Chapter 8: Ferocity

The gunshot rang out loudly, but Chen Chong was right in front of the already completely crippled Katherine at that moment. The two guards who rushed in fired wildly, afraid of hitting her by mistake. Aside from the shot that hit his shoulder, none of their other bullets found their mark.

And Chen Chong’s reaction speed was even more astonishing. The instant the gunshot sounded, before the pain in his shoulder could even reach his brain, he suddenly ducked down. His five fingers clamped around Katherine’s slender neck, lifting her entire body and using her as a complete shield in front of him!

“It’s Dr. Katherine!”

The gunfire stopped immediately.

The two white guards still kept their guns raised and aimed, staring intently at Chen Chong. Their eyes were full of shock and barely concealed tension. Especially when their gazes fell upon Katherine in Chen Chong’s grasp, their faces twitched uncontrollably, and immense panic rose in their hearts.

“Ugh… ugh…”

At this moment, one of Katherine’s once tantalizingly beautiful legs was twisted grotesquely, hanging limp. A gleaming scalpel was stabbed into the kneecap of her other leg. On her upper body, pens and paper knives were stabbed into the joints of her shoulder blades. Her entire body was drenched in blood, as if she had just been fished out of a pool of it. Chen Chong’s hand, like a steel claw, squeezed her throat so tightly that she had no chance to struggle or resist, only able to make unconscious “ugh” sounds.

Everything about her—the fantasy object of every man on this base—looked as if she had just endured an inhuman torture. The sight was utterly shocking and unbearable! That was Dr. Katherine! The highest-ranking figure on the base, and the person Diris fancied!

A deep chill spread through the two guards’ hearts.

From the terrified screams inside the hall, to them realizing something was wrong, using their ID cards to open the door and rushing in, only a few short seconds had passed. How had things turned into this? What had happened?

“Let Dr. Katherine go!”

One guard shouted.

“You think taking the doctor hostage will let you escape? Naive! Give it up. Director Diris will be here soon. I advise you to stop your foolish actions immediately if you want to keep your miserable life!”

The other guard slowly shifted his steps, moving in a different direction.

Chen Chong naturally took in the guard’s small movements. Holding the utterly helpless Katherine with one hand, he hid his entire body behind her, revealing only a small part of his cold face. He suddenly turned his head, staring at the slowly moving guard with an extremely fierce look, and grinned savagely.

“You scheming idiot. Diris is a hundred kilometers away right now, isn’t he? Guess whether you’ll blow my head off first, or I’ll crush her throat first!?”

The slowly moving guard’s figure froze instantly. He had never imagined Chen Chong knew about Diris’s whereabouts.

So he had planned this from the very beginning!?

Cold sweat beaded on the two guards’ foreheads. Katherine’s importance went without saying; they had to save her at all costs. But they dared not take this risk!

The scene fell into a stalemate.

Chen Chong’s mind was extremely calm. He focused all his attention on everyone’s movements in the hall while slowly moving towards a corner.

Here, he only had to face enemies within a ninety-degree angle, with no risk of a sneak attack. After drinking the Ultra Divine Water, Chen Chong’s neural reactions and speed far exceeded those of ordinary people. He was even confident he could easily dodge a guard’s shot one-on-one in a direct confrontation. But soon, a large number of guards would arrive. Considering the potential for stray shots from all angles, he had little confidence facing so many.

Before crossing over, Chen Chong was just an ordinary person, after all. He had never received any training. Ultimately, the Ultra Divine Water only greatly stimulated his physical potential as a normal human, allowing his various attributes to reach the theoretical limits of an ordinary person. It did not mean it could directly turn Chen Chong into a superhuman who could ignore firearms and fight a hundred men at once.

“Filthy scum!!”

The stalemate lasted only a few seconds before a low, rage-filled roar came from a distance. Mixed with the sound of hurried footsteps, a furious-looking, giant white man led over ten guards as they quickly stormed into the hall. It was the large number of guards alerted by the sudden incident in the Experiment Area!

The giant man in the lead was the Chief Guard, Johnson.

The moment all the guards entered the hall, they rapidly spread out, locking onto Chen Chong in the corner. When Chief Guard Johnson and the arriving guards clearly saw Katherine in Chen Chong’s hands, their expressions changed drastically, and their pupils suddenly constricted!

The most important Dr. Katherine on the base was now being held in someone’s hand like a dead dog, her throat emitting faint syllables like a broken cello.

Where was the radiant and dazzling Katherine of before? She looked just like a tattered, broken doll!

Seeing Johnson and the other guards arrive, the originally pained and resentful look in Katherine’s eyes, held by Chen Chong, suddenly burst with a glimmer of hope. She made unintelligible “ugh” sounds from her throat, as if pleading for something.

How could this happen!?

Facing this situation, Johnson’s face twitched. All the guards were extremely nervous, as if facing a formidable enemy, and the scene fell into an eerie silence.

In the hall now, most of the researchers who had been previously affected by Katherine’s strange shriek had recovered. These men and women scrambled away from the area where Chen Chong was and hid behind the guards, shouting in panic,

“Dr. Katherine is taken hostage! The test subject is completely out of control!”

“Don’t provoke him!”

“He has broken through the awakening threshold! He is an Awakener!”

What? How did this happen?

