Not long after Old Eight stealthily slipped out the back door, shouts and gunshots erupted from an adjacent villa.
It only lasted for about a few minutes before dying down, and Old Eight returned through the front door, directly carrying a blood-soaked man in his mouth.
Like a hunting dog, he dropped the half-dead man in front of Li Lu, then sat up straight, raised his head, and looked at Li Lu with his electronic eyes, his metallic tail wagging twice as if waiting for a reward.
This man, named Zhang Chong, was assigned by Chen Jianbin, along with another person, to track Feng Jun and his two companions.
Chen Jianbin had always been curious about the source of the canned goods, and upon hearing that Feng Jun was leaving Iron Nail Town with two people, he immediately arranged for two of his subordinates to follow them.
However, his two subordinates were quite clumsy and were discovered by Li Lu and Song Zhan on the very same day.
Zhang Chong's right arm was directly bitten off by Old Eight; as for his other unlucky companion, Old Eight had already bitten off his head, and he lay quietly in the adjacent villa.
Zhang Chong, lying on the ground, was still thinking about how to make the other party spare his life, when Song Zhan directly stomped on his severed arm.
"Still playing dead! Get up!"
"Please spare my life, Big Brother, please spare my life, Big Brother."
Zhang Chong immediately scrambled up from the ground, repeatedly kowtowing to Feng Jun.
He knew very well that these three were led by Feng Jun, and if he wanted to live, he could only hope that the other party would be merciful and let him go.
"Big Brother, it's all a misunderstanding. My brother and I are just passing scavengers, originally intending to go to Huai City, and staying next door was purely a coincidence."
Zhang Chong's will to survive was extremely strong; although his right hand had been twisted into a pretzel, his kowtowing never stopped, making a thudding sound on the floor, even cracking his scalp, but he didn't stop.
Feng Jun was sitting on the sofa with a somber expression; he had already guessed the man's identity with remarkable accuracy.
Without a doubt, he was someone sent by the mayor.
Seeing that the man had already broken his head from kowtowing and still wouldn't stop, Feng Jun gave Song Zhan a look, and Song Zhan pressed down on the man's shoulder with his hand; if he continued kowtowing, they might not get any useful information.
Holding the laser gun, Feng Jun gestured around Zhang Chong's head for a long time, until an unknown liquid flowed from Zhang Chong's crotch.
Feng Jun saw the man's cowardly demeanor and knew he was someone who clung to life and feared death.
Putting away the laser gun, Feng Jun put on a benevolent smile.
"If it's a misunderstanding, then there's no need for you to exist.
I always believe in nipping evil in the bud, unless you are still useful to me."
Zhang Chong was now a mess of snot and tears.
Feng Jun took out a pebble-sized helium crystal from his pocket, which reflected a dark green luster under the light of the flames, looking like a gem.
"This helium crystal contains 500 energy points.
Tell me who sent you, and it will be yours."
Feng Jun looked at the man in front of him with a slight smile.
At this moment, Zhang Chong's gaze was completely drawn to the helium crystal in front of him.
For him, a helium crystal worth 500 points was definitely a huge sum of money; even the severe pain of his severed arm was ignored at this moment.
A 500-point helium crystal would be enough for him to modify a sturdy mechanical arm, and it would also allow him to live lavishly for a month at Huai City's most luxurious Donglin Hotel.
Just thinking about it made him intoxicated; that was a place Chen Jianbin was reluctant to visit more than a few times a year.
"It was Chen Jianbin who sent me.
He told me to track you to find the source of your canned goods."
Zhang Chong was not a man of strong will; he blurted out Chen Jianbin's entire plan.
This included even the day he specifically instigated Li Lu to cause trouble at the entrance, where he had also arranged for manpower.
As soon as the two sides started fighting, Feng Jun and Li Lu would be arrested under the pretext of disturbing public order.
"I've told you everything, this helium crystal?"
Having confessed everything he knew, Zhang Chong's gaze never left the helium crystal in Feng Jun's hand.
Feng Jun leaned back on the sofa and tossed the helium crystal in his hand towards Zhang Chong.
The other party quickly caught it with his only remaining left hand.
He looked at the helium crystal in his hand with fervent eyes, as if he already saw countless beautiful women waving at him.
Buzz~ The laser gun didn't make much noise when it fired, only a buzzing sound as the laser cut through the air.
Zhang Chong's smile froze at that moment, a transparent hole in his forehead ending his life.
Feng Jun, sitting on the sofa, ended his life with a laser gun; there was no need to recruit someone who was so ungrateful.
This was Feng Jun's first time killing someone, and looking at Zhang Chong lying on the ground, Feng Jun's breathing became somewhat rapid.
Song Zhan, very tactfully, began to dispose of Zhang Chong's body, as well as the one in the adjacent villa.
In the wilderness, if the smell of blood from a corpse was not handled well, it could attract unnecessary danger.
Although the surroundings had been searched before dark, it was still better to be cautious when spending the night in the wasteland.
For a time, only Feng Jun and Li Lu were left in the room.
"First time?" Li Lu suddenly blurted out a question.
"First time what?" Feng Jun, who was trying to calm himself, was a bit confused.
