Chapter Eighty-Seven: Madness

“I want to know what the hell is going on!!”

His hand slammed down hard on the table. With a dark expression, Monks glared viciously at the federal officers before him. Faced with his roar, the officers did not even dare breathe too loudly; they simply lowered their heads, staring at the floor, uncertain and afraid to speak.

“Why the hell are none of you saying anything? Have you all gone mute?”

Monks rose to his feet and bellowed furiously at the officers in front of him. By now, the bearing of the Federation’s supreme commander had long since vanished; he looked almost like a savage wolf.

No wonder Monks had lost his composure. In just a few days, seven or eight of the Federation’s settlements had come under attack, suffering heavy losses. The overwhelming power of the advanced ability users had erupted in full, battering the Federation until it could scarcely draw breath. Their prized heavy firepower and mechanized forces were rendered virtually nonexistent before the Seven Great Ones—Queen, Butcher, Sailor, and the others. Machine guns, tanks, armored helicopters—such weapons were as useless as paper against those ability users. With every raid, they broke through the Federation’s defenses in the shortest possible time, then stormed into the settlements to plunder supplies and people. It left Monks seething with rage.

But none of that compared to the destruction of Base Zero.

In fact, when Monks learned that Base Zero had been completely annihilated, it was as though all the strength had been drained from his body; he nearly collapsed into his chair and could not stand again. Perhaps to most people in the Federation, Base Zero was nothing more than a reserve research facility. But only a tiny handful of the Federation’s upper echelon, including Monks, knew that without Base Zero, there would be nothing the Federation possessed today. The reason they had reached this point at all was entirely due to the support of a mysterious power. And the foundation of their cooperation with that mysterious power was Base Zero.

Yet what Monks had never imagined, not even in his wildest dreams, was that without any warning at all, Base Zero had actually fallen. Even the most important researchers inside had been wiped out to the last man.

It was over. Everything was over.

Monks let out a long sigh. Ignoring the trembling officers, he sat back in his chair with a dispirited expression. After that, the mysterious power never contacted him again. It seemed he had been utterly abandoned, which also meant that from now on, the Federation could only rely on itself. They could no longer obtain further material or manpower support from that mysterious force...

But under the present circumstances, could the Federation even hold out?

District Nine had gone mad, launching attack after attack against the Federation’s affiliated settlements, while they themselves had no power to strike back at all. All Monks could do was order his elite troops to defend the important strongholds. At the very least, the Federation’s headquarters could not be lost. As long as headquarters remained, they would still have a chance to make a comeback.

“How bad is the situation now?”

At last, Monks forced down his anger and asked the question. Hearing this, the officers exchanged looks. In the end, one federal officer cautiously stepped forward and replied in a low voice.

“The situation is very bad, sir. In fact, soldiers have been deserting every day... Even after tightening security, it hasn’t helped much...”

“Humph. Deserters.”

Monks gave a cold snort at the answer.

“Have they forgotten that their families are still in our hands?”

“That...”

The officer looked troubled. After hesitating for a moment, he continued.

“Those who ran away were, in fact, mostly soldiers from outside the region...”

“Hm? What do you mean by that?”

Only then did Monks realize the situation seemed different from what he had imagined. He lifted his head and fixed the officer with a hard stare. Soldiers fleeing was not unexpected; the Federation had always had deserters. But a mass exodus in such a short time, and all of them outsiders—this was strange. Those from elsewhere had never had much loyalty to begin with, so one or two running away could be explained. But such a large-scale flight made it impossible to claim there was no problem.

“Was someone stirring things up?”

That was the most direct explanation Monks could think of, but... the facts did not seem to support it.

“It’s like this, sir...”

Faced with the Federation commander’s inquiry, the officer hesitated again before finally speaking haltingly.

“They said... they were afraid the Federation would be dragged down with them...”

“If you have something to say, say it. If you have a fart, let it out!”

Seeing his subordinate speak so evasively only made Monks more furious. He raised his pistol directly. With a sharp crack, a bullet grazed the unfortunate officer’s cheek and struck the wall behind him, startling everyone present. The officer in question went pale, his legs shaking so violently he nearly dropped to his knees. At this point he no longer dared hide anything and hurriedly blurted out the rest in one breath.