The expressions of everyone, including Johnson, violently changed again. That 416 had become an Awakener was undoubtedly the worst possible news for them. Even if he had just awakened, the difficulty of rescuing Katherine had risen by more than a notch!

Originally, Johnson planned to have the guards with the best marksmanship find a suitable opportunity to fire and blow Chen Chong’s head off. However, Chen Chong’s current position was a corner blind spot, and with Katherine as a human shield, plus Chen Chong’s speed and reaction as an Awakener, they were helpless and had no way to act.

Johnson deeply understood how important Katherine’s status was, and she was also the person Base Director Diris fancied. Absolutely no accidents could be allowed. Now, with Diris absent, such a huge accident had occurred. If he couldn’t handle it properly, his own fate would likely be terrible.

After a moment’s silence, Johnson’s face turned ashen. He took a deep breath, suddenly stepped forward, and roared,

“416, I’m giving you one last chance! Let Dr. Katherine go!”

From ten meters away, Johnson, his expression fierce, raised the large-caliber revolver in his hand, pointing it straight at the half of Chen Chong’s face hidden in the shadows behind Katherine. His killing intent was completely unrestrained as he shouted through gritted teeth,

“What do you want!?”

He gave a signal to the other guards, then stepped closer and closer to Chen Chong’s corner.

“Let her go now, and everything can still be discussed!”

From behind the shadows, Chen Chong sneered, “Do you dare shoot?”

“Do you want to escape the base? That’s possible!”

“Whatever you want, release Dr. Katherine first, then we’ll talk!”

“Impossible.”

“If you don’t let Dr. Katherine go, you’ll die a miserable death!”

“Step back.”

“Give it up, you can’t escape!”

“I said, step back.”

In the huge Experiment Hall, only the dialogue between the two and the tense, rapid breathing of the others filled the suffocating atmosphere of the standoff. The instruments crackled with electric current, and the faint, bloody smell emanating from Katherine heavily pressed upon everyone’s hearts.

Johnson, exuding a ferocious aura, held his gun and bellowed in fury as his iron-tower-like figure slowly encroached closer. In comparison, Chen Chong’s figure, hidden in the shadows, seemed disproportionately small, but the hand gripping Katherine’s neck was as steady as if cast from steel.

“The doctor is your only bargaining chip right now.”

“If she dies, you die!”

“Even ten times worse!”

“I don’t believe you dare kill her! You’re afraid too!”

Gritting his teeth, word by word, Johnson’s expression grew crazier as he got closer and closer to Chen Chong.

“You absolutely don’t dare…”

“I said STEP BACK!”

Swipe! Just as Johnson was roaring and closing in on Chen Chong, Chen Chong’s expression turned fierce and severe. His other, severely injured arm suddenly lifted, and the gleaming blade in his hand flashed by. With a soft thud, an object flew up and landed on the path Johnson was advancing on.

It was a small, delicate, yet bloody and mangled ear.

Johnson’s pupils constricted! Katherine’s left ear had been cut off by Chen Chong!

Johnson’s pressing advance stiffened abruptly. Katherine, enduring the sharp pain again, began to tremble violently. Because Chen Chong had a death grip on her throat, she could only make distorted exhalation sounds!

“Come on! Take another step forward!”

“My life is worthless trash! If I drag this bitch down with me, I’m winning!”

Chen Chong viciously exhaled, enduring the intense pain as he raised his other, severely injured arm and gently traced a scalpel across Katherine’s pain-twisted face. He laughed coldly,

“This is just a small warning. If you don’t behave, I’ll give you her other ear, or perhaps an eye? A nose? A mouth? All of them? Look at this beautiful face. If it’s missing these things, it might not be so beautiful anymore.

You can also keep stalling and wait for Diris to come back, but guess how much longer she can bleed? Such a beautiful creature, truly heartbreaking…”

This madman!

At this moment, feeling the look in Chen Chong’s eyes, even Johnson, who had seen many vicious criminals, felt a deep chill rise in his heart. He retreated repeatedly, and the other guards unconsciously swallowed, their eyelids twitching madly.

They had never seen such a ferocious, decisive, and extreme look in the eyes of even the most vicious thugs! No one could have imagined that, without anyone realizing it, the test subject who was supposed to have a miserable fate had turned the tables, bared his fangs, and forced them into a helpless situation!

“Fine! You win!”

Various thoughts flashed through his mind. In the next moment, giving up any illusion of taking a desperate risk, Johnson fiercely gritted his teeth and roared,

“State your demands!”

Johnson clearly understood that the only person who might change the situation, Director Diris, was absent. Dr. Katherine was grievously wounded, and no one knew how long she could hold on. But given her status and the project she held, she was someone absolutely unexpendable; no one could bear the consequences! Now, there was not a moment to waste. He dared not take a risk or gamble, so he could only meet Chen Chong’s demands!

“Very good, Johnson. It seems there’s more than just muscle inside that head of yours.”

From behind Katherine, Chen Chong bared his teeth in a grin.

“My demands aren’t difficult. Give me a map of the base’s surroundings, and immediately release all the prisoners in the detention cells. Then, bring them all here!”

What is he planning? A mass prison break?

Johnson’s eyelid twitched, but the current situation didn’t allow him to think too much. He could only agree through gritted teeth,

“Fine!”

He turned around and roared at the guards under his command,

“Do as he says! Bring them all here!”