Chapter 80: Fuzzy Return Mechanism
As the three mutants died completely, three grayish-white essences—more potent than those from the other mutants—merged into Chris's body.
From their intensity, it was evident these three mutants had been considerably stronger than those in the mine shaft.
However, just like before, these three life essences were still missing approximately one-third of their expected potency.
At that moment, Ruby walked over in a daze, staring blankly at the pile of dismembered remains.
Only Chris could sense through his empathic ability that her emotion was one of profound relief and liberation. Otherwise, he might have thought the girl was grieving the death of her family members.
However, her complete lack of sorrow indicated that her experience within the mutant clan had likely been similar to Megan's situation back in the body-snatching town—or possibly even worse.
Yet this girl had one significant advantage over Megan: she wasn't nearly as unfortunate-looking.
Yes, although Chris didn't want to be cruel about his adoptive sister's appearance, even this girl—who could legitimately be called a mutant—was considerably more pleasant to look at than Megan had been.
After silently making this unflattering comparison, Chris turned and asked, "Does your tribe have any ancient ancestors still alive? Or have you come into contact with any mysterious powers or supernatural entities?"
Ruby, who'd been contemplating her suddenly changed circumstances, heard Chris's question. Without pondering his intention, she thought for a moment and replied carefully, "Reporting to master..."
"Just call me 'boss.' That old-fashioned master-slave stuff is outdated. Nowadays in America, even employees are expected to support themselves, and bosses don't need to provide healthcare anymore."
Somewhat confused by Chris's tangent about modern labor practices, Ruby still obediently said, "Okay, boss!"
After responding, she continued, "The one in the middle just now—Jupiter—was the eldest of our clan. He fathered all of us. As for the mysterious power you mentioned, I only know that father always said eating people would make us stronger. I'm not sure if that counts?"
"Eating people to gain power?" Chris murmured, repeating the concept thoughtfully.
This method of acquiring supernatural abilities sounded like something from dark occult practices. However, across various horror movie universes, such methods weren't particularly uncommon, so Chris couldn't immediately determine which specific type this represented.
Based on the available information, Chris could confirm one crucial thing: the entity competing with him for life essence was the same one that granted these mutants their supernatural enhancements.
And knowing such an entity existed actually made things simpler.
Chris wasn't afraid of a powerful opponent with a physical form. What he feared were incorporeal entities like Death itself—beings without substance that couldn't be fought conventionally.
If it were something like that, he'd have to find an indirect method to harm it before he could retaliate effectively.
However, if the opponent possessed a physical body, then judging by the strength of the mutants it empowered, its power level probably wasn't overwhelmingly beyond human capacity to handle.
At minimum, it hadn't reached a level that modern humanity in this world couldn't theoretically counter.
After all, if the opponent possessed the power to annihilate humanity entirely, it wouldn't need to create just a few scattered mutant clans to slowly accumulate power for itself.
And as long as the opponent couldn't exceed the destructive capability of modern military forces, then for Chris—with his interdimensional storage—it would ultimately just be a matter of acquiring and deploying sufficient firepower.
The most troublesome part would simply be getting his hands on a few nuclear warheads if necessary.
After analyzing the potential enemy he might eventually face, Chris relaxed considerably and then headed in a different direction across the desert.
Seeing that Chris wasn't returning to the RV to give back the infant, Ruby hesitated for a moment before following him.
Chris noticed the mutant girl's mind was full of questions, so he explained, "There's a lone human in that direction—should be this baby's father. Instead of making him wander aimlessly through the wilderness all night, it's better to bring his daughter directly to him."
Hearing Chris's explanation, Ruby nodded with understanding. She really shouldn't doubt her new master's—her boss's—wisdom and intentions.
With Chris and Ruby's enhanced speed, it didn't take long before they caught up with a man walking beside a German Shepherd.
Chris told Ruby to wait back a bit, and he alone, carefully carrying the infant, moved forward.
