"No! You can't take Chief Chen away!"
"Chief Chen is a good man! What right do you have to judge him?!"
"Where is Chief Han Meng? If Chief Han Meng were here, he would never let you take Chief Chen! Chief Chen is one of us from District Three!"
"That's right! You can't take him!"
Hearing that these people intended to arrest Chen Ling, the survivors from District Three erupted in fury. They rushed to shield the train, and hot-tempered individuals like Zhao Yi even charged at the enforcers with raised fists.
The faces of Aurora City's enforcers darkened. They immediately aimed their guns at the survivors, only to be met with a torrent of curses from the bystanders.
"Are you insane?! Killing them now would cause a massive scandal! Put those guns away! Drag these refugees off now!" The judges, at least, could still read the situation. Without explicit orders to kill these people, reckless action would only invite disaster.
Enforcers surged forward, grabbing the furious District Three survivors and dragging them aside. The two sides wrestled and shoved, plunging the scene into utter chaos!
Shouts and roars clashed in the air—some condemning Chen Ling, others defending him. A dispute devoid of clear right or wrong erupted in full force.
"This farce should end now."
[Audience Expectation +5]
The moment this voice spoke, everyone fell silent and stopped fighting. They looked up at the blood-coated figure atop the train, whose expression remained unreadable.
"Chen Ling, are you surrendering?" a five-striped enforcer asked coldly.
"Surrender?" Chen Ling scoffed. "To you?"
"You!"
The disdain in Chen Ling's words enraged the judge. He glared at Chen Ling as if his eyes could kill.
"You're just a heretic who sneaked into Aurora City using hostages! Without the city, you would've died in the Gray Realm convergence!" The judge's voice was icy. "You want to survive by relying on Aurora City, yet you dare act so brazenly?"
"Who said my purpose in entering Aurora City was to survive?"
"Then why did you come here?!"
"My purpose for entering the city has two parts..." Chen Ling raised a finger, pointing at the battered survivors below, and answered unhurriedly, "First, I despise Aurora City's hypocritical justice. Whether abandoning the seven districts was right or not, I won't judge. But your treatment of low-ranking enforcers and judges disgusts me to the core..."
"Since the enforcers you champion as 'just' are slaughtering civilians, I made sure to bring these survivors into Aurora City... I wanted the city to hear what kind of monsters are running rampant beneath the veneer of righteousness."
As these words fell, the survivors from District Three seemed to recall something, their eyes burning with fury. Among the citizens of Aurora City, some paled, though not all were moved.
The five-striped judge's expression darkened. To him, Chen Ling was no different from the heretics inciting protests—both sought to bewitch the masses with lies...
He couldn't let Chen Ling keep talking.
By now, the enforcers below had begun clearing the area, forcibly removing the District Three survivors. As the space emptied, the two five-striped judges exchanged glances. After a brief silent exchange, one of them vanished, stealthily closing in on Chen Ling atop the train.
"Nonsense." The five-striped judge narrowed his eyes, trying to hold Chen Ling's attention. "Since when does a heretic get to judge the enforcement system?"
Chen Ling ignored him entirely. A faint glimmer flashed in his [Secret Eyes], and he cast a sidelong glance—
Then, as if noticing nothing, he continued calmly, "Second... I came to deliver a 'warning.'"
"A warning?"
Chen Ling paused, his voice ringing clearly in everyone's ears, "The frozen winds from the Frozen Sea have reached Aurora City. The fall of the seven districts is not the end of this story... Perhaps, it is only the beginning."
The crowd froze, seemingly unable to grasp his meaning. But the judges' faces twisted with horror and rage!
"You're courting death!!" the five-striped judge roared. "Aurora City is an impregnable fortress! How dare an outsider like you blaspheme it?! What are you all waiting for? Seize this heretic now!!"
Before his voice faded, every enforcer below raised their guns at Chen Ling. At the same time, from the void beside the train, a figure erupted with terrifying pressure, striking without warning!
This five-striped judge had crept right next to Chen Ling. At this range, he was certain he could capture Chen Ling in one move—leaving no room for escape.
Yet, just as his hand was about to touch Chen Ling, the latter's lips curled into a smirk. The sidelong glance he cast was filled with faint mockery and amusement.
Chen Ling crushed the handful of cursed eels hidden in his sleeve!
BOOM!!
As the eels were pulverized, raging flames erupted from Chen Ling's palm. From a distance, it looked as though a blazing sun had detonated atop the train!
The searing heat distorted the very air, and the five-striped judge's outstretched hand was instantly charred black!
Stunned, he stumbled back, staring at Chen Ling in shock!
No one saw where the flames had come from. It was as though Chen Ling had merely raised his hand, and a miniature sun several meters wide had ignited before their eyes. The blood-coated figure stood calmly amid the inferno, like a radiant deity bathed in light and heat.
"He... he??" Everyone present was dumbfounded. The five-striped judge never imagined Chen Ling would set himself ablaze!
"Is he insane?!"
"He fought so hard to enter Aurora City, only to burn himself alive in the end?!"
"Heretic Chen Ling... Heretic Chen Ling? A heretic went to such lengths to bring survivors from the seven districts into the city, then just immolated himself? What was his goal?"
"That makes no sense. There's no benefit for him in this... Unless he truly just wanted to save them?"
"He sacrificed his own life to rescue those survivors from District Three... How could someone like that be a heretic?"
"Now I believe what those survivors said. This Chen Ling is no heretic! If someone like him can be called a heretic, then what does that make the enforcers who abandoned the seven districts?"
"He shouldn't have died! Aurora City forced him to this!! He was just a hero trying to save the forsaken!"
"..."
Everyone stared blankly at the figure engulfed in flames, their minds reeling. Amid the surrounding outcry, the judges' accusations against Chen Ling crumbled to dust the moment he ignited himself...
The heretic in the judges' eyes, the criminal who infiltrated the enforcement system, the schemer who used hostages to survive—under the scorching blaze, every label and suspicion pinned on Chen Ling was incinerated.
Sometimes, actions speak louder than words. These flames overturned the judges' narrative, steering the farce toward an ending entirely in Chen Ling's favor.
In this moment, only one label remained on Chen Ling...
A savior who sacrificed himself to challenge Aurora City and rescue the abandoned refugees!
As the flames consumed him, Chen Ling's body slowly turned to ash. Smiling at the audience below, he placed a hand over his chest and gave a slight, elegant bow—like an actor taking his final curtain call.
The swirling ashes soared into the sky, transforming before everyone's eyes into countless playing cards that fluttered down like snowflakes...
Amid the crowded square, along the distant streets, within the burning flames—
They were all [6 of Hearts].
Just as the crowd stood frozen in awe, a calm, measured voice emerged from the dying embers, "Human civilization... shall never be extinguished."