Chapter 89: Escape

“Level 3 Black-Scaled Giant!”

Hearing the chip’s alarm, Zhang Ran felt a jolt of surprise. At that moment, the Black-Scaled Giant also sensed Zhang Ran from afar and suddenly halted its steps.

The towering creature swung its arms, scooping up a large stone from the ground and raising it high overhead. A surge of black light poured from its forearms, gathering on the stone. With a powerful motion, the giant hurled the stone toward Zhang Ran with terrifying momentum.

The stone was roughly the size of a desk and weighed well over a hundred kilograms, yet in the giant's hands it flew like a cannonball, slicing through the air with a whistling sound, a testament to its incredible speed.

Moreover, the stone’s surface was cloaked in thick black light, radiating a strong and deep energy aura that clearly possessed immense destructive power.

That black light was the result of the Black-Scaled Giant’s ability: Explosive Stone Throw. Once unleashed, any stone thrown would gain terrifying speed and, upon striking the target, explode with tremendous force.

The angle at which the giant released this Explosive Stone Throw was cunning, sealing off Zhang Ran’s escape route. If Zhang Ran tried to retreat farther away, he would be struck directly by this attack.

Sensing the trajectory of the Explosive Stone Throw, Zhang Ran had no choice but to accelerate sharply, dodging to the side. At the same time, he issued a mental command to the chip, seeking to analyze the giant’s attributes.

“Target Name: Black-Scaled Giant
Target Type: Mutant Humanoid
Hunting Level: 3
Special Abilities: Stone Throw, Explosive Stone Throw, Reinforced Scale Armor, Brutal Strike...
Strength: 7.9
Constitution: 7.6
Agility: 5.8
Mental: 2.3
Weaknesses: ...”

A silver light flashed before Zhang Ran’s eyes, forming a transparent information panel. The giant’s attributes appeared before him.

Among level-3 mutant creatures, the Black-Scaled Giant was certainly one of the stronger types. Its agility was not high, and its mental attribute, like most mutants, was quite low; yet its strength and constitution were top-tier for its class.

Thus, although Zhang Ran was capable of defeating weaker level-3 mutants, his chances against the Black-Scaled Giant were only thirty-six percent.

Even if Zhang Ran advanced further, gathering his second evolution point, he could only reach a seventy percent chance of victory—hardly enough to guarantee a kill. Fortunately, his agility had reached six points, slightly higher than the giant’s, so if he wanted to escape, the giant could not stop him.

Zhang Ran sprinted about twenty meters to the side, and in that instant, the stone infused with Explosive Stone Throw crashed down twenty-five meters ahead of him.

Boom!

With a deafening roar, the stone exploded upon impact, sending clouds of dust billowing skyward and a shockwave rippling outward.

At the point of impact, the ground was gouged with a crater five meters in diameter and a meter deep. Within the blast radius, all wild grass and mutant creatures were torn apart and obliterated, the earth within the crater covered in a layer of black ash.

Nearby, the explosion’s shockwaves uprooted patch after patch of wild grass. Some beasts, unable to dodge in time, were knocked unconscious, blood streaming from their ears and nostrils. Even Zhang Ran, at a distance, felt the force of the blast, marveling at its destructive power.

In terms of raw power, Explosive Stone Throw was no less devastating than a high-explosive grenade, though it lacked the fragmentation. If struck directly, even with a level-2 alloy shield, Zhang Ran would be gravely wounded, possibly killed outright.

“With my current strength, fighting this Black-Scaled Giant head-on would be pure folly. The odds of victory are only thirty-six percent; even if I won by luck, I’d be severely injured! The best strategy is to retreat for now. Once I’ve gathered my second evolution point, I can return and face this giant.”

Having witnessed the giant’s overwhelming power, Zhang Ran abandoned any idea of a frontal confrontation. With a thought, the Space Box rune in his mind flashed, and he stowed his heavy sword, Polebreaker, leaving only a military dagger at his waist.

After securing his gear, Zhang Ran wasted no more time with the giant and strode quickly away. The Black-Scaled Giant, in turn, began lumbering after him.

For nearly ten minutes, Zhang Ran pressed onward toward Black Hawk Corporation, covering about ten kilometers. Now, he was only sixty kilometers from the company, and the distance between him and the giant had stretched from five hundred meters to seven hundred.

At this point, Zhang Ran dared not approach any closer. According to Black Hawk Corporation’s laws, bringing a high-level mutant into the safety zone was a capital offense.

He shifted direction again, pushing himself to run at full speed.

After another half hour, the gap between Zhang Ran and the giant grew to about a kilometer. Though the creature’s keen eyesight could still lock onto him, it lost interest in the chase, turned away, and began searching for other prey.

“Whew, it’s finally gone. That was close!”

Sensing the giant’s pursuit had ended, Zhang Ran breathed a sigh of relief. To be safe, he continued running for another two kilometers. Only when the giant had disappeared entirely from view did he stop.

After forty minutes of relentless sprinting, Zhang Ran had burned through nearly sixty percent of his stamina. He gasped for breath, regaining his strength.

“What bad luck—to encounter a Black-Scaled Giant crossing over from the heart of the wasteland! Still, it’s not unexpected. The hunting grounds are merely artificial boundaries. Mutants don’t obey the ranges humans set!”

“As for Black Hawk Corporation, they can only send evolved hunters to eliminate mutants that cross the boundaries, ensuring a relatively safe environment for their hunters and minimizing encounters with high-level mutants. But they can’t prevent all crossovers.”

He swallowed half a tube of high-energy food, replenishing his lost strength as he pondered. This was, after all, a perilous wasteland, not a computer game where monsters stayed fixed in place and spawned according to program. Hunters could not simply level up step by step; they had to confront ever-present dangers on the wilds. Mutants crossing boundaries were only one of many threats.