The location of the beast.
No complaints.
Any distracting thoughts were suppressed, leaving only the perception of the slightest tremor in the ground.
Fine dust particles trembled slightly, kicking up barely visible powder.
It’s coming!
An instant before the beast burst out of the ground, relying on his environmental perception ability, Zhou Ming engaged his thigh muscles and lunged sideways, dodging the beast’s pounce.
Air bullets shot out in rapid succession, hitting the beast’s shell, which was covered in thick mud, but lacking penetration, they were completely ineffective.
Falling to the ground, Zhou Ming quickly reloaded, rolled over, raised his gun at the beast that had leaped into midair, and unloaded his firepower.
The mud covering the beast’s shell was hit by bullets and fell off in chunks, the flying dust obscuring Zhou Ming’s view.
But that clearly couldn’t affect Zhou Ming.
In the field of vision provided by environmental perception, the beast’s position was perfectly clear!
The dust swirling in the air suddenly spread out and solidified into a layer of mud armor, effectively reducing the lethality of the bullets.
Boom!
The beast crashed heavily to the ground and burrowed back underground.
The standoff began again.
Creak—
The iron door was pushed open.
Shielding Zeng Er in front of him, Zeng Ding’s murky eyes swept across the room lit up by gunfire and shouted:
“Hey, buddy, you alright?! Is the beast destroyed? Don’t damage the machinery!”
Hearing the continuous gunfire coming from the building, Zeng Ding’s heart turned cold.
I told you not to damage the machinery, so why are you still shooting?!
A few black-market laborers brought here had already died because of the beast; if he missed and hit the machine, how would he make his money?
Can you compensate for that?!
Extremely worried about the machinery being damaged, Zeng Ding had Zeng Er stand in front of him and pushed open the iron door to observe the situation inside.
Although he deeply resented Zhou Ming for taking the job, Zeng Ding didn’t dare show it.
After all, Zhou Ming had a gun; if he shot him dead, he wouldn’t get to enjoy any good fortune.
Zeng Ding was displeased, and Zhou Ming was even more so.
His face twisted, veins bulging, Zhou Ming roared:
“Get out!”
No one moved.
Zeng Ding was still thinking about his machines, about his money.
The ground trembled, dust flew.
A dorsal fin emerged from the ground, gradually approaching Zeng Ding and Zeng Er.
“Run, you idiots!”
Were these people all stupid?!
Seeing the fin heading toward Zeng Ding’s position, Zhou Ming shouted and shot air bullets at the fin on the ground.
The next moment.
The surface exploded, and the beast burst out, lunging straight at Zhou Ming’s waist.
“Damn it!”
Maybe his fighting spirit had affected his judgment—Zhou Ming rushed to Zeng Ding and Zeng Er first, pushing them aside, but couldn’t dodge in time.
Rip—
The beast’s sharp teeth cut open Zhou Ming’s shoulder, splattering a large amount of blood.
Even a beast knows to pick the softest target.
Thinking that Zhou Ming was hired with his money, Zeng Ding suddenly felt a surge of superiority and control, as if he were above everyone. He shouted at Zhou Ming:
“I’m the one paying you! Protect me, or you won’t get a single cent!”
“That’s right, that’s right! We paid you, so you have to protect us, or you won’t get a single cent!”
Zeng Er echoed.
Enduring the intense pain from the bite wound, ignoring the blood soaking his clothes, Zhou Ming roared at the two:
“If you want to live, shut up!”
“Say one more word, and I’ll send you both to hell right now! Listen to my orders!”
After threatening Zeng Ding and Zeng Er harshly and forcing them to follow his commands, Zhou Ming calmed down to think of a solution.
Zeng Ding and Zeng Er had to get away.
Otherwise, that beast would definitely use them as bait and wear him down.
But he couldn’t let those two run outside either.
If they went to a more open area, it would be even harder to deal with the beast.
He had to force the beast out.
Glancing at the wound on his shoulder.
The muscle was already squirming and growing; it would probably heal in a while.
Suddenly, Zhou Ming noticed the machine standing about two or three meters tall in the building.
“Both of you, climb on top of the machine!”
Zeng Ding was very reluctant.
Those machines were three meters away.
With such a long distance, if the beast jumped out from the ground, he wouldn’t be able to escape!
“Hurry up!”
Even though he didn’t want to do it, dragging it out any longer would only hurt him.
Zhou Ming raised his gun, highly alert, aiming the muzzle at the two.
He had to take a risk!
They took a few steps, and the ground shook.
Zeng Ding tried to step back, but Zhou Ming immediately shouted:
“Keep moving! Don’t stop!”
With Zhou Ming’s gun aimed at him, Zeng Ding, though extremely unwilling, could only make Zeng Er walk ahead and approach the machine three meters away.
“Keep moving, hurry…”
Zeng Ding pushed Zeng Er.
“Village chief… I’m scared too!”
However, that beast—though only a Minor Calamity-level energy beast, nearly three meters long and one meter high, shaped like a shark—was not something Zhou Ming, with his mere micro-dust rank strength, could fully control.
The muddy ground split open again.
The beast burst out.
Its blood-filled maw, full of sharp teeth, snapped fiercely at Zeng Er!
Thinking of the fate of the black-market laborers kidnapped to the village, Zeng Er’s whole body broke out in goosebumps, and he desperately rushed forward.
At the critical moment, Zhou Ming aimed at the beast in midair and exerted his ability to the fullest—Immobilize!
“Go! If you don’t go, you’ll end up like those black-market laborers!”
Lowering his voice, Zeng Ding threatened Zeng Er.
The fish tail swung.
The beast’s body began to move slowly.
“Help!!!”
Zeng Er and Zeng Ding were completely scared out of their wits, forgetting to run, only knowing how to scream for help.
Dizziness and ringing in the ears.
Zhou Ming pushed his ability beyond his limits, forcibly controlling the beast.
Without wiping away the nosebleed, Zhou Ming emptied his bullets at the beast while firing air bullets.
Only after emptying two magazines did the beast finally dissipate into green smoke.
“Huff…”
Struggling not to collapse, Zhou Ming’s mind was not at ease.
He had heard everything Zeng Ding said earlier.
Black-market laborers.
Tch.
He had actually hoped they were decent people, but they were running an illegal workshop.
Although he wanted to report them directly, Zhou Ming had no solid evidence.
Just like with that beast—without concrete evidence, there was nothing he could do.
Zhou Ming didn’t have connections; he couldn’t just say a word and have the entire police force follow his orders.
“Let’s go. Time to pay up.”
Shaking the gun in his hand, Zhou Ming signaled Zeng Ding and Zeng Er to behave and not try any tricks.
For ordinary people, facing a beast was both a physical and mental ordeal.
Now he understood why, whenever a beast appeared in Yucheng City, the authorities issued a notice for ordinary people to stay away.
Having to focus on protecting ordinary people while eliminating the beast was also a huge burden on the Lantern Bearers.