The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

He opened the map and glanced at the coordinates of the elite monster marked by the system... It was still in the same location, unchanged. But he had been wandering around this area for an hour, killing at least a hundred monsters, yet he had encountered very few green-quality monsters.

He encountered two level 5 green creatures. He encountered one level 6 green creature.

There wasn't a single green one of level seven or higher.

Killing ordinary monsters yields pitifully little experience; a level 5 ordinary zombie only gives a fraction of an experience point, and even killing a hundred of them would only net you a few dozen points. Meanwhile, a single green-quality monster can give you ten or even dozens of points... but he just can't seem to encounter one.

Su Mu stopped, leaned against the wall, and frowned.

Either these green-quality monsters were scared away by something and dare not move around in this area. Or... that elite monster drove away or ate all the high-level monsters in this area.

This is good for the weaker players. Fewer high-level monsters mean a higher chance of survival. But it's not for him. He needs experience, a lot of experience. If there aren't enough high-level monsters in this area for him to grind, then this Dark Zone experience pool is useless... He'd spend ages accumulating experience but wouldn't get much, and in the end, he'd have to fight a level 10 elite monster—it's not worth it.

As Su Mu was thinking, a burst of gunfire suddenly came from afar.

It wasn't the sporadic "bang bang" of an ordinary rifle, but a continuous, rhythmic barrage... "rat-a-tat-tat-tat"... interspersed with muffled explosions, like something repeatedly exploding.

This level of firepower is something survivors cannot match.

It's the military.

Su Mu's spirits lifted. This was the first time he had encountered a military squad since entering the Dark Zone.

Without hesitation, he sprang up from the wall and rushed in that direction at full speed.

......

The buildings on both sides of the street cast heavy shadows in the darkness, and the moonlight was distorted by some force, leaving only a few pale spots of light on the ground.

Su Mu moved quietly, quickly following the shadow at the base of the wall.

He walked through a pile of wrecked GG sign wreckage, around an overturned van, and was about to cut through a narrow alley...

A dull thud came from ahead.

"Bang......!"

It wasn't a gunshot. It was the sound of something heavy hitting flesh, dull, deep, with a teeth-grinding quality. Then came a second, a third, accompanied by an indistinct roar from some creature.

Su Mu abruptly stopped. He sidestepped into the doorway of a building and peered out in the direction from which the sound came.

At the crossroads ahead, two people are fighting two monsters.

No, to be precise, it's a person fighting two monsters.

Another person leaned against a GG sign pillar by the roadside, arms crossed, watching from the sidelines.

Su Mu's gaze first fell on the person who was fighting.

It was a true giant... not a monster, but a man. He was at least two and a half meters tall, his body as massive as a mountain, his broad shoulders like a moving wall, and his arms thicker than an average person's thighs. He wore a sleeveless tactical vest, revealing his bronze skin, and a tattoo on his back... not an ordinary design, but a symbol Su Mu had never seen before, with sharp lines, as if it had been carved in some kind of ritual.

Most striking was the alloy shield hanging on his left arm. The shield was nearly half a person's height, its surface a matte black metal with a dark red band around the edge, gleaming coldly in the moonlight. Several deep claw marks marred the shield's surface, but the metal itself remained completely undamaged.

His right hand held a short-handled battle axe, its blade as wide as a small shovel, the edge gleaming coldly in the darkness.

Opposite him were two Lickers.

Su Mu's expression hardened. Lickers... He'd seen one of these monsters once at the military base. That time, he'd fired seven bullets with his pistol, but hadn't even scratched its skin. He'd only managed to finish off one wounded one by closing in with a rifle. The speed, strength, and aggression of those monsters were among the best he'd ever encountered.

He had never encountered two at the same time before.

This is abnormal. Lickers are solitary creatures with a strong sense of territory. For two adult lickers to appear in the same area at the same time, either something here is driving them, or the area itself is distorting their instincts.

Su Mu shifted his gaze to the burly man.

A licker lunged at the man from the front, moving so fast that it left a gray-white afterimage in the air. Its forelimbs were outstretched, and its ten bone spikes, like ten daggers, were aimed straight at the strong man's face.

The burly man did not retreat. He raised his left arm, and the alloy shield was held horizontally in front of him.

"clang......!"

The sound of bone spikes striking the shield was sharp and piercing, sending sparks flying. The Licker's body paused in mid-air for a moment, then bounced back by the recoil, landing on all fours and sliding more than two meters, leaving a deep claw mark on the ground.

The burly man remained completely still.

Several fine cracks appeared on the cement ground beneath his feet, but his body didn't even sway.

Another licker pounced from the side. It was faster and its trajectory was more erratic... not in a straight line, but in a zigzag pattern, bouncing back and forth on the building walls on both sides, constantly changing direction using the reaction force.

The burly man didn't turn around. He flicked his right hand, and the battle axe flew out of his hand, spinning in the air and drawing an arc before the blade precisely struck the Licker's side.

"puff......!"

Dark red blood exploded in the air. The Licker's body was swayed by the axe and crashed into a fire hydrant by the roadside. The iron pipe snapped, and a jet of water shot into the sky. The Licker struggled to its feet in the water, its wound on its side deep enough to expose the bone. But instead of fleeing, it let out an even sharper roar and lunged at the burly man again.

The first Licker also launched its attack at the same time. The two monsters, one on the left and one on the right, coordinated perfectly, as if they were being pulled together by the same invisible thread.

The burly man finally moved.

He didn't retreat, but forward. His left foot slammed out, leaving a deep footprint in the concrete. He shot forward like a cannonball, shield in front, body behind.

"boom......!"

He rammed his shield directly into the Licker on his left. It wasn't a block, it was a collision. The edge of the shield embedded itself in the Licker's chest, the sound of breaking ribs clearly audible. The Licker's body was sent flying, crashing into the roller shutter door of the shop across the street. The iron door was dented badly, and the Licker was stuck in the dent, its limbs twitching, unable to move for a moment.