Andy and Adam stood at opposite corners of the room, their expressions grim as they aimed their guns at the center.
What they saw was a male high school student in green mountaineering gear, kneeling over the corpse of a female high school student, and...
The male high school student, whose back was to them, was gnawing desperately at the girl's corpse.
The girl's legs spasmed uncontrollably, suggesting she had only just died.
"Clomp, clomp—" Sean hurried over.
When the Police Chief saw the scene before him, he couldn't help holding his breath.
Instead, the male student, who had heard all the commotion, twisted his head around and smiled through his blood-covered mouth.
"Delicious! She's so delicious. You guys... don't you want some? Come on... it's fresh..."
"Ugh!"
Adam finally reached the limit of his endurance and vomited the scraps of pizza in his stomach.
"Sir!"
Andy placed his index finger on the trigger and asked, "Do we shoot?"
"Wait." Sean narrowed his eyes and crouched halfway in front of the boy. "Kevin? Is that you?"
"Huh?"
The high school student named Kevin froze, his murky eyes gradually clearing as he asked in confusion, "Uncle Patrick?"
Seeing this, Sean signaled for Andy to remain on guard, then slowly approached and helped Kevin to his feet.
"Kid, what are you doing? Do you know you're eating"—he glanced at the corpse—"Diana?"
"I... I know..." Kevin covered his face and sobbed, shaking his head.
"But I was so hungry. I couldn't stop. I really couldn't.
"It was right beside my ear. It told me to eat"—his voice grew quieter—"..."
Adam wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, gripped his gun, and straightened up. Looking sorrowfully at Sean, he said, "Sir"—he glanced at the corpse—"...there are still six children waiting for us to find them."
Hearing this, Sean patted Kevin on the back, trying to soothe him.
After giving him a moment, he asked, "Kevin, where are your companions? Where are they?"
"No!"
Kevin's emotions had already stabilized, but he suddenly broke free of Sean's grasp and ran to a corner of the room. He crouched down with both hands clutching his head, violently yanking at his hair as he muttered to himself.
"I don't want to eat them! I... I don't want to! I..."
The unexpected turn of events made all three agents remain on high alert.
Andy aimed his gun at Kevin, visibly agitated. "Sir! I told you this kid wasn't right!"
"Sir?" Adam did the same, looking to Sean for instructions.
"..."
Sean furrowed his brow and took hold of the rifle hanging across his chest, but before he could order them to fire—
"I want to!" Kevin suddenly roared.
The deranged high school student stopped struggling and slowly turned around.
His—or rather, its—teeth had grown long and sharp, while its eyes had become utterly murky.
"Roar!!!"
It opened its mouth to an astonishing degree and let out a thunderous howl at the three agents.
"Open fire!"
"Bang, bang!"
The three .308-caliber rifles spat dazzling tongues of flame, pouring every bullet into Kevin's body.
"Whoosh—crack—" Wood splinters and broken bricks flew everywhere.
After being struck by the large-caliber rounds, Kevin convulsed for a moment before falling face-first onto the floor.
"What the *** is this ***ing situation?! Fuck!"
When Kevin showed no movement, Andy cursed furiously while changing his magazine.
"Sir... what happened to them?"
Adam had changed his magazine as well, but he couldn't bear looking at the two young people's corpses.
"I don't know, and I don't care." Sean's expression was stern. "Our top priority now is to stop these anomalies from spreading as much as possible before the Containment Unit arrives.
"Looking at Kevin and the girl's corpse, if things continue like this, there should be four more anomalous entities."
However.
"Grr..."
Kevin was not completely dead—or rather, he had never died at all.
His hands and feet began growing rapidly, while his skin gradually turned gray, making him look even more gaunt and skeletal.
"Sir, that was a .308! A .308!" Andy was beginning to lose control of his emotions.
The full name of .308 was .308 Winchester, a 7.62-caliber round developed by the American Winchester weapons company.
Its maximum pressure was 62,000 pounds per square inch, 5,500 pounds less than an ordinary 7.62×51mm NATO round.
It had superior ballistic stability and accuracy.
It was commonly used for civilian hunting in North America or as ammunition for designated marksmen in the United States military.
At such close range, an ordinary human or animal struck by a .308 round would be torn into chunks of flesh.
But...
The thing before the three agents could actually stand up again.
This exceeded their understanding, and the amount of sanity they could bear plummeted.
"Roar!!" Kevin, now completely mutated, threw back his head and roared loudly at the ceiling.
"Roar—" A faint response came from the corridor outside the room.
It had companions!
Sean hurriedly pulled out an incendiary grenade.
"Click~" He tore off the ring.
"Clang~ clang-clang~~" The incendiary grenade bounced merrily across the wooden floor before finally rolling to Kevin's feet.
"Move!"
"Yes!" (x2)
"Boom!!"
The three had barely run out of the room when the incendiary grenade exploded behind them.
"Graaah... roar..." The thing let out a mournful cry.
But the three had no time to check whether it was truly dead.
In the narrow corridor, the three agents stood in the middle. Three identical Containment Objects blocked the route toward the lobby.
Then they looked back.
Another one stood in the direction of the stairs leading to the second floor.
They were completely surrounded.
Seeing this...
The three agents stood back-to-back. Adam and Andy faced the lobby, while Sean faced the stairs alone.
With one quick look, Sean grasped the general situation.
Of the four Containment Objects, three wore modern winter clothing or mountaineering gear. They had to be the children who had transformed.
The one facing Sean wore tattered clothes, and its outfit could vaguely be identified as a miner's uniform from the last century.
It seemed that among the thirty miners from fifty years ago, there had actually been one "survivor."
And somehow, it had made the eight high school students kill one another before turning them into anomalous Containment Objects as well.
"Sir, give the order," Adam said with a smile.
"Yeah, sir. We're still waiting to go to the bar!" Andy remained as unreliable as ever.
Sean looked at the approaching "miner," the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as he spoke with bold resolve.
"Agents! Our homeland is behind us! Our loved ones are behind us! So we will never retreat!
"Hold them back until the Containment Unit arrives!"
"Yes, sir!" (x2)
"Roar!!" (x4)
"Bang, bang!" The .308-caliber rifles erupted in a deafening volley.
"Splurt!" And then...
The muffled sound of claws piercing flesh.