Chapter Eleven: Debt Collectors at the Door

This time, Ye Hai did not dash forward recklessly. After all, more and more monsters were gathering toward the First Defense Army’s position on Giant Tree Star, and at this moment, they were all in an extremely frenzied state. If he were too conspicuous and attracted their attention, conflict would be inevitable.

Ye Hai had always avoided meaningless battles whenever he could. In his view, every fight was only worth engaging in if the gains were sufficient. War, at its core, was merely the final means of seizing resources. Only fools participated in pointless wars.

Clearly, Javier and his group fit Ye Hai’s definition of fools perfectly. Ye Hai cared little that the unfortunate Second Legion Commander had ended up in a muddled skirmish with mutant beasts—regardless of who started it. Even if confronted, Ye Hai would disdainfully retort, “Serves you right for bombing my villa without cause.”

Vengefulness was considered a fine trait for every citizen of Zombie Star. Although Ye Hai was a traveler from another world, he prided himself on blending in well with local customs.

He steered his vehicle in a wide arc, stopping a few kilometers away from the battlefield atop another hill. Along the way, some zombies and mutant beasts were attracted by the hovering car, only to be easily crushed by the Tyrant and Licker creatures accompanying Ye Hai.

Compared to the native zombies, a Licker was roughly equivalent to a third-stage mutant, while the T-103 Tyrant reached the level of fifth-stage mutation. Moreover, the Tyrant and Licker possessed immense advantages in agility, strength, and explosive power compared to ordinary virus mutants.

When Ye Hai first entered the Radiation Zone years ago and encountered a fifth-stage mutant beast, the Tyrant had not yet been created, nor had the T-virus inside him been fully developed. Back then, relying solely on a few third-stage Lickers, Ye Hai stood no chance against a fifth-stage mutant. After years of refining the T-virus, Ye Hai was no longer the novice he once was. Now, even in the face of seventh-stage mutant beasts, he possessed the strength to challenge them.

This war between the First Defense Army on Giant Tree Star and the horde of mutant beasts would inevitably see the fall of many high-level mutants. For Ye Hai, these were precious experimental materials. Even if they died in battle, their bodies would greatly aid his T-virus research.

If luck favored him, he might secure one or two high-level zombies or mutants crippled in combat, possibly enabling the development of even more advanced T-virus bioweapons. That was Ye Hai’s true objective.

Currently, the five Lickers and one T-103 Tyrant he possessed had all been transformed from high-level zombies found in the Radiation Zone. Though the T-virus forcibly converted them into Tyrants and Lickers, it retained certain characteristics of the original zombie virus, making these bioweapons superior to those depicted in games and films.

Beyond the T-virus’s enhancements of reflexes, strength, speed, and regeneration, the most notable change was their defensive capability. The mutations caused by the zombie virus often manifested as increased resilience, a trait that was the Achilles’ heel of most bioweapons in Resident Evil. Aside from G-virus creations, which approached immortality and limitless evolution, Umbrella’s viral products were generally somewhat fragile under attack.

The combination of the zombie virus and T-virus nearly perfected this flaw. Yet, blessings and curses are intertwined; perhaps because this fusion produced excessively powerful bioweapons, the process of creating them became extremely difficult. Most test subjects perished in the violent internal clash between the two viruses, reduced to nothing but pulp, and only a rare few could withstand the aftermath.

In the games, the T-103 Tyrant could not endure heavy artillery bombardment, but Ye Hai’s current specimen, after repeated tests, proved capable of withstanding ordinary large-caliber shells with little harm.

Apart from scavenging corpses at the battlefield, Ye Hai also intended to test whether the T-103 Tyrant could survive strikes from lightweight laser and electromagnetic high-energy weapons.

Surveying the increasingly intense battle on the distant hill, Ye Hai allowed a slight smile to creep across his lips. He pulled a green syringe from his pocket and plunged it fiercely into the artery in his neck.

As the virus in the syringe entered his bloodstream, Ye Hai’s skin took on a pale, ghastly hue, making him look uncannily like a zombie from afar.

He had injected himself with a concoction distilled from the zombie virus, which he had named “Mimetic Zombie Virus.” This virus lacked the other properties of the original, but once injected, it emitted a scent that fooled mutant creatures into believing Ye Hai was one of their own, preventing them from attacking him.

On Zombie Star, this was a lifesaving treasure.

Over the past ten years, Ye Hai had done more than simply use his system to create a handful of bioweapons. More importantly, through years of study and hands-on research with various viruses, he had become—without exaggeration—the foremost expert in virology across the entire Leviathan System.

Other planetary research institutes found it exceedingly difficult to acquire high-stage mutants. Although Earth’s overall technology lagged far behind the Leviathan System, Umbrella’s viral research was rigorous and systematic. Compared to the fledgling virus research in the Leviathan System, the technology provided by Ye Hai’s system was far more mature.

Most crucial of all, Ye Hai possessed the primordial virus from the Solar Ladder, which was the main reason his research always stayed ahead of other planetary laboratories. If this were ever revealed within the Leviathan System, it would trigger a huge uproar, with every major faction likely sending armies to seize it.

This, too, was why Ye Hai remained exceptionally discreet on Zombie Star.

These advanced civilizations allowed research and inventions based on the zombie virus only because, after years of study, everyone had developed their own defense measures. But they would never tolerate the emergence of another, even more frightening virus—one as contagious as the zombie virus but deadlier.

The destruction of Zombie Star’s civilization served as the gravest warning to all other planets.

As the Mimetic Zombie Virus began to take full effect within Ye Hai’s body, he suddenly kicked off with both legs, shooting toward the battlefield like an arrow released from a bow.

The leaves overhead rustled ceaselessly—the sound of four Lickers moving at high speed along the tree branches. In the forest to Ye Hai’s left, trees were snapped in half, a straight path carved toward the battlefield—the handiwork of the T-103 Tyrant in its black military overcoat, charging headlong.

As the distance to the battlefield shrank, dense artillery fire, the roars of zombies and mutant beasts, and the shouts of humans flooded Ye Hai’s ears, making his blood surge with excitement.

“Those who demolish by force… all deserve to die!”