Wesker finally stopped indulging his curiosity. He immediately hit the alarm button, and the entire base erupted in sirens, going into full lockdown as every door leading to another exit was sealed.
But they'd definitely left themselves a secret back door.
"Shut the hell up! If you want to live, stay close to me!"
Wesker bellowed at the shareholders, who were crying in fright, and prepared to lead them out.
Rather than face the man beyond the one-way mirror, he'd much rather fight his way through the zombies in the corridor outside. Besides, now that the alarm had been triggered, Umbrella security personnel would come rushing to reinforce them.
Wesker reached the door. Hearing the mutant zombies snarling and pounding on it from the other side, he raised his foot and kicked with all his might. The heavy security door tore free of its frame and fell into the corridor, crushing a cluster of zombies.
He charged out and stood on the fallen door, using his two large-caliber revolvers to drive back the zombies lunging from either side. When he ran out of bullets, he fought with his fists and feet, actually managing to carve out some breathing room.
"What are you standing there for? Get the hell out!"
Wesker snapped at the shareholders, who were frozen with fear.
They came to their senses and hurried to scramble out of the Safe House, rushing into the corridor.
Once all the shareholders were out, Wesker began escorting them toward the security door at the end of the corridor.
They had barely gotten some distance from the overrun Safe House when Wesker heard the sound of glass shattering and crashing to the floor inside.
He knew the man had gotten in...
After smashing the one-way mirror, Xia Tianming jumped into the Safe House. On the floor lay two bodies, their limbs and heads blown apart.
That familiar sense of "kinship" had come from them. It was what had allowed him to pinpoint this extremely well-hidden location.
So these people had also been infected by the Blacklight Virus?
They just hadn't been as lucky as he was. Their genes hadn't matched perfectly with the Blacklight Virus, so they'd turned into the ordinary zombies that were everywhere in the game.
But even ordinary zombies from Prototype were far stronger than ordinary infected in the Resident Evil world. They were faster and more agile, and could even keep moving after being shot in the head.
The Blacklight Virus was what drove these husks. Whether they had heads or not made little difference!
He recalled that, in the later stages of the Blacklight Virus's evolution, it seemed to awaken the potential of the [Wolf Pack] virus, allowing it to control every Blacklight-infected creature and make them obey orders with perfect discipline. For now, though, he could only sense that they were there.
Once Xia Tianming entered the Safe House, the Blacklight Zombies outside in the corridor noticed him and came charging over, claws bared. They didn't recognize him as the virus's progenitor at all.
But Xia Tianming paid no attention to these underlings. His keen senses picked up the sound of hurried, chaotic footsteps coming from the corridor outside.
They were probably the Umbrella executives who'd been secretly watching him like monkeys in a zoo. Now they were running for their lives.
Only by consuming them could he obtain the crucial memories and information he needed.
So he immediately charged out of the Safe House, ready to catch up with them.
As for the Blacklight Zombies in his way, he easily dealt with them and devoured them as he went. Each one actually gave him 10 points of viral energy—ten times as much as an ordinary zombie!
Once he had completely taken control of this world, could he turn the T-Virus zombies into Blacklight Zombies and start power-leveling at breakneck speed?
He now needed 10,000 points of Blacklight energy to reach the threshold for his next evolution, but there were more and more ways to obtain energy.
The Tyrant he'd devoured earlier had given him 1,600 points of viral energy outright. If he could find more boss-level monsters like that, he could probably unlock most of the virus's abilities in this world.
Xia Tianming left the Safe House and entered the corridor, where he saw the people fleeing at the far end.
At that moment, Wesker happened to turn around, and the two locked eyes.
From that iconic look, Xia Tianming immediately recognized the man who'd brought him here: the head of security, Wesker, a classic character from both the games and the movies.
He wondered if Wesker would taste even better.
Without a word, Xia Tianming pushed off with both legs and charged toward them, grabbing a zombie along the way.
The zombie dangled from his grip like a tattered plastic bag flapping in the wind as he ran...
Seeing the man charge toward him, Wesker gritted his teeth and shouted at the panting shareholders, "Can you pigs run any faster?! In this resource-starved apocalypse, you're the only ones who've gotten fat as pigs!"
The shareholders were too proud to tolerate insults, but none of them dared complain. Their lives came first.
While herding the shareholders forward, Wesker reloaded and aimed his guns at the charging enemy, firing shot after shot!
But Xia Tianming's eyesight was as keen as an eagle's. From the trajectory of Wesker's raised guns, he could tell where the shots were coming from before they were fired. He made the tiniest adjustments to dodge every bullet without slowing down!
To anyone watching, he had simply dodged bullets. It was practically supernatural...
Wesker emptied two magazines without a single bullet hitting its target. He was stunned. Had that man's reflexes evolved again?!
With no choice, he dropped his pistols and shoved the shareholders onward. If they could make it through the security door twenty-some meters ahead, they could trap the man behind them in the equally sturdy metal corridor!
Fifteen meters
Ten meters
Five meters
They were almost through. There was no way the man could catch them!
Wesker clenched the remote that controlled the security door. Once everyone was inside, he would shut the heavy security gate!
Seeing that they were about to escape his grasp, Xia Tianming was ready. He immediately focused the viral energy in his right arm, greatly increasing its strength!
Then he hurled the unfortunate zombie he'd been dragging along like a high-caliber cannon shell, putting all his strength into the throw!
Whoosh!
The zombie, thrown like a cannonball at subsonic speed, struck the shareholders at the security door in the blink of an eye, bowling down a whole cluster of them!
The shareholder it hit directly was splattered with blood and flesh, killed on the spot!
The fallen shareholders had no time to scream. The zombie tossed into their midst let out a roar and pounced on the nearest people, biting and tearing at them. Chaos consumed the scene!
The whole thing took less than two seconds, turning their hopes of survival into despair!
Seeing that the situation was out of control, Wesker abandoned the shareholders, who lay injured and fallen, screaming in anguish. He slipped through the security door and hit the remote.
He couldn't let that man through this last door!
But as the security door began to descend, several shareholders driven by a desperate will to survive crawled underneath it, crying out for Wesker to save them.
And that man was only five seconds away...
Before you continue