Specialization! Spirit Art: Mire!

He could curse all he wanted!

But Tang Chuan could do nothing about it!

At this rate, all his men would be wiped out.

"Wang Bin! Get your vehicle up there!" Tang Chuan could only roar into the radio. "Remember, White Thorns have a weak point on the right side of their waist."

He had paid a top guild a fortune for that information.

Wang Bin, a muscular man with dark skin, gritted his teeth. He had no choice but to drive his steel-plated Hummer forward, spraying wildly with its mounted machine gun.

Just then, a blue Lv3 modified sports car came to a stop.

Dressed in black combat gear, Liu Xi leaned out through the roof, holding a heavy sniper rifle as she aimed at a tier 2 White Thorn charging toward her.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Three bullets sliced through the air, striking the shell on the right side of the tier 2 White Thorn's waist with pinpoint accuracy within two seconds.

Smack!

The tier 2 White Thorn slammed into the ground, twitched a few times, then went still!

"Incredible!" Tang Chuan shouted excitedly.

That accurate? A flicker of surprise crossed Lin Hui's eyes. Though he had been slacking off, he had kept watching the battlefield.

He had seen the woman named Liu Xi fire those shots.

She had barely aimed before hitting a White Thorn moving at high speed!

Even the very best snipers in his previous life probably couldn't have managed that accuracy!

The woman must have awakened some kind of specialization too...

Thud!

Just then, a slightly larger tier 2 White Thorn seemed to realize that Lin Hui's RV wouldn't attack.

It skirted the melee ahead, kicked off a pillar, and turned into a streak of white light hurtling straight at Lin Hui's RV!

"Boss! It's coming!" Su Qingqian cried.

Lin Hui didn't even lift his eyelids. He simply shifted into reverse.

Vroom-!

The RV lurched backward!

But he wasn't fleeing. It was a precise "tactical retreat."

The White Thorn had anticipated where it would land, but the RV's retreat left it lunging at empty air.

The tier 2 White Thorn reacted quickly, however, whipping its long white tail.

Whoosh!

A sharp bone spike tore through the air, shooting viciously toward the RV's windshield!

Clang!

The bone spike struck the glass!

Yet the spike, powerful enough to pierce a tier 3 RV, bounced right off!

Vice President Wang Bin witnessed the scene. He swallowed and couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath.

He glanced at his own vehicle, bristling with spikes like a hedgehog, then at Lin Hui's completely undamaged RV. The greed in his eyes deepened.

Meanwhile.

Lin Hui's gaze settled on the spot the bone spike had struck, and he sighed softly.

Although it hadn't penetrated the high-strength bulletproof glass, it had left an ugly white mark on its pristine surface.

"Tch."

Lin Hui frowned as though someone had stepped on his brand-new sneakers.

"Qingqian, fix that. It's an eyesore."

"Huh? Now?"

Su Qingqian froze, looking at the monster crouched outside, baring its teeth. "It's... it's still right there!"

"Don't worry. It can't get in."

As he spoke, Lin Hui pressed the horn.

Honk-!

The sudden blast startled the White Thorn. It was about to rage when it abruptly felt a chill behind it.

Bang!

An armor-piercing round flew in, punching straight through the shell on the right side of its waist.

The tremendous impact hurled its massive body several meters backward before it crashed into an iron pillar, spraying green blood across the ground!

Just one shot!

A tier 2 White Thorn had been dispatched that easily!

The other White Thorns hesitated at the sight. Baring their teeth, they backed away one after another, then turned to attack the other vehicles!

Su Qingqian breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the white mark on the windshield, she puffed out her rosy cheeks. As a mechanic with the [Machinery] specialization, a minor problem like this was naturally nothing to her.

She took out a toolbox and retrieved a tube resembling toothpaste.

Then Su Qingqian squeezed a little clear, colorless liquid onto her fair finger and applied it to the marked spot on the glass.

Finally, she pointed at the scratch without touching it.

Hum.

A faint blue glow flashed.

Something miraculous happened.

The white mark on the windshield healed on its own as though it were alive. The glass became bright and pristine again, with not even a speck of dust left behind.

The entire process took less than three seconds.

Tang Chuan, who was changing magazines nearby, happened to witness it.

His pupils contracted sharply.

"Was that... the Machinery specialization?"

In this apocalypse, a vehicle was your lifeline.

Even Ironblood Heavy Industries, a guild specializing in repairs, had to spend ages hammering away to fix a vehicle.

But that woman... had fixed it with a wave of her hand?

She was practically a god-tier support!

It truly was a specialization even rarer than Spirit Arts!

The flames of greed in Tang Chuan's eyes burned even brighter.

The vehicle had unbeatable defenses and ferocious firepower, and that woman had an absurdly powerful repair ability... This was the ultimate prize!

"I have to get them... I absolutely have to!"

But the situation left him no time to dwell on it.

As the White Thorns coordinated their attacks, the New Light Mutual Aid Association's defensive line began to collapse.

"Aaah! Help me!"

Another modified vehicle was overturned. A White Thorn dragged out the three players inside and tore them apart in an instant.

Blood stained the ground red, and screams rose one after another.

These players had clearly underestimated the White Thorns' combat prowess. These mutants were not only fast but also knew how to work together, even using the terrain to set up ambushes.

"A bunch of useless trash!"

