"Help... help me..." A faint, miserable voice echoed through the empty hall, then faded away.
This was Ravensgate Church!!
It was an important location in the original movie: a dark, cold church filled with danger.
In the movie, Alice rode in on a Harley, smashed through the church windows like a savior, and descended amid a thousand rays of colored light like an angel. Then she coolly and stylishly took out several Lickers.
Paired with that rousing music, the scene was truly spectacular.
This should have been an ordinary church. It seemed to be famous for no other reason than that Alice's first battle after gaining her T-Virus-enhanced powers took place here!
Inside the church, a place of holiness and solemnity, Alice used the superhuman abilities she had gained through her evolution to kill the hideous, savage Lickers and save the police officer, the reporter, and the young man from America. The last Licker was pinned beneath a cross, and Alice shot its head apart—one could easily imagine that this scene symbolized the final judgment of evil sinners before Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father!
That was American cinema, steeped in religious faith and the country's quintessential hero worship!
At the "university," many "students" who had experienced this film treated the church as the best place to "farm missions" and "farm Study Points," or to get close to the protagonist, Alice.
Of course, it was also where the most people died...
This time around, some students from Class 04, Season 12, who thought themselves clever, had also come here, hoping to bask in Alice's "protagonist halo." They believed that as long as they stuck with Alice, they would safely make it through this Entrance Exam.
And, in fact, they were right. Alice didn't make a flashy entrance like she had in the original story. Instead, she led a large group of "deadweight" into the church. Kindhearted and gifted with superhuman powers, Alice had indeed shown these "Chinese exchange students" plenty of sympathy and promised to protect them. Nearly every rookie who had left their "senior students" behind thought they had found a safe haven. Compared to the not-so-reliable seniors, they were willing to trust the invincible "protagonist halo."
But was that really how things worked?
There had never been a shortage of clever people in the world. Of course, there had never been a shortage of people who thought they were clever, either.
Certain that things would go smoothly from here on out, they were suddenly cast from heaven into hell.
More Lickers than in the original story swarmed into the church, launching a frenzied slaughter of the rookies who thought they had found a loophole in the Headmaster's rules. Blood almost instantly stained the entire church red—the bloodied cross seemed to be mocking them and passing judgment on them.
This was the Headmaster's wrath!
Anyone who dared challenge him, refuse to follow the rules he had set, or try to exploit loopholes with petty tricks would face his harsh punishment. Alice was indeed protecting them, but she was only one person. How could she take on so many Lickers?
In the end, the group fled the church in a panic, scrambling over one another. They couldn't have looked more miserable or more regretful. They should have listened to their seniors! How could anyone get away with exploiting the Headmaster's rules so easily?!
After everyone had fled the church, two guests arrived.
Liu Xiatian and Xiong Ba.
Clearly, they hadn't come to pray.
Liu Xiatian was the one who wanted to come. Xiong Ba seemed indifferent, strolling along at his leisure. It was as if the church was his destination, too. Liu Xiatian had no idea why he had come here, but he didn't care. As long as he was beside the tall, powerful Teaching Assistant, he felt perfectly safe. He didn't bother thinking about anything else.
But as soon as they stepped into the church, the stench of blood hit Liu Xiatian, and he leaned over to the side and began vomiting violently. He kept throwing up until the world seemed to spin around him.
"Th-this..."
Suddenly, he seemed to hear a faint cry for help. "Senior, someone's over there."
Xiong Ba ignored him and sat right down on a church pew, not in the least bothered by the blood, severed limbs, and chunks of flesh scattered across the floor.
Liu Xiatian swallowed with difficulty and couldn't help walking over. When he stepped carefully around the blood and reached the cross, he suddenly cried out in shock. "I-it's... you... Senior, it's the person whose arm you... you tore off!"
A man lay beneath the cross, covered in blood, barely clinging to life as he called for help in a daze. His dull eyes didn't even seem to notice Liu Xiatian. He kept calling out in a trembling voice, "Help... help me..."
Liu Xiatian's heart gave a painful jolt, and he took a step back. "This is... too awful..."
But in the next instant, his cheek suddenly felt cold, as if some liquid had dripped onto it. A foul stench made him want to retch.
He instinctively reached up to wipe it away...
"Ah!!"
A black shape dropped from the ceiling and pounced on Liu Xiatian, pinning him to the floor.
Before Liu Xiatian could react, a huge, tooth-filled maw snapped shut around his head.
Crack!
With a sharp snap, Liu Xiatian's head was bitten to pieces. Red and white matter sprayed everywhere, like a crushed orange...
Needless to say, it was a hideous, blood-soaked Licker.
Lickers, also known as Crawlers, were the second evolutionary stage of T-Virus-mutated creatures. They had no skin, leaving their flesh exposed, and their brains were exposed as well. They were stronger and faster, moving through the darkness like ghosts. Though they had no eyes, they had evolved heat-sensing organs far more powerful than eyesight. In the dark, they were every living creature's nightmare!
Liu Xiatian was dead before he could even react. The Xiao Zhang pinned beneath the cross also had his brain smashed by a Licker's claw, ending his life for good.
Then the Licker abruptly turned around and faced Xiong Ba with its blood-soaked brain and gaping maw.
But it didn't rush forward to claw at him. On the contrary, it seemed extremely wary of Xiong Ba, prowling nearby or snarling at him.
As for Xiong Ba, he was as relaxed as ever. He seemed not to care at all about the Licker's menacing gaze. He simply crossed one leg over the other, as if waiting for something.
"Raaagh!!"
The Licker roared at Xiong Ba. At last, it couldn't hold back any longer. It dug in with all four limbs, its blood-red body soaring through the air as it pounced on him!
Only then did Xiong Ba snort. "You're asking for it!"
He stood up, bent his knees, and sprang. His nearly two-meter-tall frame shot into the air like a wolf leaping at its prey!
The instant he left the ground, every muscle in Xiong Ba's body swelled until his clothes looked ready to burst. At the same time, an icy, bloodthirsty aura rolled off him. Pale red smoke burned across his body like flames. Faintly, it took the shape of a wolfskin cloak draped over him!
Man and beast met in midair.
Roar!
Hah!
With a low shout, Xiong Ba thrust out his right leg in midair. His thick leg became an iron whip, lashing out in a streak of black with a series of sonic booms.
Smack!!
The Licker's entire head exploded under Xiong Ba's kick.
One move, one kill!
"Notification: You dealt headshot damage to a Licker. Instant kill." "Notification: You killed a Licker. Reward: 50 Study Points." "Notification: The effect of the title "Teaching Assistant" for second-year student Xiong Ba has activated. Rewards reduced by 50%. Actual reward: 25 Study Points."
"The Headmaster sure is stingy." Xiong Ba curled his lip. The pale red smoke faded, his bulging muscles relaxed, and he sat back down, looking bored.
"You're late."
Xiong Ba, who had been dozing with his eyes closed, suddenly spoke without explanation.
His calm voice echoed through the church hall, then vanished without a trace.
Silence returned to the church.
"If you don't show yourself, I'll drag you out and beat you senseless, Otaku! Your Black Mist Stealth might fool other people, but it can't fool my nose." Xiong Ba suddenly said, sounding impatient.