Deep within the laboratory of the Underground Research Institute, in an undestroyed sealed cultivation area, rows of massive incubation tanks were arranged.
Inside these tanks were incomplete Tyrants and Pursuers.
These bio-organic monsters, which should have been dormant, abruptly opened their eyes at this moment.
Immediately after, came a series of shattering sounds and low, rumbling roars!
The reinforced glass of the tanks shattered one after another, viscous nutrient fluid pouring out with the bio-organic monsters inside, spilling onto the floor.
After a long while, these bio-organic monsters climbed up from the floor one by one. In their pupils flickered a distinctive red light, a sign of being influenced by the invisible Spiritual Spores.
Their bodies began to mutate, but the rate of mutation was not fast, just enough to adapt and maintain basic bodily functions.
Indirectly guided by Alice's will, these bio-organic monsters began to smash through obstacles, moving with heavy steps towards the central hall of the entire Underground Research Institute.
Their movements were slow, but their goal was unified.
Head to the central hall, become food for G-William, and contribute sufficient flesh, blood, and energy for G-William's continuous evolution.
In the hall, Alice picked up the case and leaped back onto the shoulder of the mutated Tyrant.
The Tyrant turned and strode with heavy steps towards another passageway, utterly indifferent to the evolutionary feast about to begin behind it.
Ada and Leon struggled to get up from the floor, exchanged a glance, and ultimately chose to evacuate the area.
The current situation was far beyond their ability to control.
Leon looked at Annie, who was slumped on the floor, sighed deeply, walked over to her, and disregarding her protests and struggles, directly hoisted her onto his back. Together with Ada, he fled towards another passageway.
The ground shook with increasing frequency and intensity, indicating that a large number of monsters were rushing towards this location. Once surrounded by these creatures, their chances of survival were minuscule.
Ada glanced at Leon carrying Annie on his back but didn't say anything... Blood, shredded flesh, twisted limbs.
Lilith stood in the middle of the street, a thick, sticky carpet already laid beneath her feet.
It was piled high with the remains of various bizarrely shaped creatures.
Rain washed over the dark red ground, yet it couldn't cleanse the thick, cloying stench of blood and rot hanging in the air.
She tilted her head slightly, her four crimson eyes scanning her surroundings.
At the end of the street, in the shadows of buildings, behind sewer grates, countless pairs of scarlet eyes lit up in the darkness.
They varied in form. Some still retained the crawling skeletal structure of Lickers, others resembled multi-limbed insects, and most were amalgamations of nameless fleshy masses and tentacles.
No roars, no shrieks.
These monsters simply poured forth endlessly, their movements stiff yet their goal unified, lunging towards Lilith.
"The fourth wave."
Lilith raised a forelimb, her claws casually sweeping through the air.
"Shh——!"
Amidst the sharp sound of tearing air, the dozen or so monsters charging at the front seemed to collide with an invisible meat grinder, shattering into chunks of varying sizes mid-air.
Dark blood and unidentified bodily fluids splattered onto the surrounding walls, emitting a corrosive "sizzling" sound.
She did not stop.
Wing Blades swept horizontally, Tail-whip pierced forward—each attack cleared a fan-shaped area.
The pile of monster carcasses grew higher and higher, yet more monsters surged forward, trampling over the bodies of their kin as if endless.
An exceptionally large monster burst through the bloody mist. It resembled three Hunters crudely stitched together.
Six thick legs supported its bloated torso, three heads simultaneously opening mouths filled with spiral-sharp teeth.
Lilith did not dodge.
She met it head-on, sidestepping at the moment of its pounce, her Wing Blade slashing diagonally upward from below!
"Thud——!!"
The monster's body was neatly split in two along its midline, its innards and undigested chunks of flesh splattering across the ground.
Lilith Go with the flow lowered her head, biting down on one of the still-twitching heads with her Fangs.
"Crunch——!"
The skull shattered, blood gushed forth, and red and white matter was squeezed out.
Lilith chewed twice and swallowed. Bland, like chewing soaked paper pulp. No taste of blood, no energy feedback, not even the most familiar notification of gene fragments.
Ignoring the continuous onslaught, Lilith looked at the already dead corpses on the ground. The corpses rapidly turned transparent, illusory, and finally vanished without a trace like dew evaporating under sunlight.
Leaving behind only an extremely faint ripple in the air, akin to a mental fluctuation.
Lilith's four crimson eyes all narrowed simultaneously.
Something was wrong.
Fifteen minutes ago, she had begun to sense the anomaly.
The strength of these monsters was too uniform.
No matter how their forms changed, the threat they posed consistently maintained a subtle level—enough to consume her stamina but absolutely incapable of causing substantial harm.
As if... deliberately stalling her.
And that last bite had thorough confirmed her suspicion.
"Illusion."
Lilith whisper uttered these two words, her voice as cold as ice in the rainy night.
Not entirely false.
The real zombie carcasses beneath her feet were still there, the smell of blood was True and not false. This indicated the illusion was interwoven with reality.
If not for the absolute sensitivity of the [Gene Dominator] talent towards consumed matter, she might have been trapped even longer.
"Let's verify it."
Facing another Hive Lord Hunter whose depths were utterly unknown, Lilith's four crimson vertical pupils were terrifyingly calm.
Having learned from the last lesson with the alien, once this Hunter finally made a move against her, she had prepared for a counter-hunt.
The attribute skill [Blood Domain] erupted forth!
Centered on Lilith, within a spherical radius of twelve hundred meters, the air was instantly dyed a layer of viscous dark red.
It wasn't light, but a force field formed from highly condensed vital energy and magic, resembling a slowly rotating crimson nebula suspended in mid-air.
The residual vital energy from the real zombies and mutants slain by Lilith was drawn by the [Bloodlust] characteristic, transforming into wisps of red light that converged into her body, replenishing the Consumption of continuous combat.
Within the perception of the [Blood Domain], those illusionary monsters, upon death, evaporated like snowflakes thrown into fire, leaving behind only extremely faint mental ripples.
Lilith completely closed her four primary eyes. Her immense mental power convergence inward, deeply integrating with the expanded [Blood Domain].
Simultaneously, on her back, the pair of silver-white Bat Wings—the eye-like totem upon them—suddenly blazed with a crimson light!
These were the new sensory organs born from her fusion with the g-virus, possessing a special vision capable of peep energy flows and mental fluctuations.
They also harbored the consciousness of the g-virus.
When the particle perception of the [Blood Domain] and the deep Insight of the g-virus eyeballs acted simultaneously, the world before her began to shed its false cloak...