Hans stopped mid-sentence.

The faint smile on his face disappeared.

Genevieve noticed it. What is he frowning about? Did something happen?

Tyrus and the others realized the change in Hans’s expression and aura as well.

"Commander, is something wrong?" Johannes asked.

Hans did not answer immediately. His eyes remained fixed on something none of them could see.

On the map, large red dots had gathered near Cell 7’s hidden post.

No.

Gathered was too gentle; they were converging.

Their movement was too rushed to be a wandering horde. And too concentrated to be called an isolated case.

One cluster pushed north, while another curved in from the eastern direction, closing toward the same point.

Hans’s gaze sharpened.

"Agent Genevieve," he met her eyes. "It seems you’ve got company back home."

The heart of every Cell 7 agent present skipped a beat.

Just as Genevieve wanted to scorn Hans, a harsh buzz came from the small receiver at her waist.

Her hand moved toward the receiver clipped beneath her black, long coat.

Three short signals followed by a pause, then two long ones.

Genevieve’s face changed as she realized the pattern’s meaning.

"Return!"

She retreated into the darkness, followed by the four agents behind her.

Johannes looked at Hans. "Commander, did you know what just happened?"

"Something is approaching their outpost," Hans returned the gaze. "Why, you want to help them?"

"I want to."

For Johannes, though Cell 7 was indeed harsh to him and Hans earlier, they were simply following protocols.

Their commitment, loyalty, and values made them a good candidate as an ally.

Hans chuckled. "You can go."

"Thank you, Commander."

Johannes did not hesitate. He rushed after Cell 7, his figure cutting through the broken rail shadows.

Tyrus watched them leave, then raised one hand.

"For the record, I reject any heroic request in advance."

Hans glanced at him. "I didn’t ask."

"Excellent. Then I shall observe from a place where my corpse will not become research substance."

"Take Kimmy wih you."

His response shocked both Kimmy and Tyrus.

"Commander, are you really sure about that?"

She turned her blindfolded face towards Hans. "Hans, you—"

"I’m not the one who’ll take the blame from her protective sister anyway."

Hans turned his attention back at the map. "Regardless, you can use this opportunity to harness your powers."

"You should carry her, Commander."

Tyrus insisted, then pointed at Kimmy’s red face. "Look at her, she’s blushing thinking about it. And she doesn’t seem interested to let me do it either."

This guy is making it awkward for the lady, Hans rolled his eyes. "Fine, but first, let me make a call."

The smile on Tyrus’s face faded by a small degree.

Hans raised his communicator.

"Delta One, this is Golden Eagle. Do you copy?"

"I hear you, Golden Eagle. Shall our group take a move?"

"Bring a small party to Cell 7’s outpost. Two APCs. Two mechanized infantry squads. Two DASF teams. No need for a convoy."

"Understood. Delta One, out."

Without pause, Hans switched to another channel. "Hellhammer One."

A short burst of static answered him.

"Standing by, Commander."

"Move out towards this marker," Hans pinged on the map. "Bring the other Hellhammers along. Deploy when ready."

"Do we have targets, Commander?"

"Not yet."

The red dots continued crawling across the map.

Hans’s eyes narrowed.

"Wake up the gun. Wait for my mark."

"Understood. Hellhammer One and the rest are on our way. Hellhammer One, out."

The channel closed.

The advantage of Radar support brought a huge difference no different between night and day.

It made the map readable from a bird’s view.

Hans and his troops can pre-emptively strike, plan an operation, or change plans quicker than his soldiers could reload.

They did not need to do a lot of guesswork to understand what was happening around them. The Radar would synchronize the map information they need.

Every moving threat was instantly marked. Every route was clear as day. And every cluster was another problem waiting to be solved. Slowly.

Now, the problem was moving toward Cell 7’s lifeline.

Or rather, the raging flood of zombies that converged toward it.

...

On the other side—

Genevieve hated that she was running because of Golden Eagle’s warning.

She hated it even more that the warning was right.

By the time Cell 7’s hidden post came into view, the southern approach had already become a mess of bodies and gunfire.

The post looked like nothing from the outside.

There was a half-sunken maintenance block near an old service road.

Rusted pipes pierced from underground.

Broken cargo frames littered everywhere.

And the concrete was thick enough to make most survivors’ eyes slide away without interest.

This was the reason why Cell 7 had used it. Now, for some unclear reason, the dead city had found it.

Infected pushed through the southern road in thick clusters, colliding against one another as if something from behind had pressed them forward.

That aggressive behavior made Genevieve’s stomach tighten, leaving a sour taste in her mouth.

Tonight was supposed to be no different than before.

But why now?

Why especially tonight?

