Bang!
The sound of a gunshot shattered the imminent chaos, freezing everyone in their tracks.
With expressions of shock and fear, they looked around, trying to locate the shooter.
After a long search, they found no one who could be identified as the gunman, but one of the military academy students lay motionless on the ground, a hole the size of a fist blown through his chest.
Soon, someone realized the nature of the shot.
If it had been a regular bullet, the wound wouldn't have been so gaping—only a high-caliber sniper rifle could inflict such damage.
"They have a sniper rifle!"
The atmosphere immediately grew tense, as even the struggling Anthony and Luther ceased their brawl.
Thomas, who had remained composed up until now, turned pale and quickly raised his hand, signaling for everyone to stop. "Cease! Everyone, stop immediately!"
If it had been a simple handgun, they would have remained unshaken; after all, with over four hundred people, a few handguns were no threat.
But to their shock, the other side had a heavy sniper rifle!
Anthony, clutching his swollen left cheek, stood up, spat a mouthful of blood on the ground, and glared savagely at Luther and the students around him.
"Fight, then!"
He sneered coldly. "Aren't you all so brave in numbers? Come on, fight me! Why the hesitation?"
From the beginning, he knew Miles would intervene, though he had no idea when.
Luckily, this time he was quick enough, or else he would've been no match for Luther.
"Come on! You think you're all tough? Fight me!"
Anthony stepped in front of Luther, slapping him hard across the face before delivering a kick that sent him sprawling.
"Damn you!"
Young and hot-blooded, Luther couldn't bear the humiliation, and despite the sniper rifle in play, his temper flared, and he was ready to strike back.
"Stop!"
But Thomas grabbed him by the arm and held him back firmly, speaking softly, "Calm down, Luther. These people aren't easy to deal with. Rashness will get us nowhere."
For these people, a gun was not as terrifying as an invisible threat.
They had no idea where the sniper was hiding.
Perhaps, even now, the barrel was aimed at one of them, most likely at the two leaders—Luther and Thomas.
"Anthony, calm down," Thomas said, raising both hands in a conciliatory gesture. "We came here out of necessity. How about this... We'll take just a day's worth of food, and we won't enter the villas. What do you think?"
Thomas was calculating, never forgetting to secure the maximum benefit for his side.
The Cloud City was vast; they could easily find a tall building to live in.
And even if the other side had sniper rifles, they couldn't possibly kill all four or five hundred of them. As long as they didn't provoke the enemy, there was still room for negotiation.
"Impossible!"
Anthony refused outright.
"I've said it before—Cloud City is not a place for you to come and take! You won't get food, and if you don't want to die, you'd better turn around and leave!"
What a joke!
Four or five hundred people consumed more than enough food to feed an army.
Not only would Anthony never agree to such terms, but he was certain that Miles wouldn't either. In fact, Miles would find a way to eliminate them all.
Though Miles usually kept a low profile, Anthony knew all too well that he was no saint. The many influential figures he had eliminated proved that. Would Miles be afraid of a group of students?
Thomas had thought he had made a concession, that Anthony wouldn't be foolish enough to refuse.
But he hadn't anticipated this hard refusal.
"Is there truly no room for negotiation?"
Thomas' face hardened. "You have guns, that's true. But do you really think you can kill all of us? If this escalates, those who are not quick enough to act will be the ones who suffer."
He was trying to use the property owners as leverage to force Anthony into a corner.
But Anthony merely chuckled, his tone mocking. "Go ahead, try me. Make a move, see what happens."
"Damn it, Thomas!" Luther exploded. "Stop negotiating with him! He's just got some broken guns. If he's so tough, let him kill us all!"
Unable to hold back any longer, Luther waved his hand, signaling to the others. "Brothers, anyone afraid of dying, stay back! The rest of you, rush them!"
Whoosh...
In an instant, chaos erupted. Over half of the military academy students surged forward.
Bang!
Another shot rang out from a distance, and a student collapsed, his head shattered like a balloon filled with water, exploding into fragments. Brain matter and blood splattered across the people nearby.
If the previous gunshot had been a warning, this one was a psychological strike.
The sight was enough to paralyze many of the students, as the sounds of vomiting filled the air.
Most of them were no more than eighteen or nineteen—young, bold, and eager for battle, but who could stomach such a grotesque scene?
They had just witnessed one of their own have his skull obliterated. The gruesome sight of red and yellow splattered across the ground left a deep scar in their minds...
Even Anthony, the ruthless enforcer, couldn't suppress a shudder.
He had killed many, but nothing compared to this.
Luther and Thomas stood frozen, their minds blank, unsure of how to react.
...
Meanwhile, atop a watchtower in the villa district.
Ryan, holding the sniper rifle, gazed down calmly, his expression as cold as a still lake.
To him, those two dead students might as well have been animals rather than human beings.
The recent changes had hardened him, teaching him the value of ruthless pragmatism. He understood now what it meant to strike first, without hesitation.
Perhaps, in this moment, you might deem his actions cruel, thinking that these were just students who did not deserve such a fate.
But what if they had broken through?
In that case, the cruel ones would have been them, and the violence would have been turned against him.
Miles, standing beside him, lifted a pair of binoculars and surveyed the situation outside the gates. When he saw the students begin to retreat, he finally spoke into the walkie-talkie.
"Anthony."
When Anthony received the message, he immediately hurried over. "Boss Miles, what can I do for you?"
"Tell them this: they can have the food, but only if they offer something in return."
"Understood!"
Though Anthony felt a pang of reluctance, he dared not defy Miles' orders.
He knew all too well what "something in return" meant.
—Zombies.
It seemed that Miles had no intention of letting them off lightly. He intended to deal with them without a fight, using their very desperation to eliminate them.
Anthony couldn't help but shudder involuntarily.
The faces of those who had died flashed like a slideshow in his mind. They had perished due to internal strife, killing one another off.
And the mastermind behind it all was none other than Miles.
He had used food to split the owners into factions, then manipulated them with rewards and punishments, pushing them into conflict.
Later, when Miles grew tired of waiting for them to kill each other off, he had used roasted chickens as bait, encouraging them to turn on their own, even to the point of voluntarily infecting themselves with the virus.
These methods were hardly sophisticated. Many of the owners in Cloud City were sharp-minded and understood Miles' intent.
But what difference did it make?
He was using an open strategy—one where you know full well the trap you're walking into, yet are still forced to step right in!
The reason was simple—food.
Since the beginning of the apocalypse, whoever controls the food controls the power.
And with Miles holding both food and absolute strength, he had long since become an authority the property owners could no longer dare to challenge.