Inside Shen Yong's apartment, the silence was broken only by the sound of his own heartbeat and the distant explosions and screams echoing from his personal terminal.
On the screen, London's iconic landmarks were crumbling beneath the rampage of the monster Gesura. The waters of the Thames surged into shattered streets, like a rehearsal for the end of the world.
His first reaction was shock.
Then came a powerful sense of detachment.
"That's London, not Yangjibang," he muttered to himself, his voice dry.
"The EUC's European division will handle it. They have the best forces."
He tried to reason with himself, constructing excuse after excuse.
"I'm just a rescue volunteer now. My battlefield is here in Yangjibang's ruins."
"If I go, the whole world will see me. My identity will be exposed. I'll never return to the life I have now."
"And the Beta Capsule drains my strength. I can't exhaust myself for a city halfway across the world."
But he couldn't turn off the news.
The highest-level global emergency alert forced every screen to broadcast the disaster live.
On the Thames riverside streets, crowds fled in terror.
Their faces—covered in dust and fear—looked exactly like the people he had seen running through Yangjibang.
He watched EUC fighter jets scream across the sky, firing missiles at Gesura.
The monster twisted its massive body, dodging with surprising agility.
Then its dorsal fins flared open.
Purple venom sprayed outward like rain.
One fighter jet was struck mid-flight.
The liquid corroded the wing instantly.
Black smoke trailed behind as the aircraft spiraled into the river.
On social media, countless Yangjibang survivors were posting messages of support for London.
One message had thousands of endorsements:
"We've been through it. We know what that despair feels like. Stay strong, Britain."
The words pierced Shen Yong's heart.
Yes.
He knew.
Better than anyone.
He knew the helplessness of watching your home crumble and lives vanish before your eyes.
He remembered why he had joined the Dawn Mutual Aid Society.
Wasn't it to help people who were struggling in disasters just like he had?
Just then, the news broadcast zoomed in on a collapsed building.
A firefighter wearing a helmet was dragging an injured girl from a crushed double-decker bus.
At that moment, Gesura's massive tail swept across the street.
A nearby building—already unstable—began to collapse.
The firefighter didn't retreat.
Instead, he lunged forward and covered the girl with his own body.
The falling rubble and smoke swallowed them both.
That nameless act of heroism struck Shen Yong like lightning.
If someone with power chose to stand aside…
How was he any different from the monsters?
His expression changed.
All hesitation hardened into iron resolve.
He stood up and walked to the center of the room.
He would go.
But how could he cross half the planet in seconds?
He gripped the Beta Capsule tightly and closed his eyes.
This time, he didn't pray.
He poured all his will into it.
In his mind, a satellite map of the British Isles appeared.
It zoomed in.
Closer.
Closer.
Until it locked onto the Thames riverside where Gesura rampaged.
He raised the capsule and gave a command stronger than any before.
"Take me there!"
The moment the command was issued, an overwhelming suction burst from deep within his body.
He felt it clearly—
His stamina.
His energy.
Even something deeper… his very vitality.
All of it was being drawn into the capsule.
A crushing dizziness struck him.
Exhaustion washed over him instantly, as if his body had been hollowed out.
His form began to turn transparent.
The apartment around him warped like rippling water.
Then—
He shattered into countless silver particles of light.
His vision plunged into a kaleidoscope-like dimensional corridor where colors and fragments of images rushed past at impossible speed.
London.
South bank of the Thames.
Inside an abandoned warehouse.
A flash of light appeared in the empty air.
Shen Yong's body reassembled from particles.
The moment his feet touched the ground—
He collapsed to his knees.
"Thud."
He braced himself on the dusty floor, gasping for breath.
The cost of teleportation was far greater than he had imagined.
His entire body felt as heavy as lead.
Even breathing burned his lungs.
He estimated his remaining stamina.
At most…
Two minutes of gigantification.
But outside the warehouse, Gesura's roars and the sounds of collapsing buildings echoed nearby.
There was no time to hesitate.
He pushed himself up using the cold wall.
Step by step.
His eyes hardened with determination.
He raised the Beta Capsule and pressed the red button.
A pillar of silver light shot skyward—
Tearing straight through the warehouse roof.
Before the eyes of countless London citizens and the EUC European Division—
The nearly fifty-meter-tall red-and-silver giant descended beside the Thames.
"It's the giant from Yangjibang!"
Inside the EUC European command center, every officer shot to their feet.
Shen Yong wasted no time.
He knew he couldn't afford a prolonged fight.
Lowering his stance, he sprinted toward Gesura, who was in the middle of smashing London Bridge.
His enormous body thundered forward with overwhelming pressure.
Gesura noticed him instantly.
With the instincts of a wild beast, it turned and charged as well.
But this time—
Shen Yong did not throw a punch.
Just as the two giants were about to collide, he suddenly dropped low.
His massive body moved with surprising agility.
He slipped beneath Gesura's center of gravity.
It was the low takedown he had been practicing all week.
Gesura's charge completely missed its target.
Before the monster could react, Shen Yong's arms clamped around its lower body like iron.
With a roar, every muscle in his waist, back, and legs exploded with power.
Using technique rather than brute force—
He lifted.
"Up you go!"
Before the stunned eyes of countless witnesses—
Shen Yong hoisted the tens-of-thousands-ton monster off the ground.
Then executed a perfect shoulder throw.
Gesura slammed into the earth.
"BOOM!"
The ground shook violently.
The asphalt shattered instantly.
The monster lay dazed.
Several of the purple dorsal fins along its back snapped off from the impact.
But it wasn't defeated.
Pain drove it into a frenzy.
It rolled to its feet.
Its dorsal fins spread wide again—
And unleashed a storm of purple venom.
The toxic rain poured down toward Shen Yong.
He immediately rolled sideways.
The venom splashed across buildings behind him.
Reinforced concrete hissed and dissolved instantly, releasing clouds of black smoke.
Close.
Too close.
Taking advantage of the moment, Gesura followed its instincts and fled.
The giant monster plunged into the Thames.
Waves surged violently.
Within seconds, its massive body vanished beneath the murky water.
Shen Yong rushed to the riverbank.
He slammed his fist into the water in frustration.
But it was useless.
He couldn't fly.
And he certainly couldn't chase a sea monster underwater.
He had won.
But the enemy had escaped.
At that moment—
A suffocating weakness swept through him.
His strength was nearly gone.
Above him, engines roared.
EUC combat drones and fighter jets approached from every direction.
On the ground, dozens of armored vehicles sealed off the surrounding streets.
An invisible net was closing around him.
He couldn't stay here.
Forcing himself to endure the crushing exhaustion, Shen Yong used the final seconds before reverting to human form.
With the last fragment of his strength—
He activated teleportation again.
Moments later, when EUC ground forces stormed into the alley where he had disappeared—
There was nothing there.
Only a deep crater in the pavement left by a giant's footsteps.
A silent reminder of how futile their pursuit had been.