"Woof woof woof! Grrr woof woof!"
"What is it, Beauty? What's wrong, girl?"
Hearing the German Shepherd barking frantically, Doug looked curiously toward where the dog was focused, and then he spotted a dark figure walking toward him through the moonlit desert.
"Who's there? Stop right there!"
Sensing a stranger approaching in the darkness, Doug immediately raised his .22 pistol at the figure. When the person didn't stop, he pulled the trigger without further warning.
BANG!
"Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!"
The gunshot startled the infant in Chris's arms awake. Doug immediately recognized his daughter's distinctive cry, and he rushed toward the dark figure in desperate panic.
"Catherine! Catherine!"
At that moment, he didn't care whether the figure was one of the mutants who'd attacked his family earlier. He simply sprinted toward the sound of his daughter crying.
Upon getting closer, Doug realized that the person holding Catherine was a tall, powerfully built young man who looked completely normal—and entirely uninjured by the gunshot.
"Looks like you're this baby's father. Here—hold her tight and don't lose her again."
Looking at the disheveled, blood-spattered middle-aged man, Chris handed the infant over to him, then immediately turned and walked away.
Chris had no desire to engage in lengthy conversation with ordinary people like this.
If it weren't for returning the infant, Chris wouldn't have bothered meeting the man at all.
After all, this guy wasn't some beautiful woman worth looking at.
After returning Catherine to her father, Chris rejoined Ruby, then took her to the next location where his misfortune radar detected mutants.
It wasn't another mine shaft—just a few mutant signatures in a different area.
Chris quickly confirmed it was the small ghost town the U.S. government had built to simulate nuclear blast effects, which also served as an alternate dwelling place for Ruby's mutant clan.
No longer needing to worry about protecting a fragile infant, Chris took the mutant girl and began moving at high speed across the desert terrain.
Although Chris's current burst speed could already break the sound barrier—which theoretically meant he could travel by literally stepping on compressed air—there was one regrettable limitation: his clothes couldn't withstand those forces.
That, combined with having a follower to transport, prevented Chris from moving at full speed.
But even so, after nearly ten minutes of rapid travel, he arrived at the outskirts of the abandoned town.
By this time, the sky was beginning to lighten with pre-dawn glow, but Chris didn't need to wait for full daylight to attack. He didn't even plan on close-quarters combat this time.
Raising his hand, he pulled a rocket launcher from his interdimensional storage and directly targeted the town, beginning a systematic bombardment.
Under Ruby's astonished gaze, one high-explosive and thermobaric rocket after another was fired into the cluster of abandoned buildings.
Dozens of seconds later, the town before them had been completely reduced to flaming ruins, and three streams of grayish-white energy flew across the distance into Chris's body.
After activating his misfortune radar and confirming no remaining life signs in the area, Chris put away the rocket launcher with satisfaction.
Then Chris looked curiously at Ruby—the last surviving mutant, and a crucial character in the original movie.
Just as Ruby was growing uncomfortable from being stared at, Chris spoke, "Let's go. Do you know where the other cannibal clans are located? I'll wipe them out while I'm at it."
Ruby nodded and walked ahead to lead the way, while Chris thought perplexedly to himself, 'What exactly triggers the return mechanism? It doesn't seem to have anything to do with killing all the monsters that appeared in the original movie.'
Chris had just discovered that after eliminating all the mutants except Ruby, he hadn't experienced any premonition of imminent return to his home universe.
That's why he'd been staring at Ruby so intently—trying to determine whether he also needed to kill her to trigger his departure.
If it really worked that way, then Chris would be able to control his return timing in future movie universes, and he could settle accounts with whatever entity was siphoning off his essence in this world.
Unfortunately, under Chris's scrutiny, his intuition told him that the return mechanism had nothing to do with character survival.
This realization was why Ruby had unknowingly escaped what might have been her execution.
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