Then let the witch offer her loyalty

"This video was filmed 16 years ago, in the 44th year of the Long Night. A witch went berserk, and 27 people exposed in the Dead Zone were corrupted and turned into Dead Apostles, officially codenamed 'FD-073'."

"These perpetrators attacked passersby along the street, stormed public facilities, and even stormed the local police station, seizing standard weapons and opening fire on the crowd, resulting in a total of 84 deaths, including 12 children."

At this point, Qian Ming's gaze deepened: "Some people think that, in this light, the riots aren't so terrifying after all; they're just another form of rebellion. If they really happen, we can just send in the army to suppress them."

At this point, he let out a short, cold laugh, and with a flick of his finger, played the second video.

This video, taken from a soldier's combat recorder, shows a large number of armed personnel who have cordoned off a square. Black and yellow striped police tape blocks all access routes, and there are also a lot of barbed wire and roadblocks around the area.

Judging from their uniforms and insignia, these are the "Rose Empire National Defense Force," a true regular army. They gripped their weapons tightly and stared intently at something, the oppressive atmosphere making the air seem to freeze.

In front of the blockade was a large square. From a distance, the square was filled with black, white, and red colors, and many things were constantly wriggling.

As the camera zoomed in, the true nature of those "things" was revealed.

They are all individuals, several thousand people in total.

These people were naked and were having a sex party in the square.

Envy?

No one envies her.

The scene was chilling.

Of the three colors, black is for hair and white is for the body.

And red represents blood.

These people all had thorn-like black marks around their eyes, and their faces were full of twisted and manic smiles, clearly indicating that they had been corrupted by madness.

They huddled together, regardless of gender or age, engaging in primal acts while laughing wildly and biting each other's bodies with their teeth.

The cannibals were laughing, and the cannibals were laughing too. Everyone seemed to have fallen into the most extreme pleasure of this mortal world, painting a bloody and rotten hell with three colors.

"Roar—" Just then, a ferocious roar came from behind.

The surrounding soldiers of the National Defense Forces were horrified, and the camera turned to them.

A monster appeared in the distance. Judging from its body structure, it could be barely identified as having once been a human, but its size had become enormous, standing three meters tall.

The monster's head was severely deformed, its face twisted beyond recognition, leaving only exposed bones and sunken eye sockets, with two scarlet eyes flowing with viscous liquid.

Its skin is covered with thorn-like black marks, its thick limbs are bent in unnatural directions, its arms are twisted into terrifying sickle-like shapes, and several similar limbs grow on its back.

At the same time, a dark purple energy field emerged around the monster, its bizarre color rapidly eroding the surrounding area of ​​hundreds of meters like a plague, even distorting space itself under its influence.

"Aberrant!" one of the soldiers shouted in terror, followed by the sound of everyone firing in unison.

"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—" Sparks flew and bullets flew everywhere.

However, those bullets could only barely pierce the monster's skin, causing clusters of blood to bloom, but they could not threaten its life at all.

The mutant roared as it was attacked, breaking through the lines at incredible speed, and the dark purple energy field surrounding it spread to this area as well.

In an instant, something unexpected happened.

The soldiers, enveloped in dark purple energy, clutched their heads as if their skulls were about to explode, letting out cries of pain.

But after the pain reached a certain critical point, the screams turned into excited laughter, and everyone's face showed a twisted and crazy smile, with the signature thorn-like black marks appearing at the corners of their eyes.

They laughed wildly as they sprayed bullets at each other with their guns. When they ran out of bullets, they smashed each other with the butts of their guns. When their guns broke, they grabbed at them with their hands and bit them with their teeth. The dead just died, while the living began to engage in primitive acts with the mangled corpses.

With a sudden, violent shake of the camera, the person filming was knocked to the ground.

A soldier appeared on top, letting out a shrill laugh that was more piercing than shards of glass scraping against metal: "I'm going to eat your OO, and then rot your OOO!"

He suddenly opened his mouth, his teeth, stained with tobacco, snapping at the camera.

The video then abruptly ended here.

Repressed.

Dead silence.

None of the new agents in the meeting room dared to think about what happened to the photographer in the end.

Qian Ming used the remote sensor to rewind the video and freeze the image on the "abnormal" creature.

"These monsters, like the Dead Apostles, were originally humans corrupted by madness. Research has confirmed that they belong to a variant that has been corrupted even more deeply; we call them 'Aberrants.'"

"Ordinary people who are corrupted by madness and become Dead Apostles only become stronger and more emotionally deranged. As long as they stay away from the Dead Zone long enough, the corruption in their bodies will gradually disappear over time, and they will eventually return to normal. There is no deeper harm."

