Volume Two: The Expedition! Chapter Sixty-Seven: Dire News

At an altitude of more than six thousand meters, Liu Cong leapt out of the aircraft cabin, shooting forth like a cannonball, his entire body wreathed in pale blue currents of air as he plunged rapidly downward.

At this moment, the situation within the safe zone had become dire. The once-towering circular wall, famed for inspiring a sense of security, had now become a death trap for the tens of thousands of survivors within the city.

Faces stricken with terror, people gazed at the battle raging atop the walls, witnessing with their own eyes the soldiers stationed there descending into chaos. As expected, it was not long before the silhouette of the first monster appeared atop the ramparts.

The appearance of the first black monster signaled the breach of the defensive line and a gap in the military’s firepower. Soon, a second, a third, and then a flood of mutated creatures would break through, plunging the residents below into utter panic.

Those who first spotted the mutant atop the wall screamed in horror, shoving their way through the crowds as they ran to the opposite side of the circular safe zone, desperate to distance themselves from the now perilous wall.

It is human nature to seek benefit and avoid harm; it is instinct to flee danger. Those slow to react soon followed, surging toward the far side of the wall, their panic quickly spreading. In the mere seconds after the monster appeared, nearly half the residents of the safe zone stampeded toward the other side in a frenzy.

In that instant, regardless of age or gender, regardless of how graceful or composed they might usually be, all abandoned their dignity and fled in panic. Everywhere, people ran terrified, shrieks and cries mingling with pained howls.

The monsters had not yet touched the ground, but already they had shattered the people’s psychological defenses. Amid the chaos, trampling incidents multiplied. The ground was strewn with bodies crushed to death, some reduced to nothing but pulp, with barely any survivors among them.

What these panicked crowds failed to see was that the soldiers atop the wall swiftly gunned down the grotesque mutant and, with bodies far from heroic in stature, stood once more to hold the line and block the breach.

The chaos below was witnessed by an officer atop the wall, who was already overwhelmed by the mutant onslaught. Enraged, he shouted, “Bastards!”—whether cursing the mutants or the city’s residents, it was hard to tell.

“Guiwu! Take a few medics down there and rescue the trampled wounded!” the mustached officer barked at his subordinate.

“Yes, sir!”

Song Ji glanced below the wall. The frenzied mutants kept latching their claws onto the ramparts, climbing against a hail of gunfire. The swiftest among them were always dragged or trampled by their own kind, but it was only a matter of time before they broke through in force.

“Pour the oil!” the mustached officer yelled. His men had been waiting for this order and immediately pressed their buttons.

Suddenly, a ring of pipes emerged along the forty-meter-high wall, spewing out black gasoline that coursed down pre-carved grooves along the ramparts.

The sudden slick of gasoline caused many of the clawing mutants to lose their grip and tumble down, becoming stepping stones for those below.

A soldier hurled a firebomb at the wall, instantly igniting the oil slick. A ring of flame exploded outward, a wave of heat engulfing the ramparts and knocking down even more mutants.

In the face of danger, humanity always manages to use its wits to overcome adversity. Yet the mass of mutants below was simply too vast and ferocious; soon, the soldiers atop the wall ran out of ammunition.

With no time to resupply, the tide of dark mutants quickly gained the upper hand. Climbing upon their own kin and corpses, they surged over the wall!

The soldiers atop the ramparts were instantly overwhelmed, torn apart in showers of blood and gore. Each shredded corpse was fought over by several mutants.

Just as the monsters turned their attention to more soldiers and the people below, Liu Cong descended from the sky.

Before his figure reached the ground, sword gleams flashed forth!

Hundreds of azure sword beams streaked down, guided as if by navigation systems, striking the mutants atop the wall with deadly precision. The sword gleams pierced their black bodies, then shot through to the wall itself. Where they touched, the rampart melted away, leaving gaping, shadowy holes of indeterminate depth.

This astounding scene stunned the mustached officer and the soldiers atop the wall. Glancing at the bisected corpses on the ground, they all turned their gaze toward the source of the sword gleams—the figure hovering in the air.

Having dispatched the mutants atop the wall, Liu Cong gripped the ethereal form of the Tianzhao Sword. Its blade glimmered with azure light, whorls of energy swirling around it in a high-speed vortex. With each revolution, it unleashed another sword beam aimed at the earth.

Thousands upon thousands of azure sword gleams wove into a vast net, raining down upon the mutants below like a bomber executing an indiscriminate strike, scouring every inch of the ground.

Where sword beams struck earth, clouds of gray dust billowed; where they struck mutants, black blood burst in all directions, pooling on the ground.

Standing high above, Liu Cong beheld a tableau where gray and black mingled and intertwined, revealing an unexpected and strange beauty.

“What a sight,” Liu Cong murmured with a smile, pleased with his handiwork.

He pulled out his cellphone and snapped a photo of the safe zone below, then another of the ground absent the safe zone. The first was for Zhang Quan, who had tasked him with recording every action during this mission; the second, with its striking aesthetic, was for Liu Qingqing to admire.

Around the great cylindrical safe zone, new waves of mutants continued to close in. Liu Cong waited until more had gathered before acting again. After three rounds of overwhelming sword gleams, he finally wiped out every last one of the mutants.

The ground was now riven with deep gullies, scarcely a patch left intact. Black blood flowed in rivers, filling the trenches to the brim.

Suddenly, someone inside the safe zone shouted, “He’s that Celestial Swordsman from Huaxia! The Huaxian has come to save us!”

The crowd erupted, passing the news from one to another. Someone, taking the lead, shouted in Chinese, “Huaxia!”

One voice alone might be faint, but when millions cried “Huaxia” in unison, the sound carried not just to the wall but to Liu Cong, standing aloft in the sky.

Hearing so many shouting the name of his homeland, awkward as their pronunciation was, Liu Cong felt a surge of emotion. Smiling, he was about to descend and greet the people within the safe zone, when suddenly Zhao Tian’s voice sounded in his ear.

“Commander! What’s your situation over there?”

The urgency was clear in his tone, and the background was noisy. Liu Cong frowned and replied, “It’s finished here. What’s going on with you? Why is it so chaotic?”

He heard Zhao Tian shout, “Quiet!”

“Commander, we’re still on the plane. The coordinates the Japanese gave us were overrun by mutants five minutes ago. The runway was destroyed by their artillery. We can’t find anywhere to land, so we’re forced to circle in the air.”

Relieved that Zhao Tian and his team were safe, Liu Cong felt a weight lift from his heart—he didn’t want any mishap to befall the crew assigned to this mission, and hoped all would return safely when it was done.

But then he remembered that the safe zone where they were supposed to land had been overrun. The thought gnawed at him: if he hadn’t decided, on a whim, to save this safe zone, he could have reached and rescued the other, now-fallen zone in time.

Yet he couldn’t just stand by and watch the great cylindrical safe zone fall. The good mood from saving tens of thousands evaporated instantly upon learning the news. Steadying himself, he spoke into his earpiece: “Contact the Japanese side directly. Ask where Masao Nakamura’s safe zone is—we’ll head there. I’m finished here, I’ll come find you now.”