Apocalypse: I Have One More Keyword Than Others-Chapter 95 - 0 Natural Transition_1
Chapter 95: 095 Natural Transition_1
Chapter 95: 095 Natural Transition_1
“Right, to grow bigger and stronger,” Yao Tong said with a nod, his smile ingratiating.
None took Duge’s suggestion to open a benevolent hall seriously.
After all.
With Brother Hu’s reputation as a man-eating tiger, it was hard to believe he would suddenly go vegetarian—the story just wouldn’t hold up.
The four men entered the room, and Duge asked in detail about Heavenly Demon with Gu Kun and the others chiming in now and then.
Yao Tong spared no detail, telling all he knew.
After learning about the traits of the Heavenly Demon, everyone fell silent.
“Brother Hu, if the outside is full of these kinds of thugs, we’re in a bad place. They are a bunch of irrational Supermen!” Gu Kun said anxiously, subconsciously pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He started to hand them out but, after getting a glare from Duge, put the pack away again.
“That’s why I was saying, we should strike first, take them out one by one before they get the chance to grow,” said Yao Tong. “It’s not just Brother Hu—no one wants these kinds of people ruling over them! We’ve got to spread the word about Heavenly Demon, make more people aware…”
“Spread the word, my ass. Communication’s all cut off; we can only get news from the outside via radio. Stepping out is a death sentence,” said Huang Mao. “By the time you get the message across, other Heavenly Demons will already have taken over the world.”
“We could take over a radio station, seize control of communications. We could attract more people to join us and spread the message,” Yao Tong offered his suggestion.
“Attract people here to starve together? What if they bring guns and I can’t handle them?” Duge kicked an empty mineral water bottle across the room and said irritably.
“Brother Hu, you still have me!” Yao Tong said with a hehe, “Give me a few days to grow, and I’ll be a little Superman too!”
“Gu Kun, find a few people to follow him, let them learn whatever he’s doing, no matter what it is,” Duge ordered, glaring at him. “Before we have superior firepower, we can’t let this kid get his way.”
“Yes, Brother Hu,” Gu Kun grinned at Yao Tong. The street-smart know how to survive, certainly not by allowing an uncontrollable guy to ride roughshod over them.
“Brother Hu…” Yao Tong’s temples throbbed as he itched with frustration at the dense thug. He had no way to act against him—after all, without room to grow, he really couldn’t beat Duge with a gun.
Duge seemed to have realized his behavior was a bit over the top. He looked at Yao Tong and patted his shoulder, saying earnestly, “Little brother Yao, don’t blame Brother Hu. You know what I do for a living. One false move and the ship capsizes, taking all of Brother Hu’s fellows with it. I have to be responsible for my brothers.
In the past, to join us, you would need to make a pledge—with the world how it is now, such pledges are useless. Guns and fists are the real deal now. Brother Hu is afraid that in a few days, you’ll be the one throwing the bigger punches! Just bear with it for now. Once Brother Hu finds a way to get stronger, we’ll grow together and become more powerful.”
“Brother Hu, I understand,” Yao Tong said, his forehead veins popping, mentally cursing Duge to hell and back. You don’t have a damn way to get stronger. By the time you do, I’ll already be devoured down to the bones. Sooner or later, I’ll take you out myself.
“Glad you understand,” Duge said with a smile. “I reckon that the heavens are fair. Humans are just another kind of animal, so it’s not likely just the animals are mutating and humans aren’t.”
“Brother Hu makes sense,” Gu Kun said. “With Heavenly Demon popping up, it’s possible humans just mutate more slowly.”
Duge scanned the group and asked, “Have you guys ever heard this joke?”
“What is it?” Gu Kun asked.
Duge looked at him and asked, “Gu Kun, tell me, why can frogs fly?”
Without missing a beat, Gu Kun replied, “Mutations?”
Smack!
Duge slapped him on the forehead, “Because it ate a magic little pill.”
“Oh,” Gu Kun said, rubbing his head with a sheepish grin, not daring to answer recklessly again. “Please, Brother Hu, continue.”
Duge then asked, “Why can snakes fly?”
Gu Kun hesitated for a moment and ventured, “Because it, too, ate the magic little pill?”
“Wrong, because it ate the frog,” Duge said.
“…” There was a brief, awkward silence.
