Chapter 37: Creeper
But why is it active during the day?!
There was a chill on Chu Guang’s back.
Before he could think about this problem, he raised the muzzle abruptly and sternly shouted while pulling the trigger, “Run!”
Bang!
Flame burst out from the muzzle.
Unfortunately, they were just too far and his bullet failed to find its target. It only left a deep bullet hole in the wall behind the Creeper.
Enraged by the splashing stones and shrapnel, the creeper crushed the leg bone on its mouth and bellowed wildly.
Roar!
The players were all frightened by its yell and they stood motionless to the trolly. Their feet seemed to be glued to the ground.
Holy shit!
This is so much more shocking than marauders!
"How many times do I have to say it! Run away and leave the trolley!" Chu Guang shouted, his hand did not stop at all. He quickly pulled the bolt to continue shooting, firing several rounds in a row.
Thanks to the experience he gained from hunting these days, though he hasn't turned into a sharpshooter having extreme accuracy, the action of changing his ammunition was much smoother than when he first touched a gun.
The creeper's four arms moved quickly and its figure flashed about. It burst through a window the next second.
The two players finally reacted. They raised their guns in a hurry and took aim.
"Administrator, we are not going anywhere!"
"Ye-yes! We will defend to the death…"
"I asked you to get away from the trolley!"
Seeing these two idiots still stammering, Chu Guang felt like giving them a kick on their butts.
However, it clearly wasn’t the time to do so as he felt danger quickly approaching.
A creeper was different from a Cruncher.
Although both were the products of mutant fungi, the latter was obviously more like a zombie with its lack of self-consciousness, only retaining the instinct to eat and its fear of the sun. It was also inferior to the mutant hyena.
But the former was different. This guy was almost indistinguishable from living creatures. They did not hunt by instinct but with their mind!
They would not only think about tactics, but also chase down targets that they had lost earlier. They were afraid of sunlight, but it didn’t limit their action.
Which idiot provoked this thing?!
A drop of cold sweat slid across Chu Guang's forehead, his eyes swiftly wandering around the concrete builders along the street, his nerves taut.
Left? Or on the right…
From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of an afterimage. Chu Guang turned his gun sharply and pointed to the second floor of the shop along the street on the right.
At almost the same time, the disgusting creeper moved four arms and rushed towards him fiercely.
Bang!
The index finger on the trigger moved by itself.
In a split second, the bullet was lucky enough to hit the shoulder of the creature.
Black blood splattered instantly as the Creeper screamed in pain and rolled to the side. It fell on the ground in a sorry state.
Although it took a while, the players would still react. They raised their rifles and fired.
However, because the two guns were of inferior quality without barrels, and neither of them had any shooting experience, none of them hit the target.
They didn’t even scratch it.
The gunshot wound on the shoulder didn't stop the creeper but aroused its bloody nature. It rolled up from the ground and rushed to the target that it considered the most threatening.
Death came like a gust of wind.
Chu Guang, who had just finished reloading the gun, almost instinctively let go of the iron-barreled rifle in his hand, pulled out the steel pipe he had kept behind his back as a javelin, and held it in front of him, blocking the big bloody mouth biting toward him.
The steel pipe was squeaking when it was bitten and Chu Guang gnashed his teeth. Every inch of his body's muscles tightened to the limit.
But no matter what significant difference his 9 points of strength gave in comparison to that of ordinary people, it still proved slightly inferior in front of mutants like the Creeper.
Even though Chu Guang tried his best, he still felt himself gradually lose his footing. The Creeper crawling on the ground pushed back with brute force and slammed him into the bus that had broken down in the middle of the road.
Boom!
The completely rusted car shell was cracked and dented, and Chu Guang felt as if he lost consciousness for a moment.
And yet, it was precisely because of the threat of dying that his instinct to survive had been ignited.
"Damn it!"
His eyes slowly grew bloodshot while staring at the approaching fangs.
Suddenly, Chu Guang felt a surge of power rushing through his veins. He vigorously pushed against the big mouth that was trying to bite him and even managed to faintly force it back.
Perhaps it was the smell of danger from the prey in front of it. The creeper suddenly raised its forearms, intending to grab his shoulders to tear him apart completely!
In the next second, the sound of two consecutive gunshots followed. One shot hit the bus and the other landed on the creeper's shoulder blade.
Roar!
The creeper, with its injured back, let out a miserable howl.
