Doomsday Pillars

Alex had seen Erick, his wife and some other familiar faces, however, where were Erick's children as well as other children? Questions about the burnt village and killed villagers rose in Alex's mind. These people were hiding something.

He then gave a sign to Cindy and Mr. Big and Anton noticed it.

"I'm the leader of this group. We actually have a similar base, and I think we can make a trade."

Mr. Big was surprised hearing this. "I guess you must be like me. You're one of those who believed that Doomsday videos, aren't you? After I've watched those, I changed this resort into a survival base immediately. Then I hired Anton, the crew and bought many supplies."

So that was the butterfly effect, Alex thought. The butterfly effect was the idea that small things could have non-linear impacts on a complex system. The concept was imagined with a butterfly flapping its wings and causing a typhoon.

Alex's reincarnation and actions changed the history he knew from his previous life. He knew of the risks but wasn't regretful in doing it. So, Alex had still put out that viral message for he believed the more people knew about Doomsday, the better, because it would surely increase humanity's survival rate even if there were many questionable survivors like this Mr. Big. It should still be better than no human survivors.

"I think that in this new world, all humans should help each other and start rebuilding for the future. I noticed though there aren't any children among your survivors. Where are they?"

"We didn't send those kids to work. We're keeping them all safe here."

Alex gave a look at Theo, and he nodded. Even though still in an early stage, Theo could feel if a man was telling the truth or not. At the least, this Mr. Big believed it to be the truth, so Alex needed to push this up a notch.

"We're building a big community, so we need more people, preferably… people with family. If not, then the kids that can still go with us. If I can have them in my base, that will be great."

Mr. Big seemed puzzled. "Your requirement is quite weird. For me, those kids are useless."

Anton cut in and said, "What do you have to trade with?"

Alex noticed the situation was a bit odd. This Anton seemed to be more than what he had claimed to be. Hence, Alex wanted to force his hand, and from what he had not all the guards were fully armed, it should be very hard to get guns in Indonesia after all. 

Alex walked to one side of the room, raised his finger and took out five assault rifle.

"..."

Except for Alex's group, everyone in the room was shocked. The guns appeared out of nowhere after he had touched the ring. Mr. Big was shocked, but Alex noticed Anton's reaction was quite different, lust appeared in his eyes.

"I was very lucky in finding plenty of weaponry in an army base. So, what do you think? Are you interested in trading?"

"Yes, yes, I am interested. What about that ring of yours, do you want to trade that one as well?" Mr. Big said, impressed.

"The ring is not for trade. But if you let me see what I'll have in exchange… I might change my mind."

Anton was suspicious and about to say something but his boss already walked out to the balcony and shouted, "Bring all the kids out! Let them see their parents!" Mr.Big turned to Alex and added, "Hahaha I guarantee you, we have plenty that you can choose from."

Mr. Big thought they could find more workers later, but he needed more guns. Alex noticed Anton appeared a bit unhappy about this. But a moment later dozens of kids came out to the courtyard. 

Alex saw Vina and her younger brother running to Erick and his wife. With this, he felt much more relaxed now.

Mr. Big was a real businessman, he could tell Alex was much happier now. This was the best time to close the sale.

"So, how many do you want and how do you want to trade for them?"

Alex thought for a while and said, "I think we can make a trade. Everything can be negotiated of course but make sure these people won't rebel or anything. Can I ask how you guys acquired them by the way?"

"Don't worry, they all came willingly to work with us."

Alex looked at Theo again and surprisingly, Theo nodded. Alex found it hard to believe, so suddenly doubted Theo's psychic ability. He couldn't think of any other ways to be more direct to get the results he wanted.

"Please answer me this, there's a small village called Kesut, four kilometers north of this hotel. The village was burnt to the ground and its inhabitants were killed. Not by a zombie, but by humans. Was that your work?"

One of the girls on Mr. Big's arms suddenly seemed shocked. She shouted to Anton, "Is this true? You said you'll leave them alone!"

Anton ordered his guards to take the two girls away. Alex and his group was suddenly on guard.

"What is this, Anton? What did you do?"

Anton just smiled and said, "So this is why you guys came. I'll tell you. Yes, it's my work. Those useless people refused to join us, so we came back and took all their supplies. They won't need it."

Mr. Big said, "Guards!"

Suddenly, half a dozen men came into the room.

"Capture this guy! You dare to go against my order Anton? You'll rot in the cell."

"HAHAHAHA! You're so stupid. Did you think they'd listen to you?"

None of the guards moved. Mr. Big suddenly realized his stupidity. He had invited a tiger into his home and now, it turned to bite him. 

"You guys also can't leave. I want that ring and everything in it. But first..." Anton grabbed Mr. Big's neck and choked him in the air.

"Squeek... that'll be the last annoying word I'll hear from your mouth."

Alex gave a sign to Jerry and Jerry jumped forward to stop Anton.

SWIISHHH!!!

"..."

The result wasn't as Alex had expected. Anton had managed to dodge and hit Jerry with his elbow.

"..."

BAAAMM!!!

The elbow hit Jerry, making him drop and kneeling on the floor. Jerry was a wind spirit enhancer, he could move faster than Alex. So, there was only one reason how Anton could react that fast.

Peak Stage Mortal Realm!

CRRAAKKK!

Mr.Big's neck didn't just snap but his head almost fell off from the body. Anton threw the lifeless corpse like tossing a garbage.

"HAHAHAHA! I knew it. You guys have also eaten the stones. This stupid boss of mine collected all those workers gave him, but gave all the spirit stones for me to safeguard. But I ate 20 of them. How many did you guys eat?"

20 stones? It should only take 16 stones to reach peak stage mortal realm, but this guy's just wasting stones, Alex thought. However, he wasn't really worried. Alex opened his storage ring and took out a two-way radio. "Aria, take the shot."

BANG!!!

SSHHHTT...

Aria pulled the trigger from a distance. And as a peak stage mortal realm, Anton could see the bullet, however, dodging it was a different matter. Fortunately for him, when the bullet hit the tempered glass, its speed slowed down and its trajection could be seen easier. Anton managed to barely dodge it.

Although the element of surprise was gone and he might be able to dodge the second bullet, Anton didn't want to risk it, so he moved away from the window.

"With that distance, it'll be hard to snipe this guy. Don't worry too much Aria, actually I need some exercise. Just focus on the armed guards and save the people outside. As for the rest, take care of the others, leave this guy to me."

Anton was outraged. "Shitt! How many people do you have with you? I swear, I'll kill all of them!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Aria quickly sniped the armed guards. Rama and Sergei jumped out and tackled the other guard outside. Inside the villa, Alex threw Jerry his knives and Jerry quickly attacked the guards at the back of the room. Surprisingly, they weren't easy to handle, Anton had probably given a few stones to some of his most trusted men as well.

Alex also took out handguns for Cindy and Theo, not realizing a shadow had appeared behind him. He turned around but it was too fast, he couldn't dodge it!

BAAAAMMMM!!!

Alex got tackled by Anton. It was such a heavy hit that Alex was pushed out from the second floor villa, through the thick glasses and fell into the courtyard. 

Anton jumped out and followed him out. He took out his big knife facing Alex in a duel.

Alex facing Anton.

It was one against one.