Chapter 180 | The Apocalypse Landlady

Su Wan looked at the even more glaring negative number, her expression remaining unchanged.

Let it be.

At this point, it was just another debt on the pile.

【Upgrade/Expansion/Installation initiated. Estimated completion time: 200 seconds. All weapon systems will be in place before the City Defense Force arrives!】

Su Wan walked down the potholed road into a narrow alleyway. Her gaze swept over the low buildings of the Outer City, coming to rest in the direction of the City Defense Force substation.

It was a five-story building located on the side of the Outer City near the Inner City, with grayish-white walls and narrow windows, looking completely unremarkable.

She closed her eyes, and her Level 3 Late Stage mental power fully expanded.

Her invisible perception spread outward like a tide.

The outline of the City Defense Force substation gradually became clear in Su Wan’s perception.

Her mental power acted like an invisible eye, silently probing into the five-story building.

A large conference room at the very end of the fourth floor was brightly lit.

Over twenty officers—adjutants and staff—sat upright, with maps and various documents spread out on the table in front of them.

Liu Sen was among them.

His seat was at the very edge of the second row, in an inconspicuous corner.

But Su Wan could clearly perceive his state—

His breathing was more hurried than anyone else’s, his heart was beating abnormally fast, and a layer of fine sweat coated his forehead.

His gaze flickered toward the closed door at the end of the conference room from time to time before he quickly retracted it, lowering his head to pretend he was reading the documents.

His hands gripped the edge of the table so tightly that his knuckles were white.

He was nervous, anxious, and terrified.

Su Wan’s perception bypassed Liu Sen and settled on that closed door.

Behind the door was another, smaller room.

It was the office of the City Defense Force substation commander.

At this moment, a man stood in the office.

A middle-aged man in his forties with a cold, stern face, wearing a crisp dark green military uniform. Two silver stars adorned his shoulder straps—the insignia of a City Defense Force Deputy General Commander.

This was Colonel Yan, Yan Pengcheng.

Su Wan’s perception lingered on him for a moment.

Level 3 Mid Stage. His energy fluctuations were steady and heavy, like a boulder that had weathered many storms.

Yet right now, this boulder of a man was slightly bowing his head in a respectful posture.

Across from him was a large desk.

A strangely shaped piece of equipment was operating on the desk.

It was a metal device about half the height of a person, silver-gray in color, its surface covered with fine cooling vents and dark gold circuit patterns.

A semi-circular projector sat atop the device, currently emitting a faint blue light.

This was the City Defense Force’s remote holographic communication equipment.

At this moment, a pillar of pale blue light projected from the device onto the empty space in front of the desk, condensing into a half-body hologram.

It was a man in his fifties.

He wore the deep blue uniform of a high-ranking City Defense Force general, with three gold stars on his shoulder straps—the insignia of a Vice Commander of the City Defense Force Headquarters.

In the power structure of the Panshi City City Defense Force, the Commander was the supreme leader, with two Vice Commanders beneath him, one overseeing Inner City defense and the other managing the Outer City and Ruin Zone.

The man before them was the one in charge of the Outer City and Ruin Zone—Vice Commander Zhuang Heng.

The third-in-command of the City Defense Force, a man who held massive military power. In this C-class city, he was a truly powerful figure who could decide the life and death of countless people.

Zhuang Heng had a thin face with high cheekbones, and his triangular eyes were half-closed. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were like deep carvings.

His hair was gray and combed meticulously, and the corners of his mouth were turned down slightly, carrying a sense of condescending scrutiny.

Even as a mere holographic projection, his long-standing aura of authority was enough to make one feel breathless.

In front of him, even Colonel Yan’s back was bent a few degrees lower than usual.

“…That is the situation,” Colonel Yan’s voice drifted from the office, clearly captured by Su Wan’s mental power.

“The City Defense Force’s 3rd Mobile Brigade departed fifteen minutes ago and is expected to arrive at the target area in fifty minutes. The personnel include two Level 3 Mid Stage experts, six Level 2 Ability Users, and one hundred and twenty elite infantrymen.”

“Regarding equipment, there are four Predator-II armored vehicles, one Messenger-class communications and command vehicle, and one Destroyer fire-support vehicle.”

Zhuang Heng listened with his eyes half-closed, not speaking immediately.

After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke. His voice was raspy and low, like sandpaper rubbing together.

“Is the 3rd Mobile Brigade… enough?”

Colonel Yan lowered his head slightly. “Reporting to the Vice Commander, according to the data from the final drone reconnaissance, the target shelter—which the vagrants call ‘Terminal Station’—contains over two thousand vagrants, but very few possess combat-capable abilities.”

“According to intelligence analysis, only one Level 3 hunter has been active in that area recently, and he has already entered the Inner City and is not currently in the shelter. The rest are mostly ordinary vagrants and Level 1 Ability Users; they do not pose a substantial threat.”

He paused and added, “The firepower configuration of the 3rd Mobile Brigade is sufficient to level an area with a two-kilometer radius at the edge of Area A7.”

“A vagrant shelter built from an unfinished building cannot possibly withstand such an attack.”

Zhuang Heng still did not express his stance.

His fingers tapped twice on the armrest. The rhythm was slow, yet it made Colonel Yan’s heart skip a beat in sync with the taps.

“Even a lion or tiger uses its full strength when hunting a rabbit…” Zhuang Heng finally said.

“Do you remember that your adjutant, Liu Sen, also took men there? The result was that an elite squad was wiped out, yet that building didn’t even take a scratch.”

He lifted his eyelids, two cold lights shooting from his triangular eyes. “Can you guarantee that the 3rd Mobile Brigade will succeed?”

Colonel Yan’s back was instantly drenched in cold sweat.

Zhuang Heng did not wait for his answer but continued, “Have you uncovered the secret of that building?”

“When did it appear?”

Colonel Yan answered through gritted teeth, “According to current intelligence, it can be traced back to… about a month ago. Before that, the location was just an ordinary unfinished building, uninhabited and showing no anomalies.”

“One month.” Zhuang Heng repeated the number, his mouth twitching slightly, though it was unclear if it was a smile or a sneer. “In one month, it went from an ignored unfinished building to a large-scale shelter capable of housing over two thousand people.”

“It can remain unscathed under artillery fire, it can achieve zero casualties during the Death Tide, and it can make vagrants flock to it like moths to a flame.”