Chapter 9: The Steel Bridge
The morning air atop the Jade Emperor Tower was thin and bitingly cold. Han Chen stood on the jagged edge of a shattered helipad, looking across the two-hundred-meter gap of churning, white-capped water to the neighboring spire: the Sears Executive Tower.
While Han's tower had been a residential and commercial hub, the Sears Tower had been a fortress of corporate R&D. It was rumored to hold the remains of experimental bio-labs—and the terrifying things they had birthed before the floods came.
[MISSION: BRIDGE THE ABYSS]
[OBJECTIVE: Capture the Sears Tower and eliminate the 'Rare Mutant' guarding the laboratory levels.]
[POTENTIAL REWARD: SYSTEM_EXP_2000 | BIOLOGY_TECH_TREE UNLOCKED]
"The crossing is suicide," Lin Mei said, stepping up beside him. She was dressed in the Silk-Steel garments Han had bought from the shop; the black material hugged every curve of her toned body, shimmering like oil.
Han glanced at her. Her loyalty had stabilized, but there was still a spark of the proud commander in her eyes. He liked that. Breaking a proud woman was far more rewarding than owning a weak one.
"Not with the power I have now," Han said. He looked back at Su Lan, who was hovering near the doorway, looking pale but radiant. Her emerald eyes followed Han with a shimmering, obsessive intensity—the Sacred\ Bond had turned her into a woman who lived only for his gaze.
"Su Lan, stay here," Han commanded. "Use the Hydro-Farm to feed the refugees at the gate. Give them enough to hope, but not enough to be full. I want them hungry for my favor."
"Yes, my King," she whispered, bowing low, the movement causing her robe to slip and reveal the faint, glowing mark Han had left on her collarbone.
The Crossing
Han turned back to the gap. He raised his hands, and the Hydro-Kinesis skill roared to life.
The seawater below began to churn and rise. It didn't just splash; it spiraled upward in two massive, frozen pillars of brine. Han manipulated the density, forcing the mana from his own body into the liquid until it crystallized into a bridge of solid, translucent ice connecting the two skyscrapers.
"Move," Han ordered.
As they crossed the bridge, the wind howled, trying to tear them into the abyss. Beneath the ice, Han could see the dark shapes of Leviathans—monsters the size of submarines—waiting for them to fall.
The Sears Tower: Level 140
They stepped onto the balcony of the Sears Tower. Unlike Han's home, this place was silent. The walls were coated in a thick, pulsating violet moss that smelled of copper and ozone.
[WARNING: HIGH-LEVEL MUTAGENIC RADIANCE DETECTED.]
[TARGET LOCATED: THE 'PHASE-SHIFTER' (RARE MUTANT - LEVEL 30)]
"Something is wrong," Lin Mei whispered, her laser-blade humming as she drew it. "The walls... they're breathing."
She was right. The violet moss wasn't plant life; it was a nervous system. As they moved deeper into the lobby, the moss began to glow.
"Stay behind me, Mei," Han growled, his muscles tensing. "The system says this thing can phase through solid matter. Don't trust your eyes."
Suddenly, the air behind Lin Mei shimmered. A creature that looked like a humanoid glass sculpture, with long, scythe-like arms and no face, emerged directly out of the wall. It moved with a terrifying, silent speed, its blade aiming for Lin Mei's throat.
"Mei! Down!"
Han didn't use a weapon. He threw himself forward, his Strength allowing him to tackle the commander out of the way just as the "glass" blade sliced through the air where her head had been.
They tumbled across the floor, Han pinning her beneath him in the heat of the moment. Even with a monster in the room, the proximity sent a jolt of electricity through them both.
"Focus," Han hissed into her ear, his hand gripping her waist firmly before he sprung back up to face the invisible killer. "This one is worth a lot of points. I'm going to tear its heart out, and then I'm going to show you exactly how a King rewards his favorite general."
Lin Mei's breath hitched, her face flushing even as she stood and leveled her blade. The hunt was on.
Progress Report
* Location: Sears Tower - Laboratory Entrance.
* Enemy: Phase-Shifter (Level 30 - Rare).
* Current Mood: High tension, slow-burn psychological dominance.