After Ye Lan announced that Dawn City was about to launch a counterattack against the darkness, the atmosphere in the city before the impending battle became extremely busy and chaotic.

All survivors, refugees, and convoys were gathered within the old city area inside the No. 1 city wall. The entrances to 24 underground civil defense shelters were filled with people queuing under the management of Phoenix Society officials and the military. Most were elderly, children, pregnant women, and some injured or weak. Before the desperate battle, anyone with some ability to protect themselves—regardless of gender—voluntarily gave up seeking refuge underground and instead chose to join the city defense ranks.

Among the crowd, a man squatted down and stuffed a package of food wrapped in old newspapers into his son's hand.

"Listen to your mother," he said hoarsely as he ruffled the child's hair.

His wife tightly clutched his sleeve, her nails nearly digging into his flesh. "You hide somewhere... we'll wait for you to come back!"

"Don't worry," the man smiled, looking at the large number of people who had joined the defensive battle behind him. "There’s nowhere left to hide. We have to hold the city."

On the other side, a middle-aged woman squatted down, tying her little daughter’s shoelaces, then placed the girl’s hand into that of a boy who looked only seven or eight years old.

"Xiao Jie, you’re the older brother;

you have to take good care of your sister, understand?"

The boy's face was still immature, but he held his sister’s hand tightly and nodded blankly.

"Mom, what about you?" The little girl looked up anxiously.

"Be good. Mom is helping outside and will come find you soon."

The man wiped away a tear and turned to walk away. Nearby, a middle-aged woman with a tumor on her leg was being pulled by personnel from the Phoenix Society’s emergency team.

"Let go of me!"

The woman was hot-tempered and struggled fiercely, using her rifle as a crutch. She roared, "I can still shoot! Even if I die at the city gate, I can trip up a monster!"

...

The large convoy collected ammunition and weapons from the Phoenix Society and the garrison military supply points. Under the coordination of the Phoenix Society’s defense command center, nearly 30,000 troops formed the city defense line. Their main purposes were, first, to assist with the city’s air defense;

seventh, to control the occurrence of mutations within the city;

and eighth, in the event the No. 1 city wall was breached, to rely on street defenses to conduct urban warfare. They aimed to block the monster tide’s advance toward the No. 7 direction, divide the battlefield, and cover the evacuation of surviving convoys.

Apart from the elderly, sick, and disabled who had taken refuge underground, the city still had nearly 1.4 million surviving combatants. These were made up of various convoys or scattered individuals who voluntarily joined hundreds of street defense lines. Additionally, a small number of civilians helped the garrison troops and Zhou Mingyuan to dig firearm tunnels, transport ammunition and supplies, lay mines, and repair equipment.

In the sky, sparse transport mechs flew like a celestial canopy. Before the ground fortifications were sealed off, weapons and ammunition were transported along air routes toward the city walls.

The Phoenix Society established a dual-wall, sky-and-ground joint defense system. Ye Lan and various commanders sat in the Twin Star TC city ring control hall, which served as a temporary command post. They reinforced key troops to protect the city ring.

Wooo~

At this moment, survivors building defensive works and pulling barbed wire in the street camps looked up to see several small rotary-wing transport ships roaring past, carrying weak war mechs to the rear lines of the city wall—aside from Iron Guard-3, Guardian X, and the Fire God series.

Boom boom! The clouds tore apart as the small number of C-99 "Little Force God" transporters’ vortex engines roared deafeningly. Steel cables hung down as eight massive Interstellar Predators, resembling towering skyscrapers, were hoisted hurriedly from low buildings within the city. These sharp weapons were mainly stationed in the core encirclement areas of the south and west city, tasked with facing S-level frontal siege attacks!

Within the inner city, all open spaces, low buildings, and towers were set up as air defense positions and low-energy fire zones. Several energy centers were deeply buried under Starport ground, providing power for the entire city’s energy and automated weapons. Over 100,000 attack-type piloted mechs were currently retreating to recharge and resupply weapons. A small number of mech engineers cautiously retreated to maintain faults. To ensure smooth command and communication signals during the extreme dark invasion, more than a thousand signal relay towers were deployed throughout the city.

"The team of ability users, composed of the North American defense line, Night Walker Alliance, Seraph Division, and some civilian organizations, is divided into eight specialized combat groups."

Inside the command center, General Xu stood before a holographic map, his expression stern.

"Category one: composed of low-mobility and low-self-preservation ability users with flight, super speed, wind, fire, thunder, light, etc., commanded by Minister Luo. They are responsible for the frontline main force containment, support, and intelligence gathering against S-level disasters, while also conducting low-altitude, low-speed citywide cooperative defense raids!"

