While Chen Changsheng and Willow Tree were frantically scavenging every advantage they could find, Elizabeth's home was also overrun by the army. A mere few hundred zombies were no match for the military.
Under the crushing force of Tank cannons, Elizabeth and her newborn child were captured alive, just as expected.
The various zombies that had rapidly evolved near Elizabeth's home also shocked the scientists. The researchers simply couldn't imagine how these monsters had evolved.
After the shock came panic. These monsters had evolved to the point of being able to withstand bullets with their flesh in such a short time. It was truly terrifying.
Elizabeth and her child were taken aboard different planes and transported to different research sites. Coincidentally, Chen Changsheng happened to be on the same plane as the newborn viral aggregate baby.
At this time, the viral aggregate codenamed Tank still looked like an ordinary baby, so it naturally failed to attract the researchers' attention. Everyone simply secured Tank in an isolation box as they would an ordinary infant.
Like any normal person, Chen Changsheng stepped forward and tapped on the isolation box, pretending to be very interested as he scrutinized Tank from every angle.
It wasn't that Chen Changsheng lacked compassion. It was just that, from his perspective, the baby was merely a mass of viral aggregate.
Although Tank had the appearance of a small child, he showed none of the behavior of an ordinary baby. Normal infants either cried or slept, but Tank merely stared with wide eyes, silently and emotionlessly fixed on the creature before him.
Although Chen Changsheng really wanted to absorb him and see what ability he would gain, he didn't act.
After all, there were dozens of Black Watch researchers in the cabin. Chen Changsheng couldn't behave too strangely. If he attracted anyone's attention, it would be difficult to explain.
More importantly, at such a high altitude, Chen Changsheng truly wasn't sure whether he could survive if the plane crashed.
On the other plane, Elizabeth was just like Tank. Her eyes were utterly calm, and she was as still as a corpse.
After giving birth to Tank, Elizabeth had gained the ability to connect with viral memories. At this moment, she was receiving the forty billion years of evolutionary memories passed down by the Original Virus.
Given Elizabeth's pitiful brain capacity, this was clearly no small undertaking. It wouldn't be completed in a short time. Chen Changsheng could only hope that the vast memories wouldn't overwhelm Elizabeth's mind.
No one knew how far the plane had flown when Chen Changsheng felt it shudder violently. At the same time, bright light appeared outside the plane's window.
A mushroom bomb had descended from the sky, erupting across the earth with light as dazzling as the sun. A massive mushroom cloud rose from the horizon, proclaiming that humanity still ruled this world.
Chen Changsheng agreed that this world belonged to humanity. After all, in his own eyes, he was still human himself, so he also hoped to exercise the rights of a master.
I hope Willow Tree can survive this. Before leaving, Chen Changsheng had already ordered Willow Tree to transfer its energy toward the distance. He believed that Willow Tree's root network, far from the blast center, would survive.
Chen Changsheng's body, strengthened by the Original Virus, was extraordinarily powerful, and even his mind had become much more agile than before. After infiltrating Black Watch, his sponge-like brain absorbed an immense amount of biochemical knowledge.
At the same time, Chen Changsheng had become much more proficient in using the Original Virus. With methods far beyond those of ordinary people, he also won over several senior military officers and became one of Black Watch's chief scientists. Thanks to several research achievements, Chen Changsheng gained even greater influence.
In 1980, Black Watch's nuclear bombing of Hope Town was finally exposed. Under pressure from the public, Black Watch was forced underground, while the many research centers that had originally belonged to Black Watch were forced to fend for themselves.
Against this backdrop, Black Watch chief scientist Raymond McMullen founded Gen-Tech Corporation, turning it into a subordinate research institution of Black Watch.
Chen Changsheng, meanwhile, gathered a group of highly talented scientists and founded Umbrella Corporation. He allied himself with the military and provided research for the military forces supporting him.
Gen-Tech Corporation followed Black Watch's orders and researched how to weaponize the Original Virus as a biochemical weapon, while Chen Changsheng's Umbrella Corporation focused on studying the Blacklight Virus's ability to strengthen the human body.
Amid the chaos, when the military divided up the assets, Gen-Tech Corporation obtained the viral host Elizabeth, while Umbrella Corporation received the child codenamed Tank and began researching human enhancement.
After obtaining Tank, Chen Changsheng, as Umbrella Corporation's sole and most powerful owner, directly absorbed him. He became the sole will of the Original Virus and the only leader of the Original Virus aggregate.
Gen-Tech Corporation's research achievements over several decades were limited. After all, transforming the Original Virus into a controllable biochemical weapon was extremely difficult, and with current technology, it was simply impossible.
By comparison, Umbrella Corporation was extraordinarily impressive. It achieved tremendous results and began operating as a profitable commercial enterprise. After all, Chen Changsheng himself was a virus.
Under Chen Changsheng's deliberate restraint, Umbrella Corporation obtained numerous achievements from the Original Virus in a short period.
