Chapter 23

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Zhang Heng committed the map and data regarding terrain that he found on the computer of the military base to memory, before leaving the room.

Instead of heading straight for the Marker right away, he headed first to the armory and data room.

The armory held weapons that would help ensure his survival, while the data room was one of the objectives on that trip. While it was only an optional guest, Zhang Heng hadn’t managed to get his hands on the data of the G-Virus back on his trip to the Resident Evil plane. As such, he was not about to give up on the optional quest on his current mission.

However, like back at the Resident Evil plane, both the data room and the armory were regarded as locations of high value. As such, both locations were constructed on the bottommost floor of the military base where he had found himself.

Zhang Heng pouted for a bit after looking at the number of floors at the base. That military base was built mostly underground, with the bottommost floor 200 stories below ground, and his current location was at the place nearest to the entrance on the surface.

The location that he found himself in at the moment was a security room, which was why there was a security suit there in the first place.

Zhang Heng felt lucky that things worked out that way. A good start would contribute greatly to his eventual success. Having donned the security suit meant that his chances of survival were raised by over 50 percent. His only regret at the moment was not finding any weapons that he could use.

However, that lucky feeling he felt quickly dissipated as soon as he walked out of the room.

A cold, eerie atmosphere shrouded him as soon as he walked out of the security room. There was a corridor right outside of the security room, stretching off into the distance, with doors lining the walls in both directions until the ends of that corridor.

There was a light every four to five meters above his head, but the lighting was dark and gloomy due, most likely, to the voltage being too low. Zhang Heng could only see about 50 meters in either direction.

Zhang Heng was making his way down the eerily quiet metallic corridor. Every step he took echoed through the vast silence around him, which only served to make the place look even more empty and eerie. There were dried brown bloodstains just about everywhere, making the place look like a typical scene from some horror movies.

What made things even more horrifying was how there were bloodstains everywhere, yet there was not a single dead body to be seen. It was as if the place had been cleaned out by a team of people who were there specifically to take the bodies away.

Zhang Heng walked about 500 meters before finding a pair of metallic double doors before him, with hollow glass panes in the doors. He was able to see light from the other side of the door through the glass panes, which was far brighter than the corridor he was in at the moment.

Zhang Heng walked up to the doors on reflex, before seeing that the glass on the doors was frosted. He could see light shining through, but couldn’t make out anything on the other side. He was able to see dark brown stains on the other side of the glass nonetheless, as if someone had thrown a huge amount of dirty water at the doors.

However, what stood out the most was the palm print on the glass. Only the fingers of the print were seen clearly, as the palm itself was dragged away. It was as if someone had plastered their stained hand onto the glass, before dragging their hand down slowly.

He no doubt knew what that dirty print meant. He took a deep breath before taking two more steps toward the door, then slowly pushed one side of the doors open.

The furnishings and decorations beyond the doors were messed up and sprawling everywhere. The floors were filled with messed up papers everywhere and some of the papers were caked in dark brown bloodstains. There was a huge electronic platform built into the wall across from the door.

One could easily tell that the room was probably a command center of sorts. Zhang Heng picked up the data from the floor and found records regarding ‘Unitology’.

Unitology was a religious organization established by people who were attracted to the mental powers of the Markers, with the express purpose of dismantling the Earth Government and spreading the power of the Markers all over the world. Those people worshipped the Markers as sacred objects, believing that said objects would reveal the truth of life and the universe, which would then bring about eternal life for believers.

One could tell from the games’ background that Unitology had long gained powers massive enough to resist the Earth Government. A lot of high-ranking officials in the Earth Government were actually believers in Unitology. None of them would have expected that it was none other than the sacred objects that they worshipped that eventually brought about the downfall of humanity as a whole.

Zhang Heng sighed, noting that Unitology wasn’t the only one out to do such things. Such was the nature of the human mind. Where there were humans, there was greed and there were ambitions… and Zhang Heng didn’t see himself as any different.

There was a saying commonly found in wuxia novels: where there were people, there was jianghu—a hidden community consisting of counterculture, anti-establishment, and outlaw people.

However, that thought didn’t linger in his mind for long. Zhang Heng was just about to leave after finding that there was nothing that he was looking for in that room.

He heard buzzing from the electrical wiring above him short-circuiting all of a sudden when he was about to get up. The lights flickered at the same time.

What’s going on?

