"Team Leader, what should we do next?"

A young agent's voice trembled, his eyes full of helplessness as he looked at Tang Qi.

Tang Qi stared at the screen, his teeth grinding audibly, the muscles on his cheeks twitching violently.

"Organize more people!"

He looked up, his eyes bloodshot, and roared: "Get the brothers who are still outside moving! No matter what method you use, bring back as many as you can! Rush toward the west city gate! As long as we get out through that breach, there's a way to survive!"

"It can't be done... Team Leader..."

The team member in charge of road condition monitoring took his hands off the keyboard and slumped hopelessly in his chair.

"The scene is too chaotic... All the main roads are blocked."

"Those people from Sakura Country have gone mad; they don't listen to commands at all, trampling on each other, car accidents, fights... The roads are completely cut off."

Another team member responsible for statistical data also took off his headset.

"And... currently, less than one in a thousand has successfully escaped."

"It's too late."

Before he could finish speaking.

A shrill scream came from the communicator.

That was an observation post they had ambushed in the third district, code-named "Falcon", a ten-year veteran with extremely strong psychological resilience.

Yet his cry was filled with unprecedented terror.

"Ahhh—! My hand! My hand has withered!"

The screams stopped abruptly.

Then came a crisp sound, similar to dead wood snapping.

"Snap."

Immediately following that was the blind signal of the communicator hitting the ground.

"Falcon?! Falcon, answer!"

Tang Qi grabbed the communicator and shouted the other party's code name frantically into the microphone.

"Static..."

Moments later, a voice finally came through the communicator again.

But that was no longer Falcon's vigorous voice, but a moan that was extremely weak and on the verge of expiring at any moment:

"Kujo Koji's sacrificial target this time... is probably not just ordinary people..."

"Even Classer like us have been factored in..."

"I'm sorry, Team Leader..."

"I... might not be able to evacuate..."

"If there is a next life... I want to go back to my hometown... and see my mom..."

Beep——

The communication was completely cut off.

The lifeline representing "Falcon" stretched into a dazzling straight line on the screen.

"Bang!"

Tang Qi slammed his fist heavily onto the alloy desktop, his knuckles instantly splitting open and bleeding profusely.

But he couldn't feel the pain.

Only a monstrous fury and a sense of helplessness exploded within his chest.

"Kujo Koji..."

Tang Qi gritted his teeth, squeezing the name out from between his teeth: "He's simply insane! He's trying to drag everyone in the entire city down to be buried with that damned ancestor of his!"

Silence filled the command post.

Everyone looked at Tang Qi, waiting for the final order.

Or rather, waiting for the final sentence.

Tang Qi took a breath, forcibly suppressing the stinging soreness in his eyes.

He was the highest-ranking commander here; he could not panic, and even less could he collapse.

"Everyone listen to the order."

Tang Qi's voice regained its calmness.

"Abandon this rescue mission."

"Abandon all heavy supplies and equipment."

"All personnel... immediately evacuate Tokyo City!"

"This is an order!"

Since he couldn't save others, he must at least let these brothers who had followed him through thick and thin survive.

Now, with the general trend overwhelming them, this was simply not a disaster that human effort could contend against.

Everything they could do, they had already done.

They had even paid a heavy price.

Even if they had to face a military court upon returning, even if they had to bear the infamy of being deserters, Tang Qi accepted it.

His only thought now was to let more comrades leave this ghost city alive.

"Ever-changing Star Lord..."

Tang Qi instinctively glanced at the Takamagahara area on the screen that still showed "Unknown".

He wondered if that lord with vast Divine Abilities had managed to locate Kujo Koji's whereabouts.

If there was still anyone who could stop this catastrophe.

I'm afraid it would only be him.

"Let's go!"

Tang Qi hesitated no longer, turned around, and pulled up Maeda Hanami, who had been silent in the corner.

"Stay close to me!"

Maeda Hanami's face was pale, but her gaze was very firm.

She turned her hand over and tightly gripped Tang Qi's palm, her fingertips ice-cold.

The two rushed out of the underground bunker and returned to the surface.

As soon as they poked their heads out.

A dry, scorching wind carrying a bizarre fragrance rushed towards their faces.

That was not the fragrance of flowers.

That was the scent emitted when vitality was forcibly extracted and the soul was burned.

On the street.

Even though Tang Qi had prepared himself mentally, upon seeing the scene before him, his pupils still contracted violently in shock.

How could this still be the mortal world?

This was Hell!

No, Hell probably didn't have such despair.

There was no blood and gore, no severed limbs and broken arms.

All there was were "sculptures" all over the ground.

Countless people who had been running, screaming, and crying still maintained their original postures, yet they had already turned into withered, rigid corpses.

Their skin clung tightly to their bones, their eye sockets were deeply sunken, and their mouths were wide open, looking like salted fish dried in the sun.

A gust of wind blew past.

"Rustle, rustle..."

The clothes on those mummified corpses fluttered in the wind, making a teeth-aching friction sound.

Some corpses, having lost the support of moisture, became extremely fragile; blown by the wind, they shattered directly, turning into a pile of withered bones on the ground.

And mid-air.

Countless golden specks of light drifted out from these corpses, converging into majestic golden long rivers.

They ignored gravity, ignored buildings, and surged frantically toward the same direction.

That was the direction of Ise Grand Shrine.

That was the destination of death.

"Don't look!"

Tang Qi gave a low roar, pressed down on Maeda Hanami's head, and shielded her in his arms.

"If you don't want to die, don't look!"

"Run! Run to the west!"

He no longer had the ability to save more people.

Faced with this indiscriminate massacre targeting the entire city, he, an S-class agent, was nothing more than a slightly stronger ant.

Tang Qi pulled Maeda Hanami and sprinted madly toward the direction of the west city gate.

As Classer, their speed was very fast.

The two shuttled through the dead buildings, crushing countless unknown withered bones under their feet.

"Tang Qi-kun..."

While running, Maeda Hanami's voice suddenly trembled slightly.

"What is it? Don't speak! Save your strength!"

Tang Qi didn't even look back, increasing his speed by a few notches under his feet.

As long as they crossed the street ahead, they would be able to see the breach in the west city gate!

There were reinforcement troops from Great Xia there!

Once they got there, they would be safe!

"No... Tang Qi-kun..."

A hint of crying tone crept into Maeda Hanami's voice, and her steps also became staggered.

"I... I seem to..."

"Can't run anymore..."

Before she could finish.

Maeda Hanami's palm slipped out of Tang Qi's hand.

"Thud!"

Her entire body crashed heavily onto the ground.

"Hanami!"

Tang Qi's heart contracted, and he hurriedly stopped, turning around to rush back.

He scooped up the woman on the ground, his face full of panic.

"What's wrong with you? Are you hurt?"

However.

When he saw clearly the face of the person in his arms, Tang Qi froze completely in place.

Maeda Hanami's complexion was turning deathly pale at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Her originally plump and rosy skin rapidly shriveled down.

Deep wrinkles crawled up the corners of her delicate eyes.

Her pitch-black, glossy long hair, starting from the roots, turned inch by inch into dead-grass-like grayish-white.

That was her vitality draining away.