Mutation

Twenty men entered the Tube Building in a swaggering line.

Several veterans had taken part in many operations like this. Before entering the ruined building, Sam loudly explained the precautions to all the newcomers.

"Check your ammunition! Keep your spare firearms somewhere within easy reach."

"Be careful and make sure of your targets before firing. Unless absolutely necessary, don't throw grenades around recklessly. Otherwise, you might fail to kill the monsters and bury yourselves instead!"

"Also, keep your muzzles pointed at the ground. Don't point them at the person in front of you. Keep your fingers off the triggers. If you get startled and accidentally fire, injuring someone, you'll be dealt with according to the gang's rules!"

"Don't speak loudly after we go in. Mutated Monsters in the darkness are highly sensitive to sound."

"."

Suren listened carefully. They were all practical combat tips. No wonder Kai had called the newcomers here for training.

His gaze swept over the Tube Building in the distance, and his brows furrowed slightly. The solitary, dilapidated building looked like an ugly toad monster crouching there. Its dark, gaping windows resembled lumps of flesh covering its back.

Suren wondered if it was only his imagination, but he always felt as though something was watching their group.

"Is it a person, or perhaps a monster?"

Suren couldn't figure out where the unease in his heart came from.

He knew exactly what this feeling meant. Certain clues in his mind had caused his unease, but they weren't enough to form a clear thread of reasoning, which was why the feeling came and went.

However, he didn't say anything. Even without him telling everyone to be more careful, everyone would be on high alert in an environment like this.

Before he could think any further, the group had already entered the Tube Building.

The interior space of this Tube Building was enormous, somewhat like the shopping malls from Suren's previous life.

The building completely blocked out the light from outside.

The gas lamps carried by the group provided ample illumination, but even so, everyone felt as though they had entered a world of darkness. The light was only enough to illuminate a small area.

Suren, however, felt that it was manageable. After advancing to Professional, his "night vision" had improved significantly.

Even without wearing those crude night-vision goggles, he could still make out the general outlines of distant objects.

The other newcomers, however, appeared somewhat uneasy. The dark environment filled them with fear of the unknown, and they worried that some man-eating monster might suddenly emerge from the depths of the darkness.

Just then, a gunshot suddenly exploded beside their ears.

"Bang!"

The flash of fire lit up the area for an instant, and everyone watched as a black shadow fell from a ceiling beam in the distance.

When they looked closely, it was a Giant White-Furred Rat.

The sudden disturbance made all the newcomers flinch. No wonder Sam had previously forbidden them from keeping their fingers on the triggers. Otherwise, that scare just now might have caused many guns to go off accidentally.

From the front came Sam's hearty laughter. "Oh, what luck! The White-Furred Rat's earbone is a Cursed Material worth three thousand Liso. I can't believe we got a material from the first one we shot!"

Monsters living in a mutated environment had a chance of producing "Cursed Materials" within their bodies. However, the chance was very low among ordinary monsters. Usually, elite monsters, beast kings, and the like had a much higher chance of producing them.

A flicker of thought passed through Suren's mind as he listened.

The first monster had already yielded a Cursed Material. Was it really a coincidence, or something else?

Seeing the newcomers' tense expressions, the veterans laughed. "Hey, everyone, don't be so nervous. This Giant White-Furred Rat is just the most common monster in the sewers. One shot to the head will kill it. Still, be careful. They'll jump up and bite off your little bird!"

"Hahaha!"

The veterans seemed to have long grown accustomed to this. Operations like this were much safer than hunting in the wastelands.

After all, this was inside Old Lindun. Monsters wouldn't appear in swarms here. Even Mutated Humans only appeared singly or in pairs.

With more than twenty people, they held an absolute firepower advantage and didn't need to be overly cautious.

Kai rested his gun on his shoulder, looking relaxed. Then he said, "Everyone, get ready. The monsters in this building should be coming over."

After the gunshot, the sound immediately attracted the monsters lurking in the darkness.

But as the veterans had said, scattered monsters couldn't pose much of a threat to the group.

The rest of the journey changed from hunting monsters into a shooting game.

The gunshots attracted the monsters in the darkness, saving everyone the trouble of searching every room one by one.

Before long, two Mutated Humans appeared in the darkness, likely drawn by the sound, and the group blasted them into sludge.

Suren had encountered these monsters twice outside the city. Back then, he had been alone, and the surrounding environment had been complicated, making them difficult to deal with. But a lone monster was just a target for a team.

Apart from one unlucky fellow stepping into empty space and breaking his leg, everything went smoothly.

Moreover, the harvest was quite good.

They discovered that the monsters in this Tube Building indeed had a much higher chance of producing Cursed Materials than those outside the city.

In less than an hour, the people from Green Street had cleared out the entire Tube Building and arrived at the entrance to the "Underground Chamber" mentioned by the old man earlier.