"But aberrations are different. Once they are eroded and become aberrations, there is no possibility of them turning back."

"What's even more deadly is that, like the witches who go berserk, the mutants create a dead zone around them, and normal people will be corrupted if they get close."

"This video was filmed in 22 years of the Long Night, 38 years ago. Its official code name is 'FD-032.' At that time, a witch went berserk in the city center, corrupting thousands of people and turning them into Dead Apostles, and also creating a mutant."

"This mutant attacked the defense forces that were blocking the scene, and 112 soldiers were directly exposed to the dead zone and went berserk."

"After a fierce battle, this unit lost a total of 473 soldiers before it was able to completely suppress the disaster. The total number of casualties on site was as high as 2014."

Gradually, Qian Ming's gaze deepened, and his voice became incredibly subdued.

"After watching this video, you probably all anticipated one thing."

"The witch went berserk, and those around her were corrupted by the Death Domain. Among these people, aberrations appeared, forming the Death Domain and further spreading the corruption, which then created more aberrations."

"Local residents were corrupted, the advance forces involved in the suppression were corrupted, and the reserve forces supporting the advance forces were also corrupted, ultimately causing the disaster to spread exponentially..."

"This is the most terrifying and deadliest situation—out-of-control delusions."

"Beep." Qian Ming pressed the remote control and played the last video.

This is a video taken from the air, likely from a military reconnaissance drone.

The location was a city, and the sky above was filled with black and purple energy vortexes. It was a dead zone formed by the witch's outburst of madness, and its range was so large that it covered the entire city!

The energy formed by the dead zone surged like a raging torrent in the dome, causing the city buildings to lose their original colors, their outlines appearing ferocious and terrifying in the distorted black and purple light.

On the streets, countless people surged like ants, swallowed up by endless madness, laughing wildly as they fought indiscriminately with those around them, using their hands and teeth, or weapons they had picked up from who-knows-where.

A white-collar worker in a suit stabbed a pen into the throat of a taxi driver, only to have his temple pierced by a female model behind him with a high-heeled shoe.

The firefighter, wielding a fire axe, laughed wildly as he cleaved open the sanitation worker's face, only to have his chest shattered by a shotgun in the sheriff's hand a second later.

These Death Apostles, corrupted by the Death Domain, frantically slaughter their own kind, tirelessly unleashing their most extreme bestial instincts. Even when knocked to the ground, they continue to let out twisted, maniacal laughter before their death.

There were also a large number of national defense forces in the city, including armored units, but they too were swallowed up by the madness in this dead zone that covered the entire city.

The tank spun its cannon, aimed at the crowd, and spewed out scorching flames. Shells blasted the dense human bodies to pieces. The machine gunners fired wildly, bullets raining down like raindrops, creating a wave of blood.

The survivors of the artillery fire showed no fear, still rushing towards the tanks from all directions, pounding their weapons against the thick armor until their bodies were caught in the tracks and turned into bloody mud on the ground.

On-site, countless mutants could be seen, their bodies covered in thorny black marks, raging wildly across the battlefield with the power of the dead.

A mutant used its sickle-shaped forelimbs to hook onto the tank turret, and sparks immediately flew out from the gaps in the armor. Its enormous force directly ripped open the hatch, pulling out the driver inside and tearing him in two like a sausage being sliced.

An out-of-control tank crashed into a gas station, and the burning diesel fuel ignited the oil pipeline, causing a chain reaction of explosions that sent mushroom fires into the air. The air was filled with the acrid smoke from burning metal and human remains.

Crazy.

There is nothing here but madness.

Looking at the hellish scene, Qian Ming stated expressionlessly, "This video was filmed in the first year of the Long Night, in the border city of 'Iron Sun City' of the Rose Empire, officially codenamed 'FD-000'."

"You should be unfamiliar with this, partly because it happened a long time ago, about 60 years ago. On the other hand, information about FD-000 was later completely blocked by the Upper House Council."

"Generally speaking, based on the extent of the dead zone formed by the witch's rampage, we classify the rampage disaster into seven levels from low to high: F, E, D, C, B, A, and S."

“The dead zone of F, E, and D level madness disasters is relatively small, usually only a few meters to tens of meters, and the intensity is not enough to cause aberrations. The situation is relatively controllable and generally will not cause large-scale chaos.”

"For example, the FD-073 incident was an E-class madness disaster."

"Outbreaks of Class C, B, and A madness are highly dangerous, with the dead zone potentially reaching hundreds of meters or even several kilometers in size, and there is a certain probability of mutations occurring. The province or city where the incident occurs will immediately enter a state of emergency."

"The FD-032 incident is classified as a Class C madness disaster."

