Marvel's Death Merchant

After roaring several times, the zombie, which already had a vertical spike on its back, suddenly grew two more hard and slender spikes from its shoulders. Its body also underwent obvious changes. The muscles of its skin bulged out more and became very hard, as if forming a tough skin layer on its body surface. The pupils of its tennis ball-shaped eyes became increasingly blood red!

Chris was taken aback, realizing that the bloodshot eyes were fixed squarely on himself. He had performed exceptionally well in the many dangers he had faced—the parasites, the Tokyo nuclear bombing, and the various Hydra attacks that followed—and he wouldn't give up this time either.

Chris remained calm under pressure. Although the abilities of this new type of zombie were still unclear, his years of combat experience kept him extremely composed!

He deftly swung his right hand behind his back and gripped the automatic rifle left by Hanks. At the same time, he took two quick steps back and, with an extremely efficient half-squatting posture, the butt of the rifle against his shoulder, and the sights of the gun were already aimed at the head of the giant zombie, or more precisely, at the zombie's eyeballs!

At this moment, Chris was only five wards away from the westernmost end of the third-floor corridor. Chris quickly glanced back and found that there was another staircase there. He didn't know where it led, but Chris was overjoyed as if he had found a lifeline!

His current position was extremely disadvantageous in his eyes. Three enormous zombies were blocking the elevator entrance, right in the middle of the east and west corridors. Normally, all patients used this central exit to go up and down, while the surgical elevator he and Hanks had used was located at the far east end of the corridor. It was as if, if there was no exit on the west side of the corridor, he would be completely trapped there by the three zombies. The only way to escape was actually quite simple: just go into any ward and jump out the window—a quick and easy way to die!

However, there is always a way out. If the stairs at the back can be used, his chances of escaping will be much greater. He can quickly escape to other floors and sneak out of the building to meet up with Leon and the others if the zombies can't find him. Moreover, in his judgment, such a thick and tall zombie is definitely not very agile and may not even be able to catch him.

Chris decided to strike first against the giant zombie that was eyeing him menacingly. He pulled the trigger with his index finger, and a bullet whistled out, hitting the zombie squarely in the eye. The zombie's eyeball was instantly shattered by the bullet's immense kinetic energy! The zombie clutched its left eye and screamed madly. A moment later, it swung its giant arm, clearing away obstacles in the corridor as it charged toward Chris!

The other two also heard the gunshot, turned their heads and looked around. They were immediately intrigued to find a fresh piece of flesh hidden there. They put down the blood-soaked corpse of their kind that had been eaten away and was now just a pile of broken bones, and rushed toward Chris's body.

Chris wasn't going to be foolish enough to wait for those three berserk zombies to punch him to death and then devour him. He fired another burst of bullets. Unexpectedly, the zombies were momentarily unable to move forward when attacked and were stuck in place. Chris took advantage of this brief opening and quickly ran towards the stairwell.

Upon reaching the alternative stairwell, Chris found it merely secured with a rusty padlock, easily pried open. Chris fired a shot at the padlock, which snapped in two and fell to the ground. This reminded Chris of scenes in movies where police break down doors to rescue people, and he thought to himself that his actions must be incredibly impressive!

However, no matter how imposing he was, escaping was the priority! Chris kicked the door open and started running up the stairs. In no time, he had run up at least thirty steps. Behind him, he could hear the heavy footsteps of the three berserk zombies chasing after him. The one whose eye had been blown out was even more enraged, roaring so loudly that dust fell from the walls of the stairs!

After running up fifty steps, Chris realized a very serious problem: why couldn't he see any staircases leading out of the building on each floor? Looking up, he saw that there were about two more floors to go, but there was no exit in any direction. Chris thought that he might have run in the wrong direction and that he couldn't run down from the beginning. Fortunately, his worries were unnecessary. When he reached the top floor of the spare staircase, he found that he had reached the eighth floor of the building, and there was a staircase not far in front of him.