There were evolutionary potions that enhanced the body's functions, various medicines that improved immunity, longevity drugs that delayed aging, and biological cosmetics that preserved one's youth...
These medicines brought Chen Changsheng an enormous fortune in a very short time. With that wealth behind it, Umbrella Corporation's cooperation with the military grew even closer.
Gen-Tech Corporation remained firmly established in Manhattan, New York, thanks to official funding from Black Watch. After all, that was the headquarters of Black Watch's forces in this world.
Chen Changsheng had no intention of going there. It wasn't time yet. Sometimes, Chen Changsheng even envied Alex.
Chen Changsheng had been transformed into the Original Virus ever since Hope Town, but the abilities he had gained were indeed severely limited. Thus, Chen Changsheng planned to wait until Alex gained his abilities before absorbing him himself and profiting as the third party.
Chen Changsheng spent a fortune purchasing land near Hope Town. Under the pretext of clearing nuclear radiation, he established Umbrella Corporation's new urban base near Hope Town. Quite naturally, he named this new base city Raccoon City...
Willow Tree, which had originally been in Hope Town, was not destroyed by the nuclear blast either. Because Willow Tree had followed Chen Changsheng's order and grown away from Hope Town, the root network far from the blast center was preserved.
As for Willow Tree's main body above ground, unfortunately, the earth had been blasted into a huge crater. How could the main body of a willow tree have survived? Even being strengthened by the Original Virus was useless. In short, under a nuclear blast, all living things were equal.
Fortunately, before leaving, Chen Changsheng had absorbed some of Willow Tree's genes and taken a branch. That branch was the key to Willow Tree's resurrection.
Long ago, once Chen Changsheng had escaped Black Watch's surveillance, he had secretly returned to Hope Town under the guise of conducting research. At a section of the root network, he had planted the willow branch from his arm into the earth. With Willow Tree's formidable vitality, it had grown extremely tall in just a few decades, and its roots had spread a great distance.
The willow trees nearby were all clones of Willow Tree. That small-yield nuclear bomb was no longer enough to destroy it.
Because Willow Tree was right beside the nuclear crater, the newborn willow tree had even evolved the ability to absorb nuclear radiation.
This ability was truly extraordinary. The Life Essence produced by Willow Tree surged several times over.
Because Willow Tree's body had expanded dramatically, Chen Changsheng decided to build Raccoon City nearby to conceal its abnormality. He spent a tremendous amount of money planting trees and restoring the appearance of the original forest.
As for the former site of Hope Town, Chen Changsheng had it cordoned off under official authority and erected countless signs warning of radiation hazards. He believed no one would be willing to go there. The area was also a no-fly zone, so apart from satellites, nothing could see what was hidden there.
Only Umbrella Corporation employees lived in Raccoon City. Every employee had signed a confidentiality agreement with Umbrella Corporation and would not reveal any information related to it.
As for those who violated the confidentiality agreement, Chen Changsheng had more than enough means to make them pay.
However, Umbrella Corporation's methods of recruiting people had always been simple and effective. As company employees, they could receive the company's enhancements, giving them twice the lifespan and physical strength of ordinary people.
The company paid for everything involving food, clothing, housing, and transportation. If that still wasn't enough, the company's Security Department also had enhanced mercenary security forces. They would teach you what it meant to know when enough was enough.
Chen Changsheng had developed Willow Tree's abilities to their limit. Its complex root system twisted and coiled around the huge hole blasted open by the nuclear bomb, completely absorbing all the radiation.
Seeing Willow Tree's abilities, Chen Changsheng even considered purchasing nuclear waste to feed it.
In 2008, Chen Changsheng, who was in India, saw through the computer before him what was happening far away in Manhattan. Mercer had broken a test tube containing the Blacklight Virus at a train station. He was then shot dead on the spot by arriving Gen-Tech Corporation security personnel, who took away his body.
Over the years, Chen Changsheng had not been wasting his efforts. At the very least, in terms of intelligence, Umbrella Corporation had infiltrated every country in the world, with its own agents in each one.
Don't ask why Chen Changsheng was in India. India had the world's second-largest population, the sixth-largest land area, the most illiterate people, and the worst environment. It was the place in the world most suitable for viruses to grow.
The Ganges River in India had now become a river flowing with the Original Virus, though all the viruses remained dormant.
Every day, many people drowned in the river, and many corpses were thrown into it. Without exception, however, the Blacklight Virus converted them into initial energy for Chen Changsheng to absorb.
As a colony of the old capitalist empire, India received considerable tolerance from the West. Every day, many people flew from India to all parts of the world, conveniently carrying the virus across the globe.
After contacting Gen-Tech Corporation chief scientist Raymond McMullen, Chen Changsheng obtained permission to watch Alex Mercer's autopsy online the next day.
Raymond showed Chen Changsheng considerable respect. After all, they were both affiliated with the military, and Umbrella Corporation had left Gen-Tech Corporation a sliver of hope despite leading it in every respect. Raymond had no choice but to treat Chen Changsheng cautiously.
Before you continue