In the pitch-black environment, the shadow darted by, but even so, with the faint light, Billy was still able to catch a glimpse of the familiar dark green scales, like a lizard's skin. The ghost-like speed sent a shiver down his spine. It was over. A Hunter seemed to be living in this breeding room. Billy knew this was bad news because he and Javier had already experienced the Hunter's power firsthand. This kind of B.O.W. was very tricky to deal with. He would probably have to spend a lot of energy to find the item hidden in the breeding room.
"But..."
"We're going to run into each other sooner or later, so we might as well deal with it now. Besides... it's been a while since I've fought such a powerful enemy by myself."
Billy's eyes became sharp and determined, like a hawk's. He mumbled to himself. Although the Hunter was terrifying, it didn't mean he was afraid. On the contrary, he was a little excited. It had been a long time since Billy had been this serious. As a former Marine Corps lieutenant, he wanted to see if his skills were rusty!
"Clang...!"
With another crisp sound, it seemed as if a lab container had been knocked over in the breeding room. Billy quickly turned to look.
"Whoosh—!!!"
The shadow arrived as expected. It charged towards Billy like a ghost. Billy could even make out the Hunter's orange-yellow eyes, which were as spooky and eerie as a pair of bells.
"Here it comes!"
"Click—BOOM!!!"
Billy's face showed no panic. As a soldier who had served for many years, his training made him fearless of anything. So even when facing the Hunter, he felt no fear. Instead, he pulled the shotgun's trigger without any hesitation. With two loud bangs, the number 12 gauge shotgun pellets were fired, exploding in mid-air and hitting the Hunter right in the face. The attack was so fast that the Hunter didn't have time to react and was instantly pushed back several meters.
"Roar—!!!"
The Hunter roared in pain and touched its bloody face. The pain was excruciating. The shotgun's power at this distance was significant; it had effectively given the Hunter's face a makeover. The hot pellets left large and small craters in its scales.
Although the injury was quite serious, it wasn't enough to kill the Hunter. After only a few steps back, the Hunter roared again and charged forward. This time, Billy couldn't use the shotgun. The distance was too close. If he used the gun recklessly, the Hunter might be able to swat him to death in one blow!
"Tap, tap, tap..."
After a single second of thought, Billy made a decision based on his extensive combat experience. He held the M1887 shotgun and turned to run without any hesitation. The breeding room was full of narrow corridors with little room to maneuver, but the various lab tables around could be used as great cover. If he used them well, they could be very effective.
"Bang!"
With a cool one-handed vault, Billy placed one hand on the table and the other on the shotgun. He used his legs to jump high and cleanly cleared the wooden table in front of him. The moment he jumped, Billy's leg muscles tensed up again.
"Bang—!"
With a powerful kick, he sent the table behind him flying straight at the charging Hunter's face. The wooden table was not very heavy, so Billy's powerful kick sent it flying into the Hunter's face.
"Roar, roar, roar—!!!"
The Hunter roared in anger. It raised its thick, huge arm and was about to use its sharp, steel-like claws to smash the flying table to pieces. But to its dismay, everything was going according to Billy's plan. Using the wooden table as a screen, Billy quickly turned and raised his M1887 shotgun!
"BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—!"
With another rapid series of shots, countless hot pellets went through the wooden table and landed on the Hunter behind it.
"Thwump, thwump..."
More blood splattered. With the table included, the Hunter was pushed back several meters. Even with the table absorbing some of the impact, the green scales all over its body were shattered, and there were grotesque bullet holes everywhere, causing the Hunter to lose its will to fight. It fell to the ground.
"Now, the crucial moment of stun...!"
As if he were in a video game, Billy knew he couldn't waste this opportunity. He threw the empty M1887 shotgun to the side and quickly took out the Desert Eagle that Javier had given him. Seven Magnum bullets were enough. He aimed at the Hunter's thick legs and pulled the trigger without hesitation. With the final two loud bangs, the thumb-thick Magnum bullets flew out, leaving visible streaks in the air, and hit the Hunter's legs.
"BOOM, BOOM... thwump!!!"
With the power of the Magnum bullets, he couldn't completely destroy the Hunter's two legs, but he could easily smash its bones and muscles. This rendered the Hunter unable to move. Billy looked at the Hunter struggling on the ground and nodded.
He had guessed correctly. This was the real trick to dealing with a Hunter. When he and Javier had tried to kill the Hunter before, they had made a mistake. As a B.O.W. with lizard cells, the Hunter retained the habits of a lizard, using its arms to protect itself when it was in danger. Therefore, when attacking a Hunter, you should never try to shoot it in the head. In most cases, the Hunter would block the fatal blow with its arms, close the distance, and then kill you with a single blow.