Chris quickened his pace. He didn't know why, but after running for so long and climbing stairs, he felt no fatigue at all. In fact, the more he ran, the easier it became. Apart from feeling his legs moving rapidly, he didn't feel anything else. If he were a Newtype like Wesker or Marcus, the situation would be different. Chris thought for a moment and then quickly left.

Chapter 519 An Unexpected Meaning

Chris began to think that not getting tired was definitely a good thing when he was running for his life, but for a normal person, not feeling tired meant that there was definitely something wrong with his body. Besides, not feeling tired now did not mean that he was not consuming his energy. If he died of exhaustion while running, it would be too unfair!

Chris subconsciously slowed his pace slightly, and at the same time, he looked back down, only to find to his surprise that the three zombies were actually quite fast. In just two more floors, they would have caught up with him completely. He could clearly feel the ground shaking under his feet!

Chris ignored everything else and rushed towards the stairwell. He quickly reached the top of the stairs and pulled on the door, finding it unlocked like the one on the third floor. His joy was short-lived; his face immediately darkened. The door was blocked by a pile of goods, seemingly by some idiot. Pushing boxes and crates aside was one thing, but no matter how hard Chris tried, the goods wouldn't budge. It seemed some metal conduit had sealed the other side completely.

"******!" Chris was utterly speechless. He had finally managed to escape, but now he was probably going to get slapped to death by zombies again. "This is truly a stroke of luck!" Chris said sarcastically, picking up his automatic rifle again and checking the number of bullets left in the magazine. He found that he only had about twenty rounds left, and his pistol was also almost empty!

Chris decided to fight one last time with his remaining ammunition before he was about to be killed. He wanted to use up all the bullets before dying, so he could at least do justice to himself. He reloaded the magazine, pointed the automatic rifle at the fold of the staircase between the two floors, and placed his pistol aside so he could quickly switch weapons if the automatic rifle ran out of ammunition. As a member of the Umbrella Corporation, he was not afraid of death.

The roars of the three berserk zombies grew louder and louder. They seemed to have spotted Chris waiting to die at the bottom of the stairs, and the greed in their eyes grew stronger, as if whoever rushed forward first could devour Chris whole! Just one floor away from Chris, the three zombies began to wield their scythe-like claws, sharp glints of cold light flashing from their fingertips. Wherever they passed, claw marks were left on the walls and stair railings!

Chris swallowed hard, pulled back the bolt, and prepared for one last fight. He knew he couldn't go to Leon's place; all he could do now was hope their situation was better than his own. Even Leon's superpowers might not be able to solve this.

At that critical moment, a sound of something moving suddenly came from behind Chris, on the other side of the pile of goods at the stairwell. It sounded like someone was dragging some metal machinery, scraping against the marble floor with a hissing sound! Chris turned his head and saw that a huge metal rack was piled up with large and small boxes, as well as some broken bed boards, IV drip supports and the like, which completely blocked the stairwell!

After a box on the metal shelf was moved, a familiar face appeared. Seeing Chris's pitiful look of waiting to die, the man immediately said, "Buddy, do you really want to die? Hurry up and help me!" The speaker was none other than Hanks, who had been missing earlier.

Chris understood and immediately stood up. Without saying a word, the two of them worked together to move the metal frame. It was indeed quite heavy. They moved one side of the metal frame to create a gap of nearly forty centimeters. At this moment, the three zombies had reached the fold of the stairs and were only two or three steps away from biting Chris!

Chris broke out in a cold sweat. Before Hanks could speak, he squeezed through the gap, even tearing a piece of his clothes in the process. He then frantically tried to pull the metal frame back. The three zombies, seeing their prey about to escape, were also desperate. Before they even reached him, a giant arm swung down with tremendous force.

With a loud crash, the two were thrown back by the brute force of the berserk zombie, and the metal frame was torn open even wider. Ignoring the pain, Chris got up, grabbed his automatic rifle, and began to fire wildly at the berserk zombie. The zombie kept retreating after being hit by the bullets. At the same time, Hanks used all the strength he had never used before to push the metal frame hard. With the perfect cooperation between the two, the metal frame finally blocked the stairwell again!

