SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System-Chapter 46: The Power of Freedom of Speech

When Ainsworth’s convincing words fell upon all the members of the survivor group present, most of them weren’t worried as they knew whether they had been bitten. Nevertheless, they were still apprehensive of everyone present as any one of them could have degenerated into a zombie and bitten them.

In Thomas’s case, when he heard Ainsworth’s statement, he felt the urge to believe it to be the truth.

So, he didn’t doubt him; instead, he asked worriedly, "Can you please reveal them and let them leave the group? I don’t want to be heartless, but the lives of everyone would be at stake if even one member were hiding that they were about to transform into a zombie."

Faced with Thomas and the other members’ worries, Ainsworth patted his chest confidently and swore an oath, "Fear not! For I, Arthur, will ensure that under my leadership, no pointless lives will be sacrificed in our journey to the military-established human survival base."

"And I, as a responsible leader, will make the hardest choices if that’s what’s good for the group, even if most people can’t bear to do them."

"For the sake of everyone’s lives, I’ll expose the perpetrator. Since he dared to hide his injuries from being bitten by a zombie, he is, without a doubt, evil! He dared endanger everyone’s lives, and as your leader, I can’t allow such injustice to occur!"

Under the effect of Freedom of Speech (SSS), since Ainsworth’s Charm attribute was higher than everyone’s Spirit attribute, they were all affected by his speech.

Almost all members of the survivor group were moved by his selfless and responsible persona, and they couldn’t help but shed tears. It felt like god had answered their prayers. Not only was someone powerful and reliable who joined their group and became their leader, he even cared about their lives and didn’t treat them as expendables.

Even those who had planned to slack off and become a burden in the group no longer felt that way. Those who were deadweights were moved by Ainsworth’s speech about his responsibility towards them, so they started thinking of ways to contribute to the group to the best of their abilities.

As for the member who hid the fact that he was bitten by a zombie, he, who had hidden his injuries well, could hardly keep his composure now.

Thomas didn’t notice anything unusual under his previous leadership, mostly because the injured member hid it well. However, when the injured member heard Ainsworth’s words that condemned him, even he couldn’t help but feel like he was the most evil person to exist on Terra.

The injured member started doubting why he hid it and, instead, he should have just left the group and saved everyone. Yet, he was so selfish and vile to hide his injuries and endanger everyone’s lives.

Since he was only a normal person, he naturally felt guilt, and it had been weighing him down, especially when a righteous and reliable person like Ainsworth condemned him for being evil.

In the end, before Ainsworth could launch another verbal attack using his Freedom of Speech (SSS) skill, the injured member stepped out of the group, bowed his head towards Ainsworth, and deeply apologized, "I’m sorry for being selfish and cruel! I didn’t want to endanger the group, but I also don’t want to die."

"I felt like my body was resisting the zombie virus, and I never had visible symptoms of having the zombie virus, so I had believed I could overcome it. Yet, I was only thinking about myself, which endangered everyone’s life in the process."

"I won’t ask everyone to accept my apology. To repent for my actions, I will leave the group and survive on my own."

Even when Kyle, the injured member, had already apologized, some of the members of the survivor group started hurling insults to condemn him for endangering their lives.

After all, if Ainsworth didn’t force Kyle to own up for his crimes, there would be casualties in the survivor group if Kyle ever turned into a zombie and bit them. They dared not gamble that they wouldn’t be the ones who’d be bitten by the zombie Kyle turned into.

Looking at Kyle, who had lowered his head and didn’t speak up against the rebuttals and insults hurled at him, Ainsworth thought, ’Freedom of Speech sure is powerful. I could become a politician and run for president, and I’d easily win the election due to swaying those sheeples into voting for me.’

’With it, I don’t even need to make exaggerated body and hand gestures as I campaign or even make a ridiculous slogan of making the country Great Again. As long as most people have a lower Spirit attribute in comparison to my Charm attribute, then they’d easily be swayed by my words.’

’Just like now, these survivors wouldn’t even hesitate to gang up and execute Kyle if I order them to do so. They have already been incited to do my bidding, yet even they themselves aren’t aware of that.’

’Freedom of Speech is indeed the freedom of speech. But the difference is that the freedom lies within me, not others. Kyle wasn’t lying about feeling fine even when he was bitten by a zombie, as he had indeed developed resistance to the zombie virus.’

’If not for my team’s intervention, Kyle would likely have become an evolver and awakened his superpower. Then, he’d be the backbone of the group, and his hiding of his zombie bite, which potentially endangered everyone’s life, would be a secret he’d bring to his grave.’

’However, whether Kyle is lying, evil, or not, is not something I have to consider, as I only need to paint the narrative that he is guilty of a crime he didn’t intend to commit. As for the rest, the winner takes all, and the winner gets to write history.’

’No one will remember Kyle after I eliminate him. Everyone will remember me and my team, who brought light to when everyone was suffering in the dark.’

With that in mind, Ainsworth already formulated a plan in his mind on how he’d dispose of Kyle without tarnishing the persona he had crafted for himself.

Walking towards Kyle, Ainsworth waved his hand, and a backpack appeared, being held by his right hand.

He passed that backpack to Kyle and patted his shoulder with his other hand, reassuring him with his charming smile, "Even if you have hidden your zombie bite and almost jeopardized everyone’s life, what matters is that you owned up to your crimes and have the heart to repent. In doing so, you are becoming a person better than your past self."

Ainsworth gave the backpack to Kyle and informed him, "My team and I had looted supplies before, and in this backpack, you’ll have enough food and water for a week if you ration it well. There are also other valuable supplies there that will ensure you won’t be helpless after leaving my survivor group."

"You might have committed a crime, but it doesn’t change the fact that you were once a member of my survivor group. Therefore, as your former leader, I don’t want you to die because of a decision I made to save the entire group, so just take this backpack with peace of mind."

When Ainsworth handed out the backpack to Kyle and generously gave him valuable supplies, all of the members who heard Ainsworth, including Thomas, couldn’t help but be jealous of Kyle, who was handed out such valuable supplies.

In their eyes, Kyle was already a dead man since he would be doomed after leaving their group. Giving such supplies to a man who was about to die was a waste of resources since they couldn’t retrieve them.

After all, Kyle would likely die in a place that was too far from them, so it was impossible for them to take a detour as they were all planning to head to the military-established human survival base as soon as possible.

Some members of the survivor group were even tempted to leave the group just to get supplies from Ainsworth, yet they still remained rational and didn’t let it get to them. Those supplies would be useless if they died before they could even make use of it and they knew that without Ainsworth and his team, it would be difficult for them to survive all on their own.

But no matter what, Ainsworth’s generosity and selfless action earned the trust of all the people in the survivor group. Even those who still held a sliver of skepticism towards Ainsworth changed their views on him after seeing him hand valuable supplies to a dead man.

Furthermore, his feat of waving his hand to take out supplies had also assured the survivors that they wouldn’t be low on supplies. They speculated that since Ainsworth had spare supplies to give to someone who’d leave the group, he should have plenty for them.

All the members of the survivor group were undoubtedly convinced of Ainsworth’s role as their leader!