Beyond the Zenith

The strange, shrill screeches pierced the black night sky. Although unmistakably produced by human vocal cords, the shriek itself resembled an unholy beast and was instinctively unsettling to hear.

Combined with their half-silhouettes perched above the ridgeline of black roof tiles, one name came naturally to Han Qingyu’s mind—ape-men.

Modified humans.

If this was one area where Snow Lotus was ahead of the Azure Coalition, it was better not to catch up. The Azure Coalition was an enormous organization, and if they ever pushed in that direction, it wouldn’t be the planet at risk, but the human species itself. Or rather, humanity.

Some floodgates, once opened, could never be closed again. Like the devil’s temptation, impossible to resist, the final result would be a world ruled by devils.

There wouldn’t be anything worth protecting left at that point.

In truth, precisely because of its vast scale, the Azure Coalition historically had both scientists wanting to experiment in this direction and people supporting them. The human body was not well-suited for hand-to-hand combat. It was fragile, lacked explosive power, and had nearly all its vital weaknesses exposed. There was no arguing with that.

This was where the Coalition’s principles and ideals, the very ones so often criticized as rigid, proved their worth. The Coalition’s cautious vigilance and self-restraint made it simultaneously progressive yet conservative.

The mainstream consensus had therefore been upheld for nearly a hundred years.

For example, the real reason Shen Fengting had been “encouraged to retire” was not that he had spent a large quantity of dead iron and dismantled several maneuvering devices, but because he had released a few lunatics from the human modification faction without permission. This crossed a sacred line for the Coalition.

Fortunately, Shen Yixiu’s case was not ultimately ruled as a product of human modification. After intense debate, the Coalition’s Scientific Council defined her condition as “similar in nature to implanting a cardiac stent, only on a much larger scale.”

Her subsequent growth in mind, body, and spirit had proven that assessment correct. There was also the fact that they hadn’t been able to replicate the same results.

“Tear them apart. Hm, except for that one. Take it slow with him. Better yet, bring him back for experimentation,” ordered the pudgy middle-aged man referred to as Mr. Zhu.

Two ape-men launched themselves into the air with a sharp screech and leaped toward the ground.

“You’re courting death!” He Tangtang stepped forward with his blade raised, tracked the arc of the ape-man’s leap to where it couldn’t twist away, and swung.

The ape-man curled its body midair, changing direction with impossible agility and dodging the blade. With a quick swipe of its iron claws, it left three bloody gashes across He Tangtang’s upper back.

The other ape-man facing Han Qingyu performed an equally unbelievable maneuver, arching its back and kicking off to slip clean between his twin blades. Its iron claws latched onto Han Qingyu’s shoulder and raked downward along his arm.

Blood gushed from Han Qingyu’s left arm.

“They’re fast as hell!” He Tangtang exclaimed.

The two of them fell back, closing ranks around Liu Shiheng.

Han Qingyu nodded. “Yeah.”

The goal of the ape-men’s physical modifications was apparent at a glance. They had obviously been built for agility. Han Qingyu had expected them to be fast, but not this fast.

It wasn’t just a matter of raw speed. Their ability to change directions and perform maneuvers midair was the truly staggering part and the hardest to counter.

“At least their strikes aren’t that strong,” Han Qingyu said, tilting his head to check the wound on his arm. It wasn’t deep, and it wouldn’t impair his ability to fight for the time being.

“Yeah, I’m fine too. But all we can do in a fight like this is take hits and wait.” He Tangtang spat on the ground. “It’s annoying as hell.”

Han Qingyu nodded and said quietly, “If this drags on, remember to swap out your energy core when you get a chance.”

***

Meanwhile, at a classified Mission Information Control Center in the Ninth Army’s combat training base, a communications soldier worriedly turned to Qi Shantong. “It’ll take some time before our people arrive. Do you think they’ll...”

“Think they’ll what? This guy’s supposed to be a once-in-a-decade or even a once-in-two-decades talent.” Qi Shantong stood up, stretched his back and shoulders, and cracked his neck a few times. “If he can’t even escape a small Wiper outpost, it’s not that big of a loss.”

The Coalition’s soldiers weren’t like those in the research division. Even geniuses had to be forged on the battlefield. Sheltered prodigies fed energy cores in a greenhouse would never become soldiers fit for combat.

It was all too common for soldiers in A-rank or even A+ to fade into obscurity.

“Escape?” the soldier repeated in bewilderment, catching the key word in Qi Shantong’s response. “He went in there with his people. How’s he supposed to just escape?”

“Exactly. That’s the whole point.” Qi Shantong nodded, a dark look in his eyes. “There are only two paths for a soldier’s rapid growth. Either fighting alongside brothers in a battle to the death, or watching brothers die.”

***

Back on the street, all four ape-men had now joined the attack. They leaped and darted ceaselessly between the roof and ground, striking and retreating, then lunging forward again.

Their hideous shrieks filled the street.

