The Phone Call

Inside the Security Bureau in the Capital.

After Lu Senyu finished speaking, he waited for Zhang Shuling's response on the other end.

But ten-odd seconds passed, and there was only a deathly silence.

Lu Senyu frowned slightly. “Zhang Shuling?”

“I don't think there's any need to call her name. She probably won't be listening to your orders ever again,” a strange male voice said over the phone.

Hearing the man's voice, Lu Senyu's face returned to a calm, cold expression. “Did the operation fail? Who are you?”

“Me? Haven't you all been trying to kill me this whole time? How is it that you don't even know my name?” Zhao Jin's indifferent voice replied.

Hearing this, the composure Lu Senyu had just regained instantly shattered. “What on earth are you trying to achieve by creating so many monsters in Ningcheng? And how did you obtain such inhuman abilities?!”

“My dear Minister Lu, I am not your prisoner. I don't appreciate your tone of voice,” Zhao Jin said in Ningcheng, looking at the caller ID on his phone.

He knew this man was the Minister of the Security Bureau, a highly influential figure who wielded immense power under the Parliament.

But so what? No matter how high a person's status was, they were all the same to Zhao Jin.

When humans destroyed an anthill, did they distinguish between the queen and the worker ants? Usually, they just wiped them all out together.

On the other end of the line, Lu Senyu was momentarily choked up by Zhao Jin's words. Before he could speak...

Zhao Jin hung up. He had only answered the call out of a sudden whim of amusement.

Inside the Security Bureau, Lu Senyu stared silently at the disconnected call.

He clenched his fists so hard that the veins bulged on the backs of his hands. “Damn it!!!”

If he counted it, this was his second clash with Zhao Jin. Each time, he had suffered a swift defeat, and this time, he had even lost three hundred men.

Just then, a red landline phone rang on the desk in front of him.

Seeing this, Lu Senyu reached out to pick it up. This was their internal hotline, which allowed subordinates to contact him directly in case of an emergency.

“Minister Lu, this is the Ningcheng garrison commander, Zhuge Ming. Five minutes ago, we received a request from Captain Zhang Shuling to deploy armored units. However, we've lost contact with her. Should we still proceed with the deployment?” a cautious voice asked from the other end.

Since this operation was planned by the Security Bureau, he could only consult the bureau's highest-ranking leader.

“What's the situation over there? You should have been monitoring the area as well. Tell me what you've found,” Lu Senyu demanded.

Zhuge Ming replied, “Our last surveillance footage showed Captain Zhang Shuling leading her team into an under-construction mall. Afterward, we lost contact with the surveillance equipment, so we don't know the outcome.”

“Deploy,” Lu Senyu ordered after a brief moment of thought. “The target is no ordinary person. Even with heavy weapons, Zhang Shuling and her team couldn't take him down.”

“Understood!”

Inside the mall on Haiwu Avenue in Ningcheng.

The area was enveloped by an invisible force, completely cutting off any communication from the outside world.

“Hurry and run! That monster is right behind us!” inside the mall, the leader of Team C, a young man with a buzz cut, urged anxiously.

Ahead of them lay a pitch-black corridor. If not for the tactical gear they wore, they wouldn't even be able to see the path ahead.

Beside him, a middle-aged man said with a grim expression, “Leader, are we running in circles? We've been running in here for four or five minutes, but we still haven't found the exit.”

“Cut the crap! Of course I know that, but we'll die if we stop!” the buzz-cut youth's face contorted.

As a special forces captain, he had never been chased into such a pathetic state by a single monster before.

It was only because of their exceptional physical conditioning that they were able to run fast enough to stay alive.

Behind them, the Butcher dragged its broadsword with its left hand and a chain with its right. Threaded through the chain were the chests of ten people, dragged along the floor behind it.

With every step the Butcher took, the chain slid up and down through their chests, tormenting them.

“Ah!”

“It hurts so much... just kill me...”

“Help...”

These ten people were not dead yet. A strange energy coursing through the chain kept them alive, forcing them to endure agonizing pain every single second.

The Butcher said nothing, its eyes gleaming with savage brutality as it stared at the fleeing members of Team C.

They were the only living souls left in this space.

The Butcher was in no hurry. Once they entered this space, there was no escaping.

Furthermore, the flow of time here was ten times slower than the outside world. Ten seconds here was only a single second outside.

Ten minutes passed, and Team C's pace began to slow. Panting heavily, they kept glancing back at the monster pursuing them.

Under such extreme pressure, their physical stamina was draining rapidly.

Another ten minutes passed, and a middle-aged team member began to lag behind.

Seeing this, the buzz-cut leader shouted, “What are you doing?! Keep running!”

The middle-aged man shook his head in despair. “We can't get out. We're dead anyway. Just run... I just want to rest before I die.”

The buzz-cut leader didn't try to argue. He left him behind and continued running with the remaining members.

A few seconds later, the members of Team C vanished from the middle-aged man's sight.

Lying on the floor, he listened to the approaching sounds.

He reached up and tore off his tactical visor, not wanting to look at the monster and amplify his terror before death.

Suddenly, a massive foot stepped out of the darkness and crushed his head, sending brain matter spraying everywhere.

Having dealt with him with a single stomp, the Butcher continued its pursuit.

Over the next few minutes, more team members fell behind and were slaughtered by the Butcher one by one.

In the end, only the buzz-cut leader was left running. He had watched his teammates fall behind and get slaughtered one by one, yet he had been completely powerless to save them.

His mind beginning to fracture, he roared as he ran, “Ahhh!!!”

“Why did I come to this place?! Why do we have to fight an invincible monster like this?!”

“You motherfucking bureaucrats! It's because of your goddamn decisions that my brothers had to die!”

Tears streamed down his face. Although he was a soldier whose duty was to obey orders blindly, he was still human.

Every member of Team C had been trained and led by him. Watching them die one by one tore his heart apart.

At that thought, he suddenly skidded to a halt and turned back, his eyes bloodshot.

In the distance, a massive figure was slowly lumbering toward him.

The buzz-cut leader pulled a grenade from his vest.

Driven completely mad, his face contorted into a savage snarl. “You bastard!”

He pulled the pin and charged at the Butcher like a madman.

The moment he got within a meter, the Butcher raised its straight sword and brought it down in a vertical slash.

The madness on the buzz-cut leader's face froze as his body split in two and collapsed to the ground.

Just as he hit the floor, the grenade detonated, blowing half of his severed body to pieces.