My Level Zero System

Half an hour later, still at the same place.

Kain sat on a wooden crate, his eyes seemingly looking somewhere far away, his hands clasped together, his head slightly bowed, creating an appearance as if he was deep in thought.

Gradually, people also gathered together.

Even the three bad students were released and pushed to the front. Compared to the first day, they had learned to be much quieter than before, not even using their eyes to communicate with others.

Obviously, they were beaten to the point of fear.

The other students' faces were also gloomy. Either they were too tired, or they were pale.

Obviously, enduring the backlash of energy drain is not something easy.

Quietly calculating the number of members through his eyes, Kain cleared his throat.

"I want to say this first."

"This will be a risky plan, if you want to think so, but once this works, we will be safe, absolutely safe."

Kain's opening words, like a bomb dropped into their minds, caused the minds of all the students to be violently shaken.

"Really...really?"

There was one person who couldn't help but blurt out a question, but he quickly shut his mouth. Because Kain's gaze was directed towards him.

A calm but deep gaze, seemingly containing an irreversible will.

The other person swallowed his saliva slightly, Kain in his sight kept on growing larger, like a boulder that was constantly pressing down.

However, before reaching the limit, Kain averted his gaze.

The scene immediately became quiet.

"Of course, you may doubt my statement."

"That's not wrong, that's fine, but I have to tell you one thing. The longer it drags on, the lower the chances of this plan succeeding. As you're experiencing yourself, large-scale monster attacks happen every day, and every time you finish a battle, you've already lost half a day, so what can you do with only half a day left?"

"How long can you last in that condition? We have only survived half the time."

"And don't expect much from me, I'm not much better than you."

"So, choose. Continue to follow my plan, or you can handle this situation yourself." Experience more on My Virtual Library Empire

After stating what he wanted to say, Kain did not open his mouth again.

For a moment, the atmosphere fell silent again, but it was a tense silence.

On the surface it may seem as if Kain is giving them a choice, but this is actually a linguistic trap.

It was Kain who framed the situation with only two options left. Following him meant survival, not following him, though not explicitly stated, was obviously death.

Time pressure and psychological pressure will weigh heavily on them, forcing them to give up their suspicions.

No one wants to be left behind.

Although Kain did not present anything else about his plan, making his statements logically sound more like coercion than a logical suggestion. But they did not want to be left behind, they feared that their opinions would go against the majority, even though the majority here was just an illusion they had unintentionally imagined.

As long as Kain cleverly puts everyone in the minority, he can control everyone.

Of course, what led to this common decision was not simply through a few threats like that. In fact, this was something that Kain had worked hard to build from the very beginning, which was power.

It is a chain too fragile for you to notice, and when you do, it is too strong to break.

"So, does anyone have any other options?"

Kain suddenly spoke.

"If anyone has a better way, please feel free to suggest it. But I must emphasize that we don't have much time."

Kain's every word, though always reminding others of other options, always invisibly upholds the path he has laid out as the main one.

In the end, everyone agreed, at least on the surface.

Kain looked around. Then said.

"Very good, everyone go back and pack up, you have thirty minutes."

"We'll be moving in thirty minutes."

After saying that, Kain turned and walked inside, leaving the students to frantically scatter everywhere to pack up their luggage and spoils of war.

On one hand, this plan really needed to be carried out on time, and on the other hand, Kain wanted to keep the group busy, to avoid them lying down to rest and then thinking carefully about what he said.

Although from the beginning to the end, these students acted like loyal subordinates to Kain, this was only because they were under pressure from many sides at the same time. The human psyche was easily influenced, and the ability to think was also affected. The simplest thing was that being tired would make you not want to think much.

Kain must always maintain that state in order to control the students well.

But he never looked down on them, considering them as sheep that could be easily herded.

Theoretically, anyone could be a sly wolf, but Kain dressed them in sheep's clothing.

"Mera still hasn't woken up?"

Kain asked Myra, at this moment, Kain's previously cold and emotionless voice had a bit more fervor and warmth.

In response, Myra just shook her head.

The symptoms of magic intoxication are not so easily eliminated.

"Let's use the sleeping bag to contain her, then we can split up to carry the two ends of the sleeping bag."

Kain made a proposal.

Although carrying or piggybacking Mera seemed quite... romantic, neither of those sleeping positions were good, or so Kain thought.

The best way is still to maintain her current sleeping position and bring her along.

"Let Hector and I do it. Anyway, according to the plan, we don't need to fight much next, right?"

"Yes, I guarantee it."

Hearing that, Myra was relieved.

She and Kain carefully lifted and placed the sleeping Mera into the sleeping bag, leaving only her head exposed for ventilation, then tied it with rope and hung it up like two baskets.

For both Hector and Myra, who were physically trained, doing this was not too difficult.

"It looks like you're hanging meat up to roast."

Leo couldn't help but sigh.

Everyone smiled because of that, the atmosphere was less tense.

Kain had also arranged his spoils.

Although Kain killed more monsters than anyone else, he only took what he could carry, and as for the remaining spoils of war, Kain paid no attention to them, but instead used them to win the hearts of the people.

The time has come.

Kain took a final count before moving on. Everyone else carried large bags on their backs, containing either Crawler's severed claws or Nightcrawler's skin.

These are all precious things.

They stocked up until they were full, and even shared it with others to stock more.

Even for the nobles, once they could take this stuff out and digest it in the market, they would have a source of wealth that could be called "huge".

"Alright, here's the plan, we're getting out of here, to a safe place with no Crawler or Nightcrawler in our way."

"Of course, I can explain to anyone who has questions about why this is possible, but that would be quite time consuming."

Few words but much meaning.

Obviously, everyone tacitly kept their mouths shut. If someone caused everyone else to be late, they would be the target of everyone's criticism.

"And here, we're going down the tunnel..."

This is when trust is reciprocated.

As said at the beginning, oppression may make others temporarily obedient, but over time, a rebound will appear.

Therefore, Kain always has to strive to balance these two things.

And the escape tunnel was what he used to appease the students.

It is well known that Kain had been building the tunnels since the very beginning.

But they never saw the real use of the tunnel.

Now, when Kain uses it for a grand scheme, it feels like he saw this coming, rather than like they're following a mad leader's lead to their deaths.

In the narrow tunnel, the group of people moved quietly, only the sound of very light footsteps appeared regularly.

The tunnel leading out of the western living quarters was designed by Kain himself to pass through more than half of the western garrison.

Occasionally, they heard the sound of monsters above, but no one dared to say anything.

Very quickly, the tunnel ended, but their escape route was not over yet.

"All of you, from now on only follow the back of the person in front of you, understood?"

Kain reminded softly, then he poked his head out.

Very good, no monsters lurking around.

Kain saw this and moved silently, behind him were Myra and Hector, they were carrying Mera.

Previously, Kain had saved the group of nineteen students through a special path.

In fact, there is more than one path.

And the escape tunnel Kain built was directly connected to such a road.

This path would lead straight to the city wall, making for the perfect escape route.