When they were three to four hundred meters away from everyone, the Doctor immediately made the decision and ordered them to fire.
The bullets quickly struck them. The three mutant beasts at the very front let out a “meow-ow” cry, then leaped to the side, dodging the bullets that continued flying toward them without stopping. Their forward speed immediately slowed down.
Mutant beasts were living creatures. Compared with zombie beasts, their advantage was that they possessed intelligence and the ability to think. At the same time, however, like all living creatures, they could also feel pain.
The bullets did not seem to cause them much actual damage, but they brought them an intense sensation of pain. Because of the pain, they temporarily slowed their attack.
The effective gunfire caused these mutant beasts, which regarded the humans before them as prey, to begin feeling wary.
Seeing that the bullets were not very effective, the Doctor spread both hands. Two vines immediately danced through the air, and soon shot toward the several monsters like sharp swords.
“Stop firing. Ordinary people, go to the back. If they get close, then open fire again.” The Doctor fought while not forgetting to instruct everyone.
“They seem to be cats,” Chu Tian said.
Quan Xiaoyu nodded. With a single leap, he gripped his katana tightly and silently charged toward the front-left.
The mutant cats over there reacted extremely quickly. They soon sensed the threat coming from the prey before them and immediately assumed their accustomed battle formation.
It seemed that this was not the first time they had provoked humans. They appeared to have quite a lot of experience as well!
Thinking this, the Doctor changed his vines’ attack from stabbing to whipping. He directly lashed them into the group of cats, whipping wildly and forcibly separating them.
By now, everyone had clearly seen that the mutant beasts consisted of five mutant cats of different colors.
Their current bodies were slightly larger than leopards. Their eyes emitted a faint green glow, their paws were covered in sharp claws, and four sharp canine teeth protruded from their lips, flashing with several traces of cold light.
Quan Xiaoyu charged directly toward the pure-black mutant cat and swung his blade at its throat.
This black cat seemed to be the leader of this group of mutant cats.
Capture the leader first when capturing the bandits.
But the black cat neither dodged nor avoided him. Instead, it pounced back, charging toward Quan Xiaoyu.
The other mutant cats also pounced forward at the same time, all attacking Quan Xiaoyu alone.
The Doctor’s vines followed immediately, lashing away the four that wanted to help.
Quan Xiaoyu and the black cat became entangled in combat, and for a moment, neither could gain the upper hand.
The remaining mutant cats were not stupid either. They seemed to have plenty of experience dealing with humans. Very quickly, two mutant cats each became entangled with one of the Doctor’s vines, leaving him with no free hand.
“They’re coming over. Bufan, get ready to attack,” Chu Tian said calmly.
He and the water-type ability user Zhao Bufan were responsible for the battle at the rear.
Sure enough, once the two mutant cats had freed themselves, they immediately withdrew from the battle in front and pounced toward the people at the rear.
The Doctor was furious inside. On this highway in the city center, there was not even a single plant that he could use. If this had been somewhere outdoors with dense vegetation, he alone would have been enough to deal with these five creatures.
Chu Tian and Zhao Bufan stood on the left and right respectively, each blocking one side and preventing the mutant cats from advancing any farther.
Zhao Bufan threw a water ball at one of them, hitting the mutant cat directly in the head and smashing it to the ground. But after only a moment, it shook its head and stood back up.
The results on Chu Tian’s side were no better. His mental-type attacks were powerful weapons against both humans and zombies. Over the past two months, his mental power combined with Quan Xiaoyu’s physical combat abilities had practically swept everything before them during their previous battles to collect supplies, and they had repeatedly emerged victorious.
However, today, they had finally met their match in these mutant cats.
His mental attack only made the mutant cat dizzy for a while. It soon climbed back up again. The effect was actually almost the same as the water ball from the support-type ability user.
Chu Tian, who had originally been completely at ease, could not help but become more serious.
“Our attacks are ineffective against them. The situation isn’t good. You two need to finish this quickly,” Chu Tian shouted to the Doctor and Quan Xiaoyu.
At this moment, the battle in front was already at its fiercest. Two humans and three beasts were fighting together, locked in a fierce struggle, and neither of them had a free hand.
Old Wu and Bai Mingxi hurried forward, raised their guns, and fired, slowing down the two mutant beasts as they advanced toward the rear.
“Hold on a little longer! We’ll finish it as quickly as possible!” the Doctor replied.
Just then, Li Nan’s anxious voice suddenly rang out from the rear.
“Brother Tian, something’s wrong! It looks like zombies are coming from behind!”
The reason they had chosen this highway was because they had discovered that there were very few zombies here. Now that zombies were coming from the other end, they had obviously been attracted by the gunshots from here just now.
Hearing Li Nan’s shout, Quan Xiaoyu swung the blade he had been charging up for a long time. It actually sliced open the black cat’s skin from its neck all the way down to the root of its left foreleg.
The black cat let out a miserable cry, its body tilting to one side. Seeing his opportunity, the Doctor also broke free from one of the mutant cats entangling him. His vines attacked the black cat’s wound directly. Taking advantage of the black cat’s slowed movements from its injury and the opening Quan Xiaoyu had cut into its skin, the vines pierced straight through the black cat’s body, stabbing completely through its heart.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Quan Xiaoyu turned around and went to support the battle at the rear.
