Chapter 685: What Happened in One Second

At this moment, the world seemed to slow down before Iron Lion's eyes, playing at half speed, or even a third of normal speed.

Even Iron Lion's other head, Mad Lion, had awakened.

As if sensing extreme danger, the moment Mad Lion woke, his eyes bulged wide with a frantic, almost deranged look.

Four eyes swept across the entire interior of the vehicle.

His body began rapidly transforming, preparing to shift and face the impending conflict.

Aside from those few people with their mouths wide open, ready to unleash roaring screams.

No... no! No! No!!!

Those heads hadn't yet smashed through the vehicle's body and charged in, like Yezi had said!

Only then did Iron Lion realize that the commotion wasn't coming from his own vehicle.

It was coming from the one beside them.

Screams and wails reached his ears.

Someone was clearly under attack.

But his own vehicle was completely unharmed!

The sound was coming from the side.

The situation had erupted so suddenly that he'd panicked for a moment.

Thank goodness, thank goodness!

Iron Lion felt an overwhelming wave of relief.

If something had really happened here, the fate awaiting the Fair Convoy might have been the entire convoy being wiped out on the spot.

Iron Lion's heart instantly settled back into his chest, and he felt a surge of relaxation!

But before Iron Lion could fully let his guard down...

Every hair on Iron Lion's body stood on end, like a frightened cat.

The danger wasn't over yet.

There was danger on his side too.

Mad Lion's blazing eyes swept across the entire truck bed like lightning.

By the dim light, Mad Lion could see at least five people in the truck bed who were being crushed by pressure, struggling to breathe, people who wanted to vent that pressure through shouting.

These people were exactly like the ones he currently had in his grasp - their pupils darting wildly, their bodies trembling faintly.

Their mouths hung wide open, as if they were inhaling, preparing to take in a full breath and unleash the most intense cursed cries.

These people had identical symptoms to the ones in Iron Lion's hands.

These people...

They were about to make a sound.

About to make a sound loud enough to draw the attention of those sea anomalies.

Five people in total!

Five people...

He currently had two more under his control.

Those two hadn't given up either, twisting their bodies like madmen, seemingly trying to break free from Iron Lion's grip.

But there were still five more who would erupt into roars simultaneously in the next second.

He couldn't stop this from happening without causing a major disturbance, and without hurting these five people.

His brain was getting slower and slower, unable to think of a solution that satisfied both conditions.

Couldn't think of one...

Once a roar was unleashed...

This vehicle would end up like the screams he heard coming from other directions.

Whatever happened to the vehicle that roared earlier was made perfectly clear by the ongoing screams.

In just a few seconds, everyone in this vehicle, including himself, would be dead.

It might even drag down the entire convoy.

Including everyone on Bus Number Six, including Xu Lina, including Yezi, including Xixi, Squad Leader Chu...

Iron Lion naively believed that if anything went wrong on his side, everyone would come to help.

And then, the entire convoy would be wiped out in an instant.

Earlier, when chatting in the Bluetooth earbuds group, the convoy had assessed their chances of winning a fight against these long-necked sea anomalies.

Their chances of escaping didn't exceed one in ten.

"Idiot, kill them! Killing them is the fastest way to solve this problem!"

"You can't stop them all at once. Killing them is the quickest and most effective option!"

"Your brain isn't big enough to think of a better way!"

"For you, killing them is exactly what you should be doing right now!"

Thought after thought came rushing over from Mad Lion.

There was no time for words, no time for speech. Only these thoughts could be transmitted in such a short span.

The two of them had always shared one body with two heads, so passing thoughts back and forth was simple.

"They... they're still people, living, breathing people. Humanity is already so scarce... I... I don't want to kill!"

"Idiot! If you don't kill them, everyone dies! Everyone!"

"But... but there are too many. Five people, plus the two in my hands, that's seven. I don't want to kill... I really don't. There has to be a better way!"

"Idiot! Your brain was never enough to begin with. You're not Xixi, not Squad Leader Chu, and definitely not Yezi. You can't think of another way. Move now!"

"I..."

"Move now! Kill them, save more people - that's the best you can do right now! Go!"

"That stupid brain of yours can't come up with anything better!"

"They're about to make a sound!"

"If that happens, everyone is finished!"

Mad Lion's and Iron Lion's thoughts collided furiously.

