That night, Alex killed and absorbed a senior Blackwatch officer, learning more intelligence in the process. After confirming that the water tower in the Lower District had been properly destroyed, he changed course and headed for the interior of a heavily infected nest to collect samples, only to walk into an ambush.
Blackwatch Captain Robert Cross had set the trap there long ago—a trap designed to kill him once and for all!
Inside a heavily contaminated square building, Robert Cross, enhanced through elite super-soldier modifications, possessed strength greater than Alex's current state.
The high-tech equipment he carried also allowed him to easily crush Alex, who had been weakened by the first-generation blood toxin.
Blackwatch had been fighting Alex for more than half a month!
One employee's betrayal of Blackwatch had caused the organization unprecedented losses. As one of Blackwatch's half-leaders, Robert Cross deeply hated Alex Mercer.
Facing Alex, who could only keep rolling about miserably to evade his attacks, Robert fired grenades from his right hand and sneered gleefully, "You should be more careful about making friends!"
As he dodged Captain Robert's grenade launcher rounds, Alex had no idea what he meant, but an unwelcome suspicion began to form in his mind.
After evading several more grenades, he finally stopped in the distance and asked, "Who?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Captain Robert noticed many egg sacs within the nest beginning to wriggle. He put away his electric baton, looked at Alex Mercer with a mocking curl of his lips, and said nothing. Instead, he fired the grappling line at his waist and returned to the rooftop.
Alex wanted to chase after him, but the blood-red egg sacs around him exploded at that moment. Hideous infected creatures dropped out one after another—at least thirty at a rough count.
The instant they landed, the infected creatures pounced on Alex. The aura of a high-level infected being emanating from him was the meaning of their lives.
Alex, who had intended to pursue Captain Robert, could only give up. He formed a massive blade and prepared himself for the infected creatures' assault.
After a fierce battle, all the infected creatures were eliminated. He absorbed some of them and recovered a little strength.
Captain Robert knew Alex only from reports and had no idea he could recover through absorption. He descended again, this time bringing along a Blackwatch suicide squad.
"Your ability truly is surprising, but that's all there is to it!"
Captain Robert slid down the cable. Before he even reached the ground, he released the line, drew the electric baton crackling at his waist, and charged Alex with indescribable confidence on his face.
Then Alex, who had already recovered from the blood toxin, beat him directly into a half-crippled state. If he had not undergone super-soldier modifications, he might have died on the spot.
"Fuck!" Watching the Blackwatch squad he had brought get slaughtered with ease, Captain Robert cursed. After injecting himself with a shot, he fired his cable again and returned to the upper level.
When Alex saw Captain Robert trying to flee, he leaped up and grabbed the rising Robert. He tore the cable apart, clung to the opening in the roof, and jumped up. Then he threw the twisted-faced Robert onto the rooftop covered in fungal threads.
Robert was someone of considerable status. Never before had he been thrown to the ground like a dead dog. Worse still, he had been mocking Alex one second, only to be humiliated by him the next. There was no way he could feel good about it!
Alex silently stared at Robert on the ground. More accurately, he was staring at the pain caused by Robert's earlier warning about being careful with friends.
He had accepted the fact that his girlfriend had betrayed him. At his most lost and confused, he had approached Karen Parker with the greatest goodwill and accepted her help, only to be betrayed by her in the end.
He could not understand why Karen Parker had betrayed him, or why she had chosen to do it at all!
Was it because he had become this freak?
That was really fucking messed up!
Robert on the ground had no idea Alex was actually thinking about his girlfriend. As he crawled away from Alex, he roared in a last-ditch struggle, "You think you've won, Mercer? You don't even know what fucking game you're playing!"
Robert's emotional words drew Alex's attention again. He began to pull himself out of the grief over his girlfriend's betrayal and focused on Robert, slumped on the ground.
Seeing Alex's gaze refocus on him, Robert was delighted. With his other free hand, he pulled a syringe from behind his waist pouch. "All right, I can tell you everything you want to know about Penn Station..."
The moment he heard the words "Penn Station," Alex's head throbbed. Countless lost memories surged back like a tidal wave, and the sudden swelling pain made him clutch his head involuntarily.
Scenes from his memories began to surface one by one: several men in suits, the vial of pure virus he had held in his hand, and the decision to smash it after being driven into a corner.
He remembered... He remembered!
The one who had first released the virus was actually... himself...
"No!" As Alex recalled what he had done, the pain in his head intensified. Two wildly conflicting beliefs crashed against each other, and he failed to notice that Robert, who had been lying there like a dead dog, had already gotten back up.
Robert covered his wound with one hand and held a syringe designed specifically for Alex in the other as he circled around Alex, who was clutching his head.
He was a little dumbfounded too. Everything had been fine just moments ago, and then one sentence from him had suddenly made Alex grab his head. What the hell was going on?
Why did it matter what was going on? Just inject him!
Robert raised his hand and viciously drove the syringe into Alex's back. He even roared as he knocked Alex straight to the ground, plunging all the yellow liquid in the syringe into Alex's body.
The sudden agony severed Alex from his surging memories. In an instant, his body felt hollowed out. His back took a heavy blow, and he collapsed face-down on the ground, unable to move. Even the signs of human life vanished.
A cold wind swept across the rooftop. Robert, panting heavily, released the hand covering his wound and checked it. The scar had already healed more than halfway under the effects of the Redlight Virus-derived healing agent.
This was also the only research result of Raymond's that he acknowledged.
He crouched down and checked Alex's breathing with his hand, then casually slapped him twice before standing again and turning to call his team over to recover the body.
But the next second, Robert heard a faint sound behind him. His expression changed drastically. When he turned around, Alex was nowhere to be seen!
"Fuck!"
Alex sprinted through the city. He could feel the changes in his body—his ability to shapeshift seemed to have disappeared.
He wanted to find someone for help. Karen Parker was no longer trustworthy, so he could only drag his exhausted, pain-ridden body back to his sister Dana's apartment...