The roar of artillery fire attracted nearby wandering zombies. Like sharks smelling blood, the rotting monsters shrieked and charged from the ruins in all directions toward the surviving soldiers of Hope City.
"Da-da-da-da-da—!"
The surviving soldiers leaned against the battered carriages, frantically pulling their triggers as tongues of fire flickered amidst the dim dust. They screamed in despair, and their bullets eventually mowed down waves of zombies, securing a temporary safety.
Just then, the deafening roar of helicopter rotors echoed from high above. A pitch-black armed helicopter with no markings hovered over the battlefield. The cabin door swung open, and a massive dark figure actually leaped out directly, without any parachute or rope.
"Look! What is that?!" a soldier pointed at the sky in terror.
"Boom—!!!"
Accompanied by a massive sound like a meteorite striking the earth, the ground shook violently, and the shockwave instantly overturned several nearby burning car wrecks. Several unlucky soldiers couldn't dodge in time and were blown over ten meters away. Their spines slammed into broken utility poles, making a sickening crack before they died on the spot.
As the dust slowly cleared, a terrifying figure gradually revealed itself—a giant standing a full 2.5 meters tall. The bulging muscles beneath his white biological combat suit looked as if they were cast from steel, exuding a suffocating pressure. He was the crystallization of Black Watch technology: a Super Soldier.
"What the hell is this thing..." The surviving soldiers were so terrified that their legs went weak, and the rifles in their hands shook violently.
"You're just putting on a show! Die!" A soldier, driven mad by fear, roared frantically and poured fire and bullets into the Super Soldier at close range.
"Clang, clang!" The bullets hit that wall of muscle, only producing faint sparks without leaving even a single scratch.
The Super Soldier suddenly stepped forward, and the concrete beneath his feet instantly shattered. His speed was completely inconsistent with his massive frame, and he reached the shooting soldier in an instant. Under the other's terrified gaze, the Super Soldier's massive iron hand grabbed him by the waist and tossed him toward another teammate like a piece of trash.
"Bang!" The two bodies collided, and the horrific force instantly crushed their bones to powder, turning them into a puddle of mangled flesh.
A soldier took the opportunity to throw a homemade high-explosive charge.
"Boom!"
"Phew... this should finally..."
As the smoke cleared, the Super Soldier rushed out unscathed, his massive palm directly clamping onto the thrower's skull. With a slight snap of the cervical vertebrae, the soldier was tossed aside like a ragdoll. In less than a minute, there wasn't a single Hope City soldier left standing on the battlefield, leaving only severed limbs and broken bodies scattered everywhere.
The Super Soldier took a biological scanner from his waist, and a red light swept over the ruins.
"There are still little mice left." His voice was as deep as muffled thunder echoing in a chest cavity.
The Super Soldier walked up to an overturned car and, exerting force with both arms, directly flipped the multi-ton vehicle into the air.
Inside the F University command center, Lin Xuan clearly saw Xu Boda and Su Qing through the Super Soldier's first-person perspective, huddled in the gap of the chassis and shaking like sieves. Xu Boda's crotch was already soaked, while Su Qing kept her eyes tightly shut, her screams long since turned hoarse.
"code d, bring them both back." Lin Xuan gave the command coldly.
"Understood," the Super Soldier replied in a muffled voice.
He was about to leave the scene with a great leap when he suddenly seemed to remember something.
The Super Soldier turned to look at another scrapped command vehicle. Xu Zhen was slumped against the shattered windshield, his face covered in blood, moaning with blurred consciousness.
"I almost forgot about you."
The Super Soldier walked over, his large hand pressing down on Xu Zhen's head like an eagle catching a chick.
"Squelch!"
As his fingers closed, Xu Zhen's head was crushed like a ripe watermelon, splashing red and white viscous liquid all over the vehicle. This once-arrogant City Lord didn't even have time to let out a scream before he completely became history.
Afterward, the Super Soldier tucked Xu Boda under one arm and carried the limp Su Qing with the other, his legs suddenly exerting force.
"Bang!"
A large crater was stamped into the hard ground. Accompanied by two shrill screams, the Super Soldier turned into an afterimage, jumping directly a hundred meters into the air and disappearing into the mist.
The perspective returned to Lin Xuan's office at F University. At this moment, the atmosphere in the room was so heavy it felt like it could drip water. Lin Xuan sat behind a large desk, his slender fingers gently flipping open the top-secret file from the black box.
The cover of the file was printed with a prominent "Top Secret" label and a biohazard symbol crossed out in red.
"Codename: Sacred... Origin: Fort Detrick, USA..."
Lin Xuan's gaze quickly swept over the shocking text. The truth was far darker than he had imagined. The virus was not a natural mutation but originated from a mad plan by the US military called "Resurrection." They had established secret biological laboratories in various war-torn regions around the globe—the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa—using neglected retired soldiers and prisoners of war as live culture dishes.
