World Origin

Blackwatch, a war machine with astonishing operational efficiency, began running at full power under Meng Yi's command.

It specifically sealed off every route Alex could use to reach the Red Light Mother, preventing Alex from mutating and growing stronger.

The Black Light Virus detection tower was guarded by dozens, even hundreds, of Fat Hugging Men at the final checkpoint.

The "Brother A" who could fight three Fat Hugging Men at once could only open and close his mouth, suffering defeat in every way.

A whole horde of Fat Hugging Men—now that was what you could call "truly surrounded by burly men"!

"Brother A"? No, no, he was "Little A," all right!

After resting for more than two hours, Meng Yi had barely recovered a little mental energy.

He found the virus researchers who had been waiting for him for a long time and copied their relevant memories into the Memory Palace.

Meng Yi now had a fairly detailed understanding of the Red Light Virus, Black Light Virus, and even the White Light Virus inhibitor, none of which he had ever encountered before.

Blackwatch Military Base · Underground Laboratory.

The best memory came from taking bad notes, but practice was the only standard for testing truth.

Using the virus knowledge he had just learned, Meng Yi modified an experimental subject, personally carrying out the entire process to deepen and consolidate his memories, striving to master it thoroughly as soon as possible.

Wearing a silver-white combat suit, the petite Firefly stood guard at the door without moving an inch. She was Meng Yi's second-to-last line of defense.

Black Light Virus injection—

"Psionic Power" Microscopic Domain Interference—

Genetic splicing—genetic splicing failed!

The experimental subject began to mutate—

Its flesh turned outward in chaotic disorder, piling up as its frail body absorbed nutrients and grew to a colossal size...

Its spine, ribs, and other bones intertwined and proliferated, forming a savage layer of exoskeletal armor over its body.

The bones in its hands tore through the muscle tissue and converged into exoskeletal blades.

High-concentration Black Light Virus injection + sufficient nutrient supply + accelerated guidance from "Psionic Power" transformed an ordinary, frail infected into a "Supreme Hunter" nearly four meters tall.

"Roar—!!"

The newly born monster was not grateful to its creator. It broke free of its restraints with a furious roar and bellow, then tried to pierce Meng Yi's chest with its exoskeletal blade.

"Quiet. Don't make so much noise."

The gleaming exoskeletal blade stopped just a dozen centimeters from Meng Yi's chest and could not advance even half an inch farther.

Meng Yi frowned slightly. His vast mental power crushed the "Supreme Hunter's" fragile thought processes, turning the hideous killing machine into a dull, rigid vegetable that stood frozen in place, unable to move.

"Strange. How did Alex Mercer do it?"

After one failed experiment, Meng Yi did not conduct a repeat test.

Even if he repeated it a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand times, the final limit would only be the birth of a theoretically perfect "Supreme Hunter," not "Black Light Virus Form."

The problem was not a flaw in his technique. It was that "Black Light Virus Alex" was abnormal.

"It's similar to the situation where Alice, the clone of Alicia Marcus and the protagonist of the film version of Biohazard Crisis, awakened 'telekinesis.'"

"What was the reason? The inertia of the plot? The World's favor? An impossible miracle? The Child of Destiny?"

Previously, in The Hive beneath Raccoon City, Meng Yi had also studied the "T-Virus," yet he had never been able to replicate the miracle of "telekinesis."

He had instructed Umbrella Corporation to investigate and collect traces of "Alice," but the result they reported was "no such person." All the clone experimental subjects from the "Alice Project" had been destroyed. It had been a failed project.

"Can't two 'favored by destiny' people exist in the same world during the same period?"

"Could 'Black Light Virus' have taken the place of 'Telekinetic Alice'?"

He could not understand it, so he could only make guesses.

If things really followed this line of thought, the inexplicable bursts of power displayed by "protagonists" became easy to understand.

Certain unique abilities belonging exclusively to the "protagonist" were their "cheats," as well as their opportunity to turn the tables in desperate situations.

The "villains" who opposed the "protagonist" were mysteriously hated and rejected by the world, as if cursed. They lined up to deliver supply packs to the "protagonist," and sometimes even the final big villain would "send" himself over to serve as a stepping stone.

Once the "protagonist's" value had been exhausted, the world's favor quietly withdrew. A new "protagonist" replaced the old one, and the same boring script played out again and again.

"Whew—The Idealism System really doesn't play fair."

Meng Yi lowered his head and looked at the laboratory floor.

"Does the world possess an instinct hidden beyond perception? Or did the subconsciousness of all living beings construct 'Alaya'?"

He gently stroked the "∞" Infinity Emblem on the back of his right hand, focused his attention, and summoned the Evolution Paradise information panel.

"Paradise, are you there? Can you answer a question?"

[After **** basic regulations, player 'White Devil' completed an E-Rank Side Quest in the Selection Dungeon, and Hidden Permission increased appropriately.]

Meng Yi glanced at the panel's "Wealth Bar." "What is the essence of an evaluation?"

[Answer: Aggregates of the World Origin from different levels. Ordinary life-forms cannot effectively utilize them, but they can be used through Evolution Paradise's related facilities to break through limits and grow stronger, or be put to other uses.]

"Does the World Will, an aggregate of subconsciousness, truly exist?"

[Notice: Insufficient permission. Unable to answer.]

After dispersing the Evolution Paradise panel, Meng Yi smiled.

Sometimes, refusing to answer was the better answer.

The stunt the paradise had pulled had instead verified his guess.

"Interesting. Very interesting. Are biohazard viruses this world's 'Shedding the Old for the New'?"

"Then if I accelerate the process before I leave, what level of evaluation will I receive?"

The smarter a person was, the more they thought. After more than a decade of "Psionic Power" nourishing his mind, soul, will, and spirit, Meng Yi had gradually become "inhuman."

From F to S, the World Origin contained in the "evaluations" of different ranks varied in both quality and quantity.

Using them to break through limits was too "conventional." Following the rules would only make him one of the vast majority of "players." A miraculous thing ought to turn the impossible into the possible.

Evolution Paradise had answered only one question.

From that glimpse, Meng Yi dared to make a bold guess: even if ordinary "players" obtained the same power system as certain "protagonists," they could not develop the "protagonist's" exclusive traits, much less walk a "path" of their own.

"Evolution, evolution—survival of the fittest through natural selection. Players who fail to satisfy the requirements of 'evolution' will be eliminated batch after batch."

"The higher the rank, the more valuable the players will be, because the 'trash' won't survive that long."

Meng Yi continued enriching his conjecture. The evaluation received after clearing dungeons of different levels would result in different increases to "permission."

For the relatively lower tiers, he would probably only be forcibly granted "lv+1."

If a player failed to realize it after ten dungeons, the Promotion Assessment would arrive and send them all into the Gu Raising Field.

"At what level did the paradise place that 'dividing line'? E? D? C?"

"F is the foundation, E receives a slight advantage, and D is a dungeon evaluation? Whatever. My guess will be verified soon enough."