Nilam leaped straight at Long Ming, jaws wide open to bite him.
Long Ming immediately rolled to the side, barely dodging in the nick of time.
Thump.
Nilam missed entirely.
Long Ming seized the chance to scramble to his feet, decisively dumping the Baka rifle he had been carrying, and ran out with all his might.
Though it pained him greatly, there was no choice now—with such a heavy load, running was impossible.
Fortunately, he wore power boots, so his running speed was quite fast.
And since the creature was so huge, he would be safe if he could just escape through the sealed door.
Nilam turned, spotted the fleeing Long Ming, and pursued at extreme speed.
Rumble…
Loud noises continued to boom.
Long Ming glanced back. Nilam was chasing him, running desperately, and Long Ming soon burst out of the plaza.
He ran along the passage while reloading, but even so, Nilam was rapidly closing in.
Time ticked away second by second.
Just as Long Ming reached the corner, Nilam had caught up, only a dozen meters or so away.
When Nilam opened its blood-filled maw, preparing to pounce, Long Ming immediately turned, raised the grenade carbine in his hand, and fired.
Boom!
A massive explosion swept outward.
Nilam's mouth took a direct hit; its body froze, and it spewed black smoke.
Long Ming took the opportunity to turn the corner and vanish from sight.
"Squeal~"
Nilam let out an angry cry, then gave chase.
But when Nilam rounded the corner into another passage, Long Ming's figure had vanished.
It stopped at once, its eyes shifting to reveal a cunning gleam. Then it crawled forward slowly, extending its head to peer into the first room.
Inside the second room, Long Ming held his breath desperately, straining to make not the slightest sound.
Soon Nilam slowly reached the doorway of the second room, stopped, and poked its ugly head inside.
All it saw were overturned cabinets; no sign of Long Ming.
Nilam slowly withdrew its head and continued searching forward.
Inside the freezer, Long Ming heard the sounds growing farther away and couldn't help but sigh in relief.
Phew…
Still, he forced himself to wait patiently, crouched inside the freezer.
More than ten minutes later.
Nilam had searched every room on both sides of the passage. Finding no trace of Long Ming, it went to the sealed door, lay down, and gradually melted into the darkness.
Seeing no movement outside, Long Ming cautiously pushed the freezer door open, leaving a small crack.
He peered through the gap. Seeing that the monster wasn't at his door, he gently pushed the door open and slipped out.
Long Ming then carefully walked to the doorway and secretly poked out just a bit of his head.
The passage outside was deathly silent—nothing at all.
Long Ming slowly withdrew, his expression growing grimmer.
He hadn't expected this creature to be so cunning, actually playing an ambush against him.
Although he saw nothing, Long Ming was certain the thing was still outside and hadn't left, because from beginning to end he hadn't heard any sound of it returning.
Long Ming immediately crawled back into the freezer.
Leaning against the inner wall, he carefully took out water from his backpack, drinking and resting as he did so.
Long Ming had no good options now. The monster blocked his escape route; there was no way out.
As for fighting it head-on, he definitely couldn't win. Ordinary bullets couldn't penetrate its defenses, and the grenades that could at least cause some damage were used up—and their effect wasn't great anyway. What could he use to fight that monster?
Most troublesome of all: the monster could kill him in a single blow.
Thinking this, Long Ming decided to hide here and wait it out, waiting for the monster to give up. So he waited quietly.
In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.
Long Ming's eyelids were heavy, and just as his head began to nod, he suddenly snapped fully alert.
He raised his wristband to check the time, then gently pushed open the freezer door.
He sneaked to the doorway and looked toward the sealed door.
Outside was still deathly silent—nothing at all.
Long Ming's brow furrowed tightly. Although the perception serum had long worn off and his vision had returned to normal, his intuition told him the monster was definitely there.
This was serious trouble. It was now his third day in the game, with less than seventeen hours left before the maximum time limit.
If he couldn't evacuate within the allotted time, this instance exploration would be a complete failure.
But the problem was that the monster's intelligence was too high; it had completely blocked his escape route.
Long Ming even began to wonder whether this thing was human or monster.
For a moment, he was at a loss.
But just then, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. He hesitated, but soon his expression turned resolute. He decided to go all in!
Long Ming checked the weapon in his hand, confirmed the magazine was full, and took a deep breath.
The next second, he burst out of the room, raised his gun, and fired fiercely toward the sealed door!
Bang bang!
Dense bullets struck the camouflaged Nilam.
Nilam was instantly revealed, let out an angry cry, and scrambled to its feet.
Long Ming turned and ran toward the hall.
Nilam chased after him like a hyena, furious.
Soon Nilam rounded the corner and saw a flash of light rushing into the hall ahead.
Nilam pursued at extreme speed, quickly burst into the hall, and locked onto the light source.
The next second, Nilam froze. On the hall floor lay a lone flashlight, and there was no sign of Long Ming.
At that moment, Long Ming crawled out from under a handcart in the passage and sprinted out with all his might.
Before long, Long Ming passed the corner and saw the sealed door in the distance. Excitement lit his face—he was about to escape.
But just then, a tremendous running sound suddenly came from behind him.
The smile froze on Long Ming's face. He immediately summoned every ounce of strength and ran forward with all he had.
The sealed door drew nearer and nearer.
But just then, Nilam had already caught up quickly.
It watched Long Ming running ahead, eagerly opened its maw, and prepared to pounce.
Just then, two high-explosive grenades appeared on the ground before it.
Boom!
A huge explosion swept out, stopping Nilam in its tracks.
Long Ming didn't look back. He ran desperately forward; the door of hope was right before his eyes.
Seeing its prey about to escape, Nilam shrieked angrily, then drove all four limbs and leaped toward Long Ming, jaws wide open to bite.
Long Ming heard the whistling sound from behind; his pupils contracted. Giving it everything, he leaped violently.
At the moment Nilam was about to sink its teeth into Long Ming, Long Ming shot straight through the gap in the center of the sealed door and fell onto the ground outside.
Boom!
Nilam slammed directly into the center of the sealed door, and the entire base trembled slightly.
Long Ming rolled a few times on the ground, quickly scrambled up, turned to look at the Nilam blocked by the door, and raised his middle finger.
"Squeal~"
Unwilling to give up, Nilam extended one claw, desperately trying to grab Long Ming.
Seeing how vicious Nilam was, Long Ming's expression stiffened. He turned and ran outside.
(End of chapter)
Chapter 36