The "accident" came quickly. As they passed the patrol area during their routine rounds, the glass in the corridor beside them suddenly shuddered. Zheng Yichen's eye twitched, and his hand tightened around his Fishing Rod.
In everyday use, it worked as a Fishing Rod. In a fight, it could serve as a baton. If necessary, he could wrap it in an Abnormality—the same kind of Black Spear he had used in the fog anomaly before. It was a derivative of his own Abnormality.
He had managed to produce one back when he'd fought tooth and nail against several mutated little animals. The thing gave Zheng Yichen a strange feeling. Rather than a weapon, it was more like a "mouthpart" derived from the Abnormality inside him.
Something for eating.
"Get ready to fight!" Lewis roared. He quickly retreated while aiming his weapon at the glass in front of them. The already damaged glass shattered completely under the next impact.
An Experimental Subject still carrying mechanical equipment on its body charged out. It wasn't a humanoid Experimental Subject; experiments like that were generally illegal and difficult to get approved. Most experiments were performed on animals that had already mutated because of an Abnormality.
The creature charging at them was a Black Bear.
It had some exoskeleton plating on its body, while patches of bright red muscle were exposed elsewhere. Part of its head was covered in metal. It had undergone some kind of modification, and a red glow shone from the eye on the metal-covered side. At a glance, it looked like some kind of beast-like Terminator.
Zheng Yichen immediately put as much distance between himself and the bear as he could. In the past, he'd killed chickens and beaten up rats at most, with the occasional cat or dog thrown in. Now a bear stood before him, nearly two meters tall at the shoulder...
"Jamie, this is your time to shine."
"..." Jamie swallowed as he watched the Black Bear roar in the distance. "I think we should fight side by side."
They could see some wrecked equipment through the opening the Giant Bear had smashed through, though it was hard to tell what it had been used for. It was too thoroughly destroyed.
The Giant Bear panted heavily, its temper clearly frayed. It seemed to have finished warming up and was now running on pure adrenaline, itching to vent its anger on a few living people.
"Move!" Lewis threw a Smoke Bomb. Their patrol area was different from the others. Now that an Experimental Subject had "gone out of control," and one this tough at that, they needed to regroup with the other hunters. Then they could figure out how to kill the thing.
"Just our luck!"
Jamie and the other hunter moved without hesitation. Neither had any intention of fighting it head-on. If the Abnormal Creature had been a lion or tiger, that would've been one thing. But this bear wouldn't be easy to deal with.
On top of that, it had some modifications and an exoskeleton produced by mutation. Its massive body meant it could take a lot of punishment. This was the kind of Experimental Subject that most low-level hunters hoped to avoid.
There were also some insect-like Abnormal Creatures, and some were just as troublesome. Animals mutated by Abnormalities usually got physically stronger. They might grow extra parts and become more ferocious, but most still relied on close combat.
Insects were different. After mutating, they could launch Chemical Attacks, spraying acid, Poison Gas, venom, and all kinds of other disgusting things.
The Giant Bear's roar rang through the entire testing area amid the smoke, alerting the other hunters as well. Zheng Yichen glanced back at it. The smoke seemed to irritate the bear's nose, and it kept snorting. It looked even angrier.
"It's so fast!" Jamie shouted as the Giant Bear charged like a tank. He ran while firing back with his two Large Caliber Pistols. Jamie was a little shorter than Zheng Yichen, but he was undeniably sturdy.
Handling weapons like those was no problem for him. Against low-level Abnormal Creatures, as long as the weapon had a large enough caliber and he could aim, the fight would be over quickly.
His attacks were effective. Every shot left a spray of blood on the Giant Bear's body. But its muscles were extremely tough, and its exoskeleton offered further protection. The wounds mattered, but they weren't enough to bring the bear down right away.
Lewis and the other hunter focused on its legs, and would aim for its head if they got the chance. But metal covered the Giant Bear's head, and the bullets only left shallow dents.
They cursed. Who gave a mutated creature a Bulletproof Helmet?
"Something's wrong with this thing. Even with that stuff covering its head, getting shot should give it a concussion," Lewis said quickly. He reloaded his weapon. Shooting its head wasn't working, but targeting its legs still helped. Once the Giant Bear's limbs were badly injured, it slowed down.
