Marvel's Death Merchant

Zhan Lan was using a hemostatic spray to stop the bleeding on her shoulder. She said softly, "It's so good that you survived, thank you... But why is there no injury on your skin? The alien's blood is extremely acidic; even a little bit would have destroyed your bones."

Zheng Zha wiped the corrosive liquid off his body. His mind was still blank; everything that had just happened felt like a nightmare. He had fought purely on instinct, especially when the alien's tail pierced his thigh. He felt as if something inside him had been released.

Zheng Zha was also very grateful to Tang Xing beside him, after all, it was Tang Xing who had just killed the alien.

"Maybe it's because my cells are very active and my immunity is strong. Besides, it's not like I'm completely unharmed; at least my skin was burned black by the acid..." Zheng Zha said with a wry smile.

Just as he was about to take out the hemostatic spray from his storage ring, he suddenly began to convulse violently. A numbing, painful sensation started from his internal organs, as if countless tiny insects were crawling inside them, and then the pain seeped deeper into his bones. It seemed to reach his skin as his blood flowed, and then his entire body was filled with this pain, worse than death. Gradually, his vision blurred, and he felt as if he were about to die.

When Tang Xing saw Zheng Zha like this, he knew that the aftereffects of his gene lock had appeared, and there were still too many imperfections compared to the technology.

Zheng Zha recalled Chu Xuan's discussion about the gene lock, wondering if he had inadvertently unlocked it. He knew he was struggling on the brink of death; the spasms and convulsions of his internal organs were becoming increasingly violent, blood gushing from his mouth and nose, and then his lungs began to spasm. He could barely breathe, so he could only open his mouth wide and struggle desperately.

When it was over, Zheng Zha felt weak and powerless all over. However, compared to the pain that was even worse than death before, he felt as if he were in heaven. He smiled bitterly and said, "Thank you so much. I'm so glad you kept... kept helping me breathe. Otherwise, I would have suffocated long ago. If I had suffocated and passed out in that situation... I think I would probably be a corpse by now."

Seeing that Zheng Zha didn't answer, Zhan Lan didn't ask any more questions. She just suddenly said, "You killed an alien. Did you get any reward? You didn't get any reward at all, did you?"

Zheng Zha had recovered much of his strength by now. Upon hearing this, he quickly looked up at his watch and saw that it indeed showed "Number of aliens killed" followed by "Reward Points: 500". Perhaps he had heard the reward notification during his previous battle, but at that time, his mind was only focused on killing, so he hadn't heard it at all.

Suppressing his joy, Zheng Zha said, "I was rewarded with 500 reward points! That's fantastic! That's almost the reward points for surviving the second half of a horror movie."

Tang Xing also cares a lot about the rewards, since he needs to exchange for the technology data, which is also important for the plan.

Suddenly, the communicator hanging on the wall rang, startling the two of them so much that they almost collapsed to the ground. Zheng Zha reacted the fastest, rushing to the communicator and pressing the button that was flashing green.

Chu Xuan's voice came through the communicator. He said, "We found an alien corpse in the corridor outside room 22. Did you kill it? Have you found the armory yet?"

Zheng Zha sighed and said, "We'll discuss the details when we meet. Where are you located? And how did you know we were here?"

Chu Xuan's voice said, "Each important room has a number. We are currently in the control room of ship number 27. There are monitoring systems for all the passageways here. If you don't enter this room, we won't be able to contact you. By the way, your location should be the kitchen, right? Its name is displayed in the control room. If possible, bring enough food and fresh water to keep you moving quickly. Then, follow the room numbers and head towards ship number 27."

"What I'm about to say concerns your life or death. I'll keep it short: there are three aliens following you, about ten room numbers away. At their speed, they should be able to catch up with you in about two and a half minutes. I don't know why, but they've been following you the whole time!"

Upon hearing Chu Xuan's voice, Tang Xing knew that some clever person was using others again, but he wouldn't say anything. (To be continued...)

Chapter 167 Battle in the Virtual World

While Tang Xing was fighting in the Infinite Terror dimension, Leon was also continuing his battle in the virtual world. The virtual world of the Road to Survival was indeed not an easy place to pass through.

"Who?!" Leon shouted instinctively. The movement, and the speed, made him certain that it couldn't have been done by a zombie, but if it wasn't a zombie, Leon couldn't imagine who would be so bored as to not take a proper path and instead pounce.

Leon walked slowly towards the door, each step almost as silent as a cat, afraid to make a sound, lest he disturb something. Then, Leon gripped his AWM and drew closer to the door. The door had been completely removed from its panel, the middle dented, and the glass was shattered. When he arrived, the door was perfectly fine.

