Betrayal

That night, Alex Mercer killed and consumed a high-ranking Blackwatch officer, gaining further intelligence. After verifying that the water towers in the lower district had been thoroughly sabotaged, he detoured toward a highly infected nest to collect samples, only to walk straight into an ambush.

Captain Robert Cross of Blackwatch had set the stage here long ago, a trap designed specifically to kill him once and for all.

Inside a highly contaminated square building, Robert Cross, modified by top-tier super-soldier enhancements, possessed strength superior to Alex's current state.

The high-tech equipment he carried also allowed him to easily suppress Alex, who was currently weakened by the first-generation blood toxin.

Blackwatch had been locked in a confrontation with Alex for over half a month!

An employee who had betrayed Blackwatch had caused the organization unprecedented losses, and Robert Cross, who served as a semi-leader of Blackwatch, harbored deep hatred for Alex Mercer.

Facing Alex, who could only roll around in a sorry state to dodge his attacks, Robert fired a grenade from his right hand while taunting him gleefully: "You should be more careful about who you choose as friends!"

Dodging Captain Cross's grenade launcher, Alex didn't understand what the man was talking about, but a vague, reluctant suspicion began to form in his mind.

After dodging several more grenades, he stopped in the distance and asked, "Who?"

Catching sight of many egg sacs beginning to squirm within the nest out of the corner of his eye, Captain Cross holstered his shock baton and looked at Alex Mercer. A mocking smile curled his lips, and instead of answering, he fired the grappling hook at his waist and retreated to the roof.

Alex wanted to pursue him, but the blood-red egg sacs all around burst open at that moment, and hideous, grotesque infected creatures tumbled out—at a rough glance, there were at least thirty of them.

The moment they landed, the infected lunged at Alex; the scent of a high-level infected on him was the very meaning of their existence.

Alex, who had intended to chase Captain Cross, was forced to give up, manifesting a blade and bracing himself for the onslaught of the infected.

After a fierce battle, the infected were all wiped out, and he consumed some of them, recovering a bit of his strength.

Captain Cross, whose knowledge of Alex was limited to paper reports and who was unaware of his ability to recover through consumption, dropped back down, accompanied by a Blackwatch death squad.

"Your abilities are indeed surprising, but that is all you are!"

Captain Cross descended along a steel cable, releasing it mid-air, and charged at Alex with a shock baton crackling with electricity, his expression brimming with unbridled confidence.

Then, he was beaten to a pulp by Alex, who had recovered from the blood toxin. Had he not been modified as a super-soldier, he likely would have died on the spot.

"Fuck!" Watching the Blackwatch squad he brought being slaughtered with ease, Captain Cross spat out a curse. After injecting himself with a stimulant, he fired his cable again and retreated to the top.

Seeing Captain Cross trying to escape, Alex leaped up and grabbed the ascending Robert. After snapping the cable, he hauled himself up to the roof hatch and tossed the contorted Robert onto the mycelium-covered rooftop.

Robert was a man of status, and he had never been thrown onto the ground like a dead dog before—let alone after mocking his opponent just seconds prior, only to be slapped back down by him. There was no way he was feeling good about this!

Alex looked at Robert on the ground in silence; to be precise, he was dwelling on the damage caused by that earlier remark about being careful with friends.

He had already accepted the fact that his girlfriend had betrayed him. He had approached Karen Parker for help in his confusion with the best of intentions, only to be betrayed by her in the end.

He couldn't quite understand why Karen Parker would betray him, or why she would do such a thing!

Was it because he had turned into this monster?

That was truly fucked up!

Robert on the ground had no idea that Alex's mind was occupied by thoughts of his girlfriend. As he crawled away from Alex, he roared as if in a death throes: "You think you've won, Mercer! You have no fucking idea what kind of game you're playing!"

The words from the agitated Robert caught Alex's attention again. He began to pull himself out of the sorrow of his girlfriend's betrayal and focused on the man slumped on the ground.

Seeing Alex's gaze refocus on him, Robert felt a surge of joy. His other hand reached into a pouch at his waist and pulled out a syringe. "Fine, I can tell you everything you want to know about Penn Station..."

Hearing the words "Penn Station," a sharp pain shot through Alex's head. Countless lost memories came flooding back like a tide, and the sudden, throbbing agony forced him to clutch his head involuntarily.

Scenes from his memories began to surface slowly: the figures of several men in suits, the vial of viral agent in his own hand, and his decision to shatter the vial when he felt backed into a corner.

He remembered... he remembered it all!

The one who initially leaked the virus was, in fact... himself...

"No!" As Alex recalled his own actions, the headache intensified. The violent collision of two conflicting ideologies meant he didn't even notice that Robert, who had been lying on the ground like a dead dog, had already climbed back up.

Robert clutched his wound with one hand and held the syringe designed specifically for Alex in the other, circling around the head-clutching Alex.

He was a bit bewildered himself; everything was going fine, and then suddenly, because of one sentence, the guy was clutching his head. What was going on?

Who cared what was going on? Stab him!

Raising his hand, he drove the syringe deep into Alex's back. Robert even let out a roar, slamming Alex to the ground and pushing all the yellow liquid from the syringe into Alex's body.

The sudden, excruciating pain severed Alex's surging memories. In an instant, his body felt hollowed out, and after the heavy blow to his back, he collapsed onto the ground, unable to move, his vital signs vanishing entirely.

A cold wind swept across the rooftop. Robert, breathing heavily, let go of his wound to check it; the scar had already mostly healed under the influence of the Redlight Virus derivative healing agent.

This was the only research result of Raymond's that he acknowledged.

He crouched down, checked Alex's breathing with his hand, and slapped him twice for good measure before standing back up and turning to notify his squad to come and recover the body.

But in the next second, Robert heard a faint sound behind him, which caused his expression to change drastically. He turned back, only to find that Alex was no longer on the ground!

"Fuck!"

Alex sprinted through the city. He could feel the changes within his body; his ability to shapeshift seemed to have vanished.

He wanted to seek help, but Karen Parker could no longer be trusted. He had no choice but to drag his exhausted, agonizing body back to his sister Dana's apartment...