This wasn't a collapsed opening. There were clear traces of construction.

It looked like a subway station entrance from Suren's previous life.

The cleanup had gone so smoothly that it was almost boring. Perhaps feeling that they hadn't had enough, one of the veterans looked at the opening and asked, "Captain, should we go down and take a look?"

Kai stared at the entrance to the Underground Chamber, his brows furrowing slightly. "The last time we carried out a large-scale cleanup of these Underground Chambers was ten years ago. The casualties were quite high that time. I wonder what the monsters down there look like now."

Clearly, he had recalled some unpleasant memories. He shook his head. "Going underground requires better equipment and more manpower. We're not prepared for that this time, so there's no need to go down."

Today's harvest had far exceeded expectations, and that gave Kai a bad feeling.

Suren stayed among the crowd without drawing too much attention.

He hadn't had many chances to fire during the entire cleanup. The monsters were often blasted apart by a volley from everyone the moment they appeared. No matter how good or bad their marksmanship was, with dozens of muzzles firing at once, something was bound to hit. That was the advantage of having more people.

Now that he heard Kai say they were going back, he thought it was a good idea as well. The faint unease in his heart also made him feel that continuing to explore might lead to trouble.

Just then, it seemed that thinking of something was enough to make it happen.

Suddenly, his gaze caught a humanoid shadow rushing out of the subway station entrance.

Suren's pupils contracted sharply, and he cried out inwardly, So fast!

A Mutated Human?

No, that was definitely not the speed of a normal Mutated Human!

And that thing could even climb walls!

"Careful!"

Almost at the same time, Kai shouted a warning.

Clearly, he had also noticed the shadow that had rushed out.

Before he could finish speaking, a gunshot rang out, followed by a barrage of concentrated fire.

Although the monster was fast, the storm of scattered bullets still struck its leg. Another wave of fire followed, and the wall-climbing monster, which resembled a gecko, was beaten until it could no longer move.

But before everyone had time to celebrate, a terrified scream suddenly rang out from within the crowd. "Ah!"

Hearing the scream from behind, Suren turned around. At the same time, the firearm in his hand had already spewed a tongue of flame, his movements flowing as one.

Bang!

The shotgun struck the long mouthpart that had dropped from the ceiling, and the screaming gang member also fell from midair.

Everyone stared at the smoking firearm in Suren's hand, their eyes filled with shock, likely astonished by how quickly he had reacted. But their attention was instantly drawn to something else. Looking at the half of the severed mouthpart writhing on the ground like a broken snake, everyone's faces turned deathly pale.

It was a scarlet mouthpart as thick as a bowl. Rings of densely packed sharp teeth writhed within the red flesh, enough to trigger anyone's trypophobia.

Sam approached with a stiff expression. He used his gun to prod the mouthpart, whose nerve endings were still twitching weakly, then swallowed and asked, "What kind of monster is this?"

The veterans also looked puzzled. None of them recognized it.

"I've never seen it either."

Kai's expression turned solemn. He looked at the mangled corpse and the severed mouthpart, then said with a frown, "This monster is definitely not simple. Even an Out-of-Control Professional wouldn't move this fast."

If Suren's gun hadn't been faster just now, one unlucky person among them would have been dragged away alive by that monster.

Kai's expression grew slightly more serious. He looked at the "Underground Chamber entrance" and continued, "Something's not right. Monsters like this have never appeared in the city's sewers before. I think we should leave first and discuss it later."

Suren's All-Seeing Eye gave him extraordinary vision. The instant he saw the monster, its name appeared before him.

Mutated Abomination

Details: A Mutated Human affected by a special environment. Its weaknesses are the same as a human's. Striking its head or heart will kill it quickly.

But at that moment, he had no interest in guessing what had caused the monster's mutation. Since two monsters had appeared here, that also meant—

There might be even more inside the Underground Chamber!

"Let's go!"

Kai had clearly realized that they couldn't stay here for long and was just about to call for everyone to leave.

But just then, several harsh whistles suddenly rang out.

"Cheep~" "Cheep~" "Cheep~"

The next instant, several Incendiary Bombs lit up around them.

The intense light illuminated the entire interior of the Tube Building. The monsters hiding in the shadows seemed to have been startled and retreated into various holes of different sizes.

The people from Green Street looked closely and saw that a group of men with various mechanically modified prosthetic limbs had already surrounded them.

Sam recognized the newcomers and roared furiously, "The Steam Party! Damn it, we've been ambushed!"

Suren's expression turned cold when he saw this. Only then did he realize where his earlier sense of danger had come from.

It wasn't these monsters. It was the Steam Party!

He glanced at the entrance to the "Underground Chamber," then at the blocked exit of the Tube Building, and murmured inwardly, They certainly picked a fine place for an ambush.

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