Final Lord

Chapter 271 Kill! Loot! Empty the place!

The people huddled together in fear, and the elite cavemen and harpies around Wang Bufu made them dare not even entertain the thought of resistance.

Wang Bufu's icy gaze swept over the dozens of powerful figures kneeling below the stage like a blade. These once high and mighty rulers were now bound hand and foot, their magnificent robes covered in dust, and their obese bodies trembling with fear.

"Investigate!" Wang Bufu's voice, like a frigid polar wind sweeping across the square, sent chills down the spines of everyone who heard it. "Anyone who embezzles, accepts bribes, or oppresses the people shall be executed!"

Blind Cat, carrying a heavy ledger, strode forward. His withered fingers traced the yellowed pages as he loudly proclaimed: "Public complaint: Tax Official Claude embezzled 3,000 shi of disaster relief funds a year ago, resulting in the starvation of 378 people!"

"I'm innocent!" Claude suddenly struggled to crawl forward, tears and snot streaming down his fat face, which was bruised from the ropes. "That grain was for Viscount Hank... I... I..."

Wang Bufu smirked and waved his right hand lightly.

"Whoosh—!"

As the sword flashed, Claude's voice abruptly ceased. His head rolled onto the bluestone slab, his wide-open eyes still frozen in disbelief. Blood gushed out like a fountain, drawing a glaring red line across the square.

A commotion broke out among the onlookers. Some covered their eyes in fear, some clenched their fists in excitement, and some even knelt on the ground and sobbed softly—Wang Bufu thought those were tears of anger finally released from years of oppression, and certainly not tears of fear.

“Next.” Wang Bufu’s voice was eerily calm, as if he had just swatted a fly.

The soldiers roughly dragged in a plump, white-skinned official whose official robes, embroidered with gold thread, were torn to shreds, and whose round belly bulged comically under the tight ropes.

Wang Bufu turned to face the onlookers, his voice booming like thunder: "Vice City Lord Kaibangluote is here! Whoever can report his crimes will be rewarded with 100 gold coins!"

The crowd instantly became excited.

"He defiled my son!" A ragged woman suddenly rushed out of the crowd, her calloused fingers trembling as she pointed at Kaibangluote. "My poor child... only thirteen years old... and in the end, he threw himself into the well!" Her heart-wrenching cries echoed across the square for a long time.

"He seized my shop!" A weathered merchant pushed his way to the front, his eyes burning with hatred. "His cloth shop, worth two hundred thousand gold coins, was bought by him for a mere fifty copper coins!"

"He forcibly demolished my family's ancestral home in order to expand his mansion!"

"My son was beaten to death because he couldn't pay the increased taxes!"

The accusations rose and fell, like a storm that had been brewing for years finally unleashed. Wang Bufu didn't need to gather any more evidence; the public's anger had already said it all.

These powerful and influential people are inherently at odds with the masses, and few honest officials can gain their support.

In a cannibalistic environment like that of shackles and chains, an honest official cannot become a powerful figure.

"Alright, kill!"

With that brief pronouncement, another head rolled to the ground. Blood splattered on the shoes of the onlookers, but no one took a step back. On the contrary, their eyes gleamed with an unusual light—a spark of rekindled hope.

One after another, the shackled nobles fell in pools of blood. Each pronouncement of judgment was met with cheers, and each flash of sword light illuminated a relieved face.

Wang Bufu couldn't be sure if all the powerful figures he killed were guilty, but he knew that even if he spared one out of ten, there would inevitably be some who escaped. Killing the wrong people didn't matter; what he wanted wasn't justice or fairness, but the fervor and pleasure of the people.

The stench of blood in the square grew stronger, but the people's backs straightened and their eyes shone brighter.

As the last nobleman's head fell to the ground, Wang Bufu turned to face the crowd, the bloodstains on his black robe gleaming a dark red in the sunlight.

“From this day forward,” his voice was soft, yet everyone could hear it clearly, “every grain of your food will belong to the one who tilled it; every coin of your gold will belong to the one who created it.”

A deafening cheer erupted from the crowd, the sound echoing long after the shackled collar was lifted, even shaking the night.

"Everyone, get on the bus immediately! We're taking you back to New Gru territory!"

Wang Bufu's voice, cold and hard as steel, echoed above the shackles. He suddenly waved his hand, and twenty undead heavy truck riders roared simultaneously, their rusty truck doors slamming open to reveal the eerie blue soul fire within.

Tina hovered low in the air, her sharp claws carefully supporting the elderly man and gently lifting the crying child. She said softly, "Don't be afraid, we'll be home soon."

Other harpies were not so polite; any subjects who tried to cause trouble or disobeyed would be severely punished by them.

The residents lined up in a long queue, boarding the carriages in an orderly fashion under the guidance of the undead soldiers. Some clutched sacks full of grain, some tightly gripped the gold coins they had just received, and many more simply held onto the hands of their loved ones in a daze. As the last old woman shakily stepped onto the carriage, the gates slowly closed with a grating metallic scraping sound.

"Set off!"

At Wang Bufu's command, the exhaust pipes of the undead truck riders spewed eerie blue flames, and the skeleton drivers excitedly floored the accelerator. These steel behemoths let out a dying roar, carrying a truckload of residents out of the city.

Outside the city, in the vast wilderness, the towering corpse fungus island lay silently. Mair stood atop the cap, her slender fingers gently stroking the trembling surface of the fungus. A faint smile played on her lips as her emerald pupils reflected the approaching convoy in the distance.

“Prepare for connection,” she whispered, and the fungal carpet beneath her feet suddenly split open with dozens of neat, round holes. Soft mycelium writhed around the edges of each hole, like a cradle awaiting a baby.

As the first truck came to a stop, the mycelium coiled around it like a living thing, forming an rainbow bridge between the truck bed and the cap. Amid the residents' gasps of alarm, Mair's gentle voice echoed through the mental link: "Walk with confidence; they are more stable than an oak bridge."

Trucks came and went, continuously picking up the residents of the Shackled Territory and taking them to the Corpse Fungus Sky Island.

Soon the shackled leader approached the empty city.

As a result, the cavemen broke into the mansions of the powerful and wealthy, and their treasuries, granaries, and treasures were all destroyed.

"My lord, the harvest is plentiful!" Blind Cat reported excitedly. "The grain alone is enough to feed ten thousand people for half a year!"

Wang Bufu nodded slightly: "Take a little and distribute it to the people on Corpse Fungus Sky Island."

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)