Crawler!

Why would it appear during the day?! A chill ran down Chu Guang's spine. Without time to ponder the question, Chu Guang snapped his rifle up, barking a sharp order as his finger pulled the trigger. "Scatter!" *Bang—!* Flames erupted from the muzzle. However, the distance was too great. The bullet failed to hit its mark, leaving only a deep crater in the concrete wall behind the Crawler. Infuriated by the spraying pebbles and shrapnel, the Crawler bit clean through the leg bone dangling from its jaws. A shrill, blood-curdling roar burst from its gory maw. *"Roar!"* The players were completely petrified by the creature's overwhelming aura. They stood stock-still beside the handcart, their feet seemingly glued to the pavement. *Holy crap!* *This is way more terrifying than any marauder!* "How many times do I have to tell you?! Get away from the handcart!" Chu Guang roared. His hands never paused for a second; working the bolt at lightning speed, he fired off several more rounds in rapid succession. Thanks to the hunting experience accumulated over recent days, while he was by no means a dead-eye marksman who hit whatever he pointed at, his cycling and reloading motions were far smoother than when he had first held a rifle. The Crawler's four arms flailed rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, its silhouette blurred as it slipped through an adjacent window. Only then did the two players finally snap out of their daze. Flustered, they raised their weapons and aimed nervously. "Lord Administrator, we're not going anywhere!" "Th-that's right! We'll defend you to the—" "I told you to get the hell away from the grain!" Watching the two fools standing there stuttering through their dialogue, Chu Guang wished he could kick them both right in the backside. Yet now was clearly not the time. He could sense danger closing in fast. A Crawler was nothing like a Gnawer. Though both were products of mutant fungal erosion, the latter were visibly akin to mindless zombies, driven solely by feeding instincts, terrified of sunlight, and inferior in combat capability even to a mutant hyena. The former, however, was an entirely different beast. The creature was practically indistinguishable from a living being; it did not hunt purely on instinct, but relied on intelligence. Not only could they devise tactics, but they would even stalk prey that had vanished from sight. Sunlight frightened them, but it did not restrict their movement. Just which idiot had provoked this thing?! A bead of cold sweat slipped past Chu Guang's brow. His eyes flickered rapidly over the concrete buildings lining the street, his nerves stretched to their absolute limit. To the left? Or the right— Out of the corner of his eye, Chu Guang caught a glimpse of an afterimage. He snapped his muzzle toward the second floor of a shop on the right. Almost in the same breath, the hideous Crawler waved its four arms and charged violently toward him. *Bang—!* His index finger on the trigger acted of its own accord. In that split second, the bullet miraculously struck the Crawler's shoulder. Black blood splattered in all directions. The Crawler let out an agonized shriek, tumbling and crashing to the pavement. Though half a beat late, the two players finally reacted, hurriedly raising their 5mm pipe rifles and firing. However, both weapons were crude, unrifled smoothbores, and neither player had any shooting experience. The two bangs accomplished nothing at all. They didn't even graze a hair. The wound on its shoulder did not stop the Crawler; on the contrary, it only provoked its ferocity. Tucking into a roll to right itself, it charged recklessly toward the target it deemed the greatest threat. Death came like a gale. Having just reloaded, Chu Guang instinctively dropped the pipe rifle, pulled free the steel pipe he carried on his back as a javelin, and held it horizontally before his chest, blocking the gaping maw snapping toward him. The steel pipe groaned under the unbearable strain. Chu Guang gritted his teeth, every fiber of muscle in his body tightened to the extreme. Yet nine points of strength, while beyond that of an ordinary human, was still slightly inferior when pitted against a mutant like the Crawler. Even as Chu Guang exerted every ounce of his might, he felt his boots losing their purchase on the ground. Driven back by the raw power of the low-crawling mutant, he crashed violently into a stalled bus in the middle of the street. *Thud—!* The thoroughly rusted frame cracked and caved in from the impact, and Chu Guang felt his back go instantly numb. Yet precisely because of this, the brush with death ignited his primal instinct to survive. "Fuck!" Bloodshot veins crept across his eyes as he glared at the approaching fangs. Chu Guang suddenly felt a surge of strength erupt from his bulging veins. It actually halted the gaping maw pressing down on him, and even began pushing it back inch by inch. Perhaps sensing a trace of danger from the prey before it, the Crawler suddenly raised its two forearms, intending to seize Chu Guang's shoulders and tear him to shreds! Yet in that flash of lightning, two more gunshots rang out in succession. One struck the bus, while the other hit the Crawler's shoulder blade. *"Roar—!"