Capture Mercer

Raymond had no idea what Chen Changsheng was planning, but Chen Changsheng's request had also piqued his interest in tomorrow's autopsy.

After finding Alex Mercer's information on the computer, Raymond noticed nothing unusual. After all, Mercer wasn't the first person to try selling out Gen-Tech's interests. Even so, Raymond decided to examine Mercer's body tomorrow as well.

In the original game's storyline, only two researchers had performed Mercer's autopsy. But because of Chen Changsheng's involvement, the procedure had become much more formal.

A group of senior researchers from Gen-Tech first surrounded Alex Mercer, who was lying on the operating table, pointing and discussing him. In the end, a highly respected doctor picked up a scalpel and began the autopsy.

When the scalpel was still some distance from Mercer's chest, Alex Mercer, who had been lying motionless, suddenly opened his eyes and reached out to block the blade descending toward him.

The sight of someone rising from the dead thoroughly frightened the experts present. Even Raymond, sitting before the computer, was startled. He had witnessed the crisis in Hope Town with his own eyes, so the word "zombie" immediately flashed through his mind.

Watching the researchers panic and shove one another as they fled through the camera feed, Raymond darkly issued an order to the Black Watch forces at Gen-Tech headquarters: eliminate everyone attempting to leave the company.

If the virus spread, he would be in serious trouble. It was better to be cautious. Raymond was still considering how to clean up the aftermath; killing so many people for no reason was no small matter.

The researchers who had fled the company first were therefore extremely unlucky. The moment they stepped outside, Black Watch soldiers riddled them with rifle fire. Mercer, who followed them out, was startled as well.

He was still dazed after waking up, but seeing people being killed made it clear even to him what was happening. He immediately broke into a run with those long legs of his.

With a fierce enemy behind him, Mercer didn't hesitate when faced with the four-meter-high security fence. He leaped into the air and jumped straight over it.

After watching the video sent from his company headquarters, Raymond darkly called Chen Changsheng and sternly demanded to know what he knew and why this had happened.

As if Chen Changsheng cared about any of that. He simply brushed Raymond off with a few perfunctory replies.

Raymond angrily hung up on Chen Changsheng, then called the leader of Black Watch for assistance. The zombie crisis was no longer something Raymond could control.

The virus was no longer the Original Virus from decades ago. Under Chen Changsheng's guidance, it had evolved into the Blacklight Virus.

Without anyone controlling it, the Blacklight Virus was extremely contagious and could infect New York's entire population within a dozen days.

But Chen Changsheng could accept delaying things for a day or two. After calling Umbrella Corporation and mobilizing a group of super soldiers to New York, he boarded a plane bound for New York City.

By the time Chen Changsheng arrived in New York, he could already sense the virus floating through the air. The virus couldn't survive in the air for long, which clearly meant that many people in New York City had already been infected with the Blacklight Virus. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been such a dense concentration of it in the air.

Using Umbrella Corporation's maintenance work in New York Park as a pretext, Chen Changsheng cordoned off a large area inside the park.

Within the area heavily surrounded by Umbrella mercenaries, Chen Changsheng was leisurely planting Willow Trees one after another.

Chen Changsheng didn't care how many people or how much wealth the outbreak of Resident Evil would cost. Once all of Manhattan was filled with zombies, it would be time for the Willow Trees to begin harvesting. These wild strains of the Blacklight Virus were related to the Original Virus, but they were still precious materials worth collecting.

In a short time, New York's Central Park was filled with Willow Trees. Under normal circumstances, citizens would have loudly criticized the government, but now no one cared about such matters.

A zombie crisis had broken out in densely populated Manhattan, leaving everyone tense and nervous and causing them to automatically ignore everything else.

Manhattan Island was sealed off by the military the moment zombies were discovered. The entire island was connected to the mainland by only a few bridges, so establishing a blockade and deploying heavy weapons near them was simple.

Weapons of mass destruction were inconvenient to use in New York City, but the military had no such reservations over the wide river. Missiles were deployed all around the river, creating a defense even birds couldn't escape.

At the Black Watch base, General Randall angrily berated his subordinates. It was hard to blame him for being so furious; his men were simply too incompetent. Three days had passed, and they still hadn't captured Mercer.

During those three days, several infected zones had already appeared throughout New York. If Black Watch's forces hadn't been elite enough to rapidly seal them off, all of Manhattan would likely have been surrounded by zombies.

