The figure lying on the ground was riddled with bullet holes, standing at least two meters tall. Its chest and other parts of its body were exposed, covered only by a makeshift skirt of animal fur around its waist. Its hands, with five fingers like claws, resembled those of a fierce predator like a leopard, with long, blackened nails that gleamed ominously in the light. Its feet were just as terrifying, though shorter than the claws on its hands, they were sharper, adding to the eerie sight.
Its muscular body, tangled with thick muscle fibers, looked absurdly strong, almost grotesque in its ruggedness. A layer of thick body hair covered most of its frame, and although its facial features were distinctly human, they were oversized, as if its entire face had been stretched wider by a full size.
Echo glanced at the body, unsure whether to call it a native or a mutated human. Just as she was about to look away, her eyes caught sight of a small communication device on the ground beside it.
Her expression immediately shifted. If she wasn’t mistaken, that was Panther’s communicator. It had a special marking on it, one that Bill had customized. This device not only allowed communication but also recorded conversations.
Since their signal had been cut off, whatever Panther had said would still be recorded on it. Echo quickly stood up.
She looked around at the group gathered in a circle and then down at the communicator, just two steps away.
Glancing up, she saw Ryan giving instructions to the others. Without wasting a moment, she moved swiftly, crossing the distance in a single step.
In the middle of the crowd, surrounded by so many people for protection, she was confident there wouldn’t be an issue. Echo was always cautious, ensuring she fully assessed the situation before making a move-that was her way.
In two quick strides, she bent down and reached for the communicator.
Ryan, sensing Echo’s sudden movement, immediately turned his head and coldly asked, “What are you doing?” As he reached out toward her.
“Panther’s communicator,” Echo replied quickly.
The people nearby turned to her as soon as they heard her words, their eyes lighting up with hope. If they had the communicator, they might be able to figure out what had happened. But seeing Panther’s belongings discarded like this, their expressions grew tense again.
Before Echo could finish standing up, the native lying beside her, full of bullet holes, suddenly snapped its eyes open.
Echo caught the movement from the corner of her eye and immediately knew something was wrong. Without a second thought, she stepped back and opened her mouth to shout.
In an instant, before Echo could even fully stand, the native sprang up with lightning speed, grabbing her arm with incredible strength and hurling her through the air, throwing her far away.
“It is alive!” Echo shouted as she was flung.
The whole event happened in the blink of an eye.
Ryan, who had already been reaching for Echo, was the closest to her when it all went down. Without hesitating, he lunged forward, grabbing for Echo as she was thrown. He managed to rip a piece of her thick, radiation-proof suit off, but Echo’s body flew past everyone, hurtling toward a patch of unscathed trees in the distance.
As Echo soared through the air, she acted on instinct, throwing the communicator she had grabbed toward Ryan and the others. Her body, however, continued to fly uncontrollably through the air.
Ryan realized that he had failed to grab Echo, the force pulling her away was shockingly strong. Without hesitation, he shifted his footing, pressed one hand on Bill’s shoulder for leverage, and vaulted over the heads of everyone, chasing after Echo.
In that split second, Bill and the others finally reacted. They turned toward the native, who was barely able to sit up, half-dead on the ground. Without wasting time, Bill fired a shot from his heavy weapon, blasting the native into two pieces before it could even struggle.
At the same moment, Ryan’s men, who had been standing in a circle, rushed toward where Ryan was heading.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
Echo, though thrown far, wasn’t just some ordinary person. Even though she hadn’t lived Ryan’s kind of life and didn’t possess his level of discipline and control, she definitely knew how to stay calm when needed. As she felt herself airborne, she stayed composed, assessing where she was falling. She quickly curled up her body to minimize injury from hitting the ground or slamming into a tree.
When the force of the throw began to wane, Echo sensed herself descending. As she passed the treetops, she instinctively reached out and grabbed a branch.
After crashing through two branches, her body finally stopped. She breathed a sigh of relief, clinging to a branch, dangling in mid-air.
But before she could fully relax, her eyes caught a pair of glowing green eyes on the ground below.
Her blood ran cold-another native.
“Ryan!” she shouted in panic.
At that moment, all she could think of was Ryan.
The native, with those eerie green eyes, leaped toward her, quickly climbing up the tree. Within seconds, he was right in front of her.
Echo’s heart pounded like it was about to burst out of her chest, but her mind stayed eerily calm. As the native jumped up, she immediately released her grip, letting herself fall in the hope of dodging him.
The native saw her drop and swiftly lunged downward to grab her.
At the same time, Ryan arrived. Without wasting a second, he aimed his gun at the native and fired while using the trunk of a tree as leverage to reach Echo.
The gunshot echoed through the air, and blood splattered from the native’s body as one of his arms was blown off.
Since Echo was falling right in front of the native’s vital areas, Ryan had to adjust his aim, striking the native in the chest, near the arm, instead of delivering a fatal shot.
Losing his arm only seemed to make the native more ferocious. He quickly reached for Echo, who was nearly hitting the ground, while using the momentum of his fall to kick at Ryan below.
“Oh, Ryan! Help me!” Echo screamed as she felt a powerful grip around her neck, lifting her off the ground just as she was about to land. Her body, which had been falling, suddenly jerked upward, and she cried out in fear.
At that same moment, she instinctively thrust her ringed hand toward the native, aiming to stab him.
Life and death were decided in an instant, and in this critical moment, Echo’s mind was sharper than ever.
The native’s long arms and incredible strength caught Echo off guard. When she tried to strike back, what would normally have been a sure hit missed entirely. Her desperate thrust hit nothing but air, as the native, suspended in midair, avoided her attack. With his powerful grip on the back of her neck, he flung her even farther away from his body.
Below, Ryan saw he was a split second too late. The native’s fierce kick came at him like lightning. Ryan quickly shifted his stance, using his palm to strike a nearby tree trunk and flip out of the way, narrowly avoiding the powerful blow. The thick branch, as wide as a bowl, snapped loudly under the impact.
As soon as Ryan landed on the ground, Echo’s piercing scream echoed from above. His eyes narrowed as he saw the native push off the tree trunk and leap away, vanishing into the depths of the forest with Echo.
Ryan’s face turned ice-cold. Without a word, he spun and chased after them.
Bill and the others, who had just arrived, only caught a glimpse of Ryan’s figure disappearing into the forest. All they could hear was Echo’s scream growing fainter in the distance, leaving them pale with fear.