"Category seven: mainly ability users with laser, magnetic storm, monster eye, earth and stone, resonance, sound wave, or long-range destructive abilities, commanded by Captain Qi. These users have weak remote damage and are responsible for killing monster tides and small abnormal entities before the city walls and air defense lines!"

"Category eight: melee ability users who are not giants, blood qi, demon forms, beast types, metallic skin, evil bones, invisibility, energy gatherers, or genetically degenerated with weak mech mobility. This group mainly assists city defense lines and ground shelters with defensive and protective work."

"You refused General Xu’s tactical arrangements. Your 83rd division, Zhou Mingyuan, is responsible for four defense sectors in the west city, arranging mech regiments and special armed power battalions in tiers. The primary goal is to concentrate on S-levels and city wall defense..."

Before Zhou Mingyuan finished, Lu Xingchen immediately interrupted.

"The city has 12 sectors. The main attack directions of the 5th, 7th, and 8th Star Abysses run from the 5th in the south to the 10th in the west, covering six defense sectors. Your Iron Guard Brigade has over 40,000 troops to hold four sectors. Do you want me, with 130,000 garrison troops, to defend only two sectors? Or should we defend the east and north?"

"I don’t mean that. The west city mainly faces the 5th Star Abyss, but you have the 7th and 8th large Star Abysses attacking. Isn’t this distribution reasonable?"

"Unreasonable!" Lu Tianye replied firmly. "The 5th Star Abyss has Corpse Drivers roaming. Don’t think I don’t know your scheme. Our garrison troops have fought most with the 5th Star Abyss. The hard nuts must be given to me!"

"What’s there to fear about hard nuts? My mech regiments aren’t pushovers!" Huo Jiang immediately said.

"My second mech division and Thunder God’s Hammer electromagnetic cannon array aren’t weak either!" Lu Tianye retorted.

Unexpectedly, at the pre-battle command meeting, the two iron army commanders clashed over who would be the main force. Watching the two generals argue, the Phoenix Society’s high-level officials exchanged uneasy looks.

"Enough."

At this moment, Ye Lan spoke to break the argument. Her voice was not loud, but everyone seemed to hear her clearly.

She stood up, took the command pointer, and pointed at the city ring sectors of Dawn City. She said,

"Our judgments are based on the situation, but we cannot rigidly fix our thinking. The darkness enveloping the city is just a blink away. We cannot arbitrarily assume these abnormal entities will attack from the directions based on last night’s assault."

Ye Lan looked at everyone and said, "Generals, you are all experienced commanders with rich information warfare knowledge. Although we face abnormal entities now, we cannot treat them as mindless monsters. Human information warfare tactics are precisely our advantage. We must use this well."

Lu Tianye nodded after hearing this, glanced at Huo Jiang, and said, "Right. The west and south city, near the three Star Abysses, are important defense areas. Our mech units have strong firepower and defense but lack mobility. The garrison and Iron Guard can deploy mechs here first, but our infantry and special armed power battalions should deploy across all 12 city sectors. After engaging, we can identify high-risk battlefields through radar and Galaxy Heart computing power for tactical redeployment."

Huo Jiang also agreed with this arrangement. "The forces deployable on the city wall are limited. We should use all transport aircraft and armored vehicles as mobile units between defense sectors for rapid response."

"Yes, main city roads and blocks must remain unobstructed to ensure troop and ammo delivery!"

"And most importantly, we must secure the Twin Star Tower and the city ring!"

"The drop point of the Emperor Divine Group, I believe, can be in this direction..."

For a moment, the war briefing involving millions of people and even the survival of humanity itself unfolded urgently.

Elsewhere, at the Star City Rail Station, the backbone members led by the Unlimited Alliance and Silent City were also holding an emergency meeting.

For outer space operations, Mochizuki Shinji generously provided Lu Xingchen with a set of interstellar-grade power armor, currently the highest-level individual combat gear in the interstellar military. It features a small plasma propulsion system, two main thrusters on the back (each with 50 tons thrust), and four vector nozzles on the feet. It has level 7 bulletproof protection, a survival system supporting space and underwater operations with liquid oxygen reserves and poison filtering. It also includes medical modules like nano hemostatic spray and automatic adrenaline injection.

This armor was extremely expensive, but it seemed no big deal for Mochizuki Shinji.

