Chapter Thirty-Eight: Competing in Wickedness, Is That It?

There were no trenches, no bunkers. Situ Hong and her three hundred soldiers simply stood their ground, facing the encroaching mist and the undead, answering with the roar of gunfire and the cold bite of bullets.

In that moment, their bodies became unyielding fortresses.

The dreaded zombies of legend, so feared, could not withstand the firepower of the modern age. Under the hailstorm of bullets, one by one, the zombies were riddled with holes, skulls exploding, bodies torn asunder. Relentless explosions reduced them to nothing but shredded flesh.

Yet, there was no joy in Situ Hong’s eyes, nor in those of her veteran soldiers. Only a profound and heavy sorrow.

Even among the surviving workers, there was no relief, no exhilaration at having escaped disaster. Some wept quietly, others clenched their fists in anguish.

Only ten minutes prior, those “zombies” had been working alongside them.

Those young faces, those figures who had turned and vanished into the mist…

This was the simplest battle these veterans and Situ Hong had ever fought.

And also the most difficult, the most painful.

The gunfire gradually faded.

From the pale blue mist, no sound emerged, no trace of the undead.

Situ Hong slowly lowered her weapon, staring into the mist before her.

Thirty seconds passed.

Utter silence.

No sound at all.

She exhaled softly.

When she turned around, all traces of tears had vanished from her face; only her cold, indifferent expression remained.

“It should be safe now,” Situ Hong said calmly. “Reload and regroup…”

But before she could finish, a rhythmic, muffled sound echoed from deep within the mist.

Like the beat of a drum.

Like the footsteps of some gigantic beast.

The ground itself trembled, almost imperceptibly.

Situ Hong spun around, her weapon once more aimed into the depths of the fog.

The grayish mist churned, and a shadow began to take shape—a towering, giant silhouette.

Even before it fully appeared, a crushing sense of oppression filled the air.

“Prepare for battle,” Situ Hong commanded, her voice icy, unshaken, free of fear.

Three hundred veterans swiftly reloaded, while the fire support team behind them readied their rocket launchers.

The mist seethed and rolled.

At last, the massive figure emerged.

A body five meters tall, skin a deathly blue-gray, lifeless and shriveled like the bark of a dying tree, pocked with decay.

An overwhelming stench of rot assaulted them.

Its monstrous face seemed sculpted from nightmares; the nose had decayed beyond recognition, and its ashen eyes sent chills through the heart.

A feeling of utter dread blanketed everyone present.

Five meters!

Such a height would be unremarkable on a building, perhaps, but when a humanoid creature five meters tall stood before you, the sense of menace was far worse than any structure.

To put it simply, this thing could easily peer into a second-story window.

This was a being humans could only look up to.

For a moment, not a soul dared speak.

“You killed my beloved puppets,” a hoarse voice growled.

The monstrous giant looked down at the humans, who barely reached its calves, and declared indifferently, “So now, you must compensate me.”

With a roar, the giant, shrouded in deathly mist, charged toward Situ Hong.

But—

“Open fire!” Situ Hong shouted.

A chorus of gunfire erupted instantly, cannons thundered, muzzle flashes blazed.

Bullets poured down like rain, tearing through the air.

The onslaught formed a visible web of firepower, surging toward the giant like a raging river.

Tactical missiles soared, zeroing in on the giant hidden in the mist.

The moment they struck, fireballs exploded across its body, the blasts obscuring the giant in a blaze of destruction.

Situ Hong raised her right hand sharply.

The barrage ceased at once.

“That should have done it,” she said, eyes fixed on the swirling mist.

But as the smoke cleared, the terrifying figure remained.

Unscathed.

Even his blue-gray skin showed not a single scratch.

A stunned silence fell.

Everyone stared in disbelief as the decaying giant strode forth from the scorched earth, through the smoke-filled craters, utterly unharmed.

“Open fire!!” Situ Hong bellowed again. “Blast him to pieces!!”

She refused to believe this creature could simply ignore their weapons.

But amid the roar of gunfire and artillery, under Situ Hong’s incredulous gaze, the giant walked forward, expressionless, completely unfazed by the bullets striking his flesh.

His pale skin possessed a resilience beyond comprehension; not even explosives or direct hits could mar him.

“So, humanity has mastered such weapons now?” the giant mused. “How time flies. How many years have I slept…”

“But these weapons are still far too weak. Do you think you can kill me with this paltry power? I am the Corpse King, Jiang Chen!”

At the utterance of that name, Situ Hong and her three hundred soldiers recoiled in shock.

Jiang Chen—the mythic progenitor of the undead, the Corpse King, born of Yin energy…

Was this truly their adversary?

“Major General Situ, what do we do now?” one veteran shouted over the gunfire, his finger on the trigger.

Situ Hong’s eyes were wide; she had no answer.

How could they fight such an enemy, impervious to their weapons?

“Hold him back by any means—just five minutes!” Situ Hong screamed, firing desperately.

Suddenly, one of the veterans turned and ran to the rear.

“No retreat!” Situ Hong roared, teeth clenched in fury.

But the soldier ignored her and kept going.

Contempt flickered in Situ Hong’s eyes—nothing disgusted her more than a coward who fled the fight.

Bitter disappointment.

She had trained every one of these soldiers herself! No matter how dire the battlefield, she expected none to flee.

So why now, against this enemy, did they begin to break?

Then, abruptly, Situ Hong froze.

A missile launcher truck, its ordnance spent, roared from the rear, its engine howling as it sped past her—straight toward the five-meter-tall, rampaging Corpse King.

In the cab, the “deserter” bared his red-rimmed eyes in a wild, defiant grin.

“I’m no coward!”

“So you think you’re evil?”

“I’m more evil than you!”

“Come on! Nobody’s running!”

In that moment, his smile was pure hellfire—even the Corpse King Jiang Chen seemed stunned for a heartbeat.