Bullets Are Running Out

Raccoon City Police Department lobby.

Clang! The heavy iron doors were pushed shut together, sealing out the endless rain and the bloodcurdling howls outside.

"Pant... pant... pant..."

In the cavernous lobby, only the ragged breathing of a few people remained.

The Shrek group leaned against the doors and slid down onto the floor, drenched from head to toe and utterly bedraggled.

Dai Huabin's face was pale as he clutched his still-bleeding arm, his eyes unfocused. After that mad dash, he felt like he had run every road he would ever run in his life.

"Wh-what kind of place is this..." Xu Sanshi wiped the rainwater from his face, his hands still trembling uncontrollably. He looked at the palm-sized combat knife in his hand—Leon's starting equipment—then at the empty holster at his waist. He had fired all his bullets in the panic just now.

"Are we safe?" Xiao Xiao huddled in a corner, her voice quivering with tears.

"Temporarily." By the faint light from the statue of the goddess in the lobby, Huo Yuhao swiftly scanned the area. This place looked like it had once been a museum. It was enormous, and for the moment, none of those swaying monsters were in sight.

"Check your ammunition," Bei Bei said in a low voice.

He was the captain. Even in this unfamiliar world, he forced himself to remain calm.

Click. Wang Dong ejected her magazine and took a look. Her expression immediately turned ugly. "Three... rounds left."

"I have five," Xiao Xiao said weakly.

"I'm out." Xu Sanshi spread his hands in despair.

"I'm empty too." Dai Huabin gritted his teeth.

The entire team had fewer than twenty bullets left, yet back at the convenience store, they had emptied two full magazines just to kill a single zombie!

"How are we supposed to play this?!" Wang Dong furiously threw her empty magazine to the ground. "Those monsters have thick hides! Shooting their bodies does nothing—we have to hit the head! And sometimes they even get back up after their heads are blown apart! We can't kill them all!"

Accustomed to sweeping through enemies the moment they activated their soul skills, they experienced the terror of insufficient firepower for the first time.

Here, they were no longer gods who commanded lightning and flame. They were merely lambs waiting for slaughter.

"Stop complaining. Find a way through." Bei Bei stood up and tightened his grip on the pistol with only a few rounds left. "Boss Lu said our objective is to escape. There must be clues here."

The group cautiously crossed the lobby and reached a rolling shutter on the eastern side. Huo Yuhao tried to pull it open, only to discover that half a body was pinned beneath it.

It was half a police officer. His lower body had been torn away, his intestines spilling across the floor—but he... was still alive.

"Grrr..." Seeing living people approach, the half-bodied zombie policeman suddenly let out a growl. Bracing himself with both hands, he crawled toward them in an incredibly bizarre yet swift posture! At the same time, three more zombies staggered out of the shadows deeper in the corridor.

"They're here! They're here again!" Xu Sanshi let out a terrified shriek and instinctively recoiled.

"Open fire! Don't let them get close!" Bei Bei roared.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Gunfire exploded through the narrow corridor.

But rookie marksmanship under panic was simply atrocious.

Wang Dong fired three shots in a row, but only one hit a zombie in the shoulder. The other two punched holes into the wall. Xiao Xiao squeezed the trigger blindly with her eyes shut, emptying her bullets in an instant.

Click... click...

The crisp sound of an empty chamber rang out.

It was the most despairing sound in the world.

"We're out of bullets!!" Wang Dong cried in terror. "It's still walking! It's coming over!!"

The zombie shot in the shoulder felt no pain whatsoever. Its bloody maw remained wide open as it closed in step by step, now less than two meters away from Wang Dong!

"Xu Sanshi! Get up there!!" Bei Bei shouted. "You're a defense-type soul master! Block it!"

"Block your ass!!" Xu Sanshi broke down. He instinctively raised his left hand, trying to summon his Xuanming Tortoiseshell Shield. "Xuanming Shock! Xuan Ming Replacement! Anything will do! Get out here!!"

