Mechanical Alchemist -
Chapter 37: Mutation
A group of twenty people swaggered into the cylindrical building.
Several veterans had participated in such events many times before. Before entering the dilapidated building, Sam loudly explained the precautions to the newcomers.
"Check your ammunition! Keep your spare firearms within reach..."
"Be careful and aim before shooting. Don't throw grenades randomly unless absolutely necessary. You don't want to bury yourself if the monsters aren't killed!"
"Also, keep your gun pointed at the ground, not at the person in front of you. Don't keep your finger on the trigger, or you might accidentally shoot someone due to fright. That's a violation of the rules!"
"Don't speak loudly after entering. The distorted monsters in the darkness are very sensitive to sound."
"..."
Su'en listened carefully. These were all practical combat experiences. No wonder Kay wanted the newcomers to gain experience.
He glanced at the cylindrical building not far away and frowned slightly. The dilapidated building stood alone, like an ugly toad monster crouching there. The dark windows looked like lumps on its back.
Su'en didn't know if it was an illusion, but he always felt like something was staring at their team.
"Is it a person or a monster?"
Su'en couldn't figure out where the uneasiness in his heart came from.
He knew very well what this feeling meant. There were some clues in his mind that caused his uneasiness, but they were not enough to form a clear connection, so it was intermittent.
But he didn't say much because even if he didn't warn everyone to be careful, everyone would be extremely cautious in this environment.
Before he could think too much, the team had already entered the cylindrical building.
***
The interior of the cylindrical room was spacious, somewhat resembling a shopping mall from Su'en's previous life.
The house completely blocked the external light source.
The gas lamps in the team provided sufficient light, but even so, everyone felt like they had entered a dark world. The light was only enough to illuminate a corner.
Su'en thought it was fine. After becoming a professional, his "night vision ability" had greatly improved.
Even without wearing the crude night vision goggles, he could still see the rough outline of things in the distance.
But the other newcomers seemed a bit uneasy. The dark environment made them feel a fear originating from the unknown, afraid that something man-eating would suddenly appear from the darkness...
And at this moment, a gunshot suddenly rang out.
"Bang!"
The fire illuminated the area for a moment, and everyone saw a black shadow falling from the nearby ceiling.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a white-haired rat.
This sudden movement made the newcomers shudder. It was no wonder that Sam had told them not to keep their fingers on the trigger. Otherwise, with that sudden scare, many guns would have accidentally fired.
And in front, Sam's hearty laughter came, "Oh... lucky us. This 'White Rat's Ear Bone' is a cursed material worth 3,000 Lis. I didn't expect to get the material just by shooting one casually..."
Monsters living in the distorted environment had a chance to produce "cursed materials" in their bodies, but the probability of ordinary monsters producing materials was very low. Usually, only elite monsters like beast kings had a higher probability.
Su'en's mind flashed with a thought as he listened.
The first monster produced a cursed material. Was it a coincidence or something else?
The veterans looked at the nervous expressions of the newcomers and laughed, "Hey, everyone, don't be so nervous. This 'White Rat Giant Mouse' is just the most common monster in the sewer. Shoot it in the head, and it'll die. But be careful, they can jump up and bite your bird..."
"Hahaha..."
The veterans seemed accustomed to this. This kind of operation was much safer than hunting in the wilderness.
After all, this was Old London City, where there wouldn't be groups of monsters. Even the distorted humans were only sporadic.
With more than twenty people, they had an absolute firepower advantage and didn't need to be overly cautious.
Kay carried his gun on his shoulder, looking relaxed. At this moment, he said, "Get ready, the monsters in this building should be coming."
The gunshot immediately attracted the monsters in the darkness.
But as the veterans had said, sporadic monsters couldn't pose much threat to the team.
The journey ahead turned from hunting monsters to a shooting game.
Gunshots would attract monsters in the darkness, saving them the trouble of searching each room one by one.
Soon, two "distorted humans" that had been seen by witnesses appeared in the darkness and were quickly shot to pieces by the group.
Su'en had seen these monsters twice outside the city. At that time, he was alone, and the surroundings were complex, making it difficult to deal with. But for a team, a lone monster was just a live target.
Except for one unlucky guy who stepped on nothing and broke his leg, everything went smoothly.
And the harvest was good.
They found that the probability of monsters in this cylindrical building producing "cursed materials" was much higher than outside the city...
***
In less than an hour, the people from Green Street had cleared out the cylindrical building and arrived at the entrance to the "underground chamber" mentioned by the old man earlier.
It wasn't a collapsed hole but had obvious architectural traces.