Mad Lion urged Iron Lion to act quickly.

Iron Lion was still hesitating.

Those five people... they were all teammates he had once known well.

Because of Iron Lion's gentle nature, once people got to know him, they were all willing to interact with him.

So Iron Lion was different from Chen Ye and the others.

Iron Lion still had plenty of ordinary survivors as friends.

Even though those friends most likely just wanted to get something out of Iron Lion.

But Iron Lion never cared about that.

He was always willing to help these people.

Because they were teammates.

Take that middle-aged man with graying temples, for instance - earlier he'd traded a piece of bread to Iron Lion for a chocolate bar.

And that middle-aged woman who'd said multiple times that once she found her daughter, she'd introduce her to Iron Lion.

Even though he knew her daughter was probably long dead, he always agreed with a cheerful smile.

And that young man who always followed behind him, calling out "Brother Iron, Brother Iron" every time.

In Iron Lion's eyes, that young man genuinely saw him as an older brother.

Maybe he had his own hidden motives, but Iron Lion never cared.

And that other one...

All five people had interacted with him. All five had decent relationships with him.

Just earlier, these people had even come over to ask him when those sea anomalies would finally leave.

Iron Lion remembered answering, "I don't know either!"

Then they'd walked away in silence.

In Iron Lion's mind, whether they were Superhumans or survivors, they were all his teammates.

It was just that Chen Ye and the others were more capable and had more chances to fight alongside him.

But now...

Was killing all of them the only way to resolve this crisis?

Five people, all about to make a sound at once.

He still had two free hands, but there was no way to stop them from speaking in such a short time without hurting them or causing an even bigger commotion.

Killing them was simpler, faster, and more effective than stopping them.

I can't do something like this. I'm only Sequence 3!

"Make up your mind quickly, you fool, or everyone dies!"

"Everyone!!!"

Mad Lion kept urging him on.

The thoughts kept flooding in.

Iron Lion could even see the tonsils in those people's wide-open mouths.

The turmoil in Iron Lion's heart was so complex that even he couldn't describe it.

Someone's throat was already starting to produce breathy sounds. In the next second, a devastating scream would erupt.

Iron Lion moved...

The massive hands that had been gripping the two frantically struggling people tightened slightly.

They stopped struggling instantly.

That sensation...

Like crushing an egg!

No, even easier than crushing an egg.

In the very next instant.

Iron Lion appeared at the center of those five people.

Four arms shot out, directly crushing the screams back into their throats.

They collapsed limply onto the floor.

One last one remained...

In the final 0.001 second, Iron Lion silenced him too.

The entire process was astonishingly fast.

It takes long to describe, but not even a single second had passed.

In that span of less than one second,

Iron Lion's emotions had been on a roller coaster ride.

When the screams first erupted, he'd thought it was all over.

Then he realized he'd been too tense and misheard the source of the sound - the commotion from the neighboring vehicle had been mistaken for his own.

Just as he was about to relax, he saw that the same thing was about to happen inside his own vehicle.

The next to be destroyed would be this vehicle...

No, his entire convoy!

Iron Lion's brain couldn't figure out how to handle such a situation.

If it were Chen Ye, a single breath of Smoke Breath would have been enough.

If it were the pink-haired girl, the Fire Dragon Sword in her hands could have handled it too.

But the one facing this situation was Iron Lion...

This simple-minded, slow-witted Big Fool.

Killing them was the simplest solution Iron Lion could think of in such a panic, in such a life-or-death moment.

It wasn't that he'd never killed before, but those kills had always been justified, always forced, and never something he'd initiated on his own.

But now...

He didn't want to kill, least of all his own teammates.

These were people he knew, people he'd chatted and built friendships with.

Now they were dying by his hand.

The Superhuman who least wanted to kill had been forced to kill the most people in a single moment.

Seven corpses lay sprawled inside the vehicle, a pool of blood spreading beneath them.

The crisis was over.

Iron Lion could hear his own heartbeat, pounding faster than ever before.

He raised his eyes and looked around the rest of the vehicle.

Every direction Iron Lion looked, people scrambled backward, desperate to get away.

Before, when these people met Iron Lion's gaze, they would nod slightly and respond with a smile.

But now...

The way these people looked at Iron Lion was like they were staring at a bloodthirsty maniac.