Dr. Mike Mullen, Gen-Tech's chief scientist, was also reprimanded. General Randall glared at Mike Mullen and said, "How long will Gen-Tech need to develop an antibody that can suppress Mercer's virus? Do we have to wait until we're all dead?"

Mike Mullen couldn't explain how powerful the Blacklight Virus was. Randall only wanted results, so Mike Mullen could do nothing but stake his career on it and guarantee that he could produce an antibody within three more days.

Clearly, Mike Mullen still didn't understand how precious time was, nor did he know what changes three more days would bring.

On the sixth day, twenty-five percent of Manhattan Island in New York had been infected. Fleshy pathogens spread across the skyscrapers in that area like a carpet. Viewed from a satellite, the buildings seemed alive, slowly writhing as though the entire area were moving. It was enough to make anyone lose their sanity at a glance.

Over those six days, Mercer had continuously absorbed zombies and humans, making his body even more powerful. In the beginning, he had still feared rifle bullets. Now, even rockets could only lightly injure him. It had all happened within six short days.

In six days, Mercer had also gone from a blank slate who remembered nothing to a Tank driving master, aircraft driving master, Firearms Master, artillery master, and more... There was nothing he could do about it. The military and Black Watch had sent too many elite forces to deal with the zombie crisis. They were simply delivering experience to Mercer.

During those six days, Mercer had also visited Chen Changsheng's Umbrella base in Central Park. But the base's overwhelming firepower had left him with a deep impression. Seeing Mercer flee the base with a limp, Chen Changsheng could be certain that Mercer hadn't had time to curse.

After collecting the genetic samples Mercer had left behind in the base, Chen Changsheng evolved several new abilities. Once he had fully adapted to them, he used his own tentacles to inject the viruses, which now possessed special abilities, into the super soldiers he had brought with him.

Mercer really was a treasure. Chen Changsheng believed that the next time they met, Mercer would generously provide him with more skills.

These super soldiers had been parasitized by the Original Virus and obeyed only Chen Changsheng's orders. Chen Changsheng therefore had no qualms about making them even stronger.

The only problem was that these enhanced soldiers were somewhat dull-minded. They knew how to fight but couldn't handle more complicated matters. This left Chen Changsheng somewhat regretful. Still, who didn't like fearless soldiers who never cared about their own lives?

On the seventh day, Mercer rescued Elizabeth from the Gen-Tech headquarters building. Well, perhaps "rescued" wasn't the right word. Elizabeth had beaten him out.

After leaving Mercer with the words, "I'm your mother," Elizabeth disappeared without a trace, while Mercer stood there in stunned confusion, buffeted by the wind. Since when did I have a mother?

From that moment onward, the infected zones began expanding at an even faster rate. These developments had completely exceeded Black Watch's expectations.

Although Black Watch's forces were elite, they suffered from a lack of manpower. The sudden expansion of the infected zones caught Black Watch off guard, leaving them stretched thin as they tried to respond.

How could the handful of Black Watch soldiers possibly control such a massive Manhattan Island? It was at this point that Chen Changsheng received authorization from the military and officially began participating in Manhattan Island's Resident Evil crisis.

Elite mercenaries from Umbrella Corporation, wearing fully sealed protective armor, rapidly occupied the uninfected areas. As for the original Black Watch soldiers, they were all driven to the front lines of the infected zones to fight the zombies.

Black Watch's soldiers were actually quite elite. Under the assault of large numbers of Black Watch soldiers, even the strongest Hunters at this stage couldn't withstand them.

Working in perfect coordination, the Black Watch soldiers used grenade launchers and rocket launchers to blast one Hunter after another into chunks of flesh. This at least salvaged some of the last of General Randall's dignity before he was sent before a military tribunal.

Umbrella's mercenaries didn't directly destroy the infected zones. Instead, they drove armored vehicles tirelessly into them to rescue ordinary people who had yet to be infected.

Umbrella's mercenaries didn't directly provoke the Hunters, so most of what they faced were ordinary zombies. As a result, the rescue operation proceeded exceptionally smoothly.

At the same time, Black Watch's forces were in a far more difficult position. Elizabeth had escaped, and the zombies had begun another major evolution. The closer they got to the depths of the infected zones, the stronger the zombies became.

