Tyrant

Raccoon City Police Department, second-floor waiting room.

After the terrifying encounter with the Licker, everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit. They were like startled birds, ready to jump at the slightest disturbance.

"Yuhao, where do we go next?" Bei Bei asked in a low voice. He now completely trusted Huo Yuhao's judgment.

"We need to get to the rooftop and find a helicopter." Huo Yuhao looked at the map they had picked up. "But the route to the third floor is blocked. We have to go to the library, solve the puzzle, and move the bookshelves to make a bridge."

"Then let's go." Xu Sanshi gripped his knife. Though he was still trembling, he at least dared to move now. "Anyway, I don't want to stay in this damn place a second longer."

The group pushed open the door, crossed the corridor, and prepared to head for the main hall.

Thud, thud, thud.

A series of exceptionally heavy, rhythmic footsteps came from the other side of the hall.

It was unlike the dragging scrape of zombies, and unlike the sharp crawling sounds of the Licker. It was the sound of leather boots stomping hard against the floor, every step powerful and heavy, as though it were landing on their hearts.

"Someone?" Dai Huabin clutched his injured arm, a trace of hope flashing in his eyes. "A rescue team? The police?"

Everyone stopped and looked toward the end of the second-floor corridor, where a tall figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

He was a giant of a man, over two and a half meters tall. He wore a heavy black military trench coat and a vintage black bowler hat. His skin was a lifeless grayish white, and his expression was blank, like a statue carved from granite.

He did not run, roar, or bare his fangs and claws like a zombie. He simply let his fists hang at his sides and strode toward them with measured, standard steps.

"Wh... who is that?" Wang Dong froze. "He looks... kind of like a gentleman?"

"Gentleman my ass!" Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes were screaming warnings. The sense of danger was ten times stronger than the Licker's had been!

"Run!! Don't let him get close!!"

Yet Dai Huabin did not move. Ever since being bitten by a zombie, he had been consumed by humiliation and rage.

He was the White Tiger Duke's son, a genius of Shrek. How could he let a pile of rotten flesh chase him through the streets?

That Licker had been too fast for him to hit, but this one... it walked so slowly and did not even have a weapon. Wasn't it just a big idiot?

"Stop pretending to be some monster!" Dai Huabin roared, shaking off Bei Bei's pull. "I bet he's just an ordinary mutant! Without a speed advantage, he's nothing but a target!"

Dai Huabin raised the pistol with its last two bullets and pulled the trigger at the tall man's bald head.

Bang! The bullet struck him squarely between the brows.

There was no spray of blood, no scream, not even a flinch.

The bullet seemed to have hit a steel plate. It ricocheted straight off that grayish-white skin, leaving behind only a faint white mark.

The Tyrant did not even blink. His steps did not pause in the slightest. He kept walking.

Thud, thud, thud.

"What?!" Dai Huabin's pupils contracted. "How is that possible?!"

Refusing to believe it, he threw away the empty pistol and charged with a roar. He had no soul power, but the White Tiger Clan's combat techniques remained.

"Fall down!!" Using his momentum, Dai Huabin launched a textbook flying kick straight at the Tyrant's neck.

Faced with that powerful blow, the Tyrant finally moved. He neither dodged nor blocked. He simply raised his right hand expressionlessly, then—threw a punch.

It was an extremely simple, unadorned straight punch, but at that instant, it felt as if the air itself had been compressed and exploded beneath it!

Boom!!!

The fist struck Dai Huabin in the chest, and the sound of bones cracking was clear as day.

Dai Huabin did not even have time to scream before he flew backward at three times the speed he had charged in at, smashing brutally into the wall beside him and shattering the framed paintings hanging there.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Dai Huabin slid to the floor, blood gushing from his mouth. His chest had visibly caved in, and his health bar instantly turned red as he entered critical condition.

Xu Sanshi's jaw nearly hit the floor. "Th... that's a human? That's fucking dinosaur, isn't it?!"

Meanwhile, the towering figure kept walking. He stepped over Dai Huabin's body, his indifferent gaze making it seem as though he had merely swatted a fly to death. His target was everyone else.

"Run!!!" Bei Bei let out a heart-wrenching roar.

"Don't look back! Don't shoot! Run!!" Huo Yuhao hoisted the half-dead Dai Huabin up and dragged him in a mad sprint in the opposite direction.

The Shrek Seven Monsters began the most desperate escape of their time in Raccoon City.

They rushed into the library, and the Tyrant pushed the door open behind them. With a casual shove, he smashed the door into the wall, reducing it to splinters.

They ran up the stairs, and the Tyrant followed at an unhurried pace. Those heavy footsteps sounded like Death's countdown.

"We can't shake him! We can't shake him at all!" Wang Dong looked back as he ran, so frantic he was nearly crying. "Why doesn't he run? I wouldn't be this scared if he ran! But he just walks like that... it feels like no matter where we run, he'll catch up!"

Yes, that was the Tyrant's most terrifying quality—the overwhelming pressure of something unstoppable.

Shoot him, and he did not feel a thing. Lock a door, and he smashed it apart with one punch. Take a detour, and he would listen to your footsteps and cut you off.

In this cramped police station, you never knew whether the next door you opened would reveal that black bowler hat.

"Split up! Meet in the main hall!" Huo Yuhao made the decision at once. With so many people gathered together, they were sitting ducks.

Everyone scattered at the mouth of the corridor.

The Tyrant stopped. His cold eyes swept over them before finally locking onto Huo Yuhao, who was carrying Dai Huabin and moving the slowest.

He quickened his pace and strode after him.

"Yuhao!!" Wang Dong wanted to turn back.

"Don't worry about me! I have a way!" Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth and rushed into a narrow storage room. He threw Dai Huabin into a corner, then stared fixedly at the doorway.

Thud... thud... The footsteps stopped outside the door.

That black bowler hat slowly appeared above the doorframe. The door was too low, forcing the Tyrant to lower his head slightly just to squeeze inside.

At that moment, every audience member in front of the screen, whether Xuan Lao or Di Tian, held their breath.

This pure suppression through strength, this suffocating game of cat and mouse, was more thrilling than any soul master duel!

The real world, second floor of the internet café.

"Magnificent." Di Tian watched the Tyrant on the screen cripple Dai Huabin with a single punch, a glint of appreciation flashing in his eyes.

"No flashy techniques, no wasted energy. Just pure strength, pure defense, and... absolute coldness."

Di Tian pointed at the Tyrant on the screen and said to Xuan Lao beside him, "Old man, don't you think this big fellow's fighting style is a lot like that clumsy Divine Bull martial soul of yours?"

Xuan Lao was watching with cold sweat running down his back. At those words, he gave a bitter smile. "Like hell it is... If my Taotie Divine Bull got kited around like that, it would have exploded with rage long ago."

"But this thing..." Xuan Lao pointed at the expressionless Tyrant, who knew only how to advance. "It really is monstrous. A killing machine without the slightest emotional fluctuation... that is the most terrifying kind."

Lu Yuan took a sip of Sprite and watched Huo Yuhao use the terrain to run circles around the Tyrant on the screen.

"To remain calm while being hunted by this gentleman in the hat... Huo Yuhao, your spiritual power is undergoing a transformation."