Chapter 4

The stench of decay in the air was so thick it almost seemed to condense into liquid. Tonight marked the peak of this zombie horde outbreak. On the circular screen of the NSCC command center, countless red dots were relentlessly devouring every inch of land outside the defensive line. Commander Reynolds stood behind me, his tactical tablet constantly flashing warning messages, each one a reminder that humanity's walls were about to crumble.

Just then, a line of appalling characters appeared in my field of vision.

[Redemption Mission Issued: Devastating violence is spreading. The host must step forward and approach the horde. Embrace the individual mutated by obsession, and with absolute love and gentleness, end this chain reaction of hatred. Mission Objective: No casualties allowed.]

"No casualties allowed?" Reynolds tilted his head, a glint of madness in his eyes. "Jack, is this thing trying to make us have a party in the middle of the horde?"

I didn't answer. I simply adjusted the collar of my combat uniform and casually patted the remote terminal on my wrist. “It’s playing a logical game, Renault. It’s testing whether humanity retains that hypocritical ‘humanity’ when on the verge of despair. Have Sarah bring out that ‘Iron Fist’ exoskeleton; we’re going to meet the ‘guest.’”

The survivors outside saw all this through the live stream. In their eyes, I was leading a heavily guarded special operations team out of the base, towards the horde of screaming, unrecognizable mutated creatures. The chat room was filled with desperate wails: “Is he insane?” “He’s throwing his life away; he’s surrendering to those monsters!”

I wore the [Troy]-class lightweight nanotech suit, the exoskeleton’s hydraulic pumps humming steadily. When the first mutated individual—a gigantic infected who was clearly some kind of gang leader in life—came into view, the surrounding space seemed to freeze instantly. The creature had a twisted spine and claws strong enough to tear through steel plates; it smelled the scent of living people and let out a piercing shriek.

"Jack, the sniper is in position. Reno can take that thing down along with the horde of zombies behind it at any moment," came the cold voice of the frontline observer through the headset.

"Stand by," I said, taking a step forward and heading straight for the monster, facing the shriek.

I could feel the system closely monitoring every fluctuation in my physiological parameters, anticipating a "reformation."

As the dust billowed from the mutant's charge, I opened my arms, looking like a martyr welcoming an old friend—at least that's what the viewers in the global live stream thought. The monster's claws drew a deadly arc in the air, striking towards my chest.

Just ten centimeters from contact, my pupils contracted slightly, and my fingertips lightly touched the overload trigger on my exoskeleton.

"Embrace, now."

[Buzz—!]

An extremely low-frequency pulse erupted instantly. The nano-armor completed its kinetic energy conversion at the point of contact, and the force, enough to tear through the armor, was folded, rebounded, and precisely struck the monster's skull. Under the extreme pressure of physical calculations, the enormous mutant in my arms, its head bursting like a ripe watermelon being crushed, instantly shattering into a shower of blood and bone fragments.

The scene froze on the live stream, incredibly impactful. I remained in that "embracing" posture, my body covered in a suffocating crimson, while the monster lay slumped to the ground as a headless corpse.

[Mission Judgment: Logic Synchronization Offset.] The system emitted a violent electrical noise. [The host has eliminated the source of disorderly tyranny, the final form of "Gentleness and Redemption." Mission Evaluation: Perfect.]

The air seemed to freeze for a second, then burst forth with dazzling data light.

[Reward Issued: [Kinetic Energy Conversion Armor System - Mass Production Configuration Diagram] Professor Sarah's voice, almost a scream, came through the communication channel: "Jack! The system has provided the full kinetic energy logic model! We can modify this pulse system into every exoskeleton! Kunlun Defense Line, we can connect the entire line into a giant voltage network!"

I

calmly wiped the bits of flesh from my face and gave the camera a cold smile.

"Mission complete," I whispered into my headset, "Tell the survivors outside that we mercifully ended the catastrophe. Now, begin the cleanup."

With my command, the automated turrets around the base lit up simultaneously, and the [Kinetic Energy Conversion Logic] extracted from the system rewards was input into the fire control system of each turret.

In an instant, the entire defense line was engulfed in a thunderous, eerie blue light. Every zombie that crashed into the line was instantly obliterated upon contact due to its body's kinetic energy instantly returning to zero and imploding. This was not just a defense line; it was an efficient crushing machine using corpses as its raw material.

Commander Raynor, gazing at the spectacular "slaughter scene," slammed his cigar to the ground. "Jack, we not only dealt with the zombie horde, we've also installed a meat grinder on this planet. Is this what you call 'redemption'?"

"No, Raynor," I said calmly, watching the rapidly building Kunlun Defense Line logic on the screen. "This is called necessary evolution."

The system continued to report errors and self-correct its logic, trying to understand why "killing" was considered "redemption." But it didn't matter. By the time it understood all this, all its computing power reserves would have already become the ladder for our civilization's ascension.