"Thank you." Lu Xingchen was quickly testing the power armor’s control modules. Time was tight, and he had to act immediately, so he couldn’t deploy command actions on the Infinite. Instead, he entrusted Jian Xuwei, Chen Sixuan, Jiang Yun, Shi Diyuan, and others.

"No problem, I have my purposes too." Mochizuki Shinji smiled calmly.

"I know. He wants you to collect all kinds of spatial data from the Sky Veil Barrier. Phoenix Society isn’t prepared for that," Li Yi said.

"Li Yi." KIKI looked at me simply and said, "He... watch out."

Li Yi nodded and said, "They’re all in the same boat. The outcome depends on this battle. We’ve survived so much already;

there’s no use being sentimental now."

Afterward, I looked deeply at KIKI, Shi Diyuan, and the others and said, "Everyone, survive!"

"Brother Lin, take care!"

"Captain Lin!"

"Fang Da."

"Captain Lin!"

"Brother Lin..."

"Captain Lin, we’ll wait for you!"

Countless people looked on with concern: Shi Diyuan, Ning Jing, Xiao Qing, A Bai, Qian Dele, Monica, Jian Xuwei, Jian Zeyang, Jiang Yun, Shu Qin, Daluo, Shasha, Lü Chang, Miao Lu, Xiao Yuan, Li Yi, Old Mo, Sun Yuzhen, Mo Xiaotian, Ding Junyi, Luo Yang, Liang Lei, Lolo, A Min, Li Guangwen...

"Everyone, take care. When dawn comes, I’ll lead you all into the Pacific!"

Countless gazes converged. Lu Xingchen glanced at the time, then took a deep breath, mentally focusing on the flickering bullet embedded in his brow.

Ready!

Whoosh!

A spatial explosion sounded. The wind swirled as Lu Xingchen disappeared from everyone’s sight.

Chen Sixuan looked at the fading figure. After a moment of seriousness, she quickly steeled her expression. "Let’s begin the operation!"

Mochizuki Shinji gathered with Qian Suxun, Tianye Jun, Takahashi Ryunosuke, and Shiori, the core members.

Qian Suxun piloted an AC mech commanding over a thousand heavy armored mechs on the ground and 300 flying tactical mechs. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of drones from Silent City were all under Mochizuki Shinji’s central control fighting in unison.

This time, besides giving Lu Xingchen a power armor, Mochizuki Shinji also sent a large amount of armored weapons, ammunition, drones, and even an Interstellar Predator mech to support the Infinite. It now stood tall in the plaza of the Star City Rail Station.

Regarding this, Mochizuki Shinji said,

"This is something Lu requested after acquiring the interstellar military mech system blueprints."

"Lu Xingchen asked you to build it?" Chen Sixuan raised an eyebrow. "Who’s going to pilot it?"

Mochizuki Shinji pointed to the shortest girl in the crowd.

Shasha widened her eyes and pointed at her nose, shocked: "Brother Lin let me pilot the Interstellar Predator!?"

"Aren’t you a level 4 co-state coefficient mech pilot?" Qian Suxun smiled and asked.

"Of course I am!!"

Shasha excitedly stepped forward, rushed to the window, and looked at the 60-meter tall, 4,665-ton mech standing in the plaza. Her eyes sparkled.

"Wow! Brother Lin gave me a Gundam!"

"Wow, this beast looks no joke in firepower," Shi Diyuan said with surprise.

"Super cool!" Luo Yang and others exclaimed repeatedly.

"Don’t get too excited yet. You have an important mission," KIKI beckoned Shasha back with telekinesis when her eyes were almost stuck to the mech’s core engine.

"The plan is this: all the old, weak, and sick boarding the train will cooperate with Phoenix Society to relocate underground facilities. Then..." Jian Xuwei opened a holographic map, highlighted a light rail route encircling the city, and said, "The combined train, led by the Infinite, will conduct mobile guerrilla warfare along this ring line, making full use of our train’s firepower."

"Ability users—KIKI, Lu Xingchen, Daluo, Sun Yuzhen, Luo Yang, Liang Lei, Li Guangwen, Qian Dele, A Bai—will join the Phoenix Society’s ability combat team to assist."

"But not all. Captain Shi and Chen Sixuan will stay with the train to guard and command firepower. Shu Qin, Lü Chang, Miao Lu, Ning Jing, Xiao Qing, Lolo, and A Min will be divided into different tactical squads deployed on various train segments. On the alliance side, Jiang Yun and Ren Huiyan will coordinate with the Hongyuan Trade Union, New Era Engineering Group, Iron Shield convoy, and Burning Phoenix to defend street positions. Our numbers are too large, so these large military groups will rely on substantial defensive fortifications and be separated."

