First Light of a New Age

Chapter 161: Arrival of Salvation

Second Civilization Zone, Southwest of the Continent, Earth Region, Asia, East Asia, People's State of Xinhua, Xiangning Township.

4th Year of God, Tuesday, 1st Week, 8th Month of Solomon.

The People's Liberation Army’s 153rd Special Operations Company moved cautiously through the shattered ruins of Xiangning Township, just twenty kilometers north of what used to be Hong Kong’s border.

Their boots crunched over the broken glass and brittle bones with rusted metal sticking out of the ground like skeletal fingers and entire houses had collapsed into dusty mounds, leaving only twisted rebar and spiky walls as grim markers of what once was.

Every man and woman wore a bulky hazmat suit with their breathing loud and raspy inside their helmets as they purged the air of fine dust, spores, and the last traces of radiation.

Nuclear weapons had left this place a graveyard not only through their scorching temperatures and devastating shockwaves, but with the quiet terror of radioactive fallout.

One of Xinhua's biggest problems during this time has been the animals mutating into magical creatures and swarming many cities. In the past two weeks alone, they have lost 36 cities and towns, one-third of which were attack by large-scale Beast Tides at a scale that left the Xinhuan Government no choice but to resorted to nuclear strikes to contain the threat.

Lieutenant Wei Zhao led the column with his rifle lowered but low ready while scanning every broken window and shattered wall for threats. A Geiger counter strapped on his chest clicked lazily, one slow apathetic tick every few seconds.

He glanced at the dial, then at the gray sky above. The light was flat and cold, throwing everything into dull relief.

"Strange… radiation in this area is too low," muttered Captain Qing Er, walking a few paces behind him through the comms with a subtle metallic edge.

The beautiful red-headed woman stood out sharply from the hazmat-suited troopers. As a member of the Dragon Vanguard Unit, instead of the standard protective gear, she wore the dark angular plates of her Unit's cybernetic armor that blocked any dangerous radiation.

"Still under 0.03 sieverts an hour," she added calmly, checking her HUD and adjusting her visor modes automatically, switching from thermal to energy spectrum.

Dr. Sun Jiali, the mission's scientific lead, walked carefully beside Qing Er with her own hazmat suit, which was sleeker, designed for field research. She paused repeatedly to sweep her handheld sensor over the debris piles and the cracked roadway.

"This doesn’t make sense," Sun muttered with confusion and fear. "This town took a 50-kiloton nuclear strike, and by all logic, this entire region should be uninhabitable for a century and become a proper death zone."

Qing Er didn't turn her head. "It isn't," she replied flatly.

Sun hesitated as she stared at her portable sensor. The readings scrolled past in alien symbols and strange energy signatures that she still hadn't gotten used to.

“But… this energy signature… it’s like something is removing the radiation."

Qing Er’s eyes narrowed behind her visor. "Or changing it," she said dryly.

They passed a toppled sign that had once marked the edge of town. Its Chinese characters were blackened and half-melted. A soldier kicked aside a child's cracked toy with its melted plastic face stuck in a permanent scream.

The squad grew quiet. Even the clicks of the Geiger counters faded into near silence.

Wei Zhao turned to check their formation. The line held, disciplined despite the creeping dread.