US police: Plane crashes started with Homelander.

Chapter 8 The Battle of New York

"Ugh!!!"

The fat, black driver at the very front of the bus started shouting.

Li Ang immediately sprang to his feet, pulling out a Glock 34x from its holster. This gun was far less powerful than the M1911, but as a new employee, he needed sufficient experience to approve the use of many weapons. Although he could ask Claire for help, he had no intention of asking for help in that area for the time being.

Laser eyes are very powerful, but they can't be used casually in front of others.

Li Ang walked to the front of the bus and saw a sight that made the driver scream.

A four-legged monster with a flesh-colored carapace, but underneath it was a rhinoceros-like creature. It pushed open the manhole cover on the road, carrying rotten filth from the sewer, and climbed up the manhole by gripping the edge with its short, split-toed forelimbs.

It looks exactly like the monster in the short video we just saw.

It was about the size of a cow, and its entire body cracked the cement ground near the manhole cover before it forced its way up.

Li Ang broadened his gaze, and not only here, but looking across the entire straight road, every manhole cover and sewer opening was the same monster.

In some sewers, more than one emerged.

Li Ang looked at the creature that had just emerged from in front of their bus. It seemed to have no eyes, and it started running amok in the street, twitching like a dog as if it had smelled something.

She bumped into a blond man in a suit who was wearing headphones, looking down at his phone, and completely unaware of what was happening at the street corner.

As it drew near, the monster opened its enormous mouth, which occupied half of its body, and began to tear at the man who was only now raising his head. It swallowed the man whole, its stomach convulsing for a few seconds before it opened its mouth again and vomited out several pieces of undigested, tattered cloth.

The monster's size was visibly larger.

It's still moving, twitching its body as if "smelling" human scent, just like at the beginning.

The monster, now swollen to a whole size, rammed straight into the bus that was heading towards Li Ang.

Li Ang grabbed the driver's shoulder.

The fat black driver was stunned by the horrifying scene he had just witnessed.

Li Ang slapped him hard on the shoulder and shouted at him.

"Back up, back up, hurry up, get out of here, don't just stand there like an idiot."

He then realized what was happening, immediately turned the steering wheel, shifted gears, and reversed.

After the monster ate a person, its strength seemed to expand along with its size, and it rammed straight into the front of the car without any restraint.

This huge bus, along with the weight of the seven or eight people on board, was still pushed backward.

The monster's head shrunk a bit, but it seemed to feel no pain. It slowly took a few steps back, preparing to charge again.

Li Ang hurriedly shouted, "Don't bend anymore, just reverse, quick, quick, quick!"

The driver was fairly cooperative, but I don't know if he was too frightened to think independently.

The bus reversed on the road. The few cars that were behind the bus were smaller and more agile, and they had already turned around and fled when they spotted the monster.

Luckily, they left and the back was empty; otherwise, it would have been really difficult to reverse such a large bus.

The monster indeed had no eyes. Even though the car had already reversed a long way, the monster still charged towards the spot it had just been in, only to miss its target.

It paused again to sniff the scent before continuing its charge.

In that brief lull, the bus had already completed the turn, the driver shifted gears, and stepped on the accelerator to escape at full speed.

Compared to its enormous maw, the monster's limbs were very short, but as it chased after the bus, it looked only slightly slower than a normal adult running at full speed.

Having just escaped a close call, Li Ang and everyone in the car hadn't even caught their breath.

Everyone's phones went off with alarms at the same time.

At the same time, all cell phones that were turned on were forcibly taken over in the disaster-stricken areas of New York, and a broadcast was played.

A man's voice was shouting into everyone's cell phones in New York.

"Russia has attacked!"

I am Mayor Russell of New York City. These "beef cattle" are a Russian conspiracy. They released monsters through the sewage system to attack our city. Citizens, I urge you to take up arms in your homes. This is a critical moment for us to protect our families and homes.

Don't worry too much. I've already requested support from the Mutant Affairs Center. The heroes will be here soon. Hang in there, don't give up! Fight back against those monsters, thwart that Russian devil's plot! I'll fight alongside you!

"What are you talking about? Just drive your car, don't listen to this guy's nonsense, head out of town, go as far as you can."

After listening to the broadcast, Li Ang felt like smashing his phone. He patted the driver on the shoulder and said this.