"At the Star City Rail Station, the Sky Dome Train currently lacks defensive firepower and cannot take off, so Monica and I will lead 4,000 troops to defend the station, protect the train, and set up air defense positions!"

"Finally, this Interstellar Predator," Jian Xuwei looked at Shasha and said, "Shasha, we have prepared transport trailers. You need to pilot the Interstellar Predator to follow the train’s mobile guerrilla warfare. Most importantly, if the rails are damaged, you must deploy transport drones along with Lu Xingchen to protect the combined train. KIKI and Jiang Yun might assist, but in crises lacking heavy firepower and mobility, you need to step up."

Shasha’s eyes widened, then she nodded. "Got it."

"So the train will keep moving around the city?" Monica asked.

"Exactly, mobile guerrilla warfare!"

"Great idea." Mochizuki Shinji and the others listened approvingly. "This truly brings out your train’s strengths, though the only weakness is if the tracks are broken."

"If the tracks break, we’ll use the train as a fortress to resist," Chen Sixuan said.

Shi Diyuan crossed his arms and nodded. "Yes, such a long train with weapons is more effective when mobile than parked inside the station."

"Then let’s move immediately." KIKI, fully rested after the great battle at Giant God Peak, was now at peak condition. After that battle, her ability scale peak seemed to have greatly improved.

Jiang Yun nodded. "Everyone take care. Tonight is dangerous. Hopefully, after dawn, we’ll all be safely standing here!"

Clatter!

Suddenly, everyone began moving.

Li Yi and Old Mo led all women, children, and staff toward the underground shelters. Chen Sixuan had originally wanted Director Ding to go too, but Ding Junyi refused, saying she needed to stay in the Infinite’s research and planting compartments to study and protect disaster plants like Hellish Black Chrysanthemum, Silver Dragon Ten Thousand Mistakes, and Blood Vine. Meanwhile, she had Xiao Yuan and Miao Lu harvest all mature green fruits to distribute to the Unlimited Alliance’s pre-battle personnel.

Buzz!

The Infinite’s Whale-03E heavy gas turbine locomotive started up. Under Chen Sixuan’s control and with Shi Diyuan, the combined train carried more than 3,000 combat personnel onto the city light rail ring line. On the train roof, the G-3 electromagnetic railgun, 1130, YJ anti-aircraft guns, and automatic extinguishing guns all rose, baring their teeth.

The fully armed train began slowly moving along the ring rail. Shasha sat inside the Interstellar Predator’s cockpit, connected to the neural operating system. The massive mech roared to life. Excited, she quickly familiarized herself with the controls, adjusting firepower on the combined train’s rear transport platform.

Chen Sixuan stood on the train roof, holding the Meteor Star No. 3 rifle, constantly scanning the surrounding buildings. She looked up at the horizon, her beautiful face filled with worry.

"Lu Xingchen, you must come back safely!"

Shu Qin and Ning Jing led the action teams deploying firepower in the train cars. Everyone maintained clear communication. The entire train was filled with highly mobile, power armor-wearing members. They relied on the train’s armor and quick mobility to deliver firepower along the route.

Mochizuki Shinji led his team back to Silent City. This time, Silent City and the fleet composed of the Skybreaker Ship, North American United Line fleet, and Iron Guard Brigade formed the air defense forces, mainly defending against a massive atmospheric creature from the sky!

The crowd was tense and busy. Pregnant Li Yi carefully checked her husband Liang Lei’s armor but said little, just telling him not to worry about her side.

Mo Xiaotian and Mo Xiao Le said goodbye to their mother Sun Yuzhen and followed Grandpa Old Mo into the underground shelter.

Elsewhere, Hu Lushou was also preparing to enter the shelter.

This guy had little combat power and wore two layers of bulletproof vests, making his power armor appear bulky.

"Honey~ maybe I shouldn’t go in," Hu Lushou smiled at Sun Chang at the shelter entrance. "I’m the former transport ship deputy captain and a combat model soldier. Hiding in an air-raid shelter with women and kids—doesn’t that seem a bit off?"

"Are you sure?" Sun Chang glanced at me indifferently, then slapped my power armor. The force made Hu Lushou stagger two steps forward. "Tonight will be a fierce battle. Four S-levels—one careless step could kill you."

Hu Lushou swallowed nervously but straightened his chest, sensing Sun Chang’s confidence.

"I’m going. If I say I’m going, then I’m going. A little man’s word is his bond. Besides, when humanity is on the brink, can a husband hide behind children?"