Leon leaned against the wall and checked the door with his flashlight. There were bloodstains in the dented part of the door; it seemed the thing had crashed into it and was probably injured as well. But to smash the door like that with its head and only suffer minor flesh wounds—what kind of power was that…?

A few large beads of sweat appeared on Leon's forehead without his noticing. He instinctively took a few steps back, went around the door, and reached the other end of the corridor. The surroundings became even darker. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but the tranquil atmosphere only made him more agitated. At the same time, the thought of that terrifying creature sent another chill down his spine.

"Quick...quick...ammunition room, where are you?" Leon murmured to himself, having more or less guessed that this was the mutated virus infected person the doctor had told him about.

"Ah—!" Another long howl came from behind Leon, sending a chill down his spine. His military training had heightened his reflexes, and he immediately turned around, his AWP aimed at the door.

Not here.

It seemed they hadn't come out. Leon sighed inwardly, growing even more anxious. "Oh! God help me... hurry, the ammunition room!" Leon muttered to himself. His pace quickened instantly; he wanted nothing more than to leave this awful place immediately!

"Thank God!" Leon rubbed his forehead. The ammunition room—finally found it. He reached for the doorknob. But then… Leon caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. Yes, it was that mutated infected.

Leon stopped. He looked at it; it crouched there, watching him like a puppy. But Leon didn't think it was as easy to deal with as a puppy. He slowly raised his gun and aimed at it. It shook its head, as if curious about what Leon was doing. Leon was certain: A perfect opportunity!

"Bang!—" The bullet's trajectory was a straight line, which I long ago thought was the straightest line in the world. But alas, it was just a straight line. The hunter leaped away with his terrifying jumping ability. It hissed and sprang from the wall like Spider-Man, instantly knocking Leon to the ground.

Leon was caught off guard and pounced on. The creature, wearing a hood, sat on his stomach, its hands bearing short, powerful claws with tremendous strength, reaching for Leon's chest. Leon accurately grabbed its two wrists, and it desperately tried to press down on Leon, who could only grit his teeth and resist. Because it was too dark, I couldn't see its features clearly; its hands were very swollen, and its body temperature was extremely low.

Leon was no match for the mutated infected; if things continued this way, Leon would undoubtedly die. Leon mustered all his strength and pushed its hand away. Caught off guard, it leaned back, and Leon, with a full-force punch, landed on its right cheek. The creature was clearly stunned for a moment. Taking advantage of the momentum, Leon pulled its collar tighter and flipped it backward, throwing it to the ground.

Just as Leon was about to get up, the thing let out another strange cry. Before Leon could figure out what was happening, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach and realized that the hunter had crashed into his stomach, dragging him backward. Leon slumped against the wall like a dead fish, vomiting a mouthful of foul blood with a "whoosh." His abdomen convulsed, and he saw stars before his eyes.

"Cough cough..." Leon felt as if his heart and lungs were about to burst out of his chest. He angrily lunged forward, only to find nothing. Leon rubbed his stomach and looked around, but the monster was nowhere to be seen.

"Gun...gun!" Leon reached for his waist; his knife and pistol had fallen. He shone his flashlight around and found the P1911 and the broken knife on the ground. Just as Leon reached for them, he heard a sharp shriek, followed by a sharp pain in his back.

Leon was knocked to the ground again. This time, Leon could almost hear his own bones cracking. The pistol was right in front of him; he reached out to grab it, but was just short. At that moment, the thing behind him mercilessly clawed at Leon's back with its sharp claws, sending a searing pain through him.

The pain jolted Leon's nerves, causing his entire body to tense up and he lunged forward.

"The gun!" Leon got it. He grabbed the pistol, and before he could even rejoice, he turned and pressed the gun against the thing's head. The monster hesitated for a moment, then died with a "bang." Blood spurted far, even staining the ceiling.

It splashed all over Leon's face. The infected person then collapsed to the side.

Leon was still in shock. Gasping for breath, his heart pounding, he ignored the pain and sprang to his feet. Leaning against the wall, Leon finally confirmed that the man was dead before he calmed down and slowly slid back to the floor.

After what seemed like an eternity, Lyon finally calmed down. Looking around, he saw that dusk had fallen. He then stopped his racing thoughts and began to examine his wounds.

Leon had a dark patch on his chest, a bruise from an impact, with visible blood. His clothes on his back were torn and bleeding, but he figured the doctor's vaccine had worked, so he wasn't worried about the wound. Leon used his pistol to smash the lock on the ammunition compartment door. Unfortunately, the barrel of his AWM was dented, enough to ruin this good gun.

In the ammunition room, I found a Maglinnan pistol; although it was a pistol, its power was comparable to a shotgun. Then he started looking for a rifle; the police station obviously wouldn't have any good rifles, as could be seen from the table full of P226s.

