The darkness before dawn was at its deepest.
Two thousand Tianqi soldiers clad in Shadow Camouflage rged silently into the ruins, abandoned carports, and underground pipes like bats in the night.
Every corner of the City that could provide cover beca their hiding place.
Their breathing was deliberately slowed to the minimum, their body heat was insulated by the Shadow Camouflage, and their movents were as light as a civet cat's.
At the coldest mont before dawn, the entire City turned into a massive, silent trap—a hunting ground ticulously prepared for the coming prey.
Inside the City, all non-combatants—the elderly, children, and Reincarnators with support or lifestyle classes—had long since been consolidated and moved to safe houses within the base.
The streets were empty, windows were tightly shut, and only the wailing of the wind blowing through damaged billboards remained.
This unsettling emptiness was itself a declaration of war.
When the first ray of dawn pierced through the clouds, casting a pale light upon the City, a roar that clashed with the silence echoed from afar.
The harsh friction of steel tracks grinding over broken pavent, the crude roar of engines, and the faint, audible clamor of human voices approached.
A Punitive Coalition of nearly eight thousand n, patched together from eighteen different factions, finally arrived at the outskirts of the City.
The ten main battle tanks leading the way were like mobile steel fortresses, unceremoniously pushing aside abandoned vehicles, crushing green belts, and driving straight down the main road.
Behind them followed an endless convoy of ard vehicles, kicking up clouds of dust.
Ten civilian helicopters circled at low altitude, their onboard thermal imaging probes scanning the streets and buildings below like greedy eyes.
Inside the command vehicle, Rex stared at the real-ti thermal imaging footage.
On the screen, aside from the faint residual heat sources of the buildings themselves and traces of small animal activity, there were almost no large-scale heat signals belonging to humans.
Only at the end of the City, the silhouette of the clearly reinforced Apocalypse Base showed a relatively concentrated life reaction on the thermal scan.
"Hmph."
Rex put down the tablet, a contemptuous, cruel grin appearing on his coarse face.
"I thought this Tianqi was capable of sothing. I expected them to at least station so n in the urban area to use the terrain and cause us so trouble."
"Turns out they're just shrinking their heads like turtles, hiding back in their nest. Seems I really overestimated them!"
Beside him, Marcus continued to rest with his eyes closed, but his brow furrowed imperceptibly.
It was too quiet. Even if Tianqi intended to hold the base, not setting up any early warnings or harassnt on the outskirts was far too abnormal.
Yet the thermal imaging results seed to support Rex's judgnt.
"Perhaps they know they're no match and want to concentrate their forces for defense!"
A faction leader spoke with an arrogant expression. After all, anyone with sense knew the sheer weight of the Eighteen-Faction Coalition was an irresistible, powerful force.
If Tianqi had any brains, they would naturally know that defending outside was nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
"Defense?"
Rex snorted disdainfully.
"In the face of absolute power, no matter how hard the turtle shell is, I can smash it to pieces!"
"Pass down the order: stay alert, but don't be too tense. Target—the main gate of Apocalypse Base! Roll right over it!"
With the order given, the coalition's speed even increased slightly.
Tanks led the way, the convoy followed closely, and helicopters shuttled between the buildings on both sides for reconnaissance.
They marched grandiosely through the deathly silent streets. The sunlight gradually dispelled the shadows, but it could not dispel the eerie sense of stillness brought by this empty City.
No one noticed that in the shadows of so tall buildings and behind the grates of certain ground vents, pairs of cold eyes were silently watching this massive army pass.
Nor did anyone notice that the air seed perated with an extrely faint energy field carrying spiritual disturbances, like an invisible veil quietly covering the area the coalition passed through.
Lia lay behind a third-floor window sill of a semi-collapsed office building. The Shadow Camouflage on her body, combined with the innate skills of an Abyssal Walker, allowed her to almost rge into one with the concrete wall behind her.
Her azure pupils were now flickering with constantly changing glimrs, as if countless tiny images were flowing and rging within them.
Her Illusionary Eye talent was operating at full capacity, sensing the spiritual fluctuations of every coalition soldier below while quietly weaving a massive and precise web of illusion covering several blocks.
"City model construction complete... Spiritual anchors quietly implanted in seventy percent of targets... Environntal synchronization finished..."
She murmured in her heart, like a highly precise program running in the background.
Last night's overnight reconnaissance and preparation had given her a thorough understanding of this battlefield.
As an Abyssal Walker type Hunter, she could already adapt herself to the environnt and blend in with her surroundings.
With the control-attribute Illusionary Eye, combined with the terrain adaptability of illusions and Abyssal Walker, the two together elevated the power and realism of the Illusionary Eye to another level.
The more ti she was given, the more realistic and difficult to see through her created environnt beca.
Soon, the coalition's vanguard arrived at the open ground a hundred ters away from Apocalypse Base.
This was a cleared plaza facing Tianqi's eight-ter-high heavy walls, cast from alloy and concrete, and its tightly closed steel gates.
Rex leapt directly from the roof of the command vehicle, his sturdy body landing steadily on the turret of a main battle tank.
He took a high-powered gaphone handed over by a subordinate and cleared his throat. The aura of an SS-Rank Hunter spread out without reservation, a tangible sense of pressure enveloping the area ahead.
Beside him, Marcus also jumped down from another vehicle and stood silently by the tank.
He still had his eyes closed, but his entire body's muscles had been adjusted to their optimal state like a leopard ready to pounce. His silver-gray pupils shifted slightly beneath his eyelids as so dangerous instinct began to awaken.
"William—!"
Rex's voice, carrying a booming echo through the gaphone, slamd brutally against Tianqi's walls.
"I'm giving you one last chance! Fifteen minutes! Hand over my brothers from the Godslayer Guild! Hand over all your point reserves! Kneel and surrender, and I might consider leaving you a way to live!"
He paused, his voice suddenly becoming bone-chillingly cold and overflowing with killing intent.
"Otherwise! No one in Tianqi, not even the chickens or dogs, will be spared! I an what I say!"
After those words, Rex changed his tone, putting on a hypocritical face of righteousness as he shouted toward the Tianqi walls and the coalition soldiers behind him with their varying expressions.
"Brothers of Tianqi! Don't follow that coward William and wait for death! Join my Godslayer Guild! As long as you're a brother of mine, Rex, I'll treat you as family!"
"From now on, if anyone dares to lift a finger against you, I'll lead my n to trample them just like I'm doing to Tianqi today! Wealth, glory, and all the wine and at you can eat—you'll have it all!"
When his voice fell, the only response was a deathly silence...
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