Chapter 28
Chapter 28: Rose Middle School
"Huu…"
Liu Yuqing stepped down from the mobile shelter and closed the door.
Seeing Wang Meng and Guo Shuai standing guard beside the vehicle, she walked over and showed them the scroll in her hand.
She then relayed Jiang Nan's instructions.
"Since it's the boss's orders, there's no time to waste."
Wang Meng clapped his hands together.
"Let's split up and scout the surrounding area, pinpoint the exact location of the red dot."
"The sooner we find the Terminal Signal Tower, the sooner we can open the map."
The 3 of them exchanged glances, eyes fixed on the red dot displayed on the scroll, filled with hope for what lay ahead.
What they didn't know, however, was this.
In the area represented by that red dot, a nightmare entirely at odds with the sunlight outside was unfolding at that very moment.
……
At the same time.
In a valley somewhere on Eerie Island.
There was no sunlight here—only thick, oppressive storm clouds and torrential rain pouring from every direction.
BOOM!!
A streak of violet lightning tore through the pitch-black sky, the thunderclap deafening.
Then the bolt struck a massive signboard already eaten through with rust.
Crack!
The metal plaque snapped apart in the lightning's fire.
The character "Rose" was cleaved clean off the "Rose Middle School" sign, crashing into the muddy water below and sending up a splash of murky black liquid.
Only the broken remnants of "ose Middle School" remained, cast in the flickering lightning glow—eerie and foreboding beyond measure.
Rainwater swept across the ground, gathering the dark red liquid trickling down from the school's uphill entrance into a winding stream that flowed downward.
That was no red mud water.
It was blood.
At the school gate up the slope, countless bone-white skeletal remains were scattered across the ground.
Some bones still had scraps of not-yet-fully-rotted flesh clinging to them. Tattered fragments of black stand-collar school uniforms and sailor uniforms lay strewn across the muddy earth.
It was clear…
A massacre had taken place here. The dead hadn't even had time to become dried corpses before they were stripped down to bare bone.
Zzzt!
Two blinding columns of headlight beams forced their way through the curtain of rain.
A dark olive-green Humvee—heavily modified, mounted with a wireless radar array and a heavy machine gun—pulled to a stop in front of the abandoned middle school.
The doors swung open.
Three men and two women stepped out, fully armed, dressed in matching yellow-green special operations uniforms and carrying katanas across their backs.
They were the Black Wolf Unit—an elite squad dispatched by Sakura Nation.
The man leading them was a middle-aged figure named Ono, with cold, predatory eyes and a fully-kitted M416 held at the ready. His movements were crisp and practiced.
Beside him walked a young man named Sato, his face set in a look of arrogant confidence, carrying the same equipment.
At the rear of the group was Ikeda—a towering, bear-built man.
He carried an alloy heavy shield and an NG-7 general-purpose machine gun, responsible for both firepower and defense.
The remaining 2 were women. One was an icily beautiful sniper named Kujo, armed with a TRG-42 sniper rifle.
The other was a petite medic named Hoshino, carrying a P90 submachine gun.
All 5 had night-vision goggles on, scanning their surroundings with alert eyes.
Only after confirming there was no immediate threat did they turn their attention to the desolate campus before them.
"Ono-kun."
The towering Ikeda removed his tactical helmet, smeared with rain, and stared at the school emanating an aura of death. His voice was heavy.
"This school… it seems like it's the one from our Sakura Nation, 33 years ago—the one where the entire faculty and student body vanished without explanation…"
"Rose Middle School."
Ono wiped the rain from his face and nodded, expression grave.
"That's right, Ikeda-kun."
"Back then, this school was built and named by a Huaxia Nation company that won the contract."
"Afterward came the infamous 'Rainy Night Disappearance Case'—the entire school vanished overnight without a trace."
"To think… it ended up here as well."
"Ugh, shut up already! So annoying!"
Another young man cut in with clear impatience, killing the mood entirely.
