The Black Spine Zergs pursued them relentlessly. Abandoned vehicles on the roadside did little to slow them down and actually obstructed Lin Feng's aim.
To improve his accuracy and hit rate, Lin Feng slowed his breathing. Chen Yanyan cooperated perfectly, maintaining a steady speed.
They were on a main road in the Suburban Area, so the lanes were wide and there weren't as many cars, meaning they didn't have to swerve to avoid obstacles.
As his breathing steadied, Lin Feng's Hawkeye ability aligned perfectly with the Divine-level Pistol's sights.
He took aim at one of the Black Spine Zergs behind them and fired!
Three quick shots rang out, striking the forelimb of the targeted Black Spine Zerg.
It was a three-round burst, all hitting the exact same spot. The first bullet was deflected by the Black Spine Zerg's thick exoskeleton, leaving only a small dent. But it was immediately followed by two more equally powerful shots.
They pierced straight through its forelimb!
Lin Feng had already researched the Black Spine Zergs. He knew that when the military faced these killing machines, bullets under 20mm caliber were only somewhat effective if they were fired continuously at their weakest points—the limbs, the abdomen, or the mouthparts within their Giant Mandibles.
As for other areas, like the Giant Mandibles themselves or the spider-like torso, it took small artillery shells to penetrate their thick armor.
That was why he'd used a three-round burst—to concentrate the shots on a single point, break through the Black Spine Zerg's thick armor, and temporarily cripple its rapid movements.
But seeing their companion fall injured didn't cause the other two to hesitate or show any fear. They continued their relentless pursuit.
Lin Feng knew those three shots would only slow the Black Spine Zerg, not deliver a fatal blow.
Of the three bullets, only the final one had managed to reduce the Black Spine Zerg's Life Value by thirty points.
And that was only because Lin Feng had timed it perfectly, pulling off a god-tier maneuver by landing a three-round burst on a single point.
Normal suppressive fire would have had minimal effect.
As the car picked up speed, the vibrations grew more violent. Combined with the force of the wind, it was difficult for Lin Feng to replicate such a Miracle with his subsequent shots.
Although most of his bullets hit their targets, he couldn't focus them on a single point.
A single bullet could only leave a shallow scratch on a Black Spine Zerg's exoskeleton.
Life Value -1. It was utterly non-lethal.
Furthermore, the two remaining Black Spine Zergs had already learned to evade his fire by leaping, rolling, and side-hopping.
The Black Spine Zergs' ability to learn and adapt was impressive, completely unlike the primitive arthropods of Blue Star.
Their Spiritual Attribute was a full six points. Anyone who treated them like ordinary bugs would learn a bloody lesson.
'They're like some kind of sci-fi concept weapon,' Lin Feng thought, 'like mechanical spiders, but far more agile.'
His subsequent shots went wide. Each bullet just sent sparks flying off their armor, doing nothing to stop their advance.
They were getting closer and closer to the convoy. One even reached the sedans at the back, leaped into the air, and smashed down onto a car roof, killing the survivors inside in seconds.
Now, only Qin Hu's group leading the way, Lin Feng's battle-damaged Land Rover, and the school bus at the rear remained.
Having destroyed all the sedans, the Black Spine Zergs pressed their advantage. Their goal wasn't to hunt for food but to eliminate all enemies in the vicinity.
In this fight to the death, the chase would only end when one side was completely incapacitated.
Lin Feng took a deep breath. He couldn't take them out from over a hundred meters away. His only option was to wait for them to get closer and then use Metal Storm, compensating for his low accuracy with a massive volume of fire.
'The closer they are, the less the bullets will spread,' he reasoned. 'The chance of hitting the same spot increases.'
Unfortunately, that meant waiting until they were within thirty or forty meters, by which point the school bus at the back would have already been overrun.
"A pity. You'll have to fend for yourselves," Lin Feng murmured with a sigh. His own abilities were limited; there was nothing he could do to help.
Just as the two Black Spine Zergs brandished their Giant Mandibles, about to tear into the school bus, a black dot WHOOSHED past Lin Feng's field of vision.
It scored a direct hit on one of them.
BOOM!
A massive explosion erupted from behind the school bus. The zerg that was hit staggered and collapsed, its limbs twitching as it struggled to get up and keep fighting, but it was incapacitated.
Lin Feng looked back to see Qin Hu leaning out of his car window. The grenade launcher under his rifle ejected a spent casing.
'So it was him...' Lin Feng thought.
As Qin Hu loaded another grenade and fired, a second explosion rang out. Both Black Spine Zergs collapsed from their wounds, and the crisis was temporarily resolved.
Lin Feng watched Qin Hu calmly lower his rifle. 'That guy's Level must be high. The skills of a professional special forces operator are not to be underestimated.'
After a few more kilometers of desperate driving, the convoy finally left the city limits. They reached a residential area in the suburbs, near a road sign for an Ecological Park.
After passing through the residential district, Zhang Xuan's car up ahead gradually slowed to a stop.
Chen Yanyan hit the brakes as well, pulling up to his left.
From where he sat, Lin Feng could see Professor Zhang Xuan. His face was ghastly pale, his lips were chapped, and he was gasping for breath. The hands he had on the steering wheel were trembling uncontrollably.
These were the symptoms of an adrenaline crash after a period of extreme stress.
For a sheltered professor, the life-or-death chase had been far too intense. On top of that, the group of survivors from Hai University had been stranded on a rooftop for a day and a night. Not only were they starving, but they were also mentally and physically exhausted.
Qin Hu noticed everyone's fatigue and decided they should stop to rest for a while and gather some supplies before moving on.
He got out of his vehicle and scanned the surroundings. Once he confirmed it was safe, he announced:
"We're over forty kilometers from the northern part of the city. We shouldn't see any Soldier Zergs here for now. Everyone, take a break. We'll leave in two hours."