Gu Kun’s eyes twitched violently for a few moments before he suddenly burst into applause, “Brother Hu is really funny, I never would have thought of that.”
Duge glared at him, then asked, “Why do eagles fly?”
“I know, Brother Hu, because it ate the flying snake,” Yao Tong blurted out, trying hard to fit into Brother Hu’s team.
“Wrong,” Duge looked at him as if he was an idiot, “because it could fly in the first place.”
Fuck!
Yao Tong’s face fell.
“Hahaha.” Blondie suddenly started laughing, “Eagles can fly naturally, hahaha!”
Duge gave him a glare, and Blondie’s laughter stopped abruptly, but his twitching cheeks showed he was struggling to hold it in.
Clearly, his threshold for humor was rather low.
“Do you know why I told you this story?” Duge asked.
“Why?” Gu Kun asked.
“I think we can also try eating those mutated animals outside, maybe we could evolve,” Duge said, completely composed.
He intended to play the native in this situation and naturally needed an excuse for becoming stronger.
Whether eating the flesh of the animals outside was useful or not was irrelevant; if he became stronger, then it was considered effective. If others didn’t get stronger, it was a matter of probability.
He had to keep Yao Tong under control.
Otherwise, the kid would be thinking of rebellion and usurping the throne all the time, and the charade would come to an end.
Gu Kun and another person exchanged glances, then said in all seriousness, “Brother Hu makes sense, let’s get more animals to try. Even if we don’t mutate, it’ll solve the food problem.”
“Right, that’s what I was thinking,” Duge said, “But before that, we need to win over the people’s hearts. They all know what we’ve been up to these days. Just imagine, if we don’t mutate but someone else does. What do you think the first thing they’ll want to do is?”
“Kill us,” Gu Kun said with a sense of self-awareness.
“Exactly, kill us.” Duge’s gaze turned to Yao Tong.
“Brother Hu, I’m not from this world, I really didn’t think that way,” Yao Tong hurriedly defended himself.
“In the end, it’s because we don’t have the people’s support! Now we still have food, we can suppress them. But once the food is gone and people are starved mad, they’ll do anything. There are hundreds of people outside, how many can I shoot with one gun?” Duge ignored him and suddenly sighed, “So, the thing about the charity hall I mentioned earlier wasn’t fake. I’m really planning to do that.
We can’t just instill fear, we need their respect. As long as they truly believe that following us means having food and survival, that we can protect them, even if they mutate or evolve, they won’t lay their hands on us. What’s that saying again, ‘He who wins the hearts of the people conquers the world.’ The emperor isn’t necessarily the strongest, but must be the most supported…”
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Gu Kun was momentarily stunned, “Brother Hu has really thought things through.”
Blondie said, “Brother Hu, if you become the emperor, wouldn’t all of us brothers be founding heroes!”
“…” Yao Tong’s forehead twitched a few times, suddenly not sure how to judge Duge anymore.
Label him as a hoodlum, and indeed he was one, acting impulsively and turning heartless at the flip of a switch;
Label him as dumb, and he really was dumb, holed up in an underground garage without solving the food issue, he had already started discussing becoming an emperor like it’s some kind of joke;
But a man who was both dumb and hoodlum, somehow, his words and actions were watertight, suppressing Yao Tong ruthlessly, without giving him any chance…
“We can’t become emperors. The government outside is only temporarily dispersed; once they regroup and realize we’ve been playing king here, they’ll come after us first,” Duge shook his head and said earnestly, “We should be entrepreneurs instead. Isn’t that how those gangs used to clean up their act? Start a company and then gradually legitimize the business.
Starting now, we’ll do the same. We’ll start a company, do acts of charity, and no one will be able to find fault with us. Later, when the world gets back to normal, I’ll transform into a great entrepreneur, a philanthropist benefiting both the nation and the people. If things remain chaotic, the CEO might as well be the emperor, able to attack or defend as needed.”
“Brother Hu is awesome, thinking so far ahead. I knew it, following Brother Hu is absolutely right,” Gu Kun’s eyes lit up, not sparing any flattery and completely unaware that their Brother Hu had been replaced by someone else.
“Gu Kun, learn something. To survive in the underworld, you need not only this…” Duge patted the gun at his waist and pointed to his head, smiling, “but also this.”
You don’t have shit!
Yao Tong glanced at Duge, cursing inwardly, thinking he was all that only to find it’s the same old underworld tricks…