Seeing Quan Xiaoyu join the battle, Old Wu and Bai Mingxi hurriedly retreated. They did not dare fire their guns anymore and returned to join Li Nan in guarding against the zombies approaching from behind.
The death of the black cat did not make the remaining four mutant cats retreat. Instead, they all began howling, one after another, and then became even more furious, their attacks growing increasingly savage.
Apart from Quan Xiaoyu, none of the people present had any experience dealing with mutant beasts. The rhythm of the battle was thrown into chaos, and for a moment, everyone became somewhat flustered.
Yet in the distance, the zombies that heard the howls of the mutant cats actually stopped miraculously. They seemed somewhat hesitant to move forward.
This left Bai Mingxi, Li Nan, and the others looking at one another in confusion, unable to understand what was happening.
Fortunately, with Quan Xiaoyu joining Chu Tian’s side, two support-type disruptors and one powerful combatant quickly gained the upper hand.
This time, it was Quan Xiaoyu’s katana that pierced through the heart of one of the mutant cats.
The three people fighting at the rear simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. Zhao Bufan was already showing signs of exhaustion. If they failed to kill even one of them, the advantage they had fought to obtain earlier could very likely be overturned once again.
At this moment, however, the battle on the Doctor’s side suddenly changed.
One of the two mutant cats that had been locked in a stalemate with his vines suddenly charged straight toward a vine the Doctor had thrust out.
This suicidal action caught the Doctor by surprise, disrupting the rhythm of the battle for several seconds.
And it was precisely during those few seconds that the other mutant cat swiftly pounced toward Quan Xiaoyu, who was engaged in battle.
Because Quan Xiaoyu was concentrating on dealing with the battle at the rear and had entrusted his back to the Doctor, he did not notice the change.
By the time the Doctor understood the mutant cat’s intention and turned around to intercept it, it was already too late. The mutant cat’s sharp teeth and Quan Xiaoyu’s neck were already within inches of each other.
Zhao Bufan had temporarily lost his combat ability, so Chu Tian was doing everything he could to help Quan Xiaoyu trip up the mutant cat.
This time, he was the first to notice Quan Xiaoyu’s danger. But it was already too late for him to do anything.
Therefore, his body made the decision faster than his brain. He turned sideways and swiftly blocked Quan Xiaoyu from behind.
The mutant cat’s sharp teeth pierced straight through Chu Tian’s shoulder blade.
The Doctor’s rescue arrived at that moment. Two vines together pierced straight through the mutant cat.
The intense pain almost numbed Chu Tian’s entire body, but he still gritted his teeth and remained standing. The battle was not over yet. There absolutely could not be anyone on their side who fell first.
Quan Xiaoyu also sensed that something was wrong behind him, but he could not turn around. If he became distracted even for a moment, the mutant cat might escape his attack range and pounce toward the other people at the rear.
“Xiao Tian!” Bai Mingxi shouted and ran toward the injured Chu Tian.
Quan Xiaoyu knew that something must have happened. The movements of his hands became more urgent, and the Doctor’s assistance joined in at that moment as well. The two strongest combatants jointly dealing with one mutant cat left no suspense about the outcome.
The battle ended with the miserable cry of the final mutant cat.
After the battle ended, the very first thing Quan Xiaoyu did was turn around to look for Chu Tian.
As the last mutant cat fell, Chu Tian also collapsed. Bai Mingxi, who had rushed over, caught him and held him in his arms.
The first thing Quan Xiaoyu saw was that half of Chu Tian’s shoulder was covered in blood. Two visible holes had been torn into his shoulder, and blood was still pouring out. He instantly panicked, rushing forward and pressing both hands over Chu Tian’s wounds, completely at a loss for what to do.
Bai Mingxi was also terrified. Holding Chu Tian, he kept calling out, “Xiao Tian, Xiao Tian.”
Chu Tian merely smiled at them.
“I’m fine. Don’t be nervous…”
But at that moment, Quan Xiaoyu suddenly thought of something. He abruptly raised his head and looked toward Li Nan.
Bai Mingxi thought of it too. He also looked toward Li Nan, his eyes filled with pleading.
Quan Xiaoyu was different. When he looked at Li Nan, there was not only hope in his gaze, but also a trace of complicated emotion and guilt.
Li Nan quickly understood what they meant. He smiled and nodded.
He came to Chu Tian’s side and knelt down, only to see Chu Tian struggling to shake his head at him.
Li Nan shook his head as well, returning a smile to Chu Tian, then placed both hands over Chu Tian’s wound.
In an instant, a holy white light emerged from his palms, covering the wound that had been pierced through Chu Tian’s shoulder blade.
Apart from Quan Xiaoyu and Bai Mingxi, everyone else stared in stunned disbelief.
Li Nan understood what they meant.
Bai Mingxi was begging him to save Chu Tian, without thinking about anything else.
Brother Xiaoyu hoped that he would save Chu Tian, but was also worried that exposing his ability would put him in danger, and therefore felt guilty toward him.
Chu Tian also did not want him to expose himself, so he shook his head to stop him.
But how could he possibly, for the sake of his own safety, stand by and watch a companion who had fought alongside him for more than two months fall into danger without doing anything?
Besides, Chu Tian had been injured because he was saving Brother Xiaoyu!
Everyone had always treated him like a child and worked hard to protect him, so they should at least give him some opportunities to repay them too.