C16 Collapse

The eyes are the window to the soul, and this was no mere poetic flourish.

In a final burst of spiritual energy, the dying man summoned forth a power that was not his own to aid Chen Yu. The resulting spiritual shockwave was a testament to the man's mental fortitude.

The recoil left the man's eyes shriveled, his eyeballs desiccated as if all moisture had been evaporated from them.

Chen Yu's emotions churned at the sight of those vacant, unblinking eyes.

"Rest easy! As long as there's breath in their bodies, those in X Supermarket won't easily meet their end!"

With a look of sorrow, Chen Yu gently closed the man's eyes and made a solemn vow. He also respectfully took the watch that the man had clutched until his last breath, intending to deliver it to the man's kin if the chance arose.

In an instant, Chen Yu bolted towards the street beyond the alley.

There, the sound of the approaching mutated wolf pack filled the air.

With his formidable strength, Chen Yu dispatched the ordinary mutated beasts in under ten seconds—a punch for each beast.

He didn't even pause to extract the crystal nuclei from the fallen mutated wolves before setting his sights on X Supermarket.

The urgency in the man's plea before death was clear; the situation at X Supermarket was dire.

Chen Yu's keen mind pieced together the scenario: zombies besieging the mall, the man—an Evolver—battling them, and then the concealed Mutated Wolf, out hunting for the Wolf King, discovering the man's identity and ambushing him.

To protect the mall's survivors, the man had drawn the awakened mutated wolf away at the risk of his life...

...

X Supermarket was not far from Chen Yu's previous encounter with the Wolf King.

Pushing himself to the limit, he sped past zombies and mutated beasts alike. In roughly ten minutes, the towering seven-story mall loomed into view.

A massive horde of zombies swarmed outside the mall—

The entrance had already been breached.

The survivors' resistance had crumbled as soon as the doors gave way.

Zombies surged into the building, shoving the survivors ahead of them. Every so often, a survivor would shatter glass from the second, third, or higher floors, leaping to their death on the concrete below amidst screams of terror.

A wave of despair swept through the survivors inside the mall.

Some completely surrendered to the chaos, taking their own lives amidst the frantic crowd.

Yet, many more screamed as they made a desperate dash for the mall's rooftop, clinging to the hope of surviving just a few seconds longer.

Amidst this grim scene, other horrific acts unfolded.

In a ruthless bid for speed, some survivors didn't hesitate to trip others or even cruelly push them into the oncoming horde of zombies.

Rooms that could have sheltered more people were coldly locked from the inside, the pleas of those trapped outside ignored as the doors remained firmly shut, not opening an inch until the zombies overpowered the desperate souls outside...

"Quick! Block the stairs! Do it now!" Liu Xingzhong bellowed to those nearby, straining as he hoisted a small refrigerator from a display case and charged toward the staircase. With no second thoughts, he hurled it down.

Several zombies that had clambered up were sent tumbling back by the impact of the fridge.

But more zombies quickly filled the void, pressing on toward the staircase where Liu Xingzhong stood.

The incessant hissing and groaning of the zombies echoed through the mall's atrium, a chilling, relentless sound that set nerves on edge.

But Liu Xingzhong was undeterred. He spun around, seized a water cooler, and smashed it down with all his might.

Around him, the last of the unyielding survivors in the mall rallied under his command, barricading the corridor entrance with an assortment of electrical appliances, sundries, merchandise, and even shelving units.

They cobbled together these makeshift barricades in a desperate attempt to seal the stairways and hold back the ascending tide of zombies, fighting for a sliver of hope.

The X Supermarket, however, was simply too vast, with far too many access points.

Despite their collective efforts to seal off the immediate threat, the overwhelming swarm of zombies would inevitably find another route to the upper levels once the ground floor was overrun.

The resistance force at Liu Xingzhong's side was woefully inadequate.

They were too few in number, hopelessly outmatched in their frantic bid to seal every passage on the first floor in time.

Perhaps the thousands of survivors in the mall stood a chance if they banded together.

But—

In the midst of chaos, Liu Xingzhong glanced up.

Before him was a sea of desperate escapees, their rationality shattered by fear. Confronted by the relentless advance of zombies, they had surrendered to their primal survival instincts, swarming toward the rooftop in an unceasing tide.

None seemed to consider how long the rooftop refuge would last if all other floors were overrun.

Liu Xingzhong had already attempted to rally the crowd to defend the stairwell.

Sadly, his efforts barely made a dent. His police uniform no longer inspired any confidence among the panicked masses.

"Captain Liu! We have to go! We can't hold them off!"

"The zombies have breached A3!"

A young officer dashed around the corner, calling out to Liu Xingzhong.

Liu Xingzhong's face paled as he dropped the printer he was holding and turned to the busy survivors, "Fall back! Skip the fourth floor! Head straight to the fifth! Move!"

At Liu Xingzhong's command, the crowd abandoned their belongings and surged toward the nearest staircase.

In the midst of the scramble, Liu Xingzhong didn't forget to grab a woman beside him.

"Sister! Make for the roof and don't stop!" Liu Xingzhong instructed between breaths, "Find somewhere to hide and stay hidden as long as possible!"

"I won't!" the woman retorted with defiance.

Liu Xingzhong's expression darkened. As he pulled her along, he bellowed, "Zhen Hua might not make it back. The child you're carrying is his only legacy and the hope of both the Liu and Li families. You have to survive, no matter what!"

The words 'Zhen Hua's legacy' and 'hope' struck the woman, her stride faltering as the defiance melted from her face, leaving her silent as they ran.

—

Chen Yu stood atop a building across from X Supermarket, his expression icy.

"Too late," he thought to himself.

Despite his swift arrival, he was still a step behind.

The horde had already overrun the mall's entrance. Chen Yu, no stranger to such apocalyptic scenes, knew instantly that even if he charged in now, saving everyone was beyond reach.

In Chen Yu's recollection, even a base city teeming with Evolvers could fall.

Once its defenses were breached, the aftermath wouldn't be much different from the chaos inside the X Supermarket.

Collapse could happen overnight.

The only distinction was the sheer scale of a base city compared to a shopping mall; it would take much longer for a horde of zombies and mutated beasts to overrun it completely.

Yet, Chen Yu hadn't lost all hope.

He had spotted a number of survivors who had managed to gather on the supermarket's rooftop.

He was determined to find a way to rescue these people.

"Boss Yu!"

Amidst his contemplations, an excited voice reached him from nearby.