The gunshot rang out, followed by the bald man's miserable scream.
"AGH!!! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!!!"
He clutched his leg and collapsed onto the floor, his face deathly pale, sweat soaking his features.
His right leg had already exploded, turning into a nauseating mixture of flesh, bone, and blood.
Rover bent down, picked up the scroll from the ground, and immediately put it into his storage backpack. He looked at the bald man with utter contempt.
Then he swept his gaze over the crowd and said softly, "You have three seconds to get back to your rooms. You can take the food, but everything else, put it down. Otherwise…"
Nanoe understood Rover's intent and immediately aimed the gun at the people around them.
Everyone was stunned by what they had just seen, their eyes filled with disbelief.
If it had been an ordinary gun, they might have still had hope, using their numbers to overwhelm Rover and Nanoe and seize the food.
But what the hell was this?
How could a normal pistol produce such a terrifying explosion?
It had even blown off the bald man's leg, turning it into a bloody mess like a mud pile of red pulp.
Rover calmly looked around.
He did not want to kill, but if these people thought he was clay they could knead however they liked, he would not mind killing a few.
Besides… killing people during the game would not give him the "Blood Mark," so…
Feeling Rover's icy gaze, everyone slowly set down anything that was not food.
However, Rover's eyes locked onto a man standing in the back.
That skinny man began backing away. The moment he met Rover's eyes, he froze and stammered, "I… I only took food. I didn't take anything else."
Rover did not care. His cold voice rang out, "Are you going to take the items out of your backpack yourself, or do I kill you and take them out?"
The man gritted his teeth and shouted, "It's just a sword. You already have a gun. You can't let me have a weapon to defend myself too?"
"I advise you not to be so selfish. We're all human. In this situation, we need to…"
Rover flicked his hand.
Nanoe fired immediately.
BANG!
BOOM!
The young man's head exploded before he could finish his sentence. His headless body collapsed to the ground, fresh blood spraying everywhere.
At the same time, the items that man had taken appeared beside him, along with a room key.
The crowd trembled in fear.
One shot had blown the man's head apart like a watermelon. Blood and bits of flesh splattered onto the people standing nearby, making them shake. A few women even broke into tears, but did not dare make a sound.
"Get out!"
Rover's words made them breathe out in relief. They hurried back into their rooms.
Nanoe tilted her head at him and smiled. "You still decided to spare them?"
Rover nodded. "Yes. With them around, we can reduce some pressure when facing monsters."
He glanced at the bald man lying on the floor, his face twisted in agony, and said with a frown, "You've got thirty seconds. If you don't crawl back to your room, then…"
Crack!
Nanoe leveled the muzzle at the bald man's head and smiled. "Just now, where did you say I should shoot?"
The bald man was terrified beyond belief. That woman was unbelievably beautiful, yet cold like a demon.
He had thought she was weak, only daring to point the gun at him to scare him.
But he never expected she would actually fire.
More than that, from the way she held the gun and the accuracy of her shots, the bald man could tell she was not a rookie, but more like a seasoned hunter.
He crawled along the floor, scrambling back into his room, leaving behind a long trail of blood, like someone had dragged a mop dipped in red paint across the corridor.
Rover knew that man would not live long anyway. Even if the wound did not kill him, it would get infected and make him die in agony.
But that was not what Rover cared about.
Instead, his attention went to the sword and the key on the ground.
He picked up the sword and put it into his backpack, then tossed the key to Nanoe and smiled. "You know what to do with it, right?"
Nanoe smiled and nodded.
After that, the two of them did not stay on this floor for long and headed down to the lower level.
When they reached the staircase leading down, Rover frowned and said softly, "Nanoe, let me go first."
Nanoe tightened her grip on his hand and shook her head. "We go together. I have a gun, I can cover you."
Rover nodded, then went down slowly.
Ga! Ga!
Right then, two zombies rushed in. Rover immediately leaned aside to dodge, then,
BANG!
