Chapter 059: Police Headquarters

“Damn bastard, I swear I’ll kill you.”

Inside a large supermarket, the leader Akatsuki’s face was as dark as thunder as he crushed his phone in his grip. Murderous fury surged in his eyes, as though he wished he could tear Su Cheng apart, limb from limb.

“What happened, Captain?” Mog, the overweight man busy disposing of corpses in the store, felt a chill run down his spine. It was the first time he’d seen his captain wear such a terrifying expression.

“Hornet’s group ran into trouble.”

Akatsuki’s massive frame, burly as a bear, rose to his feet. His expression was so gloomy it seemed to drip with menace. Both the Man of a Thousand Faces and Hornet had been with the Crimson Tide team since its founding—old hands, experienced and reliable. Who could have guessed they’d be killed by some nobody whose name hadn’t even been heard before?

“That’s impossible. With their skills, even if they couldn’t win, they should at least have escaped with their lives. And the target was just one man.” Mog’s voice was incredulous; he couldn’t believe the three assassins sent after Su Cheng had all been killed so easily.

“Hornet’s phone is now in that lone wolf’s hands. They must be dead.” The veins on Akatsuki’s forehead bulged as a savage aura radiated from him, like a beast driven mad.

“We all underestimated that lone wolf. If I’d known, I’d have handled it myself. This grudge—I will settle it myself!”

With that, Akatsuki, brimming with murderous intent, strode outside to the supermarket’s warehouse.

“What about the girl?”

“She’s in there, sound asleep under my hypnosis. She hasn’t woken up yet,” said the woman in black guarding the warehouse door. “But she’s been uncooperative, refusing to share any information.”

“Hmph. Now that she’s in my hands, I’ll make her talk—whatever it takes.” Akatsuki sneered, his face twisted with violence.

“But, Captain, this girl is a key plot character. If we accidentally kill her, it could cause unpredictable consequences,” the woman in black said, not without concern.

“As long as she doesn’t die, that’s enough. Hornet and the Man of a Thousand Faces died for this, so we’ll take a little compensation from her first.”

A cruel grin spread across Akatsuki’s face. The loss of three members had infuriated him, and he needed an outlet for that rage. If Eri Sawahashi refused to cooperate, she might suffer harsh treatment.

The woman in black dared not disobey. She opened the warehouse door, and a rush of cold wind met her face.

“Something’s wrong—the girl’s been taken!”

On the far wall of the warehouse, a large hole had been blasted open at some unknown time. The girl, Eri Sawahashi, who should have been sleeping inside, was gone without a trace.

Akatsuki’s expression grew uglier still. He couldn’t believe someone had the audacity to snatch a plot character right under their noses.

“Hurry! Find Eri Sawahashi at all costs!” His jaw clenched with murderous intent as he dashed in the direction she’d disappeared.

---

About a kilometer from the supermarket, on a bridge, a woman with long, slender legs, clad in skintight clothing, plowed her off-road vehicle through a horde of zombies, sending blood and flesh flying in every direction.

She was strikingly beautiful—a true goddess in the real world. Yet a vicious, torn scar marred her neck, disrupting her otherwise flawless appearance.

In the backseat was a girl, slender and delicate.

At some point, Eri Sawahashi had awoken, but instead of panicking or screaming, she was eerily calm—like a soulless puppet.

…

“I can’t determine Eri Sawahashi’s whereabouts. The clue I worked so hard to find has been cut off again. What a hassle.” Su Cheng had slain over a hundred infected hosts of the bio-plague on his way to Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters.

This instance covered all of Tokyo. The plot couldn’t possibly hinge solely on Eri Sawahashi.

Judging from the police’s swift response, they must have uncovered evidence or clues about the bio-disaster. But instead of alerting the public, they’d chosen to conceal the truth.

Su Cheng couldn’t help but wonder—was there perhaps some secret deal between high-ranking police officials and Mitsui Pharmaceuticals?

As he stepped into the police headquarters building, a nauseating stench of blood assaulted his senses. The reek of decay was hundreds of times stronger than a can of fermented herring—enough to knock an ordinary person unconscious.

“Something’s off. It’s too quiet here.” Su Cheng passed through the lobby and ascended the stairs, spotting blood spattered on the walls and floors, as though some deranged artist had painted with human blood.

Strangely, the police headquarters looked as if a monster had swept through, painting everything with viscous blood and mangled organs—yet there wasn’t a single complete corpse in sight.

From the shredded internal organs, it seemed the killer wasn’t an ordinary infected, but a terrifying beast with the strength of a wild animal.

“Weird. There’s not a single body. Where have all the police gone?”

The oddity of the place unsettled Su Cheng—not just the vanished corpses, but the eerie silence. There were no zombies, no survivors, not even the usual stray cats, dogs, or insects.

A suffocating atmosphere filled the air. With his blade, Windshadow, at the ready, Su Cheng began to search the headquarters cautiously.

What puzzled him even more was that at least a hundred well-trained, well-armed officers were stationed here. Even under siege by a horde of zombies, they shouldn’t have fallen so completely in less than twenty-four hours.

What kind of monster could have annihilated everyone in the building so swiftly, leaving not a single corpse behind?

“These gouges on the walls—they’re not from ordinary weapons. They look more like the claw marks of a tiger or lion.”

Besides the claw marks, Su Cheng found a huge bloody footprint on the floor.

---

The footprint was clearly not human—it resembled that of a big cat, but was so large that the creature must have been bigger than a grizzly bear.

Could it be that a mutated beast, infected by the bio-plague, had stormed the headquarters and slaughtered all those police?

Su Cheng’s expression changed; he sensed things weren’t quite so simple.

Why would a monster appear here, of all places? And how could such a huge building be utterly devoid of survivors?

It was truly bizarre.

Ten minutes later, Su Cheng found his way to the records room used by the Criminal Affairs Department.

The Criminal Affairs Department handled major crimes like murder, robbery, kidnapping, and arson. If the police had been investigating Mitsui Pharmaceuticals, there should be relevant files here.

But the door was locked—an electronic card was needed to open it.

Su Cheng slashed the electronic lock with his blade and kicked the door open.

The power had long been cut due to the outbreak, so the archive room was pitch black.

As Su Cheng stepped inside, a shadow darted out from behind and a police baton swung hard at the back of his head.

A gust of wind whistled past his skull. Su Cheng’s reflexes far surpassed those of an ordinary man; the moment the figure attacked, he responded.

He spun, swung his blade—a lightning slash!

The baton was sliced clean in two.

Su Cheng lunged forward and grabbed at the shadowy attacker.

But instead, his hand closed around something soft and springy, like cotton.

“Pervert!” a flustered, indignant female voice cried out before him. His assailant, it turned out, was a woman.