Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

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Assistant Doctor Anna's reaction was within Li Aozi's expectations.

From the very beginning, after the "accidental killing" of the professor, she was angry with herself, but after being beaten by Li Aozi, she immediately calmed down. She didn't hide the news of the professor's death, but lied, claiming he was "killed by bandits."

People were of course shocked by the death of the professor, the soul of Mingji, but Anna immediately displayed her strong side. Under the pretext of "self-help and self-reliance," she granted patients certain freedoms.

The survivors of the attack, if not those with arcane powers and formidable fighting strength, then those with weak constitutions and bodily deformities, were unable to move on their own. The physician team suffered severe damage, but the patients became the main force, and this maneuver greatly won over people's hearts.

Assistant Anna was not a good speaker, but she did more than she said. In the current crisis, people didn't need a figurehead who could only speak pretty words, but rather a capable leader who could act decisively, personally engage, and truly provide a sense of security and assistance.

So, despite knowing that Li Aozi had witnessed her accidentally killing the professor, Doctor Anna grew wary of Li Aozi, who had demonstrated "Ikkitousen" level combat effectiveness.

Clear that she had neither the strength nor the means to silence him by killing, she could only hint subtly: you now have the freedom to go anywhere you wish.

Why prepare a vehicle?

This belongs to the subtext known to the Outer World. For the people of the Outer World, the importance of a vehicle is comparable to that of a horse for a nomadic tribe.

Many people are born, live their lives, and die in vehicles.

Doctor Anna's act of giving a vehicle basically amounted to saying, "I've given you a building, now keep quiet."

"Hush money, huh... Even though she didn't explicitly drive me away, she essentially wants me out of the political center. Interesting, should I say this is typical of city folks? Their approach is rather cultured."

Such behavior further convinced Li Aozi of something:

"Even if the professor hadn't died, Assistant Anna would have eventually seized power."

From Assistant Anna's perspective, she had no idea Li Aozi's combat strength was overestimated, nor did she know the "subduing" of Nomi was overstated.

All she knew was: As long as the true cause of the professor's death remained concealed, she could control Nodley's emotions with hatred, holding onto the superior combat strength of an Alpha Stage Martial Artist, enough to control the situation.

As for whether or not the professor's death was an accident or if she agreed with being killed by Anna—Li Aozi didn't know.

That would have to be asked of the professor herself.

At present, the professor herself had no complaints, the deceased's emotions remarkably stable.

The power struggle within Mingji Humanity, or rather the ideological conflict, had always existed. From the day Li Aozi entered the Shelter, the disputes surrounding the 'Ersha Virus Infection Theory' never stopped.

In his previous life, as a player from the Red Arrow Empire, Li Aozi had engaged in the complex political strife of the Red Arrow Empire and had some insights into such matters.

The Mingji may be small, but it created a myth.

In his view, three ideological factions had emerged within Mingji Humanity.

First, the supporters of the 'Ersha Virus Infection Theory', which can also be considered the reformers. This faction, represented by the professor, firmly supported the theory that 'human infection with the Ersha virus caused the current chaos' and based on this belief, continuously carried out research and humanitarian aid. The central idea was clear, but the theory itself remained unproven, especially since the existence of the 'Ersha virus' lacked scientific evidence. Thus, their cohesion was largely dependent on the professor's unique charm.

Second, the skeptics of the Ersha Theory who still revered humanitarian principles, the conservatives who carried out rescue operations and maintained humanitarian actions in the Outer World. This faction was represented by Nurse Nodley Krau, lacking significant organization, but widespread among the common members of Mingji; their beliefs are easily swayed and absorbed by other arguments.

Third, represented by Assistant Doctor Anna, a faction with an ambiguous or indifferent attitude towards the Ersha virus, focusing only on the development and survival issues of the Mingji Organization. They are concerned only with the objective reality of how difficult it is for the Mingji Organization to survive and expand in the Outer World, hence they can be considered realists.

Despite their differing ideologies, under the personal charm of the professor, they were able to unite, working together for the development of Mingji.

But now, with the professor's death, the issue of real development unavoidably came to the forefront.

Is human life more important, or is humanitarianism the priority? Asking such a pragmatic question of a humanitarian aid organization sounded a bit like a hellish joke.

The answer is, no matter the organization, ensuring its own survival and safety is of the utmost importance.

Assistant Doctor Anna seemed to respect and admire the professor greatly, but this did not negate that some of the professor's actions and ideas were incongruent with those of the realists.

To not mention the rest, as a humanitarian aid organization facing the people of the Outer World, having ambiguous and unclear relations with the Four Nations right from the start was in itself a clash between humanitarianism and realism.

If an organization is to survive, it must have financial support, but all the Four Nations are profit-oriented. Why would they spend a large sum of money to support an organization that aids the Outer World without any immediate benefits?

