HUNK watched as a bizarre tentacle gun appeared out of thin air in the man's hand. He was stunned.
The Viral Bio-Gun had no trigger. With nothing more than a thought from Xia Tianming and a supply of blood, it fired barbed, spike-shaped viral bullets from its hollow tentacle barrel!
The bullets weren't propelled by gunpowder, either. A spring-like tendril was embedded inside the barrel, using sheer force to launch them. Their muzzle velocity was every bit as fast as that of any man-made firearm!
When HUNK saw the man aim at him, his extensive combat experience kicked in. He hurriedly dodged in advance and counterattacked at the same time.
The viral bullets were silent as they shot out, without even a flash of light. All you could see was a black blur as they flew out to kill without a sound!
HUNK dodged in a desperate scramble. He wore thick body armor, but he didn't dare risk taking a hit from the bizarre bullets fired by that strange gun.
Yet the man seemed entirely unafraid of the bullets HUNK fired at him. Even when a barrage hit his body, they vanished without a trace, like stones sinking into the sea!
HUNK was completely on the defensive!
He gritted his teeth, ready to go all out. Pulling a C4 Bomb from his back, he tried to get close to the man and take him down with him!
HUNK no longer wanted to be the Grim Reaper who watched every teammate die at the end of each mission. He wanted to break the curse, even if he had to become an offering beneath the Reaper's scythe...
Just as he charged toward the enemy, determined to die...
His limbs and waist were suddenly caught by something, freezing him in place with his body locked in a running pose?!
HUNK looked down in shock. The bizarre bullets that had missed him lay on the ground, then burrowed into the hard concrete as if they were alive, taking root and sprouting into writhing, slender tentacles!
Those were the very tentacles that had ensnared HUNK, who hadn't been watching his step!
No matter how hard he struggled, the tendrils only tightened around him, then began to burrow into his protective suit!
And then came another bout of indescribable agony...
Xia Tianming had gotten the idea from the viral vines he'd devoured in the Biochemical Garden. There was no denying the Blacklight Virus was unmatched in its versatility!
The rocket launch countdown had ten seconds left.
Nine seconds.
Eight seconds.
By then, Claire had rushed to the base of the Rocket Silo with the explosives.
The flames from the boosters grew more and more intense, and their scorching winds made it difficult to get close.
Normally, the entire base should have been evacuated well in advance.
Claire could smell her hair burning, but she didn't back down. Holding the explosives close, she kept moving forward.
She only had to go a little farther and throw the explosives beneath the rocket boosters. Then she could destroy them and stop the launch!
"Alice, Ada, Leon, Chris... I won't let your sacrifices be in vain..."
Claire murmured to herself through tear-filled eyes. The heat from the launch site had turned her fair skin bright red.
Five seconds left.
Finally...
Claire gritted her teeth and hurled the explosives with all her strength. She watched them arc through the air toward the base of the rocket boosters.
At such close range, even if the rocket exploded, she had almost no chance of surviving.
But none of them had come here expecting to make it back alive...
She stood there, staring as the explosives were about to land beneath the boosters.
Suddenly, a Whip-Blade lashed out from behind, coiled around the explosives, and yanked them back!
Claire whipped around. The man had somehow appeared beside her, holding the explosives in his arms?!
The large quantity of explosives had already been ignited by the scorching wind. Even an explosion this close would still affect the launch!
"Hmph. You're too late. I'll see you in Hell!!!"
Claire's eyes were bloodshot. She gave a cold laugh, her gaze full of vengeance as she prepared to die.
But the moment the words left her mouth, her expression froze.
The man's mouth suddenly stretched open to a ridiculous size. He swallowed the explosives, which were about to blow, in a single gulp?!
The instant they were inside, Xia Tianming shifted into Rhino Armor Form and let the explosives detonate in his stomach!
Pfft!
A muffled pop, like a fart, sounded as the powerful explosives went off inside him. They failed to penetrate his Virus Armor, which was as tough as an alloy, and instead detonated within his body.
The dangerous stunt made Xia Tianming frown slightly. Black smoke curled from his mouth and nostrils...
Claire saw the horrifying sight and collapsed to the ground, her eyes blank with despair.
Was he a god... or a demon...
BOOM!!
At that moment, the countdown ended. The flames from the rocket boosters surged even higher, and the thick smoke they belched out engulfed the entire launch platform like a ravenous beast!
The rocket, loaded with the Blacklight Virus, successfully launched into space...
After an unknown amount of time, the smoke cleared. Claire slowly opened her eyes where she lay on the ground.
