Armipotent

Tang Shaoyang's appearance easily appeased the protesters. Of course, most of the protesters were caught while the real victims of the zombie attack were escorted back to their lodging. The paid protesters were put in the dungeon temporarily.

After taking care of the protester, he returned to the throne hall. The throne hall had been repaired, no more holes in the wall. Kang Jiayi was waiting for him inside the hall.

"There's no need for formality. I want a result!" Tang Shaoyang waved his hand after sitting on the throne. His tone was firm and solemn, not the casual one.

"Yes. I have captured Lai Juanhong," Kang Jiayi made a bitter smile, "Sir Zaneos took over the interrogation, and Lai Juanhong confessed. Antorias approached him with Yu Shun's body, and they created a revolutionary group. Lai Juanhong is in charge of swaying the TEIS officers to defect, but he does not know much about the other divisions."

"What about the traitors in TEIS? Have you caught them all?" Tang Shaoyang furrowed his brow. It seemed Kang Jiayi purposely mentioned the most important point.

"Sir Zaneos is at work right now. We got the list from Lai Juanhong, and we are currently searching for the traitors," Kang Jiayi lowered his head. Deep inside, he was ashamed that his officers would defect like this. He felt like he was a failure for failing to discover this earlier or the fact that he was not able to prevent such a thing from happening.

"Then do it fast. I want all of them to be captured alive!" Tang Shaoyang increased his voice slightly.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Kang Jiayi bowed and left the throne hall with his back scrunched forward.

Tang Shaoyang let out a sigh and leaned back on the throne. He intended to take a few days of break before trying the eleventh floor of the dimensional tower, but the rest was just not possible right now.

"How's your progress, Origin? Do you find more traitors within the Tarrior?"

[Unfortunately, yes. I have identified 4713 Tarriors breached the contract. I apologize, Your Majesty. If I had paid more attention to the contract, I can discover the rebellion earlier and prevented the rebellion.]

The Smart AI apologized to Tang Shaoyang. That was something that Tang Shaoyang did not expect from a program. He never tasked the Ai to do a routine check on the contract; no one did. He thought that scaring them, that would die from breaching the contract, would be enough to scare everyone to breach the contract.

"Give the list to Supreme General Zhang Mengyao. Please check the TEIS' contracts now," Tang Shaoyang gave the next order, "Also, there's no need to apologize. I never tasked you to do a routine check on the contracts. It's everyone's fault, but please do a routine check on the contract. Once a month will do."

[I will check the contract every week from today onwards. That's not hard for me.]

The purge caused a little bit of unrest among the civilians. People also started to find out the cause of the zombie attack after visiting the information center. Something hard to believe, such as God, other worlds, and other fantasy stuff. Even if they did not want to trust that, they could not deny what the information center told them. With the change in the world, what the information center told them was no longer a fantasy but a real thing.

A week passed, and the purge was over. Ten thousand and nine hundred ninety-seven people were caught for treason. On the following day, a big announcement was delivered to the people, an execution for the traitors. That was huge news for them, and execution was not the expected punishment for the ten thousand prisoners.

Death Penalty was very uncommon for sure, and many people did not like the death penalty. Another wave of protests rose up, complaining about human rights and stuff. The protesters agreed that the people who did the damage to the empire to get the death penalty, but they did not agree with the people who had not done anything yet.

Even on the day of the execution, the protesters were the first group to arrive on the execution ground, standing closest to the execution ground. They raised their banners, raising their voices to reduce the number of executions.

The execution ground was recently made; it was similar to a soccer stadium but with no seats. The high wall surrounded the ground with a two meters tall platform in the middle. There was a building behind the platform, a building to accommodate the prisoners before the execution, a place for the executioners to prepare too.

"Let me confront the protesters; we can't let them enter to disturb the execution," Zhang Mengyao was about to get out of the room.

"Let me do it. I need to show my face more often, so people recognize me," Tang Shaoyang stood from his seat. He was clearly annoyed by his tone, "Who let those people enter the ground in the first place?" He muttered in the end.

Tang Shaoyang arrived on the platform. The protesters voiced their protest louder with Tang Shaoyang's appearance. With the whole thing happening in the last week, he was not in the mood to be softhearted. He summoned Aerelion, The Infernal Wyvern.

The giant black wyvern immediately silenced the protesters. Aerelion knew his job was to intimidate the protesters. The wyvern opened his wings and let out a roar to the sky. The deafening roar clearly scared the protesters.

