The Virus Itself

"Rod of God? Wasn't that still in the testing phase? What if they accidentally kill me?! Not everyone can come back to life with cloning technology like you!"

Captain Kromi heard that his superior, sitting in the office, wanted to use him as bait. Enraged and humiliated, he immediately roared.

"Heh. You're a captain in the U.S.S., yet you're still so afraid of death. Sacrificing yourself for the company is an honor. Besides, are you so sure you weren't cloned?" Wesker said with a cold laugh.

"I was cloned...?"

Hearing this, Captain Kromi froze. He desperately tried to recall what had happened in the past.

But he found that his memories only went back to the time he had spent inside the company. Everything from before the apocalypse was a blank...

His eyes instantly went vacant.

I... am just like those cannon fodder soldiers I looked down on. I'm a clone too...

When he didn't respond, Wesker spoke again. "Don't worry. Even if you die now, we can still transfer your memories to your next clone. After all, combat experience is extremely valuable."

From his words, it was clear that Captain Kromi had already been cloned many times. The memories of his deaths had simply been erased, so he had always believed himself to be a special case, unlike the other clones.

After this death, he might forget how he died again and continue serving the company by leading its troops with his usual arrogance...

Captain Kromi stared blankly for a while. The light in his eyes had faded, but gradually his original, icy killing intent returned. Perhaps he had come to terms with it, or perhaps he knew there was no resisting. Either way, he had accepted his fate.

"Floor it. Draw him toward the Rod of God's designated strike zone and keep him occupied. Buy us as much time as you can—five minutes, if possible," Captain Kromi told the driver. Then he turned to look at the Black Hawk Helicopter pursuing them through the sky behind the vehicle.

Why isn't that bastard just blowing up the vehicle I'm in? Does he want to capture me alive?

Captain Kromi was right. Xia Tianming did want to capture him alive.

After all, if the commander's brain was blown apart, Xia Tianming wouldn't be able to get any useful memories from him.

But Xia Tianming didn't know he was being lured into a trap. He continued piloting the Black Hawk Helicopter, diving after the speeding jeep.

Of course, something on the ground couldn't outrun something in the sky. Their distance rapidly shrank, and soon the Black Hawk Helicopter was circling directly above the jeep!

The adjutant in the back turned deathly pale as he raised the vehicle's machine gun and fired at the helicopter, trying to slow its pursuit.

Then he suddenly realized that the man had left the cockpit at some point, leaving the helicopter on autopilot. Half his body was hanging out of the cabin as he looked down at them.

Was he planning to jump down from a hundred meters up?!

Xia Tianming gripped the cabin door and looked coldly down at the open-top jeep. Bullets kept flying up at him, trying to stop him.

He had once suffered from a fear of heights, but it seemed the Blacklight Virus had cured him of that, too.

After calculating his landing point, Xia Tianming leapt from the helicopter without hesitation!

Then, with the speed of Bullet Dive, he plunged straight down from a hundred meters toward the jeep below!

As bullets flew toward him, he transformed both hands into claws and knocked them aside in midair!

In just one second, Xia Tianming crashed down directly in front of the jeep with the force of a meteor striking the earth!

The immense impact gouged a five-meter-wide crater into the ground and sent the vehicle flying. It flipped through a 720-degree turn, hurling its passengers out!

Before one of the soldiers could hit the ground, Xia Tianming swung his claws, sliced him in half at the waist, and devoured him!

Only Captain Kromi, the adjutant, and the driver remained. They slammed into the ground and tumbled like spinning tops for more than a dozen turns before finally coming to a stop.

Xia Tianming walked toward them as they lay on the ground, groaning.

Captain Kromi endured the pain wracking his body, rolled over, drew a pistol, and fired at the man.

The small-caliber bullets were so weak that Xia Tianming didn't even bother dodging. He let them strike his body, but they did nothing to slow him down.

Xia Tianming's steady pace brought an indescribable pressure with every step, making Captain Kromi's pupils tremble!

"I'll take you down with me!!!"

The driver, who had even lost a few teeth in the crash, found courage from somewhere. Gripping two high-explosive grenades, he charged at Xia Tianming with a ferocious expression and pulled their safety pins, determined to take him with him.

But just as he reached Xia Tianming, the driver suddenly felt himself go weightless. A moment later, he realized he was flying through the air, while the two grenades were still in his hands...

Boom!!!

Xia Tianming hurled the driver, who had tried to blow them both up, dozens of meters into the air in an instant. He watched him explode into a brilliant burst of blood-red fireworks without even looking up.

The deafening explosion jolted the adjutant, who had been dazed from the crash nearby, back to his senses. He tried to grab the heavy machine gun lying off to one side and make a last stand.

Before he could even pick it up, a foot came down on the gun and stomped it in half!

The adjutant trembled as he raised his terrified eyes. It was the young man wearing a hood. The moonlight behind him cast a shadow over his face, obscuring his features and making him seem all the more intimidating!

"You..."

The adjutant had barely managed to get one word out.

With a wet thud, claws pierced his chest and lifted him off the ground!

Xia Tianming didn't let him suffer for long. He twisted his claws, killing and devouring the adjutant, and gained his memories.

Then he turned to Captain Kromi, who was slumped on the ground not far away, and said calmly, "So you're the commander of this unit."

"Who... who are you...?"

Captain Kromi held the pistol, its bullets spent, and asked in a mechanical, numb voice.

He had watched the squad he led get wiped out by a single man, utterly unable to fight back. It was a devastating blow to someone as proud as him.

"A person... Can I still even call myself one...?"

Hearing this, Xia Tianming paused. He spoke to himself expressionlessly as he walked toward the other man.

Ever since he had acquired the Blacklight Virus, even setting aside his bizarre body, it seemed the emotions that a human should have were gradually leaving him.

Once, he hadn't even dared to kill a chicken. Now, he had nearly wiped out a small army with ease, and killing a person stirred no emotion in him at all.

Perhaps I'm no longer human. I'm just a carrier for the virus—or maybe I am the virus itself.