The C-17 Globemaster continued climbing through the dark Philippine sky while Basa Air Base slowly disappeared beneath the clouds below.
Inside the cargo bay, the atmosphere remained dim beneath red operational lighting.
The constant roar of the aircraft engines vibrated through the tal floor beneath everyone’s boots while equipnt straps rattled softly against secured cargo pallets.
Nobody slept.
Nobody even tried.
Because every single person aboard understood where they were heading.
Beijing.
A dead capital city buried beneath nuclear fire and infected hordes.
Ryan leaned back slightly against the fold-down seating while staring toward the ceiling of the cargo compartnt.
"I still think this is insane."
One of the operators across from him answered imdiately.
"That stopped narrowing things down months ago."
Several others quietly laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
But because humor helped.
Especially before missions like this.
Adrian sat farther near the front section of the cargo bay while reviewing printed maps beneath a portable red flashlight.
Beijing’s underground layouts.
Radiation zones.
Satellite thermal scans.
Known tunnel access points.
And estimated infected concentrations.
Every page sohow made the mission look worse.
Ryan eventually stood before walking toward Adrian.
"You planning to stare at maps the entire flight?"
Adrian did not look up imdiately.
"Yes."
Ryan sighed.
"Fair enough."
He sat down across from him afterward while lowering his voice slightly.
"You really think this Doctor Lin has answers?"
Adrian finally looked up.
"I think sobody wanted those answers buried."
Ryan leaned slightly back afterward.
"Yeah."
The aircraft suddenly shifted slightly from turbulence while the engine noise deepened briefly.
One of the pilots’ voices crackled through the cargo bay speakers afterward.
"Crossing northern mariti sectors now. Estimated arrival over Chinese airspace in three hours."
Nobody reacted much.
The mission clock was already running.
Across the cargo bay, several operators quietly checked equipnt again despite already inspecting everything multiple tis before departure.
Suppressors tightened.
Magazines counted.
Radiation detectors tested.
dical kits organized.
One operator carefully opened a hardened container revealing compact reconnaissance drones inside foam padding.
Another checked breaching charges and thermal cutters.
Because once underground, they might need to force their way through collapsed sectors.
Ryan glanced toward the sealed body bags secured near the rear pallets afterward.
"...Still hate that those are there."
One operator beside him quietly answered.
"Better to have them than not."
Nobody disagreed.
Hours slowly passed inside the Globemaster.
Eventually the pilots dimd the cargo lighting even further while the aircraft continued flying northwest across dark ocean and ruined air corridors once controlled by civilian aviation networks.
Now there was nothing.
No comrcial traffic.
No radio chatter from civilian towers.
Only occasional military frequencies and ergency broadcasts drifting through the aircraft communication systems.
Most sounded fragnted.
So sounded desperate.
Others were simply static.
The world below them had died quietly.
Eventually Adrian stood before moving toward the cockpit access ladder.
The loadmaster glanced toward him.
"You heading up front, sir?"
"Yes."
The loadmaster nodded once before stepping aside.
Inside the cockpit, the atmosphere felt calr compared to the cargo bay behind them.
Captain Morales remained focused on the controls while the co-pilot monitored navigation overlays glowing softly across the instrunt panels.
Outside the cockpit windows, darkness stretched endlessly across the sky.
Only faint moonlight illuminated scattered cloud formations below.
Morales glanced toward Adrian briefly.
"We’re approaching forr Chinese air defense sectors."
"Any active radar?"
"Nothing stable."
The co-pilot pointed toward one of the tactical displays.
"We’re still detecting intermittent electromagnetic interference from damaged military systems though."
Adrian stepped closer toward the navigation display.
The route line stretched toward Beijing across dead airspace.
"How long until insertion?"
Morales checked the flight tir.
"Two hours if conditions remain stable."
Another brief turbulence ripple shook the aircraft slightly afterward.
Then suddenly, the co-pilot narrowed his eyes toward one of the screens.
"Captain..."
Morales looked over imdiately.
"What?"
"We’re picking up heat signatures ahead."
Adrian’s attention sharpened instantly.
"Aircraft?"
The co-pilot adjusted filters quickly.
