Ego firmed the order without hesitation. While Zack appreciated Antonny’s assistaheir group’s military strength made him cautious. The gover might have colpsed, but the ons they left behind—nuclear warheads, missiles, advaech—were still out there.

  When Zack arrived at the steel pnt, he saw the streets below littered with zombie corpses, some already being cleared by people w in small groups under Charles’s supervision. Armed guards stood nearby, keeping watch for any threats.

  ‘Good thing I left Charles in charge,’ Zack thought, the anized efforts. He he helicopter smoothly, and as he stepped out, familiar voices rose iement.

  “Sir Zack is back!” “Sir Zack!”

  Zack’s old crew from the steel pnt cheered, and Charles hurried over, his face lighting up despite the exhaustioched on it.

  “Sir Zack, we held the factory! It’s safe!” Charles reported with pride.

  Zack’s expression softened in approval, but his eyes quickly narrowed wheiced something. “Charles, what happeo your hand?”

  Charles g his heavily bandaged left arm, brushing it off casually. “Just a scratch. I figured it was safer to cut it off before it got worse.”

  Zaodded, masking his . “Staying alive is what matters.”

  “How’s the rest of the factory?” Zack asked, steering the versation away.

  Charles sighed heavily. “We lost eleven people—six veterans and five newer recruits. The vets fought bravely. The others… they panicked and got bitten.” His voice lowered. “One of the veterans is still alive but barely hanging on. He won’t make it.”

  Zack felt a pang ret. Seventeen of the inal crew remained, but they had already lost so many. He knew what had to be done. “Cremate the bodies,” he instructed. “Do what you for the injured, but if there’s no hope… make it quid painless.”

  Charles nodded solemnly. “Uood.”

  “Anroup will arrive by helicopter soon,” Zack added.

  Charles tensed. “From the prison?”

  “No. These are better,” Zack assured him. “They’ve got experiehey’ll fit in.”

  Charles visibly rexed. “If you trust them, we’ll make it work. I just don’t want too many strangers overwhelming the crew.”

  “I’ll send a few meical dogs to help out,” Zack promised before heading toward the factory.

  Irag signals led Zack to the heart of the pnt, where MV-01 and Annie’s spider robots stood guard. he entrance, Annie was helping a limping Sophia walk.

  “Brother!” Annie called out, her face lighting up.

  “Zack!” Sophia echoed, trying to smile despite her injuries.

  Zack’s eyes immediately sed Sophia. “Ego?”

  Ego reported, “Soft tissue damage and minan injuries. Recovery is likely with rest and oral medication.”

  Zack’s shoulders rexed. “Alright. Ohe helicopter nds, you’re flying back,” he told Sophia firmly. “You need rest.”

  Sophia frowned. “Really? After everything, now I’m stuck resting?”

  “I get it,” Zack said gently. “But you’ve got to recover first.”

  Sophia sighed, relutly nodding. “Fine… Little Anne…” she murmured under her breath, her expression tinged with sadness.

  Aried to cheer her up, smiling brightly. “Don’t worry, Sis! Get some rest, and I’ll take over the cooking!”

  Soon, the helicopter nded. Four meical dogs jumped out, immediately starting to up the scattered corpses. Behind them, survivors from Erza’s group hesitantly exited, looking around.

  Charles stepped forward, waving them over. As they gathered, he ted seven people—five men and two women.

  “You five,” Charles instructed the men, “take a break, then help up the bodies. You two,” he turo the women, “head to the teen. The others are already there.”

  The seven survivors exged uain gnces but, after a moment, nodded and moved to follow his instrus. “Much better than the ones from the prison,” Charles muttered approvingly under his breath.

  Meanwhile, Annie helped Sophia into the helicopter. As they stepped inside, parts were scattered all over the floor, and a red-haired woman y unscious nearby. Sophia frowned, her brow furrowing. “Is she another survivor?”

  Annie, however, was distracted by something else entirely. “Sis… she’s… um, really… big!”

  Sophia followed Annie’s gaze and blinked in surprise, her eyes widening. “Uh… you’re n.” She shook her head, quickly regaining her posure. “Anyway, she’s probably just in a a. We’d better take her back with us… who knows what might happen if we leave her behind.”

  “Okay,” Annie agreed easily, her simple nature showing as she turned back to help Sophia settle into her seat. Once Sophia was secure, Aepped out of the helicopter, retrieved the MV-01 suit, and drove it into the aircraft. She theurned with her spider robot, which folded its tall frame tightly to fit into the cargo hold.

  Finally, the helicopter lifted off, veering back toward the Mansion. After Annie and Sophia had left, Zack remained behind at the steel pnt, seeking out Charles to discuss his steps.

  The ret battles had left Zaeasy. His current arsenal felt ie, and after some thought, he made a decision: the factory o the steel pnt would be verted into a ons produ facility, fog on firearms and, most importantly, ammunition. Ego had already desighe factory yout and assembly lines.

  As promising as the pn sounded, Zack faced two major issues—aterials and skilled bor. Most of the nearby factories were produg parts, eleics, or chemicals, none of which were suitable for ons manufacturing. Even if he could gather the necessary supplies, transp them presented another challenge.

  “One helicopter won’t cut it,” Zack muttered, scratg his thoughtfully. “I o solve the transportation problem first.”

  After a moment, he spoke aloud. “Ego, got any ideas?”

  Ego responded promptly, “Yes, sir. Check this design.”

  A s popped up in Zack’s vision, dispying a blueprint for a massive pne, almost the size of an aircraft carrier. The ame read Avanche. Zack’s lips curled into a grin. “Not bad. But there are a lot of materials we don’t have yet. Oh well, as long as it flies ahe job done, I always upgrade it ter.”

  With a satisfied smirk, he gestured at the sky, ready to put his pn into motion. After a quick discussion with Charles, Zack turo leave the steel pnt. Before departing, he assigned all four of his meical dogs to stay behind. Along with the inal dog already guarding the pnt, the facility now had five meical guards, enough to ensure security and maintain order for Charles and his team.

  Meanwhile, Annie’s spiders hadn’t fared well in the ret battles. One was beyond repair, and another was heavily damaged. Zack decided to scrap both, leaving him with three funing units. He ordered the remaining spiders to return to the Mansion on their own.

  With everythiled, Zack boarded his transport. Under Charles’s watchful gaze, the aircraft asded into the sky, exeg a sharp turn before speeding toward the Mansion. Before long, Zack arrived and nded in the open spaear the Mansion, leaving the transport door wide open. Taking a quick look inside, he saw that Annie and the others had already unloaded most of the cargo, leaving only stacks of parts behind.

  “Ego, ohose three spiders get here, have them move these parts down to the basement,” Zastructed.

  “sider it done, sir,” Ego replied smoothly.