Chapter 78: The Baby in the Mine
Following the trail of scattered bones littering the tunnel floor, Chris arrived at another chamber within moments.
Judging by the makeshift bedding and personal belongings scattered around, these mutants frequently used this area as living quarters.
However, it was empty now—obviously, as the mutants had mentioned earlier, they'd gone out to hunt the stranded family.
Fortunately, Chris's enhanced senses detected that several mutants were still scattered throughout the mine shaft complex.
As Chris amplified his sensory perception, the entire mine network within a two-mile radius became fully mapped in his mind, and the presence of several mutants among the abandoned tunnels stood out particularly clearly.
Targeting the nearest mutant, Chris moved swiftly toward his position.
After navigating several turns through the labyrinthine passages, Chris entered the chamber where his target waited.
The moment Chris stepped into the pit, a rusted pickaxe swung toward his head with brutal force.
Hearing the tool whistling through the air, Chris didn't raise his blade to deflect it. Instead, he caught it bare-handed.
He wanted to test these mutants' actual strength—to verify whether they truly possessed the physical capabilities that should correspond to grayish-white-tier essence.
These creatures had been exposed to nuclear radiation after all, so to avoid being misled by false assumptions, Chris needed direct confirmation.
As Chris stopped the pickaxe with one hand, he gained an immediate understanding of the mutant's strength.
The force of the blow exceeded six hundred pounds. If it had connected with an ordinary person, even the thickest human skull would have been pierced clean through.
Definitely superhuman level.
After confirming the mutant's physical capabilities, Chris ignored the creature's startled expression. Before it could shriek to summon reinforcements, Chris severed its neck with a single strike of his blade.
After losing its head, the mutant's body continued executing the brain's final commands, forcefully wrenching the pickaxe free and swinging it toward Chris's neck in a reflexive arc.
Seeing this, Chris released his grip on the pickaxe handle and began timing how long the body could continue autonomous movement.
According to Chris's hypothesis, if this mutant could continue coordinated movement for more than thirty seconds without a brain, it would confirm the creature deserved grayish-white-tier classification.
Back in the Jurassic World universe, that Tyrannosaurus Rex had retained residual neural activity for an extended period even after Chris had crushed its brain.
These mutants certainly weren't as powerful as that T-Rex, but being of the same grayish-white tier, they should definitely surpass normal human capabilities.
As Chris counted silently, he observed the headless body still swinging the pickaxe with disturbing coordination. Judging by its movements, it might continue for several more minutes.
Deciding not to waste more time, Chris swung his blade in a rapid series of strikes, reducing the creature to minced meat. A wisp of grayish-white energy was immediately absorbed into his body.
However, the result was identical to before. The enhancement to his strength fell short of expectations by approximately one-third.
Chris's expression darkened. He crushed the mutant's still-twitching head beneath his boot, then continued hunting the remaining creatures.
After approximately ten minutes, there were no more living mutants within Chris's sensory range.
A total of twenty-one mutants of various sizes had been eliminated, including several mutant children who'd been sleeping in a side chamber.
Through deliberate observation across multiple kills, Chris confirmed that each mutant provided roughly one-third less life essence than expected.
Not more, not less—exactly one-third missing from each kill. Such a precise amount seemed too coincidental to be random, as if some other entity was siphoning off that portion of essence.
Considering the origin of these mutants and the patriarch who had fathered them all, Chris suspected he might be the one claiming the life essence that rightfully belonged to Chris.
After all, across various fantasy settings, abilities that allowed leaders to absorb power or abilities from their subordinates were fairly common.
Vampires in Western folklore were one of the most classic examples—a progenitor drawing strength from their bloodline.
What puzzled Chris, however, was that he distinctly remembered there being no supernatural powers like magic or witchcraft in this movie universe.
This clan of mutants had simply been warped by nuclear radiation exposure, becoming a distinct offshoot species from baseline humanity.
