Cold, unforgiving steel handcuffs bit sharply into Chloe's wrists, a stark contrast to the comfortable warmth she had felt in her chest just hours prior.
The rhythmic thud of military boots echoed off the sterile, white-tiled walls of the underground corridor. A squad of six heavily armed soldiers marched them forward, their assault rifles held at the low, ready.
Adam walked at the front of their small trio, his posture perfectly relaxed despite the restraints binding his hands behind his back. Ethan walked behind him, his jaw clenched tight, his eyes alert, while Chloe stayed on the rear, keeping her head slightly bowed, her eyes fixed entirely on the back of Ethan's coat.
'They're terrified,' Adam noted silently, his sharp eyes taking in the minute details of the passing soldiers.
'Of each other?'
'Ah. Zombies.'
He observed the slight tremors in the hands gripping the rifles. He noticed the dark, heavy bags under the eyes of the personnel rushing past them carrying clipboards and ration crates.
But more importantly, he noticed what was entirely absent from the military base.
There was no sign of any external conflict. Ever.
'They haven't been invaded by real monsters. Not even once,' Adam deduced, his mind rapidly processing the variables.
The military base was operating as an isolated bubble. Whatever quirk had hidden this facility from the rapidly evolving ecosystem outside, it had inadvertently stunted the soldiers inside.
They had dealt with the initial wave of the zombified humans, but they hadn't been forced into the brutality of the new world.
Adam kept this observation strictly to himself. Knowledge was only valuable in a negotiation when the opposition didn't know you possessed it.
The squad halted in front of a pair of heavy, reinforced steel doors. The lead soldier swiped a keycard, the electronic lock chiming cheerfully before the heavy metal doors parted open.
"Move," the soldier barked, shoving Adam forward with the barrel of his rifle.
They were led into a spacious, well-lit command center. Tactical maps were pinned on the walls, and banks of monitors displayed static-filled feeds from compromised external cameras.
At the far end of the room, sitting behind a massive oak desk, was the man in charge.
The Brigadier General was a fierce man, carved from old stone. He had a severe, grizzled face, short salt-and-pepper hair, and eyes that held the cold, calculating weight of decades of unquestioned authority.
His name was Mercer, apparent from the shiny silver badge on his uniform.
He didn't look up immediately when the captives were forced to a halt in front of his desk. He deliberately finished signing a piece of paperwork, letting the heavy silence stretch to establish his dominance in the room.
Finally, he set his pen down and looked up, his gaze sweeping over the three handcuffed survivors. His eyes lingered on the dried monster blood crusting Chloe's clothes, before settling heavily on Adam's calm, smiling face.
"You lot came from the city," he stated. It was not a question, rather, a statement to pierce through any lies they might have concocted.
"We did," Adam replied smoothly, his voice devoid of any intimidation.
Mercer leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk, clasping his calloused hands together. "My scouts have been monitoring the perimeter. They spotted your convoy approaching our designated secure zone. What puzzles me, however, is your survival. And why exactly you have three of our APCs."
He paused, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.
"I have sent four heavily armed patrols into the city sectors over the past three days to gather intelligence and secure high-value assets," he continued, his voice dropping an octave.
"Not a single one of those patrols has returned. Contact was severed entirely. Yet, a civilian convoy manages to waltz through the ruins and drive directly to the hidden entrance of a classified military installation."
The soldiers standing guard around the room shifted their grips on their rifles, the hostility in the air spiking noticeably.
"Lieutenant," he barked, without looking away from Adam. "Assess them."
A female officer stepped out from the side of the room. She stared intently at Adam, her eyes tracking something invisible in the air.
[Inspect]
Adam imagined feeling a slight, intrusive tingle as the skill washed over him, maintaining his polite smile.
The Lieutenant blinked, a look of distinct alarm briefly crossing her features. She leaned down and whispered into the Brigadier's ear.
"The leader is at Level Four, sir."
Mercer nodded, the tension in his shoulders relaxed a fraction.
The Lieutenant shifted her gaze to Ethan, and then finally to Chloe.
She paused, her breath catching slightly. She leaned down to whisper again, her tone much more urgent.
"The girl is Level 8. The blonde is 6."
"High levels," Mercer mused aloud, leaning back in his leather chair. "The researchers downstairs have been theorizing about this... 'System' and the physiological enhancements it provides through slaughter. It seems you two have been busy."
Ethan glared at the man, his muscles tensing against the steel cuffs. "We did what we had to do to survive. You've been hiding in a bunker."
A few soldiers stepped forward angrily at the disrespect, but the Brigadier raised a single hand, stopping them instantly.
"Surviving outside is commendable," he said condescendingly, looking back at Adam. "But it seems the chaos of the apocalypse has given you a false sense of superiority. You think because you have killed a few monsters, you have transcended the laws of human society."
He stood up, his imposing figure casting a long shadow across the desk.
"You are mistaken," he declared, his voice ringing with absolute, unwavering conviction. "Military discipline, structured tactics, and overwhelming firepower do not become obsolete because of some magical interface. It does not matter how fast you think you are, or how thick your skin has become. You cannot outrun a bullet. You cannot punch your way through coordinated crossfire."
"No matter how strong you are... bullets are stronger."
Adam listened to the speech with polite attention. He didn't interrupt. He didn't argue. He simply let the man speak.
'He's blind,' Adam thought, feeling a twinge of genuine pity. 'He's judging a hurricane by the standards of a drizzle.'
