Doomsday Pillars

Hong Kong, D'Day 145.

"Let's go! Run!"

A group of fighters of more than fifty people was running from the city of Hong Kong towards the port.

"Where's Big Sister Christina? She's still fighting!!" 

"Don't worry... get in the boat immediately."

"Okay, Big Sister Jennie..."

One by one, the people of this group got on the boat. And not long after, they saw hundreds of zombies chasing a woman in the direction of the city.

"There she is... Big Sister, be careful!"

There were dozens of red zombies running right behind her, as well as a black zombie. Christina ran while drawing two swords.

Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. Turning around, her whole body suddenly ignited like a burning fire.

[Skill - Fifth Stage of the Nine Suns]

[Spirit power and muscle strength have increased dramatically.]

[Fire Body]

[Advanced fire spirit skill]

[Body protection of fire]

[Circular Slash]

[Intermediate sword arts]

Like a cyclone of fire, Christina crashed at the group of zombies chasing her. The dozens of red zombies that were chasing her were immediately torn into pieces.

The black zombie was able to avoid it by retreating, but Christina didn't let it get away and immediately lunged toward it.

Splat!!! The black zombie's head was cut off of his body, and without wasting any time, Christina immediately took the spirit stone that appeared from the monster's nape.

"Yes! Another one."

Not forgetting, Christina took her time picking up the white spirit stones that had fallen from the corpses of the red zombies. And then, sh3 immediately leaped toward the boat, which was ready to go.

"Big Sister, that was amazing!"

Chistina leaped far like a flying goddess and then landed softly right on the boat.

"All right, back to our base we go!"

"On it."

Three weeks had passed since they tried to climb the Doomsday Pillar, and during these three weeks, they had completed the 11th floor. But each floor was getting more and more difficult. With great difficulty, they completed the challenge of the 11th floor. If it weren't for Christina and Nam's strength, there would have been absolutely no way that they could get past the dozens of orcs that were on their way.

Ever since they passed the 11th floor, they decided to stop the expedition up the pillar stairs. This was not only because the enemy was getting more and more powerful, but their current main priority was not completing the challenge, but to make the condition of the people of Hong Kong on that island better. Not only were the monsters attacking more and more frequently, but their main problem was also their shortage of food supplies.

No matter how they looked at it, a hundred thousand residents were really too many mouths to feed. Even with three expedition groups going to Hong Kong every day, they still couldn't find enough supplies to feed everyone. This past week, they had even begun to ration their food. Fighters even had to buy those expensive spirit fruits to get rid of their hunger.

After the boat returned to the dock of Hong Kong island, the sky was already showing how late it currently was. The other two expeditions teams of fighters that were also looking for food in other areas had also returned. Nam and his gang fighters, as well as Inspector Tang and members of the Hong Kong police forces in the other group had returned, but the atmosphere felt odd.

"How are the results today?"

Nam could only stay silent. Inspector Tang was also silent.

"At least no one fell victim today..." Christian replied, trying to think positively of this predicament they were in. 

Chicken, who was also together with them there, commented, "If only these creatures were edible..."

Not only were these creatures covered in spiky fur, but it also had almost no flesh. In fact, it was very tough and was definitely not consumable. They had also tried to dive and look for fish, but there were almost no fish in the sea. They would occasionally find wild mutated fish, but that was very rare.

"Maybe we can try fishing in a deeper area?" suggested Christina.

"It's good for us to try, but... How many fish can we bring with only this small boat? It won't be nearly enough for a hundred thousand inhabitants." replied the inspector, reminding her of a problem in that solution candidate.

"We can ask the other residents and soldiers to help us.."

"That might be true, but our boats are limited."

"The only food solution we can get from the pillar is spirit fruits. Unfortunately, those fruits are far too expensive. All of the spirit stones we got in the last few days are already used up just to buy those fruits."

