"Beep!"
"Beep!"
"Beep!"
The moment the piercing alarm blared across Quantico Military Base, every soldier—whether on duty at the base, resting in the barracks, or already in town taking a break—wore the same stunned, bewildered expression.
The next second.
They snapped out of it.
"Holy shit!"
"Combat alarm."
"Enemy attack."
"Jesus Christ, what's going on?"
"The Island Nation bastards are attacking again—wait, no, this is Quantico, not Pearl Harbor."
The soldiers were mentally rattled, but once they recovered, they swiftly entered combat readiness.
After all, this was Quantico.
The goddamn home of the Marine Corps, not to mention the nearby FBI Academy and Langley headquarters.
Almost three seconds after the combat alarm sounded, the first soldier appeared, followed by the second, then the third...
"Clatter!"
"Where?"
"Gamma Lab."
"Fuck."
The lieutenant colonel cursed the moment he heard that the former Gamma Lab had been breached. Pulling on his clothes as he rushed for the door, he took out his phone and made a call.
The call connected quickly.
"Hello!"
A low voice came from the other end.
"General, Gamma Lab has been breached."
"..."
General Thaddeus Ross, who had just left the Pentagon and gotten into his car, froze upon hearing the report.
Good lord.
What had he just heard?
Gamma Lab had been breached?
How was that possible?
Gamma Lab was inside the Marine Corps base at Quantico. How the hell could anyone have broken in there?
Unable to believe the news, General Thaddeus Ross paused before asking.
"Say that again. Where was breached?"
"Gamma Lab."
"Shit!"
Thaddeus Ross's last shred of hope died.
"What happened?"
"The Emergency Response Team has already gone in. I'm on my way there now."
"..."
Thaddeus Ross took a deep breath, loosened his tie, and slapped the driver's seat. "Quantico. Now!"
The driver nodded and floored the gas, pulling off a high-speed stunt right in front of two Capitol Police officers nearby.
The two Capitol Police officers exchanged looks.
Meanwhile.
The base's Emergency Response Team had already reached Gamma Lab, which was surrounded by sheet-metal fencing.
Thunderous impacts kept erupting from inside Gamma Lab, while the secret research personnel who had been stationed there ran out in terror and panic.
The moment they emerged, the arriving soldiers pounced on them and hauled them aside like chicks.
"What's happening inside? How many intruders are there? What do they want?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything."
"One. He came for the Gamma Stone."
"..."
The emergency team captain fell silent as he looked at the researcher who had provided the information.
Several other soldiers stared at the researcher in disbelief.
"You just said... one?"
"Yes, just one."
Terror still lingered on the researcher's face. "But he isn't human. He smashed through a wall with one punch, and bullets couldn't hit him at all. Every soldier who fired at him is dead."
Everyone looked at one another.
At that moment, a soldier who had run out with the help of a researcher, seemingly wounded but not dead, spoke up in agreement. "He's telling the truth. There was only one intruder."
The emergency team captain's gaze instantly fell on the supported soldier.
"Soldier, report the situation."
"Just like he said. There was only one intruder. He seemed to be here for the Gamma Stone. Our bullets couldn't hit him at all, and he killed every soldier who fired at him almost instantly."
"What about you?"
"Didn't you hear what I said?"
The wounded soldier seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown as he roared at the emergency team captain, "He killed every soldier who fired at him!"
In truth, he had fired as well.
But...
The instant he pulled the trigger, his weapon had suddenly jammed, and no bullet came out.
That was precisely why Hawk had spared his life at the last moment. Instead, Hawk had shattered one of his legs, leaving him unable to fight.
The other soldiers who had fired, along with the armed researchers inside, had not been so lucky.
Just as Hawk had said before.
Once the valve of slaughter was opened, killing was no longer a matter of choice. It was only a matter of numbers.
Still, Hawk was restraining himself.
By then, Hawk had reached the basement of the Gamma Lab Building.
At first glance, he spotted the excavated hole in the basement.
With a thud.
Hawk, wearing a hood and a medical mask, jumped straight into the hole.
Then.
He saw an excavated passageway. Stone picks and other tools still lay scattered across the floor of the narrow tunnel.
Good lord, this was primitive.
No.
It had to be deliberate. After all, the military was not united.
As Hawk pondered this, his gaze shifted to the stone walls on both sides of the passage.
That was right.
This was the same stone he had seen in Dr. Connors's laboratory.
Just then.
After the cry of a phoenix rang out within Hawk's Cosmo, a message was conveyed to him.
"Devour it."
"Just leave the refining to you."
"That's easy."
Hawk processed the message.
He had originally thought he would have to moonlight as a miner and dig out these stones, which had absorbed Gamma Rays after the explosion at Gamma Lab for some unknown reason.
As it turned out...
He only needed to place his hands on them and ignite his Cosmo, allowing Phoenix within his Cosmo to absorb the Gamaneon stored inside the stones.
This...
Was wonderful.
Delighted, Hawk was about to start absorbing them.
But just as he was about to lay his hands on the walls, his gaze snapped toward the hole he had just jumped through.
Hawk threw a punch through the air toward the opening.
Rumble!
The opening leading to the basement collapsed under his punch. The force of it sent dust and shockwaves sweeping through the excavated but shallow passage.
But the dust could not affect Hawk in the slightest.
He had done it only because he did not want the people above to interrupt his next task.
Now, he could absorb it in peace.
With that thought, Hawk did not hesitate and placed both hands against the stone walls on either side.
The next second!
His Cosmo erupted!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Before you continue