Chapter 60: Endgame

"Come out! Get out here!"

Kant kept spraying bullets toward the general direction of the forest while his left hand remained clamped protectively over his face.

Rounds tore through the trees, sending splinters flying in every direction.

Before long, another magazine ran dry.

Taking advantage of the brief moment while Kant ducked back behind the van to reload, Charles quickly drew his knife and sliced open the sleeve of his left arm.

He balled up the torn fabric and pressed it against the graze before tearing off the rest and wrapping the wound tightly.

The makeshift bandage had barely been secured when another barrage erupted from Kant's submachine gun.

Watching through his scope, Charles noticed that bullets striking Kant's body barely seemed to have any effect. Yet throughout the exchange, the man never stopped shielding his face with his left hand.

It looked instinctive, but in doing so, he'd exposed his weakness.

Charles slowly lowered his aim.

If he was guarding everything up here...

...then what about down there?

There.

The crosshairs settled instantly on the one place Kant had never bothered to protect—

his groin.

Charles steadied his breathing.

Then squeezed the trigger.

Bang!

A bloodcurdling scream tore across the clearing.

"AAAGH—!"

Pain exploded through Kant, doubling him over. His whole body curled in on itself.

And that was the moment Charles had been waiting for.

The instant Kant folded over, Charles burst from the grass and sprinted straight toward him.

Pain washed over Kant, darkening his vision.

But instinct—and a surge of adrenaline—quickly overwhelmed it.

He looked up just in time to catch a figure sprinting out of the trees.

A savage grin spread across his face.

So that's where you were.

He snapped up his submachine gun, braced it with his left hand, and took aim at the charging Charles.

There were still seventy meters between them.

At that distance...

there was no way Charles could close the gap in time.

"You're too slow."

The next instant—

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several shots rang out almost simultaneously.

One round punched cleanly through Kant's right eye.

Agony exploded inside his skull.

Half his vision disappeared instantly.

With a scream, Kant dropped his weapon and clutched both hands over his face—

more than enough time for Charles.

The moment he entered the effective range of his Ability, he activated it.

Kant suddenly felt every ounce of strength drain from his body.

The unnatural toughness he had always taken pride in rapidly faded away, his monstrous physique reverting to that of an ordinary man in the blink of an eye.

It's over.

That single thought filled his mind.

He didn't even have time to beg.

Bang.

The gunshot echoed.

Then everything fell silent.

Even after killing Kant, Charles didn't let his guard down.

His Ability remained active, suppressing every other Ability within its range.

There were still two stragglers left.

He walked over to the fallen raiders and methodically put another round through each of their heads.

Only after confirming all five were truly dead did he shoulder his rifle and make his way to the hidden passage.

Slowly, he pulled open the concealed hatch.

From the top of the stairs, however, it was impossible to see what lay below.

Without hesitation, Charles grabbed one of the corpses and tossed it down the stairwell.

Tatatatatata—

Gunfire erupted instantly from below.

Just as he'd expected.

They were hiding down there.

He deliberately slammed the hatch shut.

Bang!

The heavy impact echoed through the tunnel for several long seconds before he turned and headed toward the front entrance.

The steel plating covering the front door still glowed a dull red from the intense heat.

Charles reached into his pocket and pulled out an ordinary-looking remote control.

He pressed the button.

The heavy steel shutter slowly lifted.

Slipping inside in one smooth motion, Charles disappeared into the house.

A few minutes earlier...

Inside the underground passage, the remaining two raiders had been waiting beneath the entrance.

Ever since the first gunshot rang out, neither of them had moved.

At first, they had been surprisingly relaxed, even spending their time examining the massive iron door that refused to budge.

But as the gunfire outside grew more intense—

and Kant's agonized scream echoed underground—

the color drained from both their faces.

"Did something happen to the boss?"

One of them grabbed his rifle, ready to rush upstairs.

The other immediately yanked him back.

"Are you insane?"

"If even the boss couldn't handle whoever's out there, you're just running up to die."

"Then what do we do?"

The other man clenched his jaw.

"We set up an ambush."

"We aim at the staircase."

"We'll use these toolboxes as cover and wait."

"The moment someone comes down..."

"We turn them into Swiss cheese."

The two exchanged uneasy glances.

They settled in, rifles trained unwaveringly on the staircase.

Time dragged on.

Every second felt longer than the last.

Then...

A strange sensation suddenly washed over both of them.

They froze.

Their Abilities...

were gone.

The familiar power they'd relied on for years had vanished without warning, leaving behind nothing but ordinary human bodies.

Cold sweat instantly broke across their foreheads.

Both men stared fixedly at the staircase, every muscle in their bodies drawn taut.

The next second—

A figure suddenly dropped from above.

Instinct took over.

Tatatatatata—

They unloaded everything they had.

Only after the figure stopped moving did they finally look more carefully.

"...Seven?"

Their faces turned deathly pale.

Before either of them could react—

Bang!

