Dominion's End

Dominion's End V3C8: The Three-Forked Road, Part One

Dominion's End Volume 3: Ice-Bound Splendor and Majesty

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

Chapter 8: The Three-Forked Road, Part One—translated by Elkin & Raylight (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia)

Weary and wounded, we made our way back up to the refugee camp in single file. Along the way, we even encountered Wu Yaojin. The moment we ran into him, every soldier rushed at him, thirsting for blood and vengeance. As for me, I didn't feel it necessary to stop them.

Everyone had dark expressions on their faces after we did a count just now. The number of survivors after all the deaths and injuries had been whittled down to just under a third. The greatest shock was the deaths of the Lieutenant and Guo Hong. Their lives were lost in the aberrant ambush led by Asura and not even their corpses were spared. Given the circumstances, could you really blame the soldiers for wanting to rip apart the researchers?

"If you kill me, you're going to run into trouble two days down the line," Wu Yaojin analyzed the situation extremely calmly despite the fact that his life was in danger. "In the past, we relied on Maternibaby to keep the aberrants from the refugee camp. But now that it's not around anymore..."

He had actually adopted the term "aberrant." With that, this new vocabulary might become commonplace even faster.

Ah Nuo's face immediately darkened and he asked gravely, "So those monsters are gonna come?"

Wu Yaojin nodded.

The soldiers' expressions became grimmer, with what seemed to be a tinge of resignation mixed in.

I quickly asked, "So since you're saying 'killing you will bring trouble,' you're saying that you have some way to fix this, right?"

"Yup." Wu Yaojin gazed evenly at everyone but didn't tell us the solution. It was obvious that he was going to use it as a bargaining chip to protect his own life. He was keeping his lips tightly sealed.

I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian, wondering if he had any ideas. But he didn't seem to care and instead said, "Let's head up. Thirteen is probably heading east, since his main camp was established there. Then again, there's no guarantee that he went over to that city directly, or there might be some delay in between."

Eastwards...? I blanched. Dàgē's route was also eastwards, and I vaguely remembered the aberrants' main camp being in a large metropolis. Don't tell me it's Lan City?!

Seeing my abrupt change in expression, Jiang Xiaotian shot me a look of bewilderment, but before I even needed to explain myself, he quickly figured it out himself, and his expression also changed to one of alarm. He blurted out, "Shujun's in danger!"

Technically speaking, it didn't pose an immediate danger to them. Dàgē and the others were planning to set up camp in the old town near Lan City rather than in Lan City itself. Furthermore, the world was a big place, so what was the probability of running into—Wait a second, with the Jiang family's rotten luck, it's hard to say! I mean, I bumped into Thirteen myself!

We'd better go soon. I started worrying.

At this moment, Chen Yanqing suddenly took a few steps toward me, with a look of unease on his face. It was almost like a man who was deeply terrified of being abandoned by his wife... No wait, I mean, just like, just like—I really don't know a better way to describe it!

But I could understand his unease. In my previous life, there were many who wanted to stay with the strong. Even a small-fry like Xia Zhengu had quite a few followers. Everyone had simply run out of options, and survival in the face of aberrants, hunger, and drastic climate changes had become incredibly difficult. Walking in the shadow of someone strong gave that little bit of security in life, and people were willing to sell themselves and even their children to get that security.