At that thought, his eyes widened, his pupils darted around before narrowing quickly.Memories flooded back of being chased by a towering creature, standing at nearly three meters, with dark, slimy skin and furious howls echoing behind him. That had been one of Wylie’s riskiest missions, where he was tasked with luring a terrifying monster into a trap."A Devouring Type… an Eat-2, at least level 23…"Cold sweat poured from Wylie’s forehead. It had been so long since he’d last encountered a Devouring Type that he’d almost forgotten the existence of such creatures.This was the most formidable kind of zombie. Intelligent, strong, fast, resilient, with supreme combat skills, the ability to level up by devouring other zombies, self-repair abilities, tactical awareness, and even the instinct to retreat when facing danger. Practically without weaknesses, even severing the head couldn’t kill it — they had to electrocute it with high-voltage power. It was only missing flight and the ability t
Tyra, a woman in her twenties, pointed to a newly drawn terrain map, cross-referencing it with the data on the screen and the written report, and began her update in a soft tone:“Commander, currently, approximately 80% of Cloudy Town shows no signs of free-roaming zombies, and the entire townscape is one of complete ruin.”“Both Zone A and Zone D exhibit signs of intense explosions and fires. Observations suggest these were accidental, possibly caused by electrical short circuits after the apocalypse or unattended fires, not deliberate attempts by humans to attack the zombies.”“In Zone C, several barricades and new roadblocks ha
Meanwhile, Wallflower’s gun crew had been surrounded by a group of six or seven newcomers, some seeking to learn and others to interrogate.Those who came to question initially arrived out of curiosity, but after hearing Jarred’s explanations, they were fuming."What? You brought twenty shells, but eighteen fell out in a bush by the road?""You lost artillery shells while… going to the bathroom? Were you carrying them somewhere they shouldn’t have been?""Jarred, the official count on your requisition was exactly twenty shells. Bringing only two? This is a breach of contract!"Most of the crowd shared this sentiment, yet out of nowhere came an officer from the Fourth Battalion, Deputy Commander General Ambrose Santos, who approached Jarred sincerely."Jarred, I heard you can reinforce shells with special abilities? Come to our battlefield, we’ll provide you with anti-tank rounds, howitzers, and DKZ-82 recoilless guns to work your enhancements."Hearing this, Black, the Deputy Commande
That’s why the specialized shells caused such monstrous damage, they retained full energy for all three internal rounds without losing potency.Previously, that black dog at level 21 could rival an F2 level 25 simply by holding two demon-slaying bullets. Since the bullets hadn’t been fired, they retained all their latent threat, with effects waiting to be unleashed.Back on the battlefield, just one PG-9V shell had broken half of the zombie group’s defenses, creating a huge impact among those present. Ambrose, in particular, was certain the round had been entirely normal before Jarred’s modification. The difference in power was staggering. What kind of ability was this?Black was equally shocked, his eyes fixed on Jarred with an intense glint."This kid can’t be allowed to return to Renaissance, his ability is too useful."He wasn’t the only one, several others felt the same way. A superhuman who could enchant artillery rounds was truly unique. They lacked exactly this kind of talent
The high command overseeing the campaign initially intended to continue the pursuit with specialized artillery, but Jarred kept glancing at the time and eventually waved his hand, signaling for a halt."I’m exhausted, mentally and physically.” he muttered: “If I don’t rest now, I’ll collapse. I can’t reinforce any more abilities right now."Although he was thoroughly protected by multiple layers of Light Armor, two lapses in Soul Suppression had left him on the edge. While others like Nicky and Albin were still holding up, Jarred was not.Under Jarred’s heavy insistence, he was finally granted permission to withdraw.The jeep carrying Jarred Lawton, Nicky Weiss, and Albin Palmer left the battlefield, heading back to the rear base. Joining them was Richard Savage, who personally arrived to receive them."Head of Department Savage, we’ve missed home for too long, let’s just head straight back. No need for a reception or welcome party.” Jarred mumbled drowsily in the jeep, stifling a yaw
Shaking his head, he firmly replied,“I don’t feel safe here.”“Not safe? In what way? Tell me, and I’ll change it immediately.”Jarred’s patience was wearing thin after three minutes of back-and-forth. Time was precious to him, and he couldn’t waste it on polite chatter with this old man. Gritting his teeth, he cut to the chase:“Mayor Reyes, what do you want in exchange for letting us leave?”Murphy took a sip of green tea and replied calmly,“Jarred, we’re not detaining you. It’s just too dark to ensure your safety on the road… How about this: tomorrow morning, I’ll personally escort you back. Does that sound fair?”"Haha, by tomorrow morning, they’ll have another excuse. This old fox’s goal is to keep me here until I’ve charged enough artillery shells to wipe out the zombie horde—he has no intention of letting me go tomorrow morning."Jarred chuckled bitterly to himself but outwardly feigned helplessness. After pretending to hesitate for ten seconds, he finally said,“I need to co
Memphis had planned everything out. Jarred would use the Level 4 Simulation Ring to replicate the Moonlight Reflection ability, the clone would operate publicly while the original Jarred gathered intelligence from the shadows.The skill had been charging up with moonlight energy for days, accumulating a full twelve hours of continuous activation. Memphis had deployed it twice, for six hours each time, allowing Jarred to copy it to ensure mission success.The Reflection Clone was relatively fragile and required thorough protection to maintain its duration. Too many hits would shorten its lifespan. This was why Jarred had hidden behind Light Armor instead of fighting, and even two glancing hits had shaved significant time off the first activation’s duration.He had no intention of using the second activation unless absolutely necessary, it was far too valuable.Jarred would infiltrate the base himself to gather direct intelligence. This was challenging for an average person but trivial
In the meeting room.Nicky and Albin had returned, while the entire mansion was being turned upside down by the staff. No one could understand how a living, breathing person could vanish in a single minute, with hundreds of superhumans within 500 meters around the villa, yet no one had seen or heard anything.Even extraordinary abilities weren’t usually this mysterious.Nicky, now fully composed, glanced at Murphy and spoke calmly.“Governor Reyes, we’ve told you already, Captain Wu left a while ago. He’s probably already back in Renaissan