Pfft!

The steel nail blasted straight into the man’s chest.

The impact sent him staggering backward several steps, his machete clattering from his grip into the water with a splash. He looked down in disbelief at the thick nail embedded in his chest, blood rapidly spreading across his shirt.

Then his knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily onto the deck.

The remaining two men panicked instantly. Everything had happened far too fast. From the moment Thomas fired the first shot to now, barely a few seconds had passed.

Three of their people were already down, and the other side hadn’t even given them a chance to react.

"Fuck! Fuck!!"

The man holding the metal hook completely lost his composure. His earlier arrogance vanished without a trace.

He had thought they were targeting ordinary survivors. Who the hell were these monsters?!

The hook slipped from his hand and splashed into the water.

He scrambled backward in terror, almost falling over himself as he shouted frantically at the last remaining companion beside him:

"Run! Run!!"

The other man was equally pale with fear.

Moments ago, they had been the hunters. Now, they looked like prey cornered by predators.

The two men rushed toward the controls in a panic, trying to turn the boat around and escape, but Thomas had no intention of letting them leave.

His expression remained ice cold.

He raised the modified nail gun again, and another sharp burst split the air.

The steel nail pierced straight through one man’s thigh. The man screamed and collapsed onto the deck, clutching his leg as blood poured through his fingers.

The last survivor finally snapped completely. He dropped to his knees with a thud.

"Don’t kill me! Please don’t kill me!"

His face was deathly pale, tears and snot running together as he trembled violently.

"We were wrong! We were wrong, okay?! We won’t dare again! Please spare me!"

Moments earlier, he had been threatening them with a weapon. Now he was kowtowing desperately like a beaten dog.

Suzy watched him coldly. No sympathy stirred in her heart. If the situation had been reversed, these people would never have spared them. They would have taken the boat, taken their supplies, and very likely killed them afterward to eliminate witnesses.

This wasn’t a negotiation from the start. It was robbery disguised as friendliness.

The balding man on the deck was still twitching weakly, blood bubbling from the hole in his throat. His eyes remained wide open, filled with terror and disbelief.

Thomas glanced at the kneeling man.

"Throw your weapons into the water." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"I will! I will!" The man scrambled to comply, tossing everything overboard in terror.

Even the remaining crossbow was kicked into the water.

Leonard let out a cold laugh. "Weren’t you acting tough just now?"

The man didn’t dare answer. His entire body shook uncontrollably.

Thomas kept the nail gun trained on him as he said quietly, "Move your boat aside."

The man nodded frantically and crawled toward the controls. The damaged boat slowly shifted away from their path.

Only then did Thomas restart their inflatable boat.

As they passed by, Suzy caught sight of the bodies sprawled across the other vessel.

The metallic smell of blood drifted over the water. Her stomach tightened slightly. This was the first time she had truly witnessed this kind of life-and-death struggle up close.

The apocalypse had finally ripped away its last layer of disguise before her eyes.

The steel nail punched straight through his shoulder.

The machete flew from his hand as he stumbled backward several steps. Then his foot slipped off the edge of the boat and he toppled straight into the water, thrashing wildly as he screamed for help.

Watching his companions fall one after another, the man with the hook panicked completely.

He fumbled beneath the side of the boat and pulled out a crossbow, scrambling clumsily to load it.

Suzy didn’t give him the chance. She raised her curved crossbow, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

The bolt sliced through the air and buried itself deep into his thigh.

"AHHHH!"

He shrieked in agony. The crossbow slipped from his hand and splashed into the water while he collapsed onto the deck clutching his leg, rolling around in pain.

At this point, four of them had already been taken down.

Only one person remained untouched.

The three of them stared at him warily.

The man sat motionless at the rear of the inflatable boat, a cap covering most of his face. From beginning to end, he hadn’t moved an inch.

Only now did Suzy and the others fully realize something strange.

Hadn’t this guy been sitting in the exact same position the entire time? The fight had been so violent, yet he still hadn’t reacted at all.

It was bizarre.

Could he have fainted? Passed out from fear?

Thomas turned toward the wounded man, clutching his leg, and pointed at the motionless figure in the back.

"What’s with him?"

The injured man grimaced through the pain.

"H-he... ahh... he’s not one of us."

"Not with you?" Thomas’s eyes flickered.

So the bald man claiming they had five fighters had just been bluffing.

"Then why hasn’t he moved?" Thomas asked again.

The man hesitated before answering weakly, "We... we knocked him out."

To be safe, Thomas stepped onto the other boat to inspect him personally.

He picked up a knife and cautiously lifted the black jacket covering the man’s face.

As the jacket fell away, the fifth person’s appearance was finally revealed.

A young man in his early twenties.

Just as the wounded man had said, he was unconscious, eyes tightly shut, wrists bound with thick rope.

Suzy leaned forward for a closer look.

The young man was strikingly delicate-looking. His skin was pale, his nose sharp and refined, his features almost feminine. A dark bruise stained the corner of his lips.

With makeup, a wig, and a beauty filter, he could easily pass for a girl.

"He’s pretty delicate-looking," Leonard commented.

"I had a junior in college with the same vibe," Suzy murmured. "He looked gorgeous in women’s clothes."

Back in university, someone in her club had looked remarkably similar to this young man.

Once, during a club event, that junior had crossdressed for a role and stunned everyone present. Plenty of clueless passersby had even asked for "her" contact information afterward.

But the more Suzy stared at this man, the more familiar he seemed.

Her brows slowly furrowed.

After confirming the young man wasn’t with the bald man’s group, Thomas cut through the ropes binding his wrists.

Deep purple bruises ringed the skin beneath the ropes. Whoever had tied him up hadn’t shown mercy.

The moment the ropes loosened, his body slumped weakly to the side. Thomas caught him by the shoulder and lightly slapped his cheek.

"Wake up."

The young man’s eyelashes trembled faintly. His brows knitted together as though he were struggling to wake from a terrible nightmare.

A few seconds later, his eyes slowly opened. They were light brown, unfocused at first.

His gaze wandered blankly between Thomas and Leonard before finally landing on Suzy.

Then he froze completely.

His pale brown eyes widened abruptly, pupils shrinking ever so slightly.

His lips parted soundlessly.

He simply stared at Suzy, as though trying to confirm something.

Or perhaps trying to process a shock too overwhelming to comprehend.