Chapter 23

In the police station, there was no power, so there were no lights on, but it was not pitch black. Moonlight filtered through the iron bars, passed through the glass, and shone in from the windows facing the street, barely illuminating some areas. Of course, this only prevented Feng Bujue from being completely blind; most places were still pitch black.

When he first entered the police station, Feng Bujue ran through the corridor. One reason was to prevent the blood corpse from suddenly turning back and entering the police station, and the other was because this area was relatively bright, with light shining in from the gaps in the walls, illuminating a section of the corridor.

The first floor was spacious, and with few lit areas, Feng Bujue found it difficult to locate the stairs to the second floor in a short time. He felt his way through the dim environment, opening doors when he found door handles and searching for unlocked drawers when he found tables, but he found nothing of substantial use.

Due to the limited visibility, his other senses gradually became more acute. Soon, he smelled a strong, bloody odor...

He followed the scent to a dark corner, reached out, and touched something sticky on the wall. Feeling down the wall, he touched something that seemed to be... bones? Rotten flesh?

"Hmm... the head was twisted off, I see..." At this moment, Feng Bujue was touching a corpse. The part above the neck was missing, and what he touched was a section of the cervical vertebrae exposed to the air.

"I thought the whole city was devoid of any signs of life... but there's actually a corpse here. This police station is indeed suspicious," Feng Bujue mused.

Finding the dead body didn't scare him; instead, he calmly continued to feel around. He wasn't trying to determine the corpse's gender but wanted to identify the deceased's occupation through their clothing.

Feng Bujue quickly noticed the shoulder badge on the corpse's uniform and realized it was a police uniform. He immediately began to search the body... a few seconds later, he found a gun holster, but it was empty. He followed the corpse's arm to the hand and found a pistol in the right hand.

【Name: M1911A1 Pistol】

【Type: Weapon】

【Quality: Common】

【Attack Power: Moderate】

【Attributes: None】

【Special Effects: None】

【Equipment Requirements: Shooting Proficiency F or Tool Proficiency F】

【Note: This isn't a movie, so remember three things: First, turn off the safety before shooting; second, be mindful of the recoil; third, don't forget to load the bullets.】

Feng Bujue put the gun in his bag and continued to search the body. He found a flashlight on the corpse's waist, which made him very happy. He picked it up and tried to turn it on, but there was no light. Upon touching it, he discovered that the glass on the flashlight was broken.

Feng Bujue sighed. He would have preferred the flashlight to be functional, as he knew that the dead body was a good clue. Since the gun was already in his hand, why was the head still twisted off? Clearly, the blood corpse couldn't be dealt with using the gun alone.

If he had a flashlight, Feng Bujue could speed up his search for weapons. However, since he still couldn't see clearly, he had to continue searching in the dark. He only found a set of keys in the corpse's pocket and no other useful items.

Considering the urgency of the situation and the fact that the people outside couldn't hold on much longer, Feng Bujue had no choice but to return as quickly as possible. Even if the pistol couldn't defeat the blood corpse, having a gun was better than nothing, as it was a ranged weapon. The dead police officer couldn't handle the blood corpse alone with the gun, but with three people—using a knife, a gun, a shield, and a wrench—there was a good chance they could take it down.

...

Outside the police station, Long Ao Ming was almost at his limit...

Although his blocking skills were good, and he used the shield to block every claw attack from the blood corpse, his survival value had dropped from full to 64% in just three minutes. The blood corpse's attack power was simply too strong.

During this time, Long Ao Ming fought while retreating. He hadn't been hit many times, and even when he was, it was through the shield. The problem was that the defense attribute of the [Fragment of Ultron] was "refraction," which only provided a bonus against ranged attacks and beam weapons. For close-range, powerful attacks, there was almost no reduction effect. When the blood corpse's claws attacked, the shield could prevent Long Ao Ming's body from being torn apart and could absorb some of the impact, but the remaining force had to be absorbed by his survival value.

The blood corpse's intelligence was very low. It only used its large hands to swing, never using its feet or elbows. Its attack methods were very monotonous, which was fortunate; otherwise, five Long Ao Mings would have been dead. Moreover, the blood corpse seemed to focus on one target and continue attacking it, regardless of how Wang Tan Zhi tried to distract it. It would at most wave its hand to drive him away, sometimes even ignoring him.

This made Wang Tan Zhi gradually become bolder, daring to attack at risky moments. However, his attacks were ineffective; using a fruit knife to cut the monster, it was already a success if the knife didn't break.

Long Ao Ming also found opportunities to strike, hitting the blood corpse a few times with the wrench, but only once on the head. Although the power was better than Wang Tan Zhi's knife, Long Ao Ming had far fewer opportunities to attack, and most of the time, he had to retreat and defend.

