he cleanup operations continued for another day until the final confirmed infected in the operational zone was eliminated.

By the time the shooting finally stopped, Basa Air Base no longer looked like a military installation preparing for war.

It looked like a fortress that had survived the end of the world.

Smoke still drifted across parts of the southern perimeter while burned wreckage littered the roads leading toward the base. Entire sections of the outer defenses were blackened from constant combat. Sandbags were torn apart. Razor wire had disappeared beneath mountains of infected corpses.

And everywhere soldiers looked, there were reminders of the battle.

Destroyed vehicles.

Collapsed trenches.

Bloodstains.

Shell craters.

The smell of burned flesh and rotting bodies still hung heavily in the air even after cleanup teams began clearing the roads.

For the first time in days, the guns finally fell silent.

No artillery.

No machine gun fire.

No screaming aircraft overhead.

Just wind moving through burned terrain.

Inside the command center, exhaustion covered every face in the room.

Operators sat slumped over their consoles while officers quietly reviewed incoming reports. Some still carried dried blood on their uniforms. Others had not slept properly since the battle began.

Even Adrian looked exhausted.

His eyes remained fixed on the tactical map displayed across the main screen.

This time, it was empty.

No massive red swarm.

No endless movement indicators.

Only blue friendly markers scattered around southern Luzon during cleanup operations.

One analyst finally broke the silence.

"Final operational zone confirmed clear, sir."

Adrian slowly nodded.

"Good."

The room remained quiet again afterward.

Nobody celebrated loudly.

Nobody cheered.

They were too exhausted for that.

And after seeing what happened outside those walls, celebration no longer felt natural.

Adrian looked toward another officer.

"Status reports."

The logistics officer immediately stepped forward carrying a tablet.

"Yes, sir."

He inhaled slowly before beginning.

"Current confirmed military casualties across all operational sectors stand at three hundred forty-six killed in action."

The room remained silent.

"An additional one thousand one hundred twenty-nine personnel sustained injuries ranging from minor wounds to critical trauma."

Several operators lowered their eyes slightly.

Three hundred forty-six.

Compared to the scale of the swarm, it was miraculous.

But to the people inside the room, those numbers still represented soldiers they personally knew.

Friends.

Crewmates.

Operators.

Tankers.

Pilots.

The officer continued.

"Most fatalities occurred during the first night before resupply stabilization and before Hunter engagement protocols were fully established."

Adrian nodded once silently.

That matched what he expected.

The first day had been the worst.

Before they adapted.

Before the defensive lines stabilized.

Before the system resupply changed the battle.

The officer switched reports.

"Vehicle losses."

The tactical display updated immediately.

"Confirmed destroyed assets include six M2 Bradley IFVs, four Abrams tanks, eleven Humvees, eight MRAP vehicles, and twenty-three transport trucks."

Images of destroyed armor appeared briefly across the screen.

Some had been ripped apart by Hunters.

Others had simply been overwhelmed beneath the sheer pressure of the infected masses.

"Aircraft losses?" Adrian asked.

"One A-10 sustained severe structural damage during low-altitude support operations but managed emergency landing procedures. Two MQ-9 Reaper drones were destroyed during reconnaissance missions."

The officer paused briefly before continuing.

"No strategic aircraft losses confirmed."

That alone was impressive considering the scale of the battle.

The logistics officer switched to ammunition expenditure reports.

This time, even the officers inside the command center looked slightly stunned.

"Total ammunition expenditure during the operation is estimated as follows."

The screen filled with numbers.

"5.56×45mm NATO rounds expended: approximately 18.4 million."

"7.62×51mm NATO rounds expended: approximately 9.7 million."

".50 caliber rounds expended: 1.8 million."

"25mm Bushmaster ammunition expended: 620,000 rounds."

"30mm GAU-8 ammunition expended: 410,000 rounds."

"40mm grenade ammunition expended: 190,000 rounds."

"120mm Abrams tank shells expended: 4,812."

Several officers quietly cursed under their breath hearing the numbers.

The officer continued.

"155mm artillery shells expended: 28,440."

"HIMARS guided rockets expended: 611."

"ATACMS tactical missiles expended: 38."

"AGM-65 Maverick missiles expended: 71."

"Hellfire missiles expended: 94."

"JDAM precision bombs expended: 112."

The room became even quieter.

The amount of firepower used during the battle sounded almost impossible.

Adrian leaned back slightly while listening.

Entire wars between nations had been fought with less ammunition than what Basa Air Base used in only a few days.

The officer switched to fuel expenditure next.

"Total fuel consumed during operations is estimated at 4.2 million liters across all ground and air assets."

That number did not surprise Adrian at all.

Between bombers, fighters, tanks, IFVs, helicopters, drones, artillery transports, and logistics convoys, the battlefield had practically become a giant engine burning fuel nonstop for days.

Another officer finally spoke.

"Estimated infected casualties?"

The analyst operating the drone feeds looked toward his screen before answering quietly.

"Current estimate places total infected neutralized during the operation at approximately four hundred eighty thousand."

Nobody responded immediately after hearing that number.

Nearly half a million.

The battlefield south of Basa Air Base suddenly felt even heavier knowing the actual scale of death spread across it.

The analyst continued.

"Confirmed Hunter kills currently estimated at two hundred seventeen."

That explained why the battlefield had become survivable near the end.

The Hunters had been the real threat capable of collapsing defensive sectors quickly.

Once their numbers fell, the infected lost momentum rapidly.

Adrian slowly stood from his chair and walked toward the reinforced window overlooking part of the air base.

Outside, recovery crews were already working.

Damaged tanks were being hauled toward maintenance sectors.

Bulldozers cleared destroyed barricades.

Medical evacuation helicopters landed continuously carrying wounded personnel from cleanup operations.

Further in the distance, smoke still rose from parts of the southern battlefield.

The war was over.

At least this one.

But Adrian knew something now that he did not fully understand before.

The infected could evolve.

Leviathan proved that.

The Hunters proved that.

And somewhere out there beyond Luzon, beyond the Philippines, maybe even beyond Asia itself, there could be worse things waiting.

Much worse.

Behind him, one of the analysts finally spoke carefully.

"Sir... what now?"

Adrian remained quiet for several seconds while staring outside the window.

Then he answered calmly.

"Now we rebuild."