Blacklight Virus Infected

"...How do you know?"

Xiao Hua said blankly.

Su Zhe smiled kindly.

How did he know? He'd learned Xiao Hua's name naturally after devouring his teammates.

"Don't be afraid, kid."

Su Zhe walked slowly over to Xiao Hua and patted him on the shoulder in a friendly manner.

The Blacklight Virus in the game had many variants, but in this world, there was only one Prototype: Su Zhe.

Su Zhe wondered whether he could use the Blacklight Virus in his own body to research new variants.

The Black-Crowned Golden Eagle had already proven that the Blacklight Virus remained just as infectious in this world. If it spread, the consequences would likely be even more extreme than those of the RR Virus.

It might not even take Luo Feng's intervention.

All life on Earth could quickly surpass Apprentice Level and head straight for Planetary Level.

Of course, there was no telling whether humanity would still exist by then.

After all, judging by the game, only one human in ten thousand could withstand infection by the Blacklight Virus. The infected were quite strong, and no weaker than ordinary warriors.

If the Blacklight Virus really spread on a massive scale, few people on Earth would survive.

Fortunately, Su Zhe could control the Blacklight Virus completely.

As long as Su Zhe wanted, the Blacklight Virus could never escape his control.

Xiao Hua would be Su Zhe's first test subject.

For the first experiment, Su Zhe would infect Xiao Hua with the Blacklight Virus and see whether he could remain lucid after being infected.

After acquiring Psychic Power, Su Zhe had discovered that his control over the Blacklight Virus had grown stronger. That was what had given rise to this unusual idea.

"Look up. Look at me."

Su Zhe looked at Xiao Hua. Xiao Hua didn't dare disobey, and raised his head to meet Su Zhe's gaze.

The Blacklight Virus had already entered Xiao Hua's body when Su Zhe patted his shoulder earlier.

Now, all Su Zhe had to do was control the virus and make it "mutate" inside Xiao Hua.

He wanted it to mutate into a strain that could strengthen the human body—and even be directly controlled by Su Zhe!

Xiao Hua stared at Su Zhe, confused. He had no idea what Su Zhe was trying to do. Then...

"Argh!"

The pain was excruciating, as if it reached down to his bones!

Xiao Hua's eyes flew open. Sweat poured from his forehead, and his face flushed red. The pain left him unable to speak. His body trembled violently, curling up as he collapsed to the ground.

Su Zhe instinctively took a step back.

Had he already broken him?

No. The Blacklight Virus was still changing inside Xiao Hua.

With his Psychic Power and his control over the Blacklight Virus, Su Zhe could easily sense the changes taking place within it.

The virus was reshaping Xiao Hua's body.

As an Advanced Warrior, Xiao Hua was in fairly good physical shape. He was also only in his early twenties, making him something of a prodigy. In a sense, he was about as talented as Su Zhe had been before fusing with the Blacklight Virus.

Su Zhe watched as Xiao Hua's muscles continued to swell. The virus inside him was trying to evolve his body, but Xiao Hua's inferior genes and weak will held him back. His body's evolution stalled halfway through.

By then, Xiao Hua had almost completely lost consciousness.

If he couldn't endure the upheaval to come, he would most likely become the lowest form of Blacklight Virus Infected: a zombie.

Su Zhe watched Xiao Hua in silence.

Xiao Hua was in a dire state, hovering between consciousness and unconsciousness. No one could say whether he might suddenly die the next moment, or complete his evolution.

The virus in his body and his cells were locked in a state of mutual opposition.

Su Zhe didn't dare make any fine adjustments now, afraid he might accidentally kill Xiao Hua.

He could only leave it to Xiao Hua's own will.

Su Zhe thought to himself in silence.

Come to think of it, the Earthlings of the Swallowed Star World seemed to have another advantage.

Their souls had been altered.

That special soul made it much easier for Earthlings to improve their state of mind. Their wills were naturally stronger than those of other races in the universe.

Several minutes later.

Su Zhe looked at Xiao Hua, whose skin had almost completely rotted away, exposing his blood-red muscles. His whole body looked burned, with not a single patch of skin left intact. Su Zhe fell silent.

So... the fusion had still failed.

He hadn't managed to create a "super soldier."

But judging by the changes, Xiao Hua seemed to be turning into a Hunter?

Su Zhe's interest rekindled.

Unlike ordinary Blacklight Virus Infected, Hunters weren't creatures infected by the Blacklight Virus. They were biological weapons that hatched from the hive created by the Matriarch.

But there was no Blacklight Virus Matriarch here. Su Zhe was a Prototype, not a Matriarch. What was going on?

Could it be...

"Is the problem with me?"

Su Zhe suddenly realized something.

As the only one in this universe with Blacklight Virus blood, Su Zhe—the Blacklight Virus Prototype—was the Blacklight Virus itself!

Even a Blacklight Virus Matriarch had originally been a human infected by the Blacklight Virus. Matriarchs didn't simply appear in that form from the start.

In other words...

As the Blacklight Virus Prototype, Su Zhe also possessed some of the Matriarch's abilities. That was why, after fusing with the Blacklight Virus separated from Su Zhe, Xiao Hua had begun evolving into a Hunter!

The many different kinds of monsters Su Zhe had devoured had mixed their genes together, which was why they produced this result in Xiao Hua.

"I see."

Having figured it out, Su Zhe looked at Xiao Hua and decided not to wait any longer.

After becoming a Hunter, Xiao Hua would lose his human intelligence. He might even be less intelligent than some Commander-level monsters. Perhaps Su Zhe could cultivate a group of Hunters in the future, but now clearly wasn't the time.

"Squelch!"

Su Zhe's right hand turned into a claw. He drove it into Xiao Hua's body, killing him as he continued to turn into a Hunter, then devoured him back into his own body.

[Apprentice Level Four Hunter killed. Gained 0.4 Devour Points]

Oh.

He could reclaim Devour Points this way.

He even got more than he would have by simply killing Xiao Hua.

Unfortunately, this method was too slow. There was no point farming points this way.

Su Zhe wasn't in a hurry to get a lot of Devour Points. So far, they had no use other than buying rewards.

If he ever needed a large number of Devour Points, with his current strength, it wouldn't be hard to slaughter a monster gathering ground like County 0231. A county had at least a hundred thousand monsters. Getting ten thousand Devour Points would be a breeze!