Then Leon found the SG552 and M16 in the private storage room, but neither of them were the ones he was used to.

But to Leon's delight, he found the gun he wanted in the closet of the police chief's office, and it was the Soviet-made SVD sniper rifle he desired.

In 1963, the former Russian army selected a sniper rifle designed by Dragunov to replace the Mosin-Nagant sniper rifle. After further improvements, it began equipping its troops in 1967. Besides Russia, the armies of Egypt, Yugoslavia, Romania, and other countries also adopted and produced similar sniper rifles. While sniper rifles can be lethal at distances exceeding 1000 meters, this particular rifle was not designed for extremely high precision. Therefore, it was already a very good weapon for Lyon, who was fighting in a virtual world.

"Click..." Leon pushed open the police station door, and blinding light shone in. Leon shielded his eyes with his hand, rubbed them, and walked out. It was already afternoon. The zombies that Leon had previously called out were still lying on the ground, and a few new ones had arrived. He happily sent them away with bullets.

Then, Lyon walked down the sunset, and beyond the sunset was Lyon's hope, the Mercy Hospital.

Two hours later, the sun was mostly hidden by the distant mountains. Leon heard gunshots. During his two hours of careful walking, he hadn't encountered any zombie hordes, and Leon thought he was lucky. But the gunshots now made him wary. The vaccine he was carrying was gone. If it was the army, Leon thought they would be furious. If it wasn't the army, there was no point in Leon going; going alone would just be suicide.

Leon hesitated, realizing he had been careless. The zombies behind him, hearing the gunshots, all rushed over. He was just a casual meal for them.

"Damn it..." Leon cursed inwardly, running towards the source of the gunfire with his gun, using his Desert Eagle to snipe at the zombies trying to surround him. Gradually, the gunfire became clearer, and Leon could see in the distance that there were about four people, so they weren't soldiers.

“Hey… Bill, I think I saw someone…! A survivor!!” It was a high-pitched voice that sounded very familiar to Leon, but he couldn’t quite place it.

"You idiot! There are people all over here, we're just forced to kill!" a gruff voice shouted.

Without a second thought, Leon immediately waved to them. They were currently standing on an overturned truck, holding a commanding position, and the zombies couldn't break through their defenses for the time being. "Hey! I'm here, I'm a survivor!" Leon shouted, using his Desert Eagle to clear away the zombies that were charging towards him.

Lyon recognized the familiar voice—it was Louis, the black white-collar worker. They had met before in a certain place, but he had been infected, so none of them had stayed.

"Hello! Are you alone?!" the woman exclaimed; she looked to be only 18 years old.

“Yes! I’m all alone, I need your help,” Leon shouted back. The Desert Eagle roared and pierced the skulls of two zombies.

"Come over here quickly, or we can't protect you!" The speaker was an elderly man over sixty years old. Leon found it hard to imagine that such an old man could hold an M16 and fire it steadily while smoking a cigarette. This made Leon feel incredibly impressed.

"Okay!" Leon responded and began a guerrilla war with the zombies around him. A Desert Eagle was no match for Leon. Every time he changed magazines, he was in a terrible state. But the old man in the beret was an extremely accurate shot. Every time he shot, he created a gap in the horde of zombies surrounding Leon, allowing him to escape.

The battle lasted three minutes, with Bill and the others barely exchanging a word. Hundreds of corpses lay on the street, a blood-soaked sight under the setting sun. Leon eventually escaped to the truck beneath the four men.

"Hello," Leon said with a smile, knowing that one had to be careful in such a dangerous world.

"Hello, young man, which military region are you from?" Bill asked. "You're quite good."

As a soldier, Leon immediately understood. This old man, Bill, was from the military, and undoubtedly a very senior one, perhaps even dating back to the Vietnam War. Military region? How did he know I was from the military region? "You…are…"

“I’m just a Vietnam War veteran, you don’t need to worry about it,” the old man replied, seemingly not wanting to press Leon for more information. Perhaps he had already realized that Leon no longer suspected him. (To be continued...)

Chapter 168 Battle in the Virtual World (1)

In a brief exchange, Leon already knew their origins. Last time, because they left so quickly, he hadn't yet learned some of their names. The old man was, of course, named Bill, a Vietnam War veteran; nothing else was known. The woman was named Zoe, a first-year student at Soren University. There was also a biker named Francis, who was quite rugged-looking.

“Louis, you come here!” Lyon roared.

"Oh? What's up? You know Louis? This guy's got some connections." Francis laughed and patted Louis on the back, but I didn't bother with him.

"What about the fat guy?" Leon asked Louis coldly.

“He…I wasn’t with him!” he protested.

