96 I want to thank myself seven times (1/2)

Although Ren Xiaosu had a gun with him, his location would immediately be identified if he fired a shot. In that case, the Qing Consortium's people behind him would all get attracted, and it would really be over for him once he got caught in between them and the Experimentals. Moreover, if the Experimentals attacked from a close distance, a gun would be of less use than a dagger.

He instinctively moved his hand to the dagger Yang Xiaojin had traded him for food. However, this action shocked Ren Xiaosu a great deal. The dagger was no longer there!

Ren Xiaosu started thinking back. When Yang Xiaojin split up with them, she had pretended to accidentally bump into him. The dagger was probably stolen away by her at that time.

Ren Xiaosu did not know whether to laugh or cry. This girl was really not one to accept being on the losing end. She had clearly said that she'd trade the dagger for his food, yet she actually stole it back?! Where did the trust between fellow human beings go?

How heartless of her…

Ren Xiaosu felt that Yang Xiaojin's skill at stealing must also be very high, as no one in town had ever managed to steal Ren Xiaosu's stuff without him knowing.

He gave a mental sigh. What should he do now that he didn't have the dagger?

What Ren Xiaosu didn't know was it would be very difficult to cut through the skin of these Experimentals using an ordinary blade. Even a bullet fired at it would instantly be stopped by the muscles under the surface of their skin.

Direct headshots wouldn't work either since the toughest bones in the body are part of the skull. These Experimentals had always been unafraid of the threat of bullets, unless they were shot in the eye.

However, the speed of these Experimentals was far different from Ren Xiaosu's. There was almost a zero percent chance that he could hit them in the eye with a shot.

His firearms proficiency was only at the advanced stage, not the perfect stage.

All of a sudden, Ren Xiaosu felt a brush of wind behind him. He reflexively bent over as a noxious gust of wind went over his head.

Once Ren Xiaosu stabilized his footing and looked to see what it was, he was shocked to discover that an Experimental had somehow gotten close to him, but there were no chains on this Experimental's arms.

It had become his mindset that the Experimentals would have chains on their arms, and it would be possible to know of their presence once they got close. However, Ren Xiaosu had not expected that not all Experimentals would have chains on them. Furthermore, an Experimental without chains could even travel in a forest without making a sound. Just this fact alone made it terrifying!

When Ren Xiaosu felt around on his back, he frowned. He had still gotten scratched a moment earlier, and there were five lines of blood.

He started reminiscing about town. Although it was also rather dangerous there, people would only take advantage of you if you showed your weakness to them.

But it was different here. Everywhere there were people looking to end you!

Ren Xiaosu tried to retreat. But with each step back, those four Experimentals took two steps forward. At some point, Ren Xiaosu realized the appearance of these Experimentals here was not a coincidence. They were coming for him!

Those four Experimentals were all crawling on their hands and legs, while the unchained Experimental had silently crawled into a tree looking just like a large spider.

Ren Xiaosu could not understand something. Just what kind of a place could turn a living human being into something like that?

At this moment, a platoon passed by just several hundred meters behind Ren Xiaosu. However, it seemed like they had lost track of Ren Xiaosu's whereabouts. So they were unaware of the situation Ren Xiaosu was in even though they were only a few hundred meters apart.

Ren Xiaosu was observing the reactions of these four Experimentals. When the platoon passed by, the Experimentals all stopped in their tracks. It was as though they also didn't wish to be disturbed by the troops during their hunt!

Ren Xiaosu got a strange feeling about this, but he didn't have the time to explore it. While the Experimentals were distracted by the combat troops, Ren Xiaosu decided to order his shadow clone to attack them.

Ren Xiaosu decided he would strike first!

He was hoping he could lure these Experimentals over to where the Qing Consortium's troops were. However, he was more worried those few hundred people would annihilate all of the living creatures in their line of fire.

Compared to the few hundred Qing Consortium troops, Ren Xiaosu was more willing to face these four Experimentals!

When his shadow clone rushed at the three Experimentals on the ground, the Experimental in the tree leaped down at Ren Xiaosu.

Ren Xiaosu took a small step backwards. The muscles in his left leg tensed up the moment it landed on the ground, and all of the strength in his body was raging. When the Experimental got in front of him, Ren Xiaosu threw his fist out at his opponent and punched as hard as a cannon shot.

But he had underestimated the dexterity of the Experimentals. His opponent twisted its body in midair and forcibly avoided Ren Xiaosu's punch. It even managed to stretch its hand out and grab hold of Ren Xiaosu's arm!

Ren Xiaosu was startled before pulling back his punch and taking another small step backwards. At the same time, he raised his leg and kicked the Experimental several meters away. The Experimental laid on the ground and twitched a little before getting on its feet again to jump at Ren Xiaosu!

All of a sudden, Ren Xiaosu felt a burst of pain throughout his body. The tearing feeling going through his bones made him break out into a sweat as his muscles started trembling.

He saw his shadow clone tussling with the three Experimentals as they ripped and snatched at the crouched shadow clone's body. One of the Experimentals was even biting on the shadow clone's waist!

The shadow clone had enough strength to lift up an Experimental with a single hand. It picked one of them up and slammed it ruthlessly onto the ground. However, this Experimental was even hardier than Ren Xiaosu imagined. It didn't even look like it was hurt after being slammed like that!

This was the disadvantage of not having a weapon. Ren Xiaosu couldn't kill off these Experimentals, so it would be difficult to say who might end up dying.

Ren Xiaosu wanted to get home, even if the path back was filled with blood and thorns.

Because there were no sharp objects to kill the Experimentals with, the shadow clone's strength eventually ebbed away due to the fact that it was facing the three terrifying monsters of the Experimentals at once.

These monsters were biting onto the shadow clone and not letting go. Ren Xiaosu felt like every bite was bitten on his own body.

The unbearable pain was being transmitted to his central nervous system from various parts of his ”body” and was generating a complex array of signals that ran wild through his neural network. This in turn affected the normal function of his willpower.

Raising his hand became slow, and his hands were trembling as well. The Experimental in front of him had many of its attacks blocked by Ren Xiaosu, but it gradually realized its enemy's actions were starting to slow down and become weaker.

Ren Xiaosu's eyes had reddened. He endured the severe pain and was nearly in tears.

In all his years, Ren Xiaosu had never cried before. He never even shed a single tear. He grabbed a tree branch next to him for support and caught his breath. Everyone here was hellbent on killing him.

The Experimentals wanted him dead.

The Qing Consortium also wanted him dead.

But importantly, he didn't want to die.

The shadow clone was not omnipotent. Or perhaps, no superpowers in this world were omnipotent.

Ren Xiaosu needed a weapon, even if his gratitude tokens only stood at 93.

He said to the palace, ”Give me the weapon.”