The hatch slammed shut once again.

Silence swallowed the passage.

Some time later...

The lights overhead suddenly went out.

Darkness engulfed the entire tunnel.

The two men stood back-to-back, breathing hard, neither daring to move.

Just as their eyes were beginning to adjust—

a blinding light suddenly burst to life at the iron door on the opposite end of the passage.

"There!"

They spun toward it instinctively.

Tatatatatata—

Bullets poured wildly into the brilliant light.

Neither of them noticed...

that the entrance hatch behind them had silently opened a crack.

Charles stood behind the opening, his suppressed pistol raised steadily.

Pfft.

Pfft.

Two shots.

Two bodies.

Silence returned once more.

Charles pushed the hatch fully open and stepped into the passage.

Taking out a spare phone, he tapped the screen a few times.

The blinding spotlight shut off instantly.

The pale lights flickered back on, illuminating the blood-soaked underground corridor.

Only after watching Charles eliminate every last intruder did Xia Jiuwei and Lu Nian'an approach with the two children.

The moment Elena and Lukas saw Charles, they ran straight toward him.

Their eyes quickly fell on the roughly bandaged wound on his left arm.

Seeing blood still seeping through the bandage, both of them looked close to tears.

"Daddy, that looks like it really hurts!"

"Daddy, kneel down! We'll blow on it! If we blow on it, it'll stop hurting!"

Charles looked down at the two children.

The tension he'd been carrying all day melted away in an instant.

Seeing their worried little faces...

his heart nearly melted.

He knelt down and gently ruffled their hair.

"Daddy's okay."

"Why don't you two go play downstairs for a while? Daddy still has to clean up outside."

"Then we want to help!"

The two little ones volunteered immediately.

Charles glanced around.

The lawn was littered with shell casings, bloodstains, and bodies.

Several of the raiders had been shot in the head, leaving gruesome corpses behind.

He shook his head without hesitation.

"Haven't you two always wanted to play Daddy's old Nintendo?"

"You can play as much as you want today."

The children froze.

Help Daddy...

or play video games?

The internal struggle lasted only a moment.

"I want to play!"

"Me too!"

The idea of helping vanished from their minds immediately.

Both children cheered and sprinted into the house, racing toward the basement.

Watching their lively little figures disappear inside, Charles couldn't help smiling.

Only after they were gone did he collect himself, head back into the house, and properly disinfect and re-bandage his injured arm.

When he finished, he stepped outside once more.

His eyes immediately settled on the van that was still belching thick black smoke.

Frowning, he walked over.

After examining it for a while, his expression gradually grew more serious.

"...A gasoline vehicle."

He muttered quietly.

"It's been this many years since the apocalypse..."

"How is anyone still driving one of these?"

"When did you get over here?"

Xia Jiuwei asked, appearing beside him before he even noticed.

Lu Nian'an walked over as well, curiously studying the battered van.

Charles remained silent for a moment.

"Did you know gasoline doesn't last very long?"

Both girls shook their heads.

"Under normal conditions, gasoline starts degrading after just a few months. Even under ideal storage conditions..."

"...there's no way it could still be usable after all these years."

His gaze settled on the fuel tank.

His voice became noticeably heavier.

"Theoretically..."

"...the very last batch of gasoline produced before the apocalypse should've gone bad a long time ago."

Xia Jiuwei blinked.

"So?"

Charles took a slow breath.

"It means there's a good chance someone out there has already rebuilt the capability to extract crude oil..."

"...and refine it into fuel."

"Whether it's a large faction or merely a medium-sized one."

The thought clearly weighed on him.

Large organizations usually meant more uncertainty.

Charles said nothing more.

Instead, he silently walked over to the side of the house and pulled out a handcart, preparing to haul away the bodies.

But before he could push it more than a few steps—

A gigantic black hand rose silently from the ground.

The next second,

it scooped up the scattered corpses in a single sweep.

Charles blinked.

Then more shadows emerged all around them.

Some resembled twisted humanoid monsters.

Others were enormous creatures writhing with countless tentacles.

Still others looked like nothing more than ordinary shadows, yet spread across the ground like flowing water.

Even the two bodies hidden in the underground passage were lifted out by the shadows and carried to the surface before being gathered together with the rest.

Xia Jiuwei turned toward Charles.

"What should we do with the bodies?"

"Probably bury them somewhere in the hills."

He answered almost automatically.

Xia Jiuwei glanced at Lu Nian'an.

The next instant—

Every shadow sprang into action.

Some collected corpses.

Others scrubbed away bloodstains.

Some gathered scattered equipment.

Each carried out its task with flawless coordination, like a well-trained cleanup crew.

Charles stood rooted to the spot, watching the countless shadows darting around as they cleaned up the battlefield for him.

His eyelid twitched.

A job he'd expected to spend half the day on...

looked as though it would be finished in just a few minutes.

After a long silence, he managed only a single sentence.

"...Thank you."