'The unexpected came swiftly; as they passed their usual patrol location, the glass in the adjacent corridor suddenly trembled. Zheng Yichen's eye twitched, and he clenched his fishing rod tightly in his hand.
On a normal day, it could be used as a fishing rod, but in combat, it could serve as a swinging stick, and if necessary, wrapped with an Extraordinary, which was the black spear used before in the fog anomaly, a derivative of his own abnormality.
It took a fight with several mutated small animals, struggling with all his might, to trigger the ability to create that thing, giving Zheng Yichen a strange feeling, as if it were not so much a weapon, but more a 'mouthpart' derived from his own abnormality.
For consumption.
"Prepare for combat!" Lewis shouted, quickly retreating while aiming his weapon at the glass in front of him. The already damaged glass shattered completely under the next impact.
An experiment subject with mechanical equipment still attached to it ran out, not a humanoid subject, as that sort of experiment generally violated the law and was very difficult to get approved, so most experiments were on animals that had mutated due to abnormalities.
The one that ran out in front of them was a humongous bear.
The bear's body was augmented with exoskeletal attachments, with some areas revealing raw, red muscle, a portion of its skull was covered in metal, having undergone some kind of modification. Where the metal covered, its eyes glinted red, at first glance looking like a beastly Terminator.
Zheng Yichen's first reaction was to keep his distance, having only ever picked on chickens and mice and occasionally bullied cats and dogs, he was now faced with a bear nearly two meters tall at the shoulder...
"Jamie, your showtime," Zheng Yichen said.
"..." Jamie eyed the roaring humongous bear in the distance and swallowed hard: "I think we should join forces in battle."
Through the break made by the humongous bear, some destroyed equipment could be seen, though it was hard to tell what it had been used for before, as the damage was so extensive.
The bear was panting heavily, in an exceptionally irate state, having finished warming up and now at peak adrenaline, clearly in need of a live target to vent its fury.
"Quick, move!" Lewis threw a smoke bomb, and these hunters, tired from their patrols, realized they were facing an 'out-of-control' subject and a tough one at that, so they quickly decided to meet up with other Hunters and then consider how to take down this creature.
"Damn!"
Jamie and another Hunter were equally resolute, with no intention of confronting the beast head-on. It would have been easier if they were dealing with lion or tiger-like Extraordinary creatures, but this bear was not going to be easy to handle.
Moreover, this creature's body was augmented with mechanical enhancements and an exoskeleton due to mutation, its massive size indicating it had a lot of health, making it the type of experiment subject most low-level Hunters preferred not to encounter.
Additionally, there were some insect-type Extraordinary creatures that were equally troublesome. Most animals strengthened physically due to mutations, potentially gaining extra parts and becoming more vicious, usually favoring close combat.
But it's different with insects. After mutation, they could engage in chemical warfare, spraying acid, emitting poisonous gases, deploying venom, etc., which was quite nauseating.
In the smoke, the humongous bear's roars echoed throughout the testing site, alerting other Hunters. Zheng Yichen glanced back at the bear, which, irritated by the smell of the smoke, snorted audibly and seemed even angrier.
"He's moving so fast!" Jamie remarked as he watched the bear charging like a tank. Running and firing back with his large-caliber handguns, Jamie, though shorter than Zheng Yichen, was genuinely burly.
Handling such weapons was not difficult for him, and when facing low-level Extraordinary creatures, as long as the caliber was large enough and he shot accurately, battles could end swiftly.
His shots were effective, each bullet leaving a burst of Blood Blossom on the bear's body, but the bear's muscle strength was high, and its exoskeleton offered protection, so the damage, while significant, wasn't enough to take down the humongous bear immediately.
Lewis and another Hunter opted to shoot its legs, and if they got the chance, the head too, but the bear's skull was covered in metal, and bullets left only shallow dents.
That made them curse; one does not simply provide Extraordinary creatures with bulletproof helmets.
"Something's not right about this thing, even with that metal covering its head, a bullet hit should have concussed it by now," Lewis said quickly, reloading his weapon, targeting the legs as shooting the head was ineffective. After the bear's limbs took severe damage, it began to slow down.
"Might be some new bulletproof material supplied by another research institute, damn, making our lives harder!" Jamie exhaled. He could hear footsteps approaching in the distance, and looking at the slowing bear, Jamie's expression shifted slightly.
"Newbie, I'll create an opportunity for you in a moment, and together we can take it down."
"Don't be too reckless, there will be other chances," Jamie's words made Lewis frown slightly. Performance wasn't limited to damage output; shining in team coordination could also be impressive.
But Jamie was clearly planning to take a risk.
"Of course, make it quick, or it'll be too late," Jamie said.