Within the City.
The sound of gunshots were heard all over the place. There are some streak of lights made with different elements flying over the herds of undead before them. The group of humans fighting the zombies were all wearing uniform camo on them. Clearly these men were soldiers under the military.
Despite them trying to control the crowd, the panic around them is already out of control. Moreover, the soldiers had another task to fulfill. They aren't here to save the civilians. They were on their way to the State Palace and Minister's place to check on the two highest authorities within the country.
On the main road within the city, soldiers were in formation while on the top of the cars. There are some who clear the road and some who try to save people but they have never once stopped to pick up people for saving. Their current priority is currently different.
The car at the center is a hammer driven by Wang Lei. Inside the car is Cao Junye, Lou Lan, Uncle Wu and two more soldiers whose task is to protect their general. As the leader of the unit, the car where Cao Junye is in was placed at the center where it is the safest.
Wang Lei spoke, "Uncle Wu! Are you sure? That a message from the State Palace and Minister's place says that both the two old leaders didn't survive!?"
"Yes. I've triple checked with them. But their signal was suddenly cut off. Before it was cut off the sound of running, glass breaking as well as gun shots resounds from the line. They must be fleeing that time when they've asked for reinforcement."
"But the call had been made 30 minutes ago right? Are they still alive?" asked Lou Lan.
Once he asked this the atmosphere in the area had turned dark. Everyone knew the meaning of Lou Lan's word. Half an hour had already passed since the last call and they still needed 20 minutes to reach the state palace. The Minister Place is even farther. They had to make a choice which to save first.
Everyone in the car had moved their gaze on their leader, Cao Junye. His expression remains calm and unmoved during this kind of situation as if he no longer cares about anything now that the world has ended. Of course this is something not only Wang Lei had noticed but everyone from their unit does.
After waking up from their trials everyone from the unit under General Cao had waited for their leader to finish his. When he woke up his reaction after knowing the current situation of the State Palace and Minister's Palace had not caused any changes in his expression. There is only calmness and indifference left on his face.
But after observing their General there isn't much difference in his out appearance. Well except for the obviously weird white gemstone necklace on his neck, the pair of black gloves on his pair of hands and those new boots on his feet, everything is pretty much the same.
With a dazed expression on his face as he observed the melting Ice barrier around their territory in the sky, General Cao ordered them to gather as soon as possible and took their leave before the ice completely melted. Clearly that ice barrier was made to protect them from the outside while undergoing their trials.
Those who sadly failed had long returned to earth. They had burned their remains and put the name of those soldiers on the prepared urn. This is something everyone had decided. Everyone in this unit including the general had prepared an urn for themselves.
The oath is to kill those who will get infected and get cremated by their comrades. Their ashes would be labeled and hid to safety until the time they could return to this place. Those 80 soldiers who were turned were now just ashes after cremation. It was a sad ending but no one could be blamed for it.
Wang Lei and everyone inside the car is staring at their general but he seems to be muddled right now for some unknown reason. Their General is completely ignoring them.
Cao Junye was thinking about what kind of situations Xueya and Chino should be experiencing now. The two would surely not team up with others as Xueya clearly hates strangers following him. He is worried and at the same time feels calm. Deep inside him he knew that there is nothing that could harm those two even if they were surrounded with zombies.
He is much worried on how would Xueya cope up with the dirty sceneries they would have to venture on their journey. Clearly Cao Junye knew that his beloved had a slight problem with cleanliness. He also thought how that rowdy child would enjoy playing around with zombies under the protection of his daddy. Tsk! I should be on their side right now if not for his idiocy at that moment. Cao Junye truly wants to kill his past self at the present time.
Hearing their general suddenly clicked his tongue had now completely astonished everyone inside the car. Their thoughts are all the same: Is this still their stern general? Did he really just click his tongue? Since when did their general make such a roguish behavior? This is the first time they heard him click his tongue.
It was at this moment that Cao Junye finally noticed all those eyes on him. His face twitched in surprise but instantly returned to normal.
Can Junye ask, "What is wrong with you?"
"N-Nothing. General, what is the plan? Who should we visit first? State Palace or Minister's Place?" asked Wang Lei.
Their General had replied nonchalantly, "Go to the nearest one. Either way the old men were already dead. The rest were just shameless insects which would become parasites in the future. Make sure to prepare a different vehicle for them to ride. Don't let them enter any of our cars. After bringing them out of the capital they would be on their own. Our target isn't Z District."