On the other hand, if you only attacked the Hunter's legs and broke them instantly, you could greatly affect its ability to move. A Hunter that can't move is no longer a threat.
"Roar..."
Looking at the Hunter struggling and wailing on the ground, Billy slightly narrowed his eyes and raised his cold, black muzzle. With a "bang," he put the Hunter out of its misery. Although these Hunters had some human embryos, they were ultimately monsters. Billy showed no mercy toward them.
"It's over,"
"Now it's time to find the item."
Billy picked up the M1887 shotgun he had thrown aside, sighed, and continued to search the breeding room.
...
About ten minutes later, Billy came out with an item that looked like a safe combination dial. This was the dial used to turn a combination lock on a safe. This dial seemed to fit on a door and was a special key used to unlock it. At the same time, Billy was also holding a damaged document that he had found in the breeding room. The information on it was related to the combination needed for the dial.
"Leech Breeding Log: February 8, 1978. We administered the T-virus to 4 leeches. Their will to survive first led to parasitic and predatory behavior, then reproduction and proliferation. Their simple instincts make them the most suitable test subjects for biological weapons research. No significant changes have been observed since."
"February 15, 1978. We have been administering the T-virus to the leeches for 7 days. They have quickly grown to twice their original size and have begun to show metamorphic characteristics. Egg-laying was successful. Their numbers double in an hour, but their greedy appetite has led to cannibalism among the leeches."
"Although we have begun to feed them on an emergency basis, we are too late. We have already lost 2 leeches."
"August 10, 1978. We have begun to feed them with live food, but the live food's resistance has caused a great number of leech casualties. We have lost half of them. However, the leeches are slowly learning from this experience. They have begun to learn how to attack live food as a group, reducing their casualties. They have also stopped cannibalism. This rate of evolution is hard to imagine."
"August 30, 1978. The leeches' evolution has begun to become perfect. They have become accustomed to group attacks and can efficiently devour a wide range of prey."
"October 8, 1978. An employee discovered that I was feeding the leeches live food. I wonder... if I feed them human flesh, will there be new changes...?"
This was the entire damaged document. And within this leech breeding log, not only did it detail the insane process of Marcus's research on the leech T-virus, but it also contained a hidden combination. If you didn't look closely, you would miss it and not even realize what the real combination was.
First, there were the 4 original leeches. This was the first number: 4. Then, it said the leeches became twice their original size: 4 x 2 = 8. This was the second number. Then the document said that because the leeches were eating each other, they lost 2 of them: 8 - 2 = 6. This was the third number. Finally, the leeches died in half after being fed live food that resisted: 6 ÷ 2 = 3. This was the fourth number. So the entire combination was 4863! This was the correct combination for the dial.
As a former Marine Corps lieutenant, Billy's mind was not slow. On the contrary, he was very smart and found the combination from the pile of damaged documents. This was a very easy task for him. However, if some people with less sharp minds had encountered this, they might not have been able to crack the code on the document.
...
After obtaining the combination and the dial, Billy quickly used his walkie-talkie to call Javier and Rebecca to his location. At this moment, the three of them were reunited in front of a huge iron door. This was the most special iron door they had found so far because it had no keyhole. Instead, it had a special slot. There was no doubt that this iron door was the one the combination dial was meant to open. Billy took out the dial he had found in the breeding room and easily put it into the slot.
"But..."
"What's the combination? Billy, did you find any clues when you found this dial? Because if we don't have the combination, we'll have to try every number one by one, and these kinds of dials are the most troublesome," Javier said with a headache as he and Rebecca gathered around Billy.
This wasn't a movie. There was no way for them to be a master thief from a movie who could simply use a paper cup to listen to the sounds of the safe and easily open it with their bare hands. Javier wanted to learn that trick, but it wasn't realistic. The iron door was also very thick, so it would be unrealistic to try to force it open. That's why Javier had asked Billy if he knew the combination. If he didn't, they would be in big trouble!
"..."
"I know... the combination should be 4863. I found it on a pile of damaged documents. It should be correct. Let me try it," Billy said with a helpless smile at Javier's look of frustration. He took a deep breath and slowly turned the dial with his hand. First, the 4, then the 8, then the 6, and finally the 3. The numbers were turned with ease. Each time a number was turned, a crisp sound was made. There was no doubt that these sounds confirmed Billy's combination was correct. Otherwise, the iron door wouldn't have made a sound!
And the next second...
"Click—!!!"
The heavy iron door instantly opened. The moment the heavy iron door opened, Javier and his companions looked at the scene inside with a look of surprise. What greeted them was not a terrifying scene or a horde of zombies, but rows of silver metal. And in the middle, there was a huge cable car with a slightly rusted silver shell. The entire cable car was parked there, and in front of it, an independent track had been built. There was no doubt that this was another underground exit from the facility, and they could now use this cable car to leave the facility!