### Chapter 1: New Era (12)
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Due to the massive emergence of the black mist, which sends humans into a frenzy and controls them upon contact, the agents dispatched by the capital’s Special Operations Bureau were stuck at the outskirts of Ocean City, unable to make their grand entrance.
Leading the charge was a delicate-looking young man dressed in a long white trench coat. Seemingly fed up with the dull wait, Ouyang Le tossed his underlings aside and decided to dive headfirst into the black mist.
“Lord Ouyang!”
His subordinates’ shouts couldn’t even slow him down.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished from sight, leaving nothing but the endless, gloomy black mist behind.
After Lady Rong Ji’s d*ath, the sky remained thick with black mist. In fact, it had become even more chaotic, spreading outward like a grumpy cat looking for a new spot to claim territory, targeting the makeshift campsite filled with humans.
Outside the city, reinforcements were arriving one after the other. Given the enemy’s nasty characteristics, the higher-ups had ordered not just dozens of bombers but also ten entire regiments of soldiers, each equipped with flamethrowers.
They weren’t just there to eliminate the black mist; they had a vendetta against the deadly plants lurking inside the city. The Special Operations Bureau had bought them enough time, and now it was time for ordinary folks to stand up and fight to protect their homes.
With a low rumble echoing, solid incendiary bombs rained down from the sky, exploding in the center of the black mist, turning countless insect eggs into a fine, charred dust.
After several rounds of bombardment, the flamethrower-wielding soldiers in seamless protective suits began to advance on the fringes of the city.
If looked at from above, one might see spectacular flames shooting out, almost gobbling up half the night sky.
After several rounds of assaults, the black mist showed signs of backing down, retreating as if it was having an existential crisis.
It began to shrink into the city, desperately searching for new escape routes.
At this moment, not only the reinforcements from the Special Operations Bureau but the local agents too, under the direction of the second-in-command, initiated a counter-offensive against the black mist.
Their physical fitness and combat abilities were naturally superior to ordinary soldiers.
Even if some agents lacked combat skills, they still burned the black mist with borrowed flamethrowers, shooting at every spot it gathered.
Eventually, the black mist couldn’t endure the relentless counterattack from all sides. It was as if it had been hit by a neon sign reading “Game Over,” losing all collective consciousness. The remaining millions of insect eggs fell lifelessly to the ground, creating a thick layer of black snow that engulfed the city’s streets.
The initial group of people hiding in shelters waited nervously before gingerly cracking open their doors, still worrying that these black, mysterious things might worsen the situation.
But when the sounds of cheers erupted around them, they finally realized that the black mist truly was dead, unable to turn humans into mindless zombies any longer.
Cameras following the marching troops faithfully captured this scene of humanity triumphing over the black mist. Although it was just a phase victory, it marked humanity’s first successful strike back at Ocean City and was definitely worthy of some banner headlines.
In the makeshift studio set up for broadcasting, the director didn’t forget to keep feeding shots of Bureau Director Lin for the small screen.
There was a nagging feeling among people that the source of the black mist was somehow linked to the spider demon. With the spider demon’s demise, the black mist was headless, giving humans their best chance to storm the field.
As two hosts excitedly praised the human counterattack as a thrilling victory, viewers were quick to shout out indignantly,
“Get outta the way!”
“Can we not listen to these clueless hosts ramble? We want to watch Director Lin live on the big screen!”
“Seriously! The station just loves to chase trends. Can’t they just report the basics and let us bask in the glory of Director Lin’s amazing aura?”
At the urging of the crowd and the sharp drop in viewership, the station had no choice but to temporarily cut away from the hosts and refocus the spotlight on Lin Nan.
With this change, viewership ratings began to soar once more, and the station’s higher-ups let out a sigh of relief.
At that moment, they truly realized that Lin Nan had skyrocketed past her predecessors in an instant, becoming the new national idol for everyone.
While the outer troops and agents were busy wiping out the remaining black mist, Lin Nan was dashing toward the central park, with Bull Head trailing behind, using buildings for cover.
Beneath them, substantial numbers of humans were gathering, drawn in from all directions by the insect bites, and it seemed like the line never ended.
The underground bomb shelter beneath the park felt like a massive mouth, continuously swallowing these lost souls like a starving monster.
“Your Highness, we have to hurry, or we might miss our chance!”
Great King of the Split Land seemed extremely worried. As a top-tier fighter ranked just below the bodyguards on the Ji Shen side, he understood what Fu Yetian was capable of, but he wasn’t quite sure what the bl**d pool really did. However, he could feel the terrifying energy emanating from it after absorbing countless amounts of bl**d – this was no ordinary force.
“Got it,” Lin Nan replied, her steps becoming more agile.
But at that moment, a white figure suddenly appeared from the air.
“Frost Bow!”
With a shout, an arrow radiating with frigid energy fell from the sky, embedding itself into the ground.
“Boom!”
A wave of cold air, reminiscent of absolute zero from outer space, swept outwards from the point of impact.
In an instant, all the brain-dead humans piling in front of the bomb shelter were frozen solid like a bunch of icy statues.
Lin Nan raised an eyebrow, already airborne before the cold could get to her, narrowly avoiding the frosty fate.
But Great King of the Split Land was slow to react; a corner of his clothing brushed against the cold air. With just a light touch, that part turned into thousands of ice crystals, scattering to the ground.
Another arrow slammed into the ground hard.
This time, it wasn’t just about freezing – it delivered d*ath to those already turned into ice sculptures.
In terrifying real-time footage captured by the drones trailing Lin Nan, the terrifying scene unfolded: those frozen figures cracked into countless pieces, from head to toe, scattering on the ground like confetti.
The entire central park looked like a recycling center filled with failed ice sculpture attempts.
Just moments before, these were alive and breathing humans.
“Oh my gosh! What is he doing? Doesn’t he know he’s killing people?”
“Goodness… this move is beyond epic! Talk about area-of-effect destruction!”
“So terrifying… Ah! Where did this guy even come from? He lacks the warmth and reassurance we get from Director Lin!”
“Is this the new era? A world for the superpowered?”
“Eek… how scary… Will we ever be able to return to the ordinary, peaceful days?”
“Times have changed… I’m afraid we can never go back.”