"There should be some stores in the residential area nearby."
With that, Qin Hu headed toward the entrance of the nearby residential complex.
In their car, Zhang Xuan took a long drink of the water Liu Ruojiao handed him. He let out a deep sigh of relief and watched Qin Hu's retreating figure.
"We should go, too," he said. "We're out of food. If we don't eat something soon, I won't have the strength to drive."
Liu Ruojiao hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"Alright, I'll help you."
"Yueqi, you should come with us."
Liu Yueqi watched the two of them head toward the complex. She had wanted to ask for Lin Feng's opinion, but for now, she had no choice but to grab her blade and follow them.
'Those two are completely helpless,' she thought. 'If I'm not with them, they couldn't even handle a single Worker Zerg.'
The engine of the Land Rover was still running. Inside, Chen Yanyan stared at the wetland park outside, a flicker of recognition in her eyes.
"Let's check that place out," she said. "We might find something."
Lin Feng followed her gaze to the distant wetland park, confused. But he knew Chen Yanyan wouldn't suggest something without a good reason, so he waited for her to explain.
Seeing his expression, Chen Yanyan hesitated for a few seconds before explaining.
"There's a cluster of villas hidden inside that wetland park. It's a private resort area where the powerful elites of Hai City used to frequent."
She paused, then continued.
"Lin Youzhi owns one of them. It's worth several million. It was a 'gift' he received back when the area was being heavily developed."
"He used it to entertain important clients a few times..."
"...and I seem to remember there was a white RV in the villa's parking lot."
Lin Feng's eyes lit up, and a grin spread across his face.
"Entertaining clients?"
Chen Yanyan nodded, her expression distant as she recalled the past.
"Minor celebrities, online influencers... people like that. It had nothing to do with me, though. Lin Youzhi never spent the night. After the parties, I always had to drive him back to the city."
It made sense for her to know all this, being Lin Youzhi's assistant.
Now wasn't the time to judge their decadent lifestyle. In fact, he hoped they had been as extravagant as possible—it would mean more supplies left behind.
Lin Feng leaned back in his seat and grunted.
"Let's go. This Land Rover is shot to hell anyway. If it rains, we'll be soaked. An RV would be a much more comfortable ride for the rest of our escape."
Chen Yanyan immediately released the brake and drove toward the wetland park. She navigated through it, taking a long, winding route before arriving at a closed-off entrance flanked by chain-link fences topped with barbed wire.
An outsider would have a hard time finding this place.
Chen Yanyan floored it, ramming straight through the iron gate and onto the narrow road beyond.
After driving through a dense patch of woods, they soon spotted several villas nestled among the trees.
In the adjacent parking lot sat numerous luxury cars. At the far end was a tall, white vehicle. A closer look confirmed it was their target: the RV Chen Yanyan had mentioned.
It was a Class C Mercedes-Benz RV, with the characteristic bed over the driver's cabin that made it look like it had a large forehead.
It was about six meters long and three meters high, ran on gasoline, and was an automatic. It looked perfect, but unfortunately, they didn't have the key.
This type of RV was usually a rich man's toy. The owner wouldn't normally carry the key around, but would leave it in the villa to grab whenever they wanted to take it for a spin.
The place was now completely deserted. Anyone who could flee had already fled. Those who remained in the city had faced near-certain death.
After parking, Lin Feng took out his pistol, shot the lock off the villa's main door, and they barged in.
With the power out, the villa's security system was useless.
They split up to search faster.
Lin Feng didn't go into the villa with Chen Yanyan. Instead, he headed to the garage, pulled up the roll-up door, and found it filled with various repair tools and a modified sports car.
He went inside and spotted several sets of car keys hanging on a hook above the workbench. He found two with the Mercedes-Benz logo and took them outside to try them.
Sure enough, one of them was the key to the RV.
Lin Feng then went to find Chen Yanyan, and they began to systematically loot the villas.
Inside Lin Youzhi's villa, they found a large stash of expensive cigarettes and fine liquor, which they packed up to take with them.
This stuff wouldn't fill their stomachs, but to people who weren't short on food or water, it would be even more valuable.
But when they reached the second-floor bedroom...
The items on display in the room made Chen Yanyan blush to the roots of her hair, and she quickly stammered that she didn't know anything about them.
The corner of Lin Feng's mouth twitched. He told Chen Yanyan to find some clean bedding while he went back down to the kitchen. He cleared the refrigerator of any long-lasting ingredients, including spices, Cans, and other non-perishables.
This was all good stuff; he wasn't about to leave it behind.
After Lin Feng left, Chen Yanyan's embarrassment finally faded a little. While looking for new bedding, however, she found a lot of lingerie in a nearby wardrobe.
Blushing, Chen Yanyan picked out a few items that were her size and secretly tucked them into the bundle of sheets.
When they had finished scavenging, Lin Feng returned to the RV carrying two jerry cans of gasoline and various repair tools from the garage.
After he finished fueling up the RV, Chen Yanyan had already tidied up the interior. They started the engine and drove off.
Lin Feng settled comfortably into the passenger seat. The Divine-level Pistol in his hand had finally reached its Lv. 9 cap:
[Divine-level Pistol Lv. 9/9, White Quality]
[Damage: 40, Effective Range: 3 km, Remaining Bullets: 4000/4000]
[Extra Attributes: Bullet Recovery: 1/s, Spatial Magazine (4000 Reserve Ammo), Active Attribute: Metal Storm, Fire Rate: 9,000/min]
[Tier Jumping Upgrade Conditions: Upgrade Points 10/10 (Complete), Kill Black Spine Zergs 0/1 (Incomplete)]
[Note: Upon upgrading, Superpower Awakening will be available.]