Chapter 203: Chapter 199: If You Can’t Afford to Lose, Don’t Play
The ground quaked violently, and cracks began to spiderweb across the buildings on the surface, causing them to lean and teeter.
It was as if all of Tokyo had been plunged into a massive earthquake.
Then, like a tsunami erupting from a volcano, masses of Gray Tide surged from the fissures in the ground, swiftly devouring everything around them.
Beside the Tokyo Tower, Yamaguchi Sora had already recovered from his initial shock. He understood now that his trap had been seen through from the very beginning.
His opponent hadn’t fallen into his trap; he had fallen into his opponent’s.
"Mr. Shen... you truly are full of surprises... But this isn’t the end... I already know where you’re hiding..." Yamaguchi Sora muttered to himself. Suddenly, his neck snapped back ninety degrees, an angle that should have broken it, as he let out a furious roar at the sky.
Around him, the tens of millions of zombies roared in unison. They began to touch one another, their bodies melting like candles and rapidly fusing together within the thick, yellow viral fog.
Beneath them, Gray Tide also tried to surge forth, but the moment a sliver of silver-gray light appeared, it was instantly destroyed, turning a dead black.
Every single zombie was now emitting an electromagnetic pulse. The entire colony of zombies had formed a massive, powerful EMP environment on the surface, making it difficult for the Gray Tide below to break through.
Finding its path blocked, the Gray Tide immediately changed tactics, breaking through from the sides. Buildings were rapidly consumed, becoming part of the Gray Tide itself.
Meanwhile, the countless zombies were also accelerating their fusion. Limbs intertwined and chunks of flesh melded together, as if flesh were no longer flesh, but some kind of viscous gel.
A Corpse Tide!
The eyes separated themselves, squirming across the surface of the Corpse Tide and congregating in one direction.
Arms and legs wrapped around each other, forming even larger arms and legs.
As for the tens of millions of highly mutated zombie brains, they gathered and merged deep within the Corpse Tide, forming a highly complex neural network that far surpassed that of an ordinary human.
The power that had been dispersed among each individual zombie was now becoming one!
At the same time, this enormous Corpse Tide wasn’t just consuming zombies; it also began to devour plants, trees, and all organic matter.
The Gray Tide grew by devouring all manner of surface materials, while the Corpse Tide grew by fusing with all kinds of organic matter.
As the Corpse Tide expanded, the electromagnetic pulses it emitted formed a powerful magnetic field that enveloped central Tokyo and continued to spread outward.
The nearby Gray Tide was blasted by this powerful EMP, and the Nanomechanical Clusters on its surface were continuously burned away, flaking off as dead black dust.
In the center of Tokyo, two massive monsters appeared, each tens of thousands of meters long. Seen from above, one was black and one was white, like the yin-yang fish of a taijitu. They circled each other warily, poised to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.
At the forefront of the Corpse Tide, tens of millions of eyes gathered, as dense as a starry sky in Hell. Below them, thousands of thick limbs, formed from the fusion, propelled the massive tide forward.
Countless faces emerged, each bearing Yamaguchi Sora’s features. In a cacophony of voices—old, young, male, female, hoarse, deep, shrill, sharp—they all spoke in unison, a chorus of admiration:
"Mr. Shen, you are a truly cunning opponent, more cunning even than those detestable politicians. Are you sure you won’t consider joining the Master of the Void’s side and obtaining eternity?"
On the surface of the Gray Tide, a giant face a hundred meters tall appeared. It was the face of Shen Feng, though it wore a mask and sunglasses. It spoke in a muffled, booming voice:
"If you’re going to make a move, then make it. Stop all this pointless chatter. Hesitation is defeat!"
Yamaguchi Sora laughed grimly.
"Very well. Yamaguchi will remember Mr. Shen’s lesson!"
The moment the words fell, countless mouths opened simultaneously, unleashing a furious electromagnetic pulse that surged toward the Gray Tide!
The Gray Tide disintegrated section by section, yet it continuously converted surrounding materials and charged toward Yamaguchi Sora!
Wherever the two behemoths passed, buildings collapsed one after another. A scene of monsters destroying Tokyo, once confined to tokusatsu shows and movies, was now playing out in the real world!
All of Tokyo had now become a powerful EMP environment, which had a strong suppressive effect on the Gray Tide. The ground, which had been shaking, now fell still.
"BOOM!" With a deafening roar, the Gray Tide and the Corpse Tide crashed into each other. A blinding arc of electricity appeared, conducting through the Gray Tide and causing its movements to freeze for an instant.
But then, the Gray Tide washed over the Corpse Tide like a wave, rapidly devouring the flesh and tissue at the point of contact and burrowing deep inside.
The strategy was simple: as long as it could completely consume the entire Corpse Tide, the threat would be eliminated.
The Corpse Tide let out another furious roar and released an even stronger electromagnetic pulse, instantly incinerating the Gray Tide it touched. It raised several limbs, each a kilometer long, and slammed them deep into the Gray Tide. Vast quantities of Nanomechanical Clusters crumbled into blackish-gray dust, piling up into small hills!
The Gray Tide remained silent. It whipped out thousands of kilometer-long nano-Metal Whips, lashing at the Corpse Tide. Although most were incinerated on contact, a fair number still managed to slice into the tide, carving off house-sized chunks of flesh and drawing forth waterfalls of black blood.
One of flesh, one of metal. The two behemoths battled each other within the strong electromagnetic environment. The area around the Tokyo Tower was already a field of ruins, and their battlefield was constantly expanding.
The ground was covered in a layer of black blood and hill-like piles of black dust, staining the ruins of central Tokyo completely black.
