In the thick smoke, the waves suddenly began to ripple.

Lucas stood by the bridge and saw dozens of enormous black figures swimming around the area where the grenades had exploded.

Each of these figures was almost as big as a bus, but they remained submerged, making it difficult to identify the infected organisms they had transformed into.

Taking out his sniper rifle, Lucas didn't hesitate to take a shot.

At this point he just wanted to make sure they wouldn't attack the bridge.

Snap—

The suppressed sound of the sniper rifle wasn't loud, but it instantly caused a wave to burst in the middle of the river. It was unclear whether the figure hit by the shot was injured.

In theory, Lucas believed that even if the sniper rifle wasn't lethal to these infected creatures, it should still be able to harm them.

If it weren't for the Gatling cannon installed on the bus, Lucas would have upgraded his sniper rifle.

However, back then, he didn't have enough materials, and this time he had intended to collect materials for upgrading the sniper rifle. After all, before acquiring the curved blade, the rifle was his most powerful and practical weapon.

After taking the shot, to Lucas's surprise, the figures in the river didn't emerge from the water, nor did they emit any cries of pain.

However, the drone showed that more figures were gathering towards the area where the grenades had exploded from two directions in the river.

"I guess I've achieved the opposite effect," Lucas muttered and went back to the bus directly.

Even if he didn't alert the creatures, Lucas wouldn't sneak the bus across the bridge.

Safety was paramount, and Lucas didn't want to take unnecessary risks.

Since the sniper rifle seemed to only tickle the infected organisms in the river, Lucas decided not to hold back. Time was precious, and he needed to cross the river quickly to avoid attracting unknown dangers with the noise.

Sitting in the driver's seat, Lucas parked the bus by the riverbank at an angle.

The rooftop-mounted cannon was already raised and controlled through the panel. Lucas aimed at the figures in the middle of the river.

Fire!

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Lucas pressed the switch of the Gatling cannon.

Boom, boom, boom—

The cannon fired with a rate of fire even denser than a submachine gun, unleashing a long trail of fire comparable to that of a small artillery piece.

Now, the river surface was completely boiling!

Countless fist-sized dots shot into the water, hitting the figures in the river.

Instantly, the river water churned, and splashes of waves accompanied the splattering of blood.

Finally, some of the figures jumped out of the water.

Lucas glanced at the drone's screen and recognized what these figures were.

They looked like infected catfish creatures.

They had large, dark heads and whiskers that were two to three meters long. Their bodies measured around seven to eight meters in length.

These grotesque creatures were among the larger fish species even before the apocalypse.

Yellow-grade bullets still belonged to the category of powerful weapons in the current stage of the apocalypse, and the infected catfish in the river seemed to have suffered significant damage.

Boom, boom, boom—

The cannon's gunfire didn't cease, creating an unusually noisy atmosphere in the darkness.

In less than ten seconds, the cannon had fired over a few hundred rounds.

Lucas didn't plan on going all out; he fired intermittently.

If he unleashed continuous fire, the Gatling cannon could shoot out 4,200 rounds of ammunition in a minute.

Boom, boom, boom—

Since he had already started firing, Lucas intended to wipe them all out.

Slowly, several infected catfish floated on the water's surface, revealing their white bellies.

In the darkness, only the white color was visible. In the drone's footage, the color of the river water had become much darker, indicating the blood flowing from the infected catfish.

It took Lucas a full minute of continuous shooting to stop firing.

Now, the river was truly quiet.

The cruising black shadows were no longer visible, but a large number of catfish with white bellies floated on the river surface.

The bodies of the catfish were densely scattered on the water, presenting a gruesome and bloody sight.

If one were to casually take one of these creatures as food, it would likely be enough to feed a family of three for a month.

Lucas also felt the temptation to eat, but he knew it was impossible.

Even in the apocalypse, there were still normal creatures, but most of them had been infected when the apocalypse struck.

It would take the establishment of sheltered cities and the artificial breeding of uninfected animals for meat to gradually return to the human diet.

However, this diet had no relevance to ordinary people; only the families and friends of the evolved individuals were eligible to enjoy it.

Ironically, the evolved individuals themselves didn't consume much meat. They relied solely on absorbing the energy from the core of the insects.

Occasionally, evolved individuals would consume the meat of infected creatures and absorb a small amount of energy from it.

However, the energy content in the meat of infected creatures was too low, often requiring a large amount to absorb a negligible amount of energy, rendering it insignificant.

Lucas had once pondered a question: Would evolved individuals be unaffected by consuming infected meat because they were part of the same system or, to put it bluntly, because evolved individuals were a type of infected organism themselves?

Lucas didn't dare to catch and eat the catfish because he had no way of confirming whether he was an evolved human or not.

Moreover, Lucas didn't lack food, so there was no need to take unnecessary risks.

The river had temporarily calmed down, and Lucas stepped on the accelerator, driving the bus onto the bridge.

It would take three minutes at full speed to cross the bridge.

The drone was flying at a low altitude, patrolling back and forth, monitoring the situation in the river.

After about a minute, the bus reached the middle of the bridge.

Currently, there were no abnormalities.

The abandoned cars on the bridge kept getting pushed to the sides by the bus, blocked by the iron railing, preventing them from falling into the river.

The bus continued moving forward for another half-minute, and finally, there was some movement under the bridge.

It seemed that the only bridge pier was violently struck by something, causing the entire bridge to shake violently a few times.

Lucas looked up and saw the huge steel cables supporting the bridge swaying.

In his field of vision, the drone's footage captured a black figure three times larger than the infected catfish appearing near the bridge pier.

Lucas watched helplessly as the head with its massive whiskers collided with the bridge pier.

The suspension bridge shook violently once again.

At this moment, Lucas frowned and handed control of the bus over to the system.

On the bridge, there was nothing Lucas could do now. He could only tightly hold onto his position and watch as the gigantic catfish continued to collide with the bridge pier.

Whenever the system took control of the bus, it was almost always for the purpose of escaping, and this time was no exception.

The bus's speed instantly increased significantly, and the abandoned cars blocking the road ahead were directly sent flying, with many of them falling into the river.