* Shot in the back, the Crawler unleashed a piercing shriek of agony. Its fangs clamping the pipe reflexively loosened, and its head jerked backward, throwing it off balance and breaking its hold over its quarry. "Aaaah! Die!" Tossing his own weapon aside, Fang Chang scooped up the 9mm pipe rifle Chu Guang had dropped earlier and charged forward with a battle cry. Terrible aim? Then shoot it point-blank! *Bang—!* The trigger was pulled, muzzle flash burst, and black blood erupted across the Crawler's back. While the shot remained non-fatal, it was more than enough. Seizing the opening, Chu Guang raised the steel pipe—which had been bent into a complete V-shape—and jammed the pointed end viciously into the Crawler's neck. Once. Twice. Three times! Then, gathering all his strength, he twisted it hard. Black blood erupted like an open fire hydrant, spurting skyward and drenching Chu Guang from head to toe. The Crawler uttered a hollow, raspy wail, flailing its arms wildly as it stumbled backward. Finally, it collapsed heavily to the ground in a contorted heap, twitching a few times before falling still. Leaning against the bus, Chu Guang panted heavily. He wiped the black blood from his face with his sleeve and spat onto the asphalt. "Thanks." Staring at the blood-drenched Administrator, the two players were profoundly shaken. *So strong!* If it had been them, let alone trading blows back and forth with the Crawler, they wouldn't have lasted a single exchange before ending up dead. "You're welcome... Let me help you up." Fang Chang was the first to regain his senses. Assuming the cutscene was over, he immediately stepped forward to assist the Administrator, only for Chu Guang to raise a hand, stopping him. "No need. Let me rest a moment..." Panting, Chu Guang glanced at his arms, where veins bulged so prominently that he could practically see the blood pulsing beneath his muscles. *Is this the latent potential hidden within the gene sequence...?* When cornered just now, he had felt an inexhaustible surge of power burst through his arms, enabling him to match the Crawler blow for blow. It was hard to describe the sensation. Gently clenching his aching fists, Chu Guang decided to run a physical examination once they returned. He wanted to understand what had just happened to his body. At that moment, Ye Shi walked over with his rifle slung across his shoulder. "Lord Administrator, shouldn't we rest in the shops over there for a bit? The street is too open; I'm worried there might be danger..." "True. With all those gunshots just now, anyone nearby must have heard them," Fang Chang agreed from the side. In truth, Chu Guang wanted to tell them that any survivor who heard a Crawler's screech would hide as far away as possible, not daring to cast so much as a glance in this direction. However, every muscle in his body felt battered and sore right now; he genuinely needed a breather. "Fair enough... Fang Chang, help me to the restaurant across the street. Ye Shi, drag our handcart over to the entrance." Ye Shi nodded vigorously. "Got it! Oh, right, do we need to salvage the Crawler's corpse?" Chu Guang shook his head. "No." "Its meat is inedible." The Crawler's nervous system had been thoroughly ravaged by mutant fungi; every inch of its cells harbored lethal neurotoxins. Strictly speaking, the black blood splattered over him was toxic as well, but discussing toxicity without considering dosage was pointless. As long as he didn't do something suicidal like licking it up, there would be no issue. Besides, he possessed seven points in Constitution. His recovery rate, resistance to abnormal statuses, and immunity were roughly 140 percent of a normal adult male; he wouldn't be poisoned so easily. Come to think of it, he wasn't sure whether this Crawler counted as a mammal, or if it could be tossed into the active substance extractor to be recycled. Once they got a generator up and running, it might be worth a try. Still... Glancing at the handcart piled high with grain, Chu Guang sighed silently. What a shame. There was no carry capacity left. He couldn't very well dump that creature's carcass on top of the food they intended to eat... *** Ye Shi jogged off toward the handcart. With one arm draped over Fang Chang's shoulder, Chu Guang limped toward the restaurant across the street corner. Yet when the two stepped through the open entrance, intending to find a spot to sit and rest, they suddenly noticed someone slumped against the front of the bar. It was a red-haired woman. Her sharp, handsome features were pale from blood loss. Her slender brows were tightly knit, and beads of sweat dotted her forehead. The critical part was below—her entire right leg below the knee was gone, the wound crudely wrapped with a torn sleeve and bandages. *Well, well.* *Turns out you were the one who drew aggro.