Epoch of Twilight

The young police officer quickly left the after knocking on the door. Luo Yuan pondered for a moment and then pushed the door open. There was another person present in the office in addition to Mayor Song. A woman graced them with her presence which made Luo Yuan’s eyes flicker in surprise. She was wearing a tight and sexy black skirt with a top that was stretched too tightly at the chest region! It seemed that her "goods" underneath was ready to pop out at any time. Her waistline was very slim and formed a perfect curve.

Upon closer observation at the attractive figure that stood in front of him, Luo Yuan noticed that her skirt was also very tight - exposing her plump hips which gave her a perfect hourglass shape. She also had a stunning pair of long fair legs which models would kill to have. Just a mere glance at her would cause accelerated secretion of hormones in men. Moreover, coupled with an innocent and shy face, she would just drive any man crazy!

"Mr. Luo, please take a seat. It’s great to see you!" Mayor Song greeted Luo Yuan with a warm welcome while pushing away his file which was already open on the table.

"It’s great to see you too!" Luo Yuan quickly shook himself out of his sinful thoughts, smiled and shook hands with Mayor Song. He then proceeded to sit down on the sofa.

"It’s shocking that such a thing happened in Desert City. The incident of rebellions has caused most of the members from the upper management to get into trouble. Even Officer Liu and I were brainwashed. The responsibility of the huge losses and casualties caused in Desert City are all on my shoulders, no one else is to blame." Mayor Song said with a bitter face and a heavy heart.

"Mayor Song, you don’t have to blame yourself. After all, this is beyond the reach of human beings. What’s more, everything is now back to normal. You’re a big hero for saving Desert City." Luo Yuan said with a smile.

Mayor Song still looked depressed but he felt slightly relieved by Luo Yuan’s assuring words. He waved his hand and said, "Mr. Luo, I’m sure you’re joking. You are not a government official so you do not know the seriousness and severity of this political event. If my superiors do not accuse me on this matter, I’d be very contented."

Luo Yuan was stunned as he did not find any abnormal behavior from Mayor Song. He was aware of the official bureaucratic rules and it did not look like he was being mind-controlled. Luo Yuan then said, "Based on the situation in Desert City right now, I believe the upper management would make appropriate considerations. After all, this place is already considered an enemy-occupied area, right? Oh, Mayor Song, can I know where all the rebellions are located now?"

Mayor Song was about to speak again but he suddenly paused. The sexually-appealing figure in the room was walking towards them in a seductive manner with two cups of tea on a tray. It smelled good. "Tea for two, please." Mayor Song spoke politely.

Once the woman left, Luo Yuan said with a smile, "I didn’t ask earlier... Who is this?"

"Secretary Zheng suffered a misfortune from the incident with the rebellions. This is my temporary secretary," said Mayor Song in a heavy tone.

While Luo Yuan expressed grief for Secretary Zheng, he also began to be suspicious. Initially, he had slight doubt but now he could almost draw the conclusion confidently. There was a hidden rule which is practiced amongst government officials that they ought to hire similar-gendered secretaries to maintain their image and avoid any unnecessary criticism. Moreover, the lady looked like a slut which would certainly destroy any politician’s image. Luo Yuan could not believe that Mayor Song, who prioritized his image, would take the risk of hiring a lady like her.

Mayor Song seemed to have sensed Luo Yuan’s thoughts at that moment. He then explained helplessly, "In fact, she is my niece. A lot of people here know her. Too many things have happened recently and the staff attrition rate is very serious. Thus, I asked her to assist me temporarily. However, the official secretary would be assigned by upper management when they find a suitable evolved man.

...

After a bit more chit chat, Luo Yuan left the municipal hall. As he observed that the situation at the refuge had returned to normal, he did not know why he still felt depressed! Before leaving, Luo Yuan asked a few people regarding the identity of Mayor Song’s niece and it was indeed true. Each person’s facial expressions were genuine and some men subconsciously expressed admiration to her flawless, picture-perfect, beauty. Luo Yuan stared at them for a long time but could not see any flaws or abnormalities on their faces. If they were indeed acting, then, almost everyone could get an Oscar!

