An indescribable explosion suddenly rang out. The entire detention center—no, the entire police headquarters building—shook violently! It was as if a meteorite had crashed directly onto the roof!
The piercing alarm reached its peak instantly, then stopped abruptly as if strangled.
Replacing it was the terrifying groan of twisting and breaking building structures, and... a soul-shuddering, inhuman... chanting!
Wang Defa was thrown from his bed by the shock. He scrambled to the small, reinforced window of the cell and peered out with all his might—
The next second, his breathing stopped, and his mind went blank.
Outside the window, what used to be the police station's inner courtyard and part of the building had been replaced by an unimaginable behemoth.
What a terrifying existence it was!
For the first time, Wang Defa felt at a loss for words.
Its sleek armor flickered with ominous purple light and eerie pink light.
He didn't see the opponent's limbs, only armor plates floating out of thin air, humbly guarding the main body like subjects.
Just the pressure emanating from its existence made his legs weak, almost causing him to lose control of his bladder.
The armor plates around it simply rotated, and the adjacent annex building collapsed like a house of blocks. The firepower hastily organized by the police in just over ten seconds hit it without even causing a ripple!
Emperor-class Honkai Beast!
The word "Emperor" suddenly appeared in his blank mind, not from recognition, but from the fear-based naming instinct of life facing a higher level of destructive power.
And an inexplicable impulse to submit to it.
His calculations about land, trade, and assassination were as insignificant as dust and laughably worthless in the face of this existence!
His worldview was completely crushed at this moment.
It wasn't a business struggle, not a power struggle, but... this incomprehensible power had descended!
Just as he was distraught and about to collapse to the ground, his eyes caught a scene that shocked him even more—
In the ruins and smoke caused by the descent of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast, several figures were already standing in front of it!
The leader, dressed in flowing green clothes, looked calm. Behind her, the Seven Swords of Taixu each held a sword, their sword intent soaring into the sky, actually contending with the terrifying pressure of that monster!
Wait... could they have been waiting here all along?!
Further away, in a relatively safe area separated by collapsed buildings, he saw a frail young man looking like a scholar, holding a sword tightly in one hand and protecting a little girl with a curious but fearless face with the other.
There were also many people organizing the surviving, mostly injured police officers to build a simple defense line, resisting the scattered zombies driven by the Emperor's aura and desperately fleeing from there.
This orderly scene amidst chaos forced Wang Defa to make a connection.
They... they knew all along?!
This monster would descend, people would turn into zombies... the city would fall, order would collapse... they knew all this?
So...
They weren't targeting "dignitaries" like him; they were dealing with... dealing with this kind of monster?
Was he... just an "unstable factor" cleared away in passing because he was in the way?!
In passing?!!!
"Haugh... haugh..."
Wang Defa felt an invisible hand choking his throat, emitting meaningless gasps.
A cold, violently corrosive energy wave swept through the detention center. He felt his body start to spasm uncontrollably, as if countless insects were crawling under his skin. His vision quickly blurred and turned purple.
In the last few seconds before his consciousness was completely swallowed by darkness, he suddenly had a "great awakening."
The world... had truly changed drastically.
It had become something he was no longer familiar with, something he could no longer control with money and power.
And he, and the dirty order he represented, were just the dust swept into the garbage heap of history first in this drastic change, even... just done in passing by these people.
Unwillingness! An extreme unwillingness burned his last thoughts like poisonous fire!
He shouldn't be like this... he shouldn't be thrown into the graveyard of history like garbage in passing!
He thought of the supplies he had secretly hoarded, the impregnable underground safe house, the subordinates whose weaknesses he controlled and could drive at will.
...If... if the City of the Future hadn't intervened, if this damn monster hadn't descended!
He could have lived a flourishing life in this apocalypse!
He could have used his means and resources to become a new local emperor, completely controlling his own destiny, and even... controlling the destiny of others!
A "new world" where Wang Defa made the rules and acted recklessly sketched the last twisted phantom in his brain that was about to completely rigidify.
However, reality was cold.
His pupils dilated completely, his skin turned dead gray, and his throat let out a final meaningless roar. His body twisted, joining the ranks of the walking dead downstairs.
His fantasy of apocalyptic hegemony, his carefully prepared retreat, all his ambitions and calculations, along with his dirty life, turned into an insignificant, unknown bubble under the brilliant heavenly might of the Honkai's descent and the preparedness of the Fire Moth.
At least one thing he realized was correct.
He was indeed garbage cleared away in passing.
Fu Hua's gaze was as calm as an ancient well, quickly sweeping over the ruined police station courtyard.
Just now, she seemed to sense a faint gaze filled with strong unwillingness and malice, but when she turned to look, she only saw a zombie roaring at her.
The other party was behind the iron bars of a cell, wearing a uniform prison uniform, emitting meaningless roars in her direction.
Pfft.
A sharp sword light flashed, and Cheng Lixue sheathed her sword expressionlessly.
That sword light accurately penetrated the gap in the iron bars, turning that roaring zombie and the few nearby zombies that had just crawled out of the rubble into flying ash, as if brushing away a bit of insignificant dust.
Fu Hua withdrew her gaze, not surprised at all.
"Lixue, Li Shen," Fu Hua's voice brought everyone's attention back. "I leave the survivors here to you."
Her gaze fell on Li Sushang, who was tightly protected behind Li Shen, and those police officers who were still in shock and mostly injured.
Cheng Lixue immediately cupped her fists: "Yes, Master! I will do my best!" Her eyes were firm, understanding that escorting these ordinary people to evacuate safely was also a crucial task.
Li Shen also nodded heavily. He glanced at Qin Suyi beside him, whose eyes were as calm as water, clenched his fists hard, and said in a deep voice: "Master Fu Hua, rest assured, I will protect Sushang and everyone."
He knew what kind of terrifying existence his wife was about to face, and he also understood his own nature. If he really stayed to face such an enemy, he would only hold them back. It would be good enough if he didn't perform poorly.
This parting might be forever.
But he understood even better that they each had their own battlefield. Even for him, who "bullied the weak and feared the strong," there was a battlefield belonging to him.