Consider the previously discovered Vigilant troops, Nodley's odd reaction to the isolation ward for Infected ZX-102, and the rumors within the Outer World about Mingji Humanity: "Mingji has always been conducting evil taboo human experiments underground."

"What if the Four Nations' aid to Mingji Humanity was for the sake of research?"

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Li Aozi had a speculation, but it wasn't yet time to draw a conclusion.

In his previous life, because Azure Star was destroyed, all historical archives were buried, so no one continued to research in this direction, but Li Aozi felt that if one were to delve deep along the thread of the Four Nations, history might experience some subtle changes.

The national machine is not easily overthrown, but once its credibility is destroyed, it would take decades to rebuild, and these years are enough to make the citizens lose heart and to cause capital to wobble and panic.

And that was enough.

"Next, it's time to check out the loot."

Before departing, Li Aozi, who can now be called without the 'Assistant'—excused himself to go to the bathroom, but in reality, he slipped away to the logistics department.

Nomi was still bewildered, pulled away by him while still mulling over the problem of imitating dog barks, when she heard Li Aozi instruct:

"Go to the freezer and turn off the electrical switch for two minutes, then switch it back on."

"Huh? What are you scheming? Are you trying to set me up?!"

"Just do as I said," Li Aozi patted Nomi's small head and said discontentedly, "Setting you up brings me no benefit. Besides, have I ever deceived you? You're the one who always jumps into the pit yourself."

"You!" Nomi clenched her teeth in anger, stomped her foot, "So annoying, so annoying, so annoying! If you dare to set me up, Nomi will smash your head into pulp with a wrench!"

Li Aozi was unbothered, giving Nomi's little backside a kick, noting that the girl's mouth was indeed tough, tougher than Ultraman's pancakes; but once there was a need for action, she'd go soft, a classic bully-antagonist victim.

He headed to the logistics department partly to exchange some supplies. With Doctor Anna vouching for him, Li Aozi smoothly collected some emergency dry food, synthetic food, and filtered water.

As for weapons, Li Aozi dared not use them. Every weapon here had practically passed through a Biochemist's hands, with no knowing what kind of "composite bacterial packages", "stealth pathogens", or "Dugway enchants" it might carry.

Mutants and Biochemists are actually peers in a way, both deeply engaged in genetic engineering, the former having strong idealistic elements while the Biochemists are thorough materialists.

As the saying goes, peers are rivals, Biochemists specializing in genetic warfare capabilities, which can be extremely cruel against Mutants in the early stages.

Of course, if one survives the initial three mutations, Li Aozi, rich in experience, was absolutely confident that he could pulverize the high-and-mighty Biochemists into debris.

"Having no weapons isn't a big problem; after all, my Arcane Energy choice is Gravity, and aside from little natural enemies like Biochemists, I fear no one."

Omega-level Arcane Energy provided Li Aozi with confidence; without tailor-made equipment, a high-tier Arcane Energy was a Mutant's strongest gear.

The White Fang Guild had caused the most havoc here before, a vast amount of supplies was looted, it couldn't be said to be a complete mess, but it was certainly impoverished now.

Among a bustle of logistics personnel, Li Aozi set his sights on a slight figure— a girl with a distinctive asymmetrical ponytail, her hair dyed pink, wearing an oversized cotton jacket.

Though she seemed earnest and dutiful, busy with transporting and counting supplies, Li Aozi noticed that the sealed products passing through her hands were somehow a little short.

Li Aozi folded his arms, waiting for an opportunity.

Soon after, a logistics manager suddenly covered his earpiece, listened for a moment, then said:

"Zexi, there's a problem with the freezer, go check on it."

"OK, I've always been in charge there anyway."

The pink-haired girl, Zexi, nodded, with an 'I've got this' expression, then set down the heavy load in her hands, and turned to leave the logistics department.

No sooner had she stepped out of the logistics department's door when she sensed something amiss, looked around, but spotting nothing out of the ordinary, she proceeded confidently towards the freezer.

"I hope those bandits haven't caused any havoc with the electrical facilities in the freezer; I've still got some things hidden there..."

Muttering to herself, Zexi arrived at the freezer and immediately began her inspection.

"The circuit is normal, the system has no issues, it's just a tripped breaker—strange, why would it trip for no reason? Overheated? That shouldn't be it... Could someone have tampered with it intentionally?"

Harboring suspicions, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a shadow out of the corner of her eye, swiftly turned and drew her gun, aiming behind and pulling the trigger.

Click!

The trigger didn't budge, sending chills down Zexi's spine; she trembled as she looked up to face the two people standing before her, forcing a polite, though strained, smile on her face:

"Cough cough, it's a fake gun, just for show, gave me quite a scare... really, haha, no offense, don't mind it."