At this moment, Luo Yuan suddenly thought of his comrades. He controlled his urge to look for Huang Jiahui and his other team members. Despite seeing things turn back to normal, the situation was still unclear to Luo Yuan and perhaps someone was monitoring him. He might expose his weakness and get them into trouble if he went to meet them. Luo Yuan tried to avoid being sighted again as he headed back to the basement.

...

Two days had now passed.

Luo Yuan had disguised himself daily and entered secretly to observe basement two of the shelter. Thus far, he had not found anything strange or abnormal. In fact, those evolved men who had been detained earlier were even gradually released.

The next afternoon, there was a public execution in front of the municipal hall. More than two dozen criminals were tied up and arranged in a long line. There were a lot of people who looked vaguely familiar to Luo Yuan which included evolved men who surrendered to the rebellion as well as government servants who took the initiative to surrender.

According to the judge, there were two rebels’ remnants there as well. Luo Yuan immediately looked towards the two people in the first row when he heard this announcement. There was a man and a woman with vastly different expressions on their faces. The woman looked numb with nothing in her eyes and she seemed to have given up on life. On the other hand, the man held his head high and still looked rebellious.

Luo Yuan felt that he looked familiar although he could not confirm at the time. He pondered for a long time but could not recall where and when he had seen this person before. The group of rebellions rarely left their rooms during the day to avoid being exposed. Sometimes, they even hid inside their rooms all day long. Luo Yuan suddenly recalled that one morning, as he was ready to go out for a breather, he happened to see this person return when he opened the door. Upon a second glance, Luo Yuan noticed that his eyes were striking and they left an impression on him. Perhaps that’s why he could still remember him.

"How could he be a rebel?" Luo Yuan was confused. The official suspect now became uncertain to him. "Could it be that the woman is the hidden mind controller?"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" A burst of gunfire could be heard and Luo Yuan was alerted by it. He immediately looked at them and saw all the corpses lying on the ground. Most of their bodies still moved for a while but then came to a complete stop in a short time. The new weapons used during the public execution were so powerful that it caused its targets heads to be completely shattered. If a normal gun was used then the spasms would last longer. Many of the audiences present screamed due to shock and some began to puke due to the sheer gruesomeness that they witnessed.

It was very easy to separate those who have evolved apart from those who were not after they turned into corpses. Normal prisoners took less than a minute to completely stop twitching. However, those who were evolved, especially those with higher physical strength, lasted about three minutes before they stopped jerking. Some of the particularly powerful evolved humans were still twitching incessantly after five minutes. With regards to the two rebels, Luo Yuan were concerned about, the woman was dead but as Luo Yuan suspected, she might be the mind controller so her body should be no difference than the bodies of ordinary peoples. As for the man, after the rest of the rebels being executed had stopped twitching, his body continued to twitch for more than three minutes after that and then finally stopped. He was indeed an evolved man and his strength was at least ranked at level four.

The corpses were soon quickly placed into body bags and trucked away. The ground was also cleaned by the sanitation workers. However, the smell of blood remained in the air even though it was not obvious that a public execution had just happened here. The crowd had dispersed since there was nothing more to see. Some people were excited and continued chatting as they were stimulated by the killing but Luo Yuan could only frown as he felt something was wrong. It seems that a key piece of information was missing from the puzzle.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he suddenly felt a burst of anxiety as a sense of panic grew from the bottom of his heart. He quickly scanned the surroundings but nothing was found. Just when he thought it was another illusion, Luo Yuan suddenly felt the ground tremor violently. The people in the crowd fell to the ground and there was a lot of screaming and crying in the shelter.

Luo Yuan’s body shook slightly as the earthquake occurred. He quickly adjusted his center of gravity to improve his stability and his feet were then rooted to the ground and never left the ground no matter how strong the earthquake continued to tremor.

Suddenly a "kachak!" loud noise was heard. The ground further in front of him collapsed instantly and formed a huge pit with a radius of more than 10 meters! A warehouse happened to be in the vicinity, and walls around the warehouse collapsed as the supporting foundation was missing. Many machinery and equipment inside the warehouse were exposed to the public but soon a lot of dust and gravel then fell and occupied the entire space.

Luo Yuan looked somber. Desert City was built in the desert, hence, the fluid-like soft ground was not suitable for construction of buildings. It would be fine if there were no earthquakes but once it happens, no matter how strong a building is, it could not escape from a collapse. After about 10 seconds, the earthquake gradually subsided but the entire place had now become a mess.