The emblem of the Special Forces was painted across its body.
The same forces Kira had once worked with during several classified missions.
The rotors spun violently, sending dust and smoke flying in every direction.
A small group of able-bodied users quickly approached the aircraft.
Lan Qishing boarded first before turning toward his team.
"Everyone else, remain at your posts. Evacuate the city and assist the civilians."
The team members boarded one after another.
Most of them still carried visible traces of the previous battle.
A tall man with short gray hair named Kyle, whose ability allowed him to manipulate shadows for combat. He was the team leader.
Beside him sat a slender girl with short blue hair named Lia, capable of controlling metal and creating blades and sharp weapons.
Then there was Mark, the same ability user who had fought earlier in City S. His power allowed him to turn anything he touched into a timed explosive.
And finally, a massive man named Bruce, who possessed overwhelming physical enhancement abilities.
Everyone sat inside the helicopter in heavy silence.
Yet their eyes continuously drifted toward Sian.
As though they still couldn’t fully comprehend what they had witnessed earlier.
He Jinyun finally broke the silence.
"So... how many cities have fallen so far?"
Lan Qishing sighed while staring at the military screen.
"In less than three hours..."
He slowly lifted his eyes.
"Three cities have already fallen, and the human casualties are estimated to be in the millions."
Silence filled the helicopter.
Even Kira stopped moving for a moment.
"This... this is happening faster than we expected..." Lia muttered pale-faced.
"That’s because the zombies..." Mark said seriously. "The zombies are evolving at a terrifying speed, and their numbers are what make them so dangerous."
Several new images appeared on the screen.
Gigantic monsters similar to the creature they had fought earlier.
But some of them were different.
Faster.
Larger.
Smarter.
"These large creatures look like commanders," Kyle said slowly while crossing his arms.
"If they’re controlling the hordes like the previous monster... then killing them means winning the battle."
"Saying it is easier than doing it," Lan Qishing added grimly.
Sian sat silently near the helicopter window.
His crimson eyes stared outside.
Destroyed cities.
Flames.
Corpses scattered across highways.
Rows of burned vehicles that had failed to escape.
Even from the sky...
The world already looked like it had ended.
The reflection of the flames flickered briefly within his eyes.
Then he silently closed them.
Suddenly—
The military communicator rang.
"Lan! Lan, you damn brat, can you hear me?!"
A rough male voice echoed through the device, filled with emotion and relief.
"We hear you, Grandpa."
"Thank God..." The old man’s voice trembled. "I saw everything that happened. You did well saving City S!"
Lan Qishing smiled tiredly.
"Barely."
Grandpa Lan quickly continued, sounding almost unable to control himself anymore.
"Is... is Sian with you right now?!"
Silence fell for a second.
Then everyone turned toward Sian.
Lan Qishing slowly raised the communicator.
"Yes."
The old man’s voice came immediately, filled with dignity and gratitude.
"Thank you, child... thank you for helping us. No—the entire country should be thanking you..."
General Lan’s voice nearly broke apart, and no one could tell whether he was crying or not.
The old man exhaled deeply in obvious relief.
"If he’s with you... Then maybe we still have a chance."
Then he fell silent briefly before asking nervously:
"Can he... still fight?"
Lan Qishing glanced toward Sian.
Sian didn’t seem interested in speaking. He had already closed his eyes in exhaustion, resting against the side of the helicopter.
Lan Qishing answered quietly, lowering his voice so he wouldn’t disturb him.
"We’re heading to City K right now."
...
City K.
It was far worse than City S.
Far worse.
Even from a distance—
Towering pillars of black fire could be seen rising into the heavens.
But the most terrifying thing...
Wasn’t the zombies.
It was the sounds.
The monstrous roars of savage beasts echoed throughout the entire city.
"My God..." Lia whispered in shock as she stared out the helicopter window.
The streets were covered in torn corpses.
Cars overturned.
Buildings collapsed.
And standing atop one of the shattered buses—
Was a massive tiger.
But that thing was no longer an ordinary tiger.
Its size rivaled that of a small truck.
Patches of fur had fallen away, exposing rotting black flesh pulsating with crimson veins.
Its blood-red eyes glowed ominously.
And its mouth was filled with horrifyingly long, deformed fangs.
Behind it...
Dozens of other monsters.
Mutated dogs.
Gigantic apes.
Enormous black birds are circling through the sky.
Even a grotesque elephant whose decaying body was impaled through several cars by its massive tusks.
"This isn’t just an infection..." Mark muttered in disbelief. "It’s a full-scale biological catastrophe..."
Suddenly—
A massive explosion erupted beneath them.
"There are survivors!"
One of the soldiers shouted from the cockpit.
Everyone immediately looked down.
A small group of soldiers and civilians had barricaded themselves inside a destroyed gas station.
Hundreds of zombies and monsters surrounded them from every direction.
It looked like the soldiers had been evacuating civilians before they became trapped with no route left to escape.
The moment the survivors saw the helicopter descending—
Some of them broke down crying as hope, which they had nearly abandoned, reignited within their hearts.
"Help us!!"
"We’re here! Please save us!!"
And in the very next second—
Sian jumped from the helicopter.
"Sian!"
Lan Qishing shouted in shock, completely caught off guard by Sian’s actions. He didn’t even have time to grab him.
Violent winds exploded around Sian’s body as he plummeted from an enormous height toward the ground.
He wrapped himself in his powers, protecting his body from the devastating impact.
BOOOOOOM!!
The streets trembled violently the moment he landed.
He crashed directly into a horde of deformed zombies, instantly crushing them into flattened masses of rotten flesh smeared across the ground.
Then—
Gravity exploded outward.
The earth around him shattered violently as dozens of monsters were crushed on the spot, their bodies bursting into bloody pulp.