Chapter 136: The Subjugated Commoners

Chapter 136: The Subjugated Commoners

The Eternal District spans about half the size of the outer city, with a total population of approximately five million. It is divided into five sectors: Wuyou (Carefree), Wuchen (Dustless), Wuxin (Heartless), Wuyi (Unintentional), and Wuwu (Selfless), each housing roughly one million residents.

The sector before them was Wuyou, home mostly to the middle class. Life here was comfortable, with no shortage of food or clothing. Xia Zheng recalled that some of his estranged relatives lived in this district, once making them the envy of his own family. Wuchen housed the District Council, while Wuwu served as the military headquarters; the two stood in distant opposition.

Xia Zheng, Luo Bing, Liu Chuxing, Sam, Alfred, and several other gene-warriors and officers infiltrated the area, walking along the streets.

The streets appeared normal, as if the place had never been touched by the vampires. Yet, this was clearly impossible. The vampire spawning grounds were nearby; how could the vampires have spared this place?

"Wait, someone is coming," Luo Bing warned. Xia Zheng and the others immediately ducked into hiding.

The approaching group seemed to be a family of three: a tall, refined-looking man on the child's right, and a delicate, well-dressed woman on the left.

The child held their hands, and they seemed to be heading home. Their expressions were full of happiness, devoid of the panic one might expect after a city had fallen.

"Stop!" Since no one else was nearby—the location being somewhat remote—someone stepped out to intercept them.

The couple turned terrified, likely not having expected to encounter strangers here.

Upon realizing the identity of Xia Zheng and his team, the husband immediately stepped in front of his wife and child, speaking urgently: "Officer, we are human, not vampires."

"Oh? So you know about the vampires?" Xia Zheng asked curiously.

The man’s face changed instantly, realizing he had made a slip of the tongue.

His wife stepped forward then, saying, "Officer, we had no choice. The vampires control the Eternal District; those who resisted were killed. They threatened us. The military only cares about self-preservation and couldn't protect us commoners. We have a child—we had no other way."

The child began to cry, the sound growing loud. The group’s expressions shifted, preparing to react, while the couple huddled together, trembling.

Xia Zheng stopped the others. Using his mental abilities, he cast a sound-dampening barrier over the child, instantly silencing the noise.

The couple looked at Xia Zheng with sudden reverence. The man remarked, "This officer seems to possess the same abilities as the vampires."

Xia Zheng smiled. "How many vampires are there in the Wuyou District?"

"We don't know the exact number," the man replied. "But most of the vampires are now in the Wuchen and Wuwu districts. There aren't many in the other three. However, they have built breeding bases in every district. New vampires are born daily—they call them 'blood-slaves.' I hear they have low intelligence but possess formidable combat power and are very hard to deal with. Our local breeding base is in that direction." He pointed toward the path the team had just come from—the very spawning ground they had already destroyed.

An officer asked Xia Zheng how to handle the family. Xia Zheng looked at his companions and said, "The priority now is to support the military headquarters and General Song, and to rescue the council members. We can deal with other matters later."

Luo Bing agreed. They issued a stern warning to the family and let them go.

As Xia Zheng watched them retreat, the family bowed in gratitude, as if they had just survived a disaster. But as they lifted their heads, he noticed the sharp, glinting fangs inside the mouths of the man, the woman, and the child.

*Vampires.* Xia Zheng understood immediately. The family had been infected—or rather, the commoners in the Wuyou District had all been infected. Some had evolved into vampires, much like Ellie. But while Ellie stood with humanity, these people had succumbed to the vampires just to keep on living.

"Compared to the more combative low-level vampires, these human traitors are even more troublesome." Xia Zheng shook his head, trying to clear these distracting thoughts. His primary mission was to save the Eternal District.

Further investigation confirmed that the residents were, as Xia Zheng suspected, mostly turned into vampires. However, these were people who, by nature, had no desire to resist. The vampires had used slaughter to instill fear, forcing them to turn. Xia Zheng and his team could use intimidation to force a surrender, but such a surrender would be meaningless; they wouldn't join the fight, only seek to survive.

There were about a thousand vampires remaining in Wuyou, most of them blood-slaves from the breeding bases. While their combat power was limited, to a commoner, they were invincible.

Beyond the blood-slaves, there were dozens of true vampires of decent strength, though they were merely servants, not elite members of the vampire race.

Xia Zheng had Luo Bing signal the hidden troops to enter the Wuyou District and begin liquidating the remaining vampires.

With the breeding base destroyed, killing these vampires meant the area was effectively reclaimed. As for the infected commoners, the Federation would decide their fate later.

Leading over ten thousand elite soldiers, Xia Zheng quickly surrounded the vampires. Relying on high-efficiency lethality, the power of gene-warriors, and Xia Zheng’s own deterrence, the battle was a foregone conclusion.

These vampires were at most equivalent to E-rank metahumans; they were no match for the regular army.

After the sweep, Xia Zheng left only the wounded and about a hundred soldiers to keep watch. These newly turned vampires dared not resist.

Xia Zheng and Luo Bing then led the army toward the Wuxin and Wuyi districts. The residents there had also been turned, but in these sectors, the vampires had met fierce resistance. Only about half the population had survived; hundreds of thousands had died at the hands of the vampires, with others left unaccounted for.

These commoners, despite being turned, still supported the human military forces and had long craved the reclamation of the Eternal District.

Xia Zheng took the opportunity to rest and resupply, recruiting about five thousand "vampire" soldiers who loathed their current state and identity; some had even awakened supernatural abilities.

A faint suspicion began to form in Xia Zheng’s mind, though he lacked solid evidence.

After resting, Xia Zheng led the army toward the Wuwu District. They met stronger resistance along the way, but with him at the vanguard, the vampires could not halt the army's advance.

After two days of fighting in the Eternal District, they finally reached General Song Ze’s command post.

Burning fires, ruined fortifications, grounds littered with the corpses of Federation soldiers, and the bodies of slaughtered vampires hanging from spiked fences—everything looked grim and terrifying.

Thousands of elite vampires were concentrated here. These were no longer mere blood-slaves or servants, but true vampire warriors. It remained to be seen whether General Song was still alive.