"Now," Mercer commanded, stepping around his desk to stand directly in front of Adam. "I will ask you one final time, and you will answer me clearly. How did a group of civilians acquire the encrypted coordinates to this installation?"
The room went dead silent. The hum of the ventilation system was the only sound.
Adam looked up into the proud Brigadier's hard eyes. He did not blink or look away. The polite, gentle smile finally faded from his lips, replaced by a look of profound, chilling emptiness.
"We met one of your patrol units near the commercial district within the city," Adam answered, his voice smooth and conversational, entirely devoid of stress. "They were struggling against a horde. We assisted them."
"They possessed valuable equipment and information," Adam continued, as if discussing the weather.
"We needed a safe haven to recuperate. So, we captured their commanding officer. We fed his fingers to zombies one by one until he gave us the exact coordinates for this base."
Ethan closed his eyes, letting out a slow, silent breath.
Chloe's head snapped up, staring at Adam's back.
"And then?" the Brigadier asked, his voice suddenly hollow, the color draining slightly from his weathered face.
"And then," Adam said, tilting his head slightly, "we killed them. All of them. They were too loud, too well-trained, and keeping prisoners would have slowed us down."
A suffocating, heavy shock instantly paralyzed the command center.
The soldiers stared at the handcuffed man in absolute disbelief. It wasn't just the sheer audacity of the confession, but the casual way in which he delivered it. As if he was simply reading from a book, rather than confessing a crime.
The Brigadier stared at Adam for a long, agonizing moment. The anger slowly boiled up behind his eyes, replacing the shock.
"Honesty," the Brigadier finally spat, stepping back behind his desk. "I suppose I should commend you for not insulting my intelligence with a lie."
He looked at the guards, his face hardening back into stone.
"Incarcerate them," the Brigadier ordered coldly. "Strip them of any concealed items. Throw them in the holding cells on Level Three. We will extract whatever else they know about the city's ecosystem tomorrow."
"Sir!"
The squad of soldiers moved in unison. Safeties were flicked off with a synchronized, metallic clack. Six assault rifles were raised, the laser sights painting small, dancing red dots across Ethan's chest and Chloe's face.
"On your feet!" the lead soldier yelled, stepping toward Adam, reaching out to grab his shoulder and force him up.
Adam did not resist. He remained perfectly still, his eyes flicking back to meet Chloe's.
Behind him, Chloe felt her breath catch in her throat. The sterile room, the yelling soldiers, the red laser dot hovering directly over her eye, it all blurred together into a rising tide of adrenaline and panic.
She looked at Adam. He was going to be thrown in a cell. He was going to be tortured.
Then, a voice cut through the panic like a blade.
"Do you know why I brought you with me when they allowed me to bring two people?"
"Because we're strong?"
"Because I only trust you."
The words echoed in her mind, drowning out the shouting soldiers.
He trusted her. Adam had placed his absolute faith entirely in her hands.
Chloe's eyes went blank. The panic vanished, replaced instantly by action.
She didn't have her hatchet. Her hands were bound behind her back.
Chloe settled for the next best thing.
She violently twisted her arms, grinding her wrists against the hard steel of the handcuffs.
She didn't try to slip them or break the chains; aggressively tearing her own flesh against the metal edges.
The skin tore a bit, providing much greater resistance than normal. Warm, thick blood welled up, flowing freely down her palms.
The soldier stepping toward her noticed the sudden, erratic movement. "Hey! Stop moving and get on your—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
[Sanguis Arc]
The blood dripping from Chloe's wrists did not hit the floor. It arrested in mid-air, instantly igniting with a luminescent ruby glow. The liquid hardened, expanding outward in a blinding flash.
A massive, razor-sharp crescent of crystallized blood erupted directly from her bound hands.
The manifestation was so violent and immediate that the heavy steel handcuffs shattered into a dozen pieces, the metal links entirely obliterated by the expanding magical construct.
The arc did not stop there. It spun outward with horrifying velocity, carving through the air with a high-pitched shriek of tearing air.
The soldier standing in front of her didn't even have time to register the red light before the crescent passed cleanly through his neck. His head detached from his shoulders, a look of mild annoyance still frozen on his face as it tumbled through the air. A geyser of blood painted the gray ceiling crimson.
"Fire!" the Lieutenant screamed, her voice cracking in pure terror.
The military training kicked in, fingers pulling close to triggers in sheer reflex, but it was already far too late. Bullets were fast, but they required human reaction time to aim.
Chloe raised her bleeding arms as she exhausted all of her mana at once.
Six crimson arcs flew in five different directions. Six different bodies fell on the ground, motionless and torn apart.
The rising conflict was suppressed in less than three seconds.
Only Mercer was left alive.
Chloe raised her bloodied arm and pointed it at the General's head as the blood bubbled unnaturally into a crescent.
Adam smiled as he rose from his seat while Ethan quickly undid his restraints.
Adam looked Mercer in the eye as he spoke, the polite smile never leaving his face.
"Let's try this again, shall we?"
"Brigadier General Mercer."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Name: Lu Chunxia]
[Level: 8]
[Strength: 30]
[Speed: 25]
[Intelligence: 20]
[Endurance: 30]
[Stat Points: 20 ->9]
[Mana Pool: 60/200]
[Skills: Inspect Lv 6, Sanguis Arc Lv 4]