“Alright, save your bullets, it’s already dead!”

Just as Grey Bear decisively discarded his rifle and drew a pistol from the holster on his thigh, Duan Lei's voice sounded again, though this time, his voice was noticeably weak.

This mutated crocodile must have been quite close to becoming a Level Two mutated beast. Duan Lei's mental control, which could usually control beings of his own level for three minutes, only lasted a few dozen seconds when controlling this creature before he felt like he couldn't hold on any longer.

But fearing that he might not kill it and that all his efforts would be in vain, Duan Lei gritted his teeth and persevered until the crocodile died and the control automatically broke. Now, his mental strength was almost completely exhausted, and even his brain felt dizzy.

“You didn’t…”

Grey Bear kicked the crocodile and, finding that it was indeed unmoving, turned to look at Duan Lei, wanting to ask if he was alright. But as soon as he opened his mouth, he suddenly realized that there were three mutated crocodiles, and they had only taken down one…

Grey Bear quickly turned back and saw that one of the other two crocodiles was already still, with a knife handle sticking out of its head. Li Chenzhou was currently fighting the remaining crocodile with his long staff.

However, Li Chenzhou's staff blows, though sounding heavy and painful, didn't seem to have much effect. They only made the crocodile roar repeatedly. Each time the crocodile opened its mouth, Li Chenzhou would instantly draw his pistol and fire two shots into its mouth.

*Slap!*

Grey Bear immediately raised his hand and slapped himself. The dead crocodile reminded him that Li Chenzhou had told him he also had the ability to ignore defenses, but that his ability could only be used in close combat. Clearly, that knife was how Li Chenzhou had used his skill to insert it into the crocodile's head, which could even stop bullets.

Grey Bear also had a skill, and it was a ranged one at that, but he had never used it before, so he had forgotten about it. If he had remembered it sooner, there would have been no need for Duan Lei to control it. A Gale Step, combined with a bullet, would have been enough to send that mutated crocodile to hell.

Grey Bear turned around and rushed to the back door of the armored vehicle, pulling it open and grabbing a rifle from inside. The previous rifle had been bitten by the dying crocodile. Although it should have been fine, Grey Bear didn't want to take any chances.

That was because, after using his Gale Step, only the first attack had the ability to ignore defenses. If the gun malfunctioned, causing the bullet not to fire, he would have no one to blame but himself.

After getting the rifle, he chambered a round and then, Grey Bear's body instantly disappeared…

*Thump! Thump! Thump!*

Li Chenzhou's staff repeatedly struck the crocodile's eyes and jaw, each blow powerful and heavy. Although the crocodile's defense was formidable, it was still being beaten into a frenzy of roars. It didn't dare to open its mouth for fear of being shot, so it could only make muffled, whimpering sounds, like someone with their mouth covered.

*Bang!*

Just then, a crisp gunshot suddenly rang out. At the same time, Grey Bear's figure appeared next to the last mutated crocodile, the muzzle of the rifle in his hand pointed directly at the crocodile…

*Roar!*

A bloody hole instantly appeared in the crocodile's head. Unable to endure it any longer, it opened its bloody maw and let out a shrill roar, while its body rolled around frantically, its huge tail thrashing wildly.

“Crap!”

Grey Bear, who had been looking cold and composed, standing like a mountain with his gun, was shocked. Just as he was about to dodge, a dark shadow came at him, the crocodile's wildly thrashing tail.

*Smack!*

Grey Bear was struck directly in the chest by the tail and sent flying. Li Chenzhou, however, was also dodging the dying crocodile and had moved in the opposite direction, unable to catch him.

*Bang!*

*Clatterclatterclatter…*

Grey Bear's body slammed heavily into a sedan, shattering the windshield and denting the hood. The alarm blared instantly.

“Damn it! My back!”

Grey Bear groaned as he got up, drawing the pistol from his thigh and shooting a zombie that had been attracted by the sound. He then struggled to lift the hood of the car and ripped off the alarm's power cord.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Li Chenzhou also rushed over, firing his gun in quick bursts, taking down several zombies, and asked,

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine! Two broken ribs, thank God for this wreck! If I had hit a wall, I'd be done for!”

Grey Bear gritted his teeth and said. Then, he turned back to look at the crocodile, finding that it was no longer moving.

“Serves you right!”

Looking at Grey Bear's expression, Li Chenzhou scolded him in exasperation,

“Are you brainless? Huh? How many times have I told you, yours is a damn ranged attack! I have to get up close, so I had to use a knife to kill that thing, and I almost got clawed to death. But you, you could have done it from the armored vehicle, but no, you had to come over here and show off! Looks good, does it?”

“No! I wanted to… test the speed of the Gale Step, so I ran over here. Who knew this damn thing had such strong vitality? Even when it’s dying, it has to struggle for a while!”

Grey Bear said awkwardly.

“Can you set your own bones? Fix them first, then drink this, and let's get out of here! There’s definitely more mutated beasts inside!”

Li Chenzhou retrieved a bottle of healing potion from the store and tossed it to Grey Bear, saying irritably. Then, he ignored him, ran over, grabbed the tails of the two crocodiles, and dragged the corpses towards the armored vehicle.

“What’s this again?”

Grey Bear muttered, looking at the small bottle of potion. Then, feeling his broken ribs, he reset them before opening the bottle and drinking the potion.

“Woah!”

After drinking the potion, Grey Bear was immediately shocked by its effects. He looked at Li Chenzhou, who was walking away, and opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something. But after thinking about it, he ultimately didn't ask, raised his hand, shot a zombie that was trapped in a car, and then chased after Li Chenzhou.

Back at the armored vehicle, Li Chenzhou dragged a huge crocodile corpse to the top of the vehicle and secured it with ropes from the roof rack. Then, he went to the crocodile's head and used his knife to dig out a mutated crystal core.

“This is the mutated crystal core?”

Grey Bear couldn't help but ask, looking at the crystal core in Li Chenzhou's hand.

“Yeah! This one's almost Level Two, no wonder it was so difficult to deal with!”

Li Chenzhou said, looking at the crystal core, whose color had deepened and was almost dark green.

“Hey? If this crocodile has this mutated crystal core, then why didn’t that hamster that almost killed me have one?”

Looking at the bloody hole in the crocodile's head, Grey Bear suddenly thought of the hamster from before and asked. It seemed… the original "ten thousand whys" had returned…