Looking at it, it reminded Su'en of the entrance to a subway station in his previous life.
The clearing operation this time was so smooth that it became a bit boring. They probably felt like they hadn't had enough fun yet. Looking at the entrance to the underground chamber, one of the veterans asked, "Captain, should we go down and take a look?"
Kay looked at the entrance of the underground chamber, his brow slightly furrowing. "The last time we cleared these underground chambers on a large scale was ten years ago. There were significant casualties. I don't know what kind of monsters are down there now..."
Apparently, he seemed to recall some unpleasant memories and shook his head. "Going down to the underground chamber requires stronger equipment and more manpower. We are not prepared enough this time, so there's no need to go down..."
The harvest today far exceeded expectations and gave Kay a bad feeling.
Su'en blended in with the crowd without drawing attention.
He didn't have many opportunities to shoot during the entire clearing process. The monsters would appear and be shot down by the group in one round. Regardless of marksmanship, with dozens of gun muzzles firing together, there would always be hits. That's the advantage of having more people.
Now, hearing Kay say they were going back, he also thought it was good. The faint uneasiness in his heart made him feel that if they continued to explore, something unexpected might happen.
And at this moment, something came just as he thought about it.
Suddenly, his gaze caught a humanoid shadow rushing out of the subway station entrance.
Su'en's pupils contracted, and he exclaimed in his heart, "So fast!"
A distorted human?
No, this was definitely not the speed of a normal "distorted human"!
Moreover, that thing could even climb walls!
"Be careful!"
Almost at the same time, Kay also shouted urgently.
Apparently, he had also noticed the shadow rushing out.
Before the words could fully leave his mouth, a gunshot rang out, followed by a barrage of gunfire.
Although the monster was fast, it was hit in the leg by the scattered bullets, and then it was covered by another round of firepower. The lizard-like creature that could climb walls was rendered immobile by the shots.
But before everyone could rejoice, a cry of horror mixed with fear suddenly came from the crowd, "Ah!"
As Su'en heard the scream from behind, he turned around, and his smoking firearm was already spewing flames, his movements seamless.
Bang!
The shotgun hit the long mouth organ that had fallen from the ceiling, and the helper who had screamed fell from mid-air.
Everyone looked at the smoking firearm in Su'en's hand, their eyes filled with shock, probably surprised at how quickly he reacted. But their attention was instantly drawn to something else—the half-broken mouth organ wriggling like a severed snake on the ground. Everyone's faces turned pale.
It was a crimson mouth organ as thick as a bowl, with layers of sharp teeth wriggling in the red flesh, causing people with trypophobia to come out.
Sam approached with a stiff face and used his gun to flip the still twitching mouth organ. He swallowed his saliva and asked, "What kind of monster is this?"
The veterans also showed confusion, no one recognized it.
"I've never seen it before."
Kay's face became serious, and he looked at the shattered corpse and the half-broken mouth organ, furrowing his brows. "This monster is definitely not simple. Even out-of-control professionals wouldn't have such fast speed."
If it weren't for Su'en's quick shot just now, one of them would have been dragged away by the monster.
Kay's expression became slightly solemn as he looked at the "entrance to the underground chamber" and said, "Something's not right. This kind of monster has never appeared in the city's sewers before... I think it's best for us to leave here first."
Su'en's All-Knowing Eye allowed him to have superhuman vision, and in an instant, he saw the name of this monster.
[Mutated Distorted Monster]
Explanation: Distorted humans affected by special environments; their weaknesses are the same as humans, and shooting them in the head or heart can quickly kill them.
But at this moment, he wasn't interested in speculating about the cause of the monster's mutation. Since two monsters had appeared here, it meant...
There might be more in the underground chamber!
"Let's go!"
Kay also realized that they couldn't stay here for long and was about to tell everyone to leave.
But just at this moment, piercing screeches suddenly sounded.
"Squeak~", "Squeak~", "Squeak~"
In the next moment, several incendiary bombs lit up the surroundings.
The intense light illuminated the entire cylindrical building, and the monsters hiding in the shadows seemed frightened and hid in various small caves.
The people surrounding them were a group of individuals with various mechanical prosthetic limbs, and they had already surrounded them.
Sam recognized the people and shouted angrily, "Steam Party! Damn it, we've been ambushed!"
Su'en saw this and his expression turned cold. He finally realized where his sense of crisis had come from.
It wasn't from these monsters, but from these Steam Party guys!
He glanced at the "entrance to the underground chamber" and then at the blocked exit of the cylindrical building. He muttered to himself, "They chose a good place for an ambush..."
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