Then slowly shook his head.
"No."
Morales frowned.
"Missiles?"
"Negative."
The co-pilot zood further into the thermal overlay.
Then his expression changed slightly.
"...Cities."
The cockpit beca quieter afterward.
Adrian stepped closer.
Through the distant horizon ahead, faint orange glows had begun appearing beneath the cloud cover.
Not sunlight.
Fires.
Massive fires.
Even from this altitude, the destruction across mainland China was becoming visible.
Morales quietly muttered.
"Jesus..."
The aircraft continued forward.
And slowly, the dead mainland revealed itself.
Entire regions below looked burned black beneath the moonlight.
Collapsed urban sectors stretched endlessly toward the horizon while sections of destroyed highways and industrial zones reflected faint firelight upward through the darkness.
So cities still burned even months after the nuclear exchanges.
Others looked completely dark.
Dead.
The co-pilot quietly switched cara feeds afterward.
One of the aircraft’s external imaging systems displayed ruined urban terrain beneath them in grainy infrared footage.
Movent appeared everywhere.
Huge clusters.
Thousands.
The infected still road the ruins below.
Ryan eventually climbed into the cockpit too before stopping mid-step after seeing the displays.
"...Holy shit."
Nobody answered him.
Because there really was nothing to say.
The scale of destruction looked unreal.
Adrian stared silently toward the distant horizon ahead.
Then finally, another city appeared.
Even larger than the previous ones.
Or rather, what remained of it.
Beijing.
Even from high altitude, the scars across the capital were visible.
Several enormous craters cut directly through sections of the city while countless districts remained collapsed or burned flat beneath nuclear fire.
Smoke still drifted through portions of the urban ruins despite the months that had already passed.
The co-pilot quietly swallowed.
"Approaching insertion corridor."
Ryan stared toward the ruined capital silently for several monts.
"...That place looks cursed."
Honestly, it did.
Captain Morales finally looked toward Adrian again.
"We’ll begin low-altitude insertion approach in fifteen minutes."
Adrian nodded once.
"Understood."
The cockpit lights shifted slightly redder afterward as the aircraft transitioned toward combat insertion mode.
Back inside the cargo bay, the atmosphere imdiately changed once the warning lights activated.
Operators stood imdiately.
Helts secured.
Weapons checked.
Radiation masks attached.
One by one, the special operations team moved toward the center of the cargo compartnt while the loadmaster shouted over the roar of the engines.
"Ten minutes!"
The rear cargo section vibrated harder as the Globemaster descended lower toward the ruined capital.
The operators hooked static lines onto overhead anchor cables while checking each other’s gear quickly beneath the flashing red lights.
Ryan secured his mask against his plate carrier before looking toward Adrian.
"Well..."
He adjusted his rifle sling afterward.
"...Guess we’re really doing this now."
Adrian looked toward the rear cargo ramp.
Beyond it waited Beijing.
A radioactive graveyard hiding answers beneath its ruins.
And possibly sothing much worse underground.
The loadmaster moved toward the rear controls afterward.
"Three minutes!"
The cargo ramp slowly began lowering.
Cold air imdiately exploded into the aircraft cabin alongside the deafening roar of the wind.
And then the city beca visible beneath them.
Ruined skyscrapers.
Burned districts.
Darkened highways.
Massive craters cutting through the capital.
Even from the air, Beijing looked dead.
But movent still existed below.
Thousands of heat signatures moved through the streets.
The infected.
Ryan slowly stared downward through the opening ramp.
"...Jesus Christ..."
The aircraft continued descending lower.
Closer.
Closer.
The wind scread violently through the cargo compartnt now while the operators lined near the edge of the open ramp.
Below them, the dead capital waited.
The loadmaster raised one hand afterward.
"Thirty seconds!"
Red lights flashed across the cargo bay.
One operator quietly chambered a round into his rifle.
Another tightened his grip on the static line.
Nobody spoke anymore now.
Because the mission had finally beco real.
The loadmaster looked toward Adrian.
"Standby!"
The Globemaster thundered over the ruined outskirts of Beijing beneath the night sky.
Then finally, the jump light turned green.
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