Chapter 391: The Rebellion in the Underground Prison

The bomb had been planted directly inside the vehicle. No armor could withstand an explosion from within.

Kanzaki Rin slowly hung up after hearing the deafening clang followed by dial tones. She wondered if this bureaucrat felt even a flicker of regret for pinning the blame on low-level workers when facing death.

Most likely not. Such men only resented underlings for causing trouble.

Kanzaki Rin targeted Ishii Ryo not just for parental revenge, but to shock the Area 11 Government. This guy belonged to the cabinet—a core member of the ruling class.

It wasn’t just him. All fifteen prison officials who’d evaded responsibility years ago had been meticulously dealt with. She’d waited eleven years since rebirth, letting these enemies live longer solely for this night.

Their deaths would send tremors through the ruling class.

Though Area 11 faced many modern crises, its rulers had never felt threatened. Safely entrenched in their comfort zones, historical shifts never shook their status or safety. Tonight, this rotten elite finally tasted fear.

Dozens of explosions rocked the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Commoners remained unharmed, while over a dozen high-ranking officials perished.

The Area 11 Government panicked. The SAT armed force, initially dispatched to restore order, received urgent orders to stay within Tokyo’s first layer and protect VIPs instead.

Two blasts struck the Countermeasures Department headquarters, injuring many but killing none. As Fukuda Masaru and Arakawa Yamata checked for remaining bombs, their superiors demanded immediate deployment to guard the first layer.

Arakawa Yamata nearly cursed aloud. With Tokyo in chaos and enemy intel unclear, they wanted his team to waste resources shielding incompetent elites? Didn’t the SAT’s presence already prop up those cowards?

Yet Fukuda Masaru obeyed swiftly. Civilian casualties meant nothing compared to angering powerful figures.

Simultaneously, Tokyo’s garrison received orders to enter the city and eliminate “terrorists”—the government blamed cult-linked terrorist attacks, given prior incidents.

Advance troops from two divisions marched from camp. Resistance Organization ambushes hammered them at city entry points. The garrison never expected organized enemies to ambush them.

Disoriented and outmaneuvered, the troops scattered. Command froze, delaying operations for hours.

SOT units in the suburbs rushed back under urgent orders, only to face modified humans blocking their path. Breaking through would take hours.

Kanzaki Rin’s decade-long preparations threw Tokyo into chaos—a calculated strike against complacent rulers softened by peace with Iron Fortress.

Though the Countermeasures Department handled monsters well, this near-war situation overwhelmed their non-military structure.

While chaos reigned aboveground, the underground prison remained restless.

Kanzaki Rin’s choice of Hinata Plaza for the first explosion wasn’t random.

Beneath this plaza lay the underground prison.

The plaza had been built precisely because the massive hollow beneath couldn’t support any structure without risking collapse.

The initial explosion sent faint tremors through the prison walls.

On his narrow cell bed, Nozawa Ritsu’s eyes snapped open.

He slid off the mattress and retrieved the key hidden beneath it – left by Kanzaki Rin during her last covert visit.

The number 24 gleamed on the key’s surface. His calloused fingers traced the wall’s timeline of scratches, each groove marking another sunless day in captivity. Today’s count reached twenty-four.

Metal scraped against stone as he extended the key through cell bars. A soft crack echoed when the lock released, immediately drowned by shrieking alarms.

Expression unchanging, Nozawa Ritsu shoved the door open. Dozens of prisoners stared through their own bars, disbelief etched on their faces.

“WARNING. INMATE 5325. RETURN TO CELL.” The automated voice blared through hallway speakers. Ceiling panels slid open, stun gun barrels swiveling downward.

Nozawa Ritsu froze mid-step, remembering previous encounters with those weapons – how their shocks left him twitching on concrete for days. A distant thud shook the prison.

Darkness swallowed the complex. When emergency red lights flickered on moments later, the stun guns hung powerless from their mounts.

Someone’s cutting the power. The realization struck him. He waited, knowing solitary escape proved impossible. That clever girl wouldn’t have bothered with keys without planning this.

Testing his theory, Nozawa Ritsu jammed the key into a neighboring cell’s lock. The mechanism yielded instantly despite differing configurations.

“Brother! Here!”

“Take me! Please!”

Voices erupted as more prisoners rattled their bars, desperation flooding the crimson-lit hallway. The universal key’s metallic clicks became a rebellion’s drumbeat.

“Kid, come open the door!”

The prisoners crowded at the cell door, shouting excitedly at Nozawa Ritsu with voices full of pleas and threats.

Nozawa Ritsu ignored their yells and swiftly unlocked every cell.

Some prisoners wisely stuck close to him, believing this modified human could guide their escape.

But most inmates bolted outward immediately, terrified of being left behind.

Suddenly, intense gunfire exploded through the corridor.

Round-headed guard robots with bulky bodies arrived, unleashing terrible firepower.

The narrow passage offered no cover. Frontrunners got riddled with bullets, collapsing as corpses while survivors scrambled back screaming.

Nozawa Ritsu stayed clear-headed. He knew unarmed prisoners stood no chance against these robots.

He hurried deeper into the prison, springing open cells as he went.

The further inward he progressed, the deadlier the captives became – soon monsters instead of humans emerged from cells.

Outside the confinement area, guards remained oblivious to Nozawa Ritsu’s actions. With power severed, surveillance systems showed nothing.

The underground prison’s main and backup generators had been destroyed, leaving guards scrambling to call reinforcements.

Chaos ruled the confinement zone. Failed cooling systems revived hibernating monsters, all freed by Nozawa Ritsu’s actions.

These beasts attacked everything – prisoners, robots, each other. Fierce battles erupted, swallowing many in the crossfire.

Nozawa Ritsu stopped advancing. Releasing the deepest-contained monsters would doom everyone.

He reversed course through the turmoil, trailed by quick-thinking prisoners working together to avoid combat.

Upon reaching the confinement area’s exit, a deadly firepower network erupted. Lead runners became human sieves.

An unknown armed force blocked the exit with heavy weapons, slaughtering anything that moved.

“What now? The monsters are gaining!” a prisoner cried to Nozawa Ritsu.

Though keeping calm expression, anxiety gnawed at him. Trapped between heavy artillery and approaching monsters meant certain death.

Before he could devise a plan, agonized screams and weapon blasts erupted outside. Blinding flames lit the corridor as temperatures spiked.

When the fire vanished, the armed personnel lay annihilated.

Prisoners stared nervously at the entrance. Through smoke emerged a tall, slender girl.

Flames enveloped her body, hair burning like living fire – a blazing goddess illuminating the dark prison.

“You!”

Nozawa Ritsu immediately recognized the fiery woman who’d left him the key days earlier.