Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 596: Beacons for supplies.

His next shot took down a fox that leaped over Raydon. The bullet grazed the ear of the pregnant woman and passed through the left eye of the fox.

Raydon looked back, to see his savior. When he saw it was Sheldon, his blood went cold. The man had done it on purpose. He was after the pregnant woman! But he could not prove it.

In this chaos, people would only see the dead fox. He lifted the woman and made a run for it, speeding away with the ability of his exo suit.

Sheldon moved to follow them, but Jon stopped his friend. "Forget the woman, play your role as a member of the Fortress by defending it. Sunshine will appreciate that more the dead body of a pregnant woman."

Sheldon was unwilling but he nodded and followed Jon to take on more beasts.

Not many were left. The acid had eaten the beacon and cut off the transmission. The effect of this was instantaneous, the mist didn’t just lift; it retreated like a wounded animal. The Watchers let out a series of frustrated, high-pitched squeaks. They circled the bridge once more, their gazes lingering on the chaos, before spiraling upward and vanishing into the clouds.

For the residents of Kingsbridge, this was such a relief because they were saved from annihilation. The fight ended quickly. At the center of the town, the silence that followed was heavy. Hades stood over a dying razor hound, its body a patchwork of matted fur and jagged bone. With a grunt of effort, he delivered a final, kick. The creature gave one last, low whimper and went still.

"Damn watchers," Hades said, wiping a smear of black blood from his forearm onto his trousers. Did the birds have something against peace?

His men gathered close, delivering reports already. Drones circled the air from above, monitoring the area and all of its surroundings.

Dominic, who was busy cleaning his sword with a rag that was already more red than white, looked up skeptically, wondering if it was truly over. He had been expecting a fight equal to the one they faced against Emily and her superhumans.

He was sure the Watchers had a hand in that battle. They had a hand in every shitty thing happening on earth. Where had they gone to now?

"They hypnotized a pregnant woman and told her to do that," Hades said, his voice rough. "They followed us here. They’ve been watching and waiting for this fight. Poncho saw them do this hypnosis thing to someone and he attacked a camp. I think all those superhumans we saw them carry off or drop weren’t just being dumped; they were being hypnotized and charged like batteries, ready to attack when ordered."

Dominic paused, the weight of the information sinking in. He hadn’t heard the part about Poncho’s discovery yet, but he didn’t waste time arguing. "If they can get to anyone with a beacon, we have a security problem. That pregnant woman came from Ironwood. The watchers must have hypnotized her before she got here. Who knows how many others like her are within our midst. It feels like we have sleeping terror cells in our midst."

"I am working on that issue," Hades muttered, though his eyes looked tired. They needed to track down all the beacons and render them useless.

The next few hours were a blur of organized chaos. The music hall turned into a bustling field hospital. Residents moved with shaky hands, helping the squad members clear debris and tend to the wounded. The cost of the skirmish was written in the dust: four residents dead, a dozen more injured, and three storefronts reduced to jagged teeth of brick and glass.

While the common folk worked, the billionaires sat in their armored vehicles, parked in a neat, row. To them, the tragedy was mostly a matter of scheduling.

"He said four hours! It’s been seven!" Sheldon barked from inside his vehicle, his voice muffled by the reinforced glass. The air conditioning was humming at full blast, but the heat of the afternoon sun was turning the cars into gilded ovens. "When are we going home?"

"I have other things to take care of back at the mountain."

Tracy, unable to take the cramped tension any longer, shoved her door open and stepped out into the humid air.

"Why doesn’t this place have a bubble?" Sheldon growled. He was worried that danger awaited after the sun set.

"Oh, shut up, all of you!" Phaedra screamed. "Hades did not force you to come outside, you begged. If you cannot wait, go back on your own."

Tracy paced the pavement, fanning herself with a discarded pamphlet. "We came out voluntarily, so we are not blaming him," she whispered to herself, "But it’s almost dark, why are we still here?"

Hades was informed about the unsettled nature of the billionaires, but it was not time to cater to them. Fortress four had more residents that needed his attention. He stood atop a crumbled stone planter, holding up a small, charred cylinder_ a sample of the orange beacon. His tired eyes faced the crowd that had been gathered.

"Listen up!" he shouted, his voice carrying over the murmurs. "This little piece of junk is what brought those things here. It’s dangerous, it’s forbidden, and if you’re caught with one, you will have issues with me."

He scanned the faces_ the fear, the suspicion, the exhaustion. "If you have one of these, surrender it now. No questions asked. In fact," he added, a small, weary smirk playing on his lips, "anyone who turns one in gets an extra week’s ration of supplies. Consider it a trade-in for your life."

There was a long silence. Then, a young man stepped forward, pulling an orange device from his pocket. Then an elderly woman. Then a hunter. One by one, the residents approached Dominic, who held out a heavy metal crate. By the time the sun began to dip below the horizon, the crate was half-full, a pile of ticking time bombs neutralized by the promise of a full stomach.

Exhausted, Hades finally retreated to the shade of a scorched oak tree near a crumbled building. He slumped against the trunk, closing his eyes for a second of peace.

"You’re quite the politician when you want to be," a voice said.

Hades opened one eye. Vicente was standing there, looking remarkably clean despite the dust. He slid down to sit on the grass beside him.

"How do you do it?" Vicente asked, his tone unusually serious. "The people at Fortress Four... how do you have so much knowledge about surviving the apocalypse? You knew about the Watchers and what they can do. You have smart weapons, exo-suits that defy gravity, heat-shielded fabrics. You even know what that orange device is. It’s like you were prepared for this."

Hades looked at him, a slow, enigmatic smile spreading across his face. He didn’t say a word. He just watched a leaf drift down from the burnt branches above. The silence stretched out, thick with secrets that Hades clearly wasn’t ready to share.

"Fine, keep your mysteries," Vicente sighed, leaning back on his elbows. "But I’m a businessman. I know a no comment when I see one However, if I am to come on board, I want in on the secrets."