The grip of its mouth on the steel pipe loosened, and its head suddenly lifted back. It lost its balance for a while and lost control of its prey.
"Ahhhhh! Go to hell!" Throwing away the gun in his hand, Ample Time picked up the 9mm iron-barreled rifle dropped by Chu Guang, yelled, and launched a charge.
Terrible marksmanship? Can’t miss if I shoot it directly!
He fired it while pressed up against the Creeper.
Bang!
Pressing the trigger, the bullet shot out of the barrel and black blood splattered everywhere!
This shot was not deadly, but it was enough.
Chu Guang seized the opportunity, raised the steel pipe in his hand that was completely bent into a V shape, and slammed the pointed end into the creeper's neck.
Once.
Twice
Three times!
Then, he used all his strength to twist it around.
The black blood gushed wildly, like a faucet that had been turned on, showering Chu Guang in black blood.
The creeper let out a shriveled roar, its arms waving uncontrollably while it struggled backward. Then it finally fell heavily to the ground in a twisted posture, twitched a few times, and stopped moving.
Chu Guang, who was leaning on the bus, panted, and raised his arm to wipe the black blood off his face before spitting on the ground. "Thanks."
Looking at the bloody administrator, the two players were shocked.
So strong!
If it were them, let alone fight with this Creeper, they probably couldn't hold it back for one round.
"You're welcome... I will help you up." Ample Time said as he was the first to recover.
Seeing that the plot was probably over, he went over to help the Administrator. However, he was stopped by a gesture from Chu Guang.
"No, I'll rest for a while..." Panting, Chu Guang glanced at his bruised arm, it was as if he saw the beating of blood vessels under his muscles.
Was that the hidden potential in his genetic sequence?
When he was driven to a desperate situation earlier, he felt an infinite force gushing out of his arms, and his strength was actually on par with the Creeper.
It's hard to describe the feeling he had earlier.
Gently squeezing his sore fists, Chu Guang decided to go back and take a physical examination. He wanted to know what happened to his body.
Night Ten, carrying a gun, also walked over. He muttered, "Administrator, should we go to the neighboring shop to rest for a while? The street is wide open, and I am worried that it will be dangerous..."
"Indeed, with so many gunshots just now, someone nearby must have heard it." Ample Time also uttered.
In fact, Chu Guang wanted to mention that anyone who heard the howl of a Creeper would be in hiding at the moment and no one would be crazy enough to head over. However… The muscles on his body felt like they had been ripped apart earlier and he really needed a break.
"Alright... Ample Time, you help me to the restaurant across the street. Night Ten, you drag our trolley to the door."
Night Ten nodded vigorously.
"Okay! By the way, does that Creeper's body need to be recycled?"
Chu Guang shook his head. "No. Its meat cannot be eaten."
The creeper's nervous system had been completely eroded by the mutant fungus, and every inch of its cell contained a deadly neurotoxin.
Strictly speaking, the black blood that he was drenched with was also poisonous, but, regardless of the dose and toxicity, it was not as lethal as drinking the fluid directly.
Moreover, he had 7 points of constitution, and his recovery ability, resistance to abnormal conditions, and immunity were basically 140% of that of a normal adult male, so he was not that easy to be poisoned.
Speaking of it, he didn't know if the creeper was considered a mammal, and if it could be thrown into the Active Matter Extractor.
If he could get the generator, he could give it a try.
But...
After taking a look at the trolley full of grain, Chu Guang sighed silently in his heart.
What a pity. There is no place to store it anymore. I can't stack that monster’s body on the food…
...
Night Ten trotted in the direction of the trolley.
Chu Guang put a hand on Ample Time's shoulder and limped towards the restaurant on the opposite side of the street.
However, when they passed through the open door of the store and were about to find a place to sit and rest for a while, they suddenly noticed that there was a person on the ground in front of the bar of the restaurant.
A woman with red hair.
Her pretty face was pale due to blood loss, her slender eyebrows were tightly pressed together, and big beads of sweat could be seen on her forehead.
The scariest thing was that part of her right leg under the knee was gone, and the wound was simply bandaged with only half of her torn sleeve and some bandage.
My goodness.
As it turned out, this woman was the one who provoked the monster.
But she didn’t pass out?
Chu Guang finally figured out where the human leg that was in the creeper's mouth just now came from.
"New NPC!"
Ample Time was still standing there in surprise, Chu Guang had already grabbed his rifle from his hand and aimed at the woman lying on the ground without hesitation. "You'd better not move… My injury is lighter than yours."