She didn't feel any discomfort. Her skin, which had been scorched by the hot wind, was no longer red, and her hair was still soft and beautiful, without a trace of singeing.
Was she dead? Only the dead couldn't feel pain...
Suddenly, several familiar figures appeared before her. They stood around her, leaning over to look down.
Claire's eyes widened. They were Ada, Leon, Alice, HUNK, and her brother, Chris.
She really was dead. She'd joined them in Hell or Heaven...
"Get up." Chris held out his hand and spoke gently.
Claire took her brother's hand and sat up.
Wait... why could she still feel his body heat?
Weren't dead people supposed to be cold?
Seeing her look of disbelief, Chris said in a low voice, "Surprised? None of us died. I'm still surprised myself..."
But she'd clearly seen the man kill them all with his bizarre powers. Yet now they were standing here, perfectly fine, without a scratch???
"Where's that man?"
Claire looked around and asked again, but she couldn't see him anywhere.
When she turned back, she noticed that all their pupils had turned pitch-black, without a trace of white?!
Including her own...
Once the rocket reached a certain altitude, it broke apart in the upper atmosphere near outer space. The Blacklight Virus packed inside spread through the air with the currents, multiplying and drifting away. It would spread by every possible means to every corner of the wasteland and into the air.
Black-and-red Blacklight Creep began to grow across the barren land.
Long-dead tree stumps miraculously sprang back to life, though the branches and leaves they grew were writhing tentacles.
Withered plants took root again, sprouted, and bloomed, but every flower that opened was a dark red.
The Bio-Zombies wandering aimlessly across the surface collapsed in spasms almost simultaneously. Dense black spots appeared on their bodies, rapidly corroding and breaking them down into nutrients for the Blacklight Creep.
After a long absence, rain finally fell from the dark, cloud-filled sky. Only this time, the rain was black.
Inside a makeshift survivor camp, people stared in shock at the black raindrops falling on them, at a loss for what to do.
Why was the rain black? Was the end of the world really coming to Earth...?
In a crude tent in the camp, a gaunt child sobbed beside a wooden bed. With resources scarce in the apocalypse, he'd become sickly at the very age when he should have been healthiest. His hair was dull and yellow, his cheekbones jutted out, and he looked as if a gust of wind might knock him apart.
His mother lay on the bed, covered in festering sores and about to die of an infection. His father and other relatives were already gone—killed by Zombies, killed by disease, or starved to death.
Now his mother was about to leave him, too. He would become an orphan, and who knew when he'd follow in her footsteps...
Suddenly, he felt someone patting his head. He looked up and saw his mother?!
She'd been on the brink of death, too weak even to open her eyes. But now she looked radiant, and the disgusting sores on her body were being devoured by countless black spots right before his eyes?!
Mother and son stared in shock at what was happening. But after a brief moment of stunned silence, they threw their arms around each other. As long as they stayed together, they had nothing to fear, no matter what changed.
Their eyes, too, were gradually being consumed by darkness...
[System: The Planetary Purification mission is complete. This planet has become a Blacklight Virus cultivation dish. The protagonist will have the chance to return here—or bring the entire planet along—to purify other universes.]
In a small room somewhere inside an Umbrella base that had been completely abandoned, the last Cloning Chamber began flashing a red light.
With a click, the chamber opened automatically. A naked man, wet and sticky all over, fell out and began coughing violently.
Only after he had vomited up all the nutrient fluid in his lungs did he slowly get back to his feet.
"Good thing I kept one last trick up my sleeve... Heh... Just you wait. I'll make sure you regret this!" Wesker muttered through gritted teeth, his eyes filled with malice.
Wesker wasn't completely dead. He'd left himself one final safeguard: this Cloning Chamber!
Cursing Xia Tianming with hatred, he headed for the door. He planned to go out, put on his gear, and find a chance to rise again, making that man pay for what he'd done!
He reached for the doorknob and opened the door. The sight before him left him completely dumbfounded.
The familiar base was gone. In its place was a scene straight out of Hell...
Everywhere he looked, dark red Creep blanketed the ground and walls!
Countless tentacles writhed madly across the Virus Biomass like sea anemones, enough to stop anyone's heart!
Dozens of enormous, flesh-colored, egg-shaped objects, each nearly three meters tall, stood on the Creep by the doorway!
At the sound of the door opening, the objects began to tremble violently and split open, as if they were about to hatch. Faint demonic snarls could be heard from within...
Wesker...
"NO!!!!!"
Before you continue