Chapter 79: Aerial Assault

The helicopter climbed through the turbulent air currents, lurching and swaying erratically as it darted through the sky. Both Tsukawa and Ryoko Hashimoto were ashen-faced.

“Watch out!”

Tsukawa cried out in alarm as the helicopter seemed about to crash into the façade of a looming skyscraper ahead. He moved as if to help, but Su Yi’s hands moved with lightning speed and precision, and at the last possible second, the helicopter veered past the building’s side, narrowly avoiding disaster.

Tsukawa broke into a cold sweat.

Fortunately, Su Yi gradually got the hang of it. The helicopter, though swaying, began weaving skillfully through the forest of high-rises, slowly regaining the poise it should have in the hands of a seasoned pilot.

“This is… unbelievable,” Tsukawa murmured to himself. Even with his specialized training, he wouldn’t have dared claim he could masterfully control a helicopter in such a short time after six years away from flying. Yet, the truth was plain to see: a novice who had just needed his help to identify the cockpit’s buttons had, in mere moments, accomplished what would normally require countless hours of theory and practice.

Su Yi breathed a sigh of relief. Though his reflexes and physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary humans, piloting a helicopter so skillfully in such a short time, without crashing into a building, was still a stretch. Thankfully, he’d tried using his “Stirring Winds and Flying Sand” skill to subtly manipulate the surrounding airflow, and it had proven effective. With such a beneficial boost, Su Yi dared to take risks and attempt feats that would seem impossible to others.

After flying for dozens of minutes, Su Yi was confident his skills now matched those of an experienced pilot. He guided the helicopter to descend, lowering from the open sky to glide level with the surrounding buildings. Pressing on the pedals, he continued to bring the craft down.

The roar of the rotors grew louder, the noise finally drawing the attention of the ghouls on the ground.

A chorus of guttural howls rose up, a cacophony merging into a deafening wave that seemed to shake the very heavens.

Tsukawa and Ryoko Hashimoto felt their scalps crawl. Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of ghouls poured from the innards of the buildings, surging like a tide to join those already crowding the streets. The seething mass of black figures packed the roads so tightly they became writhing ribbons of darkness, a sight so nightmarish it was as if they’d tumbled straight into a dreamscape of terror.

As the helicopter dropped lower, some ghouls even leapt from the windows, hurling themselves towards the hovering aircraft in vain attempts to cling to it, only to be dragged down by gravity and disappear into the writhing black sea below, like foam tossed up by crashing waves.

Why had Su Yi brought the helicopter down to such a dangerous height? Because this Kyoto Metropolitan Police helicopter came equipped with weapons. While it didn’t carry missile launchers like a military chopper, its arsenal was still formidable in the face of these ghouls: a 12.7mm aircraft machine gun.

As the helicopter swooped low over the ground, the machine gun opened fire. The thunderous bursts sent out searing jets visible to the naked eye, lashing mercilessly into the ranks of the undead. Those struck were torn apart by the bullets’ immense kinetic force, shredded into pulp—beyond any hope of reassembly.

The devastating power of modern weaponry was on full display. The machine gun carved long, bloody furrows through the writhing horde. The ghouls’ vaunted vitality became a joke in the face of this storm of lead. Though more and more ghouls surged forward to fill the gaps, the number of the slain kept climbing inexorably.

The relentless army of ghouls showed no fear at the carnage of their brethren. They pressed ever forward in a furious mass, chasing after the helicopter’s flight path. Su Yi circled a building, retracing his route. The machine gun blazed again, unleashing another metallic storm that swept the road clear.

Tsukawa and Ryoko Hashimoto’s blood raced; they were thrilled. In this era when human civilization was all but extinct, the overwhelming firepower of the helicopter rekindled their hope of defeating the undead.

After several strafing runs, Su Yi steered the helicopter toward a particular direction. Countless ghouls followed in their wake. Spotting a building ahead and noticing Su Yi’s deliberate reduction in speed, Tsukawa’s eyes lit up. “Mr. Su, are you planning…?”

Su Yi nodded, bringing the helicopter to a hover above a gas station.

From above, they could see that a fuel tanker was parked beside the underground storage tanks, its hose still connected—clearly it had been unloading fuel when the disaster struck.

The horde surged in, black and dense. Su Yi lifted the helicopter a bit higher, then fired a volley of bullets into the fuel tanker’s side. Soon, gasoline was streaming from the gaping holes torn by the gunfire. The helicopter circled, and the machine gun severed the gas pumps.

The acrid stench of gasoline began to permeate the air. The ghouls, oblivious, gathered on the fuel-soaked ground, howling furiously at the sky.

Judging that the gasoline fumes had mixed sufficiently with the air, Su Yi pulled the helicopter up and away.

On the ground, the ghouls were still trying to pursue. The machine gun rattled, sending a fresh burst of bullets sparking across the gas station’s floor. Su Yi’s calculation proved accurate—the concentration of fuel vapor had reached the explosive limit.

A thunderous explosion erupted, shaking the earth to its core. Flames roared out, instantly igniting the tanker. From the epicenter, a monstrous mushroom cloud shot up toward the sky. Fire soared dozens of meters high, a storm of smoke and flame engulfing everything within hundreds of meters.

A cacophony of shattering glass filled the air for blocks around. The tanker’s wreckage was hurled far and wide by the blast wave, and even the helicopter, now several hundred meters above, was pelted by tiny fragments.

The ground at the gas station heaved and split open, the explosion tearing the earth asunder. The underground tanks detonated in sympathy, and the raging flames devoured the air. The ghouls burned like torches, consumed at once by the inferno.

The relentless detonations could be heard for kilometers. The helicopter shuddered in the sky, only stabilizing after a long moment.

When the smoke finally cleared, a vast crater nearly twenty meters wide and ten meters deep gaped where the gas station had been. Not a trace remained of the original buildings—not a single wall or scrap of rubble had survived.