Lord of Cinder in American Comics

Faced with the others surrounding him, Coulson reluctantly raised his hands, only to be forcefully pushed to the ground by the people behind him and tied with nylon straps.

Coulson was now like a dead fish lying on the ground, looking up at the reflection of the building.

Then a small black dot appeared in everyone's field of vision.

Someone was seen flying between the buildings, constantly drawing reverse arcs, swaying left and right, flying towards this side.

"Alert! Suspected deliveryman!"

"The Control Bureau's equipment is so good? I'm thinking of switching jobs!"

Peter Parker was sent by Ash to deliver the goods this time, and he was wearing the Control Bureau's basic exoskeleton, with a holy water tank attached to his back.

Peter shot out a white spider silk, swaying between the buildings, then leaped backward and landed steadily on a street lamp by the roadside.

Wearing a mask he made himself, Peter looked at the armed agents under the streetlights.

"Hey! This is Spider-Man, your good neighbor, here to deliver goods! This is the first time I've ever swung around here in public like this..."

Peter, standing on the streetlight, realized that everyone on the other side was listening to whatever he said, afraid of missing a single piece of information.

"If you need help, you can call me. Oh, I can't give you my personal number. But I'm working at the Control Bureau now, you can call them, they might transfer you to me..."

"Why aren't you saying anything? Are you surprised by my entrance? Don't worry, you might see me more often in NY in the future..."

The agent under the streetlight was grinding his teeth, just waiting for the chatterbox above to put down the holy water and then get lost.

'Don't shoot, he's here to help, he's just a chatterbox, he's just a chatterbox…'

Almost everyone was silently repeating the same words in their hearts, and their gazes toward Peter Parker grew increasingly hostile.

Peter's spider-sense jolted him awake. He also sensed the change in his surroundings. So he jumped down from the lamppost and landed in front of the agents.

He removed the holy water tank that was fixed to his back, placed it at his feet, and opened it.

"Alright, these are the Bureau of Control's lost items... We only need to proceed with the final step..."

As he spoke, Peter took out a bottle of holy water and smashed it next to the box...

Upon seeing this action, all the armed agents instinctively pointed their guns at Peter Parker.

"Whoa! Stop, stop! The gun might go off accidentally! Be careful! I'm doing it as instructed..."

Peter took a picture of the box's current condition and sent it to Ash.

Putting away his phone, Peter glanced at the tense agents in front of him and pushed the holy water tank at his feet towards the other side.

The agents, having put away their guns, then focused on Peter Parker and took the box of holy water.

"Mission accomplished. Do you need any help? Good neighbor Spider-Man will help..."

Peter Parker, who was out for the first time, had no idea about the current situation, and Ash did not explain the reason for the mission to him.

Now, these agents had to put up with the talkative Peter and look regretfully at the missing compartment in the box...

Having obtained the item, they no longer needed to put up with this chatterbox. The agents surrounded the holy water and walked away. Only Peter and Coulson, lying on the ground, remained at the scene.

“Sir, it seems you need help? But you look like you’ve been arrested… um… Ash warned me not to meddle in other people’s business…”

Peter Parker circled Coulson twice, analyzing his situation. It was clear that the agent from before wasn't with Coulson.

"Let the agent from before help you untie it! I need to go back and report. Good luck, sir..."

Peter still felt it was best not to concern himself with other matters, so he left Coulson where he was, jumped back onto the lamppost, and shot out a web towards the control center.

At that moment, Coulson hadn't even had a chance to say a word.

Having acquired the equipment, the SHIELD combat team, which had regrouped, carefully removed the containers and soaked the bullets in holy water.

After waiting, they took out the bullets and sprayed the soaked holy water on everyone.

Although the search was somewhat exhaustive, given the quantity of holy water, no combatant complained about it.

Upon entering the underground, the effects of the holy water began to manifest. A faint white light enveloped everyone. Occasionally, the shimmering light of feathers could be seen within the white light.

This situation brought a slight sense of reassurance to the combat team members.

"Mission objective: Clear all living beings around the morgue; anything that moves is a target..."

"clear."

"clear."

No one had any objection to such an order; anyone with a modicum of common sense understood what a hellish scene awaited them.

"Why don't we contact the Control Bureau? They're the professionals. We should be fighting the terrorists..."

"Silence, this is not something we should be discussing right now..."

Everyone listening to the team's combat channel understood that this was a matter for S.H.I.E.L.D., and even if more lives were lost, S.H.I.E.L.D. would not seek help from other departments.

This squad understood that they were just an insignificant string of numbers. But since they were cannon fodder anyway, it wouldn't hurt to utter a few complaints.

"Target spotted, on the ceiling!"

The first to arrive noticed something amiss: creatures were crawling down from the ceiling.

"Fire! Fire! Free fire!"

The bullet, glowing white, found the monster that insisted on playing on the ceiling instead of walking properly, and the bullet, which had been completely ineffective, caused it to fall to the ground.

Without sparing the bullets, the continuous firing cut the man in two.

"Alert! Clear out!"