At first, the Corpse Tide’s electromagnetic pulse was so strong that it almost completely overwhelmed the Gray Tide. But as time went on, its pulse began to weaken.
After all, zombies were still organic lifeforms. Relying solely on their brains, even with the blessing of the Master of the Void, the electromagnetic pulses they could release were not infinite.
Shen Feng keenly detected this change.
The Gray Tide squirmed again, transforming into the shape of a hundred-armed giant a thousand meters tall. It uprooted the nearby Tokyo Sky Tree Tower, which was over six hundred meters high, and held it like a short sword. Pointing it at the Corpse Tide, it spoke in a grim voice:
"Yamaguchi! Your power is already starting to wane. Whatever tricks you have left, you’d better use them now!"
A massive mouth suddenly opened on the Corpse Tide. A hundred million teeth gnashed within it as Yamaguchi Sora’s voice emerged:
"Hee hee hee, Mr. Shen, I know you’re trying to stall for time until my power runs out. To be honest, I’m quite envious of your mechanical nature. It’s certainly much better than a purely biological form... But what you don’t know is, I’m stalling for time too... Goodbye. Now die."
The moment his voice fell, a series of rumbles echoed from the area on the outskirts of Tokyo where Fujita Private Hospital was located. Amidst collapsing buildings, a smaller Corpse Tide several hundred meters long slithered out from the structures. It extended thousands of fleshy tentacles, wrapping them tightly around Fujita Private Hospital.
At the same time, these tentacles released a powerful electromagnetic pulse, creating a cage-like EMP field.
The zombies that had been lying in wait in the surrounding buildings had silently completed their fusion, becoming an avatar of the Corpse Tide monster.
Yamaguchi Sora’s initial target had always been Shen Feng’s real body, hidden here!
The thick tentacles’ muscles writhed, releasing a powerful EMP to prevent any Gray Tide interference and suppress all Nanomechanical Clusters. Then, they violently pulled back!
With a series of roars, the four walls of Fujita Private Hospital were torn down, revealing the virus lab inside.
Inside the lab stood a young man in a nano-metal protective suit. When he saw the Corpse Tide monster surrounding him, a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
In the next instant, tentacles shot out from the Corpse Tide, wrapping tightly around the young man while continuously releasing electromagnetic pulses to suppress his movements.
The metal protective suit on the young man’s body shattered and fell away, leaving him completely exposed to the yellow toxic fog.
Yamaguchi Sora’s face also appeared on the smaller Corpse Tide monster. He wore a savage, ecstatic grin as he looked at the tightly bound Shen Feng and said grimly:
"A weight of about 65 kilograms... That’s the weight of a human... Mr. Shen, let’s see you escape this time! I admit, your initial plan completely played me for a fool, but you shouldn’t have been so arrogant as to keep your real body in Tokyo... Don’t worry, I will soon infect you and turn you into the most terrifying of zombies. And your Gray Tide will become a tool for the Master of the Void to control the entire Earth! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
As he finished speaking, Yamaguchi Sora opened his cavernous mouth and spewed a thick yellow toxic fog, enveloping the young man in his tentacles.
With skin contact, infection was now unavoidable!
But unexpectedly, the young man showed no trace of fear or anger. He simply smiled faintly and offered a kind reminder:
"Don’t squeeze too hard, the eyes might fall out. I’d hate for you to be disappointed."
Yamaguchi Sora froze, not quite understanding what the young man meant. Then, he shot out several bone spurs, stabbing at the boy before him.
He was going to inject his virus-tainted black blood into his opponent’s body.
The moment they pierced him, he finally sensed that something was wrong.
The young man’s skin was soft and delicate, comparable to a baby’s, but when the bone spurs pierced it, not a single drop of blood flowed out!
The sensation from inside the body wasn’t that of muscle tissue and bone, but something like a hollow tube. There was a thin layer, seemingly made of metal, and it showed signs of disintegration!
Yamaguchi Sora could hardly believe what he was feeling. Arms extended from the Corpse Tide, grabbed the young man, stabbed viciously into his arm, and violently peeled back the skin.
Sure enough, beneath the skin, there was no blood, muscle, or bone—only a thin metallic layer.
It was a Nanomechanical Cluster!
"No... impossible..." Yamaguchi Sora’s voice trembled. "The Corpse Tide spotted you the moment you got off the plane... When you ate last night and this morning, that must have been your real body. The surrounding zombies have been monitoring this area. It’s impossible for your real body to have left!"
Those eight zombies pulling the cart were also Yamaguchi Sora’s eyes and ears.
As he spoke, Yamaguchi Sora continued to tear at the young man before him, while simultaneously rummaging through the ruins of Fujita Private Hospital. He found nothing.
The skin of the young man wrapped in tentacles was now torn to shreds, revealing the silicone beneath. But he wore a mocking smile as he said:
"The second son of the cousin’s niece of Uncle Wang, who used to live downstairs from me, works on the assembly line at an inflatable doll factory in Lin City. Their products are pretty good. They’re on the latest generation of tech now—feels and looks just like the real thing. As long as you’re willing to pay, you can get it as realistic as you want. So, what do you think? Satisfied?"
Yamaguchi Sora let out a furious roar. The tentacles tightened, crushing and twisting the young man into pieces as he bellowed:
"Come out! Come out! I’ll kill you! Coward! Craven! Do you dare show your real body to me!? You gutless rat!"
「Hua Country, Tai City Suburbs」
On the second floor of a small courtyard house, Shen Feng—wearing a Gray Tide helmet connected to a signal transmission device—opened his eyes. He clicked his tongue and said:
"Tsk, tsk. Getting angry already? If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen."