Chapter 581: Breaking News!

Chapter 579

The constructors working on Wall Rose had been so engrossed in their duties that, as two additional days passed, they unknowingly lost touch with what was happening in the outside world.

Only Captain Raze remained busy making calls and digging through files, desperately searching for any information he could find about the Larsons, no matter how insignificant it might seem.

He had even enlisted Captain Ella’s help and contacted other Captains from both the Iron and Aspirant Corps.

Anything could help.

He wasn’t about to let one of his squad members be taken away without doing everything in his power to bring him back.

And so, while everyone else remained occupied with the reconstruction, an entire week had passed since they retook Wall Rose.

Thanks to his incredible stamina and the building skills he had stolen from the other constructors, Ray had managed to raise the structure of his house from the ground up.

However, he wasn’t done.

On the contrary, his work was far from over.

He hadn’t yet smoothed out the rough edges or refined the structure’s appearance. All he had managed to do was raise the house and install the roof, making it somewhat liveable.

He had even ’politely asked’ an Earth Meta to use his ability to create some crude seats inside the house so Ray would have somewhere to rest whenever he became exhausted, which was a rare occurrence.

The Earth Meta had done exactly as he was ’asked’.

And thanks to that encounter, those who had been looking for Ray now knew where to find him.

However, nobody had the time to concern themselves with what the Tribrid was doing. Every single one of them was simply too busy.

Chloe was constantly using her ability to help lift constructors onto buildings or transport building materials up to them.

Felix, with his absurd strength and stamina, helped wherever he was needed.

Every single member of the squad was occupied with something, and none of them were sitting around doing nothing.

So, when Felix finally decided to take a break after a week of working almost nonstop, he grabbed his phone and was about to open an app when a news notification flashed across his screen.

He glanced at the headline.

And the moment he read it, his eyes widened considerably.

Without hesitation, he immediately sent an emergency message to the others, instructing them to gather at Ray’s house.

Everyone was included.

Even Van.

Before Van had secluded himself in his makeshift workstation, he had bypassed their phones and installed something that could jolt him out of his work mode, since his phone was usually on silent.

Every other communicator he owned was also kept on silent, making it nearly impossible for anyone to reach him while he worked.

He had done this under one condition: whatever issue arose had to be extremely serious to warrant disturbing him.

Something almost life-threatening.

Or possibly world-ending.

So, when Felix’s emergency alert reached him, of all people, Van immediately knew the matter had to be serious.

The others seemed to share that understanding, as they quickly made their way to Ray’s house.

The Tribrid himself had no idea that guests were on their way. He was too busy going through a series of movements with his SOA, familiarising himself further with the weapon.

He was therefore surprised when he heard a knock on his crudely constructed door.

Before he could even respond, the door swung open, and Van stepped inside, followed by the others.

"Uh... What’s going on? Is it the Aberrants? No, wait. If it were them, you all shouldn’t be here, though. What happened? Did the Ca—"

"Oh, for goodness’ sake, enough with the questions." Caster facepalmed.

Ray blinked, watching as the others dispersed around the living room, frowns etched across their faces.

"Now, why did you call us?" Van asked, his gaze drifting towards Felix.

Felix tapped his phone a few times before swiping upward, causing a holographic screen to appear in the air.

A paused video was displayed on it.

After tapping his screen once more, the hologram began playing.

[PDD News.]

A female news anchor appeared on the screen, holding a tablet with a worried expression on her face.

She seemed so shaken that she had even forgotten to introduce herself, immediately launching into her report.

[It’s been two days since the devastating nuclear attack that wiped out Lakesview City, reducing the entire city to nothing but rubble and ash.

The attack also affected the neighbouring city. Although the damage wasn’t as devastating as it was in Lakesview, it was still severe enough to wipe out approximately half of its population.]

The woman paused for a moment, causing everyone’s brows to furrow in confusion.

Ray’s gaze flickered towards Van, and realization dawned upon them.

But before they could act on this, the news anchor continued.

[This sudden attack is being classified as a terrorist attack. But the question remains: how did the perpetrators acquire a nuclear weapon? Who would be brave or foolish enough to create one, considering that nuclear weapons have been banned?

Anyway, due to how sudden the attack was, coupled with the fact that a substantial amount of manpower had been sent to Wall Rose to assist with its reconstruction, the Big Four were caught completely off guard.]

Ray’s hands tightened into fists as the images on the screen began changing, revealing countless destroyed homes.

Burnt bodies lay scattered throughout the ruins, with flames still licking at some of the remains.

[The city has been sealed off because nobody knows what dangerous substances might have been contained in the nuclear weapon.

However, one man has decided to take his chances.

Bryce Jackson, the leader of Jackson Ltd., a faction dedicated to improving humanity’s lives and developing technology capable of making life easier.

He has sent personnel to the neighbouring city to assist with evacuations and has also opened his estate to those seeking refuge. In addition, he has committed manpower and substantial financial resources towards caring for the victims of the Lakesview disaster and, if possible, rebuilding the city entirely...]

The news anchor was about to continue when Felix paused the video and turned towards Ray and Van.

The technology genius had his head lowered, his teeth grinding together as a pang of guilt washed over him.

He clenched his hands into fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

His head spun as self-blame overwhelmed him.

"Who could have done something like this? And for what exactly?" Chloe asked, looking around the room.

Felix turned towards Ray.

"You know who did this, right?"

Ray’s voice emerged as a growl, his eyes glowing white for a brief moment.

"Bryce Jackson."