The woman's hand had touched the pistol on the ground.
Seeing that the muzzle of the gun was aimed at her, she pushed the pistol to Chu Guang's feet, and simply closed her eyes.
"Is she an enemy?" Noting the administrator's actions, Ample Time nervously asked the identity of the other party. But to Chu Guang, asking questions like that on the wasteland itself was stupid.
However, he muttered softly, "I don't know."
That wasn’t important anyway!
Chu Guang answered ambiguously. He then signaled Ample Time to help him sit on a chair that was next to him, pulled the bolt with a "click," loaded the gun, and then slapped the rifle on the table.
Hearing the sound of the bullet being loaded, the woman's eyebrows twitched, her closed eyes filled with regret.
Who would have thought that the gun was actually unloaded...
Although the pain was terrible, Chu Guang still forced himself to make a happy expression on his face. "We can talk."
The woman forced herself to stay calm and said composedly, "What do you want to know?"
Chu Guang didn't beat around the bush either, he first introduced himself and then went straight to the topic.
"I am Chu Guang, what’s your name?"
"Xia Yan."
"Who are you?"
"A mercenary from Boulder Town."
"Where is your teammate? Are you the only one?"
"They’re dead."
"Oh… How many of you were there?"
Xia Yan's mouth twitched, gritted her teeth, and growled, "There were three of us. Except for me, all of them are gone!”
Chu Guang nodded and looked at Night Ten who was dragging the trolley to the door. He spoke to them in mandarin, "Just leave the things at the door, don't drag them in, you go look around here to see if there is anyone who dresses like the lady on the ground... or any corpse. If you find them, bring back their equipment."
Night Ten stared at the woman who was slumping in front of the bar, not knowing where the NPC came from.
HUH?! Did I just miss the cutscene?
Staring at the man who turned and left, Xia Yan's eyes flickered slightly. She neither understood what language the man just used nor did she know what the man was doing.
"By the way, I almost forgot to ask you, what's wrong with that Creeper?" Chu Guang looked at Xia Yan who opened her eyes, and then asked, "How did you provoke it?"
"It was watching us." Xia Yan didn't hide it, and continued frankly, "We encountered it when we were searching the entrance of Shelter 117... It chased us all the way out of the subway, and we were almost wiped out."
The Creeper was really difficult to get rid of, especially in narrow terrain. Even experienced veterans would have a problem with it.
It was the first time Chu Guang encountered a Creeper. He only heard Old Charlie of Baker Street say before that if he ever came across a four-armed monster, he had to run as fast as he could.
Thinking about it now, it was fortunate that he didn't listen to the old man.
How would he be able to outrun that creature?!
"The entrance of Shelter 117? What is that?" Chu Guang asked curiously.
Xia Yan mumbled, "I don't know, we only know that its approximate location is near the New World Department Store Station on Line 7 in the northern suburbs of Clearspring City. It contains what our employer wants."
Chu Guang nodded.
He didn't really care if what this woman said was true or not. There may be some good things in Shelter 117, but it was not worth it for him to take the risk.
Just look at her miserable state!
Even professionals were beaten up so badly, so who would know how dangerous it would be?
Their top priority now was to develop the outpost, and Chu Guang did not intend to make a fortune. Wasn’t it good to just leave it to the players? He could deal with it when they grew strong enough in the future. Why take that risk himself?
Seeing Chu Guang didn't seem very interested, Xia Yan asked slowly, "Are you not interested?"
"Why should I be interested?"
"I heard that there is an exoframe in it."
"Oh, did you see it? Let me take a look at the photo."
"... No."
Chu Guang smiled faintly. "Talk to me again when you have photos of it.”
He was chatting with her to kill time. He knew that when Night Ten returned after getting the loot from her companions, he would be done resting.
He would leave the pistol on the ground for her. As for whether she could survive, it had nothing to do with him.
Chu Guang asked suddenly, "By the way, is the color of your hair dyed or natural?"
Xia Yan was taken aback.
The topic jumped too far and so suddenly that she didn't immediately react.
"... Na-natural."
"Oh, the color is pretty, but it's time to wash your hair."
Xia Yan glared at him angrily. "Are you teasing me?"
Chu Guang smiled and thought that it was pretty funny.
However, just as he was about to tease her more, a sharp shout suddenly came from the door.
"Let her go!"
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