* Yet to have survived without passing out from the pain made her quite a badass. Chu Guang finally understood where the severed human leg dangling from the Crawler's jaws had come from. "A new NPC!" While Fang Chang was still marveling in pleasant surprise, Chu Guang had already snatched his rifle back from the player's hands, aiming it without hesitation at the woman on the floor. "You'd better stay put... My injuries are far lighter than yours, no matter how you look at it." The woman's hand was already hovering over a pistol lying on the floor. Seeing the dark muzzle leveled at her, she twitched her lips in resignation, shoved the pistol toward Chu Guang's feet, and simply closed her eyes. "Is she an enemy?" Noticing the Administrator's reaction, Fang Chang nervously sought confirmation of her identity. To Chu Guang, however, asking such a question on the wasteland was foolish in itself. "I don't know." Nor did it matter. Offering an ambiguous reply, Chu Guang gestured for Fang Chang to help him into a nearby chair. Then, with a crisp *clack*, he worked the bolt to chamber a round and slapped the rifle onto the table. Hearing the sound of a round being chambered, the woman's brow twitched violently, her closed eyes brimming with regret. *Who the hell would have thought?* *His gun wasn't even loaded...* Though his body throbbed with intense pain, Chu Guang still managed to force a pleasant smile onto his face. "Now we can talk." Forcing herself to remain calm, the woman spoke with an even expression. "What do you want to know?" Chu Guang didn't beat around the bush; introducing himself first, he got straight to the point. "Chu Guang. Your name?" "Xia Yan." "Who are you?" "A mercenary from Boulder City." "Teammates? Are you alone?" "Dead." "Oh... How many died?" Xia Yan's lips twitched as she gritted her teeth. "Three... Everyone except me is dead." Chu Guang nodded, glancing toward Ye Shi as the latter hauled the handcart past the entrance. Chu Guang said in standard Mandarin: "Leave the cart by the door; don't drag it inside. Search around nearby and see if there are any corpses dressed like the lady on the floor." "If you find them, bring back whatever gear they have on them." Ye Shi stared dumbfoundedly at the woman slumped before the bar, having no clue where this NPC had popped up from. *Damn it!* *Did I miss another cutscene?!* Watching the man turn and leave, Xia Yan's eyes flickered slightly. She could not understand the gibberish Chu Guang had spoken, nor did she know what the man had gone to do. "Right, almost forgot to ask: what was the deal with that Crawler?" Chu Guang asked, looking at Xia Yan as she opened her eyes. "How did you provoke it?" "It targeted us," Xia Yan confessed without hiding anything. "We were searching for the entrance to Vault 117 when we crossed paths with it... It pursued us all the way out of the subway. We were practically wiped out." Crawlers were indeed difficult to deal with, especially in confined terrain; even seasoned veterans would find them troublesome. This was Chu Guang's first encounter with one as well. In the past, he had only heard Old Charlie from Bet Street warn that if one ever met a four-armed monster, they should run as fast and as far as they could. Looking back now, thank goodness he hadn't listened to that old man. *How the hell could anyone outrun it?!* "The entrance to Vault 117? What's that?" Chu Guang asked curiously. "I don't know. We only know its approximate location is near the New World Department Store Station on Line 7 in the northern outskirts of Qingquan City. Inside is something our employer wants." Chu Guang nodded. He didn't particularly care whether she was telling the truth, nor was he interested. There might be good things inside Vault 117, but it wasn't worth the risk. Just look at her miserable state. Even professionals had been battered like this; who knew what other perils lay waiting there? The current priority was developing and expanding the outpost. Chu Guang had no intention of complicating matters. Once their strength grew in the future, wouldn't it be much sweeter to simply treat it as an instance dungeon and toss it to the players to explore? Why take the risk himself? Seeing that Chu Guang seemed largely uninterested, Xia Yan probed: "You're not interested?" "Why should I be?" "I heard there's a suit of power armor inside." "Oh? Did you see it? Let me take a look at the photograph." "...No." Chu Guang smiled faintly. "Then wait until you have it before trying to pitch that to me." To him, chatting with this woman was merely a way to pass the time. Once Ye Shi finished looting the corpses and returned, Chu Guang would probably be rested enough to move. He would leave the pistol on the floor for her. As for whether she lived or died, that was none of his concern. "By the way, is your hair dyed or natural?" Xia Yan froze. The shift in topic was so abrupt that she failed to react for a moment. "...N-natural." "Oh. It's a nice color, but you're overdue for a wash." Xia Yan glared at him in indignation. "Are you mocking me?" Chu Guang chuckled, finding her reaction rather amusing. Yet just as he was about to tease her a bit more, a sharp shout suddenly rang out from the doorway: "Let her go!"