He had to kill it; only by killing it could he survive!
Previously, Lin Yue had felt that given his physical condition, even if he managed to get past this immediate hurdle, the possibility of surviving in this Apocalypse was close to zero, if not zero entirely.
But now he had a System.
As long as he could get past this hurdle, with the System's enhancement later on, wouldn't he soar?
Thinking was one thing... but how exactly was he supposed to kill it?
He was unarmed and covered in injuries. In strength, speed, and size, he couldn't compare to this monster in any way.
Rushing out would be no different from courting death.
Just then, a piercing scream suddenly came from another dilapidated residential building in the distance.
"Ah—Help!!"
Lin Yue's heart tightened, and he looked towards the sound.
He saw a ragged man jump out of a second-story window, seemingly trying to rush across the open ground and escape to the other side.
However, he had barely landed and run two steps when two slightly smaller monsters, resembling Mutated Groundhogs, suddenly darted out from the shadow of a nearby abandoned bus.
Their speed was astonishing; they instantly pounced on the man.
The man only had time to let out a brief wail before the sound was completely drowned out by the horrific noise of flesh being torn apart.
"Holy crap, that's intense!"
Lin Yue watched helplessly as a living person was devoured completely in just a few seconds, leaving behind only a mess of bloody flesh and dark red stains on the ground.
A frontal assault offered no chance of victory.
That man was the proof.
"If the direct approach won't work, I'll try the subtle one... no, the sneaky one."
After a brief moment of shock, Lin Yue made a decision.
In his previous life, having struggled in the workplace, he was best at analyzing pros and cons under limited conditions and finding the optimal solution.
Now, his client was "Survival," and his KPI was "Staying Alive."
His gaze quickly scanned his surroundings: the underside of the car, discarded parts, twisted rebar, broken glass... Suddenly, his eyes fixed on a rusty, exposed piece of rebar sticking up from the concrete foundation beside him.
This rebar was about as thick as an arm, and its tip, eroded by years of wind and rain, had formed an irregularly sharp bevel.
Its base was still buried in the concrete, but the middle section was firmly pinned down by the axle of the abandoned car, creating an extremely unstable structure.
A daring plan rapidly formed in Lin Yue's mind: the principle of the lever.
If he could lure the Mutated Dog to a specific spot... if he could find something to act as a lever to pry the axle pinning the rebar... then this rebar, compressed by the weight of the car body, would instantly spring upward like a tightly coiled spring!
As long as his luck wasn't too terrible, he had a high probability of successfully counter-killing the Mutated Dog!
"The risk is very high... I only have one chance."
Lin Yue muttered to himself, his voice carrying a tremor he didn't even notice.
But besides this method, he truly couldn't think of anything else. Without relying on external force, he alone could not kill the Mutated Dog before him.
Lin Yue stopped hesitating and began searching the cramped space for a tool that could serve as a lever.
Soon, he found an iron pipe about half a meter long. It must have been a car part, and it felt substantial in his hand.
This was it!
Lin Yue gripped the iron pipe tightly. The cold touch calmed his frantic heartbeat slightly.
He looked outside the car again. The Mutated Dog seemed tired of ramming it; it was now sniffing around the car body, trying to find an opening it could squeeze through.
A chance!
Lin Yue took a deep breath, suppressing the dryness in his throat.
He picked up the largest shard of glass nearby and used all his strength to violently strike the chassis above his head!
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
The harsh, sharp sound of metal striking metal instantly shattered the surrounding silence.
The sound was full of provocation.
Sure enough, the Mutated Dog outside the car was completely enraged.
It let out a deafening bark, its crimson eyes locked onto the direction the sound came from—exactly where Lin Yue was hiding.
It stopped probing, took a few steps back, its muscles bulging, its entire body tense like a drawn bow.
"Calm down, I must stay calm!"
Lin Yue's heart was in his throat. Although terrified, he knew he had to remain composed, or he would certainly die.
"Roar!!"
Accompanied by a savage roar, the Mutated Dog turned into a black blur and violently lunged toward the car door where Lin Yue was hiding.
Time seemed to stretch at that moment.
Lin Yue could clearly see its gaping, bloody maw, the sickening drool hanging from its fangs, and the beast's eyes filled with rage and hunger.
Now!
The instant the Mutated Dog's front paws were about to strike the car door, Lin Yue exerted every ounce of strength he had.
He fiercely jammed the prepared iron pipe into the gap between the axle and the ground, braced the end of the pipe firmly with his shoulder, and then threw his entire body weight onto it!
"Get—up—now!!"
He let out a beast-like howl from his throat, the muscles in his face contorted from the extreme exertion.
Screech—A grating sound of metal friction rang out.
Under the effect of the lever, the heavy axle was moved by an almost imperceptible fraction.
But that fraction was enough!
The rebar, which had been firmly pinned down by the axle, instantly lost its restraint.
Under the immense pressure of the car's weight, it shot upward with a whistling sound, rocketing toward the Mutated Dog!
"Pffft!!"
The sound of a sharp object piercing flesh had never sounded so beautiful to Lin Yue as it did right now.
The springing rebar pierced the Mutated Dog's soft abdomen with incredible precision and emerged through its back!
"Awoo—!!"
The monster let out an extremely mournful howl.
It twisted and struggled frantically, its sharp claws tearing wildly just centimeters from Lin Yue, ripping monstrous gashes into the sheet metal car door.
Warm, viscous blood sprayed out like a fountain, drenching Lin Yue from head to toe.
A few seconds felt as long as a century.
The Mutated Dog's struggles grew weaker and weaker until, finally, its body stiffened abruptly and became completely motionless.
Only its violent eyes remained wide open, filled with unwillingness and pain, as if asking how it could possibly die at the hands of this weak prey!
It was dead.
The iron pipe in Lin Yue's hand fell to the ground with a "clatter," and he himself slumped onto the cold underside of the car, as if all his bones had been removed.
He gasped for breath, his lungs burning painfully, every inhale carrying the heavy smell of blood.
"I... killed it..."
He looked at his blood-soaked hands, his expression complicated.
However, reality did not give him much time for reflection.
Just then, a soft white light quietly illuminated the still-warm corpse of the Mutated Dog.
The light quickly converged, finally condensing at the abdominal wound into a fingernail-sized, faintly glowing, rhomboid crystal.
A level 1 energy crystal!
Lin Yue's eyes instantly lit up.
Ignoring his physical exhaustion, he struggled to crawl out from under the car.
The pungent smell of blood rapidly permeated the air.
"Roar!" "Hiss hiss..."
In the distance, the commotion caused by him killing the Mutated Dog had already attracted the attention of other monsters.
Monster roars rose and fell continuously, and they were quickly approaching this direction!
"Damn it! Seriously? I just finished one, and now more are coming!"
An alarm blared in Lin Yue's heart. From the sounds, he could clearly tell that there was definitely more than one monster approaching this time!
"I hope the evolved Little Grass Turtle can help me get through this immediate crisis!"
He darted over to the Mutated Dog's corpse, disregarded the bloody, mangled wound, and reached in to dig the warm energy crystal out of the monster's body.
As the crystal entered his hand, a warm current instantly flowed into his body, dispelling some of the coldness.
He didn't hesitate for a second.
Lin Yue clutched this hard-won piece of hope and immediately rushed back under the car.
He scooped up the dying Little Grass Turtle and pressed the faintly glowing energy crystal firmly onto its shell.
He could feel that more monsters had already entered the street; their footsteps and roars were becoming clearer and clearer.
"Evolve! Evolve now!!"
Lin Yue's heart was in his throat again as he watched the monsters draw closer.