New Enemy

Xia Tianming turned his head to follow the direction of those disgusting tongues. Sure enough, they belonged to the Lickers!

Lickers were one of the classic monsters from Resident Evil. They had no skin anywhere on their bodies, exposing blood-red muscle tissue. The entire upper half of their skulls was missing, leaving their pink brains exposed to the air. They looked absolutely terrifying!

The Lickers' eyes had completely atrophied, and even their eye sockets were gone. They relied entirely on their extraordinary hearing and sense of smell. Even the sound of a heartbeat couldn't escape their ears!

They couldn't walk upright, but their sickle-shaped claws let them cling to vertical walls as easily as walking on level ground. They could even hang upside down from the ceiling, launching attacks on passing creatures from unexpected places!

Their most iconic feature was their extraordinarily long tongues, which could lash out more than ten meters to ensnare prey. One lick from the barbs covering their tongues was enough to guarantee a person's skin would be torn open on the spot!

And now Xia Tianming was lying spread-eagled on the ground, his limbs bound by these disgusting elite Mutants.

An ordinary person would have been torn limb from limb by now.

But Xia Tianming wasn't their prey. He was a hunter who fed exclusively on Zombies!

He clenched his right hand into a fist and suddenly exerted his strength, forcibly yanking the Licker wrapped around his right wrist toward him!

The Licker was stunned. It hadn't expected its prey to be so strong. It desperately dug its sickle-shaped claws into the ground, trying to hold its position. Its sharp claw tips sank into the concrete.

But that did nothing to stop Xia Tianming. The Licker's claws gouged horrifying furrows in the concrete, turning it from aggressor into victim—from hunter into prey!

"ROAR!!!"

The Licker let out a roar. As the distance between them rapidly shrank, it simply raised its sickle-shaped claws and slashed directly at the human.

CLANG!!

A crisp impact rang out. The Licker realized that its opponent's right hand had transformed into a black claw even more savage than its own...

The two sets of claws clashed fiercely, scraping off sparks. Xia Tianming's Blacklight Claws were completely unscathed, but the Licker's sickle-shaped claw snapped clean off on the spot. The winner was clear!

Before the Licker could react, Xia Tianming twisted his Blacklight Claws again, slicing the barbed tongue wrapped around his wrist into several pieces and devouring them!

After the Blacklight Virus devoured the tongue and absorbed its genes, Xia Tianming's own tongue transformed in an instant!

It grew long, strong, and nimble, and bristled with barbs. He doubted anyone could withstand it.

Xia Tianming opened his mouth and shot out his barbed tongue, coiling it around the Licker's neck. Then he gave it a slight tug!

Crack!

The Licker's neck was twisted clean off on the spot. Its ugly head was wrenched around behind it, and it died instantly!

Then Xia Tianming lashed out with his sharp barbed tongue again...

Any ability obtained by devouring something with the Blacklight Virus was even stronger than the original owner's. It was, in a word, a "Blacklight-enhanced version."

Everyone in the Safe House saw that the guy had learned yet another new ability. They couldn't help but cry out in astonishment.

"Do our T/G viruses have this kind of ability to mimic and learn?"

"No. Even the G-Virus is only particularly good at adapting to its environment. It can change its form according to the conditions it encounters."

"Is this guy... really a Mutant infected by the T/G virus? Or has some kind of new mutation occurred...?"

The shareholders began discussing the matter, deeply bewildered by the bizarre changes happening to Xia Tianming.

This ability was practically beyond the realm of life on Earth. They'd heard that the guy had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, falling from the sky. Could he really be an alien or even a God???

Seeing their astonished expressions, Wesker smiled. "Want to know what he's made of? As it happens, I had people collect some fragments of that guy from the battle site. Would any of you like to study them?"

The researchers here were fanatical. At his words, they grew excited and cried, "Why didn't you say so earlier? Where are they? Hurry up and let us see!"

"It wouldn't be safe to bring them here. The fragments are in the temporary lab next door. Please go over and take a look yourselves."

As soon as Wesker finished speaking, the white-coated researchers hurried out.

They were probably all headed to the lab next door to examine the kid's body fragments. Perhaps they could decipher and extract his formidable, bizarre abilities from the enemy's fragmented genes.

Only the suited shareholders remained in the Safe House, watching the scene with interest.

"Wesker, it looks like you're trying to win over people from every department. What, are you preparing to run for the company's top position in the next election?" one shareholder said with a laugh.

Wesker smiled. "Not at all. I've never cared much for fame or fortune. I just want to do a little more for the company. All right, let's move on to the next phase of testing."

He changed the subject, took out the remote again, and pressed a button shaped like a skull.

By then, Xia Tianming had nearly finished devouring all the infected creatures in the center of the arena. They had contributed more than 600 points of viral energy to him.

The dozen or so Lickers alone had provided more than 300 points. Clearly, the energy an enemy provided was tied to its strength.

Xia Tianming's viral threshold now stood at: 1423/3000.

He still needed half that amount to break through the threshold and achieve his next evolution!

But what good was evolving further if he couldn't escape this impenetrable cage? He'd still end up as a plaything for those people.

His top priority was to get out of this Colosseum!

BOOM!

Suddenly, the lift in the center of the arena sank again. It was clearly about to send up something else to fight him.

And Xia Tianming had been waiting for just this chance!

He channeled viral power into his leg muscles and sprinted toward the central lift. He planned to jump to the next level before it closed and escape this place!

He covered a hundred meters in less than three seconds. At last, Xia Tianming reached the lift just before it closed and leaped down!

He'd made it!

But barely two seconds into his fall, Xia Tianming suddenly felt his throat tighten, as if fate itself had grabbed him by the neck. His whole body stopped falling!

He stared in shock. A huge, ash-gray face covered in wrinkles loomed before him. Its enormous eyes were vacant, its expression so numb it looked like a robot wearing human skin.

The figure stood a full three meters tall. It wore black leather clothes and a leather cap, and its hand was bigger than Xia Tianming's head!

This was... Tyrant T-103?!