Chapter 24: Before Nightfall

Lin Ye sensed the subtle connection between the Goat-Headed Monster's mutation organ and its limbs, dodging its charge with preemptive movement.

Seeing its charge ineffective, the monster continuously increased its speed while swinging its forelimbs, attempting to tear Lin Ye apart.

Lin Ye focused entirely on the creature. Though his physical abilities had improved, he still couldn't match a monster that disregarded consequences. A single mistake would mean death here.

He refused to waste precious reality simulation attempts on this situation.

Cornered in the limited space, Lin Ye had nowhere left to retreat.

The Goat-Headed Monster paused, bared its teeth, and prepared for a final charge.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Lin Ye fired three shots at its head, all bullets striking the eye sockets.

Yet the monster didn't falter - as if its goat head were mere decoration, requiring no brain function.

Now he had to fight desperately... just like every simulation.

With three bullets remaining in the CL0 Pistol, Lin Ye held the gun in his left hand while drawing Red Blade with his right.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The bullets struck both elbow joints and the left knee. As the monster crashed into him, the shots barely damaged it but disrupted its charging momentum.

Even without a brain, damaged joints meant falling.

Maybe it could avoid falling next time, but not today.

Lin Ye concentrated his meager energy into his right hand. After prolonged observation of the monster and continuous energy absorption, he'd learned basic energy manipulation.

Though still unskilled, simple concentration...

His right arm suddenly accelerated, thrusting Red Blade between the monster's forelimbs and piercing through its chest. The mutation organ now rested in Lin Ye's grasp.

The monster crashed into the wall beside Lin Ye, leaving cracks in the concrete.

Wrenching his arm free, Lin Ye shook off the weakened monster and stored the organ in his backpack.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Chaotic footsteps approached as something pounded against the gun shop's entrance.

The commotion had attracted hordes of Mutation Creatures.

Lin Ye rushed into the storage room, then stopped abruptly to inhale deeply.

Ah, the scent of gunpowder.

The arsenal contained everything: pistols, submachine guns, shotguns, rifles, light machine guns, sniper rifles - all neatly arranged on racks with crates of ammunition stacked in corners.

Lin Ye couldn't deny his rising excitement.

He began loading weapons.

Ten-round limitations had tortured him long enough.

If possible, he'd take everything.

As for the monsters outside? Let them negotiate with bullets.

Lin Ye: Acquired an arsenal. Transporting via cart later. Found safehouse yet?

While organizing weapons, the gunshop now overflowed with Mutation Creature corpses, their organs filling a large sack. Lin Ye had extracted all crystalline cores into his backpack.

The dissection process gave him supermarket fishmonger vibes - with his perception, a simple dagger flick extracted each crystal.

Xu Min: Found intact supermarket in remote location. Basic supplies remain. Rendezvous here.

Li Ji: Obtained special items. Bringing back later.

Zhao Yong: Eliminated several Mutation Creatures in ruin's center.

Lin Ye loaded a flatcart with loot and hauled it to Xu Min's supermarket.

The two-story, 500-square-meter supermarket stood in the northwest ruins' remotest corner, nearly blood-corpse-free.

Lin Ye arrived last, delayed by cart-searching.

"Fantastic! I've wanted to try a machine gun forever."

Zhao Yong caressed a light machine gun like treasured art.

"I'd have guessed you preferred melee weapons."

Lin Ye eyed the elder's muscular physique.

"In my youth perhaps. But no training beats firearms. As you youngsters say: outside seven steps, guns are fast; inside seven steps, guns are fast and accurate."

Zhao Yong expertly loaded ammo belts and sighted a distant blood-corpse.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

The upper torso disintegrated instantly.

Such was firearms' brutal elegance - humanity's technological pinnacle, morally ambiguous yet undeniably beautiful.

Xu Min selected several pistols, ready to learn despite inexperience.

Entering the supermarket, Lin Ye found Li Ji crouching near blood-red oval eggs taller than her squatting form.

"...Are those...? Could they be...?"

Lin Ye instinctively stepped back. A horror film enthusiast who could quote classics verbatim recognized the resemblance immediately.

"Not xenomorph eggs... though similar. I dissected one - contains hybrid lifeforms with plant and animal features. Unidentifiable."

Xu Min pointed to a dissected egg on a nearby desk, its internal biology chaotically fused.

"We should destroy them all. Movie researchers studying such things always die horribly. Perfect target practice with our new arsenal."

Zhao Yong kept his distance from the eggs while handling his machine gun warily.

"We must understand our threats. Know thy enemy."

Lin Ye placed a new egg on a freezer for dissection.

As Xu Min described, the egg's internals showed impossibly harmonious fusion of plant and animal structures. Comparing both eggs revealed completely different biological blueprints.

"Are we staying here till morning?"

Zhao Yong fiddled with his gun as dusk darkened the windows.

"Doubt we'll last safely till dawn."

Xu Min monitored outside changes from her window perch.

"Agreed. Doesn't our team feel overpowered? Your talents must all be exceptional?"

Fully armed, Lin Ye positioned weapons strategically around the supermarket.