Ultimately, these creatures were still biologically human—just heavily mutated. They shouldn't possess supernatural abilities beyond physical mutations.
But regardless of Chris's speculation, the undeniable fact remained: he was receiving less life essence than he should.
So no matter who was taking what belonged to him, Chris would find them and kill them.
Having made this decision, Chris activated his misfortune detection ability and instantly identified several entities registering as threats near the location of those ordinary humans—the Carter family.
Without much thought, the mutant patriarch had to be among them.
However, through his misfortune radar's perception, Chris couldn't detect anything particularly special about the patriarch's signature, so he could only rush directly toward that location.
Meanwhile, at the stranded RV, several mutants had launched their assault, and the family's planned vacation had become a bloodbath.
Doug's wife Lynne and his mother-in-law Ethel had been brutally killed by the mutants, and even his newborn daughter Catherine had been snatched away by the creatures.
Fortunately, Bobby still had the .22 pistol his father had given him, which had driven back several of the mutants with warning shots.
"Bobby, give me the gun!"
Doug angrily set down his wife's body, then reached toward Bobby for the weapon. He intended to go after his daughter.
Bobby, who'd been trying to comfort his traumatized sister Brenda, was startled by the demand. "No, Doug! It's too dangerous out there. You'll get yourself killed!"
"Don't try to stop me. Give me the gun!"
For a man who'd just experienced the agony of losing his wife, whose infant daughter was in the hands of cannibalistic mutants with her fate unknown, his only thought was rescuing Catherine.
So Doug completely ignored his brother-in-law's warnings. He reached out, snatched the pistol from Bobby's hands, unchained the family's surviving German Shepherd—Beauty, Beast's mate—and plunged directly into the dark wilderness.
Bobby hadn't expected this man—whom his father Bob had always dismissed as soft and cowardly—to show such desperate courage. For a moment, he stood frozen in shock.
However, looking at his terrified sister Brenda, Bobby ultimately decided not to follow his brother-in-law into the darkness.
The group of mutants hadn't left immediately after snatching the infant. They'd taken positions on the surrounding hillside, quietly observing the area around the RV.
The patriarch Jupiter called over a female mutant wearing a distinctive red hoodie and said, "Ruby, take her back to the mining town. She'll become the next generation's breeder for our clan."
Ruby's eyes showed unmistakable fear and moral conflict. She reluctantly took the infant, then turned and entered the nearby mine shaft entrance.
Seeing his usually disobedient daughter comply and enter the tunnels, Jupiter grunted with satisfaction, then turned his attention back toward the RV.
There were still two uninjured prey members who hadn't been taken yet. He couldn't simply abandon such easy meat.
Not long after Ruby entered the mine shaft with the infant, she heard unfamiliar footsteps echoing from deeper within the tunnel system.
However, the footsteps were rapid and purposeful—nothing like the shambling gait of her fellow mutants. Having lived with her clan her entire life, Ruby could instantly tell these weren't the footsteps of anyone from her tribe.
Sensing danger, Ruby's body tensed. She spun around and fled toward an alternate tunnel route.
But her speed was no match for Chris's superhuman capabilities. After detecting someone ahead, Chris accelerated dramatically, covering the distance in seconds and materializing beside the fleeing mutant.
Then, in an instant, Chris noticed the human infant the mutant was clutching protectively in her arms.
Without hesitation, Chris reached out with brutal efficiency. His hand clamped around the mutant's forearm and tore—the limb separated from her body with a wet ripping sound, and the infant tumbled free into Chris's waiting hand.
Ruby screamed in agony, clutching her bleeding stump.
Chris secured the baby carefully in one arm, then pressed the edge of his blade against Ruby's throat.
"Talk. What the hell is going on here? Why am I not getting the full essence from your kind?"
[+500 Power Stones = +2 Extra Chapter]
[+10 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]
If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a Review!
P*atreon/Soulforger (30+ advanced chapters)
Buy me coffee - ko-fi*com/soulforger01