"What happened?" Leon asked. Louis then briefly explained the situation to Leon. It turned out that Leon had fainted, and Louis and Bomer had been watching over him until he woke up. However, as the time it took for Mercy Hospital to release information became increasingly shorter, Louis grew increasingly dissatisfied with Bomer staying with Leon. After all, Leon had already been unconscious for two days. Bill and the others had left before they could finish. The half-bottle of the antidote was naturally still in Bomer's possession. As for where Bomer was now, Louis naturally had no idea.

“Alright, Louis was just trying to survive, don’t blame him,” Bill said. He probably misunderstood that I was angry because Louis had abandoned Leon and Fatty.

“Of course I know,” Leon replied quietly. His biggest problem now was how to integrate into their group; there was a considerable gap between Leon and them.

Just then, as Lyon was lost in thought, he suddenly heard what sounded like Pavarotti singing from not far away.

“No! It’s a tank!” Bill shouted.

"Tanks? What are those?" Leon asked, puzzled.

"It's a special infected person! Run! Don't stop, that's his voice!" Bill said, already leading them on a run. The other three didn't ask any questions and followed Bill towards a stairwell.

"Hey...can you tell me why we're running? What kind of giant monster is a tank?" Leon asked Zoe, puzzled, while the girl seemed somewhat sad.

"The sound of tanks can attract zombies from the surrounding area. The three people before died when they encountered a tank. As soon as it appears, countless zombies will attack, and we can hardly hold out." As the girl spoke, we had already run up to the second-floor stairwell.

"So, the tanks are basically under the control of the zombies? They can control the zombies to attack us?" Leon said. Bill, a skilled marksman, switched to his pistol and killed a zombie blocking his path with a single shot.

“That’s not how it works.” Zoe shook her head. “It’s not very intelligent. We learned that from the previous battle. As long as it can’t see us, it won’t attack. The zombies are attacking us only because they’ve heard that the appearance of the tanks will drive the infected crazy, so they keep attacking us. And we can’t stray too far from us, otherwise the zombies won’t be able to find us.”

"Oh?" Hearing this, Leon had an idea. "Bill! You guys cover me, I'm going to snipe that tank!" Leon said, opening the window by the corridor and jumping out. Just then, the tank, which had stopped disappearing, started making noise again the instant Leon jumped.

"What are you doing!" Bill yelled at me, perhaps out of anger, as he watched Leon jump out of the corridor window.

“I’ll take care of the tank! Trust me!” Leon shouted. There was a car below the window; he was crouching on it, taking out his sniper rifle. The surrounding zombies immediately howled and pounced on him. Bill and Zoe then began helping Leon clear out the surrounding zombies.

Leon closed his eyes, hearing the continuous gunfire. "Three..." A zombie nearly pounced on him. Zoe, a skilled marksman, blew the zombie's head off.

"Two..." Zombies began running into the corridor, and Louis and Francis raised their guns and stood guard on either side.

"One!" Leon's eyes snapped open. He sensed it—on the rooftop of that supermarket! His sniper scope clearly revealed the creature: a tank with massive arms half its body length. Its eyes were blood-red, seemingly glowing, giving Leon an eerie feeling. Then, he aimed at its head.

"Bang!" The special tungsten steel armor-piercing projectile instantly destroyed the tank.

"Impossible, I've already taken down that infected," Leon shouted. He checked again through the sniper scope; the thing's head was gone, so it was probably another one.

"Leon! There might be more than one tank, there's another one!" Bill's voice came from above. At that moment, a dark mass of corpses appeared in the distance, pouncing towards Leon like wolves.

"Damn it!" he cursed inwardly, preparing to snipe again.

“Leon! There are more and more zombies in the corridor, and it will be difficult for Zoe and me to keep you safe!” Bill continued.

"Give me some time! It'll be over in a minute!" Leon said, glancing ahead again. "Where is it?..." He was secretly anxious, but couldn't spot the tank. The zombies were getting closer and closer, and Leon's forehead began to sweat profusely.

"Bang! Bang!..." Gunshots rang out continuously from upstairs. I suddenly pinpointed the source of the sound: the rooftop! Behind me. He immediately pointed his gun at the rooftop of the office building behind me.

“Leon, did you kill it? I didn’t see you fire a shot!” Bill asked.

“He got away,” Leon replied helplessly, ignoring the horde of zombies rushing towards him. He pushed off the car with his foot, then used the wall for leverage to grab the window where Bill was. With Bill’s help, he returned to the corridor.

The corpses piled up like mountains on both sides, and the horde continued to surge forward. After Leon returned to the corridor, Bill lit something and threw it out the window. Instantly, flames roared up beneath the zombies' feet, turning the area outside the window into a sea of ​​fire. It was a makeshift Molotov cocktail, something Leon had learned to make in the field using bottles, cotton, and alcohol.