"Director Li! We can’t hold them back!"

After placing several of his unconscious, exhausted friends onto the tanks, Zhang Qiqiang spoke. He was simultaneously controlling a thousand tanks—firing their cannons from a distance, swerving left and right, and repeatedly crushing the Skeleton Monsters at close range.

The Skeleton Monsters had already closed in. No one could hold them back anymore. The only right course of action now was to retreat.

"Let’s retreat! Director! We can’t hold them!"

"Director! Let’s pull back! If we stay alive, we can use the city’s alleyways to keep fighting them!"

"We have to retreat! My mom is still back there! I’m not a deserter! But they’re on top of us now, and the terrain is against us!"

"Director, if you don’t give the order, I’m leaving on my own! Don’t say I’m breaking discipline!"

Following Zhang Qiqiang’s words, countless players began to shout as well. Among them were many members of the Tourism Management Office. Some of them weren’t afraid to die. They were willing to fight to protect the families behind them, but getting worn down in a close-quarters battle against a dense, endless horde of Skeleton Monsters was suicide.

"Prepare to retreat!"

"Don’t panic!"

Looking at the people around him, Li Yunlong had no choice but to give the order to retreat.

"Quick, tell the people in the city responsible for the evacuation! This is beyond our predictions! Tell everyone to flee for their lives! Tell every citizen about the Undead Calamity!"

While directing the retreat of the defensive perimeter, Li Yunlong also sent a message to his colleagues in the rear. He had originally thought that with the support of a thousand tanks, Qing City’s defense against the monster tide would last a little longer. He’d hoped it would provide more valuable data for their sister cities. He’d hoped to buy enough time for the citizens to evacuate. Li Yunlong never expected that Qing City’s defensive line would be the fastest to collapse.

If not for the thousand tanks holding the front, moving at high speeds and crushing the swarming Skeleton Monsters, Qing City’s defensive line would have already been overrun. But even so, the tanks were now crawling with a dense mass of Skeleton Monsters. Many of the tanks were already out of commission!

"It’s over! Qing City is done for!"

"It’s over! Everything is gone!"

"Qing City is finished. I’ll never get to eat its sweet tofu pudding again..."

"The monster tide is too terrifying, just too terrifying! How am I supposed to survive?!"

"We’re done for! We’re done for! Who can possibly stop this monster tide?!"

As the defensive line crumbled and the personnel retreated, netizens watching the scene unfold on the livestream also cried out in alarm. Although they had already seen plenty of videos of the world-ending monster tide during the day, this was the first time most netizens had witnessed it from such a direct, first-person, on-the-ground perspective. They exclaimed at the power of the monster tide while lamenting Qing City’s fate.

"Wait a minute! Wasn’t that Defense Tower master at the Qing City airport last night? That master hasn’t shown up!"

Amidst the endless stream of comments, someone suddenly raised a question. This single question sparked a flurry of responses.

"The master was probably just passing through!"

"That master’s Defense Towers are Thunder Towers, which are single-target. They’re useless against a monster tide!"

"Maybe the master got taken out!"

"The master probably escaped on their Celestial Horse a long time ago..."

During the retreat, Zhang Qiqiang, the owner of the Grizzly Tanks, suddenly found Li Yunlong. "Director Li, what about the Mushroom Bomb? Are there any low-yield ones? Can we request Mushroom Bomb support?"

"No!" Li Yunlong replied swiftly to Zhang Qiqiang’s inquiry. "The Mushroom Bomb is too powerful! It would vaporize the citizens of Qing City along with the monsters! Even if we were to use it, we’d have to wait until most of the civilians have evacuated! Besides, according to intel from North America, deploying a Mushroom Bomb in the New World triggers a nasty chain reaction..."

"Look out!"

"Watch out above!"

"We’re done for!"

Just as he finished answering Zhang Qiqiang, a wave of panicked shouts erupted. Looking closely, they saw them on the distant horizon: a dozen massive Bone Dragons, each with a wingspan of tens of meters. They had formed a charge formation and were diving toward the crowd.

"This is bad!"

"Everyone, search for [Wang Dapang’s Livestream]!"

"Xihong City, north of Qing City, has been completely wiped out!"

"Wang Dapang is leading a giant Gluttonous Snake right toward Qing City!"

"It’s over! To make matters worse for Qing City, on top of the Undead Calamity, a super-sized Gluttonous Snake that has already devoured an entire city is heading this way!"

"It’s over! Qing City is doomed!"

"Holy shit, my city is 300 km from Qing City. Should I be packing my bags and running for my life?!"

As if the appearance of the Bone Dragons wasn’t enough, someone held out a cell phone in front of Li Yunlong and Zhang Qiqiang. The phone was displaying a livestream. On the screen, a portly man in a tank top was frantically fleeing on an electric scooter. Behind him, a massive, cylindrical creature gave chase.

Reading the comments and realizing what the thing behind Wang Dapang was, Li Yunlong’s heart sank. We’re finished!

Against the Undead Calamity, they might have stood a chance of holding out for a while by using the city’s complex architecture. But looking at that all-devouring Gluttonous Snake, the last shred of hope in Li Yunlong’s heart vanished.

According to the stream’s comments, Xihong City was already empty. A city of roughly the same size as Xihong City... Qing City won’t be able to hold out either!

"All units, retr—"

Knowing it was all over, Li Yunlong squeezed his eyes shut. He was about to give the order for everyone to flee for their lives, just so the Game Ability Users around him could survive and lend their Combat Power to Xia Country’s other cities.

But just then, a drop of rain landed on his closed eyelid.

DRIP!

DRIP!

DRIP!

Following that first drop, raindrops instantly became visible to the naked eye, materializing out of thin air. At the patter of the rain, everyone instinctively looked up. And then, they saw a clear, boundless, star-dusted night sky.

There were no clouds tonight, yet rain was falling from an empty sky!

A downpour