"Maybe some new Bulletproof Material from another research institute. Damn, they're making this harder for us!" Jamie exhaled. He could already hear footsteps approaching in the distance. Watching the Giant Bear slow down, he gave a slight nod.
"Rookie, I'll create an opening for you in a moment. We'll take it down together."
"Don't take too many risks. There'll be other chances." Lewis frowned slightly at Jamie's suggestion. A hunter's performance wasn't limited to how much damage they dealt; working well with their teammates could also be an impressive feat.
But Jamie was clearly planning to take a risk.
"Sure. Hurry up, though. We're running out of time."
"Okay." Zheng Yichen swung the Fishing Rod in his hand. Seeing the others' doubtful expressions, he extended it and jabbed it against the floor. It left several small dents.
"Looks good." Jamie said nothing more. The Fishing Rod had proved sturdy enough. He even wondered if he should get a weapon disguised like that himself.
Nobody would pay much attention to someone carrying a Fishing Rod outside, right? Even if he showed up at a market with one, it would make perfect sense.
Jamie charged the Giant Bear, taking the lead. Zheng Yichen let out a breath and followed. Lewis raised his gun, and he and the other hunter provided cover. They didn't fire often, only enough to keep the Giant Bear occupied.
As they drew near, the Giant Bear grew even more furious and swung a paw at Jamie. Ready for it, Jamie quickly retreated. He caught a glimpse of Zheng Yichen out of the corner of his eye, then focused on dealing with the Giant Bear, whose mobility had been greatly reduced.
He thought the rookie was pretty good, and that his physique was more than enough for the job. Zheng Yichen had followed without hesitation. "Look for a chance to jab it in the eye. Once you hit, retreat immediately!"
Jamie shouted the warning. This wasn't a fight against a person; the bear couldn't understand what they were saying. His yelling was meant to pass the information to Zheng Yichen, but to the Giant Bear, it was a straightforward taunt.
Zheng Yichen didn't reply. He kept his attention fixed on the Giant Bear. There was an implanted iron shell on its head with excellent shock absorption, and its eyes were small targets. Combined with its furious movements, they were extremely difficult to hit.
As Jamie fought the Giant Bear at close range, something inside Zheng Yichen's Fishing Rod subtly changed.
The Fishing Rod was sturdy enough, especially since he'd paid to have it custom-made. But its true strength came from the "mouthpart" derived from the Abnormality within him.
He manifested it inside the Fishing Rod. Hidden by the rod, it would be difficult to notice anything unusual, even on camera.
The black Fishing Rod shot forward like a venomous snake the moment the Giant Bear turned its head, stabbing into the eye socket that looked straight out of a Terminator. The red glow went out instantly, and blood sprayed everywhere. But the rod didn't pierce through the back of the Giant Bear's head. It struck something hard and stopped.
The Giant Bear roared in fury. Zheng Yichen's expression instantly fell apart, and he retreated as fast as he could. The creature's vitality was too strong. Even an injury like that hadn't killed it right away.
Jamie had originally planned to cover Zheng Yichen. But after the attack succeeded, the Giant Bear's attention shifted entirely to Zheng Yichen. Jamie took the opportunity to leap onto its back. He hooked one hand into the eye socket Zheng Yichen had pierced, then fired repeatedly at the seam where the metal shell on its head joined the rest.
After breaking the connection, he shouted and ripped the metal shell off the Giant Bear's head.
The Giant Bear's enormous body ran on for another couple of steps before crashing heavily to the ground.
Jamie jumped down from the carcass and tossed the metal shell aside, letting out a long breath. Even that brief struggle had left his Protective Suit in tatters. The Giant Bear's claws were sharp and powerful; even a glancing swipe had torn his suit with ease.
A direct hit would've killed or crippled him. One more swipe, and he wouldn't have been able to scream a third time.
"This batch of hunters is surprisingly impressive," a researcher said in the Monitoring Room, watching the fight come to an end. He looked disappointed. They'd released the Experimental Subject early and even activated the barrier between the testing area and the outside environment, but the Giant Bear still hadn't undergone a second mutation in the fog.
