Boom—
The shelter's gates were blasted off their hinges. Snow and grit surged into the interior, hindering the guards who came forward to block them. Before Nethermark Humanity's security personnel could even raise their firearms and use their Holographic Sights to lock onto the figures in the blizzard, a screw arrived in an instant, streaking through a sight and piercing straight through a skull, emerging with brain matter and blood.
Thud.
The body hit the floor, followed immediately by a barrage of gunfire. Nethermark Humanity's security personnel were suppressed by the fierce firepower.
"An Dong—damn it, where did all these enemies come from?!"
"The alarm's already been raised! The doctors will be here to support us soon. Hold on a little longer!"
Several security officers encouraged one another as they hid behind the shelter walls, using the terrain to hold off the enemy. Before long, the gunfire from the other side noticeably thinned out.
"They're out of ammunition!"
Nethermark Humanity's security personnel were delighted. It seemed the attackers' firepower was not as plentiful as they had imagined. They were indoors and unaffected by the icy sand. At this rate, driving back the attackers would not be difficult.
Just as they rallied themselves and prepared to counterattack, a low, hoarse voice rang out from the frost-filled sandstorm.
"Zonia, go."
The next moment, Nethermark Humanity's security personnel witnessed a bizarre sight through their scopes: a small, frail, slender figure slowly emerged from the frozen wasteland.
She was a girl of fifteen or sixteen, wrapped in a thick military overcoat and walking barefoot. Her feet were covered in frostbite and purplish-blue bruises, while the exposed skin of her body was bound in filthy bandages. She slowly entered the shelter corridor, her right hand seeming to hold the coat's collar closed while the sleeve on her left side hung empty and swayed in the wind. She was clearly a one-armed cripple.
She lifted her head. Her face was tightly wrapped in bandages, revealing only a pair of dull, hollow eyes. As her gaze focused, Nethermark Humanity's security personnel clearly saw her eyes shift from stark black and white to violent crimson and black. At the same time, some suffocating force seemed to gather in the air.
"An—infected!"
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat! Nethermark Humanity's security personnel finally reacted. They immediately pulled their triggers, and dense streams of bullets riddled her body in an instant. Someone reacted quickly and loaded armor-piercing incendiary rounds. In the blink of an eye, the girl's body was torn full of holes by the merciless power of modern technology. The impact of the bullets made her body sway like a lone boat in a raging storm, manipulated and dominated at will by the power of science.
Click—
After a round of concentrated fire, the girl called Zonia dropped to her knees. Not a single patch of flesh on her body remained intact. Golden bullet heads were squeezed out by her muscles, popping from her frail, thin body with lingering wisps of heat.
Inconceivably, none of the countless bullet holes bled. It was as though the girl before them was merely an empty puppet. More unsettling still—the suffocating pressure in the air did not vanish when she fell to her knees. Instead, it became almost tangible, transforming into black shadows that poured from Zonia's body without restraint!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—smack! The shadows arrived in an instant, ignoring cover and piercing through the security personnel's Exoskeleton Armor. Carrying the crushing force of a locomotive, they slammed several guards violently into the wall behind them. Before they could even scream, irresistible force crushed their skulls flat. Blood and bones were smashed and compressed into several nauseating lumps of pulp on the wall.
Seven Fully Armed security officers. Wiped out.
Huff...
The frost-coated sandstorm slowly delivered a group of figures. They wore mismatched armor and cold-weather gear. Once inside the shelter, they removed their skull-shaped protective masks one after another, their sickly pale faces taking on an eerie glow beneath the orange lights.
The man at the front had gaunt cheeks, his face covered in pockmarks and scars weathered by snow and grit. He raised his prosthetic left arm and gently patted Zonia's head as she knelt on the ground, saying flatly, "What a good dog. That money was well spent."
One of his subordinates curled his lip, carrying a crude spiked club over his shoulder as he contemptuously kicked the security corpses on the ground twice.
"Boss, this is the legendary Nethermark Humanity that conducts evil experiments and makes genetic weapons? They're pathetic! If I led our White Fang Gang brothers and gave them each an injection, we could rush in and butcher them all. Why would we even need to let the dog loose?"
"Why waste bullets when you can save them? You prodigal bastard."
The leader laughed and scolded him, patting Zonia's face, which had been ruined beyond recognition by bullets. He clicked his tongue. "Get up. I didn't buy you just so you could fall here."
Zonia's body trembled slightly. She braced herself against the floor with one hand, and the released shadows were instantly recalled, drilling back into her body through the tears and bullet holes across her skin.
"Urgh..."
She let out a pained groan. Retracting the shadows seemed to severely injure her. A patch of rot immediately spread across her skin, and an overwhelmingly thick stench of decay rapidly filled the air, making the White Fang Gang bandits cover their noses and mouths.
Bang! The leader immediately threw a merciless punch into her face, knocking Zonia to the ground.
"Get up." There was no emotional fluctuation in the leader's dark-red eyes. "I haven't allowed you to die yet—or do you want your little brother to take your place?"
Zonia raised her slender arm, propped herself against the ground, and slowly lifted her body. Using arms as thin as reed stalks to support her upper body, she climbed up without a word. Black, rotten blood had originally spilled from her mouth and nose, but as she silently rose, the foul blood gradually drew back into her body.
