Tier-1 Mutated Creature

These monsters were about as mutated as the Sheep-Headed Monster. Each had a distinctive appearance, but none would be easy to deal with.

If they charged up to the second floor and got close, there was no doubt that everyone would die.

When Lin Ye had first started venturing out at night, he could have handled two monsters at most. Any more would have been beyond him.

But he was no longer the Lin Ye he had been then.

Through his practice during this time, Lin Ye had gained a new understanding of both Psionic Energy and Cutting Techniques.

"What do we do? Make a run for it?"

Zhao Yong had also noticed the mutated creatures. He still had a trump card, but there were too many of them. Even if he fought desperately and killed a few, the remaining creatures would overwhelm him in the end.

"We can't escape. We're not as fast as they are. Besides, it's not dawn yet, and there are mutated monsters everywhere outside. Where could we run? We'll each have to rely on our own abilities."

Xu Min was ready to fight for her life. She had yet to use her innate ability.

"...Wait."

Lin Ye forced the word out with difficulty. His left hand gripped the cross necklace while his right clenched the hilt of the Red Blade. The Psionic Energy in his body surged into the blade, turning it a vivid, brilliant red, as though red light were flowing across it.

He pushed his perception to its limit, bringing most of the supermarket within its range.

"Go. Die."

Lin Ye swung the Red Blade with difficulty, but he was not slashing at the monsters in front of him. He was cutting something more fundamental.

An invisible blade of Psionic Energy erupted from the Red Blade. Under the influence of the concept of "cutting," it stirred the Psionic Energy throughout the supermarket and swept through the entire store like a wave.

Lin Ye had only set it in motion. His control over the psionic blade lasted only an instant; the rest simply followed the momentum.

But even that single instant was enough for the slash to drain all of Lin Ye's Psionic Energy and stamina.

Lin Ye barely managed to pull off the cross necklace before his strength gave out completely and he fell backward.

Fortunately, Li Ji had been standing behind them the whole time, and she caught Lin Ye in her arms as he fell.

The mutated creatures, by contrast, received no such treatment.

Psionic Energy was a power that could both strengthen the body and utterly destroy it. Its properties changed depending on how it was used.

At first, the psionic blade merely passed through the mutated creatures' bodies, cutting them into upper and lower halves. But as more and more Psionic Energy was drawn in, the raging energy swept through the entire supermarket like an avalanche, grinding every mutated creature within range into minced flesh.

It was not quite as professional as Pinduoduo, but it came close.

Grandpa Zhao looked at the devastation before him and could not help drawing in a sharp breath as he exclaimed:

"Holy shit! This young man!"

Xu Min was startled too. Now she completely believed Lin Ye's earlier "boast," and even felt that he might have been a little modest.

Li Ji carried Lin Ye to a chair by the wall. This was her first time being so physically close to a man, but the situation was urgent, and she could not worry about that now.

"Are you all right? Do you need us to do anything?"

Lin Ye did not answer. He was in terrible shape. That slash had drained his stamina and Psionic Energy, neither of which would recover anytime soon. On top of that, overusing the cross necklace had left him with a splitting headache, making it impossible to concentrate and leaving his head swimming.

Only after resting for a while did Lin Ye become a little more clearheaded. Xu Min and Zhao Yong were downstairs finishing off the mutated creatures that were not quite dead, while Li Ji stayed beside him to look after him.

"How are things outside?"

Lin Ye took nutrient solution out of his backpack and downed two bottles before he felt a little better.

"Those mutated creatures were the last batch. It's not dawn yet, but no more monsters are coming this way."

Li Ji had found a damp towel somewhere and was wiping Lin Ye's forehead with it. The coolness of the towel seemed to ease his headache a little.

"If it isn't dawn, it isn't over."

Lin Ye pressed both temples with one hand and drew the CL0 Pistol with the other. After dealing with the mutated creatures in the gun shop, he had used the Sheep-Headed Monster's corpse to replenish the pistol's ammunition, but even now, its mutation had not finished.

Although it was usable, it would certainly not be as powerful as it would be once the mutation was complete.

Li Ji suddenly turned toward the wall on one side, in the direction of the center of the ruins.

"It feels like something is coming. Something terrifying."

Li Ji sounded uncertain.

There seemed to be something wrong with her innate ability. As long as she stayed near Lin Ye, she sensed no danger, even in a situation like the one just now. This had never happened before, leaving her unable to tell whether the information her ability provided was correct.

"It's probably close to Tier 1, or it's a Tier-1 Mutated Creature already. Call them up. Once we deal with it, we should be able to go back."

Lin Ye slumped backward, resting his entire weight against the back of the chair. For now, he was useless. He could only leave the coming fight to his reliable teammates.

"My innate ability has an active and a passive component. I haven't activated it yet. If it's just one mutated creature approaching Tier 1, I should be able to handle it."

After listening to Lin Ye's assessment, Grandpa Zhao patted his chest muscles reassuringly.

"I haven't used my innate ability either. Leave what comes next to us."

Xu Min looked out the window at the pitch-black ruins. With large portions of her body mutated, her senses were extremely sharp, so she was not as optimistic as Zhao Yong.

"It's here."

Li Ji suddenly pointed to a shadow-shrouded street corner outside the window as she spoke.

A girl with black hair and red eyes stood there, a young girl with nothing abnormal about her at all.

She tilted her head as she looked toward the window, watching them through it from dozens of meters away.

Her eyes neither shifted nor blinked.

Lin Ye involuntarily tensed, but before he could react further, the girl had vanished from where she stood.

Crash!

The sound of shattering glass rang out beside them. The false sense of security afforded by distance vanished abruptly. The girl was already on the supermarket's second floor.

Humans were creatures that relied on experience to survive, and so they could not cope with situations beyond their understanding.

Lin Ye did not understand Tier-1 creatures, so he had misjudged their strength, falling under the illusion that a Tier-1 creature was merely a somewhat stronger mutated creature.

That had nearly been the death of him.

The girl seemed to consider Lin Ye, useless as he was, the greatest threat in the supermarket, so she made him her first target.

Had Zhao Yong not forced his way in front of Lin Ye through skill and experience, the girl would already have torn Lin Ye apart.

But this had not come without a cost. Zhao Yong paid the price for Lin Ye.

The girl plunged one hand into Zhao Yong's abdomen and casually pulled out his intestines. All kinds of fluids gushed from the wound in his abdomen like a fountain.

Zhao Yong collapsed to the floor. Li Ji could not react in time at all, and Xu Min was already preparing to flee. This time, nothing stood between Lin Ye and the girl.

Just as the girl was about to finish Lin Ye off, a palm as large as a palm-leaf fan clamped tightly around her right foot.

Zhao Yong rose from the floor, his entire body swelling several sizes as though it were a balloon being inflated.