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Raccoon City. Umbrella Corporation. Just those two names confirmed it. This was Resident Evil.
Still, judging by how calm everything seemed, the events of the first game hadn't started yet.
"Seriously though, regular humans have pathetically low life force."
That reporter had given him only three measly points. Barely anything.
Ordinary people carried no power in their bodies, no special energy. Just draining them was hardly worth the effort. Far better to wait for the outbreak… that's where the real prey would be.
The little girl he was possessing wasn't worth draining either—better to keep her as his vessel, a body he could move freely in.
With that thought, Jack reshaped himself into the girl's clothing, then seized full control of her body with his will.
The golden-haired child walked calmly out of the alley, her steps leading her toward Umbrella's headquarters.
In a secluded mansion outside Raccoon City, Alice lay unconscious in the bathtub.
Her eyes flickered open. Disoriented, she sat up slowly, clutching her head as scattered fragments of memory stabbed at her mind.
She rose from the bath, pulled a robe from nearby, and draped it over her shoulders before stepping back into the bedroom.
After searching the room and finding nothing to explain who she was, she headed out.
The silent hall echoed with the sound of her bare footsteps. The mansion felt unnervingly empty.
That was when a man appeared, rushing toward her. He grabbed her arm urgently, trying to lead her away.
But before they could move, the glass windows exploded inward. Armed soldiers stormed through in formation, surrounding and subduing them both in seconds.
Out in the trees near the mansion, the little blonde girl stood expressionless.
Her clothes bled into black, spreading fast over her body.
Venom revealed himself.
"The hunt begins."
He cracked his neck with a grin, his form shifting in color until he blended into the surroundings.
From outside the shattered windows, he watched Alice and the others being taken underground—into the Hive.
The moment they vanished inside, he slipped into the mansion.
He found the sealed steel doors and, despite the girl's frail-looking hands, tore them off their hinges like paper.
Beyond was a subway tunnel stretching into endless darkness.
But Jack could see everything. He crouched low, then leapt, scuttling along the walls at high speed toward the Hive's depths.
In this world, he cared about only two things: the T-virus… and Alice.
Everything else was worthless.
The quiet tunnel soon opened up into the Hive's underground station. A train waited on the tracks. The place was empty—Alice's group had already gone inside.
Boom!
He dropped from the ceiling, landing heavily in front of the train. With brute force, he ripped the door apart and tossed it aside.
Inside, he scanned the cabin until his gaze fixed on a silver case tucked into the corner.
Part of his black suit liquefied, lashing out to pull the case into his hands.
He pressed the release. The lid popped open—inside were vials of the T-virus and its antidote.
Jack picked up one of the virus samples. The glass tube gleamed under the dim lights.
A strange look flashed across his eyes.
Slowly, he bared his left arm, the black coating receding to reveal pale pink flesh beneath.
With his other hand, he filled a syringe with the virus, pressed the needle to his skin, and injected every drop.
When it was done, he tossed the syringe aside and focused inward, sensing every shift inside the girl's body.
The virus spread like wildfire. White blood cells collapsed as it consumed them, the infection racing through her veins.
The host body began to twist and change.
Jack's black form swarmed over her again, cloaking her in liquid shadow, working to suppress the mutation before it spiraled out of control.
Based on the little girl's condition, if things weren't kept under control, she could easily turn into one of those Lickers.
A few minutes later, her skin had turned ashen gray, and then black liquid surged up from the ground, wrapping around her body. In the blink of an eye, she had transformed into Venom once more.
Thanks to his own abilities, viruses couldn't infect him at all—so there was nothing to fear.
And when he possessed her, the biochemical virus replicating inside her genes got copied into him as well.
A new ability appeared: Viral Infection.
Now Jack was dangerously contagious. If he scratched someone, that person would turn into a zombie within minutes.
Of course, the ability could be toggled on or off. If he didn't use it, there was no risk of infection.
At this point, Jack's outward appearance had already taken on Venom's signature form.
"This feels… incredible."
He could clearly sense how much stronger the girl's body had become—her attributes boosted to the max, giving him even greater power to unleash.
But there was one drawback. Once the virus was injected, the host was already dead.
Which meant that in the very instant the virus entered the little girl's body, she had died. What was standing now was nothing but a real zombie.
Not that it mattered much to Jack. What he needed was a body that could move—not the host's life.
If he could merge with Alice, whose body had perfectly bonded with the virus, he might unlock power far beyond anything he had now.
"Alice," Jack murmured with a very human-looking smile, "I want your body more and more."
Then he turned sharply, leapt out of the moving train, and dashed into the Hive at shadowlike speed.
"....."