In one infected zone, Mercer seized a tank from Black Watch that he had never seen before. The tank had clearly been modified, with two extra barrels added to either side of the turret. It looked especially formidable, though no one knew what they were for.

Mercer, the Tank driving master, drove the tank and fired a shot. The blast instantly tore through a building infested by infected organisms and killed a large number of zombies.

The tremendous power startled Mercer. He had been worrying about how to break through the Mother Nest's walls and rescue his sister, but he immediately came up with an idea. He drove the special tank toward Manhattan's heavily infected zone.

When Chen Changsheng at the command center learned that a Thermobaric Tank had lost contact, he realized that Mercer had hijacked it. After all, Mercer was the only person in the infected zone who knew how to drive a tank.

As for what Mercer needed the Thermobaric Tank for, the storyline had already made that clear: he intended to blast through the walls of Elizabeth's Mother Nest. Although Mercer wasn't yet in his complete form, he was already extremely formidable. Chen Changsheng believed they would put on quite a show for him.

Since Elizabeth's Mother Nest was about to appear, Chen Changsheng prepared to travel by helicopter. He led numerous super soldiers toward the heavily infected zone, confident that he could capture both Elizabeth and Mercer this time.

Mercer was alone, so Chen Changsheng wasn't concerned. Although Elizabeth had the assistance of Hunters, Chen Changsheng had plenty of super soldiers to help him as well.

Almost all the ordinary people still alive in the infected zones had already been evacuated. Heavy weapons could therefore be used without restriction, and that was the key.

When he arrived above the Mother Nest, Chen Changsheng saw Mercer fighting fiercely against the Hunters, while Elizabeth stood quietly on the roof of the Mother Nest, watching.

What an opportunity. Chen Changsheng immediately ordered the armed helicopter to open fire. Countless powerful weapons unleashed a saturation bombardment on the Mother Nest. After that barrage, only a handful of creatures with exceptionally powerful vitality remained alive—the Supreme Hunters.

As the chosen one of fate, Mercer was naturally still alive as well. Elizabeth had been blasted into critical condition, and although she looked up at the sky, she had no way to do anything to the helicopter flying high overhead.

Worried that delays might cause complications, Chen Changsheng began a direct airdrop of super soldiers. He had them engage in close combat and capture Mercer and Elizabeth.

Although the super soldiers possessed combat power surpassing that of the Supreme Hunters, they were still somewhat inferior to Mercer, who had grown stronger through battle. One or two of them were no match for him at all.

But even the strongest hero couldn't withstand overwhelming numbers. Eighty or a hundred super soldiers swarmed forward, and with one punch from each of them, they beat Mercer to the brink of death.

Seeing that the situation was bad, Elizabeth had originally intended to escape underground, but she failed. Beneath Manhattan, in addition to Elizabeth's fleshy tentacles, there were now also the roots of Chen Changsheng's Willow Trees.

After Chen Changsheng's painstaking efforts to strengthen them, the Willow Trees were no longer what they had once been. Their enormous roots were even somewhat thicker than the leech-like tentacles Elizabeth had produced. Root after root tightly wrapped around Elizabeth, preventing her from touching the ground. Naturally, she could no longer absorb the Biomass beneath it.

After bringing Mercer and Elizabeth back to the military base in Central Park, Chen Changsheng began absorbing them under the protection of the Willow Trees.

Chen Changsheng didn't completely absorb either of them. Once the instinct of the Original Virus aggregate determined that Mercer and Elizabeth were no longer threats, Chen Changsheng released them.

Sitting upon a throne woven from Willow branches, Chen Changsheng looked at Elizabeth and Mercer with a smile.

Chen Changsheng had just learned their objectives. Alex was a newly born Blacklight Virus aggregate who had always believed that he was still human. He opposed Elizabeth for humanity's sake, and opposed humanity for the sake of revenge... He was a deeply conflicted person. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was much simpler. She lived for only one thing: evolution.

As a virus aggregate possessing forty billion years of evolutionary memories, Elizabeth had been born for evolution and would die for evolution.

In Elizabeth's original plan, she would have sacrificed herself to complete Alex, then continued living and evolving under Alex's identity.

But Chen Changsheng had unexpectedly gotten there first and taken the fruits of her labor. That counted as a new experience in Elizabeth's forty-billion-year evolutionary journey.

If you think this book is good, please add it to your bookshelf so you won't have trouble finding it next time.