When he was two thousand meters from the [White Thorn], Lin Hui hit the brakes.
Through the targeting screen, he could clearly see the monster's entire body.
It looked like an upgraded version of the alien mimics from The Tomorrow War, covered in white bone armor, with long, sharp limbs and a lengthy tail trailing behind it.
At that moment, it was like a cat toying with a mouse, occasionally firing a bone spike from its tail at the immobilized tank with a loud clang.
The tank's turret had completely jammed, its drive mechanism apparently destroyed. A section of its tracks had snapped as well, leaving it a sitting duck.
"A tier 3 Mutant..."
Lin Hui's fingers lightly stroked the fire-control joystick, a cold, controlled madness in his eyes.
No stats panel? No problem.
As long as it has a health bar, as long as it's a carbon-based life-form, there's nothing a 25 mm autocannon can't solve.
And if there is, I'll just give it a few more armor-piercing rounds.
His externally mounted weapon, the M330 "Big Wasp" Chain Autocannon, had carried a total of 200 armor-piercing rounds. He had used one during his last test, leaving 199.
That should have been enough to kill this tier 3 Mutant.
"Let's test it first."
Lin Hui took a deep breath. Instead of immediately opening up on full auto, he switched to [Single Shot] mode.
The crosshairs locked onto White Thorn's head.
Thump!
A 25 mm armor-piercing round shot out of the barrel.
At two thousand meters, an autocannon with such a high muzzle velocity hardly needed to account for bullet drop.
But White Thorn's reaction speed was simply unbelievable!
The instant before the shell struck, it twisted its long body as though it had eyes in the back of its head, narrowly moving its head out of the way!
Boom!
The armor-piercing round exploded against its back, spraying green blood.
A second later.
Lin Hui's pupils contracted slightly.
The flesh around the wound writhed furiously, healing at a speed visible to the naked eye! In less than two seconds, not even a scar remained!
"Hyper-regeneration?"
Lin Hui frowned.
This was even more obnoxious than Zombies only dying when their heads were destroyed.
If that was the case, he needed to land more shots to kill it, or destroy its core in an instant.
His gaming experience told him that every monster had a weak point!
"Roaaar!!!"
White Thorn let out a piercing, grating screech after the surprise attack.
It whipped its head around. Its face had no features except a wide, split maw, and it stared fixedly at the black RV in the distance.
It was enraged!
Whoosh!
White Thorn abandoned the tank, dropped onto all fours, and instantly became a streak of white lightning as it charged toward Lin Hui!
It was incredibly fast!
It was even twice as fast as that tier 1 Agile Zombie!
The two-thousand-meter stretch seemed to shrink beneath its feet.
"Come on, then!"
Lin Hui wasn't nervous.
As long as you charge in a straight line, you're the perfect target.
Just as White Thorn came within eight hundred meters, it paused abruptly and whipped its long, spike-covered tail!
Whoosh!
A half-meter-long white bone spike shot toward him like a missile, shrieking through the air!
Clang!
The bone spike struck the reactive armor on the front of the RV, showering sparks with a deafening metallic clang.
Although it failed to penetrate the special steel several centimeters thick, it left two deep dents in the armor's surface. The surrounding metal even began releasing white smoke, sizzling as it corroded.
[Warning! Armor damaged!] [Defense: -2%] [Highly corrosive toxin detected!]
"Such strong penetration! And it's corrosive?"
Alarm bells rang in Lin Hui's mind.
If he let this thing get close and keep attacking with its sharp claws and tail, even a Lv.3 RV wouldn't hold out for long!
He absolutely couldn't let it get near!
"Activate automatic scanning on the fire-control radar!"
[Command confirmed!]
On the holographic screen, a red scanning grid appeared over the rapidly moving white figure.
As White Thorn kept changing direction and leaping, Lin Hui caught a small detail.
No matter how it moved, it always instinctively turned sideways, seemingly using its hard back armor to protect a spot on the right side of its waist.
There was a slightly paler plate of armor there.
"Found you."
A cold smile curled Lin Hui's lips.
By then, White Thorn had already closed to within five hundred meters!
It seemed to notice that the black vehicle wasn't doing much and assumed its bone spike had scared its opponent witless. With a triumphant screech, it accelerated again, preparing to leap onto the roof and tear the vehicle open.
"Now!"
Lin Hui abruptly switched the firing mode to [Full Auto] and pressed the firing button!
"Die, you bastard!!!"
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!!!
The roof-mounted Chain Autocannon unleashed a thunderous roar!
Its firing rate of 200 rounds per minute instantly wove an impenetrable web of lethal fire.
This time, it wasn't a single shot, but a sustained barrage!!
In just five seconds, seventeen armor-piercing rounds blasted out of the barrel!
White Thorn froze in midair.
It wanted to dodge, but the barrage blocked every route ahead, to its left, and to its right!
This was the suppressive power of heavy weaponry!
No tricks, just drowning the enemy in a storm of metal!
Thud-thud-thud!
Several shells struck its legs and shoulders, blasting out great clouds of green blood. Although it was still healing, the tremendous kinetic force caused a fatal hesitation in its movements.
At that very instant.
Thump!
A shell struck the slightly paler armor plate on the right side of its waist with perfect accuracy!
Splurch!
It sounded like a hot knife slicing through butter.
The hard bone armor shattered instantly.
The shell burrowed into its body, then-exploded!
Boom!!!
White Thorn's long body shuddered violently. Then half its waist was blown apart! Green entrails mixed with shattered bone sprayed everywhere.
Its charging body instantly lost its balance, tumbling across the ground a dozen times like a rag doll before slamming into a rock.
It was still struggling, trying to rise with its remaining half-body. The flesh around the wound continued writhing furiously, trying to reconnect its severed torso.
"You really are hard to kill."
Lin Hui sighed, then pressed the firing button again.
Thump!
This time, it was a single shot.
It struck the right side of its waist with perfect accuracy.
And blasted it to pieces.
[Congratulations! Successfully killed a tier 3 Mutant (White Thorn)!] [Rewards obtained:] [1. Universal bullets × 200 rounds] [2. Basic Gene Potion × 1] [3. Potent Antibiotics (rare) × 1 (can treat Mutant virus infections)] [Congratulations! Player "Lin Hui" has earned the achievement: First kill of a tier 3 monster!] (Screen-wide announcement!!) [Intermediate Gene Serum × 1 obtained.]
For a moment, the regional channel erupted.
The previous screen-wide announcement had been for Zhao Tianba, who had been the first to upgrade his vehicle to Lv.3 and had already founded the Sky Tyrant Alliance.
Now.
The four major guilds, smaller guilds, and little groups all sent Lin Hui private messages, either trying to recruit him or offering to buy his Intermediate Gene Serum...
Lin Hui simply closed the regional channel and enabled do not disturb.
Then he looked at White Thorn's completely motionless remains and released the slightly hot joystick.
"A tier 3 monster..."
"It really was hard to kill..."
"Compared to a tier 2 Zombie, it was at least ten times stronger..."
"What if I run into a tier 4 Mutant?"
At that thought, a sense of danger rose in Lin Hui's heart again.
He had to keep upgrading his vehicle!
Get more golden traits!!
Only then could he survive this highway survival ordeal to the very end!!!
Before you continue