“You’re right, sir. There really were rumors spreading among the soldiers, saying that our Federation had been put on the Doctor’s treatment list... and then... then panic started spreading through the ranks. At first only a few soldiers fled, but after news came back from the front a few days ago... the number of deserters suddenly shot up...”

“A few days ago?”

Hearing this, Monks frowned again, as though he wanted to say something—but then he reached out, quickly pulled up the report he had just seen, scanned it from top to bottom, and his brow tightened further.

“What is this supposed to mean?”

He had been too furious to notice before, but now that he had calmed down and examined the report carefully, he realized the wording inside was highly unusual. It said that seven settlements had come under attack, four of them destroyed, and three settlements—eliminated?

What kind of strange wording was that? Why separate them?

“It’s like this...”

This time the officer no longer dared hesitate. He immediately began reporting.

“According to our investigation, the matter is indeed somewhat strange. Just as you saw in the report, four of the settlements were attacked by District Nine and destroyed, with most of the people killed or captured. At least a few survivors managed to flee back. But those three settlements... no one came back alive.”

“What do you mean, no one came back alive?”

The words were simple enough to understand, yet Monks’s mind stubbornly refused to grasp their meaning.

“I mean exactly that, sir. Those three settlements... not a single living witness remained. Everyone died. Everyone was dead. Dead, dead, dead—”

Before the federal officer could finish, another gunshot rang out. The bullet tore through his thigh, and the unlucky man collapsed to the ground with a scream, clutching his leg and howling in pain. Monks stood over him with the pistol raised, staring down at him coldly.

“Say that again? All dead? How is that possible? Are you an idiot? Do you think they were so stupid they would just stand there and get killed without trying to run?”

“But there really wasn’t anyone left, sir!! Our dispatch team went to verify identities. Everyone was dead! No one escaped, truly no one escaped! Everyone was dead!! Everyone!!”

By now the federal officer was shouting himself hoarse. He had personally led the team to inspect the settlements, and that nightmare scene still haunted him. Like Monks, he could not believe that everyone in an entire settlement had died. Surely there should have been one or two survivors left. And yet, after searching the settlements, they had discovered in despair that everyone was dead—no living soul had been left behind. In the entire settlement, apart from corpses, there was nothing else.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”

Hearing the officer’s cries, Monks became even more agitated. He lifted the pistol and fired several more shots. The officer’s screams grew louder still. Perhaps it was the pain, perhaps it was the knowledge that he was already beyond saving—but in the end, he simply gave up.

“Even if you kill me, it won’t matter, Monks! They’re all dead! And there was a bright red cross painted outside those settlements! According to the soldiers who ran, that was the Doctor’s mark! Hahahaha, I’m going to die, and you’re all going to be finished too. The entire Federation is finished! Everyone’s going to be wiped out by the Doctor. Kill me if you want, you’ll be wiped out sooner or later just like the rest of them!! Turned into a pile of mangled flesh! Like the Federation—every one of you should go die!!”

Bang!

A spray of blood burst into the air. The federal officer who had been raving moments before jerked backward and collapsed lifelessly to the floor. No movement remained.

The others stared at the corpse before them and instinctively retreated several steps, pressing themselves against the wall and scarcely daring to breathe. They did not know whether it was due to Monks’s ferocity or the strangely liberated smile on their colleague’s face just before death.

After killing the officer, Monks sat back down again, breathing heavily. Then a trace of mad, cold laughter appeared on his face.

“The Doctor... heh heh heh... the Doctor... Doctor, very good. Very good. So you’re skilled at killing, are you? Then let me see just how skilled you really are. All of you listen to me!!”

“Yes!”

At Monks’s voice, the remaining few straightened at once and answered loudly.

“Immediately send people to search for the Doctor’s whereabouts. Find him! Find him at any cost! I want to see what he’s capable of! If one hundred isn’t enough, send a thousand. If a thousand isn’t enough, send ten thousand! I refuse to believe he can actually wipe out every single person in the Federation!!”

“Yes...”

Looking at the twisted expression on Monks’s face, the officers all broke into a cold sweat and quickly withdrew.

Monks gave a snort and closed his eyes. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

The Federation was finished. But it could not end like this.

Even if he had to die, he would drag others down with him.