Chapter 35: The Path of Chaos

The black fluid seemed to continue its growth. From the moment Long Sheng realized something was wrong and woke up in a panic, to the time he spent waiting in line to evacuate, the mass had evolved from a small hill into a towering pillar.

It had even begun to sprout branches, taking on the appearance of a tree. The moon in the night sky seemed as if it were about to be swallowed by these eerie, unnatural boughs. Gazing at this ever-changing anomaly and then looking back at the long queue of civilians waiting to board the evacuation buses, Long Sheng felt his heart pounding against his ribs.

It was not just Long Sheng; everyone present was struggling to suppress their panic.

Then, Li Jiayi called out to him from a distance. Turning around, Long Sheng saw that she and her father were positioned quite far behind him. Perhaps because they had to manage her wheelchair, they were unable to move quickly. After waiting for about five minutes, with only a few people left ahead of him, Long Sheng made a difficult but righteous decision.

"Li Jiayi, come over here!" Long Sheng waved them toward his spot. Since Li Jiayi had difficulty moving, getting her on a bus early would increase their chances of survival.

"This... how could we impose on you like this..." Her father looked hesitant.

Meanwhile, some of the citizens behind Long Sheng began to protest. "Hey, kid! Don't hold up our evacuation!" "What are you doing? Is someone cutting the line up there?" A chorus of accusations rose from the crowd.

"It’s alright, Uncle... please, just go," Long Sheng said with a smile. He told them that for him, it was merely a matter of waiting a few more minutes, but for their family, it meant significantly less risk. The reason? They were his friends. While he didn't feel the same heart-fluttering sensation he had for Qin Yun, Li Jiayi and Bruce were good friends he had made at school.

"Everyone behind me, stop complaining! I’m switching spots with them; it won’t delay your departure!" Long Sheng shouted at the crowd. He didn't even know where he found the courage. That settled the murmurs, and the people behind him grudgingly fell silent.

"Long Sheng... you..." Li Jiayi was deeply moved, unable to find the words.

"Thank you. You’re Long Sheng, right? Jiayi and I won't forget this favor."

"It's fine. I don't mind waiting another five minutes." Under the gaze of the crowd, Long Sheng stepped back.

Li Jiayi had never expected that the usually soft-spoken Long Sheng would be capable of such a brave act in the face of life and death. Before long, she and her father boarded the bus, with the soldiers helping to lift her wheelchair inside. Watching them pull away, Long Sheng felt a sense of satisfaction, even though he remained at the boarding area.

To be fair, while the military’s evacuation method was a last resort, the pace was not slow. In just ten minutes, twenty buses had departed. With a bus leaving every half-minute, carrying over fifty people each, and twenty boarding points, they were clearing about two thousand people per minute. Though it couldn't compare to a subway system, it was the most efficient method available.

Suddenly, searchlights cut through the distance, accompanied by the sound of helicopters.

"Attention citizens, we have deployed transport helicopters to assist. Please remain calm and line up for boarding!" a soldier announced through a megaphone.

"Oh! They even brought helicopters!" To reduce the strain on ground transport, the military had deployed fifteen Chinook helicopters to ferry civilians back and forth. Long Sheng and the others cheered. It seemed that the decision to station a large number of troops in New Spring-Autumn City had been the right one; they were proving useful in a crisis.

"Conservatively, we can finish the evacuation within half an hour," the soldier informed them. Given that about ten minutes had already passed, roughly half the residents remained.

The helicopters had landed and were currently loading passengers. While they carried fewer people than the buses, they were still comparable to small or medium-sized coaches, easily handling thirty people at a time. The helicopters operated in groups of three; though they could only carry about a hundred people per sortie, it provided an additional channel for escape.

Long Sheng felt lucky to be assigned to the helicopter group. It was his first time flying in one, and a famous Chinook at that. The first group had already taken off, and Long Sheng’s party was scheduled for the third.

"Whoa!"

Suddenly, the ground shook violently. That pillar in the distance—no, "tree" was a more fitting term—had begun to move. The citizens watched in horror as the black, indescribable figure twisted, causing the earth to tremble.

Suddenly, the ground ruptured. Dust and rubble exploded into the air as the mass surged in a specific direction—the exact flight path of the first helicopter that had just taken off.

The torrent of earth and debris caught up to the helicopter with terrifying speed. A black liquid—or perhaps something else—shot up from the ground, instantly piercing the aircraft. The helicopter, filled with thirty people, vanished in a flash of fire and debris.

"Waaaaah!!!"

Seeing the helicopter intercepted by the monster in such a horrific way, the crowd erupted in screams of terror. The already frayed nerves of the public snapped. Even without knowing where to run, they began to scatter in a frenzied panic. The military began to lose control of the situation.

Long Sheng sat frozen on the ground. Though he was powerless, he felt a strong, malevolent will—a will that refused to let its prey escape its grasp.

Another tremor shook the earth, and Long Sheng looked around instinctively. "Ah! What is that!?"

Like the other citizens, he was stunned. Before them, in a distant district, a massive shadow rose from the ground, its height slowly surpassing the nearby apartment buildings. Bathed in the moonlight, everyone could see it clearly: a towering robot.

The crowd’s chaos subsided slightly, replaced by gasps of astonishment. The robot began to move toward the "tree."

Long Sheng realized with a start that he had seen this thing in an exposé video before. That was right—it was the same machine that had destroyed the monster during the first attack! It was the rumored "secret military weapon" that a civilian, unable to escape, had captured on their phone from afar.

"Shakya, be careful," Zion and the entire command center staff watched the movements on the ground.

"Understood..."

Shakya moved forward cautiously. So far, there were no signs of active aggression from the entity. Using the night-vision equipment on the Traum, she could see everything clearly despite the darkness.

"Five kilometers out, no anomalies for now," she reported while closing the distance.

"Be careful not to approach too quickly. You know where the civilians are evacuating; draw the Familiars' attention in the opposite direction." Zion gave the orders methodically, and as always, her presence brought Shakya a sense of calm. Past experience in close-quarters combat with this thing told her that if it wasn't dealt with quickly, things would get very complicated.

For now, however, Shakya dared not act rashly or launch an attack. Her primary mission was to lure the enemy away from the civilians.