Facing them was like standing in the middle of a locust swarm. It was that overwhelming feeling of being attacked from every direction at once. The difference was that these things could wound and kill.

Liu Shiheng spun around just in time to take a set of iron claws to the back.

Even with Han Qingyu and He Tangtang’s best efforts, there was no way to block all the hits aimed at him.

This was about the third time the ape-men had gotten a strike in. Blood soaked through Liu Shiheng’s back.

“Damn... feels kind of good, actually,” he hissed through the pain, an inexplicable grin stretching across his face. “I used to know a girl at a nightclub. She had long fingernails. Every time we went at it, she’d scratch the hell out of my back.”

That was a rather unpleasant comparison.

“You need to swing your blade,” Han Qingyu said quietly.

Liu Shiheng gripped his blade tighter and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Time it right. Swing at me.”

“What?” Liu Shiheng paused, taken aback. “Got it. But I—”

Before he could finish, another ape-man was already lunging at Han Qingyu with a piercing cry.

Han Qingyu brought both blades to bear. One slashed horizontally, the other chopped down.

The ape-man curled up to dodge, then kicked off midair, using the momentum to vault over to his back.

Liu Shiheng’s blade came down at just the right moment to slash the ape-man’s leg. It shrieked and sprang back up to the rooftop.

Han Qingyu’s follow-up strike cut through empty air.

He Tangtang peered over. “Close.”

Liu Shiheng stared at Han Qingyu’s back. Another wound had appeared across his shoulders.

“Sorry, I...” Liu Shiheng trailed off helplessly

If someone else had taken that strike, someone stronger and more decisive, that swing could have taken the ape-man down, or at the very least pinned it in place for Han Qingyu to finish it off.

“It’s fine. Landing a hit on your first real swing is already pretty impressive,” Han Qingyu assured him, not having time to turn around.

The wound had only enraged the ape-men, prompting them to attack even more ferociously than before.

One minute passed, then two. The assault never let up.

The thrill of watching a Coalition prodigy being torn apart set the Wipers’ eyes ablaze. Their faces twisted with excitement.

The slow cruelty of this felt like a sweet, cathartic release, especially after Han Qingyu had cut down that lieutenant earlier.

Howls and cheers filled the street.

“Good one.”

“Whoo!”

“Yeah!”

They were using the ape-men’s dominance to drown out the fear that Han Qingyu had planted in their hearts.

“Back.” A single command recalled all four ape-men to the rooftops.

The street fell momentarily still.

“What a shame. Prodigies always die young,” the middle-aged man on the roof said, peering down at Han Qingyu. “To be honest, I was thinking about capturing you alive earlier, but I’ve changed my mind. I think I’d rather just see you die here. I’m not sure why, but I suddenly want that very, very badly.”

His tone was as if reading a death sentence aloud.

“Oh? Is it because you’re all scared?” Han Qingyu smiled at the middle-aged man, then at the major.

There was a brief pause before the middle-aged man answered, “Think what you like.”

It wasn’t a denial. The major was also avoiding Han Qingyu’s gaze.

“How about you?” Han Qingyu grinned provokingly at the major, gesturing at his wounds. “Do you dare come down here and fight me one-on-one?”

The major hesitated. “There’s no need for that.”

He Tangtang burst out laughing. “No need, my ass! If you’re scared, just say so! Little Qing, he’s scared of you.”

“It seems like it.” 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

“How long have you been wearing that device, Little Qing?”

“About a month.”

He Tangtang let out another round of wild laughter. Between heaves of breath, he slipped in a whisper. “Little Qing, find a chance and run. Just go.”

Han Qingyu glanced at him, but pretended he hadn’t heard.

The laughter died, and the street fell silent again. The major and the middle-aged man exchanged a look.

“Time to finish this. This time, don’t stop until they’re dead,” Mr. Zhu ordered before turning his gaze to Han Qingyu and flexing his fingers. “Bye bye, prodigy.”

At that moment, a Wiper stumbled into view from the far end of the street. He kept his attention fixed firmly over his shoulder as he ran and tripped after only a few steps. Even sprawled on the ground, his gaze remained behind him.

What’s going on? The major and the middle-aged man shared a glance, both tensing. They had sent two ape-men and over a dozen men in that direction.

“What happened over there?!” the major shouted.

Meanwhile,the four ape-men didn’t hesitate to carry out their kill order, letting out shrill, animalistic shrieks as they launched themselves from the rooftops in unison.

A battered minivan came barreling down the street. The roof toward the back of the van was punched through with a bang as it screeched to a halt, skidding sideways and swaying as it stopped.

Then, a figure shot out of the vehicle, and a shriek of agony tore through the air above them.

Metal hit the ground with a boom.

Shen Yixiu straightened from where she had landed, stood perfectly still as she gripped an ape-man in her metal-clad hand, having plucked it clean out of the sky by the throat.

It dangled helplessly before her.

Her hand tightened, crushing its neckwith a crack.

It was dead.