Chapter 72: Migration

The morning mist hung heavy over the main gates of the Northern Settlement, painted in muted shades of gray and white by the biting winter wind.

Towering wooden barricades, reinforced with scrapped steel plates and barbed wire, separated the relative safety of the inner perimeter from the unforgiving ruins outside.

Salma stood near the heavy iron levers that controlled the gate, her long coat fluttering in the cold breeze. Her dark green eyes were narrowed as she looked past the outer perimeter.

Summer stood beside her, clad in her warm tunic with her small canvas bag firmly strapped across her back. Maya hovered a few paces behind them like a silent shadow, her grayish-blue skin completely concealed beneath a heavy gray cloak.

Suddenly, the quiet hum of the morning was shattered by the rhythmic crunch of hundreds of heavy boots marching down the main paved avenue.

Salma tilted her head slightly, her gaze turning cold and sharp. She had already anticipated this moment. Derrick’s scouts had informed her late last night about the frantic meetings inside the command tent.

She knew about Vincious and Jacob’s pathetic attempt to orchestrate a public display, intending to use the tears and desperate pleas of vulnerable survivors to chain her to this outpost.

To a high-ranking member of the Al Mansari bloodline, such transparent political manipulation was nothing short of insulting.

However, as the dense crowd reached the open square before the gates, Salma’s brow furrowed in genuine surprise.

The expected weeping crowds falling to their knees never materialized. Instead, thousands of survivors marched in clean, orderly columns, each carrying packed leather rucksacks, wooden crates, and improvised sleds piled high with dried provisions and winter blankets.

Armed civilian men walked alongside the families, their faces grim but determined.

They were not begging Salma to stay. They were preparing to march alongside her.

A heavy migration of this scale was pure madness. Moving thousands of under-equipped civilians across the monster-infested wasteland between Lancity and Baidu carried an astronomical mortality rate.

Staying behind the walls guaranteed a slow death from starvation, but venturing out into the open snow invited total annihilation from rogue zombie packs.

Salma’s cold gaze swept over the front line of the crowd until it locked onto a woman standing at the head of the civilian formation.

It was Imani.

She wore a clean, fur-trimmed dark coat, her long hair neatly pinned back despite the freezing temperature. A subtle, satisfied smile touched her lips as she held Salma’s piercing gaze without flinching.

Salma had not forgotten the reports Derrick brought her, nor had she forgotten what the twin girls, Ella and Ilas, had casually mentioned days ago.

Imani had been one of the vocal figures in the public relations committee who had openly insulted Summer, calling her an anomalous monster before her true identity as Salma’s daughter was established.

Looking at the woman’s smug, calculated expression now, a sharp spark of irritation flickered deep within Salma’s green eyes.

While Salma’s mood darkened, Summer’s small crimson eyes suddenly brightened.

Pushing past her mother’s cloak, Summer stepped forward as she caught sight of four familiar figures emerging from the front row of the crowd. Ilas and Ella were lugging heavy hiking packs on their shoulders, while Angela carried a wooden crate bound with thick rope.

Beside them walked the Professor, his back slightly bent under a weathered bag, though his eyes remained remarkably sharp.

"You guys are coming too?" Summer asked, her small voice carrying a rare, undeniable note of genuine happiness.

If there was one thing she felt a trace of reluctance about leaving behind in this settlement, it was this small group. They had treated her with quiet warmth and respect, shielding her identity without asking for anything in return.

"Not only them, but we are coming too!" a high-pitched chorus of voices shouted from behind the Professor.

More than ten children, ranging from six to ten years old, burst out from behind the adult ranks. They were bundled up in oversized wool coats and mismatched mittens, each carrying small wooden sticks or toy shields.

"Ugh..." Summer let out a long, exhausted groan, slapping her small hand against her forehead as she recognized them.

It was the self-proclaimed members of the ’Chubby Mafia’, the group of annoying settlement kids who had relentlessly followed her around, offering her sweet berries and calling her their little boss over the past week.

Yet, despite her dramatic show of annoyance, the corners of her lips curled upward into an uncontrollable smile.

Salma watched her daughter’s reaction closely. The harsh words of refusal that had been forming in her throat instantly dissolved.