Yet there was nothing in the air. No heavy black shield, no Soul Power barrier. All he had was that pitiful little knife in his hand.

Just as the zombie was about to pounce on Wang Dong, Xu Sanshi gritted his teeth, let out a desperate roar, and charged forward with his eyes squeezed shut. "Aahhh! I'm fighting you!"

He wildly slashed with the knife.

Squelch! The blade stabbed into the zombie's chest.

Useless.

The zombie grabbed Xu Sanshi by the shoulder, its foul mouth biting straight for his neck!

"Help!!" Xu Sanshi felt the rotten stench practically brushing against him, and his mind completely snapped. "Where's my shield?! Boss! Give me back my shield!!"

"Even a pot lid would do! I'm done playing! I want to go home!!"

At that very instant.

Bang! A calm, muffled gunshot rang out.

A burst of blood suddenly erupted from the knee of the zombie biting at Xu Sanshi. Its right leg bone had been precisely shattered. Losing its balance, it dropped to its knees with a thud.

Xu Sanshi seized the chance to scramble and roll back, so frightened that he nearly wet himself.

Everyone turned around.

Huo Yuhao stood there with both hands on his gun, wisps of smoke rising from the barrel. Under the weak lighting, his eyes were exceptionally calm—one might even say... cold.

That was the instinct granted by his Spirit Eyes martial soul—absolute concentration.

Then Lu Yuan's exasperated voice came through the internet café's broadcast system. "You bunch of idiots! Who taught you to play like that?"

Lu Yuan's voice echoed through the lobby, laced with mockery. "You think this is The Elder Scrolls? You think this is a soul master tournament? This is a survival horror game."

"Remember three iron rules. First, every bullet is your life. Don't shoot their bodies—that's a waste. Second, not every enemy has to be killed. Shoot their legs, cripple their mobility, then go around them. Third, don't fight head-on! Xu Sanshi, your knife isn't for hacking people. It's for defending yourself with a counterattack the instant you get bitten."

"If you want to survive, put away that ridiculous bloodlust of yours and learn to... run like rats."

Lu Yuan's words were like a bucket of cold water dumped over them.

Shoot their legs? Go around them? Don't kill the enemy?

This completely defied their combat instincts as soul masters. In their minds, enemies had to be eliminated, and threats had to be eradicated. Yet they looked at their empty magazines, then at the zombie on the ground that was still stubbornly crawling despite its broken leg.

Bei Bei took a deep breath, and his expression changed. "Listen to the boss. Don't get tangled up with them! Go around it! Move!"

They no longer fought needlessly. Pressing themselves sideways against the wall, they carefully went around the crippled zombie.

The zombie reached out to grab them, but only caught Wang Dong's hem. Terrified, Wang Dong kicked away its rotten hand and bolted deeper into the corridor without looking back.

"Pant... pant..." When they reached the safe room—the save point—and heard the soothing music, everyone collapsed onto the floor.

Xu Sanshi gripped the little knife tightly, his hand still shaking.

He looked at Bei Bei, his eyes reddening. "Bei Bei... I really thought I was going to die just now. Without my martial soul... am I really this useless?"

Bei Bei fell silent, then patted Xu Sanshi on the shoulder. "We're not useless. We've just relied too much on the powers we were born with."

"This stage..." Bei Bei looked at the gun in his hand, which had only two bullets left, "is teaching us how to earn the right to survive as ordinary people."

In the corner, Huo Yuhao silently divided the box of fifteen handgun bullets he had just found among everyone. "Use them sparingly. There's... more gunfire ahead! And I have a feeling this game has only just begun!"

In reality.

Xuan Zi watched Xu Sanshi's miserable state on the Screen and did not laugh.

He silently took a bite of roast chicken and sighed. "These children... have been protected too well. This kind of despair may be the lesson they need before they can become truly strong."