They might as well have followed the original plan and waited until they'd tested and refined the Giant Bear further before releasing it. They'd collected enough data for now anyway.
The metal shell on the Giant Bear's head had performed better than expected, and its body had also shown remarkable resistance to bullets. Even with its brain directly injured, it could keep fighting for a while. If Jamie hadn't been so gutsy and torn off the Giant Bear's modified head casing, the hunters who'd rushed over would've had to join the fight to take down the test subject quickly.
"All right, retrieve the Experimental Subject and move on to the next phase of research."
They couldn't let the Giant Bear's carcass go to waste; it could still be used after being retrieved. Based on the data they'd gathered, they could wait a week before having the hunters face an upgraded Experimental Subject.
In the testing area, the hunters who'd gathered around the Giant Bear's corpse chatted excitedly. Some had made it there in time, but hadn't intervened right away. Someone had chosen to engage the Experimental Subject at close quarters, and suppressive fire would've killed their teammate.
People had to take responsibility for their actions. The best option was to wait for the hunter fighting at close quarters to settle things: either the bear killed him, or he killed the bear.
If the hunter killed the bear, that wouldn't affect them. They received a fixed payment for the job, and it made no difference whether one person or a whole group took down the Experimental Subject. There were all kinds of hunters who accepted jobs. It was perfectly normal for some bigshot to want to relive the old days and take on an ordinary contract now and then.
If that happened, they could just coast to an easy win. This time there wasn't a bigshot, but it was still nice when a fellow hunter put in the work and dealt with the target. Of course, they couldn't just slack off. The research institutes kept records.
If they deliberately tried to coast, they'd be blacklisted. The money from research institutes was never easy to earn.
Soon, people from the research institute arrived to retrieve the Experimental Subject. They cleaned up the scene thoroughly. Aside from the damage, it looked as if there had never been a fight.
In the temporary dormitory, Jamie sat wrapped in bandages, eating meat and drinking beer, with a few medicine bottles beside him. "Haha, that fight was damn good!"
Watching Jamie, Zheng Yichen smiled. He was in a great mood too. Although he couldn't suck blood by stabbing the Experimental Subject, he'd managed to draw some of its blood out in the process.
At first, he'd worried that an Experimental Subject might interfere with his ability. After trying it, he was completely reassured.
An Experimental Subject was still an Abnormal Creature. Ordinary creatures couldn't be used as Experimental Subjects in the first place. Even after being modified, their essential nature remained unchanged.
The portion of the Experimental Subject's blood he'd drawn had been passed into him through the mouthpart produced by his own Abnormality. No one else could tell that anything had changed, but Zheng Yichen knew exactly how he felt.
He couldn't completely eliminate the Withering Disease caused by his own Abnormality, but his physical condition had improved somewhat this time.
He was so fired up now that he wanted to find a place to lift weights.
Lewis speared a piece of meat and ate it. The cafeteria served regular meals, but all four of them preferred meat. "We're not even halfway through yet. Don't get careless. Those research institutes won't just take a loss."
Jamie nodded. That was true. The bear had been retrieved, and the research institute might well come up with a new Abnormal Creature for them to deal with. Next time, it would probably be even harder to handle.
They generally gave it one more try, and that was enough. If the research institute pushed too far, the hunters would boycott them.
The following week was uneventful. They went on their daily patrols, then returned to the dormitory to work up a sweat and train, comparing the strength of their muscles with their roommates.
On the third-to-last day before the contract ended, the hunters were on patrol when another "accident" occurred in the testing area. The procedure was the procedure, but this time he saw a Giant Bear that had been modified even more extensively rampaging about, savagely battling the Anti-riot Facilities.
It smashed all of them before breaking through layer after layer of "protection." The defenses included Tempered Glass and some kind of special Synthetic Material.
The Giant Bear's destructive attacks amounted to a brutal test of those barriers.
One bear, multiple uses, taken to the extreme.
"I think we should regroup with the others." Watching the Giant Bear, the experienced Lewis made his suggestion very seriously.
Last time, the bear had still been mostly biological. Their temporary team could handle it by taking a few risks. This time, half of the thing's body had been replaced with machinery. Who knew how the research institute had managed to "bring" the bear back to life?
Before you continue