Zhang Heng tensed up as the lights continued to flicker with an increasingly loud noise. He sensed a chill shrouding him as the lights continued to flicker away. The lights then gave completely with a loud crack shortly afterward. The entire room was plunged into darkness immediately.

Zhang Heng found himself totally in the dark. It was only thanks to his right eye having gained night vision due to modifications performed by the Dimension Star, that he was able to see at all.

If he were to have fought the necromorphs right from the start, he might not have felt so flustered at the moment. However, not only was he unable to see any necromorphs lurking around, he couldn’t even find a single dead body throughout all his time looking through the military base, and meeting living people was just totally out of the question, as even Yurianne was totally out of reach at the moment.

Eerie lighting, dead silent darkness, and a dark room with no one else nearby were all typical tropes used by horror films. All of those horror factors inched closer and closer toward Zhang Heng like some sort of night terror. If it hadn’t been for the experience back in the world of Resident Evil bolstering his guts, he would have thought that there was no way that he could even continue completing the quest.

Just when Zhang Heng was breaking out in cold sweat all over him, Yurianne’s silhouette appeared in his mind all of a sudden.

“Yurianne? Why are you here?” Zhang Heng felt rather startled. “Didn’t the system say something about you being unable to reach me due to interference from the Marker?”

“Leave… at once, right now…” Yurianne’s silhouette was devoid of any emotion and movement, standing there silently. Furthermore, the image seemed to have been influenced by radiation, making it flicker and stutter as she delivered the warning to Zhang Heng.

“Leave? Any danger lurking around?” Zhang Heng asked, feeling confused.

“Leave… at once…” Yurianne continued the same line, sounding like some recording device that was running out of battery, with even the tone of her voice sounding weird.

Zhang Heng gasped, feeling a chill gradually running down his spine and making his hairs stand. He was feeling creeped out. While his body temperature was kept stable by that high-tech suit that he was wearing, beads of cold sweat were still running down his brow.

He sensed a crisis looming over him at the moment, and he wondered if it was just him seeing things or not.

Shifting sounds were heard from outside the doors at that moment, as if something was crawling on the ground. He jerked his head up and fixed his gaze at the doors, not daring to even blink.

“Necromorphs, eh?”

Zhang Heng was feeling rather frightened as he gradually retreated, feeling only somewhat secured with his back against the wall behind him. He heard that shifting sound just outside the door, seemingly having found something and the sound ceased altogether.

Zhang Heng gulped and clenched his fist, waiting for the source of that sound to enter. The enemy was all exposed while he was lurking in the dark at the moment, after all. However, if he were to strike first, the situation would have been reversed.

It was like a competition of patience. That sound from outside the door ran out of patience and the door opened with a long, slow creak. A being with a humanoid upper body and a huge tail for lower body slithered inside slowly.

It looked like the snake monster found in ‘Calabash Brothers’, a very renowned Huaxian animation. But the monster’s tail was a lot shorter due to it being something developed from the human spine. There was a stinger, like a scorpion’s, at the end of the tail.

“That’s a necromorph, alright.” Zhang Heng was actually somewhat relieved. Fear came from ignorance, and he was no longer as scared after finding out what he was dealing with. If he were to just stay in the dark and make no sound, no one would have found him. However, he had no idea how necromorphs went about distinguishing their own from humans, so he needed to observe further.

From what he was able to tell, that necromorph wasn’t able to detect Zhang Heng through sight. The fact that he was staying in the dark didn’t help with concealment at all, as that necromorph simply hissed and slithered quickly to his current location.

Judging from the way the creature moved, Zhang Heng couldn’t see anything about it that could actually pose a threat to him, but when that thing got near him, it pounced onto him like a predator pouncing on prey.

“Huh?” Zhang Heng kicked the ground as the incoming necromorph got near him without giving any thought about it, launching himself into the air before stomping down on it.

“Amplify gravity!” Zhang Heng manipulated the boots while he was still in the air, amplifying the effect of gravity from it. That was one of the features inherent to the suit, and the protagonist in the games was able to stomp down on monsters because of that.

Pfftt!

Zhang Heng felt his boots get heavy all of a sudden, and the spine of that monster was crushed into mush by that stomp. However, that necromorph didn’t seem to feel any pain. That tail that was evolved out of the human spine shuddered for a bit before drawing an arc in the air, with the stinger heading straight for Zhang Heng.