Saying this, I picked up a pulse cannon and headed toward the Unlimited Alliance’s convoy defense team.

Sun Chang frowned, wanted to say something, but stopped herself and followed.

A transport ship deployed KIKI, Jian Xuwei, Xiao Lou, Chen Sixuan, Luo Yang, Liang Lei, Li Guangwen, Qian Dele, A Bai, and other ability users to head toward the ability combat battalion. Fang Da closed his eyes, looking old and weary.

Xiao Lou carried her small steel-cutting sword, wiped her Gatling gun, looked at Jian Xuwei with a confused expression, then poked my elbow, noticing my reaction, and glanced at Qian Dele and KIKI opposite.

KIKI smiled and said, "What stance and move names will that guy use when he shows up?"

Qian Dele shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"It matters to him."

At this moment, Lu Xingchen closed his eyes and shook his head, dropping his usual middle-schooler pose. He said solemnly,

"In the battle of Xilan City, over 40,000 died. Although we have Fire God power, it was useless. This battle is humanity’s survival war. There’s no room for jokes. Move names don’t matter now. I only hope more people survive tonight. If the night is impenetrable, I will burn through this eternal night with star-burning fire!"

Hearing this, KIKI, Qian Dele, and others became serious. Daluo patted Lu Xingchen’s shoulder, saying, "Brother, I believe in you."

"Fire Bro, keep it up. Our ability users’ powers are constantly growing," Luo Yang said anxiously but earnestly. "As long as hope remains, we can succeed."

"No matter what monsters, just fight." Liang Lei straightened his back. "We have no retreat. Kill one C, B, or A-level monster to break even, kill two and it’s a huge gain, right?"

"Very true!" Li Guangwen swallowed and clenched his fists.

A Bai sat silently beside him. Li Guangwen said, "Hey, bro, your laser beam is awesome. Just shoot that big guy."

A Bai nodded. "O-okay."

At this moment, in the north city direction, an old ruined street suddenly opened a passage on the ground. Dozens of advanced armored and well-armed Federation Black Night Iron Shield eight-wheeled all-terrain armored base vehicles quickly drove out of the passage and sped toward the distant north city without looking back.

Inside one core vehicle, the compartment was brightly lit and luxuriously equipped. Wen Dong and Li Jian were fully armed and furrowed their brows.

Bang!

Li Jian slammed his fist on the table, gritting his teeth, "It’s all that Lin Xing guy messing up our recruitment meeting. Now my mom is under Phoenix Society’s control, and the Vagabond No. 1 plan is totally ruined!"

"Enough!"

Wen Dong’s expression shifted uncertainly. "What use is complaining now? Be glad you can still live!"

"But..."

"Do you have any way to take all this back?"

Li Jian clenched his teeth but said nothing.

Wen Dong then looked at the young man deep in thought opposite him and said,

"Chairman Zhou, the core team from the Night Patrol and City Defense is all here. Though few, their strength and equipment are top-notch."

The young man was handsome, with a brain-computer interface behind his head. Despite powerful ability fluctuations, his life force was somewhat chaotic. This was none other than Zhou Mingyuan after transferring his body via mycelium.

Wen Dong glanced at a cryogenic chamber behind the compartment. For caution, Zhou Mingyuan brought his original body with him.

Seeing the middle-aged politician in the chamber, Wen Dong sneered. He and Li Jian knew that although Zhou Mingyuan’s new body had angel-level ability peaks, it wouldn’t live more than a month. Then all personnel and materials of this military organization would naturally fall into the hands of the Wen family. With this foothold, they still had a chance to turn things around.

But Wen Dong was not thinking ahead now. The priority was to escape Dawn City—the land of chaos about to be destroyed.

"Yes."

Zhou Mingyuan nodded, took a deep breath, and slowly opened his eyes. "It’s just an external thing."

"Hurry up. We must reach Qingbo before dark. There are many convoys there. We can merge some."

"Merge?" Li Jian mumbled, "What if they refuse?"

Zhou Mingyuan smiled lightly, "Young man, as the ancients said, no matter how the world changes, all methods lead to the same principle. Power is the foundation of authority, and authority is the path to all things. With absolute power, are you afraid you can’t build a throne?"

He clenched his fist, sensing a powerful ability fluctuation. The darkness on his face faded somewhat, replaced by a rising sense of comfort.

Li Jian frowned slightly but nodded in agreement.

"True, but I wonder if the Phoenix Society’s global broadcast exaggerates. What if we lose this battle? Will there really be no dawn?"

"Hmph."

