Caroline couldn't shake the bad feeling in her gut about Nelson jumping down. What she didn't know was that he really had run into trouble. Right in front of him stood a pink, slimy, slippery, and incredibly tough mutant creature. It had no eyes, yet it stared firmly in his direction. It seemed desperate, hungry for that smear of blood on his arm. But Nelson wasn't afraid. He'd come down fully prepared. He calmly lifted his lab coat. Inside was a row of syringes—different colors, different scents, different effects. "Don't think I'm easy to mess with." The creature in front of him was a massive mutant earthworm. It was bigger than Nelson. Its body was about ten inches wide. The way it looked at him made it seem like it saw food. Nelson wasn't scared. Before jumping, he'd scoped out his landing spot from above. All that muttering earlier? That was him calculating—how to land, how much force to use, the right posture. He even marked where Caroline had fallen, so he could land near her and find her faster. He wasn't jumping down blindly. He'd already thought through what mutant creatures might be below, what dangers he might face. That was why he packed medical supplies and aggressive syringes. He even had a headlamp in his pocket. Now, he had it strapped on. The warm yellow light cut through the darkness, illuminating the path ahead. Nelson faced the earthworm, syringe of orange liquid in hand.He stayed steady and patient. His eyes locked on the mutant earthworm while his feet shifted lightly, eyes sharp. He knew he wasn't physically stronger than it. But if he could land a shot... The worm twitched slightly as he moved. Then it opened its mouth. A creature that shouldn't even have a visible mouth now opened wide, rows of silver teeth revealing. It looked horrifying. Under the headlamp's glow, it looked downright nightmarish. Nelson didn't flinch. He just stared at it coldly, like it was nothing more than rotten meat. When he was three steps away, he suddenly lunged. The worm reacted instantly, lunging straight at him. Its massive, razor-sharp silver teeth sank into Nelson's arm, spraying blood everywhere. Its giant, round head had nothing on it but that wide-open mouth. For a brief moment, it almost looked like it was grinning. It seemed to enjoy drinking Nelson's blood. But that grin vanished in an instant. The worm suddenly went limp. A syringe had pierced its body, and it tumbled into the bottomless pit next to them. Nelson barely reacted. He glanced at the wound and shrugged his shoulders. Within seconds, the bleeding stopped. He reached into his lab coat, pulled out a vial of liquid that looked like a blood-restoring serum, and drank it. Expressionless, he continued forward. Up ahead, a massive, eyeless mutant shrew appeared. Shrews were primitive mammals dating back to the Cretaceous, surviving mostly on earthworms and insects. Before the apocalypse, they were only about 1.5 to 2.5 inches long and had barely any weight. They were just tiny, fragile things.But this one? Its claws were huge, each bigger than Nelson's head. It sniffed the air sharply, trying to catch scents. And the ground began to shake again. Caroline didn't have time to worry anymore. She hurried out of the storage space. Her immediate task was to regroup with the other two first, then figure out a way to climb back up. She edged along the ravine, calling out their names as she went.