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Baxter Building – Underground Lab
Golden sparks from the portal faded. Jiro stepped into darkness.
It was nothing like the world outside. The walls were covered in black, vein-like tissue. The floor pulsed beneath his boots like he was walking on the guts of some living creature.
The air reeked of rot and metal—enough to make a normal person vomit.
His super senses picked up high concentrations of viral particles.
Without hesitation, he activated his biofield filtration.
Gold light flickered in his eyes. The energy field silently spread across his body.
He walked forward slowly, his x-ray vision piercing the layers ahead—locking onto a figure deep within the lab.
"Reed Richards."
His voice echoed through the empty space.
Ahead, a tall, thin silhouette slowly turned around.
Mr. Fantastic—or what was once Reed Richards.
He was completely transformed. His body was stretched and distorted like a pulled-apart corpse. His skin had turned a sickly greenish-gray. His eye sockets were sunken deep, but somehow still glowed with a creepy, twisted intelligence.
"Ah… a new guest."
Reed's voice was hoarse and slow, yet eerily clear."Who are you? You're not from this world."
Jiro stopped walking. "Looks like you've still got your mind."
Reed grinned, revealing rotten gums."Mind? No. I just understand my hunger better than the others."
Suddenly, his neck stretched, bringing his head inches from Jiro's face as he took a deep breath."Your flesh… smells special."
Jiro didn't budge."You caused all this."
"Caused it?"Reed burst into laughter—harsh and metallic, like grinding steel.
"This isn't a disaster. It's evolution! Humanity—no, all life—is destined to become one!"
His body split apart as dozens of tendrils shot out from his back. Each one was covered in spikes and suckers, all lunging at Jiro!
Jiro's eyes flared gold—heat vision swept across the tendrils like a laser wall.
"Tsshh!"
The limbs were sliced clean, foul-smelling fluid spraying everywhere. But even as they hit the ground, the pieces began to wiggle—and regenerate.
Reed's body twisted like slime, and the black veins on the lab walls came alive. The ceiling, the floor, the walls—everything turned into his weapon.
"You can't kill me…"
Reed's voice echoed from every direction."I've perfectly fused with the virus. I am the plague!"
Jiro floated into the air, full biofield active. The attacking tendrils shattered before reaching him.
His eyes scanned the room, his super brain analyzing at lightning speed. Reed wasn't just mutated—he was now one with the entire lab.
Normal attacks wouldn't cut it. Even heat vision could only delay his regeneration.
Then he spotted it—an energy core. Beneath the lab, hidden deep underground.
That was it. Reed wasn't invincible. His consciousness still depended on a single core.
"Found you."
Jiro dove straight down——and punched the floor with all his might.
"BOOM!"
Concrete and steel burst like paper. He smashed through layer after layer until he dropped into a huge spherical chamber deep below.
At its center floated a pulsing black tumor. Veins ran across its surface like wires, pumping viral energy into the city above.
"So that's it…"
Jiro narrowed his eyes."You turned yourself into the virus's mother nest."
The tumor split open. Reed's face appeared within, hideous and mad.
"You can't stop evolution… Join us! Be eternal!"
Jiro wasn't interested in talking anymore. Gold light flared from his palms—solar flare-level energy mixed with magic.
"This ends now."
He clapped his hands together.A blinding beam of white light shot out and swallowed the entire tumor in an instant.
"NOOO!!!"
Reed's scream twisted and broke apart as the tumor melted away like snow under the sun.
The whole lab trembled. The black tissue writhed for a few seconds… then withered and crumbled into dust.
But Jiro's super hearing picked up a chilling detail—the city was still filled with inhuman growls and roars.
The zombie heroes hadn't stopped moving.
[Sir, secondary infectees are still active,]JARVIS reported immediately.
[Analysis shows the virus has completely fused with host cells—it's now part of their biological structure.]
Jiro frowned and flew to the nearest lab bench.
Reed's research notes were scattered across it—pages filled with dense, obsessive scribbles.
He flipped through them at super speed, digesting every word in fractions of a second.
"Damn it."
The final conclusion hit like a hammer.
This virus wasn't an external infection—it awakened some kind of ancient, dormant code buried in every living being's DNA.
Once triggered, it couldn't be reversed.
Wiping out the virus… meant killing the host.
On the last page, Reed's handwriting turned manic:
"We were never infected… We finally became what we were meant to be!"
Jiro closed the notebook in silence.
He couldn't save this world.
[Sir,]JARVIS spoke softly,[Multiple high-energy readings are approaching—surviving superpowered individuals.]
Jiro looked up. His vision cut through wall after wall—he saw them. Zombie heroes, racing toward the Baxter Building from every direction.
They sensed the death of their mother nest.
Now, they were angry.
"Let's go end their madness."
Jiro stood on the burning rooftop of the Baxter Building. Beneath him lay the completely incinerated core of Reed Richards.
The city was still wailing. The growls of zombie heroes echoed in every direction.
"Jarvis, scan New York. Are there any survivors?"
[Scan complete, sir.]
Jarvis's voice came from the multifunctional watch.[No signs of human life detected.]
Jiro was silent for a moment. Then, he looked up.
They were here.
"ROAR!!!"
From the ruins in the distance, countless twisted figures surged out from all directions. Once the protectors of the world, now they were nothing but mindless, bloodthirsty monsters.
Daredevil's rotten red suit hung loosely from his deformed skeleton. His hands had mutated into claws, and his throat growled like a beast.He had once relied on his heightened senses to fight. Now, all that remained was hunger and madness.
Luke Cage's once-invincible skin was covered in corpse spots. His muscles had swollen to the point of bursting, and every step he took shattered the ground beneath him. His eyes were cloudy, and corrosive drool dripped from his mouth.
Spider-Woman, who used to move with elegance and agility, now had limbs twisted in reverse. Webs sprayed from her decaying glands, and the sticky mess was laced with deadly viruses.Her screech sounded like nails dragging across glass.
Blade, the half-vampire, had mutated even worse. His fangs had grown down to his jawline, and his eyes were glowing blood-red.His silver sword was long rusted—replaced by claws that looked like sharpened bone.
Ghost Rider's hellfire still burned—but it had twisted into a sickly green flame.His rotting body was wrapped in chains, and his motorcycle gave off a dying engine roar.
Moon Knight, Deadpool, Punisher, Black Bolt, Juggernaut...
"....."