Chapter 67
Chapter 68: Misty Town (5 in 1)
Pondering for a moment, Luke said, "I'm a police officer. I know that the FBI is chasing you because of your X-gene. You're just a victim who did nothing wrong. You're innocent. I don't want to sacrifice an innocent person for my promotion. It's a matter of principle."
Carol fell silent again and felt like crying.
The last few days had been h.e.l.lish for her.
She had been shot by a burglar in her own apartment and had woken up in a morgue. Terrified, she ran away.
Insuppressible fury had prompted her to get back at the Mexican gangsters, but she had nearly been caught by the FBI agents who had accidentally gotten involved in the fight.
In the end, Luke had let her go, and had even offered her a way to survive.
Luke was a young office who could only earn fifty to sixty thousand dollars annually. Considering his own expenses, eight thousand bucks was already a lot.
It was obvious that Luke had just started working. The eight thousand bucks was likely his entire savings. Yet, he had given it to a complete stranger.
Were there really guys as good as this in the world?
Carol was at a loss.
Luke had no idea what Carol was thinking as he taught her disguise and stealth tricks.
His abilities from Salazar were now more suitable for Carol to use.
It wasn't until three hours later that he finally stopped his lecture.
"However much you remember, you can only count on yourself now," said Luke. "Leave while it's still dark."
Carol was a lot calmer this time.
She had only come here to say thanks.
However, she had received unexpected help.
She had a destination and hope for the future. She was no longer as overwhelmed as before.
If she had had a destination before, she wouldn't have sought revenge on the Mexican gangsters, but would've stayed as far away from them as possible.
She stood up and bowed to Luke solemnly. "Thank you. You're a good guy."
Luke was rather depressed.
That didn't sound right - it was what someone said to the next character to die in a movie!
Carol didn't say anything else, and left the house after one final glance at Luke.
Watching the girl disappear, Luke sighed. "Good luck. This is the best I can do for you." He then closed the door.
Selina had had a lovely night. She had eaten a great meal, though it had been shared with a third person, and had heard tremendous inside information. She had also watched Luke teach a student. She was quite satisfied.
After Luke closed the door, he waved at her. "Get up. It's time to work."
Selina was stunned. "Huh?"
"Clean up the room. Make sure no traces of Carol are left. I don't want the FBI agents to notice me," said Luke as he grabbed the cleaning tools.
Selina pulled a long face.
So, there was a price to pay for the gossip and inside information.
As Luke cleaned, he thought about Carol.
As he had said, that was the best he could do for her.
Letting her go, giving her some money, and offering her a way out were the only things he could do.
He wasn't capable of more.
Cheney himself was trouble, and New York was an even bigger maelstrom that Luke preferred not to get involved in right now.
He had acquired Carol's ability, and had tried his best to help her in return. The girl's future now depended on her own luck and capabilities.
Luke and Selina cleaned the room. As police officers, they were most familiar with dealing with a crime scene.
Nothing of Carol, like her fingerprints or hair, remained in this room.
It was already eleven at night by the time they were done. They each took a shower and went to bed.
The next day, Luke and Selina set off in their car.
Laquin was four hundred kilometers northeast of Houston. It was a relatively remote city.
Three hours later, they switched places. Fifty kilometers away from Laquin, they entered a small town.
The town was called Rumford. It seemed to be a lot livelier than Shackelford.
Luke observed the town and felt that it wouldn't be a bad place for a holiday if Laquin turned out to be too boring later.
The town had wonderful views, and prices here weren't as high as those in big cities.
Selina, on the other hand, asked as she drove the car, "Do you see a public toilet? I need to pee."
Looking out the window, Luke pointed and said, "There's a supermarket over there."
Selina turned the wheel and drove over. "Rumford is no more enjoyable than Shackelford."
Luke chuckled.
Selina was hot and beautiful, but she had the temper of a child. It was only natural that she would find "traveling" in such a remote and unremarkable place disappointing.