"General, what do you mean we are not going to Z District? Isn't that the base location?" asked Lou Lan as he glares at Cao Junye without hesitation. Ever since he disappointed his friend, his respect to this general is long gone.
Cao Junye just glanced at the angry Lou Lan and snorted at him, "Go with them if you want to go to the base. I'm going to look for my wife and son."
"Wife and son? General what do you..." Wang Lei's words suddenly stopped when he saw the darkness converging within the general's purple eyes. He could clearly see that those purple irises slowly turned to pitch black.
Wang Lei shut his mouth in silence as he understood who was in front of them right this moment.
It was not only Wang Lei who noticed this weird phenomena of their General's purple eyes turning dark.
Uncle Wu spoke, "General!? Y-Your eyes... eyes!?"
"Why is the General's eyes turning black!?"
"How is this happening!?"
Cai Junye ignored them and looked at his own reflection on the front mirror inside the car. He could see his purple irises slightly turning black at this moment but seeing this he didn't panicked but instead smirked.
"Worry not. One of my abilities is darkness. It's normal for a part of your body to change in accordance to the element you had awakened. I'm going to nap for awhile. Wake me up when we reach our destination." said Cao Junye.
"Yes, General."
Everyone had calmed down after hearing the general's explanation. It was true when he said that some part of them might change like in their hair color or eyes. The color will spread to show how strong your element is. If one had awakened a fire ability then some strands of his/her might turned red. Likewise the color depends on the main element you possess and which of it is the strongest you could control.
Only those attributed abilities like strengthening can cause obvious changes in their body. Those who had awakened a strengthening ability had their skin turned to tan when they've activated their abilities. Though those who awakened mental ability type had no clear distinction unlike the rest of the ability.
But only those who had awakened their abilities at their strongest state could cause changes in their eyes. Since the General had awakened Darkness as his main element, their boss had retained his original black hair but his purple eyes sometimes turned to black when he used his ability of controlling darkness.
Nonetheless, the reason for Wang Lei's sudden silence is different from the rest. Because the general had stopped the conversation, Wang Lei followed and just focused on driving. Within the car only Wang Lei and Lou Lan knew that the General's eye color suddenly changed not because of just his ability but instead due to someone taking over the soul of Cao Junye.
Their journey towards the State Place was done in silence.
---
Somewhere on the road in F District.
A lady carrying a crying baby within her hands runs away from the herd of zombies while being isolated by the other people around her. The crying noise of her child was causing the zombies to target her and her child but she never once thought of flinging her child to those disgusting beasts.
The lady runs away without looking back and firmly protects her child in her embrace. She doesn't care about others, only her baby is important to her. This lady had a few red hair strands she had hidden within her bun.
Wuaa~~ WUAA~~
"Shss~ Shss~ my baby don't be afraid mommy is here." The lady coaxed her crying baby.
Beside her some men who seemed to be her relatives were frowning and screaming at her.
"Throw the child away! Crying is luring those monsters towards us!"
"NOO!!"
"This bitch! Give me that useless thing! We'll use that as a bait!"
A man who was saved by this group like her had started complaining. Right like the others a group of kind men had saved her and her child on the first day of the apocalypse. She was in the supermarket buying some groceries when the end of the world had begun. Some kind customers who worked as policemen had saved her. This is the group she is in right now.
When the man tried to grab her baby from her, the lady didn't hesitate and used her newly awakened ability which is fire to burn that rude man. The ruthlessness within the lady's eyes were firm unlike when she is fighting zombies. Anyone who dares to take her baby were all killed by her.
This situation is not much different. He burned the middle-age man who wanted to use the baby as bait so they could escape. Instead the lady had burned the man's legs rendering him unable to continue running.
AAAAHHHH!!!
The lady had spoken, "You wanted a bait? Then I choose you to become one!"
She had killed without hesitation to protect which is important to her. But what the lady didn't expect is that those men who saved her just now had pushed her to those groups of zombies without hesitation.
Pushed to the crowd of zombies.
"Why?"
"The baby is too noisy."
There are some more kinds of situations like this happening around the country. Killing and murder had slowly become normal, the same with theft. Slowly the laws in the country started to break.
---
Back to the Capital.
The unit under General Cao is called Alpha. After arriving in the State Palace Cao Junye had led his unit to head to the location where the basement is located. They've moved in formation defending all angles without flaws.
