Familiar Feeling

Commander Kromi's conjecture was correct; that was indeed a shield, but one formed entirely from condensed virus!

The moment Xia Tianming kicked the door off its hinges, he instantly condensed his right arm into a Blacklight Spike Shield, holding it before him to deflect the fierce barrage of gunfire from a thousand weapons.

This biomass shield was woven from layers upon layers of viral tendrils, possessing extreme toughness and defensive capabilities, even capable of withstanding a direct hit from Stinger missiles.

Seeing them cease fire, it was now time for a counterattack!

Xia Tianming manipulated the Blacklight Spike Shield condensed before him, causing it to shudder violently and reflect the dense array of bullet heads embedded in its surface back at the soldiers, with power not a whit inferior to being fired from a gun barrel.

A large number of soldiers were struck by the reflected bullets; even wearing sturdy body armor and ballistic helmets, they could not withstand such a violent impact.

The bullet heads pierced their bodies, exploding into mists of blood before embedding themselves into the walls behind them.

In an instant, the entire spiral corridor was filled with screams and heavy casualties, with nearly a quarter of the force falling.

And this was merely the beginning.

ROAR!!!

Suddenly, a roar that made everyone's hair stand on end erupted!

A massive, terrifying beast standing nearly five meters tall leaped over Xia Tianming's biological shield, appearing before the eyes of the soldiers.

With explosive scarlet muscles covering its body, bone spurs lining its entire spine, fangs protruding from its massive maw, and sharp claws that easily gouged trenches into the concrete floor, it was a collection of every biological weapon representing slaughter—the perfect biochemical weapon that the Umbrella Corporation had dreamed of!

And this was precisely the Hunter that Wesker had mutated into after being infected by the Blacklight Virus!

It could no longer recognize the soldiers who had once been under its command, and naturally, the soldiers would not associate this hideous behemoth with the cold-blooded Supervisor Wesker.

Commander Kromi's heart began to race uncontrollably as he watched the monster through his night-vision binoculars.

He had seen the vast majority of mutated biochemical monsters developed by the corporation, but he had never seen such a terrifying specimen. Could it be that some new Mutant had escaped the laboratory, which was why he had been ordered to bring men to suppress it?

But then, what was the deal with that shield?

Before Commander Kromi could recover his senses and prepare to order fire again, the Hunter had already slightly bent its four limbs and lunged over thirty meters, jumping to the opposite side of the spiral staircase and being the first to pounce upon two dumbfounded soldiers.

Before they could even let out a scream, they were trampled into a pulp of flesh by the Hunter's claws. With another sweep of its claws, it easily shattered the other fully armed soldiers nearby like tofu, exploding them into large, bursting mists of blood.

It was only when the other soldiers felt their faces splattered with the blood of their comrades that they reacted, hurriedly turning their muzzles toward the massive monster and pulling the triggers to counterattack, the sound of gunfire once again ringing out fiercely in the spiral corridor.

********

Meanwhile, another wave of soldiers, acting under Commander Kromi's orders, cautiously approached the shield-like substance standing before the door in a combat formation.

They dared not fire at the shield again, fearing that the bullets would be reflected back and cause heavy casualties.

For some reason, Commander Kromi felt an inexplicable sense of dread from the aura behind the shield, as if it were somewhat familiar...

At this moment, behind the Blacklight Spike Shield, Xia Tianming's keen senses filtered out the other dense gunfire, detecting footsteps approaching him from both sides.

But the cautious soldiers stopped once they reached a certain distance, sending only a point man forward to scout the situation.

The soldier swallowed hard, moving his feet cautiously toward the back of the biological shield to see what was hidden behind it.

When he got closer and took a good look, he realized that the person standing behind the shield was actually a man he had never seen before?!

The moment his gaze met those pitch-black eyes, a bone-chilling cold, as if falling into a ten-thousand-foot icy abyss, pierced him from head to toe!

This would be the final sight of his life...

The other soldiers were waiting for his report on the situation behind the shield when they suddenly saw a black shadow flash from behind it, and then the soldier sent to scout vanished from everyone's sight in an instant?!

This horrific scene terrified the group to the core, and they hurriedly raised their muzzles toward the black shield.

However, not a second later, the point man walked out from behind the shield, completely unharmed.

The soldiers were stunned. Had they just been seeing things? They asked in bewilderment, "What just happened to you..."

"There's nothing behind here." The soldier replied as he walked toward them, his voice exactly that of the man they knew.

But the squad leader remained vigilant and warned loudly, "Don't come any closer! Take off your helmet! Let us see your face!"

The scouted soldier complied, removing his helmet to reveal the face of the man they were familiar with.

Unbeknownst to them, he had already closed the distance to within ten meters of the squad.

Just as everyone was about to heave a sigh of relief, Commander Kromi, who had been watching the whole scene, suddenly received a message from above. After hearing it, his face turned deathly pale, and he roared with wide eyes, "Do not let him get close to you!!! Open fire immediately!!"

However, it was already too late.

By the time the soldiers heard the commander's order and snapped back to reality, the point man's arm was already wrapped in dense, writhing tendrils that were rapidly extending.

In less than a second, his right arm transformed into a black-red whip-fist, twenty meters long and coiling on the ground!

The surface of the whip-fist was covered in chilling, short black keratin blades, with a sickle-shaped barb at the end, the whole thing possessing a metallic black luster that struck fear into the heart!

This was the [Whip-fist Form] that Xia Tianming had newly unlocked, and this soldier was naturally a disguise!

Having closed into attack range, before the assault squad could recover from his sudden transformation, Xia Tianming swung the Blacklight whip-fist in a horizontal sweep!

SHING!!!

Carrying a fierce gale, the whip-fist cut through a large group of soldiers in front like a scythe through wheat!!

They had no time to let out a scream; before their severed upper bodies could even hit the ground, they were dissolved and devoured by the tendrils extending from the surface of the whip-fist in mid-air!

With this single horizontal sweep, Xia Tianming instantly evaporated dozens of soldiers within a fan-shaped area, turning them into viral nutrients within his body!

He then flicked the whip backward, the blade coiling around the Blacklight Spike Shield standing behind him to dissolve and retract it back into his own body.

Xia Tianming was already capable of detaching the viral weapons and shields he created from his own body to serve as distractions for his enemies!

Having wiped out an entire squad of soldiers in an instant, Commander Kromi felt his pupils tremble as he witnessed the scene.

That familiar sensation returned; had he encountered this freak capable of weaponizing his own limbs before?

He did not know that he had already served as nutrients within the other's body...