Nam, who had been silent, opened his mouth and voiced his thoughts, "Christina, Inspector, I think it's time we leave this island..."

"How will we move a hundred thousand residents from this island?"

Nam's face was suddenly filled with guilt as he averted his eyes.

"Nam! You're not thinking of just going and leaving them, are you! YOU! They are your neighbors... They're our brothers and sisters! "

"Are there any other ideas...?" asked Christina. She was beginning to feel nervous.

Everyone fell into silence. They really didn't know what to do in this situation.

"Estimated, how much time do we have left here, Inspector?"

"To tell you the truth, Christina, our food warehouse is empty. Right now, I saved a little for the parents and children. The rest is the amount we gathered on today's expedition..."

Nam spoke again, "Inspector... Listen to me... I don't think we have any other way… Tomorrow, all the men and women strong enough to take up arms together with us will leave this island. We'll go through Hong Kong City to look for another place. All together. The rest of the children and their parents can stay in the Doomsday Pillar with the rest of the food and wait for us to return with assistance."

Inspectors Tang and Christina understood well about Nam's intentions and plans. It was just that this idea would definitely cause them to suffer numerous casualties. They didn't know how many would be able to survive. The soldiers wouldn't be enough to protect them all. But this seemed to be their only solution in their current situation. They had to do it fast before these inhabitants become too weak to fight due to starvation. If that were to happen, they would fall into a circumstance worse than their current one, and it would only get worse with time.

"Well, I think this is the only way out... I'm ready!" said the inspector with resolution. They had to do it if they wanted to survive.

Nam looked at Christina. It seemed that they were thinking the same thing.

"Inspector, we believe that you're the best person to stay here to guard them..."

"...No..." Inspector Tang was smart enough to realize that among the three of them, he was still the one who was the most suitable to stay.

The three of them decided to do this immediately the next day.

Christina didn't return to their base. Instead, she went straight to the Doomsday Pillar. When she got there, she headed straight to the training room.

[Check status.]

[Christina]

[Female - 34 years old]

[Earth Realm - Level 12 medium stage]

[Spirit Energy - Fire - High stage]

[Spirit Talent - A]

These last three weeks, Christina had made quite a significant lot of progress. These eleven pillar floors easily increased her Earth Realm by several levels. But the most significant advancement was ber success in breaking through the mid-stage of fire energy spirit and entering the high-stage so that she could study advanced fire arts. By the time Nam had just successfully completed the initial stage, Christina had already reached the high stage. Seeing that they both had the same A talent, Christina was quite sure this was all thanks to the power of the Nine Suns that she mastered. Currently, Christina had made it to the fifth stage, and it didn't seem as though it would be easy to break through to the next level.

Christina wanted to directly study the high energy spirit stages, however...

[Spirit fire energy - High stage]

[1,000 spirit stones]

Too expensive. In today's battle, she only got three yellow spirit stones and a few dozens of white spirit stones, and she had given them to the inspector to buy spirit fruits for those who would stay.

Christina finally decided to leave the training room. Coincidentally, she met Ma Sing.

"Auntie..." Ma Sing called Christina respectfully

Seeing this, Christina felt down again. Ma Sing now looked very mature, but in Christina's heart, she still missed the naughty and cheerful child. But the apocalypse easily changes people.

Christina noticed that Ma Sing was slowly reaching the peak of the Mortal Realm these three weeks. Christina wanted to accompany him to practice, but she needed to be ready to go tomorrow. And of course, the best for Ma Sing was to stay. Christina gave several 'orders' to Ma Sing. Although he initially refused, he still obeyed Christina. At times like this, Christina remembered her son, Caleb, whom she had left for three months in Singapore.

The next day, when morning came, Christina noticed that the soldiers were preparing to help the residents get themselves ready to leave, but from the sea in the direction of the east, Christina saw something that took her by surprise.

Several large ships were approaching the island of Hong Kong.

A red flag with 5 yellow stars was waving in the air.