She could feel the delicate balance of Summer’s emotions. For a child who had suffered through total isolation, starvation, and terrifying physical mutation, these small moments of human connection were precious anchors that kept her chaotic corruption from completely consuming her mind.

Salma silently swallowed her objections, choosing to remain quiet for Summer’s sake.

A few meters away, standing amidst the civilians, Imani watched the silent interaction with a dark, hidden smirk.

When Mayor Vincious and Assistant General Jacob had summoned her last night, asking her to use her public influence to instigate the survivors into begging the Rogue leader to remain, Imani had nearly laughed in their faces.

She knew better than anyone that a monster like Salma Al Mansari cared nothing for the lives of weak civilian trash. Salma was a ruthless warrior with a powerful background. Using crowd emotional blackmail on such a person was direct suicide.

The only reason Salma had ever acted as a savior for this settlement in the first place was because she had been searching for her missing child. Now that her daughter was by her side, the settlement held zero value to her.

Since manipulating the mother was impossible, Imani’s sharp mind had immediately identified the real pressure point.

Imani’s dark eyes slipped sideways, landing on the tiny girl standing beside Salma. Summer was currently pretending to look stoic and unbothered, yet her crimson eyes were beaming with undeniable joy as she bantered with the children and the twin sisters.

Imani knew the truth. Summer was the real core of the Rogue leader’s world. The little girl possessed an absurd amount of affection for the ordinary survivors, especially the children who treated her like a normal human.

If the civilians declared that they were willingly following the Rogues into the wilderness, Summer would never allow them to be slaughtered by feral packs along the way.

And where the child went, Salma would inevitably follow, deploying her terrifying Rogue forces to guard the migrating column.

By shifting the narrative from ’begging them to stay’ to ’following them into the light’, Imani had effectively chained both the Rogue leader and her lethal daughter to the entire settlement without firing a single shot or making a single desperate plea.

Vincious and Jacob walked up from the rear command lines, their faces pale as they observed the massive civilian movement.

Jacob glanced at Imani, his expression a mixture of shock and caution. He had not expected her to turn a simple public relations request into an entire demographic migration.

"Is this your grand plan?" Jacob whispered harshly as he approached Imani’s side. "If we march thousands of untrained civilians across the northern snow plains to Baidu, half of them will freeze or die to wandering mutant packs before we even reach the halfway mark!"

"Look at the girl, Jacob," Imani replied in a low, cold tone, never taking her eyes off Summer. "Do you honestly think she will let those twins or those annoying brat children die in the snow? She will use her strength to clear the path long before our front scouts even spot a single threat. Don’t forget how her elder sister acted as your bodyguard, even before her relationship with them was as close as this."

Jacob followed her gaze, watching Summer lightly kick Ella’s boot in a playful manner while the children cheered around her. A heavy, conflicted lump formed in his throat.

As a father himself, he hated using a child’s innocence as a political shield, but as the assistant general responsible for hundreds of families, he could not deny the brilliant, cold efficiency of Imani’s scheme.

Salma’s eyes shifted away from Summer for a brief second, sweeping over the military officers and locking directly onto Imani once more.

The ambient temperature around the main gate seemed to drop by several degrees as Salma’s shadow element flared silently beneath her cloak.

She was no fool. She could read the subtle shifts in the crowd’s momentum and the underlying arrogance in Imani’s posture. She knew she had been played into a corner through her daughter’s softness.

Enjoy your small victory, human, Salma thought, her eyes narrowing into dangerous slits as her inner shadow mana surged. The moment we cross the border walls into the open waste, your little political games will mean nothing against the true darkness.

Summer, entirely oblivious to the silent clash of political schemes around her, turned back to her mother with bright eyes. "Mom, can they come? The road to Baidu is long, and having more people means more fun!"

Salma’s cold expression melted instantly into a gentle, doting smile as she looked down at Summer. She reached out, patting the top of Summer’s head with a soft hand.

"If my little commander wants them to follow," Salma said softly, her voice carrying an absolute authority that echoed across the silent square, "then they may follow. But if anyone slacks off or pulls us down, I will personally feed them to the wilderness."

A collective gasp rippled through the civilian ranks, followed immediately by a wave of relieved murmurs. The gate mechanisms groaned loudly as heavy steel chains began to pull the massive iron doors open, revealing the endless, snow-covered wasteland that lay beyond Lancity.