Chapter3

“He doesn’t just have water! I saw with my own eyes that his cupboard was piled high with canned beef and luncheon meat! Enough to feed all of us for months!” Chloe’s shrill voice echoed in the fifth-floor stairwell. Ignoring Brad, who was on the verge of shock from blood loss and electric shock, she frantically fanned the flames of anger among the surrounding crowd.

In an apartment where water and food had been cut off for days and death was a constant threat, the word "meat" carried a deadly allure.

In the surveillance footage, more than a dozen greedy and fierce eyes were simultaneously cast towards the staircase leading to the sixth floor. Each person was holding demolition tools capable of causing death , such as large pipe wrenches, fire axes, and even hydraulic shears.

"Smash that door! Take back what belongs to us!" the burly man roared, and a dozen thugs, like a pack of hyenas smelling blood, rushed up to the sixth floor with heavy steps.

In less than ten seconds, the outer iron fence security door that I used as a buffer was destroyed.

Clang! Squeak—

Amidst sparks flying, a heavy hydraulic shears brutally severed the fence's hinges. The combined weight of more than a dozen people pressed down on it, and the outer iron gate let out a painful metallic groan before collapsing with a deafening crash.

Now, all that's left is that heavy security door that I welded shut.

"Pry it open for me!" the burly man leading the group roared.

A muscular, bald man pushed his way to the front, holding a heavy-duty steel crowbar nearly a meter long and as thick as a wrist. He found the gap between the security door and the frame, slightly warped from the earlier axe blows, and slammed the flat end of the crowbar into it!

"It's in! Push harder!"

Three or four thugs immediately rushed forward, pressing their hands firmly against the other end of the crowbar and desperately pressing it down using the principle of leverage.

"Creak... Bang!"

My heart sank. With a piercing metallic twisting sound, a small hole was torn open in the anti-pry edge of the security door, and the angle irons that were originally welded into the wall cracked under the strain. A wisp of cold air, carrying a strong, acrid smell, crept in through the crack.

The gap in the door is widening. Once the airtightness completely fails, even if the door doesn't fall, poisonous gas and nematodes will flood into my shelter.

Through the barely two-centimeter-wide crack in the door, I could clearly see the bald man's thick fingers gripping the edge of the door frame for leverage.

I swung the octagonal iron hammer and smashed it down hard on those fingers!

"Pfft! Crack!"

The hammer precisely smashed through flesh, and the chilling sound of bones shattering echoed through the narrow corridor!

"Aaaaaah—my hand!" The bald man let out a bloodcurdling scream, the excruciating pain in his fingers causing him to instantly release his grip and fall backward.

Having lost a key point of leverage, the expansion of the door gap abruptly stopped.

But the other thugs were already blinded by rage, and they continued to press down on the crowbar while stepping on the bald man's body.

"Since you're in such a hurry to come in, I'll give you a little something extra."

I sneered and kicked open the lid of a plastic box at my feet. It was filled with waste engine oil I had siphoned from an abandoned car downstairs, mixed with a lot of shards of glass that I had deliberately smashed.

I grabbed a wide-mouthed snow shovel and frantically shoveled the sticky, deadly mixture through the gap at the bottom of the door into the hallway outside.

Black waste oil instantly spread across the smooth tiles of the corridor.

"What is that? Damn it, it's so slippery!"

"I can't hold on any longer!"

The thugs at the front, who were exerting force, suddenly slipped, and the huge reaction force caused them to lose their balance instantly and crash heavily onto the oil-splattered floor.

"Sizzle—"

Sharp shards of glass mixed with engine oil mercilessly sliced through their clothes, embedding themselves deep in their hands, thighs, and cheeks. The corridor was instantly filled with screams of agony as blood mingled with the dark brown engine oil, creating a scene as gruesome as a slaughterhouse.