The soldiers who had yet to fully awaken their abilities were placed at the center of the group together with the ability users who had awakened a non-fighting attribute like space storage.
They were provided with guns to protect themselves, meanwhile those 30 awakened abilities users including the general had spread around the group protecting those at the center. With the general as the vanguard most of the zombies that came attacking them had been eliminated.
Gunshots were heard all around the area.
"Move accordingly. Follow me closely. If you fall behind I will not come back for you." said General Cao who is now surrounded with black smog as he walks with graceful movements with each of his steps full of confidence.
He walked towards the incoming zombies with no expression on his face, the black smoke around him voicing any orders and instantly stabbed or beheaded any zombies that came near him. Everyone from his Team Alpha was stunned in awe upon seeing such a scene.
"Wow~ how come the General's ability is too deadly and too strong?"
"Our abilities are just too pitiful compared to the General's darkness element." said the soldier who created a fire ball above his palms before throwing it at the nearest zombie.
"Idiot! Stop comparing yourself to the General. The difference between Mortals and Gods had never been fair."
"Two fools. Get moving before the Lieutenant slice your tongues with wind blades."
Only then did the two gossiping soldiers had noticed the glare from their Lieutenant Wang not far from them.
Wang Lei spoke, "Get your ass moving. The General is almost out of sight!"
They could see the wind ball converging above Wang Lei's palm. When they saw him throw it nonchalantly at the herd of zombies that suddenly appeared on their right, that small wind ball expanded and turned to countless small leaf blades turning those groups of zombies into sliced mince flesh. It was a scene spine-chilling which caused them to feel fear.
Those two soldiers and the rest of the team had replied in unison, "Yes, sir!"
The Alpha Team had finally reached the location where the hidden passage was discovered. This passage is connected to the underground secret facility where the State Head family and subordinates had locked themselves up.
Cao Junye's eyes turned black at this moment, he looked at the dark alley as if checking through the whole passage. Once he felt the presence of those living people his black eyes had returned to purple.
The general order, "Uncle Wu, lead a small team and gets the people hiding at the room you would find at the end of this tunnel. Just break the door and lead them out. I and Wang Lei would clean up the rest of the zombies and secure the way out."
"As you order, General." said the old butler.
No one in the team had shown disagreement with this old butler taking the lead for a part of their group. No matter whether the old man is retired or not, he still used to be Lieutenant General like Wang Lei. They respected this old butler whether it is inside or outside the General's Mansion. He used to be their instructor after all.
"Instructor, please let me take the lead." A soldier volunteered.
Uncle Wu smiled at the brave soldier, "Good. I will leave it to you boy."
"Leave it to me sir!"
Then a small group of 10 had entered the passage to pick up the survivors. After the team left, Cao Junye had taken a seat at a big stone in the open courtyard. Most of the zombies in the palace had been eliminated by them. The rest of the zombies were locked outside roaming without a target.
"G-General. Can we look around the palace to gather resources?"
"We heard there's an armory and kitchen not far from here."
"We need resources if we want to go on a long journey, especially since we don't know where Master Ximen's current location is."
Some of the soldiers commented. They already knew that the General would not return to the base in Z District after saving the people of the State Palace and Minister's Place. None of his soldiers decided to split with their general. After all most of them were orphans which the General's House had provided since childhood and served their General since then. They have no family but some have lovers. Those who have partners had already had their lovers safely join their team before the world ends.
The General also had no problems with their partners joining them in their journey. They would be protected and provided as the part of the unit. Though they would currently have no base as living quarters, they still have tents prepared in their comrades' space storage.
Among the 30 ability users in their unit 3 of them had awakened a space storage. Though the space inside is limited to a double sized room, it is still enough to keep resources hidden in it.
Cao Junye agreed, "Go ahead. Keep vigilance in your surroundings. Keep the noise at the minimum. Use a silencer."
Few soldiers had saluted towards their general and brought the three space ability users to search for weapons and food within the palace. Since the General had given the permission Wang Lei didn't stop them from leaving. Now only a few tired soldiers together with Wang Lei and Lou Lan remain in the courtyard with Cao Junye.
There is only silence in the area. Cao Junye brought out cigarettes from his coat and enjoyed one. Those soldiers who had the same thing had smoke as well. At least they still have some cig to enjoy at this moment.