A huge thank you to Cheezytimez, Heavenly_Devil, Scar_Wolf, SharonsFlame, Janet_Warden_8471, Krystal_Brandyburg, Voxram, and DLK for the Golden Tickets! Your support truly means a lot and keeps me motivated to continue writing and improving the story.
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The moment Lawrence gave the order, the first twenty Survivors immediately rushed toward the Hospital entrance.
However, before they could even step fully inside. "Swish!!" "Swish!!" "Swish!!"
A storm of arrows suddenly erupted from within the Hospital darkness.
The arrows moved even faster than bullets.
Each arrow carried terrifying penetrating power.
"Splurt!!"
The first man had his chest pierced clean through.
"AHHH!!"
Another survivor had his skull blown apart by a rotating thorn arrow.
The charging formation instantly collapsed into chaos.
And the most terrifying thing was, the arrows never stopped.
Archy and Ranzy stood deep within the Hospital corridor, continuously firing without pause.
Their attacks completely sealed the entrance.
Under the overwhelming suppressive firepower, the twenty-man assault team instantly fell into despair.
"Boss! Save me!!"
"AHHHHH!!"
"Retreat! Retreat!!"
Some Survivors tried escaping immediately after seeing their companions die.
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
The rain of arrows continuously swept across the ground.
Screams, roars, and desperate cries echoed nonstop throughout the Hospital entrance.
Under the terrifying ranged suppression of Archy and Ranzy, those twenty Survivors did not even last ten seconds before every single one of them collapsed onto the ground.
Outside the Hospital, the Brown Wood Shelter group immediately erupted in a flurry of whispers.
This sudden scene, let alone them, even Lawrence hadnāt expected.
At this moment, he had a ghost-struck expression on his face.
My faction of several hundred people is still using handguns and submachine guns, yet these arrows are somehow stronger. However, Lawrence didnāt know that these were not ordinary arrows, they were shot by Archer Druids.
It could only be said that Lawrence was truly worthy of being a Shelter Leader.
Despite his surprise, he quickly regained his composure and rushed toward the hospital without hesitation.
These arrows were effective against his subordinates, but for a powerful survivor like him, whose Physique exceeded 60 points, they posed little threat.
"As long as I deal with those two children, these terrifying bows and arrows will be mine."
But before Lawrence could reach the Archer Druids, Gardi arrived and blocked his path.
Lawrence thought a mere child with a shield wouldnāt be able to do much. That was his biggest mistake. Before he could even react, he found himself flying backward through the air.
He crashed heavily in front of his group with a wound on his face.
One must know that after inheriting the assets of Frost Shelter, Lawrenceās four-dimensional stats, especially his Physique, had reached an average of 68 points. With such powerful stats, he could act arrogantly almost anywhere. Yet in the blink of an eye, he had been sent flying back without understanding what had happened.
He wasnāt the only one shocked by this.
The subordinates he had recruited over the past two days watched their boss get thrown backward like a dog. They couldnāt help but whisper among themselves. Since they had only recently joined, they had no real sense of loyalty. Lawrenceās poor performance today naturally made them even more disloyal.
Lawrenceās expression tightened. If these people ran away because of this, it would become much harder for him to conquer other survivor groups in the area later.
Realizing the situation was turning against him, Lawrence softened his expression. He forced what he believed was a friendly smile and spoke to Vikram:
"Hello, we have no prior grievances. Besides, this hospital resource point doesnāt belong exclusively to you. I only sent my subordinates scavenging for supplies. Why do you need to be so ruthless?"
"Are you stupid or am I stupid?" Vikram replied coldly. "Do you think in the apocalypse it matters who discovered the resource point first? Or are you seriously begging me to let you off?"
Lawrence had hoped to negotiate, but Vikram completely disregarded his attempt.
Seeing this, even now Vikram was treated like an air, and his subordinates died. Logically, he should have acted to kill this kid.
But he has some unknown fear, he had also learned from his subordinates that the guy had gone upstairs to fight the Legendary Zombie. At first, he thought that since he had gone upstairs, he would not return alive.
After all, fighting a Legendary-level creature was basically suicide. Although that guyās strength was similar to or even stronger than his own, dealing with a Legendary-level monster was still wishful thinking. He assumed Vikram had become the zombieās delicious and nutritious lunch.
But when he actually saw Vikram return downstairs unharmed, it meant he had survived an encounter with a Legendary-level creature.
He had to weigh whether he was qualified to make a move.
However, he had a brain, but that didnāt mean his subordinates had.
"Damn it, Boss, this kid is too arrogant, acting like this just because he killed our Shelterās subordinates."
"Are we, with so many people, afraid of them? No way, Boss, I canāt stand it anymore. Iāll teach this kid a lesson for you first."
Having just been recruited, these new members all started at the same point.
Their idea was that if someone could show off in front of Lawrence, they might get appreciated and secure a high position.
That person from before was basically at the bottom of the strength list; any random person from their group could beat him.
So, everyone only found Vikramās previous move sudden, not frightening.
At this moment, as soon as the words fell, before Lawrence could stop them, they rushed towards Vikram, brandishing their knives, one after another.
Seeing a group of people attacking Vikram, Warrior was ready to interrupt.
But Vikram stopped him. Seeing that, Lawrence thought Vikram had lost his reasoning with fear.
At this time, Vikram was surrounded by a crowd, with various weapons attacking from all directions.
But just as these weapons were about to touch Vikramās body, several screams suddenly erupted from the crowd.
"Ah!"
"Ouch!"
Lawrence looked and found that a shadow was appearing and disappearing, and before his members could touch him, they started falling down.
And from Vikramās attitude, he didnāt look even a little bit serious.
