Hive

After leaving the chaotic GENTEC research facility, Li Wei stopped hiding himself. With several leaps, he darted between the buildings, evaded Blackwatch's hounds, and reached the agreed-upon television tower in two minutes.

Alex, who had been waiting there so anxiously that he could barely stand still, immediately said when he saw him, "My sister Dana has been captured. I can't deal with Elizabeth Greene alone. She wants me to go there, and I need your help!"

After Robert injected him with a drug specifically designed for him, Alex lost many of his abilities and returned to Dana's apartment.

When Dana saw that Alex was injured, she took him to the hospital.

The two found a doctor with a rather unusual work history. The mutation on Alex's back was cured, and his body became even stronger.

But when Alex returned to the apartment, his sister Dana had been taken away by a Hunter Leader. That Hunter Leader was highly unusual.

The Hunter Leader did not possess a strong sense of self. Someone was controlling everything from behind the scenes.

When Alex pursued it all the way to the destination the Hunter Leader wanted him to reach, he saw a heavily contaminated Hive and sensed Elizabeth Greene's presence there.

It was a trap!

That was why he chose to "steal" serum from GENTEC. He wanted to give Elizabeth Greene a dose of the drug that had tortured him half to death.

He had also wanted to kill his former boss, but he unexpectedly ran into Li Wei and naturally asked for his assistance.

"All right, all right. Should we just go over there and kill Elizabeth Greene? But what do we do after killing her? How about we split her in half? I'll take the lower half, and you take the upper half?" Li Wei slid down onto a steel beam, his expression somewhat helpless as he tried to calm the anxious A-God. "She definitely has some kind of objective. If she wants to lure you over, it might be a trap specifically aimed at you. We should observe first. Impulsiveness can't solve problems."

"My sister is in that woman's hands!" Alex growled, his eyes filled with rage. But he soon lowered his head, seeming to calm himself.

When he raised his head again, his expression had become somewhat calmer. He said to Li Wei, "I'll drive a thermobaric tank and blast open the Hive's mycelium. Once it's open, help me find my sister Dana. I'll deal with Elizabeth Greene!"

Li Wei stared deeply at Alex for two seconds, then nodded. "Sure. Where is it?"

"Keep going in that direction and you'll see it. I'll get moving first!" Alex handed Li Wei a photograph, then jumped down from the television tower. He was probably going to find a thermobaric tank.

Looking at the youthful, beautiful short-haired girl in the photograph, Li Wei gave a slight whistle and slipped it into a pocket formed from biomass. Then he leaped in the direction Alex had pointed.

Alex's state of mind seemed to have become somewhat unstable after assimilating too many humans. Outside the game, Alex had been a highly popular so-called antihero.

But after actually interacting with Alex, Li Wei sensed nothing but all kinds of negative emotions from him.

He should have been happy to send Director Raymond to meet God, but Alex's influence had instantly ruined his good mood.

That arrogance, severity, and strangeness practically slapped him in the face. Alex had always viewed the world through the eyes of a Coloniser and did not care in the slightest about exposing his abilities in front of ordinary people.

To put it bluntly, the current Alex was a creature dominated by the parts "Alex Mercer" had lacked.

Li Wei was different. He had personally witnessed his own transformation, retained all of his memories, and received an education beneath the red flag. Even if he went crooked, he would not go as absurdly crooked as Alex.

There were really a lot of weirdos in the Western world...

Still, he had taken one of Alex's arms earlier, speeding up his own evolution and saving himself time. He owed him something for that, so he still had to help.

Although he had mostly forgotten the game's plot, once they assimilated Elizabeth Greene, everything should be over, right?

Whoosh, whoosh~!

The sound of air rushing past his ears accompanied Li Wei as he glided like a flying squirrel over most of Midtown. At last, he arrived at the Infected Zone, where artillery fire still raged.

Many buildings had already collapsed. Thick smoke and flames stained much of the sky red, while chaos echoed all around.

Manhattan was now even more chaotic and terrifying than the Middle East. The fighting had not stopped since the very beginning.

From above, Li Wei could see that the infected fighting the soldiers were not limited to ordinary human infected and advanced human infected. There were also enormous tentacled monsters emerging from underground.

In the areas with the worst infection, large numbers of Hunters and monstrous birds danced wildly through the air, frightening the humans into endless screams and wails.

Both the infected and the Blackwatch forces suffered casualties, but Blackwatch's exchange rate was worse.

At the same time, Li Wei spotted the Hive Alex had mentioned. It was a rectangular building whose surface had been wrapped in countless strands of mycelium, with only a few sections of outer wall exposed. It looked like a terrifying cocoon.

Li Wei temporarily landed on a building near the Hive and waited for Alex to bring over the tank. He could not get inside unless a thermobaric shell punched through it.

Those unremarkable strands of mycelium possessed extraordinary toughness and strength. Earlier, when he had been assimilating infected to charge the Key, he had encountered contaminated buildings with lower levels of infection.

Using Claw Form to destroy eroded concrete walls took an immense amount of effort. Alex clearly knew that too, which was why he had suggested getting a tank.

They were all highly intelligent lifeforms. They had to learn to use tools!

After waiting only five minutes, a black-painted tank with visibly heavier armor than an ordinary Marine tank entered the battlefield.

It indiscriminately crushed Blackwatch soldiers and infected beneath its treads. After stopping in the middle of the battlefield, its thick barrel aimed at the Hive.

A powerful shell shot out, kicking up clouds of dust. The blast did not seem particularly impressive.

Li Wei dug at his ear. After becoming the progenitor, he no longer needed an organ like ears to receive sound. Perhaps if he assimilated some bats, he could also learn echolocation?

He had to try it after leaving this damned world!

Clinging to the windowsill where he had been hiding, Li Wei crushed it beneath his feet and leaped out. Then he flew toward the Hive building that had been pierced by the thermobaric shell.

At the same time, Alex climbed out of the tank that had just finished firing, closely followed behind Li Wei, and entered the Hive.

The interior of the Hive was extremely dark. Apart from the large hole the shell had just punched through, it was practically airtight.

Li Wei stood on the second-floor slab of the Hive, his eyes surveying the surroundings. His ears twitched as he heard an unusual sound behind him amid the artillery fire.

Then Alex landed beside Li Wei, with no intention of exchanging greetings.

Both of their eyes emitted a faint red glow, allowing them to see clearly in the darkness. Neither spoke. Instead, they warily studied their surroundings.

They could both sense Elizabeth Greene's presence. Li Wei sensed it even more clearly, and an unsettling feeling crept through him.

There was an old saying that described it perfectly: two tigers could not share one mountain—mortal enemies.