In New York City today, commercial land starts at $500,000 per square meter, while residential land starts at $700,000.

He doesn't own a single brick or tile in this place, so who is he going to protect it for?

Is this for those rich people who play the stock market, start companies, know absolutely nothing but meddle in everything, muddy the market, make their own money, and then fly around in private jets every day, throwing parties with a few internet celebrities?

This "beef cow" can even lift a bus. Under normal legal restrictions, ordinary households at most have handguns and some small- to medium-caliber semi-automatic rifles. How could they possibly defeat these monsters without receiving any training?

At that moment, the local elderly people on the bus were also shouting and complaining, but they were mainly cursing the government for letting foreign countries invade.

The bus sped along the street; other cars that could have driven off had already done so.

But many cars were still without drivers and just stood there blocking the road. Fortunately, the buses were heavy enough that they could often find a gap and manage to squeeze through.

It's just tough on the people in Li Ang's car. These city buses don't have seat belts, so if there's a collision, no matter how big or small the impact, they're bound to fall.

The wigs and dentures of several elderly people in the back row were blown off.

Cattle that have been eaten and slaughtered can be seen running rampant along the roadside, along with blood-stained clothes that have been vomited up after being eaten clean.

Normally, some time has passed since the riots started, and most people who could run have either gone into hiding or fled in their cars.

Just then, I saw several young people running along the street.

When they saw the bus, they waved from afar and ran across the road to chase after it, which was still moving. Their voices could still be faintly heard through the noise of the bus; they were simply asking the door to be opened.

The driver looked at Li Ang.

He hesitated for a moment, then reached past the driver and pressed the door open button. The fat Black driver also stepped on the brake to slow down.

Three men and two women immediately ran onto the bus, and the bus started moving without stopping for even a second.

Several people, regardless of gender, were choking up, repeatedly thanking the driver and Li Ang, the policeman who was sitting on the bus for some unknown reason.

The young men who had just arrived huddled in the last row, the old women were on the phone, and the old men were whispering among themselves.

The young people, on the other hand, became quiet. Perhaps they hadn't experienced much, or perhaps they were simply stunned by the shock.

A so-called "beef cow" darted out from a side alley, smashed a roadside fire hydrant, and a jet of water shot into the sky.

That thing seemed to have a much better nose than the others; it rolled on the ground, got up, and charged straight at their bus.

"Damn it!"

The chubby, dark-skinned driver suddenly cursed a string of curses and yanked the steering wheel, but he went to shift gears first. Li Ang took over, holding the steering wheel steady with one hand and turning it sharply.

The beef cattle rammed hard against the back of the bus, causing the bus to shake violently and nearly overturn.

Fortunately, the car came through at the crucial moment, picking up speed so that the thing was thrown off and didn't have time to hit it a second time.

Heading west, the car soon stopped at a fork in the road.

One side is towards Long Island, and the other side is towards New Jersey.

"Where do we go?" the driver asked, his voice trembling.

Since just now, Li Ang had been taking out his phone and opening Google Maps to look at the map, after all, New York is so big.

Aside from the area under his jurisdiction, he wasn't familiar with every road yet, looking at his current location on his phone.

Li Ang pondered the information he already knew.

Putting aside whether this is really related to Russia, after all, American government officials are basically among the most shameless liars in the world.

Assuming this was indeed an attack targeting New York, and it was carried out through the sewers, then the suburbs, which lack drainage systems, would naturally be more advantageous.

He was about to point to the highway to New Jersey, specifically the one on the left leading to the suburbs, when...

Someone interrupted him first.

"Go to Long Island. I have a villa there, and my house has a basement that's big enough for everyone here to take refuge in."

In the back row, there was an old man who had been sitting on the bus from the very beginning. He was wearing an ordinary gray polo shirt, and his hair was gray, but he looked like any other old man you could see on the streets of New York.

However, his firm tone when speaking made him sound like someone who frequently gives speeches, which added to the feasibility of his argument.

Of course, wealth isn't written all over your face; the old man is most likely telling the truth.

But Li Ang had already come to his answer. Without further explanation, he turned to the driver beside him and told him his choice.

"Going to the suburbs is fine."

The driver knew the route well and was taking the same road as the Google Maps app on Li Ang's device.

