Lito was astonished when he saw the ecosystem inside the laboratory. Riane warned him not to touch and get too close to the radioactive plants. Together they went to the freezing area and recovered the frozen dead bodies. When Lito was about to remove a woman, he froze and tears began to fall. Riane then went towards him and saw the woman Lito was staring at. "Who is she?" Riane asked. "She was my wife. She went missing a year ago. We thought she left us for someone else. I didn't know." Lito answered still crying. "Come on, we will take her out. Make her a proper burial and the others as well." Riane comforted his friend. As they were burying the frozen bodies, Riane had a thought. If the woman is dead for almost a year, then the other victims maybe had died even longer. It seems that these dead bodies are stored for their meat.
After burying them. Lito sadly went back to the base. As for Riane, he went to the police station. He ransacked every file, until he found what he was looking for. A file containing names of those who went missing for the past five years. He saw some familiar faces, his intuition was true. He then went to the prison. Upon entering what he saw made anyone vomit. Flesh, carcass, other parts of the body were all scattered and rotten, even the floor was flooded with blood and water. He went deeper and saw many infected, some were in behind bars, some were in the bathroom, on the court, cafeteria and even at the office. The infected rushed towards him. Their mouth gaping wide, then he heard a loud roar. The infected stopped around him. Then a bigger infected arrived, he is a lot bigger, muscular, his mouth agape in an unnatural manner, his teeth turned into jagged and sharp. His hands had a metallic sheen and it as black as the void. Then with a roar, the infected made way for the bigger.
Riane was shocked to say the least. His body screaming to escape, but he persisted. He transformed to his half infected state and fought with the bigger one. He had the lower ground. The sheer force of the infected's strikes is too strong for him yo handle. He used his speed to strike back, as he was about to strike again. The bigger infected roared, Riane felt a pressure then the other infected began attacking him. He discovered that they are being controlled by the bigger one. He called it a commander-class infected, since he can command them.
He felt that his mind wanted to surrender but he faught it off. He bit his tongue and continued his attacks. He counter attacked but he is overwhelmed by the sheer number of the infected. He retreated, he decisively retreated and locked the doors from outside. He needed to get stronger. The infected are evolving. But he didn't how they evolve. Was it due to overexposure of the radiation or devouring many people and even infected? Or maybe they were just there due to some negative thoughts in their mind. He doesn't know.
He made sure that no infected can escape. He even blocked each exit with empty cars and other debris. The next he visited was the hospital, inside the hospital, countless infected roam the halls and the rooms. Doctors, nurses, and patients. It was chaotic, many equipment were destroyed, medicine scattered all across the floor. The Hospital is much worse than the prison. There were was no sight on end, he began attacking the infected while they swarm towards him. In just two hours he cleared the first floor. He rested for a while, he then discovered something in his body, his half infected form shows less infection. The black parasite that covers his half body, was now reduced to a quarter. In this state, it is no longer obvious that he is a half infected.
When he entered the second floor, he saw that the doors of the rooms are all open. He checked every room until he reached the last room. It was locked. Before he could break it, he was interrupted, his mental consciousness his being attacked! He looked around and saw who the attacker. It was a doctor still in his uniform. He was trying to control him. He felt his body resisting the attack. His eyes turned to pitch black. But before he could attack, he blacked out.
He woke up tied to a hospital bed. The man in a lab coat watched him with a crazed expression. "What do you think you're doing?" Riane asked with a serious tone. "You're interesting. You managed to resist my mental control. Unfortunately for these and those infected below they couldn't resist." The man answered as a woman with blank eyes walked inside and brought some surgical equipment. The woman is only in her underwear. "I want to see what's inside your body. You're body is strange that even those stronger infected resisted my control after you came. What are you?" The man continued as he put on his gloves and raised his scalpel towards Riane's stomach. "You're going to regret this." Riane threatened. The man just chuckled as he opened up Riane's stomach. Inside, it was all black. But still functioning. The man was surprised but got even more crazed when he saw the wound began closing to fast rate. In just a few moments the wound closed. His eyes gleamed in greed. He opened another side but black smoke came out. He inhaled some of the smoke and coughed. "W-what did y-you do?" The man asked in panic. "It's another variant of the virus or should I say parasite. Once you inhale it, you'll die an agonizing death. You'll rot from the inside. You won't turn into those infected. Your organs will rot, while also you will bloat until you explode." Riane explained before destroying the chains that held him. He stood up and walked towards the door. Behind him, the man screamed in pain, he then heard a loud pop. Once he got outside, he went to the room that was locked. He forcefully opened it and saw ten people tied up. Their once blank eyes slowly returned to normal. He let them recover and didn't disturb them. It was a nurse that came out first. "What happened? The last thing I remembered is running away from the monsters." She said. "You were controlled by one of your doctors." Riane answered.
