So Mr. Ying was that strong?

Night had fallen. The sky was pitch-black, as if the stars had been wiped away, with only the bright moon hanging high above.

At the camp, the soldiers sat around several bonfires, their faces grim as they looked at the numbered tags in their hands.

Yes, Bai Ye had divided them into groups, just as they had once dealt with wastelanders: twenty people per group, watching one another. If anyone ran, the entire group would die.

The officer had become the supervisor. Bai Ye told him that if even one person ran, he would cut off a piece of his flesh. The terrified officer did not dare blink, staring fixedly at the soldiers.

Inside the troop carrier, Bai Ye stared blankly at a gold pocket watch. It was the officer's selfless gift.

10:28

Why wasn't it midnight yet...

Ever since gaining the ability to stop time, he had been hoping for time to pass faster every day. Less than a minute of usable time remained, and he was having a hard time getting used to it.

Especially since they were camping in the wilderness tonight. The closer they got to Black Mountain, the fewer people there were. There were no nearby towns to stop at, so they could only camp outside.

"Brother Ye, we won't run into mutated beasts again today, right?" Li You looked into the pitch-black night, unease filling his heart.

He was truly terrified of mutated beasts. In just a few days, they had encountered three waves of them, and he had watched hundreds die before his eyes.

If he could sleep at night without having nightmares, that would already count as being brave.

"Probably not?" Bai Ye was not sure either. "Black Mountain isn't a zoo. There can't be that many mutated beasts, can there?"

"Um... Lord Bai Ye." The officer hesitated before speaking. "According to the records, there really was a wildlife zoo within Black Mountain during the civilization era..."

Bai Ye: "..."

"And normally, shelters collect all kinds of animals to preserve the integrity of species, so..."

Awooo!!

A long wolf howl rang out across the pitch-black wilderness.

"You fucking jinx!" Bai Ye angrily kicked the officer. Ignoring the officer's cries of pain, he leaped from the vehicle.

"Everyone, come get your weapons! Prepare for battle!"

As everyone knew, wolves were pack animals. Hearing a wolf howl often meant that a pack had already surrounded you.

The soldiers sprang up like startled birds, hurriedly grabbing their weapons and preparing to fight.

In their field of vision, pairs of eerie green beast eyes appeared in the distant black wilderness!

Bang!

A soldier pulled the trigger in panic, and battle erupted instantly.

The pairs of green eyes charged into the range illuminated by the firelight, revealing their true forms.

Gray wolves over two meters tall came one after another, their limbs thick and powerful, their claws sharp as hooks.

With a light step, they could leave deep claw marks in the ground. Their fur was not the single color of ordinary wolves, but a bizarre mottled pattern.

Dark gray formed the base, interspersed with dark red and black stripes, like dried blood intertwined with the night.

Dozens of gray wolves charged at them, their eyes filled with slaughter and hunger. Their powerful limbs thundered across the earth, carrying the momentum of a stampeding army.

They were too fast. Combined with the poor visibility at night, the soldiers' accuracy plummeted. In mere moments, the gray wolves had charged right up to them.

"Ah!!"

Screams rang out one after another. Some soldiers were scared out of their wits, some froze in place awaiting death, while others turned and ran.

But how could two legs possibly outrun four?

Bai Ye kept firing. Even after emptying a magazine, he had only killed one gray wolf.

Their intelligence was not low. They seemed to understand the threat posed by guns, so after killing a soldier, they never lingered and immediately pounced on the next one. They were incredibly mobile.

Especially after becoming mutated beasts, the gray wolves, already skilled at charging, had become even faster. Against the backdrop of the night, they nearly left behind afterimages.

At that moment, Bai Ye loathed his own marksmanship. He swore that once he had the time, he would train hard with a gun.

And it was not just him. Even these soldiers, who had received firearms training, found it difficult to hit the gray wolves at this moment because they were simply too fast.

"Damn it, I can only throw out another mechanical arm."

He used the same trick again, tossing a mechanical arm into the wolf pack before suddenly firing twice. Bang! Bang!

His luck was good this time. The second shot struck the mechanical arm's connection point.

Boom!

A massive blaze shot into the sky, and the deafening explosion sent several gray wolves and a few soldiers flying.

The attack worked immediately. Beasts were naturally afraid of fire and loud noises, and the mechanical arm's explosion quickly scared off the remaining gray wolves.

Bai Ye let out a sigh of relief. At least he had not wasted any time.

After that battle, the soldiers had been reduced to just over fifty, more than half of them injured.

"Brother Ye, how about we retreat? I don't think we absolutely have to go to Black Mountain. It's not like there's only one shelter. Once my right hand heals, it won't be too late for us to raid other shelters." Li You clutched his bandaged right hand, which was faintly seeping blood, still shaken by the ordeal.

He felt that if this continued, his right hand might never heal in this lifetime.

Watching the gray wolves disappear into the distance, Bai Ye's gaze darkened. "Retreat where? The mutated beasts from Black Mountain have already come out. They're wandering nearby. If we retreat now, who can guarantee we won't run into them? Black Mountain is safer instead."

He had already told Li You about Shelter 189. They planned to make a fortune at the shelter.

Anything left behind from the civilization era could sell for an astronomical price on the black market.

At that moment, Bai Ye seemed to think of something. He grabbed the officer, who was sprawled on the ground and unable to rise, and said coldly, "I'm really curious now. With strength like yours, what gave you the nerve to enter Black Mountain? Are you hiding some secret weapon?"

The officer felt deeply wronged and hurriedly explained, "My lord, it's not that we're weak. It's that you're too strong! There really is no secret weapon. If there is one, it can only be Mr. Ying."

"Isn't Ying just a sniper? Is he really that strong?" Bai Ye was somewhat puzzled. He truly had not seen how strong Mr. Ying was. He just seemed pretty good at bragging, opening his mouth and talking about killing the Ten Kings.

"Mr. Ying isn't strong in close combat, but his marksmanship is almost divine."

"With his Gun-Fu and sniping skills, he became the Eagle, one of the Zodiac. The outside world calls him both the strongest and weakest of the Zodiac.

"He is strong because as long as he can open up the distance, he can kill any member of the Zodiac."

"But he is weak because once someone gets close, any member of the Zodiac can kill him.

"Take those gray wolves just now. If Mr. Ying had been here, he could have killed every one of them by himself. The gray wolves may be fast, but before Mr. Ying's eagle eyes, they would be as slow as turtles.

"With just a submachine gun, he could pierce through every gray wolf's eyeballs within three seconds."

Bai Ye froze. No way, that guy was that badass? He used a submachine gun like a rapid-fire sniper rifle?

Wait... no!

"Since when the fuck was there an eagle in the Zodiac?!"

The officer was stunned. Clearly, he had not expected Bai Ye's focus to be so bizarre.

He carefully explained, "The Zodiac is an organization under Apocalypse Technology Corporation. It consists of twelve powerful genetically modified people. Their titles are determined by the direction of their genetic modifications, not by the animal signs."

"Then what's Gun-Fu?"

"This lowly one isn't too sure about the specifics. It seems to be an advanced gun technique. At the instant of firing, the user rapidly swings the muzzle, and the centrifugal force makes the bullet curve."

Bullets could curve!? That was not scientific at all!