The Hidden Awakened One

The spent shells landed with a crisp sound. Dirk felt a bit dazed. He had clearly seen the leader's Colt, accurately hitting Arnold's heart. Even a wild African elephant would drop dead instantly after suffering more than a dozen shots. Bullets capable of penetrating iron plates, yet they were just a minor annoyance to Arnold?

Arnold, unperturbed, turned his head with a wicked grin, staring directly at the stunned crowd.

"Let me guess, who fired the first shot?"

The enthusiastic tone is as if asking a child if they want candy. One by one, bright orange bullets squeeze out from the wound, dripping with traces of blood as they fall to the ground.

Boom! The ground cracks. As soon as the words were spoken, Arnold, like lightning, appeared behind the leading man, and his massive palm gripped the man's head.

"Did you make my brother kneel just now?"

"No! It wasn't me..."

The terrified face enveloped by the giant hand didn't have a chance to make a sound. The powerful arm applied pressure, and then with a gentle pull, the head came off as easily as uncorking a bottle. The severed head, like a freshly pulled sweet potato from the ground, dangled below with the spine swaying like sweet potato tendrils.

0.5 seconds later, the leading man's body swayed, and blood gushed from the wound like a fountain.

"Ahhhh!"

The crowd screamed in madness. Since the outbreak of the apocalypse, they had witnessed some horrific scenes, but this was beyond anything they had seen before. The man with the 54 in his hand was torn apart by fear, and the extreme violence nearly shattered his sanity.

Fear permeated, and instinctively, he frantically pulled the trigger, attempting to vent the fear within. Flames erupted from the muzzle, and a line of bullets flew toward Arnold's massive body. Perhaps stimulated by the screams, all the gunmen who had been frozen in place opened fire simultaneously.

Kill him! If we don't kill him, we'll all die! The deafening sound of gunfire echoed along the empty road.

"Boom!"

Arnold turned his head to lock onto the gunmen next to the off-road vehicle and once again burst into action with a speed that exceeded ordinary humans' reaction times. He covered the ten-meter distance in an instant, a speed that was beyond the ordinary.

His enormous body stopped in front of the man, and the rush of wind from the sprint blew the man's hair away, revealing his terrified eyes beneath the bangs.

Arnold grinned, his eyes filled with icy murderous intent.

"Did you point a gun at Clark, kid?"

Before the man could scream, Arnold's colossal hand struck in an instant, with a fierce roar, severing his upper body, and the body, propelled by the blow, turned into a lump of flesh like a torn rag.

"Drip, drip. Blood mixed with unidentified fragments falls in front of Clifford.

"Gurgle." Swallowing saliva was a struggle.

Clifford, who was lying on the ground just a moment ago, felt like he was facing death, but the battlefield situation changed in the blink of an eye. However, even though he knew Arnold was on his side, looking at the pieces on Arnold's huge palm, he couldn't help but feel a bit fearful. It was too... too terrifying!

His next thought, which even startled himself, was when he turned to look at Clark, who was resting with his eyes closed. If even someone as brutal as Arnold could willingly become a subordinate, how terrifying must Clark, the leader, be?

What kind of team did he really join?

"Ah, ah, ah!"

"Run, run quickly!"

The last two men with Colt pistols could no longer restrain their fear and ran as fast as they could, not even daring to look back to pick up their fallen handguns.

The group of men with knives and iron bars was even more panicked. They fled in a hurry without looking back towards the abandoned vehicles in the distance.

Although it was they who had blocked the road and were robbing and killing people, it felt as though they were the ones being robbed.

"Run faster, little mouse."

Arnold sneered and didn't immediately chase, instead casually shaking his arm.

He liked this motion. Ever since he had seen Clark do it, he had subconsciously wanted to imitate it.

The people in front of him posed no threat. With his speed, he could catch up with all of them in just a few seconds.

Following Clark these days, he had encountered enemies who were either third-tier or second-tier top-level mutants. The experience at the hotel had been particularly infuriating for him. Rarely did he encounter a bunch of small fry like this.

Like Dirk, he had seen the iron nails on the girl's knees and the fishing line used to prevent her from escaping. The words of those people just now revealed information - they had done this kind of thing before. Who knows how many people had been lured and died like this."

Arnold hated these gun-toting bullies the most.

"Bang!" Unlike the sound of a handgun, a distant sniper rifle fired. The 7.62 caliber bullets were incredibly accurate, approaching his forehead in an instant.

"Bear Transformation!" Instincts from his animal side made him sense the imminent threat of death in that bullet.

Arnold immediately activated his bear transformation, his body swelling once more, turning into a two-meter-tall black bear with dense fur covering his entire body.

Puff!

Blood sprayed as the suddenly incoming bullet struck his forehead. Fortunately, the high defense provided by his bear transformation blocked the final impact of the bullet.

Arnold was startled; if he hadn't instinctively activated his innate ability, that shot could have very well killed him!

"That motherf***er with the sniper rifle."

Arnold didn't dwell on it, and being provoked, he no longer felt like playing a cat and mouse game. He no longer hesitated, directly locking his gaze onto the man furthest away who was firing.

"Rampage Charge!"

His C-level skill activated, his entire body enveloped in a red light, an unstoppable force.

"Thud! Thud!!"

The ground lightly trembled. The black bear's body, like a roaring heavy truck, initiated a sprint, covering ten meters with astonishing momentum.

Inside the vehicle, Clark suddenly opened his eyes and frowned slightly.

Arnold had been too careless, too reckless.

Even if he hadn't reminded Arnold that there was an awakened person hidden among them, he should have realized it after taking that shot. The precision was apparent, and the bullet's power had clearly been enhanced.

Most importantly, when everyone fled, they all ran toward the person with the bolt-action sniper rifle, instead of scattering. Anyone with a bit of vigilance should have sensed something. He sighed lightly; this team was difficult to lead.

Dirk hadn't yet adapted to the apocalypse, Lynn could only serve as support, and the enigmatic Sandra was not suitable for direct combat.

At the moment, the entire team had only him and Arnold with combat capabilities.

Arnold had a good character, and his combat style was decisive and efficient. Over these days, he had hoped to cultivate Arnold into a fearless and resolute frontline warrior, not a mindless brute.

Clark instantly got out of the car and focused his psychic energy on the distance.

Everyone running away was putting in every ounce of their strength, wishing they had a couple more legs.

The man who had run first had already reached the side of the long-haired man with the gun, heaving for breath.

"Awake... Awake! Anselm, that monster must be an awakened one!"

"Anselm, you need to act fast! The boss got killed by him!"

The man called Anselm, with long hair, put down his sniper rifle and didn't respond. He just stared intensely at Arnold, who had come closer.

"Die!" A charge.

Arnold roared, a massive hand with the ferocity of a charge slamming towards the crowd gathered behind the long-haired man.

Boom! A scaled fist collided with the bear paw that could shatter steel plates. The immense force of the impact shattered the car's windows in an expanding sound wave.