Boom!
A clear trajectory was traced across the sea of clouds. As the parted cloud layers slowly drifted apart, the commander felt this was probably the most fantastical experience of his life.
They were approaching East Continent Island at Mach 5, or even faster. Every time the location signal blinked on the tactical tablet, it appeared at a much greater distance.
Moreover, Roy's speed was still increasing.
____
East Continent Island
The familiar sight of apocalypse-like ruins was absent. Every survivor who reached East Continent Island found it almost unbelievable. Here, skyscrapers rose thickly, and traffic flowed freely. The modernization and prosperity were completely indistinguishable from before the apocalypse.
The outer periphery of the island was defended by a five-meter-high steel wall, enough to block any sea-faring Zombies. Surveillance cameras were placed at regular intervals on the wall, monitoring all surrounding areas without blind spots. Behind the steel wall was a large buffer zone, and further inside were standard armed facilities.
East Continent Island had complete production chains for everything, from food to military hardware. Based on this environment and these conditions, there were over 10 million people living on the island!
East Continent Island was not a nation but a colossal, well-organized enterprise or corporation. There was no king, no president, and no leader, only a Board of Directors.
The large board consisted of dozens of Directors, all leaders and elites from various industries. Their presence ensured the stable operation of East Continent Island.
Inside the headquarters building, the Board members were holding a meeting when a subordinate rushed in anxiously, directly piping the special forces team's urgent report into the conference.
In the emergency report, the burly man's voice echoed through the room.
"Directors, there's no time. I'll keep it brief. A target suspected to be a New Human is heading toward East Continent Island! You must prepare for battle!"
The Chairman, sitting in the main seat of the conference room, frowned, saying: "Report clearly. What do you mean 'suspect New Human'? It's just a New Human. Does this warrant an emergency report of this level?"
Bang!
At that moment, an officer directly burst into the conference room, the door slamming against the wall. The officer frantically reported: "Chairman, radar has detected a supersonic target approaching East Continent Island!"
"That's him!"
The burly man immediately shouted hoarsely, alerting the Board: "That's not a missile or anything! That's that New Human! He's flying towards you! The commander's location signal has been following him the whole time!"
______
East Continent Island Defense Headquarters
"Minister, there's no time to wait for the Board's reply! The target is about to reach East Continent Island!"
"Don't wait. Shoot it down!"
"Yes, sir!"
The Minister decisively gave the order.
Immediately, missiles, awaiting orders, instantly ignited and soared into the sky. Trailing orange flames and white smoke, they stabbed toward the heavens, flying toward the target on the radar.
However, let alone approaching the target, all intercepting missiles were mysteriously destroyed dozens of kilometers away. The Defense Department could only watch helplessly as the target breached their aerial defense line and plunged straight into East Continent Island. Only after the target came into view and stopped did the Defense personnel realize with astonishment that this was not a supersonic missile, but a person—no, to be precise, two people.
"People?"
The Minister thought he was seeing things. Looking at the footage captured by the cameras, he found it hard to believe. Had those two people just flown at supersonic speeds?
What kind of joke was this?!
Roy's figure slowly descended, standing in the air outside the headquarters building. The commander looked dazed, feeling his soul was still miles behind, struggling to catch up.
"This welcome ceremony is quite lively."
Roy gently raised his hand. The entire headquarters building, along with the dozens of underground floors, was uprooted and lifted into the air.
The commander felt no surprise, having just witnessed a grander scene. Such a small spectacle couldn't shake him anymore in the short term.
The Board of Directors was in a state of confusion the entire time. Before the special forces report could be made clear, Roy had already raided their main base.
The island residents below witnessed this magnificent spectacle for the first time and were in utter chaos. Roy sensed a bit more; all the glass on a certain floor of the headquarters building shattered, and over a dozen Board members were pulled into mid-air, screaming and wetting themselves in terror. Roy gave them ample time to calm their emotions.
Only after a moment did he speak.
"Gentlemen, I originally planned to meet you politely, but I thought that if I displayed a bit of muscle first, the next things would be much easier to discuss."
The Chairman, having weathered storms before, managed to quickly regain his composure, despite the undeniably unprecedented nature of the scene: "What do you want?"
"Simple."
Roy got straight to the point: "Tell me the truth about the apocalypse and the Zombie microbes."
"Alright."
The Chairman nodded readily and smoothly. However, the truth was somewhat different from Roy's guess. The high-level officials of East Continent Island did indeed know the truth of the apocalypse, but they were neither the black hand behind it nor the direct cause.
Only a few days had passed in the five-year main mission timeframe, yet Roy had just used his cheat-like speed to fast-track most of the progress. With the Board's disclosure, he finally learned the truth of the apocalypse.
Twenty years ago, a meteorite from outer space fell onto this planet. Research found that this meteorite carried a certain special substance.
This special substance could surprisingly enhance the functions of the human body and even cause humans to evolve abilities like telekinesis. This was undoubtedly a major discovery.
To research and develop this substance, capitalists from various nations jointly established a scientific research organization. Some high-level officials on East Continent Island were once members of this organization.
This special substance was the root of everything. Although it could enhance the human body, it was extremely unstable and would cause uncertain mutations in the human body.
"This is that special substance."
A tube of yellow liquid was displayed on a screen. The Chairman took out sealed documents and materials to show Roy, while recalling the events that transpired.
"Regardless, the research was always ongoing, from initial animal testing to subsequent volunteer human testing. The problem arose during this stage."
The special substance caused uncertain genetic mutations in living organisms. This had always been a considerable dilemma for researchers. However, they never anticipated that the consequences would be so severe and irreversible.
The researchers were very rigorous; unable to solve the genetic mutation problem, they could not proceed with human testing. But with the research stalled, the invested capital couldn't yield returns. Major investors began to withdraw funds, forcing the experiment leaders to become increasingly radical.
"We absolutely had to produce research results to prove the value of our work."