Soon the others came out asking the same questions. He explained to them what had happened to them. He also said that he already killed the doctor. After that he led them to the base. But before they could completely enter. He quarantined them first. A few days later, they were all safe. Their numbers grew to a few hundred. But trouble is inevitable. Due to the scarce resources, some of the evolved became arrogant, they wanted to be on top. To be on control. They made trouble inside the base. That some of the normals injured and one died. Riane gor furious and disposed of these troublemakers. He then started a pact. "Survival Pact" a pact that protects everyone inside the base. This pact also explains the points system. Each person can gain points from any work, the higher the risk the higher the points. These points can be exchanged for food, accomodation, weapons, equipments and other items. The items are tracked through the registry area. There is also a fast way to earn points, to do missions in the mission hall. Upon implementing the pact. Everyone followed it. Some normal people started farming and some worked on construction. While the evolved, began forming teams for rescue and collection of supplies outside. They took missions from the mission hall.
Meanwhile, the Aven family got blocked again in their 8th time of attemp to rescue. It seems that they are being tracked. To the point that guns were pointed at them. Then they were locked up inside a mansion full of armed men. The elite were wsrning them not to intervene. In China, the elites were having a meeting again. "We already have a full control to the media. All news or information about the Philippines are blocked. All routes are also blocked from sea and air. No one can get inside nor go outside the Philippine Area." One of the informant said. "And what of the satellites?" An elegant woman with a flowing black dress asked. "Our Space explorers already took care of it." He answered. "That's good. Now let's get to phase three." The leader said. But before everyone could move. A man barged in. "It's an emergency! The plants are also being infected. The other animals as well. Birds even. This is already a catastrophe once these birds migrate it might spread throughout the world!" The man said in a rush. The people at the table gasped in shock. "Activate the protocols!" The leader commanded.
In the Philippines, Riane also discovered the spread of the infection. The plants turned black and became carnivorous, they also secret radiations, the other animals were also infected. It came to a chaos again, then an infected tide rushed towards the small base. Riane ordered the evolved to barricade the entry points and reinforce the walls. They used their abilities until they were exhausted. Once the tide came, Riane led the others and faught the tide. Each ability was pushed to the limit. In three days without a rest, they cleaned up the tide. There were a dozen of casualties. Riane buried them himself, and giving them the Valor's Honor, it was a title for those people that died heroically. Their names etched in stone and recorded in the new archives.
Then everyone saw many carrier planes, making artificial rain. Riane found out it was salt water. The infected plants wilted and even the other animals. The rain continued for a few days. But then, the infected got immune to salt water. They evolved further. They became faster, stronger. When Riane used a salt water to one of the ordinary infected it didn't disolve. So he used a bullet with concentrated salt in it. This time the infected died. It dissolved, leaving a blue crystal. Riane picked it up, as he touched it turned to liquid and his body absorbed it. He felt a small part of his abilities recover. He then killed the other infected, they dropped the same crystal. He then let Lito and the others touch them. They all absorbed it. Then he also let a normal person absorb it. He thought it wouldn't be absorbed. But the crystal embedded itself to the normal person. Black tentacles began to grown on the person's arm. Riane decisively cut off the person's hand. The hand wiggled a few times before it turned to black. Lito burned it, but the crystal remained intact. He absorbed them. The person shouted in pain and collapsed. They rushed him to the temporary infirmary where he saved in the nick of time. Riane concluded that the abilities were also from the parasite. And that crystal is a concentration of the parasite. It concentrated itself to make it immune to saltwater. A terrifying act of preservation. He just hoped that these crystals can help him understand these infected and help him get stronger as well. He needs more strength to protect these helpess people. He went to his secret basement alone. "Do you want to get stronger? I know a way." He heard a whisper from the shadows. The dormant parasite inside him stirred. It wanted him to follow the whisper. Slowly he followed the whisper, in the middle of the night he walked towards the laboratory until he reached the locked concrete gate. The whisper got stronger.