The Fall of Starlight Base
Year 2038.
The sky above Starlight Base was bright and cloudless, the sun hanging high as if the world below it wasn't collapsing.
From afar, the base still looked like humanity's final fortress.
Massive steel walls surrounded the compound. Watchtowers stood like silent guardians. Layers of defense systems, electric fences, and artillery platforms once made this place seem invincible.
But today—
Starlight Base was dying.
Sirens screamed across the compound like dying animals. Explosions erupted in the distance. Smoke rose into the sky, staining the peaceful blue with thick black clouds.
People were running everywhere.
Soldiers shouted orders that nobody could follow. Civilians pushed and shoved, desperate to escape. Mothers clutched their children. Some fell and were trampled underfoot.
And above all of it echoed the sound that had haunted humanity for twenty years.
The howls of zombies.
Blood splattered across the concrete streets as humans fought desperately against an unstoppable tide. Gunfire rattled nonstop, but it sounded weak against the overwhelming roar of monsters.
"Hold the gate!"
"Don't let them inside!"
"Reinforcements—where are the reinforcements?!"
But there were no reinforcements.
Because Starlight Base was the last human stronghold on Earth.
And today, it was being overrun.
The zombies flooding the battlefield were no longer the slow, mindless corpses from the early years of the apocalypse. Those creatures had evolved long ago.
Many of the attackers were Level 12 zombies.
Their bodies were stronger than steel, their speed faster than trained soldiers, and worst of all…
Their eyes held intelligence.
These zombies could think.
They could plan.
They could command.
Standing behind the massive horde were several towering figures whose presence alone caused humans to tremble.
The Zombie Kings.
Under their command, thousands of evolved zombies surged forward like a black tsunami.
Against such overwhelming force…
Humanity had no chance.
Far from the chaotic battlefield, deep within a reinforced building at the center of the base, a small laboratory remained eerily quiet.
Inside, bright fluorescent lights illuminated a cramped workspace filled with scientific equipment.
A man in a white lab coat was frantically working at a laboratory table.
Glass tubes clinked together as his shaking hands mixed several strange substances into a test tube. Drops of blue and silver liquid swirled together, slowly forming a deep, glowing color.
Sweat ran down the doctor's forehead despite the cool temperature in the room.
Standing beside him was a woman.
She looked to be around thirty years old. Her long black hair fell loosely behind her shoulders, and her calm expression stood in sharp contrast to the chaos outside.
Her name was Su Yan.
While the doctor worked in panic, she simply stood there silently.
As if she had already accepted the outcome.
Finally, after several tense minutes, the doctor stopped.
He stared at the test tube in his hand.
Inside it was a strange liquid glowing with a faint dark blue light.
He swallowed nervously before turning toward the woman.
"Su Yan…" the doctor said quietly.
His voice trembled slightly.
"This is it."
He held the test tube out to her.
"But I'm not sure if it will work."
Su Yan looked at the glowing liquid for a moment.
Then she smiled faintly.
A tired smile.
"It doesn't matter anymore, Doctor Huang," she said calmly. "At this point, it's better to die trying."
Without hesitation, she took the test tube and drank the liquid in one swallow.
The cold fluid slid down her throat.
For a moment…
Nothing happened.
Doctor Huang watched her anxiously.
Seconds passed.
Still nothing.
His face slowly turned pale.
Before either of them could speak again—
BANG!
The laboratory door suddenly burst open.
A tall man stepped inside.
His face was sharp and handsome, but his expression was colder than ice.
Dust and smoke clung to his black combat uniform.
This man was Fu Chen.
The leader of one of the last elite survivor squads in Starlight Base.
Su Yan looked toward him immediately.
"How is the situation outside?"
Fu Chen didn't answer right away.
His eyes swept across the laboratory before settling on her.
Then he spoke.
"It's over."
Two simple words.
But they carried the weight of complete destruction.
"We're outnumbered by powerful zombies," Fu Chen continued in a calm, emotionless voice. "Most of the ability users are dead. The rest have either been killed or turned."
Doctor Huang clenched his fists.
"And the outer defenses?"
"Destroyed."
Fu Chen's voice remained steady.
"There are at least ten Level 12 zombies leading the assault."
He paused slightly before adding the final sentence.
"They're being controlled by the Zombie Kings."
The room fell silent.
Everyone understood what that meant.
Humanity had lost.
Fu Chen's gaze shifted toward Doctor Huang.
"Did you succeed?"
The doctor hesitated.
Before he could answer, Su Yan spoke instead.
"I already drank it."
She tossed the empty test tube into a metal tray.
"It didn't work."