"First time killing someone, your hand is shaking uncontrollably, don't you feel it?" Li Lu pointed to Feng Jun's right hand holding the gun, which was trembling non-stop.
"There's nothing shameful about it.
When I first came out of the Refuge, I couldn't accept it either, but after a while, I got used to it," Li Lu said casually, leaning to the side.
"Although I'm curious where you came from, you still have to get used to killing in this wasteland.
There's always a first time for everything; it's perfectly normal to kill someone who tries to kill you.
As for this Chen Jianbin, we must settle accounts with him when we return."
Chen Jianbin, the mayor of Iron Nail Town, was notoriously lecherous; women in the town with any semblance of beauty could hardly escape his clutches.
However, Li Lu, as a Bounty Hunter, was an exception, not only because she had a mechanical dog, but also because Li Lu herself was an Evolver who had injected a Gene Agent, possessing considerable strength.
That's why Chen Jianbin wanted to instigate Li Lu to cause trouble for Feng Jun, so he could find an excuse to arrest both of them.
"I'm definitely going to settle accounts with him," Feng Jun said.
This trip to Huai City, besides doing some business, was also to discuss the ownership of Iron Nail Town with the Blackwater Merchant Guild and the Red Hand Mercenary Group.
The reason Chen Jianbin was able to become the mayor of Iron Nail Town was largely due to the tacit approval of the Blackwater Merchant Guild and the Red Hand Mercenary Group.
Because Iron Nail Town was considered an important location on the western communication route, both the Blackwater Merchant Guild and the Red Hand Mercenary Group needed to pass through this place, but neither wanted the other to occupy it, which is why the position of mayor was created.
As long as he could gain the support of these two parties this time, Chen Jianbin's fate would definitely be miserable.
The night quickly passed, and the next day, Feng Jun and his two companions continued their journey, soon reaching the vicinity of Huai City.
Huai City was even closer to the outskirts of Shangqing City than Iron Nail Town, so the closer they got to Huai City, the more zombies they encountered, and even Feng Jun occasionally had to pull out his gun and shoot.
After entering an urban area, Feng Jun encountered a squad of soldiers who were fighting Mutated Zombies.
Dozens of soldiers leaned against the sides of the street, relying on scrapped cars and buildings, continuously firing at a Mutated Creature.
The soldiers were facing a four-meter-tall Mutated Zombie, like a giant fat man with gigantism, whose obese body was covered in hardened, scabbed keratin, which laser guns and ordinary kinetic weapons could only scratch.
Compared to its obese body and short, thick legs, its upper body had a pair of abnormally thick arms, one arm even comparable to a small car.
This giant zombie was unusually burly and strong all over, but disproportionate to it was its somewhat shrunken and out-of-proportion head, like a flattened bun, with no neck, only two eyes and a huge mouth.
"It's a Roadblock.
No one wants to encounter this thing in the ruins.
Its evolution has reached the level of a Mutant.
Its skin can withstand large-caliber laser and rocket attacks; its only weakness is that small head."
Li Lu pulled Feng Jun behind some nearby ruins.
If they got caught in this battle, it would be a futile sacrifice.
Feng Jun looked in the direction Li Lu pointed; this Mutated Zombie named Roadblock had already broken through several defensive lines formed by soldiers, and several unlucky soldiers had already been smashed into meat paste by it.
The street was a gruesome sight, filled with gunshots and wails.
Another unlucky soldier was hit by a rock thrown by Roadblock; his comrades had no time to rescue him.
He was grabbed by Roadblock, put into its mouth, chewed a few times, and then there was no more movement.
Feng Jun really wanted to take out his phone to record a video and post it online, but such a bizarre and bloody video would definitely be taken down.
At this moment, Roadblock had completely eaten its prey.
Perhaps the soldiers' continuous shooting enraged it; like an angry gorilla, it raised its arms and pounded the ground a few times.
Roadblock's terrifying monstrous strength directly smashed two large pits into the ground, then it shielded itself with its arms and charged towards the group of soldiers.
Just when they thought these soldiers were surely doomed, a laser beam shot from afar struck Roadblock's right leg, directly slicing off its entire right leg.
Roadblock, with its severed right leg, lost its balance and crashed to the right, directly collapsing a roadside house and getting buried underneath.
Reinforcements had arrived.
Amidst the soldiers' cheers, a six-legged metal spider slowly approached.
The Red Spider Light Tank was a special tank designed by the Ming Empire specifically for urban street warfare.
Its overall design adopted biomimicry; its six legs and joints were made of a new generation of A-grade alloy and liquid metal, powered by a small fusion reactor, enabling it to climb and jump on complex city buildings.
It could flexibly move between buildings and occupy high ground in urban street battles.
Its total weight exceeded one hundred tons, which, in the Doomsday world, would classify it as a medium tank based on weight.
However, due to the need to balance mobility, sacrifices were made in firepower, so it was only equipped with one light laser cannon and two rapid-fire laser guns.
It was typically operated by two drivers, but could also be remotely controlled by AI in emergencies.
The metal spider stood about four meters tall, comparable to the Roadblock from before.
Amidst the cheers of the soldiers, the Red Spider slowly approached the Roadblock, which was crushed under the building, moving with its six metallic limbs.