Chapter Ninety-Four: Entering the Jungle Again

Chapter 94: Return to the Jungle

Clambering out of the collapsed wardrobe, Liu Chang felt a wave of dizziness crash over him. He lifted his eyes to where the monstrous figure he’d just shot lay sprawled, and to the little girl who had once again been flung from the creature’s grasp.

That last shot had been fired purely on instinct. After being punched and sent flying, his sense of direction had been utterly lost; he’d crashed headfirst into the wardrobe, splinters and broken boards blinding his view. The bullet had been loosed by feel alone, based on his earlier calculations of distance, as he fired blindly through the shattered wood.

Fortunately, the bullet had found its mark.

Unfortunately, though it struck its target, it failed to inflict any serious harm. As Liu Chang looked up, he saw the monstrous man picking himself up from the ground. The creature’s chest was slightly caved in, his military uniform torn to shreds by the bullet’s force, exposing the tattered remains of a “spiderweb bulletproof vest” beneath, and the bleeding flesh where the bullet had penetrated.

“Damn it, even monsters wear body armor,” Liu Chang muttered, raising his pistol once more.

But this time, the mutant was ready. The moment Liu Chang pointed his gun, the creature—now aware of the threat—dodged away swiftly.

The monster moved with astonishing speed—not quick enough to outrun a bullet, but faster than Liu Chang could bring his own arm to bear. In other words, by the time Liu Chang raised his weapon, his aim was already off target; and before he could correct his sights, the beast had shifted position again.

His chances of landing another shot were next to impossible. And having learned how deadly the gun could be, the monster no longer dared come too close—after all, even if Liu Chang was slower, at close range the risk of being shot was still real.

So the two of them—one aiming, one dodging—remained locked in a stalemate for several seconds, until a shout from the little girl shattered the tension in the room.

“Brother, run! There’s another one coming!”

Even as the words left her lips, Liu Chang heard the thunderous pounding of feet at the stairwell, the slap of soles smashing through concrete. He could almost see another monster charging toward the room.

Glancing at the girl one last time, Liu Chang’s razor-sharp mind calculated: the newcomer would break in within two seconds. If another mutant entered, his chances would vanish completely.

He hesitated for just half a second, cast a reluctant look at the little girl, and made a decision as cold and cruel as Li Qingshui once had—he ran.

To hesitate was to be caught. He knew he couldn’t take the girl with him—she was in the far corner, and by the time he reached her, the second monster would have arrived.

If that happened, the outcome was certain: he would be captured as well.

And if he were caught, the little girl would truly have no hope of escape. When he'd been sent flying by the mutant, he’d glimpsed—through his daze—the “man” catching the girl, rather than smashing her to pulp. That meant their orders were to capture, not kill.

So, as much as it pained him to leave, the burden of guilt was lessened. He knew that fighting to the bitter end without hope was a meaningless sacrifice.

No room for bravado, Liu Chang did what Li Qingshui once did when faced with the giant hound—he fled.

He leapt from the window.

From the seventeenth floor, he smashed through the glass. The wounded monster saw him leap and lunged to follow, but three sharp cracks from Liu Chang’s gun forced it back.

As he plummeted from the seventeenth story, Liu Chang regretted his choice of hiding place. At this height, even with his enhanced body, a fall to the ground would leave him crippled, if not dead. Fortunately, as he fell, he spotted several of the towering trees now growing everywhere.

Twisting in midair, Liu Chang adjusted his posture and crashed into the canopy. Branch after branch snapped beneath him, slowing his descent just enough that, when he finally hit the ground with a thud, it was not to his death.

Wind knocked from his lungs, Liu Chang wasted no time. Gulping air, he pulled himself upright and ran.

Through the mist, he glimpsed swarms of soldiers encircling the city streets. Using what vision he had left, he dodged their patrols and vanished into the maze of alleyways.

Back on the seventeenth floor, the mutant stood by the window, peering into the thick fog below. With visibility barely stretching a few dozen meters, there was no telling where the target had gone. The creature turned away, joined the little girl, and stood motionless beside her, waiting for its companion to arrive.

Five minutes later, a man and a woman entered the room—the man tall and imposing, the woman with a hawk-like hooked nose.

The woman scanned the room, her sharp gaze finally settling on the little girl. “So, one got away?”

The mutant grunted and nodded.

“How did he run? That shouldn’t have happened—you’re supposed to be formidable, aren’t you?” She tiptoed closer, eyeing the monster’s crumpled face. “And why are you wounded?”

The mutant frowned, glancing at the wound in its chest, perplexed, but said nothing more.

“Don’t bother questioning them,” the tall man said, stepping forward. “These gene-spliced hybrids have low intelligence; they can’t handle anything complicated. You’d be better off asking the child.”

He walked over to the girl, lifted her roughly off the floor. “Tell me, where did the other one escape to?”

The girl turned away, lips pressed tight, refusing to answer.

“Enough. Zhao Zhuo said we’re to treat them gently, not so rough,” the hawk-nosed woman chided, taking the girl and setting her down gently. “So one escaped—so what? I doubt he’ll get far with gene-hybrids on his tail. Look at the marks on the wardrobe—the force and direction suggest he was struck hard, then crashed through.”

“That means he’s injured, and badly. He won’t last long. With me here, do you really think he can vanish off the face of the earth?” She allowed herself a smile. “With these hybrids, with me, next time we search, he won’t have a chance.”

“Have the squad watch this little girl. Tell the others to move out—let them know, the mission is nearly complete.” With that, she left the room.

Running through the streets of Zhengzhou, Liu Chang’s face burned with pain. The bones on the left side of his face were shattered, half his teeth gone; the flesh of his cheek, with no bone to support it, sagged until the skin nearly brushed his shoulder. Worse, ten minutes later, his condition deteriorated further—the facial tissue began to swell, the drooping flesh ballooning until, in minutes, his left cheek resembled a swollen bun, compressing his eye into a slit, blinding him on that side and making his head swim with dizziness.

“This can’t wait,” Liu Chang muttered, tearing off a strip of cloth and wrapping his head tightly, leaving only his right eye exposed.

“If I don’t treat this, I’ll be in real trouble within days. But I’ve no time to find a doctor. The army is right behind me—if I stop anywhere, I’ll be caught. There’s no time for treatment. Unless I deal with them, I’ll never know peace. In that case...”

Touching his injured face, thinking of the girl who’d been captured, Liu Chang’s eyes grew resolute.

“If you won’t let me rest, then none of you will have it easy!”

His mind made up, Liu Chang set off at a run toward the eastern jungles of Zhengzhou.