Invasion!

Angelina raised her spear to pursue, but Yan Ze stopped her, shaking his head.

Looking around, the cats of the King's Clan were all more or less wounded, propping each other up.

"If we keep chasing, their bodies won't be able to take it."

"And what does that have to do with me?" Angelina's brow furrowed. "If they can't keep up, they can stay here. Don't get in my way."

Yan Ze was left speechless. He shook his head and stepped aside to clear the path.

Watching the girl vanish alone into the border of the Bastion, a petite cat appeared behind him, sniffing the air.

"That girl really is ungrateful."

"Has no one ever told her that she's actually quite difficult to deal with?"

"Is it really okay to let her go after the Kingdom Watcher alone? She's no match for him, is she?"

"Cats don't like arrogant types," the girl pouted.

"Perhaps she is merely pursuing a grand, spectacular self-destruction," Yan Ze said, his eyes devoid of emotion.

Inside the Bastion, a dark-red-haired girl crouched bored in front of an office desk—though it was really just an old, rotten wooden stump.

Akabane held a building block in her hand, humming the light tune of a birthday song. She carefully placed the block onto a tower she had built, her eyes fixed on it. Her 'cake tower' was taking shape; it only needed a few more blocks to be complete.

How pathetic. On some people's birthdays, those who love them are willing to detonate every nuclear bomb in the badlands to celebrate, while others have to huddle in a smelly sewer, guarding the home for a heartless Pomelo Pest.

That was what Akabane thought.

It was infuriating. She had finally worked up the courage to hope that person would spend a single birthday with her.

And the result?

That guy wouldn't even stay to finish listening to the nursery rhyme she had sung several times!

Akabane propped her chin in her hands, looking troubled.

Despite being the little family head of Red Heaven, her birthdays were always lonely. She would hide alone in a messy room, sitting on her bed listening to music and playing games. When her mood was terrible, it was always raining outside. She could only hug her teddy bear; there was no birthday cake, and the bear wouldn't open its mouth to sing for her. When she opened her contact list, she found she didn't even have anyone to talk to.

Her last memory of a birthday was from many years ago.

Recalling herself huddling around a table with her brother, staring at a cake taller than them with eyes full of light, Akabane couldn't help but chuckle softly.

In Red Heaven, everything was within her reach.

If she wanted, there would be countless people in the green leaf shops fighting for a chance to celebrate with her. She could sing loudly all night amidst the neon lights, have a cake taller than a building, and pick anyone she wanted to do crazy things with her.

Yet she had never done so. On the rare occasions she felt an impulse, her excitement would vanish as quickly as a scaredy-shroom retracting into its cap when it saw a zombie. She simply couldn't accept... such a frivolous version of herself.

Hidden deep in her heart was a proud nine-year-old girl.

Fine, those people at Zhutai High were right; she did have a bit of a princess complex. She hoped someone would always be there to clean up her messes, hoped someone would truly give their all for her and forgive her no matter what she did wrong.

She couldn't bring herself to sink into fake emotions.

Besides, only a fool would be tricked by a promise that could be bought with a little money. She was so young and beautiful; if she had to pay people to spend her birthday with her, wouldn't they be getting all the benefits?

What she wanted was warmth she could actually hold in her hands. Whether it was family or friendship, even if that light was far away, as long as a single sliver belonged to her...

"Vice leader!"

"Wah!" Akabane was startled, her hand jerking and causing the block tower to collapse with a clatter.

To hide her fluster, the girl quickly kicked the blocks aside and stood up with a couple of dry coughs.

"What is it?"

"The people from the Age of the Dead just ambushed us! They've already broken into the outpost!"

"Age of the Dead?" Akabane didn't understand.

Light-Chaser Garden had no grudge against that guild. Why would they attack them?

"They have members of the Grave of the Undead with them. They used items to block our communications, so we couldn't reach you, vice leader! Quick, lead the defense!"

"Right, right, we need to organize the defense." Akabane acted flustered, walking quickly toward the door. As she passed the youth, she slit his throat with her dagger.

"Guh!!"

The man was struck with terror, clutching his neck as blood gushed out. His face turned pale instantly, and he fell to the ground, his eyes filled with disbelief as he stared at the girl.

In the blink of an eye, the man lost all life. His disguise faded, revealing the black skull-themed uniform beneath.

Even in death, he didn't understand how the seemingly clumsy girl had recognized him.

Akabane wiped the blood from her dagger with a cold sneer.

She had never met a single member of Light-Chaser Garden who was willing to respectfully call her 'vice leader'.

Furthermore, she remembered the aura of every single person in Light-Chaser Garden clearly. Such a clumsy disguise could never escape her eyes.

Akabane tried to contact Xu Xiaoyou at the front lines, and as expected, the message wouldn't send. Communications were blocked.

She opened the map, but it was nothing but chaos. Every function for assessing the situation was more or less affected.

Akabane didn't know the location of the Red Glow squad members or their current status. But she was certain the invaders had likely been infiltrating the prison for quite some time.

The enemy's stealth was seamless. She had an agreement with the Red Glow squad to contact her every five minutes to report. There had been no anomalies, which meant the enemy had likely moved into their ranks long ago, killing and disguised as their people on a large scale.

Communications had been cut within the five-minute window since the last contact. Did the enemy already control the entire outpost,

and were they now hunting down their people en masse?

Akabane's face darkened as she hurried out the door, running into two anxious-looking Red Glow squad members.

Before either of them could say a word, the girl suddenly lunged. Her dagger plunged into one man's neck, blood splattering across Akabane's face.

"Meijiu, what are you doing!?"

The other person was terrified, watching the first man slide down the wall, leaving a trail of blood as his disguise vanished.

Realizing something, he quickly raised his hands to prove his identity, but he saw that Akabane was ignoring him. She just knelt down, checking the dead man's body and picking up the communicator from his waist pouch.

"Be careful of the people around you. These people can disguise themselves," Akabane warned.

"We have to find our teammates and regroup as soon as possible..."

"Vice leader, watch out!" The man suddenly noticed something off. He shouted and pushed Akabane aside. The girl's eyes wavered as she saw the air ripple and distort. A man's figure emerged, covering the youth's mouth and snapping his neck.

Akabane immediately felt a strong sense of crisis and backed away rapidly. Dozens of 'Red Glow' members appeared from thin air, their uniforms slowly fading back into black skull gear as they surrounded her.

A girl wearing a black-and-white gothic gown and skull earrings licked the blood from the tip of her blade. She narrowed her eyes, which had cross-shaped pupils, and spoke in a playful voice:

"As a squad leader, you're really quite incompetent. Your teammates are almost all dead, yet you didn't notice a thing. How could Dark Gold Rose ever arrange for someone like you to stay behind and guard the headquarters?"

Meeting Akabane's stunned gaze, the girl with the cold and exquisite face smiled politely. She slightly lifted the hem of her gothic dress and performed an elegant curtsy.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Vlad II, the guild leader of the Age of the Dead."

"My brother Edward received a great deal of 'care' from you not long ago. To repay you properly, I've made a special trip today with my people to pay a visit."

"It’s been a while, hasn't it?"