Chapter 228: Your Chosen Targets

"Why are you carrying a shovel?"

Holding a box full of ammunition, HK416 followed behind Renault as they walked out of the dormitory building.

Meanwhile, Renault carried a shovel on his shoulder, in addition to the shoddy homemade pistol he had just crafted.

HK416 didn't understand why Renault was carrying a shovel. "Why would we need to dig anything?"

"Of course, we need to dig out some targets. There are so many ready-made targets in the city; it would be a waste not to use them," Renault replied casually.

Dig out targets? Ready-made targets? Was Renault out of his mind? Who buries gun targets in the ground?

Since HK416 had arrived here, she hadn't seen any ELID infected appear.

During the incident with Angelia earlier, she and Elf had returned to the dormitory long before anything happened. And since Renault hadn't caused any commotion, she hadn't seen anything.

Not venturing far from the factory area, Renault led HK416 to a nearby rubble field where several ELID Infected were not far from the ground. Some had already crawled out on their own, and with a few shovels, they could probably dig out a dozen or so targets.

Watching Renault seemingly randomly start digging, HK416 placed the ammunition box down, feeling puzzled, and began loading bullets into the magazine.

Indeed, most of the bullets in the ammunition box were the ones HK416 used. With two thousand rounds in total, along with ten magazines and a speed loader.

As she loaded the magazines, HK416 furrowed her brow, watching Renault's direction.

She had a strange feeling about all these preparations.

Did they really need to bring two thousand rounds for a test firing? And why did Renault grab an extra five magazines? Wasn't he supposed to be testing his homemade weapon? Why did it suddenly become about her testing weapons?

Clack.

After skillfully loading all the magazines, HK416 looked at Renault's direction curiously. He had stopped digging and was now throwing the debris from the buildings into a pile.

"Huh!"

Just as HK416 was waiting for Renault to dig out the "targets," she was startled by a sudden roar!

Jumping off the ammunition box, she grabbed her gun and charged towards Renault's position.

But before she could reach him, a figure flew out of the pit!

Rolling in mid-air, it landed a few meters away from the pit.

"Renault... What's... Infected!?"

Seeing the figure flying out, HK416 subconsciously thought it was Renault, but upon closer inspection, she realized it wasn't Renault but an ELID Infected, ragged and with its skin completely silicified!

"Your first target, shoot at will," Renault said.

"You!? This is your idea of targets!? Are you out of your mind?! Aren't you afraid of getting ELID Infection!?"

HK416 couldn't believe that Renault had just thrown an ELID Infected out of the pit without any protective gear.

"Infection? This is the red zone. Why worry so much? Just take out the first one, and the second one will come out soon," Renault replied casually.

"Red zone!"

Renault's reminder made HK416 realize the danger. She had just watched Renault throw out an ELID Infected without any protective gear... Did he not wear any protective gear when he was outside earlier?

Before HK416 could fully recall the scene, the ELID Infected that Renault had thrown out was already roaring and crawling towards her, its eyes fixed on her!

The speed of this ELID Infected was abnormal!

Seeing it charging towards her, HK416 widened her eyes in disbelief. It had been running towards her just now!

Normal ELID Infected couldn't move like this!

Woomp!

Dodging the creature's attack, HK416 immediately counterattacked, aiming a barrage of bullets at its head.

Feeling the familiar grip of her imprinted weapon, HK416 didn't need to adjust; a dozen bullets hit the creature's head precisely!

However, to her surprise, these bullets, which could penetrate homogeneous steel plates, only stopped the creature's momentum and pushed its head backward, but didn't kill it on the spot!

"This! It can't penetrate!?"

Since when did ELID Infected have such tough heads?

Seeing this, HK416 had to retreat while attacking until she emptied a whole magazine, finally managing to dent one of the creature's eyes.

Even after reloading with a new magazine, she fired another dozen bullets at the creature's face before knocking it down.

However, the infected's body was still moving unconsciously, indicating that her attacks hadn't completely killed it.

"Done? Here comes the second one."

"Wait...!?"

Meanwhile, in the pit, Renault heard the gunfire above stop. He chuckled, then pulled out the ELID Infected he had been stepping on and threw it out of the rubble.

Before HK416 could react, an ELID Infected fell from the sky, ready to attack her!

Can I catch my breath? And I only have half a magazine left! All the other magazines I just loaded are still on the ammunition box!

HK416, who had hastily come out, obviously didn't wear magazine pouches or other tactical gear. The extra magazines she had just loaded were stuffed into her skirt pocket out of habit.

Otherwise, she wouldn't even have had enough bullets to take down the first creature!

"Hey, what's up? Oh, it's just some post-dinner exercise. I thought the commander was here to give you special treatment,"

A-91's voice came from the factory gate as HK416 emptied her magazine and quickly ran back to the ammunition box to get more bullets.

Leaning against the factory gate, A-91 looked tipsy, holding a bottle in her hand, while Simonov also held a bottle, squatting beside A-91 without any intention of helping. The only weapons they had were the bottles in their hands.

Seeing these two seemingly waiting for a show at the factory gate, HK416 frowned and tucked the loaded magazines into her pockets before turning to face the second ELID Infected.

Like the fallen creature before, this one also didn't die immediately from her attacks. Although her barrage managed to temporarily disable its movements, the creature continued to twitch, indicating that her attacks hadn't been fatal.