I didn't stop. Taking advantage of their disarray, I grabbed the electrified spear again and, like a viper striking, stabbed them repeatedly through the widening crack in the door with precise and ruthless accuracy.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Each time the carbon fiber blade protrudes, it leaves a bloody hole in the thigh or shoulder.

A strong, nauseating smell of blood filled the cramped corridor, overpowering the odors of industrial alcohol and acid rain.

That's not enough.

In this isolated, vast island, the intense smell of blood was equivalent to the strongest rallying cry.

Just as the rioters outside were trying to help each other to their feet, preparing for a hysterical second attack, without warning—

Boom!!!

The entire apartment building shook violently!

Dust fell from the walls in a flurry, and the incandescent light bulbs overhead flickered wildly.

The thugs in the surveillance video froze, their mouths agape in terror.

"Crackling—bang!"

A dull, heart-stopping thud came from beneath their feet. This was followed by the terrifying sound of concrete shattering.

I quickly switched to the monitoring camera.

In the scene at the third-floor stairwell, a black shadow twice the size of the one that appeared on the second floor is frantically crashing against the load-bearing wall of the third floor, fueled by the rising water level.

The murky floodwaters, mixed with debris, surged wildly into the lower floors. From the gaping maw of the behemoth, covered with rows of serrated teeth, came a low, greedy roar.

"Monster...monster! A monster has surfaced from the water!!"

Someone finally screamed hysterically in despair.

Ahead lies an impenetrable steel wall that will retaliate fiercely, while behind are terrifying killers, like ancient crocodiles, drawn by their blood.

"Step back! Let me pass! Don't block my way!"

The thugs who had been calling each other brothers just moments before instantly turned on each other, shoving and trampling each other in a frenzy. Crowbars fell to the ground and no one picked them up; seriously injured comrades were mercilessly trampled underfoot, letting out desperate cries and screams as they fled in panic toward the higher staircase.

I coldly pulled back the broom and re-welded the blood-stained defensive hole to seal it.

Through the monitor screen, I coldly watched this one-sided and brutal massacre.

The colossal, bone-plate-like beast, with a terrifying explosive force disproportionate to its size, forced its way into the narrow stairwell and furiously pounced upwards, drawn by the sweet, pungent smell of blood. The last few thugs didn't even have time to let out a proper scream. The beast's gaping maw, covered in rows of jagged, serrated teeth, snapped shut with a sharp, resounding "crack," pulverizing the bald man's upper body and most of his spine.

Blood mixed with entrails rained down, splattered like graffiti on the stark white walls.

"Help! Don't leave me—"

Desperate cries echoed throughout. Some tried to fight back with their heavy hydraulic shears, but the heavy steel shears couldn't even leave a mark on the behemoth's thick, grayish-brown bone plates.

This was not a battle at all, but a meal with no suspense whatsoever. In less than two minutes, the stairwell between the fifth and sixth floors was completely covered with severed limbs and glaring blood, and the sticky sound of chewing bones became the only echo in the corridor.

Heavy, blood-stained footsteps approached the sixth floor, and the enormous body of the beast completely filled the surveillance camera view outside the door.

I gripped the high-voltage electric spear tightly in my hand, instinctively holding my breath.

The next second, the surveillance screen went black.

"boom--!!!"

A terrifying force, like a heavy truck crashing at full speed, slammed into my security door without warning!

A heart-wrenching scream erupted from the entire building as lime and debris rained down from the ceiling like a waterfall during a massive earthquake. Even with multiple layers of protection, the steel plate of the heavy security door still groaned in agony, twisting violently in the middle with a huge arc.

The huge shockwave from the door sent me staggering back three steps, my back slamming heavily against the load-bearing wall of the living room, making my internal organs churn.

"Crack...bang!"

Inside the wall, the thick angle irons that I had welded tightly to the door frame began to crack under the strain.

The behemoth took a half step back, letting out an extremely greedy roar from its throat. Its massive body muscles bulged once more, and it launched a second round of deadly bombardment at my crumbling barrier of despair!