The two collapsed amidst a pile of junk, ignoring the frantic pounding of three zombies on the other side of the metal frame behind them. They were panting heavily, sweat pouring down their foreheads. Although they were exhausted, they had managed to escape unscathed!

Chris patted Hanks on the shoulder, looking like he'd just escaped death, and said with a weak laugh, "I have to thank you this time! Otherwise, I would have really been eaten alive! Huff... huff..."

Hanks managed a weak smile, but Chris quickly noticed that his face looked rather unpleasant, not only ashen and bluish-gray, but also with traces of blood at the corners of his mouth. His chest was heaving violently, and even his lips were dry and chapped.

"Hanks, what happened to you?! Did these zombies capture you?" Chris hurriedly asked, supporting him.

Hanks shook his head and replied weakly, "No, it's just... I was bitten by some other things!"

Chris then noticed that Hanks' left arm was covered in black bruises. Remembering how Hanks had been bleeding profusely from his arm while pulling on the metal frame, Chris felt a pang of sorrow, and his eyes welled up with tears. However, as a mercenary, he restrained himself and said to Hanks in a slightly trembling voice, "How could this happen? Why didn't you say so sooner? I could have handled them all by myself!" Although Hanks was a member of Hydra, the fact that he had sacrificed so much to survive for him was something that moved Chris deeply.

Hanks waved his hand and replied, "It's nothing! Just a minor injury, I can handle it... But you should hurry up and leave. This metal frame won't last much longer. Head south from that corner ahead, about thirty meters away is the skybridge corridor. From there, you can get to the First Aid Building. That's... safer!"

"No! I can't leave you! There must be a way to save you!..." Before Chris could say anything more, Hanks had already pointed a pistol at Chris's head.

"It's no use. Once you're bitten by a zombie, there's no saving you. I'll turn into a zombie too! You'd better leave now, or you won't have a chance to escape later. I'll hold them off for you, hurry up! Otherwise, don't blame me for shooting you without hesitation!"

"But……"

"Bang!" Chris was about to say something more, but was stopped by a gunshot.

"Say one more word, and next time I'll be pointing at your head!" Hanks' eyes seemed to say: I mean it this time. Chris was moved beyond words regarding his sacrifice.

Chapter 520 The Enhanced Tyrant

Chris stood up helplessly. Hanks was right; he would become a zombie sooner or later. Chris glanced at the deformed metal frame behind him, turned around, and said sadly in a hoarse voice to the resolute Hanks, "Remember this! This is what I owe you!" Then he ran eastward without looking back.

After Chris ran out of Hanks' sight, he heard a muffled gunshot behind him. He slowly stopped, and then a tear fell onto the ground where he stood...

The battle between Umbrella Corporation and Hydra has never ended, but this situation has not occurred: Hydra actually sacrificed itself to allow Umbrella's people to live.

The secret base of the Hydra organization, the Red Skull biological weapons testing site.

In a white laboratory, a huge glass petri dish, two meters tall, was filled with blue culture reagents, resembling diluted ocean water. Dense, small bubbles were constantly rising from the bottom of the dish, presumably from three plastic tubes supplying fresh oxygen. Various electrical devices connected to the dish were flashing indicator lights of different colors and emitting beeping sounds.

A large man with tubes inserted into his body and brainwave testing chips attached to his head was quietly fixed in the medicine. Because his whole body was immersed in the medicine, his skin was dark gray. Except for the barbs that grew on his arms, the man's appearance was not fundamentally different from that of an ordinary person.

In a secret biochemical laboratory in New York City, many Hydra agents dressed in heavy white biochemical suits are busy working in front of this huge petri dish. Some are staring intently at the huge display screen while checking various data on the data, while others are observing the various physiological signs of the tyrant inside the petri dish and constantly making notes with pens.

