On the battlefield, the situation changed in the blink of an eye.
At the very moment Lin Xuan faced a difficult choice in the underground base, Karen Parker, trapped in the eerie village, had already fallen into a truly desperate situation.
The fanatics covered in Bloody Cross symbols far exceeded the expectations of the Marine Corps. Not only were they fearless and numerous, but some even retained the instinct to use firearms!
"Thud!"
A pistol shot fired from a dark corner accurately hit the thigh of a soldier named Jack as he was reloading. He let out a scream, his body went limp, and he fell to one knee.
This small breach was fatal against the tide-like onslaught.
"Roar——!"
Dozens of fanatics, like sharks smelling blood, instantly seized this opportunity. Letting out frenzied roars, they climbed over their comrades' corpses and lunged at the injured Jack.
"Damn it!" The captain's eyes widened in fury. He swung his gun around to provide support, but it was already too late.
Jack only had time for a short, sharp scream before he was engulfed by the crazed human tide. Sharp blades and bone spikes wildly pierced his body, tearing him to shreds in an instant.
The defensive line had been breached.
The remaining three soldiers, back-to-back, made their last stand. But against thousands of enemies, their resistance seemed utterly futile. After expending their final magazines, they were swarmed and overwhelmed by the fanatics, leaving behind only a few muffled sounds as their throats were slit.
All four Marines protecting Dr. Parker had fallen.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
After dealing with the guards, all the fanatics turned their greedy and lecherous gazes toward the lone Military Off-Road Vehicle. They saw the golden-haired woman curled up inside, trembling with fear.
In their virus-twisted minds, a clear and primal desire arose—seize her, tear her clothes, possess her, ravage her!
They began frantically pounding and slamming against the windows and doors. The sturdy bulletproof glass was soon covered in cracks. Inside the vehicle, Karen Parker covered her ears, shrinking into a corner, watching helplessly as those distorted, hideous faces drew closer and closer.
A few minutes later, with a loud "Crash!", the door was ripped open by several particularly strong fanatics working together.
"No——!!"
Dr. Parker let out a heart-wrenching scream. Several dirty, rough hands reached in, roughly grabbing her hair and arms, dragging her out of the car.
She was thrown onto the ground, slick with blood and littered with corpses. The cold ground and pungent smell of blood made her retch. The surrounding fanatics let out triumphant, beast-like laughter, forming a circle as if admiring a trophy about to be divided.
Just as a hand was about to tear open the collar of her shirt—
An indescribable, soul-deep terror, like an invisible tidal wave, swept down from above, engulfing everything!
This pressure was filled with the pure, apex predator aura of the food chain.
All the laughing fanatics froze instantly. The lechery and madness on their faces vanished, replaced by a primal fear rooted deep in their genes. They stood rigidly in place like frightened rabbits, even their breath halting.
Karen Parker also felt this pressure. She stopped struggling and instinctively looked up, following the terrified gazes of all the fanatics.
With just one glance, her pupils dilated to their absolute limit.
On the edge of the roof of an eight-story Residential Building beside them, a man stood.
He wore a black leather jacket over a gray hoodie, the hood covering half his face, revealing only a firm jaw and pale lips. His arms were crossed over his chest as he stood there quietly, like a silent statue, coldly overlooking the chaotic, bloody slaughterhouse below.
He was just one person, yet he seemed like the master of the entire world.
It was him!
How could it be him?!
"Alex..."
Karen Parker's lips moved unconsciously, uttering that name both familiar and strange. Her gaze grew distant, filled with shock, disbelief, and a trace of something even she hadn't noticed... hope.
The man on the rooftop—Alex Mercer—seemed to hear her call. He looked down. From beneath the shadow of his hood, a pair of emotionless blue eyes fell upon her.
The next second, with a "Whoosh!"
A Tendril of pure black Biomass shot from his arm like lightning, instantly crossing dozens of meters to precisely wrap around Karen Parker's waist.
Before Parker could react, a tremendous force pulled her. Her body became airborne uncontrollably, swiftly yanked toward the rooftop.
She landed in a cold but solid embrace.
Dr. Parker's lips trembled slightly. She looked at the face before her, both familiar and strange, those tightly pressed lips... everything was exactly as she remembered. She was about to say something, to confirm if this was reality or a hallucination.
But Mercer gave her no chance to speak.
He leaped directly from the eight-story rooftop!
"Boom——!!!"
A heavy thud echoed as Mercer landed. The hard asphalt road beneath him instantly cracked and collapsed, centered on him! A visible dark red shockwave violently expanded outward!
The nearest hundred or so fanatics didn't even have time to scream before being pulverized by this destructive force. Those on the edges were sent flying like ragdolls, dead on impact!
This sudden thunderous strike finally jolted the remaining thousands of fanatics awake from the bloodline-induced pressure. Fury at the slaughter overpowered their fear. They roared again, brandishing their weapons, charging from all directions toward the sole enemy in the area.
Mercer watched the oncoming tide expressionlessly, not a ripple in his eyes, as if watching moths flying toward a flame.
He slowly raised his right foot, then stomped it down heavily.
"Hum——!"
The earth groaned in pain.
The next moment, centered on him, countless massive, sharp, pitch-black spikes, like the fangs of a giant beast, erupted violently from the ground! They tore through the entire street, flipped cars, and impaled houses! The ground of the entire village seemed to transform in an instant into a living thing covered in fangs!
The Residential Building Parker had just been rescued from, although not impaled by spikes, was affected by the immense force. It groaned under the strain, began to tilt slowly, and looked ready to collapse.
As for the charging fanatics, their fate was already sealed.
Whether strong or weak, whether wielding machetes or pistols, it made no difference before this pitch-black forest of death rising from the earth.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Countless bodies were easily impaled, lifted into the air, and torn apart. Blood and gore fell like a torrential rain, dyeing the entire village into a bloody hell as the village itself began to crumble.
With just one attack.
Thousands of crazed Infected who had given the Marine Corps a hard fight were instantly wiped out, leaving no survivors.
The building's tilt grew steeper. Karen Parker's foot slipped, and weakened, she gasped as she fell from the tilting rooftop edge.
However, she did not hit the ground.
A strong, powerful arm caught her steadily in mid-air. Mercer held her, not even glancing at the carnage around them. His legs bent slightly, then exploded with force!
"Boom!"
The ground beneath his feet cracked again into a huge spiderweb-like crater. His body, holding Dr. Parker, shot like a cannonball into the sky, leaping thousands of meters high, easily clearing the collapsing buildings and burning ruins.
In the air, Dr. Parker finally had a moment to catch her breath. She looked at Mercer's face, so close and expressionless, the face she had kissed countless times, her heart a turmoil of emotions.
"Alex..." She reached out a trembling hand, wanting to touch that face, to confirm its warmth.
Yet, just as her fingertips were about to touch his skin, a layer of black, carapace-like Biomass Armor instantly spread upward from Mercer's neck, covering his entire head, forming a ferocious, cold, fully enclosed Helmet.
"Alex Mercer" used this most direct, coldest way to reject "Karen Parker's" touch.