9: Chapter 9: One Arrow Kills! Intermediate Beast Core Acquired, Now Watching the Dogs Fight!

The Polaris traveled steadily at twenty-five kilometers per hour through the undulating ice mounds of the Pale Shoals.

The air pressure before the ice storm was extremely low.

An invisible iron curtain shrouded the entire wasteland, creating an oppressive atmosphere that made it hard to breathe.

Lu Chen stared intently at the snow mist outside the windshield, which was being sliced through by the searchlights.

After driving for half an hour, he straightened his back and focused on a fault line ahead.

Below a glacial fault line two hundred meters ahead, a large area of snow had been overturned, revealing black rock layers.

Around the rock layers, over a dozen low-grade sourcefire coal crystals were scattered, emitting a faint red glow!

This was a micro-vein that had just been squeezed to the surface by crustal movements.

But Lu Chen did not step on the accelerator to rush over.

Instead, he cautiously reduced his speed to the minimum and even turned off the blinding searchlights, allowing the vehicle to blend into the dim background.

When things are abnormal, there must be a catch.

Such conspicuous resources would surely have a guardian.

Silently reciting the principles of caution, he moved his body next to the firing port.

Gripping the handles of the Black Powder Steam Repeating Crossbow with both hands, he used the scope to carefully search every inch of the snowy ground around the coal crystals.

One minute!

Two minutes!

Even the most experienced wasteland hunter would have been unable to restrain themselves by now.

But he remained motionless, his eyes wide open the entire time.

Finally, during the third minute.

Crash!

A dozen meters to the right of the coal crystals, an ordinary-looking snow mound suddenly burst open!

A monster propped itself up on four limbs and stood up; its size was even larger than the three Icefield Wolves from before.

A Mutated Snow Bear!

It stood at three meters tall, with its white fur standing on end.

The most terrifying part was its right forelimb, which had mutated into a solid piece of black keratin as hard as volcanic rock.

It was irritably slapping the ground with its giant claws, its crimson eyes warily scanning the surroundings as it declared its sovereignty over the mineral vein.

His deduction was correct.

If he had driven straight over just now, this incredibly powerful Snow Bear could have smashed the Polaris's bulletproof iron plating into scrap metal with a single paw strike.

Distance: one hundred and eighty meters.

Lu Chen's brain rapidly calculated the impact of wind speed and air pressure on the crossbow bolt's trajectory.

It was beyond the optimal range; the probability of a direct headshot was lower than eighty percent.

For him, anything less than one hundred percent was equivalent to failure!

He did not fire.

Lu Chen sat back in the driver's seat and patiently manipulated the steering wheel.

Using the surrounding ice mounds as cover, the Polaris crawled toward the Snow Bear's direction at a silent idle speed.

One hundred and fifty meters!

One hundred and thirty meters!

When the distance closed to the one-hundred-and-twenty-meter kill zone, the Polaris remained firmly rooted in place.

Lu Chen returned to the shooting position.

The crosshairs of the scope steadily locked onto the center of the Snow Bear's forehead.

That was the only fatal soft spot on its skull not covered by keratin.

This was the feeling of one hundred percent control.

Lu Chen's finger pulled the trigger without hesitation!

Screech!

The shriek of high-pressure steam and the explosion of black powder rang out simultaneously!

The pungent smell of gunpowder smoke filled the cramped cabin.

The solid steel crossbow bolt tore through the air, instantly piercing through a hundred meters of wind and snow.

The Mutated Snow Bear didn't even have time to turn its head.

The crossbow bolt was incomparably violent, pinning itself straight into the center of the bear's forehead!

The terrifying kinetic energy directly detonated its brain; the bolt head exited through the back of the skull along with red and white matter, condensing into a spray of blood-colored ice crystals in the wind and snow!

The Snow Bear's massive body suddenly froze.

Half a shrill scream got stuck in its throat and stopped abruptly.

It crashed straight onto the snow, kicking up a cloud of snow dust, completely dead.

Perfect.

Lu Chen blew away the faint smoke rising from the crossbow.

After confirming there were no other heat sources nearby, he drove the vehicle closer.

Opening the door and braving the bone-chilling gale, Lu Chen jumped down skillfully.

Ignoring the swirling snow, he drew his skinning knife and cut open the Snow Bear's chest cavity.

An intermediate beast core, a size larger than the Icefield Wolf's core and emitting a faint blue light, was dug out!

Next, he cut the bear meat from the Snow Bear's body.

Along with the dozen or so coal crystals on the ground, he threw everything into the cabin.

Looking at the new supplies in the cabin, Lu Chen's bone-deep hoarding instinct was greatly satisfied.

Rumble!

Just as Lu Chen closed the door and prepared to head back.

From a wide glacial canyon two kilometers to the left, a sudden burst of dense gunfire and violent explosions echoed!

The soaring flames even momentarily illuminated half of the gloomy sky.

Lu Chen turned his head and looked through his binoculars.

At the entrance of that canyon, which served as a natural windbreak, three medium-sized modified armored vehicles several times larger than the Polaris were in a frantic firefight with a group of Raiders on snowmobiles!

The tail flames of rocket launchers interlaced in mid-air.

Heavy machine guns spat tongues of fire, tearing human bodies apart in swaths.

Severed limbs flew in the explosions, and blood instantly stained that patch of snow a glaring dark red.

To fight over a broken mountain cave, they've already started fighting like dogs.

Lu Chen put down the binoculars, his facial muscles still tense.

In the wasteland, such things happened every day.

Those who lacked armor and temperature-control equipment could only use their lives to fight for the few natural barriers available.

If it were one of those hot-headed transmigrators, they would inevitably rely on their firepower to get involved and try to rob the robbers.

But he had no interest in watching the show.

A foolish struggle.

A true fortress is always the mobile armor one builds with their own hands.

Lu Chen shook his head, decisively stepped on the gas, and turned the steering wheel.

The Polaris turned its massive body around.

With its back to the battlefield of corpses and blood, it silently vanished into the more hidden leeward slope of another ice mound.

The hunt was over.

It was time to face this grand trial sweeping across the wasteland.