Not far from the petri dish, Marcus gazed silently at the Tyrant within, seemingly preoccupied with other matters. He appeared somewhat indifferent to the task of the latest Tyrant test subject, but since he was there, he naturally wouldn't miss the chance to witness the final result of this soon-to-be-completed experiment.

This man was James Marcus of Hydra, and the Red Skull symbol was clearly imprinted on his right shoulder.

Since the founding of Hydra, he has been invincible, except for his encounter with Captain America, everything has gone very well! Moreover, this is not only because he is a near-perfect fusion, but more importantly, he has an absolutely extraordinary mind and strategy, and does not have as many personal thoughts as other organizations.

That is, after a long period of silence, the legendary chairman of Umbrella is about to reappear. Umbrella's influence in the world is still considerable; however, the Umbrella Corporation's influence is already enormous and has not diminished in the slightest. Wesker has never stopped his efforts, and Hydra also wants to use this biological crisis to rise to power.

With Umbrella's rival company, Well Biopharmaceuticals, also making great success in its research on the T-virus, and having developed a technology to improve the T-virus, while other places had not yet overcome this challenge, Hydra decided to launch its own battle after January.

The medicine in the petri dish is actually a high concentration of modified T/G viruses. The mutability of this virus is more than a hundred times greater than the forced mutation ability of the progenitor virus, and its stability also exceeds that of the previously lost modified T/G1 virus. As long as a suitable human body is found, a new generation of super-powerful mutants can be produced through fusion experiments.

The original T-virus simply caused people to lose their basic human consciousness. However, once the modified T-virus perfectly fused with suitable human cells, it would cause humans to evolve into a superhero-like state, thus creating a new generation of humans who would achieve complete immunity to the T-virus, becoming the new humans.

The strongest tyrant will be enhanced to its strongest state if it is infected with a virus. This type of tyrant looks no different from an ordinary person, but has powerful physical strength and the ability to transform. The only difference is that its attack power is even more terrifying.

Time ticked by, and the moment everyone had been waiting for finally arrived. Even Marcus, who hadn't been particularly interested at first, was starting to feel a sense of anticipation. He now wanted to see what special abilities this soon-to-be-completed tyrant possessed. Marcus put his hands behind his back, his colorless pupils reflecting the enormous culture dish that was about to be opened.

The new enhancer injection procedure entered its final ten-second countdown. Once the injection was complete, all the laboratory doors would be completely sealed to prevent injuries caused by the instability of the test subjects. However, Marcus, who was always feared by the experimenters, suggested that he stay inside the laboratory and that the doors could be closed after everyone else had left.

Despite some reservations, the group complied, and all the Hydra personnel observed the impending events through a large, transparent tempered glass window outside the laboratory.

"10, 9, 8, ... 4, 3, 2, 1! Enhancer injection initiated! The new bioweapon will awaken 5 seconds after injection!" The computer's progress report came through the loudspeaker on the laboratory roof. A puff of white smoke billowed from the instruments on either side of the petri dish, and two robotic arms emerged from the inner walls, each attached with a yellow syringe. After a brief movement to determine the injection point, the arms plunged into the Tyrant's body, and the enhancer was slowly injected through the needles.

Marcus remained calm and composed, intently watching the modified Tyrant in the petri dish undergo enhancement. The petri dish slowly separated from the center to reveal the experimental subject immersed in a special solution. With a casual gesture, Marcus pointed horizontally forward with the long sleeve of his right arm, and four or five long tentacles shot out from the cuff, enveloping the Tyrant experimental subject and lifting it into the air to observe the special Tyrant's power.

Many Hydra members also remained expressionless, indicating they had undergone significant brainwashing.

Slowly, the tyrant test subject opened its lifeless eyes, and its pupils were indeed black. The enhanced tyrant seemed to suddenly fly into a rage, shook its head and roared, and its entire body rapidly expanded. Ignoring the powerful squeezing sensation of the tentacles, it forcefully broke several of Marcus's tentacles into pieces. This was the first time it had encountered such a situation since being enhanced with the G-virus.