The photos attached to the file were nauseating: experimental subjects strapped to operating tables, their skin festering, veins bulging in black, and a lingering inhuman madness in their eyes.
"Attempting to weaponize it as a nuclear deterrent for a new era... only to play with fire and get burned." Lin Xuan continued reading, his brow furrowing deeper.
The most bone-chilling part was a record at the end of the file: within 72 hours of the full virus outbreak, the top military command levels of the global Five Permanent Members and major key military districts seemed to vanish into thin air, collectively cutting off all communication. All that remained were the fragmented armed forces of various nations, struggling in the tide of corpses like headless flies.
"The high-level leadership disappeared collectively? This is definitely no coincidence." Lin Xuan closed the file, his knuckles lightly tapping the desk. "What are they hiding from? Or rather... what are they waiting for?"
Just then, a cold mechanical voice suddenly rang in his mind, interrupting his thoughts.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for coming into contact with a Fragment of the World's Core Truth *1. The host has successfully unlocked "Infected Faction" permissions!]
[Reward Issued: Elite Biological Weapon — Hunter *1]
Following the system's prompt, the holographic screen in front of Lin Xuan flashed violently, and a terrifying 3D model emerged, rotating.
Even in a virtual projection, the oncoming aura of violence made Lin Xuan feel a chill.
It was a deformed monster that completely defied the laws of natural evolution, yet it possessed the ability to evolve rapidly.
It was on all fours, assuming a crouching posture ready to pounce and kill at any moment. There wasn't a trace of skin on its body; dark red muscle fibers were like clusters of tangled venomous snakes, stretched tight over knotted, exposed bone, as if it had just been flayed alive. Blood seemed ready to seep from those muscle textures at any time.
It had no eyes and no nose. Its entire face consisted only of a bloody maw that split open to the base of its ears, with jagged, pitch-black fangs interlocking and viscous saliva dripping from its lower jaw. Its forelimbs had evolved into massive bony claws, each swing seeming capable of tearing through steel; its hind limbs were thick as pillars, with dried black bloodstains embedded in the skin folds at the joints.
It looked like a giant skinned hound and also like a mutated hairless gorilla. Every inch of its silhouette exuded the twisted nature and pure killing intent unique to biological weapons.
"System, is this monster under my control?" Lin Xuan looked at those hideous claws, feeling a bit uneasy. If this thing went out of control, would even a Super Soldier have trouble dealing with it?
[System: Rest assured, Host. All hatched infected units will obey your will 100%. You can command them as easily as your own arms.]
"Good." The smile at the corners of Lin Xuan's mouth gradually widened, a cruel light flashing in his eyes. "In that case, let my 'old friends' test the goods for me."
He pressed the communicator on the desk, his voice terrifyingly calm: "Ling Jianqing, notify code d to bring Xu Boda and Su Qing to the Blue Zone A1/A Lab. I want to go see for myself."
"Yes, Commander. Do you need cleaning tools prepared? I think the scene might be quite... messy." Ling Jianqing's voice remained devoid of emotion, as if she were merely asking if he wanted a cup of coffee.
"Just have a high-pressure water gun ready."
...
Blue Zone A1/A Lab.
This was a fully enclosed reinforced glass observation room. The surrounding walls were made of bulletproof glass half a meter thick. Old, dark brown bloodstains remained on the floor, indicating that several experiments had been conducted here before, though this was the first time using human subjects.
"Bang!"
The heavy airtight door opened, and the Super Soldier's massive frame blocked the doorway. Xu Boda and Su Qing, whom he held in his hands, were already paralyzed with fear, lacking even the strength to scream.
To prevent these two fragile humans from dying directly from the fall, the Super Soldier "gently" tossed them onto the cold floor—even so, the two rolled into a heap, letting out groans of pain.
"Where is this... what are you going to do?!" Xu Boda looked at the cold walls around him and the Super Soldier who looked like a god of death, finally breaking down into tears and cries.
Su Qing huddled in a corner, her whole body trembling and her eyes vacant. She saw that familiar figure outside the glass wall—Lin Xuan was standing on the high observation platform with his hands in his pockets, looking down at them coldly with the gaze one would use for lab rats.
"Lin Xuan!" She couldn't help but cry out in shock, her voice filled with disbelief and consternation. Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated rapidly, as if she were seeing the end of the world.
"Shh—" Lin Xuan's voice echoed through the lab via the intercom, carrying a hint of mockery. "Don't be noisy. Let me introduce a new friend to you. It's been hungry for a long time. I hope you can have fun playing with it."
As Lin Xuan's words fell, the dark gate on the other side of the lab slowly rose, and a bone-chilling, low growl came from deep within the darkness.