Under the bright morning light, they parked the car in the lot next to the supermarket.
Selina went to the bathroom in a hurry.
Staring at the crowd around the supermarket entrance from the car, Luke found it weird.
Those people were all carrying big bags out of the supermarket, as if everything in the supermarket was on sale.
A few people were talking to each other as they pa.s.sed by the car. Luke finally learned that a storm last night had destroyed a lot of facilities nearby, including houses, cars, electric wires, telephone wires, and even the cell towers.
Luke took out his phone, only to discover that it had no signal. He tried calling 911, but the call failed.
He wasn't too bothered.
They were only pa.s.sing by. It would be fine as long as Laquin wasn't like this.
Luke heard sirens and looked back. A long line of vehicles rushed down the road.
There were fire engines, ambulances, maintenance cars, and even military trucks.
From the townsfolk pa.s.sing by, he learned that there was a military base on the mountain nearby, and he didn't pay it much mind.
There were too many such bases in America for it to be surprising. The townsfolk didn't find it unusual, either.
Ten minutes later, Selina returned. She said, half-complaining and half-explaining, "My goodness, there were so many people in the bathroom. It's like a battlefield. A kid nearly wet himself."
Luke frowned. "Are you sure that he only wet himself?"
Selina laughed. "Of course! He was only peeing. Alright, let's go!"
Suddenly, the most earsplitting alarm rang out.
They heard shocked exclamations and turned their heads, only to see an oppressive fog flow down the mountain.
The townspeople started running in a panic. Many subconsciously rushed to the supermarket.
An old man also cried out in horror as he bled from his mouth and nose.
Selina didn't quite catch what he was saying, but Luke heard him.
"Monsters! There are monsters in the fog!" the old man screamed as he ran past them.
Frowning, Luke drove the car to the supermarket and said, "Selina, bring out all our ammo, weapons and flak jackets."
As a prudent man who considered safety the most important thing, Luke was always prepared.
Even though he was on a trip, he had brought all the necessary equipment, as well as even more bullets than he usually carried.
Without any hesitation, Selina packed up the things in the car.
Actually, there wasn't much to pack.
Their backup gear was stored in two bags, one containing the guns and bullets, and the other the flak jackets. All she needed to do was take them out.
Luke had already driven the car to one side of the supermarket, and he parked practically right up to the gla.s.s wall.
Grabbing the two bags, he and Selina quickly entered the supermarket.
Selina hadn't noticed yet, but Luke had vaguely detected screams coming from the ma.s.sive fog.
However, few people could hear it as the screams were drowned out by the alarm.
He even saw someone caught by what looked like gigantic pincers in the fog when it reached him.
The dreadful pincers were more than five meters long.
Luke doubted that his gun would be able to deal with such gargantuan creatures. It would be safer to hide and observe from inside the building first.
Soon after they entered the supermarket, the panicked clerks shut the doors.
Everybody inside the supermarket finally heard the screams of victims in the fog. The old man who had arrived earlier was still crying "monsters," adding to everyone's fear.
Their faces looked awful as the fog flooded the town, enveloped the supermarket, and blocked everything that could be seen.
"It must be because the factories to the west exploded. This is the poisonous smog from the factories," someone murmured.
Luke laughed at the theory.
The fog didn't have a chemical smell to it; it was a natural fog, which carried the scent of gra.s.s and the forest.
It also carried a hint of blood, which belonged to the victims who had just been killed.
Luke grabbed Selina and gave her a warning in a low voice.
The gargantuan creature he had seen would be able to easily destroy the supermarket's gla.s.s wall up front.
So, it wasn't safe to stay next to the gla.s.s wall.
At that moment, there was the start of an earthquake.
Caught unprepared, many people fell to the floor. The whole supermarket was a mess.
Luke helped Selina regain her balance and slapped away a lamp that fell toward him.
The earthquake stopped no more than twenty seconds later.
The supermarket hadn't collapsed, although some items had fallen to the floor. Luke was rather relieved.
