Long-Awaited Melee

Before setting out, Feng Hanyun emptied the contents of the first aid kit in the shelter. Since they couldn't bring the box with them (as it would beep incessantly once taken out of the shelter, triggering a countdown of ten seconds before forcefully folding back), they left it behind.

Two severely injured survivors were among them—one had a finger-length wound in the abdomen from ant bites, while the other had their eye pierced by climbing ants, with their femoral artery bitten through. Feng Hanyun could perform a simple operation to suture the former, but the latter had already ceased breathing after such a long time.

After packing their belongings, everyone prepared to leave with Tom, but Wang Zixiong discovered a group of ants.

This time, there were about fifty to sixty small ants, over twenty medium-sized ones, and even a soldier ant they hadn't encountered in the room before.

Seeing the mutated soldier ant charging ahead with its head held high, Tom instinctively wanted to blast it away with a single shot. However, considering the number of smaller ants, the old street armor wasn't agile enough. He immediately instructed Lin Meiqi to help him remove the armor and ordered Wang Zixiong to go first.

With excited shouts, Wang Zixiong rushed forward. He wielded his long spear with skill, swiftly dispatching several mutated worker ants that charged at him. As for the smaller ants, they couldn't penetrate his armor even if they climbed onto him.

Although some ants were drawn to Wang Zixiong, most of them bypassed him and headed towards the survivors.

Meanwhile, Yu Fei was already prepared. All four men had numerous wounds from ant bites, and although they had some experience, they were still very afraid.

Tom quickly removed the old street armor. Now in simple clothing, he only had metal gloves for protection. Lin Meiqi asked, "Tom, are you going to fight without protection? That's quite dangerous."

Tom smiled at her and grabbed a spare long spear before rushing to Feng Hanyun's side.

A medium-sized ant was the first to approach Feng Hanyun, aiming to bite her feet. She screamed and was about to flee when Tom swiftly arrived, wrapped his arm around her waist, gently pushed her back, and accurately stabbed the steel needle long spear into the connection between the mutant ant's head and body, pinning it in place.

"Don't be afraid, you're safe!" Tom said, letting go of her and pushing her away. He then lifted up the mutant ant with one hand and swung his machete with the other, beheading it directly.

With the machete back in its sheath, Tom wielded the steel needle long spear to deal with the approaching swarm of ants.

In terms of fighting style, Wang Zixiong was clearly more elegant, having a martial arts background. Each move he made was precise and graceful, resembling a martial arts master's performance in a movie. Of course, compared to the fluidity seen in movies, his movements were more straightforward. Nevertheless, his attacks were swift, precise, and ruthless, each one executed flawlessly.

In contrast, Tom's style was much simpler. As a street fighter since childhood, he had been in numerous brawls, even participating in street fights to make a living after leaving his sister. Thus, in the battle against ants, he had no fancy moves, just improvisation.

Whether it was kicking, stabbing, or beheading with a machete, when someone was in danger, he even got close to use his hands to fight.

Although Wang Zixiong appeared more suave, all three women present were captivated by Tom's figure. From their initial meeting until now, except for in the shelter, their impression of Tom had always been a tall figure clad in iron armor. They subconsciously thought that Tom relied on that eccentrically defensive armor to fight his way here.

However, when Tom removed his armor for agility's sake, they realized that Tom's skills and experience in pure hand-to-hand combat far surpassed Wang Zixiong's.

It's worth noting that Wang Zixiong relied on his armor to protect vital areas and fought openly. He didn't mind being bitten if he got too close.

On the other hand, Tom engaged in combat without any protection. One wrong move could result in a bite. Although sometimes he appeared somewhat awkward while dodging bites, to the onlookers, Tom seemed to be dancing on the edge of a knife. Watching him, they felt the danger looming and couldn't help but feel nervous, yet Tom's demeanor showed no signs of panic or fear.

Like Liu Liqing, Feng Hanyun was initially dissatisfied with Tom's appearance in the oversized armor, thinking he was just showing off. She regarded his claims of risking his life to save them and warnings about the dangerous outside world as tricks commonly used by men to deceive women.

However, now, seeing the gruesome fate of those who had been bitten to death by the ants and contrasting it with Tom's calmness in facing them without any protection, they realized that the man before them was genuine in his actions, unpretentious, and unconcerned about the opinions of women. He wasn't using flattery to woo them, but was genuinely risking his life on the precipice of life and death. Such capital wasn't necessary for showing off.

Lin Meiqi, on the other hand, didn't have as complex thoughts as the two "old" women. From the beginning, she never doubted Tom's motives. In her eyes, Tom's behavior over the past few days had constantly reshaped her assessment of him, and the more she interacted with him, the more she felt that following Tom would allow her to explore this magical and unknown world more freely.

