By the pier, the sea breeze, carrying the stench of rot and salt, drifted through the shattered containers.
Lilith stood before those five island nation warriors, her petite figure forming a strange and shocking contrast with the massive, seventy-meter-plus behemoth behind her.
The hem of her military skirt rose slightly in the wind, and her long silver hair brushed against her cheeks, yet she didn't even blink. She merely gazed calmly at the trembling humans before her with those crimson slit pupils.
"I want to know,"
she spoke, her voice cold and youthful, drifting in the sea breeze.
"Where is this Sato you speak of?"
Standard Dragon Country language, perfectly articulated.
The expressions of the five men changed instantly.
They understood where this language came from.
Although they hated Dragon Country, hated America, and hated all the culprits who led to the fall of the island nation.
But at this moment, when this doll-like little girl asked the question in pure Dragon Country speech, the fear in their hearts still overwhelmed their hatred.
"Baka!"
A hot-headed young squad member suddenly looked up and glared fiercely at Lilith.
In extremely broken Chinese, he roared word by word.
"Don't even think about getting any information about Lord Sato from us!"
His teeth-gritting expression looked as if he wanted to swallow Lilith alive.
Lilith gave him a faint glance.
The next second—
"Zzt!"
A bolt of dark red Blood-colored Lightning leapt from her without warning, accurately striking that squad member!
No scream.
No struggle.
The moment the man's body touched the lightning, it turned directly into a mist of blood!
Along with his clothes, equipment, and weapons, he vanished completely, leaving only a faint cloud of red mist that quickly dissipated in the sea breeze.
Deathly silence.
The remaining four were frozen in place as if a paralysis spell had been cast on them.
Cold sweat poured down the forehead of the squad leader.
The other three were even paler, their legs weak, their Adam's apples bobbing as they swallowed hard.
They finally understood—
This seemingly harmless little girl before them, who was so delicate she made one want to take her home, was not human at all.
She was a demon.
A demon in human skin.
The leader opened his mouth, just about to speak—
"Zzt!"
Another bolt of Blood-colored Lightning!
Another squad member, before he even had time to make an expression, followed in the footsteps of the first, turning into a mist of blood.
Lilith looked indifferently at the remaining three, her eyes as calm as if she were looking at three ants.
"The response Speed is too slow."
she said softly, her tone devoid of any emotion.
That tone was as if she were merely stating a fact.
And as if saying—
Your lives are not worth mentioning.
The third squad member, the young man who had looked angry just now, had completely broken down.
His legs gave way and he slumped to the ground with a thud, his lips trembling, wanting to speak, wanting to reveal Lord Sato's whereabouts, wanting to live—
But just then, a fierce gaze swept over.
It was the squad leader.
He stopped the man with a look, his eyes full of warning.
Don't say it! Even in death, don't say it!
Then, he turned his head and looked at Lilith, deep-seated hatred burning in his eyes.
He opened his mouth, wanting to curse, wanting to vent, wanting to retain the last shred of dignity before death—
But Lilith did not give him the chance.
"Zzt—Boom!"
This time, the Blood-colored Lightning struck the remaining three simultaneously.
Three clouds of blood mist exploded on the pier at the same time, then merged into a larger crimson cloud, eventually blown away by the sea breeze, vanishing into the horizon.
From beginning to end, Lilith's expression never changed.
She merely gave a faint look at the dissipating blood mist, then turned and lightly tapped the ground with her toes.
Her petite figure, like a feather, leaped lightly onto the top of the Alien Queen's head, which was covered in a blue Exoskeleton.
"It seems I'll have to find it myself."
she whispered, her voice scattered by the sea breeze.
The Alien Queen beneath her was in sync with her heart; without a word, it understood its master's intention.
Its massive body sank slightly, and then—
"BOOM—!!!"
Those dragon wings, a hundred meters wide, unfurled! And flapped violently!
The violent airflow exploded instantly, blowing the containers on the pier askew and sending rubble and debris flying everywhere!
The Alien Queen's massive seventy-meter-plus body was actually pushed off the ground by this violent lift, soaring into the air!
Ascending.
Continuing to ascend.
A hundred meters.
Five hundred meters.
A thousand meters.
The Alien Queen hovered a thousand meters in the air, its massive body blotting out half the sky and casting a giant shadow on the ground.
Lilith stood on its head, facing the biting gale of the high altitude, her silver hair flying wildly and the hem of her military uniform flapping.
Yet she remained motionless, only slightly narrowing those crimson slit pupils as she looked down at the scarred wasteland below.
Thermal imaging, activated.
The world instantly transformed in her eyes.
The buildings covered in concrete and steel appeared as a cold deep blue in the thermal imaging.
And within this deep blue, countless points of light, large and small, emitting a warm red glow, clearly entered her mind like fireflies in the night.
That was the heat of life.
Survivors.
Humans.
Lilith's gaze swept across this vast wasteland, and those points of light were automatically gathered, categorized, and marked in her mind.
She could see scattered small gathering points, moving patrol squads, and also—
An area with an exceptionally dense concentration of light points.
The density of that light far exceeded other places.
Hundreds, no, thousands of light points gathered together, shining brilliantly in the thermal vision like a burning fire.
That was the place where the remaining survivors of the entire island nation were most concentrated.
It was also the most likely location of that Lord Sato.
A faint curve appeared at the corner of Lilith's mouth.
"Found it."
...
At the same time.
Hundreds of kilometers away, in the center of an abandoned City.
The once-bustling sports center had now been transformed into a massive survivor settlement.
The surrounding exits were tightly sealed with various wooden boards, trucks, and iron sheets, leaving only one main gate for entry and exit, heavily guarded by armed sentries.
Nearby buildings had been converted into natural watchtowers, with figures moving on the rooftops, vigilantly monitoring the surrounding activity.
Once Flesh Zombiess approached, they could detect them immediately and issue an alarm.
Inside the sports center, the originally wide fields and stands were now crowded with simple tents and makeshift shacks.
The elderly, children, women, and the wounded were packed together densely.
But what they didn't know was—
Beneath this sports center, there was a whole other world.
The frantically modified underground space had now become a massive experimental site.
Cold white lights illuminated the entire underground space as if it were day.
Complex pipes, precision instruments, giant containers, and a colossal creature quietly suspended in green nutrient solution.
The creature was over sixty meters long, its overall silhouette resembling a Blue Whale, presenting a perfectly streamlined physique.
But what made it completely different from an ordinary Blue Whale was that its body surface was covered in a layer of diamond-like transparent crystals...
...