If their hideout collapsed at such a critical moment, it would've been tricky.
As lousy as the supermarket might be, it was a concrete building, after all. All the walls were made of concrete, except for the gla.s.s wall at the front.
At the very least, they wouldn't need to worry that a pair of pincers would appear out of nowhere while they were hiding here.
The panic caused by the earthquake soon faded, but something else depressing happened. The power went out.
Luke learned from the clerks that the supermarket had been running electricity from its own generator since that morning.
The generator might've been damaged by the earthquake just now.
Pulling Selina along with him, Luke found a short man who was addressed as the boss. "You're going to examine the generator, right?"
The boss looked at him, finding it odd. He nodded. "Yes. We need electricity for both the lights and the ventilation system, or the people in here will suffocate."
Luke proposed, "We'll go with you."
The boss was dazed. "Huh?"
Luke took out his badge. "We're detectives from Houston. We're on our way to Laquin on business. I think we can give you a hand."
The boss was relieved when he saw the badge.
Although this wasn't Houston's jurisdiction, the detectives were professionals who would be better at dealing with emergencies than civilians.
He nodded quickly and called for the two clerks.
Another man saw them and said that he was willing to join, too.
Luke had no objection. There were always volunteers.
On his way, Luke found two large-sized cargo vests on the shelf. He threw one to Selina.
The boss looked at him suspiciously.
Luke smiled. "Don't worry, I'll pay for them."
The boss believed him. He didn't think that two detectives would steal something that was worth no more than a hundred dollars.
Everyone introduced themselves.
The boss was called Olly.
One of the clerks, who was in his forties, was Jim. He was responsible for maintaining the generator.
The other clerk was a teenager named Norton, who had been summoned to help with the maintenance.
The volunteer was David. He was a painter who had been creating new works on a nearby mountain.
However, the storm last night had destroyed his house on the mountain and had cut the power, and the only thing he could do was leave the mountain with his wife and son.
The team reached the bas.e.m.e.nt, which was completely dark.
Olly turned on the flashlight in his hand.
Thankfully, flashlights were available because they were in a supermarket.
The two clerks also turned on their flashlights and looked around.
Jim walked to a corner, where the generator was protected behind iron bars.
He observed it for a moment, then shouted, "Olly, I can't
Olly wasn't an expert on generators, either. He was naturally on board.
Jim restarted the generator, and the lights in the bas.e.m.e.nt turned on.
Everybody was relieved.
Going without power in this sort of situation was pretty terrible.
Jim, however, sniffed and said, "Something smelly is blocking the vent. Norton, I'll open the door. You go out and clear out the filth."
Norton nodded. "No problem."
David couldn't help but intervene. "Wait, you're sending this child out? It's dangerous in the mist."
Jim was angry. "What danger? The vent is right next to the door. He won't be far off. Besides, if the vent is blocked, everybody will suffocate."
David shook his head again. "I don't think we should let the boy risk himself. Bad air quality isn't really the problem."
Jim scoffed. "You make a lot more money than we do, but we don't need you to teach us how to do things. Norton, are you ready?"
Olly, however, also hesitated. "Jim, why don't we let it go? We have electricity anyway. It's not a big problem that the vent is blocked."
But Jim was stubborn. "I don't want to be haunted by this smell. Norton, I'll open the door. Whenever you're ready."
"Alright," said Norton eagerly.
The boy clearly thought of it as an adventure.
He had been moving things in the warehouse when the fog came, and hadn't witnessed it for himself. Thus, he wasn't scared, and only felt that it was fun.
While they were arguing, Luke dragged Selina away and took out the flak jackets from the bag, and the both of them put the jackets on.
In the end, they covered the flak jackets with the vests Luke had taken, hiding the "HPD" on their backs.
After they were done, Selina nudged Luke, asking if they should intervene.
Luke gestured subtly at her. She quickly understood and stayed on alert far away from the door.