Zhou Mingyuan sneered, "Politicians’ words are just noise."

Then his eyes flickered coldly. "If it weren’t for Chu Zhaonan’s actions, Dawn City would still hold millions of people."

"What good is more people?" Li Jian was puzzled. "Wouldn’t the Star Abyss just swallow them all?"

"You don’t understand. The larger the population, the more resources. Research into dark invasions and human abilities has rapidly increased in a short time. The ship will get to the bridge naturally..." Wen Dong sneered, "Anyway, some will survive in the end. Why not us?"

"Your uncle is right," Zhou Mingyuan said harshly. "The Phoenix Society is just a populist regime rising from the apocalypse. Their slogans about human civilization and the whole world are just a stage to overthrow the Federation. Ha! They even call those who ran away back to die. What a joke!"

Wen Dong nodded and used the communicator to order the convoy, "Full speed. Arrive at Qingbo City within three hours!"

...

Dawn City, Star City Rail Station.

Jian Xuwei and Monica led a group of heavily armed firepower personnel to reinforce the station’s defenses.

Monica stood on the Sky Dome Train’s deck, looking at the sky, her beautiful face slightly frowned.

The sky was overcast and rainy. It was only 3 p.m., but the sky already looked terrifyingly dark, as if night had come early.

"The darkness is unpredictable now. Judging by this, the next moment could see the emergence of abnormal entities."

Jian Xuwei heard this over the headset and said solemnly, "We’ve done all we can. Now, we can only go all out."

High above, Jiang Yun hovered over the old city, observing the dense defensive lines below. Under the rain, the crowded masses moved like ants from the perspective of S-level monsters.

Ren Huiyan floated beside him, seeing his solemn expression, and said,

"It’s rare to see you this nervous."

"Over three million people... maybe just overnight." Jiang Yun looked at the distant skyline where black clouds and rain curtains hung, without any firelight or convoys.

No one was coming to help, no one was returning to Dawn City.

The whole city seemed like a lone boat beneath a black canopy.

West and south skies were dark and ominous, as if a black abyssal world was slowly approaching behind the rain.

Under the Qilian Mountains forest, rain pattered on withered grass and barren ground. The forest was unusually quiet, except for the sound of rain.

But as darkness deepened, strange outlines flickered on and off. Footprints appeared on the ground but were not continuous and soon vanished.

Forests, plains, small town streets, highways, fields, and hillsides all began showing such anomalies.

Above the No. 1 city wall, the frontline commander saw the increasingly dark outer city and immediately picked up the communicator to issue a warning:

"Attention, attention! Situation abnormal. Polar night may be coming. Open all fire control units!"

At the Twin Star Tower command center, Ye Lan and other leaders watched the full-screen battlefield monitors with grave expressions.

"It’s not even 4 p.m. yet. That’s much faster than yesterday," Huo Jiang said.

"The Star Abyss is expanding at an abnormal rate. The more this happens, the more it proves our worries are true." Ye Lan turned and said coldly, "Sound the alarm. The entire city prepare to fight!"

"Yes!"

Woo! Maa! Ming!

In an instant, massive air raid sirens blared across Dawn City. Survivors busy constructing fortifications looked up in surprise.

"The alarm is sounding! Quickly, get to the positions!"

"Disarm all safety locks!"

"It’s too dark. Prepare flares!"

Defense personnel mobilized together, while queues entering shelters increased their pace under order.

"Hurry, everyone go inside!"

"Forget it!"

"Honey, take care!"

"Mom..."

"Quick, quick, quick!!!"

"Find protection!"

!!!!!!

At this moment, in the sky, Silent City, Skybreaker Ship, and all deck-mounted weapons raised their barrels in unison. Electromagnetic railguns’ blue energy beams began charging, missile bay covers opened, and search radars activated at full power.

Drone combat groups took off continuously, with the first patrol units dispatched at high speed.

Mochizuki Shinji stood on Silent City’s main bridge cloud district, hands behind his back. Tens of thousands of quantum bits of supercomputing power monitored thousands of weapon systems and sensors, surveying the entire airspace in 360 degrees.

At the Twin Star Tower command post, Ye Lan slowly stood.

Jiang Yun hovered in the air. Chen Sixuan looked toward the horizon. A Bai on the transport ship looked up.

At this moment, these people spoke simultaneously:

"It’s coming!"

Ming!!

On the wasteland, the Black Night Iron Shield base vehicle convoy kicked up dust and sped forward. Zhou Mingyuan, resting with eyes closed in a vehicle, heard the sharp air raid siren from Dawn City and frowned.

