Unholy Player

While chaos was unfolding across every Shelter City, an aged man with black hair streaked clearly with white stood in a dark room before 13 screens. His back was straight, eyes focused, and brows furrowed.

Twelve of the screens showed the worn faces of elderly men, and the thirteenth was currently playing the massacre scene involving Adyr.

The man standing before the screens, showing absolute respect in his demeanor toward them, was Henry Bates. All twelve screens were displaying video calls with the City Managers of the twelve Shelter Cities.

"Sir, with all due respect, the situation has spiraled out of control," Henry Bates said, bowing his head respectfully.

Since Adyr began mowing down the mutant army, those watching the live broadcast started showing strange symptoms. Reports kept coming in—people fainting suddenly, some collapsing with heart attacks, and even deaths.

And these were not small numbers. Just in Shelter City 9, the death toll had already passed a thousand.

Unable to bear it, Henry raised his head and looked at the faces of the elderly men and women before him. Each was a founder of one of the twelve cities that had survived the apocalypse. They were nearing 300 years of age.

Even with the advanced mutant genes coursing through their bodies, they looked like dry branches—aged and fragile, dependent on machines just to breathe. Yet in their eyes burned an unyielding stubbornness, a refusal to die.

Alongside that, fear was visible on their faces, their bodies trembling slightly. It was clear that Adyr’s combination of Presence and Malice was affecting them deeply.

After several long seconds of silence, Henry couldn’t take the pressure anymore and opened his mouth. "We need to cut the broadcast now—before the damage becomes irreversible."

Henry was deeply concerned. He was the one who had assigned Adyr the mission to stop the mutant assault—but the order hadn’t been his alone. The City Manager had directly instructed him to do so.

Of course, he hadn’t anticipated an outcome like this. Had he known, he would’ve opposed the order without hesitation. But now, there was nothing he could do—except plead with the twelve City Managers to shut the broadcast down.