Chapter 160: Nuclear Bomb

The tank's steel tracks rolled over the street littered with rubble and blood, emitting a grating screech that made teeth ache.

A steel torrent of M1A2 main battle tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles surged forward like swords drawn, forcing its way toward Chicago City Center and trying to carve a barrier with overwhelming firepower.

However, the enemy they faced obeyed no physical laws at all.

"Report! Twelve o'clock! High altitude!"

A terrified tank commander screamed over the comms channel.

A Spider Humanoid leapt from a skyscraper dozens of meters high, its massive body tracing a twisted parabola through the air before crashing onto a tank's turret.

Boom!

The heavy composite armor was dented with a terrifying crater.

Immediately, the creature thrust its four reverse‑jointed limbs into the armor seams like crowbars.

"No! It's tearing open the hatch! Help!"

A harsh metallic screech rang through the radio, ending in a sudden, cut‑off scream.

The Spider Humanoid ripped the tank's roof off with its bare hands, yanking the soldiers inside out like pulling carrots and shredding them into blood‑splattered fragments mid‑air.

This is no war.

It is a one‑sided hunt.

Half of Chicago fell completely within a few hours.

Spider Humanoids now number over one hundred thousand, clustering into a moving forest of flesh and bone that spreads mercilessly through the city.

Where they pass, the marks of civilization are erased, leaving only assimilated corpses and endless despair.

The Pentagon, the supreme command center.

On a massive screen, live drone footage recorded the defeat in crystal clarity.

Secretary of State Yuehanxun's obese body slumped in his chair, his face pallid, beads of sweat the size of beans constantly rolling off his forehead.

His proud iron army was as fragile before these monsters as a child's toy.

On the screen, the expanding red infection zone resembled a demon with a Bloody Maw, about to devour the entire North American Union.

All his arrogance, all his confidence, were crushed to powder in that moment.

He swallowed his humiliation; his fat fingers, trembling violently, finally pressed the communication button he had once scoffed at.

He connected to the Federal Weird Investigation Bureau's encrypted channel.

After a hiss of electricity, the video link came online.

Wei Gong's wrinkled, aged yet calm face appeared on the screen.

"Mr. Yuehanxun," Wei Gong said, his voice betraying no emotion, "Is there anything urgent?"

Yuehanxun's Adam's apple bobbed violently; his throat felt so dry it seemed ready to burst into flame.

He mustered all his strength to force a few words out between his teeth.

"We... need assistance."

He quickly, with a hint of incoherent terror, described Chicago's situation.

Wei Gong on the other side of the screen, after listening, did not reply immediately.

He fell into a prolonged pause, his fingers tapping the desk in a measured rhythm that struck at Yuehanxun and all North American Senior Executives' hearts.

A spark of hope lit in Yuehanxun's eyes.

The Federation must have a way!

They even handled a Nation-Destruction Level disaster like Dongdao!

Finally, Wei Gong opened his mouth.

His voice was void of feeling, as cold as a scalpel.

"Mr. Yuehanxun, once Weird becomes a systematic contamination, 'containment' loses its meaning."

"Regarding this, the Federation does indeed have experience."

Yuehanxun jerked his head up, his eyes exploding with ecstasy.

However, Wei Gong's next words plunged him into an icy abyss.

"That is," Wei Gong paused, his gaze through the screen fixed on the newly kindled hope in Yuehanxun's eyes.

Then, word by word, he delivered the harshest answer.

"Before it contaminates the whole nation, erase the source from the map completely."

"Just as we dealt with Dongdao."

Boom!

Yuehanxun's mind buzzed and went blank.

Erase?

Erase Chicago from the map?

That's the North American Union's third‑largest city! One of its economic lifelines!

"No... there must be another way!" Yuehanxun shouted hysterically, "Don't you have a dedicated containment unit? Don't you..."

Wei Gong shook his head, cutting him off.

His tone carried a detached factualness.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Yuehanxun. If you had accepted our alliance proposal earlier, when those monsters were still just a pregnant woman lying in a hospital bed, perhaps our specialists would have detected it and rendered it harmless."

"But now..."

Wei Gong said no more, merely shaking his head again.

His gaze was full of pity.

It was pity for a patient beyond cure.

After speaking, he didn't even give Yuehan Sun a chance to rebut or plead.

Snap.

The communication was cut off outright.

The screen instantly went pitch black.

Inside the command center, it was so quiet that one could hear each other's heartbeat.

Yuehan Sun slumped in his chair, feeling a burning pain on his face.

It felt as if he had been brutally slapped countless times in front of the whole world.

Because back then, it was they who arrogantly rejected the Federation's proposal to share experience, conceitedly believing that technology could solve everything.

And now, reality gave him the loudest response.

An elderly man dressed in a full general's uniform walked to Yuehan Sun's side and asked hoarsely, "Now... what do we do?"

What do we do?

Yuehan Sun's gaze turned hollow as he stared at the red area on the screen that had expanded beyond control.

Despair flooded him like a tide.

He slowly lifted his head and looked at the only person in the room who held final authority.

The President of the North American Union.

He mustered his last ounce of strength and voiced the most heartrending request that would go down in history.

"Mr. President..."

"I request... launch a nuclear bomb."

The entire command center held its breath at that moment.

The President closed his eyes, his aged face full of anguish.

A long while.

He opened his eyes, his voice hoarse and heavy.

"Take me to the final authorization."

The order was issued.

At a secret military base in Nevada, a small tactical hydrogen bomb was slowly rolled onto its launch rack.

Etched on its warhead was a cold name.

"Judgment Day".

As the countdown hit zero, the massive launch silo cover slid open.

The missile, trailing a long blazing white tail flame, ripped through the night sky like a bolt of divine wrath, aimed at the city that had become a complete hell.

Chicago.

The Pentagon's top command center.

Yuehan Sun and all the Senior Executives stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling window.

They stood in silence, gazing at the distant skyline.

There, the direction of Chicago.

The next second.

A huge, twisted, yet oddly beautiful "holy" mushroom cloud rose silently on the distant skyline.

The scorching white light instantly devoured the night.

The brilliance illuminated every face in the command center to a dazzling clarity.

It also clearly reflected the endless, unmasked fear, remorse, and bewilderment in their eyes.