They had sealed the post. Masked their routes. Controlled sound, scent, and movement for days.

Yet the moment she left with four agents for the meeting, the dead suddenly had the audacity to knock on their doors.

"Jannik, Vivian, cover the eastern approach!" Genevieve ordered.

The two subordinates right behind her shifted.

"Yes, leader!"

The rear pair followed them without waiting for another order. Their boots struck the concrete in quick, controlled bursts.

Genevieve continued straight. "Lucie, I’m back!"

The agents near the maintenance block reacted at once.

A woman leaned out from behind the half-sunken doorway, her rifle still pointed toward the southern road. Blood streaked one side of her face, but her eyes remained focused.

"Bad timing, Lead!"

Genevieve slid beside the broken concrete barrier.

"I can see that. How did this suddenly happen?"

Lucie sighed. "We don’t know. The zombies just attacked out of nowhere. We couldn’t prepare in time."

"Is that so?" Genevieve dropped the topic.

Speculating the reason behind this attack could be dealt with later. For now, there were more pressing matters at hand.

The southern road roared in anger.

Infected shoved forward in large swathes, piling over the first row that Cell 7 had already dropped. Rifles shot from the maintenance block, bursting heads, shattering knees, and felling more bodies.

Yet the swarm crawled over them.

Genevieve raised her hand, "It’s time to end this."

The ground answered to her before her anger did.

Within twenty-five meters of her boots, the southern road groaned.

Concrete cracked loudly, then buckled upward in jagged layers. Though it wasn’t the entire street, she grasped the sections she could still reach.

And that was more than enough.

The first row of infected crashed into the rising slab. Bones broke as the zombies smashed against concrete. Several bodies folded backward. A few vanished into the sudden gaps where the road had sunken beneath them. While the rest were smashed into pulps, painting the slab with murky blood.

For a moment, the crashing wave stopped.

Lucie and the rest of Cell 7 did not waste it. Their rifles opened fire without the need of Genevieve’s command.

Another wave of killing spree ensued. Then, the next row climbed over the dead.

Genevieve’s jaw tightened. This is no ordinary horde!

A wandering horde would have shifted away from the obstacle. Yet for some reason, this one pressed even harder.

As if something was commanding these zombies to destroy whatever blocked their path ahead of them.

At that moment, a runner suddenly vaulted over the broken part of the slab.

Genevieve snapped two fingers upward.

A spear of concrete shot from the ground and punched through the runner’s chest, pinning it mid-leap for half a second.

But before she could shift the ground again, a second runner slipped through the blind spot created by the falling bodies.

"Lead!" Lucie shouted.

The other agents’ expressions fell.

Genevieve’s eyes snapped toward the incoming infected, but her focus was still caught between the slab, the spear, and the pressure of the southern road.

For one heartbeat, she knew she had been a fraction too slow.

Just as she thought she was finished, a gunshot cracked.

The runner’s head burst before it could tear her apart. Its body crashed beside her boots, twitching once before going still.

Johannes lowered his pistol. Genevieve stared at him.

He did not look proud, nor even slightly satisfied.

His eyes had already moved back to where the threat was.

"You’ve come!" Genevieve’s eyes widened. What is he doing here?!

"Lead, who is this guy?"

Lucie and the rest became cautious about the new face.

"A helper," Genevieve replied quickly. "Stop daydreaming! Focus on defense!"

"No," Johannes interrupted.

Genevieve’s eyes shifted toward him. Johannes kept his gaze on the swarm.

"Agent Genevieve, your team should pack up and leave."

"You—!" Lucie felt anger rise up. "Who are you to command our leader like this?!"

"I am not commanding her," Johannes replied.

His pistol shifted once more.

Another infected fell from the slab before it could crawl over the broken bodies.

"I am telling her that this area is already compromised."

Lucie froze.

Genevieve’s face darkened.

Johannes continued, "This is not a simple horde. You know that already."

Genevieve glanced at him.

"You know more?"

"I know someone who knows more."

"Golden Eagle."

The name drifted along the cold wind.

And then—

A thunderous boom rumbled from somewhere. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Something just exploded!" Lucie shouted. "On our 3!"

Cell 7’s eyes shifted to where the sound came from.

Everyone except Johannes stiffened.

These SAS agents were Tier 0 HELIX superhumans. Their senses were sharper than ordinary survivors. They could separate gunfire from collapse, impact from detonation, and nearby danger from distant noise.

This one was different.

Just as they pondered, an ear-piercing scream tore through the clouds.

Genevieve’s body moved on instinct, her hands rising as the ground beneath the outpost trembled, ready to shield her and everyone else.

But the shell did not fall on them.

It passed over the maintenance block, far beyond the southern approach.