When Feng Bujue handed the wrench to Long Ao Ming, his primary consideration was not the possibility of Long Ao Ming keeping the equipment for himself. His first thought was that only someone of Long Ao Ming's height could possibly hit the blood corpse's head with a wrench. At his and Wang Tan Zhi's height of about 1.8 meters, trying to hit a monster over 2 meters tall with a short weapon like a wrench would be like asking for a beating.

Even for Long Ao Ming, it was difficult. Given the blood corpse's attack power, a headshot would likely be a losing proposition. Moreover, Feng Bujue had said he would return quickly with weapons, and Long Ao Ming chose to believe him, so he tried to hold on as long as possible.

A gunshot rang out, signaling Feng Bujue's return.

Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief, as if his return meant there was always a way out. They almost forgot that Feng Bujue was just a level 5 character...

The moment he pulled the trigger, Feng Bujue unlocked another proficiency, the third one since entering the scenario. This showed that the team survival mode was different, with more combat situations and the addition of various game elements, greatly expanding the scope of the scenario, especially for low-level players, providing a lot of room for growth. Even if they didn't complete the scenario, they would still gain something from playing in team mode.

At this moment, Feng Bujue had five F-level proficiencies: General, Tool, Reconnaissance, Combat, and Shooting, with only Medical left to unlock.

"Aaaah—" The blood corpse let out a long roar, clearly injured by the gunshot. It turned its head and changed its target.

Feng Bujue's shot hit the blood corpse's back. He had prepared well before shooting, holding the gun with both hands, aligning his sight with the gun, and aiming steadily. He knew he wasn't a special forces soldier in real life, and aiming for the head on his first shot would be unrealistic. So he aimed for the back, which was a larger target and easier to hit.

This was, after all, a game, and the system had adjustments for these purely technological weapons to make them easier to use. Thus, Feng Bujue's first shot successfully hit the blood corpse's back, slightly to the right.

After firing, Feng Bujue immediately understood the second note in the equipment description. Indeed, shooting was not something an untrained civilian could do easily. For example, the well-known Desert Eagle, if you didn't know to tighten your wrist and let your shoulder absorb the recoil, you might break your wrist after one shot. In gangster movies, you often see thugs holding the gun sideways, with their hand above their line of sight, pointing at someone's head, which looks tough but can cause the ejected shell to fly back and hit you in the face.

The M1911A1 in Feng Bujue's hand also had significant recoil. After firing, he felt a tingling in his forearm, but his shooting posture was not too bad, and his wrist was not too weak. With the experience from the first shot, he had a better understanding of the attack distance, his accuracy, and the success rate. However, facing the blood corpse turning to charge at him, he immediately retreated without hesitation.

When the blood corpse turned its head, Long Ao Ming's spirits lifted. He had been feeling frustrated, but he had already figured out the pattern: the monster wouldn't easily change its target. Since it was now chasing Feng Bujue, it wouldn't pay attention to him until he attacked again.

A long-suppressed anger surged in Long Ao Ming's heart. He leaped forward, swung the wrench, and struck the blood corpse's back of the head with a loud thud. The metal pierced through the flesh and reached the skull, creating a gruesome wound with a long, narrow crack in the skull.

However, the monster's actions did not stop; instead, it became even more violent. Its speed increased, and it turned to claw at Long Ao Ming. The attack was sudden, and Long Ao Ming couldn't block it with the shield. He was hit in the waist and abdomen, flew backward, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Long Ao Ming was thrown back nearly ten meters, and his survival value dropped to 12%. He couldn't stand up immediately. The only fortunate thing was that, due to the proximity, the blood corpse's claws did not touch his body. When it turned and swung its arm, only the arm hit Long Ao Ming, so he didn't have any torn wounds, otherwise, he would have been in a "bleeding" state.

The blood corpse clutched the wound on the back of its head, howling in pain. A few seconds later, it glared fiercely at Long Ao Ming and let out a roar like a wild beast threatening its prey. It seemed that the damage from the wrench had been significant, making this small boss feel threatened.

Seeing that even Long Ao Ming was down, Loneliness and Solitude knew things were bad. They quickly ran over to support Long Ao Ming, trying to move him away from the blood corpse. The blood corpse, however, would not let them escape and immediately took large steps toward the three slowly moving figures.

At this moment, something unexpected happened. A figure moved like a gust of wind, quickly approaching the blood corpse's side and rear. It grabbed the monster's shoulder and, with a light leap, landed on its back, kneeling on the monster's shoulders.

Wang Tan Zhi, who had been silent, suddenly made a surprising move. Before the monster could react, he stabbed the knife into the wound that Long Ao Ming had created with the wrench, piercing through the skull and stirring the brain inside.