Tang Shaoyang reached the edge of the platform and questioned the man who seemed to be the leader of the protesters, "When are you going to stop? Haven't we talked about this? I will not reduce the number! They all deserve to be executed!"

The man's eyes were on Aerelion while listening to Tang Shaoyang. Clearly, the wyvern intimidated him more than The Emperor, but the man braced himself to answer the question, "I understand what you are trying to do by executing them, Your Majesty. This is a warning for us, but isn't it enough to execute the people who actually have harmed the empire and the people instead of executing the people who have not done anything yet? Those people deserve a second chance, a chance to redeem themselves!"

"This is just wasting time...." Tang Shaoyang took a deep breath. Deep inside, there was an urge to kick these protesters out of the ground, but that would not solve the issue. These people would rally more people to protest.

"What if they don't repent? Are you willing to guarantee it with your life? Not just you, but all of you! Do you dare to do it? If you dare, then I have a method called the oath ceremony. If they violate the law once more, will you all also die along with them? If you agree to take the oath, then I will reduce the number, but I want all of you to take responsibility for each of them? Do you dare?"

"How is that fair?" The leader focused his gaze on Tang Shaoyang, ignoring Aerelion's red eyes were on him. "We haven't done anything that deserves the punishment."

"Then how is that fair for you to protect those criminals? How about the people who lost their family members during the zombie attack? They lost their family members, and yet, here you are, trying to protect the criminal from the punishment. Aren't you being funny here? Do you think you are a good person for doing so?"

"We are asking you to reduce the execution number, not to free them from the punishment. The Empire still can punish them, but they don't deserve the death penalty," The activist leader refuted.

Tang Shaoyang massaged his forehead, 'I am not really good with my words; I should have let the others confront these stupid people.'

"They don't deserve the death penalty?" Tang Shaoyang let out a chuckle, "Are you joking? Do you think the rebellion will happen if they only have three thousand people? The reason they started the rebellion was that they thought they had enough numbers to overturn the empire! So the fact that they joined with the rebels also contributed to harming the empire and the people! Can't you understand such a simple thing?"

"This is enough! Your arguments can't convince me to change my decision. You are wasting my time," Tang Shaoyang finally had enough, "Perhaps, are you also part of the rebellion? Are you trying to save your comrades?"

He suddenly became suspicious. The team only investigated the people that worked for the empire, the core divisions such as the military, the police, and the officials. They never investigated the normal civilians that worked on the farm or other labor workers, "Why I never thought of this?" He muttered.

"Are you trying to silence us?" The leader raised his voice even more.

"No! I want you to be considerate of the victims. Why are you not on the healer's side, comforting them for what they have gone through? They worked on the border, making sure the people in the capital were safe, yet you tried to protect the rebels who have done terrible things to them! Are you even still a human?"

"Why are you clamoring in the executing ground instead of helping the people who are grieving for losing their family because of the traitors who are about to get executed? Why don't you use your voice to help the victim? I just don't understand you all!"

"A week ago, people were protesting, seeking justice. Now I deliver justice, giving the traitor what they deserve, yet there are people like you guys who tried to protect the criminal." Tang Shaoyang also raised his voice, ensuring the people inside the executing ground heard him.

Many people had gathered in the execution ground, with most of them being the victims or the people who lost their families in the zombie attack.

Tang Shaoyang easily spotted the healer team, who got gang-raped by the traitors as they were accompanied by fellow healers. These people came to watch the execution, yet there was another group who tried to reduce the execution number.

"I have enough! You only have two choices; follow the empire's decision if you want to stay! If you don't like my decision, then leave!" Tang Shaoyang pointed his finger to the execution ground's exit, "The empire will not collapse without you, but people like you will ruin the empire. Follow the rules if you want to stay, and leave if you feel this is unfair."

All of a sudden, a woman rushed toward the protester leader. The woman slapped the man hard, it was so hard that the man fell to the ground, "I LOST MY HUSBAND BECAUSE OF THEM! I LOST MY DAUGHTER BECAUSE OF THEM! AND YOU!" The woman pointed his finger toward the man, then pointed to the group of protesters, "AND ALL OF YOU TRY TO PROTECT THEM! DO YOU STILL HAVE A HEART? IS YOUR HEART MADE OF STEEL?"

"THEY CAUSED A CHAOS THAT KILLED MANY PEOPLE, AND YOU TRY TO PROTECT THEM? WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT THAN THOSE TRAITORS?"