Apocalypse: I Can See the HP Bar, Killing Monsters Drops Loot

Chapter 1022: Chapter 407 Complicated Situation_2

Chapter 1022 -407 Complicated Situation_2

“By the way, do you have any information on those three vice-mayors?”

Wang Tao seemed to think of something and suddenly asked.

“Yes, here…”

Han Rui searched on her Informational Wristwatch and found the City Hall page.

The page was now grayish-white, with updated information. The mayor’s portrait had changed to Gu Yun, but there was an added parenthesis behind his name, containing the character “acting”. Below him were the portraits of the three vice-mayors. Upon seeing these portraits, Wang Tao suddenly seemed to understand something.

“I know why it’s Gu Yun now…”

“What do you mean?”

Han Rui was curious.

“These three vice-mayors, I saw them today at the crime scene. All three of them are Level 1 ability users. And Gu Yun… is a Level 3 ability user.”

Wang Tao had already considered one question—since the mayor could be easily assassinated, did ordinary people or weak ability users even qualify for key positions?

The answer now seemed obvious—no, they didn’t.

The three vice-mayors had a certain amount of real power and were quite capable individually, but their own strength was too weak!

If they were to replace Mayor Yao Guodong’s position yesterday, they would have died too!

Wang Tao wasn’t clear about the killer’s motives yet—was it merely to kill Yao Guodong himself, or to assassinate the mayor of Changhe Base?

If it was the latter, every time one of these three vice-mayors took office, it would mean another death. After all, if someone could kill the Level 1 Yao Guodong, they could kill them too!

Even if the killer’s sole purpose was to kill Yao Guodong himself, there’s always a first time for everything. Once everyone realizes that killing the mayor doesn’t seem that difficult, won’t there be people plotting against the new mayor?

Definitely!

After all, there are many ability users in the base, and power can easily corrupt…

If things turn out this way, then trouble lies ahead.

To put it bluntly, the death of the mayors is a minor issue compared to the disruption it causes to the base’s operation—that’s a major problem!

For instance, after the death of Yao Guodong, City Hall’s work, which had finally gotten back on track, became chaotic again! It may even lead to increased deaths from freezing over the next few days due to issues such as unreasonable divisions of labor, imbalanced distributions, conflicting job contents, and resource wastage.

For example, Wang Tao currently has nothing much to do at home, and if there are survivors in distress outside, he is willing to help them. But the problem is, Wang Tao doesn’t know who is in distress or where the disasters are! Some places are so busy they’re smoking, but Wang Tao here is idle—that’s possible too.

Therefore, the mayor Yao Guodong’s death has had a negative impact on the base, especially at this time when heavy snow is falling, temperatures are low, roads are blocked, and communication problems have arisen…

To prevent a repeat of the same mistakes, it makes sense to have someone strong serve as mayor.

Although Gu Yun’s combat ability isn’t strong, he is after all a bona fide Level 3, and he has defensive power. If, as Wang Tao speculated, the killer is a Level 1 or Level 2, then confronting Gu Yun would be suicide. It could even backfire—mental attacks can be dangerous to oneself, especially when your spiritual power is weaker than the opponent’s…

Wang Tao shared his analysis, and Han Rui immediately nodded in agreement.

“Right, I think your reasoning makes sense. I hadn’t considered the importance of personal strength… in the post-apocalyptic world, strength is king after all! But speaking of which, haven’t these three vice-mayors ascended? With their abilities, they shouldn’t all be stuck at Level 1, right?”

Han Rui was puzzled yet again.

Wang Tao thought he understood this issue.

“To ascend, besides Crystal Cores, you also need to kill zombies. Clearly, they haven’t been out killing zombies…”

Ascension requires an increase in HP limit, meaning you need to go out and hunt zombies. These three vice-mayors, after all, wield real power and have plenty on their plates. The development plans of the base require them; they probably don’t have the time to go out.

If they were any more timid and didn’t dare to go out to kill zombies, thinking that becoming a Level 1 ability user and improving their physical fitness were enough, then they would be even less likely to venture out.

But Gu Yun was different; he didn’t manage the specifics and went wherever he was needed, often venturing outside the city. To survive out there, he had to ensure his strength improved…

“However, there’s another problem now…”

Wang Tao stroked his chin and said.

“Is the event of ‘someone with greater strength assuming power’ within the murderer’s calculations? If it is, then Gu Yun is indeed highly suspicious. If it isn’t, then it means someone has done all this work only to benefit Gu Yun inadvertently…”

Thinking this, Wang Tao suddenly frowned.

“No, that’s not right! Assuming the murderer is extremely clever and has taken all this into account, then the final beneficiary might not necessarily be Gu Yun! Because many of the base’s key positions are held by ordinary people, what if the murderer wants to ascend from another angle, hence this whole charade…”

Wang Tao felt a headache coming on.

“Forget it, I’m done thinking! Speculating any further is pointless without catching the murderer; the truth will never be fully revealed… Anyway, no matter what, one’s own strength is the most important! As long as you are strong enough, any covert plots or schemes become irrelevant — face one, kill one!”

Wang Tao shook his head, then picked up his informational wristwatch.

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“I should send Gu Yun a congratulations message…”

It seemed there were no surprises in Gu Yun becoming mayor; congratulating him in advance was appropriate.

Not long after Wang Tao sent his message, Gu Yun called him directly.

“Hey, it’s way too early to be talking about mayor! It’s hard to say, very hard to say! Besides, you might not know, but I’ve somehow become the prime suspect!”

“This is just ridiculous! I didn’t even know the committee had appointed me as acting mayor! I’m just a group leader serving the leadership. If I actually had the power to make a difference in the committee, I would have been a deputy mayor long ago, wouldn’t have to run errands for the leaders!”

“Oh right, do you know why I bought Iron Beetles exclusively from you and didn’t let you sell them to anyone else? I was just trying to score some political achievements! There’s a deputy mayor who’s getting old and likely to retire soon, and I was wondering if I had a chance to take his place… I never dared to dream about the mayor’s position; after all, Mayor Yao’s competence was recognized by all, and several deputy mayors, including myself, highly respected his work…”

“If I wasn’t a bit rational, I would have resigned already…”

Wang Tao could tell that Gu Yun was both agitated and helpless.

Becoming the acting mayor was definitely a good thing, but being the prime suspect at the same time was really uncomfortable.

The identity of acting mayor and prime suspect was somewhat frustrating. Wang Tao could imagine how people would talk about him. If the murderer wasn’t caught, he would never be able to shake off the tag of being the suspect…

“Then just conduct a thorough investigation, and strive to remove your tag of being the suspect; I believe you have the ability to do that,” Wang Tao said with a laugh, trying to encourage him.

He did suspect Gu Yun, but Wang Tao’s thinking had broadened — in his eyes, Gu Yun wasn’t the prime suspect, although he didn’t have an answer to who the real prime suspect was.

But as soon as Wang Tao spoke out, he heard Gu Yun reply with some resignation:

“I was originally leading the investigative team for Mayor Yao’s death, but since I’m now the prime suspect, I’ve just been kicked out of it — I can’t and dare not meddle in this matter anymore, otherwise, I would really be unable to clarify things…”

“…”

Well, that made things awkward, leaving the task of clearing his own name to others.

The two talked for a while longer before Gu Yun ended the call.

He was busy, even after venting he still had work to do, there were many messes left for him to clean up, and he wasn’t even sure if he could do a better job than Yao Guodong, which was quite distressing…

But just as Wang Tao finished his call, another person called in.

“Mr. Wang, may I ask if you’re available? Mayor Yao’s wife would like to meet with you…”