Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 530: An unexpected attack from nowhere.

Vicente slapped Mrs.Krotchner again, images of all the meals he had eaten from her dinner zooming in and out of his mind. Victoria would be so furious when she found out. How was he to tell her that maybe, they had been tricked into becoming cannibals!

He opened his mouth, a green gas poured out like steam rising from a chimney.

Father Nicodemus swooped in, kicking Mrs. Krotchner away before the poison could take her life. Poncho caught the woman and twisted her arm, snapping it in half.

Mrs. Krotchner screamed. "Please..." she begged, tears falling from her desperate eyes, "It was only a few, most of them are still alive. I am so sorry.... let me go. I will help you find the others, the children and Derone...no, Fifi’s other customers."

Sunshine watched her closely. The woman was terrified, and she was snitching to save her own skin. "She is not lying, looks like she didn’t cook all the children. Start talking and be quick about it."

Poncho thrust Mrs. Krotchner to the ground and flyers of the missing children were dumped in front of her.

Before the woman could speak, Sunshine’s radio crackled. It was Hadrian’s voice, sounding relieved but grim. "Sunshine? I found some. Two of the missing kids are working in a brothel as maids. I killed the owner and rescued them."

Seconds later, Gilly’s voice came through, cold and sharp. "I found three more. Behind the old textile mill. They’re alive, but they’re scared. They managed to escape from whoever was holding them and hid here for five months, they do not look so good and my shadow cannot help."

The news changed the energy instantly. Sunshine looked at Vicente. "The kids are scattered. We need to move now before the other buyers realize the secret is out and try to ’dispose’ of the evidence."

Vicente nodded, wiping blood off his knuckles. "Fine. You take your team and find the ones you can. I’ll take my boys and find the one’s other monsters are holding. We meet at the central meeting hall in one hour. "He turned to Mrs. Krotchner. "You better talk until her lungs give out or else that portable furnace is waiting."

They turned to head back to their vehicles, the tension finally starting to ease just a little.

"Hey Nimo," Siegfried called out, trying to lighten the mood. "After this, let us meet at Ruby’s bar. I need to cleanse my soul because I feel like it has been tainted by evil today."

Nimo scoffed. "Anything that includes meat, I am out. I am going vegetarian after this."

"Yeah, I think I’m sticking to canned beans for the next_" O’Toole said

Suddenly, the air was sliced by a high-pitched, electronic scream. Sunshine’s vision was flooded with a flashing red light.

[WARNING: PROJECTILE DETECTED. RPG INCOMING. IMPACT IN 10... 9...]

"Get down!" Sunshine screamed, lunging toward her team with a massive

The air screamed. It was a sound Sunshine had learned from the past_ the high-pitched whistle of a rocket cutting through the wind, many people had come in possession of war weapons in the past life, it had to be the case even in this apocalypse.

The System didn’t just warn her; it acted. A shimmering, metallic handle appeared the storage space. Sunshine reached for it instantly and activated it.

"Everyone, get under the Reactive Shield Canopy! Now!" she screamed. "Activate the shields on your exo suits, extend their coverage area to protect the people in the town. We are under attack."

The Fortress Four didn’t ask questions. They had learned that when Sunshine yelled "now," you moved first and asked why later. They dove toward her, huddling close. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Vicente’s men, however, stood there with confused faces. They looked at the tent like shelter that Sunshine had appeared out of nowhere_ it looked like an oversized, high-tech patio umbrella with a thin, glowing fabric.

"What is that? A beach toy?" one of the men laughed, clutching his rifle.

"I do not understand why you are opening a parasol?" Another said.

Sunshine roared. "There’s a missile coming, you idiots! Did you not hear me say that we are under attack?"

Vicente saw the look in Sunshine’s eyes. He didn’t know how the "beach tent" worked, but he knew she probably wasn’t the type to play jokes during a firefight. He grabbed two of his closest men and dived under the glowing blue edge of the canopy.

The others? They stayed in the open, some still snickering.

[3... 2... 1... IMPACT.] The system alarmed.

The first RPG hit the ground exactly five feet from the group.

BOOM!

The world turned into a nightmare of fire and dust. The shock wave hit the Reactive Shield Canopy and stopped dead. To those inside, it felt like a heavy gust of wind, the blue fabric buzzing with a low hum as it absorbed the energy.

But outside the blue circle, it was a slaughter.

The explosion tore through the dirt, sending jagged shrapnel everywhere. The men who had been laughing were thrown like rag dolls. An already struggling building trembled and collapsed. When the smoke cleared, the ground was charred black. Renzo, lay motionless in the dust.

"Renzo!" Stefano yelled, his voice cracking with a mix of grief and rage. He crawled out from under the shield, looking at his fallen cousin. "You idiot! You should have listened! I told you to get in! You arrogant fool!"

Stefano cursed at the sky, his eyes red with tears. He had grown up with Renzo; they were more like brothers than cousins. And in the apocalypse, they had survived beasts and hunger, only to die because of a moment of stupid pride.

"More incoming!" Father Nicodemus yelled, pointing at the ridge line.

"These motherfuckers won’t quit." Poncho tugged on Mrs. Krotchner’s hair. He had a firm hold on it, with no plans of letting her go anytime soon. No matter what happened, she would not be allowed to escape. "Are these your friends from the human meat club?" He slapped her. "Did you call in for a rescue?"

Mrs. Krotchner shook her head. Her cries were drowned by the whistling sound. Three more smoke trails streaked through the air. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. They slammed into the top of the canopy. This time, the "beach tent" didn’t just absorb the hit. The fabric pulsed with a bright white light, and the rockets didn’t explode_ they bounced. Like tennis balls hitting a wall, the RPGs reflected off the shield and went screaming back toward the hills they were launched from.

A distant explosion rocked the hillside as one of the rockets hit its own launcher. The attackers shouted, they had not expected that to happen.

"Take that, you suckers!" Siegfried cheered, giving the hillside a middle finger.