“Are you sure?” Horne raised his voice, immediately walked out of the glass room, strode to the door, and pushed it open with one hand. A cold wind instantly swept in, hitting his face like it was suffocating, and Horne shivered.
From the Main Control Tower, he couldn’t see the North City Gate, but he could see part of the snowfield outside it. Horne leaned over the railing and gazed outward. The wind blew his hair sideways, and the howling sounded like crying in his ears.
In just a few seconds, Horne felt cold. He shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his arms with crossed hands back and forth.
That expanse of pale had long been swallowed by the thick fog of night. Only the areas lit by the control tower’s searchlights were somewhat clear.
Horne glanced at the time: midnight.
Entering the snowfield at this hour was a death sentence.
Weren’t they fine when I sent them over? Why did they suddenly run?
Moments later, a temporary replacement notice appeared on the military district’s all-channel broadcast.
When Horne took two people out on the snowmobile, he received a barrage of messages from Han Ya.
Han Ya: [What’s the situation? Don’t do anything stupid. Leaving the control tower without authorization during your shift will get you in trouble.]
Han Ya: [I saw Matthew head to the Main Control Tower.]
Han Ya: [Seriously, Horne, going out now is suicide. If he wants to die, let him. What’s gotten into you? Can’t you stop being so hot-headed? Why cover for him?]
Han Ya: [You’ll be the death of me.]
Horne ignored it all. He just felt that the kid surely hadn’t gone far. If he went looking right away, he should be able to find him. If he went beyond a certain range with no further sign, he’d turn back immediately.
Horne: [Turn on all the searchlights at the control tower.]
With a buzz, all the lights outside the North City Gate lit up, turning everything within a kilometer as bright as day.
The snowmobile sped up to a hundred. Horne gripped the steering wheel tight and floored the accelerator. The engine’s roar instantly drowned in the furious wind of the snowfield.
Within range near the city, the snowmobile left long tracks. Horne kept looking around nonstop.
“Keep an eye out. Call me the second you see someone,” Horne said, his voice tense, his face expressionless.
Not even half a minute later, the soldier in the back seat slapped the left window: “I saw him! To the left!”
A blurry figure, swaying left and right.
Horne yanked the wheel left, surged forward, and braked with a screech.
Horne opened the door and rushed out.
“Hey!” Horne shouted, but his voice was swallowed by the howling wind of the dark night.
It was freezing. In that instant outside, it was enough to make anyone tremble all over.
The boy was still wearing Horne’s clothes—a single top wrapping most of his body. He huddled into a ball and shuffled forward slowly, getting slower with each step.
“Stop walking!” Horne ran over quickly, taking off his own coat as he went.
The boy heard the voice, turned around, and froze warily in place.
“Why’d you run out?” Horne rushed up to him in a few steps. Even though he himself was shivering from the cold, he wrapped the boy in his coat and scooped him up clothes and all into his arms. But the moment he lifted him, the boy struggled violently.
“Stop moving!” Horne said, annoyed.
The boy broke free quickly, only to be yanked back by Horne grabbing his clothes: “Where are you going? You’ll die if you go out now.”
The boy made whimpering sounds from his mouth—growls almost like a wild beast’s. Held in Horne’s arms, he suddenly hammered at Horne’s shoulder and struggled like mad.
All sounds were swallowed by the roaring cold wind. Horne only felt the snow lashing his face like it was cutting into his skin. Ice water seeped into the wounds toward his veins, numbing him completely.
“Let’s go back, okay?” Horne tried to soothe him.
“Major!” someone suddenly shouted from the vehicle.
Horne pinned the kid in his arms and turned his head slightly. He saw the back-seat soldier suddenly open the door, dart out, and scramble into the driver’s seat like a maniac.
“Major, get in!” the other one shouted. “Hurry back!”
Horne didn’t quite hear, only caught the mouth movements, and hadn’t spoken yet.
A piercing siren shot into the sky.
Horne’s face changed drastically.
That was the alien invasion alarm.
“Major! Get in! Aliens detected nearby!”
Horne didn’t care anymore. He scooped up the kid and rushed toward the vehicle, but the kid bit down hard on his shoulder. Horne cried out in pain, locked his arms tight, and sprinted over.
The two tumbled into the back seat, the door slammed shut, and the vehicle lurched forward with a stomp on the gas.
Amid the deafening sirens, a group of aliens pierced out from the darkness high above—about a dozen of them. They dove down, spotted the vehicle in the snow unexpectedly, and pounced right away.
His heart still hadn’t calmed when Horne wiped the fog from the window and saw the hazy alien silhouettes in the distance. His expression tense: “Back to the city!”
The vehicle sped so fast the tires skidded, charging toward the city gate at max speed.
Inside the vehicle, Horne’s face was pale, but the heater kept him from freezing too badly.
He didn’t know why they’d invade so suddenly. From the window, he could already see huge six-winged monsters leaping down from the sky not far off, soon switching to low flight, charging ahead, closing in step by step.
The city gate alarms blared deafeningly, echoing across the entire snowfield. The kid inside wailed at the top of his lungs, and Horne’s eardrums buzzed.
“Faster, faster!” Horne urged.
“Major! This is as fast as it goes!” The driver gripped the wheel white-knuckled, veins bulging in his arms.
Several terminal messages flooded in at once.
Han Ya: [Holy shit, holy shit! Get back!]
