Solving the Problem

Elizabeth's physical strength was far greater than Mercer's. Throughout the absorption process, although Elizabeth was in great pain, she did not utter a single word. She watched Chen Changsheng's every move with a clear mind, as if she wanted to etch his appearance into her memory.

Only after Chen Changsheng had absorbed most of the Blacklight Virus in Mercer's body did Elizabeth look at him with anticipation. Her gaze seemed to have glimpsed the path to her own evolution.

Noticing Elizabeth's look, Chen Changsheng dropped Mercer, whom he had been holding, and walked toward Elizabeth. As he did, he said, "Hi, Elizabeth. Long time no see."

As he spoke, Chen Changsheng reverted to the shy young man he had been forty years ago.

Hearing that familiar voice and seeing the young man before her stirred Elizabeth's memories. However, with forty billion years of memories, it was difficult to find the fragment concerning Chen Changsheng.

After standing there for quite some time, Elizabeth finally recalled her memories of Chen Changsheng. In a stiff, halting voice, she said, "Jack, I never expected it to be you." After saying that, Elizabeth actually laughed.

Looking at Elizabeth, who still appeared to be a nineteen-year-old girl, Chen Changsheng laughed as well.

"I never expected that, decades later, we would meet again in this form. How have you been, Elizabeth?"

"Very well. Better than ever." Elizabeth was delighted. Throughout her four billion years of memories, she had always been alone. That was why she had spent so much effort raising the newly reborn Mercer as her successor.

Anyone would grow tired of being alone, and the same was true of every living thing. Loneliness was the greatest weapon.

Today, Elizabeth had met another being similar to herself, and she was immensely happy. As for the Biomass she had lost, Elizabeth did not care at all. To Elizabeth, who could cover half of Manhattan Island with flesh, that tiny amount of virus was utterly insignificant.

For a viral aggregate, the amount of virus it possessed had no practical significance. Even if only a single virus remained, it would still be alive.

While Chen Changsheng and Elizabeth were sharing the joy of meeting a fellow countryman, Arthur, who had been lying unconscious on the ground, slowly woke up.

The instant Arthur saw Elizabeth's appearance, he assumed a defensive stance. He covered his entire body with armor formed from the Blacklight Virus, transformed his arm into a blade, and prepared to attack without another word.

Chen Changsheng did not want Mercer disturbing his reunion with a fellow countryman either. With a thought, the branches of the Willow Tree wrapped around Mercer and began drawing his blood.

Poor Mercer had already had more than half of the Blacklight Virus in his body absorbed by Chen Changsheng. Now the Willow Tree drained him as well. By the time the willow branches unfolded, Mercer could barely maintain a human shape.

Looking at the pitiful Mercer, Chen Changsheng silently mourned for him. Elizabeth, however, said to Chen Changsheng, "He has great potential for evolution."

Chen Changsheng naturally knew that Alex had great potential for evolution. Otherwise, he would never have become the protagonist. Even so, not even the protagonist could escape the fate of being squeezed dry.

From Elizabeth's memories, Chen Changsheng saw that she had imposed a restriction on the Blacklight Virus throughout Manhattan Island: it could not survive in water.

From this perspective, Elizabeth still possessed a trace of humanity. After all, she had only wanted to promote Mercer's evolution; she had never intended to destroy humanity.

As for the innocent residents of Manhattan Island, Elizabeth had never cared about them. Chen Changsheng did not care either. Compared with the more than seven billion people across the world, the few people on Manhattan Island were nothing.

In fact, Chen Changsheng's plans in India were far more insane than Elizabeth's. So, between two executioners, who had the right to criticize the other?

Perhaps because they had both evolved from the Original Virus, Chen Changsheng could clearly sense Elizabeth's thoughts. Moreover, after absorbing more than half the virus in Elizabeth's body, he had directly turned her into his subordinate.

It was very simple to determine who would lead a viral aggregate: whoever possessed more virus was the boss. Although Elizabeth possessed all the Biomass on Manhattan Island, that Biomass was not virus. Therefore, Chen Changsheng still held absolute authority.

When facing Chen Changsheng, Elizabeth could only obey like the Willow Tree. She was happy to do so. After all, she had fought alone for four billion years. Suddenly having someone who could make decisions for her felt novel. A virus that obeyed orders would not have so many strange thoughts.

In Elizabeth's heart, it was simply a matter of Chen Changsheng telling her to do something, and her doing it. It was that simple.

As for Mercer, Chen Changsheng still needed him to continue evolving so that he could copy his abilities. Therefore, Chen Changsheng planned to let him continue living on Manhattan Island. The protagonist of destiny deserved some preferential treatment, after all.

Wild things were always more valuable than domesticated ones, and free-range was better than caged.