A gunshot rang out. The head of the leading zombie exploded, and the one behind it was flung backward by the blast, tumbling down the stairs.
Ga! Gru! Gru!
The howling echoed. Rover's expression changed, and he said quickly, "Nanoe, fall back."
Nanoe did not want to block Rover's path. As she retreated, she kept the muzzle aimed past Rover's back, covering his withdrawal.
She had heard that howl too. The number was definitely not small. No matter how strong this gun was, it could not stop a horde that large.
Rover ran back up the stairs, his hand gripping Nanoe's, pulling her along behind him.
Suddenly, a black shadow appeared, crawling on the wall like a gigantic lizard, making both Nanoe and Rover flinch.
Whoosh!
"Damn it!" Rover saw something shoot out of that monster's mouth. He did not have time to think. He hugged Nanoe tight and lunged forward.
BANG!
Whatever the shadow spat out slammed into the wall with an impact sound, but Rover did not dare stop. He immediately shoved Nanoe forward, putting distance between her and that shadow.
"Agh!" Nanoe fell to the ground with a pained cry, but she was not angry. Instead, her eyes were full of worry as she looked at him.
Rover stared at the shadow clinging to the wall and muttered, "A Licker?!"
The Licker clung to the wall like a giant skinned lizard. Its entire body was bare, dark red muscles bulging, slick with mucus as if it had just crawled out of rotting flesh.
Its long, curved claws were sharp, dug deep into the surface, dragging out a scraping sound that made your scalp crawl.
Its deformed head looked like a cracked, exposed brain. It opened its mouth wide, revealing jagged teeth. From inside, an unnaturally long tongue shot out, lashing like a whip, spraying cold saliva everywhere.
Rover shuddered, feeling that if that tongue had pierced him just now, it would have gone straight through his skull.
However,
'Why would a creature from a game appear here?' he thought.
That was right. Lickers were a type of zombie that only appeared in the R.E game, so why were they showing up in this world?
Rover did not want to think about it. He shouted, "Nanoe, kill it!"
Nanoe had already steadied herself. She aimed at the Licker and fired immediately.
BANG!
KRIT!!!
The explosion sounded, followed by the Licker's shriek.
Rover saw that the Licker was not killed, but a patch of its flesh had been scorched open, exposing organs and meat inside.
"Keep going! Do not stop!" Rover shouted as he ran.
Behind him, Nanoe continued firing.
BANG!
"This is bad!"
The blast sounded, but this time the Licker dodged in advance, then crawled along the wall like a lizard, moving at a terrifying speed.
Rover clenched his teeth. He knew how fast a Licker was. If nothing restrained it, Nanoe would have a hard time hitting it.
He saw the zombie horde from below rushing up toward this floor. Even the zombies above were starting to converge here. He made a decision on the spot.
"Nanoe! Aim for its mouth!" Rover roared as he swung both hands toward the Licker.
The Licker opened wide and launched its razor tongue at Rover.
Rover gritted his teeth, eyes wide, pushing his Spirit to the absolute limit.
"GYAA!!" Rover bellowed.
At that moment, the tongue, less than ten centimeters from Rover's head, suddenly stopped, as if an invisible force had blocked it.
He did not think further. He grabbed the Licker's tongue with both hands and shouted, "Now!"
Nanoe fired.
BANG! BANG!
KRITT!!!
Two gunshots rang out, mixed with the Licker's miserable scream. Its mouth cavity exploded, blood and minced flesh spraying everywhere as it fell to the ground.
Thud!
A heavy sound echoed, and the Licker lay still on the floor. Rover held the tongue that had been torn from its mouth, then threw it aside in disgust and let out a long breath.
At that moment, an information panel suddenly appeared in front of Rover, making him flinch.
[Congratulations to Survivor 2705, Rover, for killing a mutated zombie, Licker. Ranking Board successfully activated.]
[Rank 1: Owner 2705, Rover | 145 points.]