Reboot: Mechanic

The watch that Mary lent him to use temporarily is connected to the sensory of Iron Sentinel. 

With it, they could always detect whenever enemies are nearby, with the exception of those that could avoid sensory detection or those underground. 

And with how cautious Mary was staring at the ground beneath, Shi Tian could deduce it was the latter and not the former. 

"How many enemies are underground, Mary?" Shi Tian asked, his left hand holding onto the pistol. 

"Not sure, but they are moving at a fast rate. I suspect they are Moles." Mary squinted her eyes and said solemnly.

Moles are usually small creatures, ranging from about 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) in length, with a plump and cylindrical body.

And one of the most striking features of a mole was its specialized forelimbs. 

These limbs are adapted for digging and burrowing, and they have powerful, shovel-like claws that allow moles to effortlessly tunnel through the earth. The claws faced outward, making them ideal for pushing soil aside as the mole digs tunnels.

Normally, they are just cute animals to be admired, but with the current circumstance, Shi Tian was afraid that they might have undergone mutation as well.

"Be careful of your movement, Nathan. These Moles' snouts are elongated and sensitive." Mary warned Shi Tian to not relax his guard at all costs.

After all, with how sensitive their snouts were, it allowed them to detect vibrations and movements in the soil as they searched for their favorite prey.

As to what the prey meant, it should have been some insects and other types of small invertebrates, but in the case of mutation, these prey could potentially be them- humans. 

Shi Tian listened to the warning from Mary and made as little movement as possible. 

'These moles are too tricky. How was Mary able to sense their arrival?' Shi Tian exclaimed inwardly. Even now, he couldn't detect anything amiss, much less the movement of the Moles.

"Nathan, quickly jump up and dodge to the left!" Mary suddenly shouted, and kicked the ground beneath her, propelling herself backward.

Meanwhile, Shi Tian didn't hesitate either the moment he received her command. 

Doing as told, the original position where he was standing started to crumble. 

A small fissure was created in the process, and upon taking a closer look, Shi Tian was able to see a shovel-like claw popping out from underneath.

However, it was just for that split second, given that the claw submerged right away when it realized Shi Tian had changed his position. 

"Tsk, I hate these Moles." Mary subsequently clicked her tongue in annoyance. 

"They don't even show themselves unless they are confident about killing their prey. Even with my speed, it's hard to attack them when only a small meter of their claws appeared." She added. 

"Are you always this irrational when it comes to fighting?" Shi Tian asked. 

He doesn't blame the Moles' attack and behavior given that it was the clever thing to do. If these Moles were actually retarded, then they wouldn't have been able to survive in the wilderness when so many other powerful monsters roam around here. 

Meanwhile, Mary glared at Shi Tian and sneered, "Since you said I'm irrational, then you can try to fight them without my warning or instruction." 

"Who dares to say you're irrational, Mary? I'll be the first one to punch them in the face. Mary is a beautiful and clever woman. Only a blind man would call you irrational." Shi Tian's tone swiftly changed into a bootlicking one, praising Mary. 

Mary rolled her eyes at how shameless he could quickly become. "You really have no integrity huh?" 

"Integrity is useless in such a situation. One must learn to adapt to their environment to survive and not be stubborn about it." 

"That's true, then next time, refrain from asking your sarcastic question. Otherwise, you will truly die." 

Shi Tian nodded his head. "Rest assured, Mary. This will never happen again, so please tell me how do we fight such an enemy?" 

"The Moles are now cautious of us because we were able to avoid their ambush attack. They wouldn't attempt another attack right away, since it would give away their position." Mary explained, squinting her eyes at the small fissure and discerning the strength of these Moles.

"Nathan, throw an explosive grenade at a 30-degree angle North." She then commanded. 

Shi Tian nodded his head, taking out an explosive grenade from his belt pocket. Activating the explosive grenade, Shi Tian then threw it precisely at the location that Mary called out.

A few seconds later, a loud explosion subsequently occurred as the ground trembled and vibrated from the blasting impact. 

Once the dust scattered, Shi Tian and Mary noticed a snout appearing from underneath the ground, bleeding slightly.

It was the snout of a Moles that was hiding in the ground beneath and had received the blast from the explosive grenade. If it weren't for the fact that his body was hidden underneath the ground, then it would have sustained even more heavy injuries. 

Despite landing a hit, Shi Tian wasn't excited or happy about it. 

"The Moles seemed agitated now, Mary." He said awkwardly. 

Previously, the Moles were all dormant underneath, waiting for an opportunity to strike at them. Yet the explosive grenade he threw seemed to have triggered them somewhat, causing most of them to pop out from underneath. 

And after counting the number of Moles that had appeared, there were at least 10 of them cooperating with each other.

"Is that even supposed to be a question, Nathan?" Mary held a contemptuous expression. She looked at him as if he was an idiot or a fool. 

Shaking her head, Mary proceeded to explain her action. "My plan of telling you to use the explosive grenade was to lure them out from the start. At first, I thought we would need to waste a bit more, but these Moles don't seem as intelligent as the ones I fought before."