While Chen Changsheng was dealing with Mercer and Elizabeth, the zombies on Manhattan Island, no longer suppressed by Elizabeth, became extremely aggressive. In a short time, they had occupied every area except for several important military bases beside the bridges.

The military bases guarding the bridges clearly could not withstand the endless tide of corpses, so they urgently requested reinforcements from the military. The generals had no better solution. Seeing that Manhattan Island was about to be completely occupied, they planned to launch a nuclear bomb and wipe out the virus once and for all.

However, when the generals applied to the White House for authorization to launch the nuclear weapon, their request was rejected. Chen Changsheng had already revealed through secret channels to the upper echelons of the United States that the secret of the Umbrella Corporation's Elixir of Life lay within the zombies.

Clearly, the powerful figures at the top had been tempted. They did not want to give up even the slightest chance of living longer.

Furthermore, since Chen Changsheng's corporation had already produced some Elixirs of Life, which the aristocrats had enjoyed, they had long since developed great confidence in the Umbrella Corporation.

Chen Changsheng was not deceiving the American leadership. In fact, the Blacklight Virus really did have the effect of prolonging life. Just look at the zombies: as long as they had sufficient Biomass, they could live forever.

In fact, some substances extracted from Zombie Spinal Cord truly had miraculous effects on preserving youth. However, only the Umbrella Corporation possessed the technology needed to process the marrow.

The zombies on Manhattan Island were worth quite a few dollars. When Chen Changsheng explained the pros and cons, those lofty figures had already begun making plans.

Chen Changsheng had long since developed an anti-aging drug, but he had kept it secret and supplied it only in limited quantities to his partners, strengthening their relationship.

This time, to preserve Manhattan Island, Chen Changsheng had paid a certain price. After all, it was Mercer's hometown, so he might as well turn it into a protected area.

Seeing Alex, who had evolved on Manhattan Island, Chen Changsheng could not help thinking of the countless islands scattered across the vast ocean. A vague idea surfaced in his mind.

How could evolving alone be as easy as having all of humanity evolve together? Whoever evolved well could be imitated. It was a simple principle.

This world had seven billion people. There were many elites among them, but ordinary people were far more numerous. Chen Changsheng naturally was not insane enough to target all of humanity directly, but his own evolution still had to rely on humans.

Even if Chen Changsheng copied abilities evolved by certain animals, what use would they be? Ultimately, they were merely unintelligent creatures. What suited them would not necessarily suit humans.

If Chen Changsheng evolved an extraordinarily powerful body and could also wield powerful weapons, what animal in this world could withstand him?

Thinking of a certain country with a relatively comfortable life, surrounded by the sea and far from the mainland, Chen Changsheng noted that the island still had enough people. It was an excellent place for experiments. This place belongs to me now.

After silently mourning for the people of countless island nations, Chen Changsheng turned and returned to his base in Manhattan to carefully consider his future plans.

Elizabeth's four billion years of memories still needed to be organized carefully. Perhaps they contained some unknown secrets.

After bidding farewell to Chen Changsheng, Elizabeth returned to the Mother Nest on Manhattan Island. However, by then, her Mother Nest had already been blasted into pieces.

Fortunately, she had hidden Mercer's sister somewhere else. Otherwise, Mercer would certainly have fought Elizabeth to the death.

Elizabeth scattered Blacklight Virus in every direction. Under the stimulation of the hormones it released, a new Mother Nest covered in blood vessels appeared once more. At the same time, all the Biomass on the island was continuously transported to Elizabeth through fleshy tubes spread across the ground. In a short time, Elizabeth had replenished the material Chen Changsheng had absorbed.

During their conversation that day, Chen Changsheng had given Elizabeth some advice: she should not evolve alone, but draw more inspiration from the things around her.

Based on Elizabeth's style, Chen Changsheng suggested that she study insects. Just imagining it was exciting. If Elizabeth evolved into something like the Zerg from StarCraft in a few years, what kind of spectacle would that be?

The Willow Tree followed a different path: manufacturing Biomass, operating as a Life Essence factory. The Zerg focused on plunder, while the Willow Tree pursued sustainable development.

As for Chen Changsheng himself, he shamelessly represented technology. It was not that he had great confidence in his own knowledge. Rather, Chen Changsheng believed he was human, and that humans on Earth would continue advancing in the face of ever-stronger creatures. With the efforts of people across the world, technology would surely explode forward, and humanity would enter the era of space colonization.

Taking the properties of the virus into account, Chen Changsheng selectively designed a creature. It resembled a brain bug and possessed the ability to absorb human memories and imitate human learning, but it had no body and could survive only by relying on the Willow Tree, thus limiting the brain bugs. This was also preparation for increasing the intelligence of the enhanced warriors.

There would be many such brain bugs in the future. Chen Changsheng needed enough reliable subordinates to manage his ever-expanding kingdom.

In the future, this world will belong to me, Chen Changsheng thought.