Chapter 1074: Chapter 261: Starting Out with 1 Wooden Stick_2

Zhuang Xiao gazed at the rings of the tree, full of history, and pondered for a moment, suddenly realizing this must be strawberry season.

So she once again picked up the stick and struck the trunk.

"Crash!"

This is the season of harvest, where the baskets are filled with juicy, fresh strawberries.

Zhuang Xiao, like a diligent farmer, wiped away a bead of sweat, her face beaming with the joy of harvest.

Great First Lady’s question marks above her head doubled.

What on earth is this!

Why are strawberries falling from a ginkgo tree?

Despite the baskets and strawberries being seemingly inconspicuous, if we speak broadly, Zhuang Xiao’s one strike with the stick directly induced the plants to genetically mutate, and not only that, she forcibly accelerated the fruit maturation time!

But Zhuang Xiao was different from Lindong, she wouldn’t think so much.

She merely felt that the tribe now needed ripe strawberries as gifts for recruiting newcomers. Her luck was impeccable, there happened to be a strawberry tree by the roadside, and of course, Zhuang Xiao understood that behind every coincidence, there were precise forces driving it, and this time, it was Brother Sen blessing the tribe.

In her mind existed vague silhouettes about Brother Sen, but in truth, she didn’t really understand Brother Sen’s skills.

Yet with Brother Sen’s name containing "Sen," he’s likely the god of abundant harvest.

Zhuang Xiao wasn’t eager to uncover the true identity of Brother Sen; she had more important matters to attend to. She needed to quickly assemble a troop for the tribe, believing Brother Sen would be proud of her. Thus a new question arose, where should she go to recruit talents?

Whenever she thought of a question, an answer quickly emerged.

Zhuang Xiao heard noises coming from three districts away, filled with human agony and screams, all signs pointing to one thing.

—There’s a fight!

The Warlord would never miss any struggle.

Zhuang Xiao, carrying a basket in her left hand and a stick in her right, walked towards the source of the commotion.

Meanwhile, three districts away, an arbitrator squad was ensnared in a desperate battle, all their retreats cut off, including their contact with the Ministry of Justice.

They were ambushed.

An hour earlier, the Ministry of Justice had received a citizen report stating signs of demon activity were discovered in a Central District coffee shop, precisely describing the demon’s traits - bearing human-like faces but structurally imbalanced bodies, along with the distinct feature of pitch-black eyes.

Those were eyes without pupils, wholly dark.

The Chief Prosecutor immediately dispatched an investigation team, Ethan’s departure had dealt a bitter blow to both the Ministry of Justice and the Sanctuary of Logic—following the appearance of eccentric demons, their faith in Ethan collapsed suddenly. Even worse, that embodiment which seemed as powerful as the Holy Master from most perspectives was their enemy.

Even the eminent First Lady was corrupted by Ethan, this time, she did not choose the Holy City, no longer standing with the survivors of the First Special District, but followed Ethan’s footsteps into the Node Space.

The morale of the Ministry of Justice plunged to unprecedented lows.

Yet the Chief Prosecutor did not give up, knowing he must act to salvage this dire situation.

Thus, upon hearing about demon appearances, he sent out an elite squad of judges; if they managed to kill a few demons or even gather any intelligence on demons, it would boost morale. This first confrontation with demons demanded a prompt understanding of the enemy.

However, reality proved they once again misjudged the situation.

The advance team was obliterated almost immediately upon contact with the demons inside the coffee shop, demons possessing bizarre abilities, bullets fired at them ended up hitting themselves, and those fervent citizens who reported to the Ministry of Justice were confirmed to be disguised demons.

The last three survivors of the advance team hid in the rear warehouse of the coffee shop, driven there by demons, merely serving as amusement for the demons, akin to a hunt where prey is deliberately allowed some distance, savoring their struggle for survival, until exhausting them completely, emerging at their most desperate moment to skin them alive.

"Little lambs, where have you hidden? Come to daddy."

The demons’ whisper echoing through the corridors of the coffee shop waxed and waned, seemingly intentionally avoiding the warehouse, merely spreading fear.

"Don’t give up hope!"

An elderly judge gritted his teeth and spoke, "Hold on, the Chief Prosecutor will surely come to rescue us, just hold on until reinforcements arrive..."

Regrettably, the supposedly inspiring speech failed to have any effect, survivors turned ashen-faced, nearly obliterated in their conflict with demons, yet obtaining no useful intelligence at all. Even if the Chief Prosecutor truly led a team to support them, what then?

They’d fire at demons, and then more judges would die.

Their brains would explode inwardly, eyeballs falling to the ground, unspeakably gruesome.

If...

If Mr. Ethan came here, perhaps there’d truly be a turnaround!

This was the thought of the other two survivors, but they mustn’t speak out under such circumstances.

Whether they admitted it or not, since the moment Mr. Ethan left, hope had already vanished without a trace.