"The attack has begun?"

"So soon?" Wen Dong frowned and immediately turned on the vehicle radar system. "The Star Abyss must have surrounded us. But our route is safe. Thousands of convoys are leaving this way. We’re moving away from the Star Abyss."

"Yes."

Zhou Mingyuan nodded. "If Ye Lan dies inside Dawn City, Phoenix Society will have big problems."

Wen Dong sneered. "None of this concerns us."

Zhou Mingyuan looked at Wen Dong appreciatively. "Good arrangement. Luckily, we evacuated at the crucial moment. Next..."

Boom!

Before he finished, the whole vehicle suddenly shook violently, as if hitting something. The massive base vehicle, weighing over ten tons, tilted and flipped over, tumbling wildly. Zhou Mingyuan, Wen Dong, and Li Jian were caught off guard and fell in a heap.

"What happened?!"

Sensing danger, Zhou Mingyuan used his strong abilities to open the door and flew out, only to find his entire convoy had vanished. Only his overturned vehicle remained.

"Did we hit something?" Wen Dong, bleeding from the head, hurried out. Outside, rain fell heavily. Though only 4 p.m., darkness made it impossible to see five fingers ahead, only the vehicle’s headlights illuminated a pale wasteland.

"Be careful, there must be abnormal entities!"

Zhou Mingyuan’s face darkened. His mouth trembled. He hurriedly gathered his abilities. Though he had this body, combat was not his specialty, and he was still unfamiliar with the body’s powers.

~

Suddenly, a sound like a dry branch snapping came from the darkness. Zhou Mingyuan, like a startled bird, reflexively raised his hand and unleashed a bolt of white-hot lightning.

A scorching white arc flashed and thundered out immense power. The light revealed a several-meter-long abnormal humanoid creature crawling on the ground. The lightning struck, piercing its head and spine completely.

Zhou Mingyuan breathed heavily, shocked that he had killed the monster in one strike. A huge weight lifted from his heart. He sighed deeply and looked at his hands proudly.

"Such immense power—I should have experienced this earlier..."

"Ah!!"

At that moment, Wen Dong suddenly shouted, pointing to the sky in front of the vehicle, terrified: "W-what is that?!"

Zhou Mingyuan frowned and without hesitation unleashed a thunderbolt toward the sky. "Whatever it is, kill it!"

Bang!

But as his lightning struck the sky, the thunderous flash illuminated a terrifying scene. Around the base vehicle’s headlights, thousands of twisted, strange monsters surrounded them like a tsunami. At the front, in the thunderlight’s glow, Zhou Mingyuan and Wen Dong could not clearly see the creature’s full form—only the shadow of a giant eye suspended high in the treetops.

That gaze was like a judgment from hell, staring directly at him.

Zhou Mingyuan’s face turned pale, lips trembling as he shouted into the unseen blackness: "Run! Run! Run!"

But in the next instant, the base vehicle’s headlights quickly went out, swallowed by the darkness of the wilderness.

Dawn City.

Bang bang bang bang!!

The first shots came from Silent City and the air fleet. Giant electromagnetic cannons blazed blue arcs that lit the sky like shooting stars, firing simultaneously in dozens of directions!

Then, behind the No. 1 city wall and over a million survivors under the electromagnetic cannon’s light curtain, a suffocating scene appeared. Above the dark clouds, a horrifying creature with twisted, strange joints flashed through the sky. Along with it, a tide of flying monsters descended like a collapsing heaven.

The next moment, thousands of Thunder God’s Hammer cannons, Great Wall base howitzers, and 1130 self-propelled guns all activated under the fire control system and computing center. Motors whirred, bases rotated, and thousands of barrels simultaneously unleashed humanity’s full metal barrage!

October 5, 2069, Day 129 of the Apocalypse, 4:01 p.m.

The Star Abyss expanded its dark tide at unprecedented polar night speed, engulfing all of Dawn City. Almost simultaneously, this human city with over 200,000 troops and millions of civilians behind high walls and heavy artillery was swept into an epic-scale night battle tide.

Led by Ye Lan, the command center’s judgment was correct: attacks came not only from the west and north city but from all directions. Hundreds of millions of zombies and abnormal entities surged like mudslides through the surrounding suburbs, towns, highways, railways, forests, and fields.

Even the rain falling from the sky was thrown into chaos by the dense flying creatures.

The battle was fully underway.

From the directions of the 5th, 7th, and 8th Star Abysses, dozens of A-level and even special-level giant creatures appeared.