Jim activated the roller door at the bas.e.m.e.nt exit, and it rolled up around half a meter.
Norton called for him to stop and crouched down as he observed the scene outside.
The white fog slowly flowed in.
Suddenly, Luke sensed something and sprinted forward as quick as lightning. He grabbed Norton's collar and threw him into a pile of dog food several meters back.
In the meantime, Luck backed off quickly and stared at the gap under the door.
Stunned for a moment, Jim was about to curse out loud, when an enormous tentacle lashed out of the fog and reached under the door.
Olly and David both stepped back in fear.
The tentacle was unbelievably huge.
What could be seen inside the bas.e.m.e.nt was already longer than five meters. In addition to a pointy end, the tentacle was at least twenty centimeters in diameter.
More dreadfully, there were rows of barbs on the tentacle.
It wasn't hard to imagine how the barbs would pierce prey, making escape impossible as the tentacle wrapped about it.
Luke narrowed his eyes and looked around. He then hurled a rebar crowbar at the tentacle.
The sharp rebar immediately nailed the tentacle to the ground.
In pain, the tentacle was about to retreat.
Luke, however, grabbed the fire axe on the wall and threw it at the tentacle again.
Thanks to his enormous strength, the axe cut half of the tentacle off. It struggled to break free of the injured bit, and retreated.
The severed barbed tentacle was still contracting on the ground.
Everybody was too shocked by the brief yet intense battle to say anything.
Luke opened his mouth. "Jim, shut the door."
Jim was still dazed. "Huh? Okay. Alright."
Several seconds later, the roller door descended again, temporarily blocking out the danger.
Luke picked up the axe and chopped the tentacle again.
The severed tentacle contracted and writhed like a bug.
Then, the pointy end of the tentacle opened like a mouth, and a greenish black fluid spurted out.
Luke backed off quickly after chopping the tentacle, for fear that it would spew the disgusting fluid at him.
When the tentacle finally stopped moving, he looked at everyone and said, "David is right. There are dangerous monsters in the fog. Do you agree?"
How could they disagree? The chopped tentacle was still here.
Had it not been for Luke, Norton would've probably been killed.
"Let's go back," said Luke as he moved. "Since there are monsters outside, we'll have to deal with the gla.s.s wall at the front of the supermarket."
Picturing how the gla.s.s wall would shatter before the gigantic tentacle, everybody nodded.
"Olly, it's not a problem for you to move the dog food upstairs, is it?" Luke asked again.
Dazed for a moment, Olly looked at the bags of dog food, then understood Luke's intention. "No. Actually, there are also leftover tubes and planks from when we refurbished the toilets. We also have…"
Luke interrupted him. "All of that can work. Ask Jim and Norton to haul them up and try to sh.o.r.e up the gla.s.s wall. Also, find the prominent people here and ask for their help. Make sure that the women and children stay far away from the gla.s.s wall. Is that clear?"
Olly listened and nodded.
As the manager of a supermarket, he was best at handling such affairs.
The employees of the supermarket got to work.
Olly was even busier than they were.
He had to dispatch people to move the dog food and other items that could sh.o.r.e up the gla.s.s wall. He also had to talk to the town's important people and get them to convince the crowd that it would be better to hide at the back of the supermarket.
As the manager of the supermarket, he was the most familiar with the town's residents, so he was the most suitable person for the task.
Luke talked to David and asked the warmhearted painter to help, too.
In the bas.e.m.e.nt just now, he had been opposed to Jim's risky plan.
He would certainly be helpful in maintaining order here.
Luke and Selina, on the other hand, examined their guns and bullets and had food and water in an inconspicuous corner.
Luke seized the opportunity to observe everything.
He had to pay attention to special people in such a situation, including the paranoid ones and the troublemakers.
Those people always appeared in desperate times.
Human beings were strange creatures.
In desperate times, some would struggle to resist and die before they gave up, but some would collapse before anything happened to them, and only wanted other people to die with them.
The latter were always the most destructive.
