The Love-Hate Relationship Between CEOs

Marcus was speechless.

How could this brat be so thick-skinned?

He had attacked him twice for no reason, yet could still act as if nothing happened and ask him to continue talking. What exactly was going on in his mind?

"I won't tell you. If you want to find Spencer, you must take me with you. I want to see with my own eyes how that old bastard dies!" Marcus climbed out of the water onto the bank, his tone filled with resentment as he gritted his teeth, even though he didn't actually have any.

"Take you? Since you know the secret passage to him, why haven't you gone to take your revenge yourself?" Xia Tianming asked, pointing out the suspicious detail.

Marcus explained, "In my current state, I can only maintain normal function if I stay near a water source. Once I leave the water for too long, the Leech Queen Virus will quickly dehydrate and enter a dormant state. Therefore, I need someone to carry me there."

With that, he manipulated the dense swarm of viral leeches in the water, fished out a fishbowl covered in green algae from the bottom of the pond, and pushed it to the bank.

Xia Tianming did indeed notice that after Marcus climbed ashore, the viral leeches wriggling on his body began to dry out, detaching from the main mass and falling to the ground as shriveled husks.

However, he could still sense a faint life force within these dried leeches; they were likely just entering a dormant state and would recover quickly upon touching water.

Seeing him roll the fishbowl to his feet, Xia Tianming understood the Leech Man's intentions and said coldly, "Let's go."

"Straightforward enough. The entrance to the hidden passage is at the drainage outlet at the bottom of this pond, but don't think you can just dump me once we're inside. There's a long stretch ahead where only I know the way."

Having been attacked twice for no reason, Marcus had grown wary of the unscrupulous Xia Tianming and spoke with a stern, straight face.

Xia Tianming said nothing more, picked up the water-filled fishbowl, and signaled that they were ready to depart.

Seeing that he was prepared, the Leech Man Marcus detached his head—which was composed of viral leeches—from his main body. It wriggled into the fishbowl in Xia Tianming's hand and reformed into a head several times smaller than before.

Watching such a cheerful leech head swimming around in the fishbowl looked incredibly bizarre...

Xia Tianming carried the leech head to the edge of the pond and prepared to jump in.

Just then, a rough panting sound came from behind him. It was the Hunter that Wesker had mutated into, crouching obediently behind him, wanting to jump into the water as well.

But its size was too massive and too conspicuous; it would easily be exposed to the enemy's vision, likely causing Spencer to find out in advance and escape.

Xia Tianming used his viral connection to order it to stay on the bank and not follow.

Receiving its master's command, the Hunter could only lie down on the bank, aggrieved, its throat emitting a low, rumbling sound.

"By the way, I'd like to ask you one more thing: what kind of virus is contained within your body?" the Marcus head in the fishbowl asked, looking up curiously.

"Seven-Colored Spiral Rainbow Virus."

Xia Tianming naturally wouldn't reveal his true nature to others, so he made up a random name. Before the other could question it, he jumped into the pond.

The emerald pond was bottomless, with visibility underwater not exceeding two meters, and a large number of ferocious Zombie Piranha were circling nearby.

But this time, they unexpectedly did not attack Xia Tianming, perhaps because of the Marcus head in the fishbowl he was carrying.

As soon as he entered the water, the Blacklight Virus automatically wove fin-like tentacles at Xia Tianming's elbows and legs to increase his swimming speed.

It even split filter-like organs on both sides of his neck, allowing him to breathe freely underwater.

This was the most formidable adaptive ability of the Blacklight Virus: it could make corresponding changes to the host based on any harsh environment!

He wondered if one day, if Xia Tianming were to go into space, the Blacklight Virus would be able to keep him alive in the vacuum of the universe.

After reaching the bottom of the pond, under the guidance of the Leech Man Marcus, Xia Tianming swam to a corner, brushed aside the lush water weeds, and sure enough, saw a drainage pipe about one meter in diameter.

The filter screen welded to the pipe opening was covered in various impurities and slimy algae, looking absolutely disgusting.

Xia Tianming hooked his fingers into it and easily pried the filter screen off, then dove into the pitch-black pipe with the head in the fishbowl.

The pipe sloped upward; after climbing for a distance, they completely left the water source. No wonder Marcus couldn't go through here to seek revenge on his own.

The environment inside the narrow pipe was pitch-black and damp, filled with a suffocating, heavy, and strange odor. It was incredibly oppressive; an ordinary person probably wouldn't be able to last ten minutes here.

Xia Tianming held the fishbowl in his left hand, transformed his right hand into a claw, and climbed rapidly up the increasingly vertical, narrow pipe like a gecko.

The head in the fishbowl, meanwhile, kept chattering away.

"This shapeshifting ability of yours looks familiar. Does it have anything to do with the G-Virus?"

"Did you also have some conflict with that old immortal Spencer, which is why you're going to seek revenge?"

"How did you get here? Did you wipe out all the infected you encountered along the way? Tell me, let me have some fun. I can imagine the look on Spencer's face when his hard work is destroyed by you, haha."

"Do you know Wesker? That brat who wears sunglasses even when it's pitch black? That's my rebellious disciple; he was the one who killed me with his own hands."

"I think you look a bit familiar, too. What's your mother's maiden name?"

Marcus was like a lonely old man who hadn't spoken to anyone in decades, seizing every opportunity to talk incessantly, almost driving people insane.

It was no wonder Wesker had killed his master; he was probably driven to the brink by the torture.

Xia Tianming didn't know how it maintained such abundant vitality with only a small puddle of water in the fishbowl...

"Shut up."

Xia Tianming finally spoke. He sensed a large number of living signatures at the corner of the pipe ahead, accompanied by rustling sounds.

The Leech Man Marcus also sensed it and whispered, "It might be those Zombie Rats. They often poke their heads out of the filter pipe to prey on the piranhas that swim by. They have strong group cooperation and are hard to deal with in this narrow space. Let's crawl past quietly and not disturb them... Wait... why are you still crawling toward them???"

Xia Tianming did not follow Marcus's warning to carefully bypass them; instead, he crawled directly toward the corner where the sounds were coming from!

After all, wherever the Blacklight Virus passed, it swept away everything like a storm, leaving nothing behind.

From the darkness around the corner where the rustling originated, dense clusters of scarlet pinpricks flickered incessantly, resembling a sky full of stars.

Those were mutated rats, blinking their bloodthirsty, crimson eyes!

They were at least a meter long, their tails as thick as an adult's wrist, and the fangs protruding from their pointed snouts were as dense and jagged as saw blades!

Seeing prey deliver itself to their doorstep, the famished creatures let out a hair-raising, excited shriek.

"You're done for, kid."

Marcus shook his head, expressing pity for the young man's impending fate...

I think the following worlds might be suitable for the protagonist to visit: Dead Space, Parasyte, DOOM, Alien vs. Predator, The Thing, Silent Hill, Pacific Rim, Hellboy, Sweet Home, MonsterVerse, Love and Monsters, StarCraft Zerg, Warhammer World, etc. Are there any among these that you particularly like?

You can also suggest others for me to use as reference, but please avoid pure cultivation, xianxia, or magic settings; the dissonance would be too great.