Claw Form

There was another point that deeply puzzled Li Wei. After the cells in his body were compressed to the limit, he could slam into the ground from hundreds of meters in the air at an unimaginable speed, yet the thin layer of airflow and the air shockwave produced upon landing would not injure him from such an impact.

When several helicopters closed in around him, Li Wei could only retreat for the moment. Dodging the dense metal barrage, he darted into a nearby building.

Having lost track of Li Wei, Blackwatch's aircraft began to climb, not daring to linger between the buildings.

They had hunted Alex Mercer before. He often destroyed helicopters by hurling massive objects or suddenly launching flying kicks. They had suffered losses time and again, and faced with attacks that could come from anywhere, they had no choice but to proceed cautiously.

Blackwatch had vast resources, and its soldiers feared no death, but neither its equipment nor its troops could withstand losses where entire groups died every other day.

They had now received orders that if they felt themselves to be in danger, they could evade or retreat first without punishment.

Li Wei had never been particularly interested in shooting down aircraft. Seeing Blackwatch's helicopters preparing to climb and withdraw, he slipped out through the building's back door and headed deeper into the Infected Zone to hunt infected.

But he had not gone far when a violent impact sounded overhead. Looking back, he saw a helicopter collide with a sedan, and both were now falling from the sky.

Not long afterward, another car flew into the air and smashed down yet another helicopter.

The helicopters' climbing speed suddenly increased. The third car launched from the ground did not bring down a helicopter, instead falling onto a nearby building and crushing part of it.

The moment Li Wei saw that, he knew whose handiwork it was.

At this stage, aside from him and Blackwatch's super soldiers, the only one capable of casually throwing cars around was the protagonist of Prototype, Alex Mercer.

Although he knew A-God was nearby, Li Wei had no intention of going over to greet him.

This world was vastly different from the game. It was more real, and the virus had not spread as quickly as it had in the game. More than a month had passed, yet the virus had only consumed a fifth of Manhattan. According to television statistics, around 21% of the city's residents had been infected.

But whether that figure was accurate or not was open to interpretation.

Li Wei did not go looking for Alex, but Alex came looking for him.

As Li Wei advanced deeper into the Infected Zone, assimilating nearby infected along the way, Alex glided between the skyscrapers. Using the explosive speed generated by compressed cellular gases, he instantly slammed down in front of Li Wei.

The billowing dust made Li Wei wave a hand helplessly before looking at the hooded man slowly rising to his feet.

Alex looked at Li Wei as well. The two stared at each other for a moment. In the end, Alex was the first to lose patience. He stepped forward twice and extended a hand, his expression carrying a hint of excitement at meeting a kindred spirit. "Hello, my name is Alex Mercer. Perhaps we have some common ground to talk about!"

After sizing up A-God, who still looked somewhat "green," Li Wei finally stepped forward and offered his hand. "Li Wei, from the Yan Kingdom. Actually, we do not have much in common."

The current Alex was still conflicted and lost. He had cast himself into the role of "Alex Mercer," yet he harbored deep doubts about his own existence. Rather than calling him an antihero, it would be more accurate to call him an adolescent suffering from self-doubt.

He wanted to destroy everything Blackwatch had, yet he could not see where the root of it all lay. Even after killing Blackwatch's highest-ranking leader, he still did not learn the truth behind everything.

The Alex of the first game was someone struggling with self-doubt. It was not until the second game that A-God truly saw the essence behind it all. Yet he limited himself, fixating on that tiny patch of Manhattan instead of going straight to Washington to stir things up.

If he had gone directly to Washington and caused trouble, many things probably would not have mattered anymore. Or he could have simply "assassinated" the people behind the plan, infiltrated Wall Street, and seen whether those idiots would still dare continue their experiments!

With A-God's unfathomable abilities of assimilation and Disguise, these things would have been almost effortless, yet he simply would not do them!

After Li Wei figured out the key to the world of Prototype, he could no longer look directly at the plot of Prototype.

Faced with Alex, who was still somewhat muddleheaded about all this, Li Wei's attitude was neither warm nor cold. He only wanted to accumulate enough energy and return home as soon as possible.

"Y-you also escaped from the testing facility? The last time I saw you, it seemed like you had only just obtained this... ability." Since seeing Li Wei three days ago, Alex had not been able to stop thinking about him, believing Li Wei was the same as himself.

But Li Wei's attitude toward him did not seem particularly friendly, falling short of what he had imagined and forcing him to calm down from his excitement.

Li Wei looked at Alex and nodded. "You do not mind talking while we walk, do you?"

"Uh... of course!"

The two then walked and talked nearby. Li Wei told Alex a little about his own experiences, while Alex told Li Wei about his. The confusion in his voice was practically slapping Li Wei in the face.

From fragments of recovered memories, Alex pieced together and reconstructed much of the information. He had once been a Blackwatch employee, but driven by a sense of justice, he stole a vial of the original virus strain to report it. He was discovered, and with no other choice, he smashed the vial containing the virus on the subway tracks.

In the end, he came back to life, but he also lost many of his memories.

"I am searching for the memories I lost, and I will destroy everything Blackwatch has!" Alex lowered his head. Looking at his hands as they slowly transformed into a pair of enormous claws, his expression darkened.

Li Wei, however, stared at the enormous claws with great interest. They were cool. He wanted a pair too!

"Ahem! Alex, let us exchange arms!"

"What?" Alex, who had just been moved by his own words, looked at Li Wei in confusion and asked uncertainly, "Arms?"

Li Wei nodded, rubbing his hands together with a faint smile. "You know, we can gain new abilities through assimilation and absorption. Why not exchange arms? A bit of me in you, a bit of you in me~! Besides, only by becoming stronger can we take revenge on Blackwatch, right?"

Clearly not expecting Li Wei to have such a strange idea, Alex stopped walking and stood there stunned for a full thirty seconds before finally nodding. "So, you are willing to help me?"

"Blackwatch must be eliminated. You understand." Li Wei did not give a clear answer, instead brushing it off with a very clever turn of phrase.

Alex automatically interpreted that as Li Wei agreeing to his proposal. His expression eased somewhat. He nodded, returned his left hand to normal, then swept the giant claw on his right hand across it, severing his left arm.

How ruthless!

Li Wei was dumbfounded by the sight. Cutting off an arm without even blinking!

He could not do that. He hesitated for a long while before finally extending his hand toward Alex and letting him do the cutting.

By then, Alex's severed hand had already regrown. Seeing the left hand Li Wei offered, he shook his head. "No need. We are the same."

Li Wei picked up the severed arm from the ground and assimilated it, pure energy merging into his body.

Holy shit!

One arm was worth more than a dozen infected. As expected of A-God, who had been roaming around outside for nearly a month!

After briefly sensing the changes in his body, black-red tendrils wriggled over his hands, and a pair of claws identical to Alex's earlier ones appeared.

They looked even more ferocious, because Li Wei had modified them according to his own preferences. Their appearance was more savage than Alex's.

The two giant claws collided with a metallic clang. Sparks flashed, and neither showed the slightest wear.

Judging from the biomass density of a single arm, his current strength should be roughly on par with Alex's, perhaps even slightly greater. Perhaps the difference was caused by their different viruses.