Chapter 58: No Survivors

After Little Bird’s words, everyone fell silent.

That was right.
The Shanling Squad’s captain was extremely powerful—the chief among SS-rank Exterminators, arguably the strongest combatant.

But for that very reason, the squad members were unwilling to let such a senior sacrifice himself on the battlefield.
What’s more, the captain also deeply loved his family, even hiding the secret of his identity as an Exterminator so as not to cause them any worry.

Although Su Mu Zhe almost never spoke of it, they all knew that he had a younger sister living in a safe city.

She surely wouldn’t want her brother to never return.

The meaning behind High Command’s order for the Shanling Squad to cover the rear was self-evident.

It was a heavy responsibility that only they could shoulder, but it also meant endless danger.
Su Mu Zhe was unwilling to let his close-knit teammates go to their deaths.
If someone had to be sacrificed, he was willing to hold up the sky for humanity with his own strength.

When the sky collapses, it is the tallest who hold it up first.

After all, he was an SS-rank Exterminator.

And the task of engaging multiple Legion Commander-rank Bloodkin to buy time was something only he could accomplish.

The air fell into a deathly silence, and everyone’s expression became solemn.

During this lull, a little girl who had been staying in a corner walked out from the shadows.

Her code name was [Bubble].
She was a very quiet girl.
One of the eyes on her delicate face was covered by a bandage.
She had once explained to others that this eye was not injured but concealed a great power, and its seal could not be easily undone.

Everyone had just treated it as her cute, chuunibyou-like remarks and had been especially fond of her.

But she had always been quiet and unassuming, so much so that her presence was faint.
At this moment, she slowly walked out of the shadows and said softly to Su Mu Zhe:

“Captain, let me stay.”

“Everyone can go together.”
“If someone must take the captain’s place, I am the only one who can do it.”

“No.”
Su Mu Zhe refused outright, without a second thought.

He shot to his feet, his hand on the hilt of his sword, his gaze like a torch, and commanded in a clear voice: “Shanling Squad, all members, listen to my order!”
“Retreat with the main forces and prepare to cover the rear.”
“The Exterminator code-named Shanling will hold off the next wave of the Bloodkin assault!”

And Shanling, was himself.

“Captain, are you serious?”

Upon hearing the order, Silly Sweetie’s expression changed instantly.
She threw her arms around Su Mu Zhe’s neck and cried out, “No way!”
“Captain, let’s go together!”
“Aren’t we a team!?”

The others all voiced the same opinion.

But the command in Su Mu Zhe’s voice was resolute.
He answered again:

“You’re too weak.”
“You still need to become stronger.”
“This is not your end.”
“You are the hope of humanity’s Exterminators.”
“Go back, regroup, and fight the Bloodkin to the death another day.”

His gaze remained locked on the distance.
His superhuman vision allowed him to see several terrifying auras of blood mist approaching.
The leaders of the vampire legions, in their various attires, possessed overwhelming auras.

If everyone stayed, they would only be completely wiped out.

He didn’t want his squad members to die, because he felt for them as if they were his own family.

“Sheffield, lead everyone away.”
“While I’m gone, you are the captain of the Shanling Squad.”

“No, I don’t want to be any captain.”
The man code-named Sheffield stepped out from the crowd, his hand on his longsword, his tone cold and hard.
“You’d better come back alive.”
“I won’t clean up any of your messes.”

After that, under orders, all the squad members had no choice but to retreat together.

On the battlefield, only Shanling remained.
He placed his hand on the sheathe at his waist and slowly closed his eyes, listening to the howling wind in his ears, awaiting the sounds of battle from afar.

One man became an army, guarding the pass to the death.

In the distance, the vast Bloodkin army was approaching, with billowing smoke and rolling thunder.

However, in this battle.

Su Mu Zhe could not have predicted that the Progenitor-rank Bloodkin rumored to have arrived on the Red Lotus Deep Area battlefield would actually be the First Progenitor, Edith.
Even though he had exhausted all his strength to repel the six Bloodkin Legion Commanders, he was still defeated at Edith’s hands.

That was the strongest… no, the pinnacle of the strongest.

The Bloodkin Emperor who reigned above all else.

With a broken and battered body, he tried his best to escape, but collapsed among a pile of rubble.

The Shanling Squad, covering the rear, engaged the pursuing Bloodkin army in a world-shaking, bloody battle, successfully allowing the human forces to preserve their strength and retreat.

But in the end, they too paid with their lives.

The Human Exterminator Army’s Shanling Squad.

In the end, there were no survivors.