Armipotent

Tang Shaoyang came to the lobby. There was still an ongoing protest outside, crying out for justice. He did not know they were trying to seek justice or they just followed the five opportunists.

'Maybe these people are tempted by an incentive from those five stupid representatives. I dealt with many of those kinds of people during my reign. Those nobles tried to climb up the rank using the civilians,' Rosalie shared her thoughts.

'That's what most likely happened. There's no way these people are willingly yelling and shouting without any incentive reward,' Tang Shaoyang agreed with Rosalie.

"I hate this type of people who take advantage of the chaos for their gain. Can't they have sympathy for the people who lose their families due to this incident? Or are they using those people for the protest?" He muttered, clearly annoyed based on his tone as he went out of the main base.

The Tarriors were keeping the people outside, replacing the TEIS, who just got frozen by him. Tang Shaoyang approached the crowd, standing right behind the Tarrior, who formed a line.

"WE WANT A JUSTICE!" "WE SEEK A JUSTICE!"

The crowd repeated the same slogans.

"Justice for what?" Tang Shaoyang asked the most front-protesters who had the loudest voice, "Did the empire treat all of you unjustly?"

The Tarriors turned around after hearing the voice. Upon realizing it was Tang Shaoyang, the Tarriors bowed their heads, "We greet Your Majesty!"

The dead silence followed when the word "Your Majesty" came out of the Tarriors. The Emperor was familiar yet foreign to the people. They heard a lot about the emperor, but they never really saw the emperor in person. At some point, there was a rumor that the emperor did not exist because they never saw the emperor.

However, it was different for the Tarrior. Once they were accepted into Tarrior, they got to see the emperor because Tang Shaoyang would always attend the acceptance ceremony. Even when Tang Shaoyang was not available, Wei Xi made sure the new Tarriors recognized Tang Shaoyang's face by showing the portrait.

Tang Shaoyang nodded in response to the greeting before coming closer to the foremost protesters, "You said you seek justice? What justice? Did the empire treat you unjustly?"

The man looked Tang Shaoyang in the eyes, but then he frantically looked around him when Tang Shaoyang talked to him. He sought help from the other protesters, but the others looked away from him.

"What? I heard it very clear that you want justice? So I ask you, what kind of justice do you want? Did the empire wrong you?"

"W-we s-seek justice for the dead during the zombie attack!" The man blurted out, "Don't you feel responsible for letting the zombie enter the city?"

"What do you mean by justice? Did the empire purposely let the zombie enter the city to attack the people? What are you trying to say?" Tang Shaoyang pressured the man, "And yes, I am responsible for my people's safety, and I stopped the zombie attack in less than fifteen minutes, no?"

It was just a brief zombie attack. The damage was big because the zombies were strong, but indeed, the zombie attack lasted less than ten minutes.

The protester opened and closed his mouth again and again. He did not know what to say as he really knew nothing. Some people in suits came to him, offering a hundred Game Coins to join the protest. He did not really know anything about the justice he talked about.

"We want the culprit to be punished! That's the justice we want!" Someone yelled from the middle of the crowd.

The man who was being questioned by Tang Shaoyang was quick-witted. He immediately copied what he had just heard. And then, the crowd started to chant the same sentence.

"Silent!" Tang Shaoyang let out a spark of Slayer Domination, and the protesters immediately stopped the chanting.

"Who said that the culprit wanted to be punished? Show up and talk to me! You better show yourself, or do you want me to drag you out?"

Surprisingly, a woman in her late twenties stepped up from the crowd. Her face was full of tears, but she remained firm while facing Tang Shaoyang.

'I see; the grief is real. It seems those five are really using the victim too,' Tang Shaoyang could feel the grief from the woman. It seemed the zombie attack took someone precious to her.

"You said you want the culprit to be punished? Do you know the culprit?"

"I know! The culprit is your brother, Yu Shun! Just because he is someone close to you, you try to suppress the incident as a zombie attack while, in fact, the zombie attack is staged by your brother, Yu Shun! Because of Yu Shun, I lost my husband and daughter! Do you think I deserve justice?" The woman yelled at Tang Shaoyang.

Tang Shaoyang treated the woman better than the paid protester because she was a genuine victim in this accident, "How do you know the culprit is Yu Shun? Do you have evidence that Yu Shun was behind the accident?"

The woman opened his lips, but no words came out. There was no hard evidence, and she got this information from a random person.

Tang Shaoyang let out a sigh, "I offer my condolences for your loss, Miss. The accident is not something we can predict or prevent. The accident is indeed staged by someone, but that person is not Yu Shun. We have identified the culprit; his name is Antorias."

"The man called Antorias not just caused the accident but also staged a rebellion. It's a rather complicated and long story. I can't explain everything to you right now, but you can find the full details by tomorrow at the information center in the lobby."

"Two thousand Tarriors rebelled, and TEIS officers seem to be involved with Antorias. We have subdued the rebels, and we are currently searching for everyone that is involved with Antorias. Just wait, Miss. I will give you the justice you want! I will not let people who cause chaos within my empire run free."

"That's right! You are all being used by the rebels to create chaos. They use your grief for their own gain. Don't fall for it; they are using you!"