They gathered together and seemed to be discussing something.
Elric didn't bother to find out what. With a casual flick of his wrist, he activated Position Exchange, blinking out of the community gate and reappearing outside on the misty street that led toward Sam's Supermarket.
At that same moment, inside the supermarket—panic was brewing.
Sam's Supermarket, once bustling with life, was now a fortress of desperation. The thick, reinforced glass doors and the mountains of canned food stacked near the entrance had kept more than a hundred survivors alive for several days. In a city swallowed by chaos, they had been among the lucky few.
But today, that luck was running out.
Just beyond the shattered parking lot, a monstrous centipede—over ten meters long—dragged its gleaming armored body through the debris. Its eyes glowed an eerie green, and every step it took left a deep gouge in the asphalt. The creature had already torn through several nearby buildings, each one followed by screams and the dull crunch of collapsing walls.
"Ahhhh!"
"It's coming this way!"
"God, that thing will smash through the glass! What do we do?!"
The panic spread like wildfire. People clutched each other, trembling. They were office workers, students, and self-proclaimed "elites" who once looked down on chaos from their city-view apartments. Now, all they could do was cry.
"Wait! Don't we still have the police officers here?" a man shouted suddenly.
He was a skinny man in a hoodie and thick glasses—known among the survivors as Tiger, a small-time livestreamer who made a name online by spouting half-baked conspiracy theories.
He jabbed a finger toward the corner of the supermarket, where three uniformed police officers were resting—two men and a woman.
"That's right! They're cops! They're supposed to protect us!"
"Yeah, Officer Rachel, do something! You can't just stand there!"
"The government pays you for this!"
One by one, voices rose, all demanding the same thing—self-preservation.
Officer Rachel, the female captain, winced as she stood up. Her uniform was torn at the shoulder, and a streak of dried blood marked her sleeve. Behind her, the two male officers leaned against the wall, pale-faced and exhausted. They had been injured the day before while defending this very group.
Now, those same people were pushing them toward certain death.
"Please," Officer Rachel said quietly, her voice calm but trembling. "All three of us are hurt. If we go out there, it won't save anyone. We'll just die."
But her words fell on deaf ears.
"Die? Then what's the point of you being here?" Tiger sneered. "We're the taxpayers! You're supposed to protect us, not hide like cowards! If you don't go, I swear I'll record this and post it online the moment we get a signal!"
Murmurs of agreement followed.
"Yes! She's right!"
"Do your job, officer!"
"Don't think you can slack off just because the world's ending!"
Amid the mob of angry faces, one girl stepped forward, trembling but defiant.
She wore a frilly Lolita-style dress, now torn and dusty, and her right ankle was wrapped in bandages. Her name was Lily Monroe—known to thousands online as a cheerful cosplay dancer before the world fell apart.
"Stop it!" Lily shouted, voice cracking but loud enough to draw every eye. "They saved me! Yesterday, those three officers risked their lives to protect me when a group of thugs tried to drag me away! You want them to die for you too?!"
Her words hit like a whip, but the crowd didn't quiet down.
Tiger scowled, stepping closer. "Oh, please. You think anyone cares? You were just lucky they found you before the monsters did. Now we need them to do their job. Or would you rather you go out there instead?"
Lily's face went pale. She took a step back, clutching her injured leg.
Officer Rachel clenched her jaw, glaring at the man. "Enough. If anyone tries to push us out there, I'll shoot."
But outside, the centipede let out a shrill hiss—a sound like metal grinding against metal—and slammed its claws into the pavement. The ground shook. Cracks spread through the parking lot.
And the glass door of Sam's Supermarket began to tremble.
Inside, the survivors screamed again.
Just a few streets away, Elric stopped walking. His expression sharpened.
Through clairvoyance, he had already seen the chaos inside the supermarket—the terrified crowd, the cornered officers, and that enormous centipede preparing to strike.
He sighed. "Tch… I was just coming here for supplies."
Then, gripping the 1.5-meter blade he'd taken from Olivia, Elric's body blurred—
—and in the next instant, he disappeared from the street.
A moment later, a flash of red light split the fog near the supermarket doors.
.....
If not for them, this supermarket would have been overrun by thugs yesterday.
Those same thugs would have torn through the place, and every single "elite" hiding inside would already be dead.
Yet now, despite the officers being injured, these ungrateful survivors dared to push them out to die.
It was infuriating.
"Why? You still want to point a gun at civilians?" Tiger sneered, shoving his phone closer to their faces. "Is THIS the style of American law enforcement? Huh?"
His voice dripped with fake righteousness—he knew this was his moment to play hero for his nonexistent fanbase.
But right then—
CRACK!!
A sharp, chilling sound split the air.
Everyone froze and whipped their heads toward the entrance.
The enormous centipede—its chitinous armor gleaming, its mandibles clacking—had rammed its head straight into the reinforced glass doors.
The surface exploded into a spiderweb of fractures.
It didn't shatter, thanks to thick U.S.-grade tempered glass…
but it wouldn't hold long.
One or two more hits, and the entrance would crumble.
"It's over… it's over… we're dead, we're dead—"
"I knew it! Useless cops!!"
Tiger's legs were shaking so badly he nearly tripped, but he still found the audacity to curse the very people trying to protect them.
"If you don't go out there, we all die anyway!" he screamed.
At that moment, the female police captain—Captain Rachel, cold, sharp, beautiful in a way that made people instinctively straighten up—finally spoke.
Her gaze froze Tiger in place.
"We'll go out," Rachel said, voice low and icy. "But not for you."
She stepped forward, gripping her pistol.
Her expression didn't change, but her tone was sharp enough to cut steel.
"We're doing it to survive. If we make it back alive—
we will settle accounts."
The crowd shrank back.
Even Tiger flinched, muttering a tiny, cowardly, "Tch," under his breath.
Rachel ignored him.
"Let's move," she ordered quietly.
Her two officers nodded, drawing their pistols despite their injuries.
They pushed through the emergency lock and burst outside—
BA-BA-BA-BANG!!
A rain of bullets slammed into the centipede's head and thorax.
The monster recoiled slightly, hissing, its green eyes narrowing.
Thin lines of blood streaked its armor.
But the damage was minor.
Insignificant.
And the centipede only grew angrier.
It screeched—an ear-piercing metallic shriek—raising its massive mandibles to tear all three officers apart.
Rachel's jaw clenched.
Cold mist swirled around her palms.
Then—
FWOOOOSH!
Two gleaming ice spears materialized beside her, sharp as surgical steel.
Yes—Rachelwas a superhuman too.
She'd gained her power days ago after eating a strange glowing fruit during a patrol. Since then, she and her team had survived only due to her frost abilities.
Her eyes sharpened.
"Go to hell."
SHUNK—!!
Both ice spears shot forward, piercing the centipede's head and pinning it against a concrete pillar. The entire creature spasmed violently.
"Finally…"
Rachel exhaled, a rare smile flickering across her frozen expression.
Her officers sagged with relief.
But—
GURRRGL—GURRRGLL—!!
Wet, bubbling sounds erupted from the monster's body.
Rachel's heart dropped.
The pinned centipede began…
regenerating.
Right before their eyes, its torn head split, reshaped…
and a brand new one grew out, fresh mandibles snapping in the air.
A chill ran down Rachel's spine.
"RUN—!!" she shouted.
"This one isn't like the others!! It's regenerating—!!"
There is 50 chapter Advance, in my patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
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