Looking at his men suffering heavy casualties, Tang Chuan finally dropped the act.

He adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, his gaze turning utterly cold.

"Everyone, cover me!"

Tang Chuan's heavily armored ambulance stopped. He pressed a red button, and a section of its floor suddenly opened, revealing a hole.

Tang Chuan moved to the opening, crouched down, and slammed his right hand against the ground.

"Specialization-[Spirit Art: Mire]!"

Boom!

With Tang Chuan at its center, the concrete ground within a fifty-meter radius suddenly seemed to turn into flowing liquid.

The hard concrete instantly softened into a foul-smelling, dark brown mire.

"Hiss?!"

The White Thorns, previously as swift as the wind, suddenly felt the ground soften beneath them. All four limbs sank straight into the mud.

The sludge seemed incredibly sticky. No matter how they struggled, they couldn't pull their legs free and only sank deeper.

Those lightning-fast figures instantly became lambs awaiting slaughter.

"What specialization is that?"

Inside the RV some distance away, Lin Hui set down his cola and watched with interest.

"That's pretty interesting."

"But an AOE that large must drain a lot of mental energy, right?"

Lin Hui had heard from Su Qingqian that using a specialization to unleash supernatural abilities consumed mental energy.

Sure enough, after unleashing that move, Tang Chuan looked noticeably paler, and fine beads of sweat covered his forehead.

"Miss Liu Xi! It's up to you!" Tang Chuan shouted.

"Understood."

A cool voice came over the radio.

Then.

Bang!

A deep, powerful gunshot rang out with striking clarity amid the noisy battlefield.

Two hundred meters away.

The shell around the waist of a tier 1 White Thorn trapped in the mire burst like a watermelon, splattering green blood.

Bang!

The second shot.

Another White Thorn preparing to ambush Lin Hui had its weak point pierced with pinpoint precision and died on the spot.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Liu Xi, the woman in black combat gear, was now kneeling on one knee atop the blue sports car.

The heavy sniper rifle in her hands had a frighteningly thick barrel. Every pull of the trigger produced enormous recoil that made her shoulder tremble slightly, yet her body remained steady as a rock.

There were no wasted movements.

She didn't need long to aim.

Every bullet claimed a mutant's life.

"She's got some skill..."

Lin Hui narrowed his eyes, watching the woman's smooth, fluid movements.

Besides Liu Xi dealing damage, the surviving players of the New Light Mutual Aid Association also took aim and fired.

They weren't nearly as accurate, but they made up for it with sheer numbers of bullets!

With Tang Chuan controlling the enemies and Liu Xi picking them off, the situation reversed in an instant.

The once-ferocious pack of White Thorns was slaughtered within minutes.

Only mutilated corpses and pools of green blood remained.

"Whew..."

Tang Chuan exhaled heavily, and the mire beneath his feet turned back into solid concrete.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and glanced at the untouched black RV behind him, the corner of his eye twitching repeatedly.

In this battle, fifteen or sixteen of his men had died, and five vehicles had been destroyed.

But that bastard Lin...

Hadn't even lost a fucking chip of paint!

He had even vaguely seen the man handing potato chips to that innocent-looking beauty inside the RV!

"Brother Lin."

Tang Chuan drove up beside Lin Hui, that same insincere smile returning to his face. Yet no matter how one looked at it, there was a teeth-gritting edge to it.

"Your fire-control system... certainly took a long time to reboot."

"Oh, we only just got it fixed."

Lin Hui lowered the window and patted the steering wheel with a look of "regret." "This lousy vehicle is so temperamental. It always lets me down at the crucial moment. Fortunately, President Tang, your unparalleled might settled everything with a single move. I'm impressed, truly impressed."

Impressed, my ass!

Tang Chuan cursed furiously inside, but he still had to maintain his composure. "You're too kind. Since we've cleared everything out, let's keep moving deeper.

"The high-strength titanium alloy should be in the central warehouse inside."

"Sure, sure."

Lin Hui agreed with a smile, but he understood the situation better than anyone.

Tang Chuan's gaze was even more venomous than before.

If it had merely held greed earlier, now it held naked murderous intent.

"Boss... that man with the glasses is looking at us so scarily," Su Qingqian whispered. She might have been innocent, but she wasn't stupid. The feeling of being watched by a venomous snake made her uncomfortable all over.

"Let him look."

Lin Hui took out another can of cola, his gaze as calm as still water.

"After all, dead men can't glare."

The convoy set off again.

Everyone thought the greatest danger had passed, and the atmosphere relaxed a little.

But then.

At the very moment the convoy entered the heart of the parts factory.

"Screeeeech!!!"

An ear-piercing shriek, sharp enough to seemingly rupture their eardrums, suddenly erupted from the deepest part of the factory!

The sound carried terrifying sonic vibrations that shattered every pane of glass around them.

"What the hell was that?!"

Everyone clapped their hands over their ears in terror.

Before they could react.

Boom!

An enormous dark shape dropped from the sky.

Without any warning.

A modified Humvee in the middle of the convoy, along with the four players inside, was instantly struck by a white bone spike as thick as a utility pole...

Impaled!

Like meat on a skewer, the entire vehicle was pinned firmly to the concrete!

Amid the swirling dust, a massive, terrifying figure slowly rose to its feet.

Its shadow engulfed the entire area.