They would sabotage the unity and harmony of the situation.
Now that Luke was here, he certainly didn't want these people to cause trouble.
He and Selina hadn't revealed their ident.i.ties precisely in order to pick out these people.
The supermarket was a mess. Now and then, there were screams and fights.
Most were the subconscious reactions of people in a panic, but some weren't.
A middle-aged woman in her forties was announcing that this was G.o.d's judgment, and that he was punis.h.i.+ng those who didn't revere him.
Luke gestured subtly at Selina.
They walked over, and Selina grabbed the woman. "Wow, you're a believer, too? I need your guidance."
As she spoke, they dragged the woman away.
Luke had no time to talk to the woman, and simply knocked out the annoying psycho after they left the crowd. "Throw her inside the toilets."
Selina threw the idiotic woman inside a toilet cubicle and shut the door.
The supermarket was still in chaos, even without the woman causing a disturbance, but people were starting to take action under Olly's command.
Bags of dog food were piled behind the gla.s.s wall, which was also fortified with planks and tubes.
It was a shame that there was only just so much dog food. As a result, they could only block the other half of the gla.s.s wall with shelves and the items on them.
An empty area several meters wide was cleared in front of the gla.s.s wall.
Luke then summoned Olly, Jim, Norton and David to discuss the next plan.
Two women followed them.
One was Allyn, the headmistress of the school in town. She was an old and kindly gray-haired lady.
The other was Amanda, a teacher from the same school. She was a young blond woman.
Luke shook their hands with a smile. "It's great to have you here. We need to relocate the children and weak women to the office in case they get hurt in the mayhem. You'll look after the children."
Both women were surprised, but then felt that it was necessary.
Allyn said worriedly, "But I don't think the parents will let us look after their children."
Luke said, "Bring the children with their mothers first. If they're too reluctant, don't force them. This is only meant to reduce unnecessary chaos, and to protect the children and women."
Although it wasn't perfect, everybody felt that this was the best solution.
Luke then said to David, "Find several reliable men and block the hallway leading to the office with shelves and the like in case anything tries to break into the office."
David nodded quickly.
The office was much safer than the hallway, which had few places to hide. Since his wife and son were with him, he was naturally willing to agree to this arrangement.
Luke looked at Olly and Jim and said, "I saw tubes and sticks in the bas.e.m.e.nt just now. Try to fas.h.i.+on them into stakes and give them to the men who are willing to protect their families."
Everybody looked grim, as if they had a premonition.
Gazing at them, Luke sighed. "I wish I could say that everything will go well, but I think it's better to be prepared than to simply wait for your fate without doing anything, right?"
Everybody nodded in silence and got to work.
Fortunately, no monsters attacked the supermarket until nightfall.
Luke and Selina sat in a corner, where there was a tiny window for ventilation.
Luke opened the window slightly to listen to what was going on outside.
Most of the time, it was utter silence. But occasionally, there were sounds of rustling and chewing.
That meant that the monsters wandering around inside the fog weren't of the same kind, and were hunting each other.
It wasn't a bad outcome, but it certainly wasn't a good one, either.
Suddenly, Luke frowned and said, "Who turned on the light outside the supermarket? Olly, turn it off!"
Olly said regretfully, "It's automatically activated every day. Where's the switch? Jim, turn it off now."
Jim acknowledged the task and ran to the bas.e.m.e.nt.
However, the light at the supermarket entrance was still on five minutes later.
Luke's expression was stern. He hinted at Selina to stay alert, before he rushed to the bas.e.m.e.nt.
On his way to the bas.e.m.e.nt, he saw Jim on the floor, moaning and holding his head.
He went over to Jim immediately. "What happened?"
"The moment I got here, someone bashed me in the head from behind," said Jim as he clutched his head in pain. "I smelled a weird fragrance."
Luke was gloomy. Weird fragrance? He remembered someone who had it.
Jim's head was bleeding. The heavy strike could've killed him.
