Pursuit

Several black figures in bulky white protective suits moved through the forest with surprising agility.

They quickly rendezvoused with several other companions, seven or eight people in total, and ran toward the other side of the mountainside.

"Someone's chasing us from behind."

One of them suddenly spoke.

His muffled voice came from beneath a thick black anti-miasma mask. He spoke Owinna, his tone rising and falling, the final syllables drawn out.

At that, the others glanced back.

Moonlight reflected off the two dark lenses over their eyes, flashing with a faint sheen in the darkness.

"Fire!"

As they ran, the group fired behind them.

Thud thud thud!

Dull gunshots rang out.

Tracers sliced through the air with shrill whistles, but they could not hit the pursuer at all. Every bullet missed.

That person was like a ghost, light as air. With a few swift sidesteps, he caught up to the group.

Whoosh—

A gray, rod-like object swept through a blurred afterimage and struck one of them directly.

Bang!!

It was as though he had been hit by a car. The tremendous impact caved in and twisted his shoulder and back, snapping his neck and head backward as his entire body flew forward.

After landing, rolling, and sliding some distance, he stopped moving.

Their companion's miserable death jolted the others' nerves.

"We can't outrun him. Inject the Blood Serum and fight for our lives!"

Another man rasped.

They pulled red injectors from the pouches at their waists and jabbed them into their thighs.

Hiss—

Riiip!

The bodies of those six or seven people suddenly swelled, instantly bursting apart their thick, oversized white protective suits and exposing their muscular frames.

Moreover, two white snakes emerged from beneath each of their collarbones, writhing as they raised themselves upright.

"Die!" one of them roared.