Chapter 521 Meeting

"Drink!" Marcus roared, and the enhanced tyrant's body, which had just been airborne when it charged forward, suddenly paused for a moment. Marcus's tentacles forcefully slammed it from bottom to top into the ceiling of the laboratory. The force was so great that spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the solid ceiling!

The enhanced tyrant seemed completely unharmed and was still struggling when Marcus sneered and completely controlled it with the mutated part of its body.

The enhanced Tyrant crashed to the ground with a thud and remained motionless! Marcus retracted the mutated arm, took another look, and shook his head helplessly, muttering, "It seems I failed. Otherwise, it wouldn't have suddenly stopped when I attacked..." Then, he chuckled and said, "Heh... If it hadn't failed, it would have been really difficult to deal with. It was Hydra's hope."

The heavy, sealed door of the Hydra laboratory opened again. Marcus came out, gave a few brief instructions, and left without looking back, as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, in the suspended corridor between the No. 1 and No. 2 emergency buildings of Hospital 514, Chris was struggling to move forward step by step, holding onto the aluminum alloy handrails with both hands. For some reason, a few minutes ago, his body suddenly reacted violently, and he was in excruciating pain all over his body! Clearly, his body had suffered a serious blow.

Chris's body ached intermittently, almost driving him to depression! This inevitably reminded him of the ease he felt when he escaped earlier. As expected, the immense depletion of his physical strength, which he hadn't noticed before, caused discomfort after his legs regained feeling.

A wave of soreness surged through his spine, assaulting his brain. Even his back felt numb and tingling, like being pricked by countless needles. It was as if all the blood vessels from his legs to his upper body had been completely blocked, but were still under the control of his brain. Now, all the blood vessels were open again, and the stagnant blood gushed out instantly. This feeling was truly unbearable!

Although the transparent glass suspended corridor was only about fifty meters long, it took Chris nearly five minutes to walk through it, and he was still not halfway there. If there hadn't been no zombies in this corridor, or if there hadn't been many zombies before, but for some reason they had all turned into puddles of foul-smelling liquid, Chris probably would have died here.

A few minutes later, the strange sensation in his body began to subside, and Chris gradually returned to the excellent state he had been in when he first woke up. He took a deep breath and, with his palms facing up, slowly lifted his hands from his abdomen to his chest, then slowly pressed them back down to his abdomen. This was a fighting move that Chris often did during training.

He was now out of automatic rifle ammunition, with only a few pistol bullets left. It was perfectly normal for him to use such skills frequently before escaping, and he took this opportunity to warm up. Chris simply picked up a military dagger and used it as his main weapon. In his opinion, it was better to use a pistol only in extremely dangerous situations.

The military knife does feel great. Although there are some other very good knives, Chris's inherent courage makes him prefer this one, which is not only good for self-defense but also has commemorative value.

The stench of blood and pus in the suspended corridor was still overwhelming. Perhaps due to prolonged exposure, Chris's sense of smell had gradually adapted to the odor. The once clean tiled floor was now a filthy mess due to the rotten flesh and blood of the zombies, and even the glass on both sides was covered with black streaks of blood. Chris's military boots were already soaked with black blood, so he didn't care about walking through the still-wet pus and blood. Instead, he strode forward, because he needed to get to the central control room of Building One as soon as possible to meet up with Leon and the others and discuss the next steps in their escape plan from the hospital.

The communication headset on his left ear, which had been completely silent since he left the ward, suddenly started ringing again. It was a very unclear, beeping sound, as if the other party was changing the channel. Chris disliked this sound; every time he heard it, he felt like he was rubbing his head against the wall out of boredom. His ears couldn't take it!