Doctor Huang looked like he had aged ten years in a second.
The potion they had created was supposed to be humanity's last hope.
A theoretical formula capable of allowing a person to travel through time and return to the past.
If someone could go back…
Maybe the apocalypse could be prevented.
Maybe humanity could survive.
But now—
Even that final hope had failed.
Doctor Huang's voice trembled.
"Then… the probability of survival…"
Fu Chen answered coldly.
"Zero."
Su Yan let out a soft breath.
"Oh."
Her reaction was strangely calm.
"I guess it's time then."
She reached into the small storage space ability she possessed and pulled out a small remote control.
A detonator.
The entire laboratory building had been secretly rigged with explosives powerful enough to destroy everything within a hundred meters.
If humanity was going to lose…
Then they would take as many monsters with them as possible.
"I'd rather die than turn into one of those things," Su Yan said quietly.
Her finger hovered above the button.
"Su Yan."
Fu Chen suddenly grabbed her hand.
His grip was strong.
She tried to pull away, but he didn't release her.
"Yanyan…"
His voice softened for the first time since entering the room.
"I love you."
Su Yan froze.
For a moment she thought she had misheard him.
"You… what?"
Fu Chen gave a faint smile.
"I've wanted to tell you that for a long time."
His dark eyes stared directly into hers.
"But you were always distant… always pushing everyone away."
"I didn't want to die without saying it."
Even if it was too late.
Su Yan's heart trembled slightly.
It wasn't that she didn't like him.
In fact…
She had admired Fu Chen ever since he saved her life years ago.
In the early days of the apocalypse, she had been betrayed by the very people who should have protected her.
Her stepmother.
Her stepsister.
They sold her to a brothel controlled by criminals who thrived in the chaos of the collapsing world.
She spent months trapped there.
Until Fu Chen appeared.
He destroyed the place and rescued her.
After that, she joined his small survivor team.
Six people.
Fighting together.
Surviving together.
But even after escaping that nightmare, Su Yan could never forget it.
She believed she was broken.
Dirty.
Unworthy of standing beside someone like him.
"Fu Chen… I…"
She didn't know what to say.
Before she could finish—
BANG!
The laboratory door exploded inward.
Two terrifying figures stepped inside.
Their bodies were tall and twisted, their skin gray and hardened like armor.
Their eyes glowed with a chilling intelligence.
Level 12 zombies.
One of them sniffed the air.
Then it grinned.
"Humans…"
Its voice sounded rough and distorted.
"Delicious humans."
Before Su Yan could react—
Fu Chen suddenly pressed the detonator.
CLICK.
The explosives hidden throughout the building activated instantly.
Then he pulled Su Yan into his arms.
She felt his warmth surround her.
For the first time in years…
Her frozen heart cracked slightly.
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion tore through the base.
The laboratory building was instantly reduced to rubble.
Flames surged into the sky.
The blast was so powerful that even the Level 12 zombies were torn apart along with the surrounding structures.
For a brief moment…
The battlefield fell silent.
High above the ruins, a man wearing a dark robe floated in the air.
He looked down at the destroyed base.
Then he began to laugh.
A loud, unrestrained, maniacal laugh.
"Finally!"
"Finally!"
"The devil cultivators have won!"
"Humanity is finished!"
His eyes burned with excitement.
"This world now belongs to us!"
"I am the king of this world!"
But just as he was celebrating—
A sudden flash of white light appeared among the ruins.
The man's laughter stopped.
The light shot upward like a meteor.
CRACK!
The sky suddenly split open.
A narrow crack appeared in the air itself.
The white light passed through it in an instant.
Then the crack disappeared.
As if it had never existed.
The dark-robed man froze in shock.
Then his face twisted with fury.
"Su Long!"
He roared toward the empty sky.
"So you still left behind this trick!"
Thousands of years ago, there had been one man capable of defying heaven itself.
A man from the Su Clan.
His name was Su Long.
He had reached the impossible cultivation realm known as Half-Deity.
With power that defied the laws of the world, he once wiped out the devil cultivator clans and sealed their leader inside an ancient tomb.
But greedy humans eventually discovered that tomb.
They broke the seal.
And released the monster within.
Now the devil cultivator had finally destroyed humanity.
Yet even now—
Su Long's legacy still interfered.
The dark-robed man's eyes burned with murderous intent.
"It doesn't matter how many times your descendants are reborn!"
"I will destroy them again and again!"
"In every timeline!"
He stared coldly at the sky.
But the white light was already gone.
Far away.
Traveling through time.
Carrying humanity's final .
Carrying humanity's final hope.