"27, 27... He said this was the order of death, and I would be the 27th to be executed."
"He said he would kill all those who cast the death vote within a year, averaging about 20 people a day. That means he'll come for me tomorrow."
Wen Wen crossed his legs. For what reason had Ning Zhewan ranked him 27th?
Were there really 26 people more hateful to him than Wen Wen?
That was unlikely.
"I'm currently in Shenchuan City. Perhaps he ranked them by distance from nearest to farthest. Then from tomorrow... no, people will start dying tonight!"
Wen Wen wasn't worried about the death mark on his hand at all. For an esper of his level, it could be removed easily at any time.
When the mark first appeared on Wen Wen's hand, the crescent moon on his palm had lit up, and then it moved to his other hand. The Disaster Gauntlet on his other hand also appeared, trying to remove it.
If Wen Wen hadn't deliberately controlled it, this thing would have already been erased by Wen Wen's own defensive abilities.
The reason Wen Wen kept the mark was precisely because he wanted to see how Ning Zhewan planned to kill people, and whether he could find Ning Zhewan's true form by observing his methods, thus stopping this massacre.
Speaking of which, Wen Wen's desire to stop Ning Zhewan stemmed more from his identity as a Containment Officer and his sense of responsibility as a demon hunter.
He himself also disliked those over seven thousand voters. Today, they could sentence Ning Zhewan to death based on only one person's account.
Tomorrow, they could use public opinion to influence fair trials by relying on their numbers.
The day after tomorrow, they might openly sacrifice a small portion of people in the name of protecting the majority, as long as it wasn't them being sacrificed.
The frightening part was that they would firmly believe they were on the side of justice.
Once there was a revelation that caused innocent people to suffer unnecessary harm, some of them would remain silent for a period, while others would stand on the moral high ground to accuse those who misled them.
But no one would come forward to apologize!
Because they were righteous, and what happened before was merely a minor oversight of justice.
Wen Wen could somewhat guess the reason Ning Zhewan had meticulously planned this grand drama. He had likely personally experienced or witnessed such mob violence, hence the emergence of the Arbiter.
The scumbags killed earlier were merely bait with a sweet scent, designed to lure out these over seven thousand voters.
And the final act of self-immolation was to conclude this plan.
If Ning Zhewan had exposed these people's true faces through legitimate means, or only punished the ringleaders, Wen Wen would have applauded him and even tried to help him become a Containment Officer.
Unfortunately, his chosen method was too extreme, and it had caused him to degenerate into something neither human nor ghost. Therefore, Wen Wen had to stop him.
Among these seven thousand people, there might be those like Wen Wen who were merely curious. There might be children whose thoughts were not yet independent, and some people might genuinely hate evil and be driven by justice, but simply lacked the proper judgment.
As a collective, they were indeed disgusting enough to induce nausea and terrifying enough to chill the bone.
But as individual entities, they didn't deserve to die.
Even if Wen Wen encountered them, at most he would deliver a few punches, but he wouldn't take their lives.
Although they were foolish, despicable, vulgar, and ugly, these were the humans that the Containment Facility and the Hunter Association were meant to protect, and following the crowd was also one of humanity's innate tendencies.
If this scope were expanded to the entire Federation, almost every ordinary person, every normal-thinking esper, and even those monsters, would make incorrect judgments based on false information.
Many people firmly believed that they would not be influenced by rumors and make wrong judgments.
But that very idea was wrong!
Unless one was truly omniscient and omnipotent, how many people could guarantee that everything they believed was correct?
Wen Wen withdrew his thoughts and continued to track the Arbiter's whereabouts.
The webpage had vanished as if it had never existed, but Wen Wen had ways to deal with it.
He made a call to Ding Mingguang and sent him the URL, asking him to investigate who those last seven thousand-plus people were.
If it was too difficult to check all eight thousand people, he should focus on the voters in Shenchuan City. If Ning Zhewan's killing order was arranged by distance, then this was the best time to catch him; any later, and the scope would expand too much.
Subsequently, Wen Wen retrieved Ning Zhewan's profile and reviewed it repeatedly. No matter how he looked at it, Ning Zhewan appeared to be an ordinary person. Where did he find that peculiar rune, and how did he master its correct usage?
Runeology was a profound field of study, evolved from Yuta script, and far more complex than Yuta script. Each symbol possessed a unique ability.
With runes as the core, connecting energy circuits outside the runes formed the most basic magic arrays.
Magic arrays were much more powerful than simple runes, but their preparation conditions were extremely strict. The person who carved the array, the materials, the energy to activate the array, and even factors like the weather and time of activation all greatly influenced the array's power.
Without a certain foundation in runeology, even if the magic array pattern was carved flawlessly in a place and all conditions were met, it would still be useless.
The magic arrays depicted in some films and comic works of the Federation were genuine, but those arrays showed no supernatural effects because the people who carved them were all amateurs.
All of Ning Zhewan's actions were aimed at increasing the power of this peculiar magic array. Therefore, either Ning Zhewan himself had a deep understanding of runeology, or someone else was helping him strategize.
Wait a minute.
Ning Zhewan had mentioned he had a friend!
It was that friend who sought revenge against the contractor who built the orphanage. Ning Zhewan had also protected the old principal in front of that friend.
Wen Wen licked his lips. Perhaps the one orchestrating everything from behind the scenes was Ning Zhewan's friend, and he was also an esper, likely from that orphanage.
Suddenly, Wen Wen's computer vibrated. It turned out Ding Mingguang had sent over the data.
There were 58 accounts located in Shenchuan City. The identities of 13 of them had been ascertained, and the specific locations and family information of 22 other devices were confirmed, but the identity of the users could not be confirmed.
The remaining 23 individuals had unknown identities, and only their general locations could be determined. Some used encrypted computers, while others used public networks.
To better manage residents, the Federation implemented real-name registration for online accounts. However, due to technical limitations, many people still used others' identities to register accounts. Therefore, it was already quite difficult for Ding Mingguang to find so much information so quickly.
In terms of computers, Wen Wen had never seen anyone stronger than Ding Mingguang.
Thus, Ding Mingguang was the most suitable "tool person" to assist Wen Wen in handling this incident.