Ben Yian: [What’s going on? I’ll come out to meet you!]
Bai Yin: [Hero Major, what are you doing? Want me to send out my Falcon to help?]
Tower 2: [Electromagnetic net down? -Geng Feng]
Tower 3: [Main Control Tower? What the hell?! -Bo Shir]
Military District: [Where’s the electromagnetic net?!]
Military District: [Electromagnetic net signal gone!]
Military District: [Main Control Tower lost contact!]
Horne’s hand shook. His mind went boom, blanking out his vision, breath stopping.
He immediately sent a message to Matthew.
Horne: [???]
Tower 2: [Electromagnetic net backup activating. Needs time. -Geng Feng]
Tower 3: [Activate single-tower backup! -Bo Shir]
The vehicle jolted violently, a strong sense of weightlessness hitting.
It crested a small snow mound too fast and flew airborne.
“Aaah—” The kid screamed. Horne held him with one hand and grabbed the handle with the other.
Bang! The vehicle crashed down, spun in place, then shot forward again on the gas.
Tower 3: [Tower 3 electromagnetic net backup activated! -Geng Feng]
Tower 2: [Tower 2 electromagnetic net backup activated. Electromagnetic net recoverable in three minutes! -Bo Shir]
In the rearview mirror, the aliens’ double faces gleamed brightly, nearly touching the vehicle.
“Major! Major!” The driver screamed in breakdown.
“Stay calm, keep driving!” Horne kept his voice low. The veins stood out on his hand gripping the handle as he shoved the kid to the soldier beside him. “Hold him tight for me.”
With that, he rolled down the window. Fierce wind poured in instantly, suffocating at first.
Horne leaned out halfway, raised his gun, and fired.
With both sides moving at high speed, he fired several shots, killing two, but more immediately filled in behind.
The driver clutched the wheel desperately. From the rearview, he saw the aliens dangerously close and screamed like it was mutual destruction.
But the instant the aliens reached the tail, they leaped up on the spot, overtook the vehicle at even higher speed, and shot ahead.
Horne’s heart leaped back to his throat. He pulled the trigger until empty.
It was like they’d sensed the electromagnetic net was temporarily down.
Three minutes. Not enough time.
Horne: [Matthew???!!!]
Han Ya: [I’m heading to the Main Control Tower.]
The group of aliens charged toward the city gate against the fierce gale, under the searchlights.
In at most two minutes, they’d breach. The electromagnetic net had to be up—no room for even one extra second.
Horne forced his shaking hands still. His face drained of color, half his body soaked in the double assault of cold wind and high speed. He couldn’t feel his body anymore.
Through the hazy fog and falling snow, he stared death at that black cluster, kept pulling the trigger. But with increasing distance, plus wind speed, vehicle speed, and low visibility, accuracy dropped sharply.
One hit, but no headshot.
Military District: [Hold the city gate!]
Tower 2: [Two minutes! -Geng Feng]
“Waaah—” The kid beside him cried himself hoarse.
In the endless night, a fighter jet soared up, sleek and streamlined like an eagle’s spread wings.
That was Bai Yin’s personal fighter.
Bai Yin in the cockpit looked deadly serious as he piloted his Falcon, one-shot kills.
Too late. It happened too suddenly. He cleared a few aliens from the air, but more immediately replaced them.
Getting closer. The aliens were closing in on the city gate.
“Major! They’re gonna break in!” The ground driver’s fingertips were white, voice trembling but controlled. “What do we do?!”
“Don’t panic. We’ve still got city defenses.” Horne forced himself calm, endured the hurricane from the speed, narrowed his eyes, and aimed ahead.
Bang! One vanished.
They could breach the gate in five minutes, but without the electromagnetic net, Loch City could be entered from anywhere overhead by the aliens. From their numbers, not too many gathered, plus Bai Yin’s air interception—it wouldn’t be total destruction. But unpredictable entry points for survivors would still cause heavy casualties.
The city districts were full of unarmed residents who couldn’t fight aliens.
“Major!” A scream from ahead nearly deafened Horne.
He watched wide-eyed as the aliens came within arm’s reach of the gate.
Ten seconds at most, and they’d be in.
Tower 2: [One minute! -Geng Feng]
Too late.
Bang! Bang! Horne fired twice, way off target. At the same time, the Falcon fired bursts into empty air.
In that instant, the alien cluster surged at max speed and plunged headfirst into where the electromagnetic net should have been.
“Major!!” An earth-shattering roar—Horne had never heard a human sound so desperate.
Horne held his breath, awaiting death. The next second, he froze.
A massive black fog billowed in the air, gradually dispersing with the snowfield wind.
Horne stared fixedly at the fog until the snowmobile rushed through the city gate in under a minute, brakes slamming down with a tire screech.
The particles in midair hadn’t fully dissipated yet.
That was over a dozen xenomorph particles—all dissociated corpses of the aliens.
Main Control Tower: [Sorry, sorry! I just hit restart by accident, lost contact temporarily. It’s good now!]
Horne only felt a violent urge to vomit, burning from his stomach to his heart and up to his throat.
Bang!
The sound of a chair slamming down.
“Unacceptable!” Ganal pointed at Horne, face flushed red with rage.
Government conference room, the next morning early.
![The Tower Will Fall [Apocalypse]](https://i2.wp.com/dobynovels.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/93.jpg?resize=151,215 "The Tower Will Fall [Apocalypse]")
