Chapter 126: If All Else Fails, Sink Japan

Beyond the "Monolith" serving as the national border for human habitation, the regions where gutters roam freely are all marked on international intelligence as "unexplored."

Only aircraft can cross these areas, for the stronger the gutters, the more genes they fuse, the larger their bodies become, and the more grotesque their mutations—even birds that could once fly cannot maintain balance after growing eight legs.

Only weak stage-one avian or insectoid gutters retain flight capability, or rare special variants that evolved long-range attack methods, might occasionally shoot down an aircraft.

Outside Tokyo District, beyond Monolith No. 38.

Above the "unexplored" zone.

"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—"

Altitude three thousand meters, speed three hundred kilometers per hour.

On a Simazhonggong –customized, niobium-alloy military helicopter.

"Based on what you said about Russia's research into the 'Solomon Ring,' we've already produced a prototype." Shitsudo Sumire, in her usual white lab coat, had darker circles under her eyes than ever, looking utterly sleep-deprived, yet her expression and tone radiated unprecedented excitement and anticipation.

The "Solomon Ring" has nothing to do with that doctor or any magic king, nor is it a relic—it's named after the ring from Solomon's legend that allowed communication with animals, but its true purpose is a translation device developed by the Russian government to communicate with gutters.

—Communicating with gutters sounds impossible; how could one possibly converse with beasts driven solely by killing instinct?

But it is indeed possible.

In the original story, the Russian side used the "Solomon Ring" to successfully summon Libra—the Plague King—nearly destroying the Sendai settlement.

At this point in time, this device shouldn't even exist yet, but after Jia Qi directly proposed the idea to Yuki and immediately presented her with the instant-generated schematics, Shitsudo, as a professional, had no trouble building a simple communication device.

"Are you really going to do it?"

Mokari, holding Snow Shadow, asked with concern.

Even at this altitude, she could smell the metallic tang of blood and other acrid odors in the air.

Faint roars and shrieks of massive gutters drifted up from below, yet an eerie silence weighed upon her heart, heavy and suffocating, leaving her speechless.

Beneath them stretched an endless, dense forest teeming with all manner of gutters—these GASTREA-infected creatures had now formed a new form of survival, establishing a new food chain.

Without external interference, even these ferocious beings would remain in a relatively stable state, but that equilibrium would soon be shattered.

"Of course we are." The man, arms crossed, wearing a special ring on his finger, suddenly opened his eyes, stepped to the helicopter's door, and gazed down at the terrifying forest below, as if it could devour all life.

"Right here."

When they heard Jia Qi's words, everyone's only reaction was—

"Are you insane?"

Everyone except Enju looked utterly incredulous—even the Holy Empress, who always obeyed without question.

Summon all stage-five gutters?

That would be suicide.

Through normal consumption and evolution, stage-one gutters can at most reach stage four, growing to tens or even hundreds of meters in size, capable of triggering major disasters at will.

But above stage four lies a fifth tier—impossible to reach through normal evolution—with a gap far greater than that between an LV5 and LV4 in some academy city.

They are the ultimate gutters, colossal monsters whose origin remains unknown, humanity's greatest enemies.

Enormous in size and terrifyingly powerful, they are unaffected by the magnetic fields emitted by varanium metal and even possess limited intelligence and reasoning—because of their massed assaults, they defeated humanity in the Gutter War, stripping humans of eighty percent of their territory.

Eleven stage-fives have been discovered worldwide, named after the twelve zodiac constellations, with Cancer missing.

The strongest stage-five is Taurus, which once led a terrifying army against humanity in the Gutter War, later defeated by the world's mysterious strongest Initiator, the girl ranked #1 in IP.

Virgo was defeated by the German Initiator ranked #2 in IP.

In the ten full years since humanity barely survived and began recovering, not a single other stage-five has been defeated; these zodiac gutters continue to rampage across the land like natural disasters, utterly beyond human control.

Yet these zodiac gutters did not appear out of nowhere—there are traces to be found.

According to hints in the anime, the "Seven Stars' Legacy" capable of summoning Scorpio is, in fact, nothing more than a severely damaged child's tricycle. Jia Qi could easily deduce certain truths—even these world-devouring monsters were once human.

A meteorite descended from the sky carrying a unique virus capable of rewriting biological DNA; its immense value naturally sparked ambition.

Eleven young girls became test subjects for experiments merging human and animal genes. When the experiments failed or went berserk, the virus spread, turning these eleven into zodiac-level gutters. The researchers concealed the truth, yet these original subjects retained fragments of their human memories and attachments—hence, a broken tricycle could become the summoning object for Scorpio.

Humanity's downfall was entirely caused by its own ambition.

Even after witnessing Jia Qi's inhuman acts, many still struggled to comprehend his plan to deliberately summon the zodiac stage-fives.

Remember, each one has destroyed more than one human settlement; they cannot be opposed by ordinary means or force.

No one understands what he intends to do, but no one in Tokyo can defy his will—they can only let him act.

Will they await heaven?

Or hell?

"I have an idea I want to try. If it succeeds, it's a bonus. If it fails, it doesn't matter—the worst outcome is just Japan sinking."

Without hesitation, he leapt from several kilometers above.

Under gravitational acceleration, fierce winds and air currents scraped against his skin, as if trying to tear him apart; the faint pain awakened the dormant power within this body.

A terrifying aura erupted suddenly.

At the same time, the "Solomon Ring" activated—

"I'm here!!!"

(End of Chapter)