Apocalypse: The Primordial Pearl Recognizes Its Master, Starting with Infinite Space

Whispers spread through the crowd of onlookers.

"Who are these people? Why have they surrounded us?"

"From Shanshui Garden. Didn't the mayor send people to beat them up a while ago? They're probably here for revenge."

"Seeking revenge? But this is an official sanctuary, and the mayor is still here..."

"Official?" someone scoffed. "It's been so many days since the apocalypse, and you still believe in that?"

The man didn't say anything more, but simply shrank further into the crowd.

-

Lin Chen stopped.

Chang Chengye was only ten steps away.

He looked at the man opposite him, whose hair had turned white overnight and who looked nearly twenty years older, and suddenly felt a little dazed.

—This is the “powerful figure” he had looked up to, feared, and avoided in his previous life?

He once thought Chang Chengye was a mountain.

Standing in front of the mountain now, he realized that it was just a mound of earth.

He spoke with a smile, as if catching up with an old friend:

"Mayor Chang, how have you been?"

The sound was very soft, carried away by the wind.

Chang Chengye's Adam's apple bobbed.

He wanted to try again.

Even if there's only a one in ten thousand chance.

"Lord Lin," he managed to squeeze out, his voice hoarse, "...Can we still talk?"

He didn't want war. He knew what war meant—not victory or defeat, but utter annihilation.

Lin Chen raised an eyebrow.

"Want to talk?" He seemed to have heard something interesting, and the corners of his mouth widened a bit. "Sure."

Chang Chengye's heart skipped a beat.

"Let's talk first," Lin Chen said casually, as if discussing the weather, "How did you enslave Captain Zhang Zicheng?"

He paused, his gaze shifting to Leng Zhijie's hollow, handsome face.

"And this one, Mr. Leng Zhijie, with S-level talent."

The words had barely left his lips.

The composure that Chang Chengye had been maintaining on his face cracked open.

Someone in the crowd behind him gasped.

This information originally came from Zhang Hui, and after observing them for the past few days, he had already confirmed it without a doubt. Zhang Zicheng and Leng Zhijie's state of being enslaved could be hidden from others, but not from him—he was all too familiar with the look in the eyes of those who were being manipulated.

Lin Chen did not move.

He simply stood there, calmly watching Chang Chengye, without immediately killing the father and son.

In his previous life, when he saved Li Ya, he heard that the father and son had committed many evils. In this life, he could not let the father and son die too easily.

He wanted to make Chang Chengye see clearly—he did not die at the hands of the strong.

He died at the hands of something called "cause and effect," which he had never even looked at seriously.

Lin Chen looked at him with a smile, like he was looking at a gambler whose cards had been revealed.

Chang Chengye's brow twitched, barely maintaining his last shred of dignity: "Don't talk nonsense! What slavery? Aren't they doing just fine?"

He secretly channeled his mental energy to command the two puppets—

He angrily cursed him.

Refute him.

To prove that everything is normal.

Zhang Zicheng and Leng Zhijie spoke blankly, their voices as flat as machines: "You're talking nonsense." "You're lying." "We're normal."

It's always the same few sentences, over and over again.

Chang Chengye's heart sank.

Lin Chen didn't even look at him, but turned to the soldiers in SWAT uniforms in the opposite queue.

"Didn't you notice anything unusual about your captain?"

The special police officers looked at each other in bewilderment.

"His words, actions, and temperament," Lin Chen listed them off one by one. "This Mr. Leng, I don't know if there are any people he saved or colleagues here. Look closely, is he the same person now as before?"

silence.

Then came the suppressed whispers.

"The captain... he's been acting strange lately. Whenever I ask him anything, he just says 'I'm fine,' I thought he was under a lot of pressure..."

"He used to joke with us after missions, but now... he doesn't even seem like a living person anymore."

"His gaze is blank," a young SWAT officer murmured. "I noticed it when I first arrived. When the captain looks at people, his eyes don't move."

He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"I should have realized it sooner..."

On the other side, several middle-aged survivors, dressed in worn clothes, squeezed at the edge of the crowd, staring intently at Leng Zhijie.

"Mr. Leng..." one of the women covered her mouth, her voice trembling, "The day he rescued us from the city center, he was still smiling. He said not to be afraid, that we could live if we followed him. He was so young, so... so full of energy."

Tears streamed down her face.

"How did it turn out like this?"

Chang Chengye's expression changed completely.

"Nonsense! utter nonsense!" he shouted, veins bulging on his forehead. "Lin Chen, don't spout such lies! Captain Zhang and Captain Leng both followed me voluntarily—"

His voice was loud, so loud it was shrill.

But even he himself could hear the underlying bravado in that bravado.

The SWAT officers' hands, gripping heavy weapons, slowly lowered. The muzzles of their guns were no longer pointed at Lin Chen, but rather blankly pointed at the ground.

Chang Chengye suddenly realized how big a mistake he had made.

In that split second, he should have given the order to open fire.

Strike first, regardless of the consequences.

But he hesitated.

He thought there was still room for negotiation.

He thought Lin Chen should at least follow some rules.

He thought he was wrong.

-

"Since Mayor Chang is unwilling to admit it," Lin Chen said in a calm tone, "then I'll help you."

Chang Chengye suddenly looked up.

He looked warily into Lin Chen's eyes.

This actually benefited Lin Chen.

Lin Chen focused his mental energy, looked into Chang Chengye's eyes, and mentally signaled his ability to activate!

Chang Chengye sensed something was wrong and tried to look away.

late.

Those eyes were as deep as an abyss, as if they held some kind of power that he could not understand and was powerless to resist.

Faced with this power, he was nothing but an ant.

It was just a fleeting moment.

He then "came to his senses" again.

"Mayor Chang," Lin Chen said casually, as if making small talk, "Tell me, what is your special ability?"

Chang Chengye's voice was steady, even carrying a hint of composure:

"Puppetry Technique"

"I can turn people into my puppets, making them completely obedient to my commands."

An uncontrollable gasp erupted from the crowd.

Chang Chengye heard the exclamations, but he couldn't stop his narration.

His lips were like a wound-up toy, each word clear and distinct:

"When Zhang Zicheng came to the city government for rescue, I tricked him into the office. Taking advantage of his momentary lapse in attention, I grabbed his head—that's how he became my first puppet. By controlling him, I controlled his SWAT team. That's how I obtained the strongest initial military support."

In the special police team, some people clenched their fists so tightly they cracked.

"Leng Zhijie," Chang Chengye continued, "was lured in by the name of the 'official shelter.' He wanted to do things for the survivors and wanted to make use of his S-level talent—what a naive young man."

He even smiled.