Following the squad commander's order, a soldier carrying a flamethrower appeared from the rear. The flamethrower was aimed at the monster on the ground.

The strange smell from the burning made everyone shut their mouths and put on breathing valves.

The burning lasted only a short time; the monster quickly lost its outer skin, exposing the bones and muscles beneath.

"Holy Water Test..."

The flamethrower took a bottle of holy water from his waist and carefully poured it out; a drop of holy water landed on the monster.

Instantly, the corpse, which had been cleaved in two and then burned, began to twitch, its eyes glowing yellow as it stared at the soldiers.

"Damn it, it's not dead! Fire! Fire!"

Another burst of gunfire followed, this time turning the two severed corpses into a bloody pulp.

"Cut off their heads! Cut off their heads! Haven't you guys read 'The Guide to Supernatural Events'?"

A different voice emerged on the channel, offering opinions on the squad's combat and decision-making methods.

Hill recognized the voice and warned him, "Stark, this is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s channel. Unauthorized access is illegal!"

"My God, is this buggy communications network really from S.H.I.E.L.D.? Your network engineers must have it so easy..."

Hill glanced at the agent beside him, only to receive a shake of the head. He couldn't get Stark off the communication channel.

“Stark, this is S.H.I.E.L.D.’s own business…”

Hill's voice was somewhat detached, as if what had just happened was insignificant, and dealing with Stark was the top priority.

"Yes, yes, things I can't handle myself."

Stark's blunt and uncompromising tone was unbearable for everyone.

"However, I just received a slightly different message, from... well, from an ordinary passerby."

You are facing zombies, soulless bodies. Driven by a voracious appetite, they can be defeated with ordinary weapons. Simply cut off their heads and then burn them completely…”

Stark began disseminating information on the channel, and this intelligence led frontline combat teams to withdraw from the battlefield, deciding to listen to the briefings before venturing into this hell.

"And when these zombies have had their fill of corpses or fresh flesh, they automatically evolve into ghouls. And ghouls are... Ash, where's the memo you gave me...?"

## Chapter 213: The Price (Bonus Chapter 2/10 for Alliance Leader, Daily 10,000-Word Count Achieved)

The scattered sounds coming from the channel clearly indicated someone was looking through paper documents. No one urged Stark on; they simply waited.

"Oh, I found it. Ghouls are the evolved form of zombies and usually appear in places like cemeteries, though corpse storage areas are an even better place."

Ghouls have tough skin that can withstand small arms fire, but anti-materiel weapons can generally penetrate their defenses. Beware of their claws, which carry poison that can easily kill an adult, turning them into food or an unending source of minions.

According to Ash… my advice is to bring enough heavy weapons, pour holy water on every area to limit its movement, and then blast it apart…”

After saying this, Stark left the channel. Meanwhile, the S.H.I.E.L.D. attack team waited for them to be delivered anti-materiel weapons and rocket launchers.

After spraying themselves with holy water again and carrying heavy weapons, the attack team re-entered the underground space.

This operation went much more smoothly than before; under the powerful physical force of the large-caliber weapon, these zombies simply couldn't withstand the truth within.

Meanwhile, the flamethrower soldiers at the back of the squad had changed into disinfection gear, and their spray cans were full of diluted holy water.

Adhering to the principle of making up for a lack of firepower with sheer numbers, the flamethrower soldiers sprayed holy water everywhere they went to limit the zombies' range of movement.

After decapitating the last zombie in front of the morgue and handing it over to the flamethrower soldier to take to a fixed location, the squad replenished their ammunition and prepared to launch their final attack.

"If we open the morgue door, communications will be cut off, and we'll have to rely on ourselves for everything inside..."

However, when the morgue door opened, everyone was stunned.

"Stark never said the ghouls were three meters tall! How many would they eat?!"

In the dimly lit morgue, almost nothing else could be seen except, in the very center, a tall figure was holding a frozen head and shoving it into its mouth. The crisp sound was like someone biting into a block of ice.

The team that had entered the morgue earlier had vanished without a trace. Anyone would know that with fresh food available, who would eat frozen meat?

Hearing the morgue door open, the crouching ghoul stretched out its short legs and crawled towards the doorway, supporting itself with its strong hands.

With two thuds, the Armalite AR-50 sniper rifle fired its 12.7mm tungsten-core armor-piercing round.

The two bullets struck the ghoul's chest, creating two connected holes and causing it to stumble, but they did not cause any real damage.

The ghoul reached into the two holes, pulled out the bullets, and, to everyone's eyes, mixed them with its own entrails before eating them again.

"Heavy weapons, switch to high-explosive shells and holy water thermobaric bombs!"

Ever since they learned they would be using heavy weapons, this squad wanted nothing more than to be covered in tubes. Unfortunately, according to the squad's mission assignments, only two of them were carrying four AT4 rocket launchers.

Only one of the rocket launchers had its ammunition modified into thermobaric bombs containing holy water.

The two men carrying rocket launchers crouched down at the entrance of the morgue, aiming their weapons at the ghouls that were walking towards them on their bare hands.

The two men's helmets were tapped, a signal that the area behind them with the exhaust plume was safe.