Zonia stood up stiffly. She raised a hand and pressed her dislodged eyeball back into its socket, then quietly remained beside the leader as though nothing had happened.
"Gather the supplies. Keep moving."
The leader bared his cracked lips, revealing a mouthful of black teeth. His eyes were full of fanaticism and anticipation.
"Look! Electricity, purified water, Carbon Fiber materials, heating, fluorescent lights—these doctors who violate humanity occupy such excellent resources, yet use them for evil research. What a waste of good resources!"
The White Fang Gang bandits put away their firearms and took out melee weapons such as knives, swords, and clubs instead. They licked their lips, their greed plain for all to see.
They had no intention of simply smashing, looting, and burning the place. A fully equipped shelter like this only had value if it was preserved intact.
The surveillance cameras captured the White Fang Gang bandits advancing, but they could not stop the massive force of over a hundred people from pouring underground like a pack of wolves.
Their equipment was clearly far superior to the White Fang Gang's, not even much worse than that of a regular army.
But compared with bandits who had spent years robbing and killing in desperate conditions, Nethermark Humanity's Combat Power was far too weak. Most members of the organization were merely doctors and nurses. Their will to fight and capacity for ruthlessness were insufficient to let them confront enemies calmly and rationally.
For a time, the shelter's doctors and rescue teams were slaughtered into complete disarray, blood flowing everywhere.
"Look, white bread! It's white bread! I've never eaten it in my life!"
"There are vegetables in the cafeteria, and canned food too."
"We hit the jackpot! They even have greenhouses. We'll be able to eat our fill!"
"Loot whatever you want, boys! Everything here is ours!"
The leader stood with his arms folded, deeply satisfied with this raid. Zonia, whom he had spent heavily to acquire, had also repeatedly distinguished herself in battle.
Those nurses, doctors, and security guards were no match for Zonia at all. The moment she walked forward, the doctors would soften and hesitate to attack a wounded girl covered in injuries. Seizing that instant of hesitation, the shadows would strike in a flash, slamming the compassionate doctors to the ground and turning them into pools of flattened flesh.
The defenders were instantly routed. The helpless female nurses and doctors were immediately targeted by the vicious-looking raiders. Pale arms were twisted behind their backs, and they were dragged away into deserted corners.
We should leave a few alive. Doctors are still valuable talent, and these greenhouse flowers are quite pretty too...
Still, isn't the defense a little too empty?
As he considered whether to keep a few especially entertaining female doctors and nurses, a deadly chill suddenly rose behind him.
Boom! A reinforced concrete wall was instantly blasted apart. Head Nurse Nordly's savage punch consecutively smashed apart the bodies of the bandits beside the leader. Their blood was forcibly vaporized by the violent aura. The remaining force did not diminish as it drove precisely toward the leader's head.
Clang! The leader raised his left arm, yanked Zonia up, and used her as a shield against the punch. Nordly showed no mercy as her fist struck Zonia's body, producing a dull metallic crash.
Zonia's head snapped back, and fragments of internal organs spilled from her mouth. The Martial Artist's force penetrated her body, inflicting grave damage upon her.
Zonia's entire body was fractured, and she collapsed on the ground. The leader raised his slightly deformed prosthetic arm, his expression grim.
"I was wondering why the defenses were so pathetic. So Nethermark Humanity had an expert like you hidden away."
Nordly wasted no words. Her aura erupted, and both fists shot out at once. Fierce winds rose with her punches, her momentum like a tiger choosing its prey!
An Alpha-class Martial Artist could no longer be fatally wounded by ordinary firearms.
If one round of fire failed to kill her and allowed a Martial Artist to charge into the formation, every last one of them would die!
The leader remained calm in the face of danger. He casually kicked Zonia on the ground and clicked his tongue. "Get up, dog."
Zonia forcibly pushed herself upright, but her fragile tendons immediately split apart, and she collapsed face-first onto the ground.
"Tsk—"
Dissatisfied, the leader took a heart-shaped object from his coat and gave it a light squeeze.
Thump, thump, thump—
Zonia's pupils contracted. Then, as though she had forgotten pain, some inexplicable force seized her ruined body and dragged it upright, making her stiffly and laboriously raise a finger.
The next moment, the wounds across her body split open inch by inch, ejecting countless shadows. The shadows merged into one, carrying terrifying brute force as they arrived in an instant. Like an indestructible barricade, they forcibly blocked Head Nurse Nordly's attack.
Booom—
Sonic booms rolled on without end, and the horrifying sound waves echoed continuously through the corridor. Ordinary people standing nearby merely caught in the aftermath immediately rolled their eyes back and fainted.
Mortals could not interfere in a battle between superhumans.
Did anyone really think that just because they did something in a game, they could do it in real life too?
No way, no way, no way? If Nasus needed to stack 1,000 Qs in one game, the player would have to kill at least several hundred units. Did someone get addicted to stacking Q in a game, kill several hundred people in real life, and then calmly say, "What's the big deal? I killed even more in the game?"
If someone read From the Star Abyss, would they really think there was nothing wrong with going out and burning down a bank?
No way, no way, no way? Maybe some parents really do have that kind of logic, which is why Chinese games have never been able to develop properly.