And yes, Vikram didnāt care about them, no matter how many of these small fries there were, they were no match for any of his Plants Team.
Even Phanty didnāt even bother to take out his weapon; he just casually moved his fists and feet, and these Survivors, who didnāt know their place, were sent flying several meters away.
Even without being serious, among these Survivors, the least injured had at least shattered internal organs and would definitely not survive.
These Survivors who rushed forward only wanted to pick on the weak, but now they saw that even a child beside Vikram was so terrifying.
Their faces changed drastically, and they all retreated behind Lawrence.
Seeing this situation, Lawrence cursed inwardly, "What are these good-for-nothing wastes here for?"
His own subordinates, trained by Brown Wood Shelter, if they encountered such a situation, even if they werenāt fearless, they wouldnāt hide behind him.
Shaking his head, Lawrence looked at Vikram.
He seemed to know that there was nothing left to discuss between the two sides. Having watched from the side earlier, he could more or less guess that Vikramās strength was similar to his own.
So he asked the question burning in his mind, "Before we fight, I just want to know one thing, how did you escape from a Legendary-level zombie?"
"As far as I know, a Legendary-level is far from a monster that someone of your or my level can deal with."
Even after seeing the battle between Phanty and his subordinates, he still didnāt understand.
Vikram scoffed indifferently. "Who told you I escaped from a Legendary-level?"
Hearing this, Lawrenceās eyes lit up, and he thought to himself, āThatās right. A Survivor with a physique similar to mine, how could he really be stupid enough to look for a Legendary-level?ā
At first, he was a little worried that the other party had some trump card and he might not be able to beat Vikram.
Now it seemed he had overthought everything. Vikram hadnāt even gone to fight a Legendary-level creature.
Hearing the answer he most wanted to hear, Lawrenceās eyes gleamed with confidence.
"Good. Then I want to ask one thing, can you fight me alone, without your children?" Vikram said. He knew that although the children behind Lawrence looked young, they were far from ordinary.
Vikram thought for a moment before replying, "Alright, it will be just between you and me."
Hearing this, Lawrence smiled. He wasted no more time on idle chatter. Drawing his Epic-level weapon, he swung it in a wide semicircle through the air and brought it down toward Vikram with full force.
Lawrence had no intention of holding back. His momentum surged to its peak.
"Iāll take good care of your woman for you. Die!!"
As the katana descended, the onlookers held their breath, all sensing the lethal danger of the strike.
But the outcome was nothing like they had imagined. There was no scene of Vikramās body being sliced apart.
"Whack!"
Just as the katana was about to strike Vikramās head, he casually raised his hand and lightly slapped the back of Lawrenceās sword hand.
That seemingly gentle blow struck like lightning. Lawrenceās entire arm went numb in an instant. The katana flew from his grasp and landed precisely in Warryās hand.
"How is that possible?" Lawrence shouted in disbelief. "We have similar strength! How could you knock my weapon away with just one blow?"
Vikram shrugged casually. "You guess. If you guess correctly, Iāll tell you."
Lawrenceās expression shifted rapidly as he observed Vikramās relaxed demeanor and the changing faces of the surrounding survivors. Although he didnāt fully understand what had just happened, retreating now was clearly not an option.
Gritting his teeth, Lawrence took out a red shard and swallowed it immediately.
This was none other than the Crimson Shard that had appeared during the early days of the Wasteland.
[Crimson Shard: Blue-grade. Temporarily increases all four-dimensional stats by 5 points for 2 minutes. Collect ten shards to synthesize a Crimson Orb.]
These items had disappeared after the Crimson Creatures were wiped out. However, as a Shelter Boss, Lawrence had hoarded many of them, knowing they would prove useful in critical moments.
The moment he swallowed the shard, a faint bloody aura began radiating from his body, similar to the effect of Vikramās Berserk Mode skill. In addition to the stat boost, the Crimson Shard also numbed the userās senses.
Lawrenceās eyes turned bloodshot. At this moment, he no longer cared about anything. His entire aura became wild and frenzied.
As soon as his enhanced physique stabilized, he lunged forward again, carrying a strong scent of blood. Both arms raised high with palms open, he attacked Vikramās head from both sides in a vicious pincer move.
"Die for me!"
His palms, enlarged by the power of the Crimson Shard, were now larger than Vikramās entire face. For an ordinary person, this attack would have been fatal, their skull would have been crushed.
But the man standing before him was someone who had faced a Legendary Zombie.
No matter how much Lawrence mutated, in Vikramās eyes, this was nothing more than a minor skirmish.
He simply raised his arms slightly, and the two massive, swollen palms were effortlessly pushed apart.
Lawrenceās frenzied expression suddenly froze. A moment of clarity flashed in his eyes.
"No... We are not on the same level of power at all!"
"Run!"
"I must run!"
"Otherwise, Iāll die!!"
ā
The onlookers only saw a hint of fear and despair in Lawrenceās frantic expression.
The next second, Lawrenceās fierce offensive instantly ended, and he turned to flee.
However, Vikram, who had been smiling, finally spoke, "Can you escape?"
For some reason, though it was a very ordinary sentence, a chill ran down the spines of everyone present, giving them goosebumps.
As if to confirm their fears, Lawrence, who was about to rush out of the Hospital, didnāt even have time to leave.
A massive force, accompanied by a fierce wind, surged towards him.
"Pfft!"
"Crash!"
With just one punch, half of Lawrenceās body was shattered, turning into a bloody mist full of a fishy smell that dispersed into the air.
During this, some fragments of internal organs also scattered across the floor.
Lawrenceās physique was miles apart from Vikramās, so how could he possibly escape?
Lawrence, the leader of Brown Wood Shelter, was living his life like a king, but now he was dead.