They were huge humanoid forms or twisted insectoid or other abnormal creatures, surging forward with the monster tide.

At this moment, the city walls’ energy cannons, cluster bombs, automatic machine guns, electromagnetic railguns, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers’ weapons all opened fire. The mech regiments stood at the forefront, their overwhelming firepower reaping the lives of dark creatures. The Fire God mechs’ flamethrowers swept the battlefield. Under searchlights and tracer bullets, soldiers felt as if they saw endless abnormal entities.

A massive dark invasion aura surged into the city. Mutations began but were quickly controlled. Sixteen air defense systems within Dawn City composed of Silent Hunters, anti-aircraft guns, storm missile systems, and pulse laser sky arrays all fired into the sky. Thousands of pulse lasers shot toward the horizon. After locking onto large abnormal entities, storm missiles ignited and launched from missile bays!

Countless civilians hiding in underground shelters felt as if the entire city was burning and shaking. Roaring noises filled their ears.

"Stay calm. Don’t panic!"

"Don’t be afraid. Stay steady!" Phoenix Society emergency team officers shouted through loudspeakers. "Help each other and trust our military!"

Bang bang bang!!

Chen Sixuan did not expect the battle to heat up so quickly.

On the city light rail, a 15-kilometer armed train rushed violently, firing weapons into the sky continuously. The 1130’s rotating barrels glowed red.

"There’s an S-level in the sky. Shasha, anti-air!"

"Got it!"

Connected to the neural co-state system, Shasha sat in the Interstellar Predator cockpit. Raising her hands, the thousands-ton mech’s rail shock star cannon on its shoulder lifted and locked onto a large multi-winged creature flying toward the air defense position, then fired fiercely.

Woo!

The violent energy converged, ionizing and shaking hundreds of meters. The next moment, the cannon’s barrel emitted a several-meter-wide blazing white light column that pierced heaven and earth. Around the column, layers of air were ionized into a plasma-blue arc. Instantly, all the walls of nearby city buildings and streets were illuminated by the strong light. Even distant glass curtain walls reflected the glow. A powerful high-temperature heat wave accompanied by ionization shockwaves surged toward the large multi-winged creature, blinding the firing crew on the combined train.

Awesome!

Everyone felt a strong thermal shockwave sweep away. The multi-winged creature, several kilometers away and diving from high altitude, was cut into segments like butter by the laser. The connections emitted high-temperature black-red cutting surfaces!

"That’s at least an A-level abnormal entity. It was taken down with one shot!"

Ning Jing stood on the train roof in surprise.

"The rail shock star cannon is really powerful!"

"Watch out!"

Bang!

Chen Sixuan’s sniper rifle fired. A black mini abnormal entity, only palm-sized, rushed at Ning Jing but was immediately blown apart by Chen Sixuan.

Ning Jing looked up and saw black clouds sweeping over city buildings like a swarm of bees.

"Retreat inside! Use flamethrowers!"

At the Twin Star Tower command center, Ye Lan looked at the defensive zones quickly engulfed in battle, her expression darkened.

"Report: Special-level creature appeared in West City Sector 9. Iron Guard Brigade’s 4th division, regiments 3 and 7 suffered heavy casualties!"

"Report: Four A-level and one special-level creature appeared simultaneously in North City Sector 5. Garrison’s 11th armored division and joint defense units lost contact outside the city. The city wall suffered energy beam attacks, causing a significant breach!"

"Report: Dayun City joint defense position is under heavy air assault. Air defense firepower cannot fully cover. Multiple street blocks have fallen. Some civilian convoys and garrison troops are in support!"

"Report: First ability combat unit’s 7th squad lost contact at 4,300 meters above south city. Air patrol is jointly rescuing!"

In a short time, numerous battle losses and frontline emergency reports continuously arrived. Ye Lan and Phoenix Society officials stood before the command screen, the air unbearably heavy.

"Any detection of S-level movements?"

"That big monster is observing from several thousand meters high. There was a seismic wave in South City Sector 7, possibly Earth Surge. No other observations yet," the reporting officer said.

"S-levels have considerable intelligence and may be testing our counterattack forces."

"Should we actively lure them out?"

"No, it’s too early to engage. The Emperor Divine Group hasn’t arrived, and Lu Xingchen may still need time..." Ye Lan said.

The reporting officer said, "Galaxy Heart statistics show 164 internal mutations in the last 30 minutes. Though all were handled quickly, this mutation rate exceeds any previous war scale."

Ye Lan shook her head. "S-levels haven’t appeared yet. Infection peak hasn’t arrived. We must hold the battle!"