His name was Sato—Grade A Extraordinary, Storm Envoy. Though a newcomer, he was the most arrogant member of the unit by far.
"I hate places like middle schools more than anything. They reek of that sour, stale smell."
Sato let out a cold snort and kicked a skull at his feet, sending it flying.
"Let's just hurry up and finish Muraguchi-san's mission, get the area map, and be done with it."
"I'm practically starving to death. All I want is to get back to base and eat rice balls."
"Quiet! Sato!"
Kujo, rifle in hand, reprimanded him in a frigid tone.
"You idiot, keep your voice down!"
"There are usually monsters lurking near Terminal Signal Towers. If that big mouth of yours draws them over, I'll put a bullet in you myself first!"
"Tch, Kujo, just because you're scared doesn't mean you have to drag me into it."
Sato curled his lip dismissively, a miniature whirlwind spinning in his palm.
"I'm a Grade A Extraordinary. I couldn't care less about a bunch of trash monsters."
"And that Huaxia Nation guy—whatever his name is, 'No Words Needed'…"
"The day I run into him, I'm personally ripping his head off and taking his Grade S items."
Sato clenched his fist with absolute confidence, as though his target was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
Kujo was just about to begin her reconnaissance when she heard this and scoffed coldly.
"Don't overestimate yourself. If you ever come face to face with that man, you'll be dead in an instant."
As the 2 of them bickered.
The medic Hoshino, who had been quietly hanging back, suddenly raised a trembling hand. Her face had gone chalk-white, her voice barely holding together.
"Ev—everyone…"
"I think I heard… a chewing sound coming from nearby."
"Did you… hear it?"
"A chewing sound?"
Sato snickered and looked at her like she'd lost her mind.
"Ha, Hoshino, are you so hungry you've gone crazy? Out here in the middle of nowhere—where would a chewing sound be coming from?"
"Right, squad leader? You've got Grade C 【 Hearing Enhancement】—there's no way you'd miss a sound like that."
Sato turned to glance at Ono beside him, looking for agreement.
However.
His words received no response whatsoever.
Ono still held his rifle at the ready, standing motionless in the rain, his back to the others.
"Squad leader?"
Sato frowned, and reached out to tap Ono's shoulder.
The contact felt unusually light.
And almost… prickly.
Thud.
The instant Sato touched him, Ono's entire body collapsed like a stack of tumbling blocks—folding straight down onto his knees.
Then he toppled face-first into the muddy water.
"Squad leader!!"
Sato lurched back in shock, scrambling to crouch down and help him up. "Hey! What's wrong with you?! Don't scare me like this!"
But the moment he flipped Ono over, he recoiled so violently he stumbled back several steps and dropped onto the ground!
"AHHHHH!!!"
The scream tore through the rainy night.
"What the hell are you screaming about now?!"
Kujo had been peering through her sniper scope to observe the school interior, and the sudden shriek made her hand jolt.
But when she turned and saw Ono on the ground, her pupils seized.
What had moments ago been a perfectly intact Ono was now nothing but a white, gleaming skeleton.
His combat uniform was completely undamaged—but the flesh, organs, and blood inside…
In the span of just those few short seconds—
Had been devoured clean by something invisible.
"Alert!!"
Kujo's voice cracked as she shouted.
"There's an invisible monster! Ikeda-kun! Activate your Shield ability now!!"
But the heavy shield-bearer Ikeda, who should have been the first to step forward, was standing completely still—his entire body shaking violently.
His heavy shield and machine gun had already crashed to the ground.
"Ikeda, what are you doing?! Get the shield up!"
Kujo's panic was showing.
Ikeda slowly turned around, revealing a face carved with absolute despair and terror.
"R—run…"
"It's… it's on me…"
The group looked in horror.
The entire left half of Ikeda's body was disappearing at a visible rate before their eyes.
Raindrops landed on his exposed ribcage with a steady tap, tap.
His flesh was being torn off and swallowed in great mouthfuls—yet nothing was visible.
As though the air itself was feeding.