"Let's talk about it later. How can I turn the light off?" He carried Jim into the bas.e.m.e.nt.
Struggling against his headache, Jim pointed at a box and said, "Over there, the fourth and the fifth switches in the third row. They're white."
Luke asked, "Both of them?"
Jim replied, "One is for the lightboard and the other is for the smaller lights around it. Both of them have to be flipped off."
Luke flipped the switches off and picked up the walkie-talkie. "Selina, is the light off?"
Selina immediately responded, "Yes, but you better return quickly. The light just now attracted a lot of bugs."
Hearing that, Luke carried Jim back to the hall.
He gave Jim to Norton and spoke to David in a low voice. "Take care of the lunatic woman. She might have attacked Jim just now."
Shocked, David nodded and looked for her.
Luke finally reached the gla.s.s wall. He stared gravely at the dense insects on the gla.s.s that wasn't blocked by the bags of dog food.
Insects weren't scary, and regular ones wouldn't be able to break the tempered, thickened gla.s.s, either.
However, these particular insects were extraordinary. They were as huge as chickens and looked dangerous from every angle.
Luke shouted, "Everybody, turn off your flashlights, now!"
Although he didn't know what these insects were like, their very appearance proved that they were just as addicted to light as many other insects.
The supermarket had been completely dark until just now, and the blazing light had attracted the insects.
Thankfully, the bugs failed to break the gla.s.s wall.
As Luke was thinking this, a shadow that looked like a vulture broke out of the fog and leapt at the gla.s.s wall as it caught a bug.
More importantly, it caused an obvious crack in the gla.s.s.
Luke said calmly, "Turn off all the lights. Everybody, stay where you are and don't run about."
As he talked, he gestured to Selina.
Selina retreated ten meters behind him. It was her shooting position, a small fortress protected by shelves.
The flashlights quickly went off, but some were still on. Someone asked anxiously, "What's going on? I can't turn off my flashlight!"
That left Luke speechless.
Accidents could happen; it wasn't unusual for a person to be unable to find the b.u.t.ton to turn off the flashlight when they were nervous.
Luke had no time to talk to them, and focused his attention on the gla.s.s wall.
With the sound of flapping, monsters the size of vultures, which looked like ancient pterosaurs, showed up to feed on the insects on the gla.s.s.
Finally, part of the gla.s.s wall cracked, but in a section that was blocked by the bags of dog food.
In the next moment, there was another crack. This time, it was in a section that wasn't covered by the dog food.
Most of the insects flew away, but some crawled in through the gaps and onto the shelves.
That was only natural.
There weren't enough items to block the supermarket's twenty meter-long gla.s.s wall anyway. It was already remarkable that they could block half of it with dog food.
Luke, who was nearby, grasped an alloy bat and swung it.
Cling! Cling!
Two bugs were knocked to the ground.
In terms of precision, Luke could now swing a bat so that it brushed past someone's nose dozens of times in a row without hurting them.
The ghost-like movements of the bat didn't stop, but lashed out twice more as Luke turned around.
Cling! Cling!
Four bugs were on the ground.
But they were still struggling.
Luke had purposefully held back his strength in case they splattered fluid when they were smashed.
Looking at the hole in the wall, he stuffed backup goods into it, such as shampoo, water and baby formula.
He glanced around to make sure that there weren't any other openings, before he then hit the struggling bugs again without making them explode.
"Olly, find some plastic boxes and store those bugs inside. Remember not to touch those bugs. Move them with brooms," Luke called out as he continued observing the situation.
Suddenly, his face changed.
A gigantic creature five meters tall charged out of the fog and bit the pterosaur-like monster that was on the front doors.
The gla.s.s immediately shattered.
As the supermarket's entrance, the doors were the least protected part of the gla.s.s wall. There was only a long wooden table in front of them, with heavy items pushed up against the table.
However, these things were but toys before the gigantic creature. They were shoved away to leave a huge gap behind.
