds. Still, he couldn't grasp the meaning behind Chen Pingchuan's words.

As the clouds grew thicker, bean-sized raindrops began to pelt down on the crowd. The army from the City of No Night arrived belatedly, but they still formed ranks swiftly in the downpour, surrounding the camp completely.

The rain quickly turned the ground to mud. However, neither the newly empowered people in the camp nor the well-trained army of the City of No Night showed any sign of retreat.

The commander of the City of No Night's army was a masked woman. She shouted with an authoritative voice, "Everyone in the camp, drop your weapons and surrender now, or you will be annihilated!"

"I'll say it again! Drop your weapons, or you will all die!"

Although the female commander's voice was imposing, the people who had just received power were not about to give up so easily, especially not with the mysterious man who had granted it to them still nearby. An opportunity like this might only come once in a lifetime. No one backed down.

This was no longer a simple mutiny; it was a class war in this cyberpunk world.

Just as tensions reached a breaking point, with a battle ready to erupt at any moment, something strange happened. The soldiers of the City of No Night's City Defense Army, the ones surrounding the impoverished commoners, began to undergo bizarre changes.

The glow of the energy condensed in their bodies dimmed. The power surging within them receded like the tide. Their faces grew pale, and they began to sway unsteadily. The rain's effect was incredibly fast. Within seconds, even the female commander of the City of No Night's Guard Army collapsed weakly to the ground.

Yang Jian watched, stunned. He suddenly understood what Chen Pingchuan had meant by "It's about to rain."

He looked at the calm Chen Pingchuan and asked with difficulty, "You did this?"

It was a fair question. In Yang Jian's mind, a feat like this was beyond human capability. It could only be accomplished by someone who had become a Demigod or a true god... like his brother-in-law. And yet, no one had ascended to godhood in the Great Ming Empire for over ten thousand years.

Chen Pingchuan shook his head. While he could have easily taken credit for this event as a display of his immense power, he disdained the thought. After ascending, he found his emotions had begun to change, and the once-childish thoughts of his humanity were slowly fading away.

"The Southern Alliance discovered the source code for the genetic potion."

Chen Pingchuan offered this seemingly random statement, but Yang Jian understood instantly.

He exclaimed in disbelief, "How dare they? Don't they realize the immense repercussions this will cause?"

Hearing this, Chen Pingchuan scoffed. "Hilarious. You don't actually think Celestial Palace No. 1 wasn't involved, do you?"

Yang Jian's heart shuddered at these words, and his expression turned incredibly grim. As a pioneer for Celestial Palace No. 1, his title—War Knight—was famous throughout the Great Ming Empire. He was naturally familiar with the methods of Celestial Palace No. 1, a premier power in the empire. Publicly, they were guardians of world order, but countless bloody wars had been fought in the name of maintaining it.

"I... I really didn't know," Yang Jian murmured, his eyes filled with confusion and rage. He was the War Knight of Celestial Palace No. 1, yet no one had informed him of such a monumental development. Instead, they had sent him on a time-wasting mission to deal with a World-Ending Demon God. The unspoken implications of the assignment were quite telling. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Chen Pingchuan naturally perceived the emotions in Yang Jian's silence. "Anger, sorrow, and a touch of helplessness," he observed aloud. "It's unexpected that a mechanical life form like you could still show such intense emotion. It seems the traditions of your Celestial Palace have run into some problems. While the Heaven's Chosen help you maintain spiritual purity, they've also caused your emotional traits to mutate."

Chen Pingchuan chuckled again. "Power and self-interest... whether it's the Celestial Palace, the Southern Alliance, or even the common person—everyone has had enough of the Great Ming Empire's rule."