"It's a stupid decision. What can you do in the suburbs? No food, no weapons, where can you go in a beat-up bus? It won't be long before it runs out of gas, and then we'll all just wait to die."

It was clear that the old man was extremely dissatisfied with Li Ang's decision. After he finished shouting, he didn't sit down, but stood up while holding onto the chair, and looked coldly at Li Ang and the driver.

Li Ang was too lazy to deal with this old fogey. Go to Long Island? That would mean they would have to turn back and retrace their steps. Besides, food, weapons, and oil were not problems at all; there were plenty of large towns and bus stations near New York.

Unless the area outside the city has also fallen, but if it's really that serious, it doesn't matter where you go, it's all a dead end anyway.

beep.

This time, Li Ang's walkie-talkie was forcibly woken up again.

That was an emergency call from the police channel.

"Channel 115... Requesting backup... We're at the intersection of Northland Avenue and Foster Avenue... We have about twenty civilians here—we only have four police officers... and we're running out of ammunition—is anyone there...? Anyone who hears this... please come and help us..."

This time, the Black man slowed down and looked at Li Ang, seemingly waiting for his opinion.

"We're not going."

The old man shouted again.

"They're calling you, it has nothing to do with us. You need to ensure our survival first."

Li Ang first glanced out the window to check the situation around the car.

He patted the chubby, dark-skinned driver on the shoulder and said, "Stop the car."

His expression was calm, and his tone was indifferent.

He turned to the old man and asked, "Will you go down by yourself, or should I take you down?"

The others looked at Li Ang, unable to believe that a policeman would dare to do such a thing. After all, Li Ang had been directing the escape all the way and had helped everyone get to where they were now; he was clearly a good person.

The old man mustered his strength and shouted, "You dare? Just for saying that, I'll sue you until you're bankrupt. My son is a Stanford law student and works at the best law firm in Texas."

"Your son is pretty tough, why don't you call him over to rescue you?"

Li Ang walked over, grabbed the old man by the collar, and tried to push him off the bus. At first, the old man resisted, but when he saw that Li Ang was really going to do it, he got angry and jumped off the bus himself.

"open."

Li Ang gave the order, but the car hadn't even been started yet.

Among the young people we just rescued, a girl stood up and pointed at Li Ang.

"That's murder. If someone that old beats someone up, he'll die."

"Don't start yet, let me catch another one."

The driver hesitated for a moment, but still complied with Li Ang's request.

Li Ang raised his hand and counted down for three seconds. The girl saw how ruthless Li Ang was.

He plopped down on the ground and said, "You can't do this! You've hurt him and now you're hurting me too. You don't deserve to be a policeman."

She threw a tantrum, crying and shouting, because there was no one she knew on the bus. She looked at another young girl who had boarded with her, hoping someone would speak up for her.

The girl quickly shook her head at Li Ang to show her stance.

Li Ang took the gun from his belt.

The girl who threw a tantrum still got off the bus crying.

The car continued driving westward toward the road leading out of the city.

No one in the car dared to speak, and Li Ang didn't say anything either.

"Damn it."

A young man muttered something under his breath, and an old man next to him patted him on the shoulder, signaling him to be quiet.

The girl from earlier was quite pretty. She greeted him when she got on the bus. Although they didn't exchange more than a few words and he didn't know her, he still felt sorry for her and couldn't understand why Li Ang could make such a heartless decision.

Li Ang could also see it, but unfortunately, this young man was a sycophant.

The bus drove on quietly. Soon it crossed the border of Queens.

Aside from the occasional "beef" body that ran out on the road, it was at least four or five times larger than the body we saw at the beginning, about the size of a small car. But because of this, the monster's movement speed was much slower. Although it was still chasing the bus on instinct, it could no longer keep up with the speed.

The bus was still moving forward when the driver's phone rang; it was his wife calling.

Li Ang, who was standing to the side, bent down and helped take the steering wheel.

The driver nodded his thanks and answered the phone, his voice a mix of laughter and tears:

"Yes, I'm still alive... I'm driving... I met a policeman, he's helping us... No, I don't know... You go to your mother's first, with the child... Yes... Yes... Don't wait for me... Okay... Okay... I love you too... Okay..."

After hanging up the phone, the driver wiped his eyes with his sleeve and suddenly asked Li Ang:

"Sir, will we survive?"

"Probably."