At that moment, strange noises suddenly emerged from the distance—footsteps, but not entirely. The huffing and puffing sounds resembled machinery in operation. The armed men grew tense. Could there be robots here?
The leader laughed heartily. "Don't be afraid, boys! It's just smoke and mirrors. This is the apocalypse—where would high-tech robots come from? Charge forward and bring those girls back to me!"
"Yes, sir!" the armed men shouted, rushing ahead in large strides.
But just then, seven or eight colossal figures emerged from the grass. Their entire bodies were encased in red armor, standing at a towering height of 2.5 meters, wielding massive firearms. They were essentially upright-walking humanoid tanks!
The moment these figures appeared, everyone froze.
"Rat-tat-tat—" The enormous firearms, resembling tank barrels, opened fire. One after another, 8mm metal spikes shot out, propelled by solid fuel, and exploded upon impact with the armed men's bodies.
"Boom-boom-boom—" Seven or eight armed men were instantly reduced to mangled flesh. The gruesome scene made Tai Long and the other two vomit on the spot.
"F-fire! K-kill them!" the leader snapped out of his daze at the sound of gunfire, pointing at the robots and yelling.
The armed men pulled their triggers one after another, fear driving them to empty their magazines. But all they heard was the crisp, melodious "clink-clank" and saw tiny sparks flying off the enemy's armor. Their bullets didn't even leave a scratch!
Then came the second round of suppressive fire.
"Rat-tat-tat—" Metal spikes rained down on them with such ferocious firepower and precision that it rivaled human special forces.
"Thud-thud-thud—" Another seven or eight men collapsed into pools of blood. In an instant, the armed group was reduced to just a handful of survivors.
"Run! Get to the vehicles!" the leader roared, ordering his men to flee while he stood alone to cover their retreat. A surge of cyan light enveloped his body.
He was actually an Ability User!
The Marine Corpsmen immediately trained their guns on him, firing metal spikes at the cyan light sphere.
"Rat-tat-tat—"
"Clink-clink-clink—"
The leader's defensive ability was formidable. The metal spikes couldn't penetrate it right away, and he smirked. Their guns looked intimidating, but the firepower wasn't much stronger than standard automatic weapons. They'd almost been fooled!
Then he heard a sharp "click" from the humanoid tanks' weapons. A bullet thicker than a child's forearm shot out of the barrel.
Depleted uranium armor-piercing bullet!
Even before the bullet reached him, the leader sensed its lethal threat. He wanted to dodge, but how could he outrun a bullet?
With a deafening "BOOM," his cyan light shield was torn open, and the bullet split his body in half. He collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
The armed militants who had already scrambled onto their vehicles, ready to flee, were terrified when they saw their leader collapse into a pool of blood. That was a defensive Ability User—how could he just die like that? Frantically, they twisted the ignition keys, but the more they panicked, the harder it was to start the engines. Eventually, they were surrounded by the pursuing Marine Corpsmen.
They immediately raised their hands, staring in horror at these 'robots' that towered even higher than their off-road vehicles.
"Kill them!" Bai Wen emerged slowly from the grass, his face dark as he issued the order without hesitation.
The Marine Corpsmen didn't question it—they simply pulled the triggers.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat—" A storm of Metal Spikes rained down, riddling the off-road vehicles with holes. The militants inside let out agonized screams as both they and their vehicles were shredded into sieves by the relentless barrage.
Tai Long and the others watched the scene unfold, unable to suppress a gulp of fear.
Bai Wen walked up to them, glanced at Yun Huo's injury, and asked calmly, "How's the wound?"
Yun Huo didn't answer the question. Instead, he gaped dumbly at the Marine Corpsmen, stammering, "B-Bai Bro, these—these are—"
Bai Wen replied flatly, "My subordinates."
"Ah—" The three young men responded in stunned unison, their eyes glued to the Marine Corpsmen, unable to snap out of their daze.
The women who had run back from the grass were also petrified by the towering Humanoid Tanks—except for Wang Ya, who remained completely unfazed, as if none of this surprised her.
"B-Bai Bro, where did all this armor come from? It's—it's so powerful!" Tai Long babbled in awe.
Bai Wen smiled faintly but didn't answer.
"But—" Tai Long wanted to press further, but Yun Fei Wu quickly stopped him. "Tai Long, Bai Bro has his secrets. You can't just ask about them. Would you want someone prying into your own... you know?"
Tai Long's youthful face instantly flushed crimson, and he bolted away in embarrassment.
Bai Wen smirked, eyeing this useless Yun. He knew Yun Fei Wu meant well, but she didn't have to expose her cousin's shortcomings like that.
With a snap of his fingers, he ordered the Marine Corpsmen to dispose of the bodies. Then, gathering everyone, he said coolly, "Now that you've all seen this, I won't hide it. These Marine Corpsmen are my subordinates. Don't ask why—I won't explain. Just know they exist."
Tai Long exclaimed excitedly, "Does that mean we'll have Marine Corpsmen protecting us from now on? We won't have to fear Zombies anymore?"
Bai Wen nodded. "You could say that."
"This is amazing! Bai Bro, I knew following you was the right choice!" Tai Long laughed joyfully.
Bai Wen added, "We can't stay here protecting you forever. We need to hunt Zombies. During that time, you must learn to defend yourselves. Once I have more subordinates, I'll assign some to guard you. But you also need to improve your own strength. My Safe Zone doesn't take in useless people."
"Pfft—" Yun Fei Wu clutched her chest as if struck by an invisible arrow.
Ouch, Old Bai. That stung.
Bai Wen turned back into the room, his expression growing increasingly grim. He recognized those armed individuals—they were people from 'that place' in his previous life. What a small world, to run into them here of all places!
Wu Gang—that was the name of the Ability User just now. His power was that cyan light membrane, incredibly durable. In his past life, Wu Gang had killed many of Bai Wen's comrades. Who would have thought he'd die so easily this time? If Bai Wen had recognized him sooner, he wouldn't have let the Marine Corpsmen take action—he would have slaughtered these beasts with his own hands!
This was prec4isely why Bai Wen hadn't bothered with questions before killing. These people were all inhuman monsters who deserved to die a hundred times over.