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The ruined corridors echoed under the cautious footsteps of Alice and the squad. Rifles stayed raised, eyes sweeping every shadow.
After running into two horrifying monsters already, everyone understood this mission was far more dangerous than they'd imagined. Death could strike at any second.
Still, they pushed on toward the Hive's central chamber.
"What the hell was Umbrella making down here?" muttered Rain Ocampo, one of the female soldiers. The memory of those two massive creatures gnawed at her nerves.
Judging by the Hive's current state—and the scraps of intel they had—this entire disaster had to be connected to those monsters.
"No idea," Alice replied with a shake of her head. Her memories were still fragmented, the fog of amnesia hiding all answers.
"Save it," the captain cut in sharply, scanning the shadows with his rifle. "We stick to the mission—shut down the Red Queen, get out alive."
Truth be told, even he was rattled. If not for the weight of orders, he'd have already called a retreat.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
The squad froze. The noise was coming from the tunnel behind them—something slamming against the ceiling.
Guns swiveled in unison toward the pitch-black tunnel. Fingers tightened on triggers, hearts hammering.
The sound grew closer. Every echo wound their nerves tighter, until each breath felt like a countdown.
Then… silence.
The sudden quiet was worse than the noise. Everyone held their breath, the tension unbearable.
Minutes dragged by. Nothing moved. Nothing came. It was as if the sound had never existed.
One of the soldiers couldn't take it anymore. He turned his head slightly toward the captain, whispering,
"C-Cap—ahh!"
Before he could finish, a strand of black web shot out from the darkness, wrapping him tight and yanking him into the shadows in the blink of an eye.
"Help! No—don't! AHHH!"
His screams echoed from the tunnel, followed by the wet, sickening sound of flesh being ripped apart.
The squad stared at the darkness, wide-eyed, the sounds of feeding crawling under their skin.
Someone swallowed hard.
The group stared into the pitch-black corridor, the wet crunching sound of flesh being torn apart echoing out of it. One by one, they swallowed hard.
When the chewing finally stopped, slow, heavy footsteps began to echo from within the tunnel.
Immediately, everyone raised their weapons toward the darkness, fingers tense on the triggers.
Out of the shadows emerged a towering figure. When it stepped into the light, the group finally saw it clearly—Venom, wrapped in his slick, black body.
The moment they got a good look, shock rippled through them. What kind of monster was this?
"Fire!"
The captain was the first to react, shouting with all his might.
That snapped the others out of their daze. The thing in front of them wasn't human—it was the creature that had slaughtered their teammates.
Ratatatatatatata!
Bullets flew in a storm. But Venom's massive, hulking body moved with terrifying speed and agility, twisting and leaping along the walls to dodge the barrage. In the blink of an eye, he was closing in on Alice and the others.
With a final leap, Venom came crashing down in front of them, his mouth yawning open to reveal rows of jagged teeth. His claws slashed down in a blur.
"Scatter!"
The captain rolled hard to the side, barely getting clear. The others didn't need his order—they bolted in every direction.
But Spence froze, staring blankly as Venom bore down on him. He didn't move an inch.
Venom swung his claws without hesitation, impaling Spence clean through and lifting him into the air like a ragdoll. Blood gushed from Spence's mouth before his body went limp.
Venom didn't chase the rest. Instead, he tossed Spence's corpse aside, scanned the room, and headed straight for the main control chamber.
His goal: shut down the Red Queen and release the horde of trapped undead into the world—plunging everything into deeper chaos.
The system had told him he only gained "life points" by killing things himself. But did that really mean he had to do the killing with his own hands? It had never specified.
This was his way of testing it.
Jack couldn't explain why, but deep down something told him this was the more interesting path.
"....."