Lin Mou lingered at the back of the team, deliberately slowing his pace. He pulled a certain drug from his pocket and tossed it into the grass by the roadside.
A moment later, the figure of the mutant emerged from the darkness. It paused when it reached the spot where the drug lay, as if sniffing something.
A few minutes later, Lin Mou heard a roar coming from behind.
The mutant had been stimulated into a frenzy.
Zhao Wu asked somewhat anxiously, "Group Leader, that sound just now..."
Lin Mou said, "It's that mutant. Something must have gone wrong. Let's pick up the pace and get through the mining area as quickly as possible."
The team continued forward.
Lin Mou deliberately split the team, dividing the technicians into two groups. One group followed the combat troops to clear the path ahead, while the other followed him to cover the rear.
At the entrance to the mining area, he had the first group enter first. He waited outside for a moment before leading the second group inside.
The terrain of the mining area was much more complex than the outside, filled with abandoned minecart tracks, collapsed mine tunnels, and mountains of gravel and slag.
The night wind poured into the mine entrances, making a whistling sound.
Lin Mou led the second group through the mine tunnels, turning left and then right. The technicians were left gasping for breath and completely disoriented.
"Group Leader, it looks like we've been separated," one technician said with a grim expression.
"Don't worry. Once we get out of here, we'll naturally regroup," Lin Mou consoled them.
In reality, he had deliberately scattered the team. The mutant following them had already been lured toward the other group.
The members of the combat troops were well-equipped and experienced in battle, making them difficult to deal with.
But what if they were suddenly surrounded while entangled with the mutant?
This mine was truly a perfect place to kill and bury bodies...
Sudden gunfire erupted from a distance, dense and urgent, a series of rapid cracks.
The technicians' expressions changed, and they all looked toward Lin Mou.
"Don't panic," Lin Mou's voice was steady. "We have weapons and equipment. Just stay behind me and don't fall behind."
He led them toward the direction of the gunfire.
Before long, they saw the body of a combat member. He was lying on his back, eyes wide open. A gash had been torn through his bulletproof vest, and blood was gushing out.
Lin Mou knelt, closed the man's eyes, and then stood up to continue forward.
The technicians' faces grew even paler.
The sound of gunfire grew closer.
Rounding a corner, Lin Mou saw the battlefield.
There were nine combat members still alive, standing back-to-back and firing in all directions.
Their expressions were tense and focused.
Countless figures were moving in the shadows around them.
Initially, only one mutant had pursued them, but once they opened fire, the noise had disturbed the ghostly things in the mining area.
Those things seemed to be the restless souls of dead miners, crawling out from the cracks in the tunnels. Although they didn't move fast, there were too many of them to ever finish off.
Lin Mou found a concealed spot for the technicians to hide, then joined the battle himself.
His marksmanship was precise, each shot hitting its target. However, those ghostly things didn't fall when hit; they only paused briefly before continuing forward.
Ordinary bullets couldn't kill them.
"Retreat deeper into the tunnels!" Lin Mou shouted. "Find a position we can hold and dig in until reinforcements arrive!"
The team members followed his orders and began retreating into the depths of the mine.
Lin Mou took responsibility for covering the rear, fighting as he retreated. He even deliberately allowed himself to be slightly injured, blood seeping from the wound, though he didn't seem to care at all.
His acting was superb—so good that everyone present felt he was a responsible and good leader.
During the retreat, three combat members were caught by ghost miners dropping from above and torn to pieces.
To protect the others, Lin Mou hadn't been able to save them in time.
Screams echoed through the tunnels, making people's eardrums ache.
The remaining members retreated together into a narrow tunnel that could only accommodate two or three people at a time.
This was a natural defensive position; as long as they held the entrance, the ghost miners wouldn't be able to swarm in all at once.
The problem was that they were running out of bullets.
"Grenade!" Lin Mou shouted. "Give me a grenade!"
A combat member pulled a grenade from his waist and tossed it to him.
Lin Mou pulled the safety pin, waited two seconds, and then threw it toward the entrance.
Boom!
The blast wave sent several ghost miners near the entrance flying. Gravel fell from the ceiling, hitting the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.
Smoke filled the air, firelight flickered, and ghostly shadows swayed in the dust.
"It looks like we can't get out," a combat member said, leaning against the wall and gasping for air.
"Group Leader Lin, I remember you're a transcendent. How could our team encounter such a serious danger?" Someone finally began to catch on and raised a doubt.
They had been too focused on the intense battle to think about it before, but now that they had a moment to process, they all turned to look at Lin Mou.
Lin Mou explained, "It happened so suddenly. I was caught off guard as well."
This explanation clearly failed to convince them.
Lin Mou didn't care; none of them would be leaving here alive anyway.
Only he would walk out of this mining area!
"How about this? I'll go lure those things away, and you take the chance to rush out and escape," Lin Mou said with an air of righteous self-sacrifice.
As soon as he said this, the team's resentment toward him lessened significantly.
"No!" Zhao Wu's voice came from behind. He had managed to lead the technicians into the depths of the tunnel at some point. "Group Leader, you're injured. Splitting up would only make things worse..."
"This is an order," Lin Mou said firmly. "I'm the Group Leader; I'm responsible. Take the technicians and charge out. Don't look back."
Zhao Wu opened his mouth, instinctively feeling that something wasn't right. Since when had Group Leader Lin become so selfless?
Before he could figure it out, Lin Mou had already charged out, firing several shots toward the entrance before turning and running down another tunnel.
Sure enough, some of the ghost miners were attracted by him and turned to give chase.
Lin Mou ran through the tunnels at high speed; the ghost miners behind him couldn't keep up at all.
He ran past one fork after another. The ghostly figures behind him grew fewer and fewer until they disappeared completely.
Only then did he stop, leaning against a wall and gasping for breath. Blood seeped from his wound, staining half of his sleeve red.
He allowed himself to look disheveled. After waiting for about ten minutes, he looped back through another tunnel.
He needed to confirm that those people were dead. He absolutely could not allow a single witness to leave alive.
When he returned to the cave, Lin Mou saw the corpses of the combat members lying on the ground, their postures twisted, their expressions hideous, and their eyes wide open in death.
The bodies of the technicians were curled up in the deepest part of the cave, huddled together.
Zhao Wu's eyes were open, and there was a large wound on his chest. His blood had already run dry. He was clutching a phone in his hand, appearing as though he had been sending a message.
Lin Mou's expression changed. Had this guy seen through his plan and left a clue before he died?
Rate on N.U.
