Chapter 55 Submit or die?
Luke and everyone else turned to look in the direction from which the voice came and their pupils constricted when they saw over 20 men and women armed with swords, axes, iron rods, and some even had bows.
Somehow, Luke knew all of them were evolvers and everyone was stronger than Ben, Julia, and others. Especially the two men leading the group—One with the crossbow and the other dark-skinned man with a scar on his forehead—felt very dangerous to him.
As if to confirm his suspicion, Shadow said, "They are from the food factory. Every one of them is an evolver and stronger than everyone in our group except you, Alice, and me."
He then pointed at the two men leading the group.
"Those two are the leaders. The man with the crossbow is the main leader, the rulers' underling, and the strongest of them all. I even suspect he should be as strong, if not stronger, than you and Alice. As for the other one, he is the right camp leader, and if he hadn't grown stronger, he should be as strong as Derek."
As they walked closer, Rio helped his wife up, picked up his son before coming beside Luke and others.
Because of her injury, although Julia was experiencing the sharp pain in her head whenever she moved her head, as soon as she saw these people, she gritted her teeth, lifted herself up and walked over to Luke's side too.
"Group leader, we should do our best to flee. We aren't their match, especially with Alice being unconscious. But even if she wasn't, we still wouldn't have been their match." Shadow suggested.
Luke took a deep breath and clenched his sword. "They won't let us go peacefully. You can tell it by their expressions. And although you and I can escape, others can't."
Hearing this, everyone's expressions turned ugly. This was especially true for Rio's wife, who was shivering in fright.
"H-Honey, he won't abandon us, right?" She whispered to Rio.
"I don't think he would." Rio said, clutching her hand. He wanted nothing more than to flee now, but knew he and his family would most definitely end up dead if he did.
Although they spoke in hushed voices, Luke and Shadow heard them clearly.
"If we try to fight, things might end up even worse." Shadow said.
"I know." Luke nodded, his expression turning grim as they walked closer to them. The only fortunate thing was that they weren't rushing to surround them.
The man with the crossbow—the main leader glanced at Shadow and chuckled, "We meet again."
"Unfortunately." Shadow responded, causing the dark-skinned man to snicker.
"If Derek was alive, he would want nothing more than to hack you into pieces. Ah! How good that scene would have been?!"
Shadow didn't pay any attention to his remark and continued to stare cautiously at the main camp leader and others.
The main camp leader took a step forward, his eyes peering at Luke, and asked, "I presume you are the leader of this small group?"
"Yes." Luke nodded without saying anything more.
The main camp leader stared at Luke for a second before saying in a very casual tone.
"As you can see, the world has changed, and I'm sure you must have noticed the zombies are evolving rapidly. That must be the reason you are trying to leave the city and not get trapped here, right?"
Luke didn't respond, causing the man to narrow his eyes slightly as he continued, "No matter how strong we individually may be, we can't survive alone. That's why I am gathering the talented people. I can see you and that unconscious young lass over there are very talented."
"You want us to join you?" Luke frowned. "Even though I had killed your subordinates yesterday?"
The man nodded, "Yes. If you, that girl, and Shadow, agree to join us, I'll forgive you for killing Derek and others."
He then glanced at Rio, his wife and Julia and said, "I understand why you guys left, but if you return to us, I guarantee every one of you will be treated with due respect."
Julie snorted in disgust, but Rio's wife was tempted. She wanted to speak up, but Rio clenched her hand to indicate she stayed silent.
However, she still couldn't help but speak up.
"Why, honey? Since he has promised we won't be treated badly, wouldn't it be better to join them? They have, after all, more people, and we will be safer with them."
Hearing this, Ben, Professor Nina and Julia revealed an angry expression. Rio, noticing this, promptly shouted at her, "Shut up!"
"We are now a part of sir Luke's group and he will be the one to decide what we should do." He declared and sighed in relief when he saw Ben and others' expression ease up.
Lisa was stunned. This was the first time her husband shouted at her and although she felt she wasn't in the wrong for saying that, she kept quiet.
The main camp leader smiled at Luke and asked, "So, what do you say?"
"What if we refuse?" Luke asked, his grip strengthening on his sword's hilt.
Hearing this, the smile from the camp leader's face vanished, replaced by a cold, murderous expression as he stated, "If you refuse… we'll kill you."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The twenty or so people raised their weapons and moved to surround them.
"Ben, take Alice and escape with everyone. Hurry!" Luke shouted before turning to Shadow, he said in a heavy voice. "Protect them!"
"W-What do you mean? We won't—" Ben's eyes widened in horror when he understood what Luke meant. The same was true for Professor Nina.
Seeing them hesitate, Luke's anger flared, and he shouted, "GO!!"
"No—" Ben wanted to protest, but Shadow appeared in front of him and,
Slap!
Slapped him across his face and shouted, "What else can you do? Now stop being a pussy and let's go."
"But he—" Professor Nina tried to speak, but Shadow interrupted her, "If he doesn't have to worry about your sorry asses, maybe he can escape too."
Saying this, he picked up the unconscious Alice, flung her over his shoulder, and rushed toward the wall.
"He is right. We will just be a burden on him if we stay." Rio said before, picking his wife and son and following Shadow with his fastest speed.
Ben, Professor Nina, Lori and Julia cast a reluctant glance at Luke and turned to run away but,
Whoosh!
A figure suddenly appeared in front of them and slashed the sword in its hand at Ben.
Slash!
Spurt!
"NOOOO!!!"
Just as Luke was about to activate his skills and engage the incoming people in a fight to buy enough time for everyone to escape, he heard Professor Nina's scream. Reflexively, he turned his head around to see what had happened and froze when he saw the scene in front of him.
There was a deep, bloody sword wound on Ben's chest and blood was spraying out uncontrollably.
Ben looked down at his chest and then turned to look at him before his gaze gradually grew unfocused and he fell face first to the ground, his status unknown.
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