"If the madness gets out of control and the disaster spreads exponentially, it will be like the one in Tieyang City. This is also the only S-level madness disaster in the past sixty years."

In the video, the camera zooms out as the aircraft evacuates the city.

Qian Ming's voice was also extremely suppressed at this moment.

"The first year of the Long Night was the year when psionicists first appeared. Our country had no contingency plans for the rampage that accompanied psionicism, let alone directly encountering an S-class rampage disaster."

"A large number of national defense troops were deployed to Tieyang City, and were immediately invaded by the Dead Zone. People continued to turn into mutants, and these mutants further expanded the Dead Zone, creating even more mutants."

"Out-of-control madness is like a death spiral, constantly escalating with destruction, rendering all conventional military operations meaningless."

He looked at the blank-faced newlyweds below the stage, his eyes filled with vicissitudes and an indescribable determination.

"Finally, in order to completely end this mad calamity and protect the lives of more citizens of the Empire, the twelve members of the Rose Empire's Upper Council collectively resolved, and His Majesty the Black Emperor personally approved—"

"The military has launched Operation 'Sunfall' against Tieyang City!"

Without warning, a blinding white light suddenly appeared on the screen, like the sun falling below the horizon, instantly swallowing all colors.

Before anyone could react, more beams of white light appeared, spreading out in all directions at an astonishing speed, and numerous fireballs from thermonuclear explosions rose up across the city.

Skyscrapers collapsed instantly, reinforced concrete turned to ashes, vehicles on the streets melted like candles, and humans and mutants were vaporized in the terrifyingly high temperature, leaving not a trace.

In the end, the entire city of Tieyang was engulfed by the power of light nuclear fusion, leaving only the glassy substances that had turned into glass under the high temperature, reflecting the mushroom cloud that shot straight into the sky.

Qian Ming's icy voice echoed along with the scene of death: "A total of 5020581 people, including all residents of Tieyang City and all soldiers of the National Defense Army engaged in combat..."

No one survived.

As Qian Ming said earlier, FD-000 is a piece of dusty history that the newcomers here have no idea about.

A city was destroyed because of a witch...

More than five million people have become cold, hard numbers on the death list...

This shock tore at the hearts of the new operators like a demonic claw, leaving them in deep confusion and helplessness.

Qian Ming's gaze swept across everyone's faces, and he said coldly, "Madness is the most terrible disaster in human history."

"Admittedly, an S-class madness disaster of the scale of FD-000 has only occurred once in the Rose Empire, and only once in the entire world."

"Later, the scale and impact of the madness disasters that broke out in various parts of the world have been decreasing."

"The last time such a mutation appeared was 25 years ago. In the last 20 years, the number of people who died from madness disasters is not even comparable to that of a flu."

"As a result, countless countries have stopped valuing psychics and, under the guise of so-called freedom, have allowed psychics to do whatever they want."

"Comrades, you must understand one thing—to this day, humanity still knows nothing about the nature of 'psychic power' and 'madness'."

"We don't know why these things appear, what their origin is, or what they will ultimately bring."

"Therefore, since the beginning of the Long Night, our country, which has experienced the tragic sacrifice of FD-000, has never relaxed its control over psionic energy. This is for the safety of all our people."

“Many people now believe that psychic energy is a gift from God, and whoever obtains this power is a lucky person. Why should their own good fortune be taken away by the authorities?”

"There's even a claim that our country fears the emergence of psychics who could undermine our rule, and that containing witches is a deliberate act of persecution to destroy democracy and freedom. Such statements are one-sided and irresponsible!"

"Freedom must be built within the framework of rules."

"Freedom should not infringe upon the rights of others, much less threaten their lives."

"As the source of psychic energy and the vessel of madness, witches are indeed victims in a sense, and they should not have to bear the price of losing their freedom."

"But for the greater collective good, a small number of people have to be sacrificed."

At this point, Qian Ming stood up from his seat and gazed intently at the newcomers of this cohort.

"In the work ahead, you will face many challenges, both physical and mental."

"You will also face countless pressures, some from abroad, some from your compatriots, and some even from within your own hearts."

"I hope that many years from now, I will still be able to see you all in my post and solemnly address you as comrades."

Chapter 46 The Witch's Bomb!

When Luo Shoucheng came out after finishing his meeting in the morning, the welcoming meeting had just ended.

The new recruits, who had just become official agents, all had solemn expressions and remained silent, as if they had undergone a considerable mental test.

Seeing their expressions, Luo Shoucheng couldn't help but want to laugh.

It seems they've all been given a good talking-to.

Back in the day, when I first became a full-fledged operator, I was also depressed for several days because of the orientation meeting.

What madness, dead zone, dead apostles, aberrations, how serious things happened in which places, how many people died...