"Crash..."
The dead silence of the torrential rain washed away the sins of the world, relentless and powerful like Noah's Flood. The brewing thunderstorm was ready to strike at any moment.
Changkong City, however, was like an isolated island in the tide, blanketed in darkness, silence, and death.
"Bang!"
A breaking-wind sound cut through the rain. A blood-stained baseParty bat tore through the curtain of rain, smashing into a Honkai Zombie's face, violently shattering its nose bridge and embedding itself in its defunct brain.
A Honkai Zombie howled and lunged from the right. Its hands barely lifted before a kick to the stomach sent it flying backward.
"Mei! This way!"
The boy's athletic wear was soaked through, his normally bright white hair sticking to his skin. His usual handsome appearance was somewhat disheveled. He swung the baseParty bat to fend off the Honkai Zombie and shouted to the black-haired, glasses-wearing girl behind him.
There was no panic in the black-haired girl's expression. Instead, as the boy fought, she meticulously observed the pale-skinned Honkai Zombies.
In just a few hours, their world had undergone an earth-shattering change. Some classmates and teachers had died in the rubble, while others had turned into Honkai Zombies and were attacking them. The quiet, peaceful city had become a devouring maw, attempting to swallow these two tiny humans in the torrential rain.
What happened?
Kevin was screaming inside, desperate for someone to answer his question.
But he couldn't break down. Not until Mei was safe.
Kevin pulled Mei's hand, dodging into a convenience store. He locked the door behind them, panting heavily as he slowly slid down the wall.
"Mei... are you okay?"
Kevin's excellent physical fitness allowed him to survive the first wave of the Honkai impact, and his fighting talent enabled him to endure the Honkai Zombies' attacks.
But Mei's physical fitness was far inferior to Kevin's. Thus, he had to find a place to rest after running for a distance. If they stayed in the same place for too long, those living corpses would swarm them like they had built-in radar.
"Mmm... I'm fine." Mei's pale face clearly showed she wasn't as relaxed as she claimed. She sat on the floor, using tissues from the shelf to wipe her rain-soaked glasses. "Kevin, you really don't have to worry about me..."
Before she could finish the sentence, Kevin fiercely retorted: "How could I not worry about you!"
If he ignored Mei, what would be the point of escaping? How could he face Lin?
Kevin walked up to the counter, picked up the phone, and dialed. The busy signal quickly forced him to put the receiver down powerlessly: "The phones here don't work either?"
Mei glanced at the lightning flashing in the clouds outside the window and said calmly: "It must be the electromagnetic field."
"What?"
"Nothing."
Kevin wouldn't understand the principle. Mei knew everything about this wholehearted boy. It was partly thanks to the tireless efforts of a certain person who introduced him to her, making her aware of every detail about Kevin, even which hand he used to wipe himself in the restroom and how many sheets of paper he used.
So, Mei never understood why Kevin liked her—a boring bookworm whose field had absolutely nothing to do with his.
But...
"Mei, don't worry. I will definitely get you out of here." Kevin noticed Mei looking at him, so he forced what he thought was a cheerful smile, trying to encourage her.
His handsome face, smeared with mud and rainwater, was etched with exhaustion, but his eyes held a fire that the rain couldn't extinguish.
Mei couldn't quite describe the fire. No, for a person like her, who valued rationality above all, using such a sentimental expression was surprising even to herself.
She analyzed the environment, calculating the probability of escape. The more she calculated, the smaller the number became.
But for some reason, Mei didn't want to believe the numbers she had calculated this time.
"Mmm, I believe you." Mei responded with a faint smile.
Kevin broke into a wide grin.
"Howl————"
A deafening roar interrupted their brief moment of warmth, freezing Kevin's smile.
The source of the roar was close.
As if it were right next to them.
"Honkai energy values are rapidly increasing in another location in Changkong City!"
"500 HW, 600 HW, 700 HW... It's still rising! This location is less than ten kilometers from the Herrscher!"
In the temporary operational headquarters of the Moth of the Flame-Chasers in Changkong City, the monitoring staff saw the terrifying Honkai energy curve reach yet another peak. Their fingers trembled as they sent the data and coordinates to the channel, then swallowed and reported: "This is Monitoring. The Third Herrscher's companion Honkai Beast has also been born. The current detected value already exceeds the High-Tier Honkai Beasts of the Second Eruption. Provisionally designated as..."
"Emperor-class Honkai Beast."
This was undoubtedly another piece of bad news.
All squads were struggling in the heavy rain, which caused extremely low visibility and unstable signals. Although new weapons and armor significantly boosted the combat power of the operating personnel, the chaotic electromagnetic field disabled almost all electronic equipment. In the pitch-black rain, Honkai Zombies and Honkai Beasts could launch fatal attacks at any moment.
So far, the operation had been underway for two hours, but no squad had reached the Third Herrscher's location. The two closest squads belonged to Hua and Elysia, and in the process, the number of soldiers swallowed by the heavy rain, killed, or having lost contact was approaching one-fifth.
The squads' self-monitoring equipment was down, and everything had to be reported by the central monitoring department, a terrifyingly inefficient method.
Now, another ferocious beast, whose true nature was unknown, had been thrown into this hunting ground for monsters.
"The Emperor-class Honkai Beast is moving! The coordinates are... Seventh Squad! Immediately relocate!" The monitor's face turned pale when they saw the destination of the rapidly moving red dot.
A blurred communication came through the channel: "Sizzle———— Fourth—sizzle—con—sizzle—Fire!"
Gunshots, roaring, the sound of something sliding on the ground, screams, thunder.
A lightning bolt illuminated half the sky and the bloodless face of the monitoring staff.
"Sizzle————————"
A long burst of static electricity. There was no further response from the Seventh Squad.
He felt the world spinning, as if it were about to collapse at any moment.
He barely managed to squeeze the words out of his lungs: "Seventh Squad completely wiped out. Requesting... support."
Support? Where would support come from? All the combat personnel from the Moth of the Flame-Chasers headquarters and the nearest branch had been deployed here. They could do nothing but watch as the Emperor-class Honkai Beast consumed the scattered squads.
The original plan was to use the Honkai energy conversion device to attack the magnetic field around the Third Herrscher, and then kill her with a single strike. But now, they couldn't accurately pinpoint the Herrscher's coordinates. Combat personnel needed to visually confirm the target and send the coordinates to calculate the attack path.
Furthermore, a squad had to be dispatched to fight the Emperor-class Honkai Beast before the remaining squads could attack the Third Herrscher; otherwise, the combined attack of the Herrscher and the Honkai Beast would be impossible to stop.
But now, the soldiers were scattered and struggling to cope, making it impossible to dispatch a squad to fight the Emperor-class Honkai Beast.
This was the Third Honkai Eruption... more terrifying and tragic than the Second Eruption, a despair descending like divine punishment.
Suddenly, an unexpected communication cut into the Moth of the Flame-Chasers channel.
To the monitoring staff, it sounded like heavenly music.
"This is Himeko, Fifth Squad reinforcing the battlefield. We have reached the outer perimeter of Changkong City. Please send the Honkai Beast coordinates. My squad will engage the Emperor-class Honkai Beast."
"Lin, don't be reckless. I will fight the Honkai Beast. You and Seele just need to focus on interference."
The red-haired woman, clad in crimson power armor, patted Lin's shoulder on the transport plane.
Lin gazed at the thunderclouds and Changkong City shrouded beneath them, gripping the gun in his hand.
Seele, meanwhile, watched Lin's back, silently tightening her grip on the scythe.
"Fifth Squad, Himeko, Lin, Seele, deploy."