Chapter 121: Boom
"...Boom."
Munnu's eyes widened.
"RUN!"
For a single heartbeat—
Nothing happened.
Then—
The roar shook the entire tunnel.
The radio behind Persia erupted first.
A blinding flash swallowed the corridor.
BOOOOOOOM!
The explosion hurled everyone backward.
Stone shattered.
Steel beams twisted.
The reinforced tunnel split apart.
Kai felt the ground disappear beneath his feet.
His ears rang.
He couldn't hear anything.
Only a high-pitched whine.
Dust swallowed the world.
He hit the ground.
Rolled.
Tried to stand
The entire underground complex began collapsing.
"MOVE!"
Outlaws scrambled toward the exit.
Some carried the wounded.
Others dragged anyone they could reach.
Chunks of stone crashed around them.
One support beam snapped.
The ceiling caved in.
A cultist attempting to flee vanished beneath falling rock.
Another screamed before being swallowed by dust.
The experiments fared no better.
One roared defiantly—
Only to disappear beneath tons of collapsing stone.
The laboratory had become a tomb.
Kai struggled to his feet.
His vision blurred.
He searched frantically.
"Munnu!"
Through the dust—
He saw him.
Munnu had thrown himself between the explosion and his men.
One arm was gone.
His desert robes were torn apart.
Blood soaked the sand beneath him.
Yet somehow—
He was still standing.
He looked toward the surviving Outlaws.
"...Move..."
His voice barely carried.
"Don't..."
"...stop..."
Omar and Jabir rushed toward him.
"Captain!"
"No!"
Munnu drew one remaining revolver.
His hand shook violently.
He pointed it at them.
"...That's an order."
The Outlaws froze.
"...Go."
No one moved.
Munnu laughed weakly.
"...When did you idiots..."
"...start ignoring me?"
Tears mixed with the dust on Jabirs's face.
"We're not leaving you!"
"You are."
Another section of the ceiling collapsed.
The tunnel groaned.
It wouldn't last much longer.
Munnu looked toward Kai.
Their eyes met.
"You..."
Kai stumbled closer.
"...I'm sorry..."
Munnu chuckled.
"...For what?"
"I..."
Kai couldn't answer.
Munnu smiled.
"...You reminded me..."
"...that there are still good people..."
"...outside this desert."
Kai clenched his fists.
"We can still—"
"No."
Munnu cut him off.
"My legs are gone."
Only then did Kai look.
Below Munnu's waist—
Nothing remained.
Buried beneath twisted steel and shattered stone.
He hadn't been standing.
He'd been held upright by the debris itself.
Kai's heart sank.
Another rumble echoed overhead.
The ceiling cracked completely.
Munnu looked back at his people.
His family.
The Outlaws.
He smiled.
The same carefree smile he'd worn since Kai first met him.
"...You all..."
"...better survive."
Jamil saluted.
Through tears.
"We will."
Omar nodded.
"...Captain."
Munnu laughed one last time.
"...Good."
He slowly looked toward Persia.
Or what was left of him.
Another deafening crack echoed through the chamber.
Munnu's smile vanished.
"GO!!"
The Outlaws finally obeyed.
They turned.
Running toward the exit.
Dragging each other.
Supporting the wounded.
Kai hesitated.
"MOVE!"
Jabir grabbed Kai by the arm.
"We can't save him!"
Kai resisted.
For only a second.
Then—
The entire ceiling collapsed.
A wall of stone crashed between them.
The last thing Kai saw—
Was Munnu laughing.
Then—
Darkness.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The underground laboratory folded in on itself.
Centuries of hidden research.
Forgotten experiments.
Abandoned halls.
Everything disappeared beneath the desert.
Kai was thrown through the collapsing tunnel.
Stone struck his shoulder.
Another hit his back.
He rolled helplessly.
His lungs emptied.
The world spun.
Then—
The floor gave way.
Kai plunged into darkness.
Rock.
Sand.
Steel.
Everything crashed down around him.
He tried to scream.
Dust filled his mouth.
His chest tightened.
He couldn't breathe.
His vision faded.
The last thing he heard—
Was the desert itself collapsing above him.
Then—
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Darkness consumed everything.