The neatly folded piece of crayon paper was already secure inside Elian's shirt pocket, right over his heart. The warmth from Dito's drawing still lingered, providing fresh fuel for his sanity. Elian glared sharply at the members of his newly sworn-in cabinet. "Get the cars ready. We're going to Semanggi. We're bringing that damn lizard home," Elian ordered coldly. "Wait a moment, Big Boss," Dr. Arini interjected. The dirty lab coat-wearing woman didn't move from her chair. Instead, she crossed her legs, pulled a cracked military tablet from her bag, and tossed it to the center of the oval meeting table. "The lizard in Semanggi definitely has to be captured alive. I need its digestive organs for an initial mapping of mutant stomach acid," Arini said in a flat tone, as if discussing a recipe. "But, if you all think one stupid lizard that likes sunbathing on asphalt can save two million humans from Ves

"Lina! Where are you?!" Elian yelled into his emergency walkie-talkie while running up the basement stairs, completely out of breath. The wound in his ribs protested fiercely, but he ignored it. His mind was filled with images of an invisible chameleon monster chewing through their remaining sardines. A crackling sound came from the radio, followed by Lina's curt voice. "In the logistics warehouse, where else?! I'm sitting on a pile of sardines holding a ladle! Why are you screaming so early in the morning?!" Elian stopped at the top of the stairs. He leaned against the wall, letting out an incredibly long sigh of relief. "Are the sardines safe, Lin? Nothing weird around you? Like, shadows moving on their own or the sound of a monster breathing?" "The only sound here is my stomach growling, El!" Lina grumbled from the other side. "Everything's safe and sound. What's up? You want

Three hours after the "Cosmo Express" convoy carrying Elian, Vara, and Agus disappeared behind the concrete ruins of South Jakarta, the temperature in the Monas courtyard felt like being inside a steamer pot. The midday sun baked the asphalt. The smell of sweat, filth, and despair from the two million crowded humans created a thin, suffocating fog. The monster apocalypse might be over, but hunger was a primal monster that never died. In the makeshift public kitchen area, Lina wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, which was blistered from hot water splashes. The girl stared at the contents of the giant pot in front of her with a blank expression. "Gramps," Lina called out hoarsely, her voice almost drowned out by the rumbling sound of the crowd. "I've added two more gallons of rainwater. The sardines are completely gone. This isn't porridge anymore, Gramps. This is just fishy-tasting water."

The hot afternoon wind whipped the red flag bearing the crocodile skull, making it flutter violently above the watchtower. Below, the tension was as thick as the South Jakarta air. Elian stood in front of the "Cosmo Express" truck, its engine now off. His hands were casually tucked into the pockets of his cargo jacket, his eyes locked on the dozens of giant crossbow muzzles aimed directly at his head from behind the sharpened log barricade. To his right, Vara already had her hand on the hilt of her Cosmo Rapier, her body slightly crouched, ready to dash at any moment. To his left, Agus loomed, puffing out his armored chest to act as a meat shield for Elian. Meanwhile, the twenty-five Thunder Revenants stood in a rigid line behind them, the electric blue eyes of the undead troops glowing coldly from behind their jet-black helmets. "I count about thirty of them on the wall," Vara whispered without moving her lips. "Their w

The giant, blood-soaked handprint on the banyan trunk was still dripping with a foul-smelling liquid. Elian stared straight into the darkness behind the rusty iron archway that read "SCHMUTZER PRIMATE CENTER." The jungle in this area was much denser, its canopy blocking out almost all sunlight, leaving a suffocating gloom. "The one who made this handprint, he's the one who slaughtered the steel apes and the Crocodile Clan goons outside," Elian muttered coldly. The tracker in his hand pulsed steadily. Thump, thump, thump. Its direction pointed straight into the primate area. Vara spat on the ground, kicking a severed arm of a Crocodile Clan member that lay near her boot. "Good. Saves us the trouble of cleaning up the trash. But the problem is, now we're the ones walking into the butcher's pen." "Should we leave the truck outside, Boss?" Agus asked, peering at the archway, which was cluttered with conc