She hated herself for being highly intelligent, having a strong memory, and possessing quick and rigorous logical reasoning skills. Many things became predictable to her with just a little pondering, which made life dull for her. That's why she preferred playing those pay-to-win mobile games. Even though she knew the probability of the pseudo-algorithm was fake, every card draw resulted in a new combination, adding a bit of excitement to her otherwise boring life.

But now, things had changed. People had shrunk, and animals were preying on humans. Both humans and animals could potentially acquire new abilities. This unknown world and life were exactly what she yearned for.

"God of Slaughter!" Watching Tom's precise attacks, Lin Meiqi licked her lips excitedly. "I'm sticking with you."

Tom had never intended to show off in front of women. The reason he chose to fight without armor was twofold: first, considering that the survivors lacked self-defense capabilities, cumbersome old street armor wouldn't allow him to swiftly deal with small ants; second, he wanted to take the opportunity to breathe freely and loosen his muscles and joints.

Since he acquired the old street zero-grade armor, every time he went into battle, he targeted key objectives. Those small ants like kittens and puppies, as well as cockroaches, were handled by waves and others. It had been a long time since he had relaxed and freely moved around in combat. Now was a good opportunity for him to stretch his muscles and joints.

To train his reflexes, this time he didn't even activate the second-level red crystal on his arm, relying entirely on his own strength in combat.

When the last ant was killed, Tom leaned on the steel needle long spear, wiping the sweat from his forehead. After catching his breath, he scanned the others. "Is anyone injured?"

The four men shook their heads in unison and answered, "No." They had participated in the fight, but it was just a few scattered ants and not very dangerous. Those were deliberately overlooked by Tom, serving as additional combat experience for them.

Unexpectedly, Feng Hanyun rushed over. "Tom, you're injured, let me bandage you." She started disinfecting and bandaging him.

Tom didn't refuse. After all, the injuries were minor, so he let her handle them.

Wang Zixiong waved the body of a medium-sized ant and chuckled, "Boss, that was so much fun. But I didn't expect your skills to be so impressive."

"To survive, you have to fight hard. But fighting hard alone isn't enough; you also have to use your brains." He said this to Yu Fei and the other four, hoping they would gain some insights during the battle and not rely solely on brute force.

Wang Zixiong tossed the body of the medium-sized ant to Yu Fei and carried his spear to the corpse of the mutant soldier ant. Laughing heartily, he said, "Boss, you hit the nail on the head! This big guy was taken down by you as soon as the battle started. What a pity." He then squatted down to dig out its brain.

Tom organized the men to quickly clean up the bodies of the medium-sized ants, urging them to dig out the gems as soon as possible and get ready to leave. Feng Hanyun skillfully bandaged his wounds, occasionally making some small movements during the process.

She accidentally rubbed against Tom's arm with her chest; found an opportunity to bring her face close to his, gently exhaling with a hint of female hormones; and even more boldly, pretended to be unaware and used her fingers to draw circles on Tom's chest. Tom began to feel a little unsettled in certain areas.

"Enough." Realizing the problem, Tom gently pushed Feng Hanyun away, took the piece of cloth from her hand, and wiped off the ant secretion from his face before turning and walking away. However, his somewhat unnatural walking posture revealed a certain physiological response, which caused Feng Hanyun, who had "experience," to cover her mouth and chuckle.

Lin Meiqi was busy digging out crystals with Wang Zixiong, but Liu Liqing observed Feng Hanyun's every move. A sense of unwillingness and jealousy flashed in her eyes as she stood aside and whispered, "Trying to seduce this man? Huh, shameless! I won't let you succeed!"

Tom had never even held a woman's hand, so when faced with Feng Hanyun's deliberate teasing, he naturally felt a bit at a loss. The sudden acceleration of his heartbeat and the stirring in certain areas made him somewhat pleased. However, reason told him that now was not the time to indulge in such experiences. In the darkness, dangers lurked everywhere, ready to strike at any moment. As the leader of the team, he had to keep a clear head at all times, discover hidden dangers and potential threats, and respond promptly to ensure the safety of everyone and bring them back to the sanctuary.

Staying here was not an option. Maybe the floor was too high, or maybe the area was too wide. The pheromones left behind by the ants before weren't many, but as other ants followed them one after another, they would also leave behind pheromones. The result was that the pheromones guiding the ants to forage here would accumulate more and more, eventually attracting all the surrounding ant colonies.

So Tom decided they must move quickly and return to the Redemption Shelter.

By now, it was already dark, and the wind was raging outside the window. As they prepared to leave, they heard the loud pitter-patter of heavy rain. It wasn't realistic to return in such heavy rain, so Tom decided to take them to other rooms on the third floor to wait temporarily until the rain stopped.