Without a doubt, it was Leon. He was still alive despite his superpowers. Chris was about to unleash a torrent of abuse at Leon into the microphone, demanding to know why he hadn't tuned the channel before turning on the communication when he heard Leon's half-dead voice coming through:

"Hey buddy, I'm not trying to be mean, but we've worked together for so long, how could you forget the most fundamental principle of our company? You're being wary of others! I warned you to be careful of that stranger, and now look what happened, he shot you dead! What am I supposed to do, your good brother? Sigh! Oh well, once I get out of here, I'll definitely get the company to carve the best tombstone for you, as a token of our long-standing friendship."

Chris replied readily. The person on the other end of the headset seemed surprised by the response, pausing for a moment before exclaiming excitedly, "Dude, wow... hahaha... you're still alive! I thought you were dead!"

"Hey, don't worry, buddy." Chris pulled his headset to the side; he couldn't stand the high volume, but he still answered into the microphone. Although his words weren't very pleasant, Chris's face showed relief. As long as everyone was alright, that was better than anything else.

"Hey, wait... weren't you shot dead by that guy? How are you still alive?"

"Killed?" Chris retorted. "Who do you think killed me?"

"It's that guy who was with you. We saw it on the security camera. He shot you in the back after you left, and then you fell to the ground in another security camera. If it wasn't you, then who else could it be?" Leon was saying some strange things on the other end, which surprised Chris.

That's right! He did hear a gunshot after he left, but by then he was already out of Hanks' sight. Even if he had shot at him, he wouldn't have been able to hit him. Besides, Hanks had been trying his best to save him before he died. If Hanks really wanted him to die, he certainly wouldn't have risked his life to save him!

"Didn't he kill himself with that shot?" Chris thought to himself, still believing that the sharp gunshot was Hanks's way of ending his life.

Chapter 522 New Problems

Chris stopped thinking about it and focused on getting to the central control room as quickly as possible. Perhaps the surveillance footage there could reveal the Hydra agent's whereabouts. Chris then asked Leon, "Since you can see what's happening behind me, can you see my location now?"

Where are you right now?

"It's right in the suspended corridor between the two buildings. If possible, let me know which passage you want to take, and try to avoid those special zombies. With my current abilities, I'm afraid I wouldn't dare to fight them hand-to-hand." Chris stared at a camera in the upper right corner of the corridor, from which Leon should be able to see him.

“Okay, please wait a moment…” After a silence of about ten seconds, Leon continued, “Okay! I see you, and I didn’t expect you to be so intact! Haha… Huh? What happened to your eyes? They’re all red like you haven’t slept?”

Chris rubbed his eyes, smiled at the camera flashing red, and said, "It's not that I wasn't awake, I just slept too soundly! Okay, hurry up and tell me how to get there, but there's one thing: if I find out you're leading me into a zombie apocalypse, I'll be fine if you don't get killed, but if you do, I'll definitely not let you off the hook. Haha."

Leon chuckled into the headset and said, "No problem. I'll guide you to a place you can handle as much as possible. Otherwise, if the strength difference is too great, there's no point in watching, haha... We're an elite unit in Umbrella Corporation, and we've been on many missions. This time will definitely be no exception."

Chris didn't answer and carefully moved towards the corridor door of Building One. After leaving the area of ​​the previous surveillance camera, Leon saw him again on another camera. There was nothing in front of him except for a few mobile hospital beds lying on the ground, some broken reagent bottles, and some scattered syringes and small medicine bottles. There were no zombies at all, which made Leon somewhat disappointed.

During this brief period of safety, one guided the way while the other walked slowly, occasionally chatting about various topics:

"By the way, Weaver was with you, right? How is he? He should be alright, right?"

"He's much better now. If I hadn't gone through all that trouble to find his blood plasma, he probably would have died! Damn it! I saved him and he didn't even say thank you. Seriously! He's a boss! He won't even thank me when he's dead... Now he's on the other side of the central control room. He's in good health and is trying to contact Umbrella Corporation headquarters to send a helicopter. Hey, watch out, there's a wheelchair five meters ahead of you. Don't trip over it. It's very dangerous here."