The pterosaur-like monsters that were feeding on the bugs seemed terrified by the new monster. They flapped their wings and tried to fly into the gap.
Luke frowned but didn't say anything.
He wasn't sure that the big guy wouldn't notice him if he shouted out loud.
Five pterosaur-like monsters dashed in.
Luke made a free shooting gesture to Selina, before he charged forward with his bat and knocked out two pterosaur-like monsters on the edge.
Seeing that the monsters were still struggling vigorously, Luke exerted more strength and smashed their necks.
After two cracks, the monsters turned stiff.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Selina opened fire decisively, hitting the furthest pterosaur-like monster.
Luke chased the last two pterosaur-like monsters that had scattered.
They had crossed the empty area and were lunging at the people behind the shelf line.
Keeping his eye on the one closer to him, Luke followed the monster to the back of the shelves and smote it from below, flinging it back into the empty area when it tried to peck someone.
Although three pterosaur-monsters had been taken down, there was no time to celebrate as the last one had already rushed into the crowd.
Panicked, the folk cried and fled. Several people tried to resist, but could barely keep their balance as the others ran about in a mess.
Luke ran over quickly and knocked away several people in his path. He reached the monster just as it was pressing down on a woman's neck and about to bite her.
Luke's bat immediately hit the monster in the neck again.
The pterosaur-like monster fell and lost the strength to struggle.
However, the crowd was a mess. They were all screaming and running.
With no time to take care of them, Luke ran off immediately.
The screams in the supermarket had caught the giant monster's attention. It stretched its head in and glanced around in confusion.
With its enormous strength, it pushed the blockade at the entrance away.
The monster seemed to be trying to crawl in.
When Luke returned in a hurry, a man was backing off and waving a long spear randomly.
Luke grabbed the spear and threw it with all of his strength.
Puchi!
With a dull noise, the long spear sank into the monster's head.
It was a shame that Luke had never practiced the javelin, and the spear was just a pointy pipe. So, his attack failed to kill the monster in one go.
The monster screamed and abruptly retreated from the door.
Luke, on the other hand, didn't panic. He kicked at the tubes on the ground and picked up a few.
Rus.h.i.+ng to the open door, Luke stood straight and hurled more tubes.
Three pointed tubes flew out one after another, boosted by Luke's enormous strength, and hit the monster in three spots from the chest to the head.
The monster screamed miserably and fell after retreating ten meters.
The three tubes were far heavier than the first spear. When Luke attacked with his full strength, they penetrated the monster's head and abdomen, causing fatal injury.
Ignoring the monster, Luke backed off and pulled back the table that had been pushed away. Sticking it back into the hole, he shouted, "Give me the tubes!"
Some of the braver people brought several tubes to him.
Luke crossed them and stacked them against the table. Finally relieved, he gazed at the enormous monster outside through the gap.
The monster was roaring, but was too heavily wounded to get back to its feet.
Everybody was finally relieved.
However, a pair of huge pincers suddenly appeared in the mist and grabbed the roaring monster before retreating.
After a few cracking sounds, it fell silent.
The earth shook slightly as an even greater monster left.
Everybody was pale.
Compared with this monster, which had only revealed its pincers, the five meter-long monster was only a chicken at most.
But probably because it was too huge, the terrifying monster wasn't interested in the ants in the supermarket, and left with the body of the first monster.
Luke said to the few people nearby with a forbidding look, "Tell them to stop crying. n.o.body will survive if the monster just now is attracted by the sound."
Sweating hard, they rushed away.
The screams in the supermarket finally died down. The children were appeased by their parents, and the noisy ones were brought to the bathroom.
The bathroom was safe and soundproof. They could cry however much they wanted there.
After that incident, everybody in the supermarket became cautious.
Other than the office and the bathroom, the supermarket was completely silent.
Luke wiped at his sweat, half because he was exhausted and half because he was terrified.
The last monster had been too dreadful. He estimated that it could be twenty meters long.
The consequences would be unimaginable if such a monster broke into the supermarket.