☆、Awakening, transformed into a monster
In her dazed state, Ye Xi seemed to hear a "thump-thump" sound, strong and rhythmic, like a flame that would never go out, ever burning...
A heartbeat… Ah… So she was still alive, or rather, a zombie's heart could still beat? She opened her eyes, only to find everything a blur of green; she couldn't see anything clearly. Green? Why wasn't it white? Ye Xi sat up, frowning as she stared at her palm; it was still green…
She looked up and glanced around. It was still the familiar main laboratory. Ye Xi could clearly see the outlines of every object, but she could only see one monotonous color—green. So, am I some kind of mutated version of colorblindness? Ye Xi chuckled self-deprecatingly and swayed as she stood up—she'd become a monster…even if she hadn't become a zombie, she was still a monster! Maybe from now on, she'd only be able to look at this colorful world like this…
"What is this?! Even if the T-virus evolved, it couldn't possibly turn into this!" Besides being relieved she hadn't become a zombie, Ye Xi felt a pang of resentment. She didn't believe she had Alice's constitution, capable of adapting to the T-virus. And in the moment before she fainted, she had resigned herself to her fate—she would lose consciousness and become a mindless zombie. She was prepared to accept this reality! But when she woke up and found herself not a zombie, but rather mutated, Ye Xi felt a mixture of self-mockery and helplessness—fate was cruel, cruel indeed!
What has become of this body that has been modified by the T-virus and still possesses life? Ye Xi felt a moment of curiosity, but quickly dismissed it—what if she saw it? What if she didn't? She couldn't guarantee she could accept her current state…
"Ye Xi?" Red Queen's voice sounded again, tinged with uncertainty. Ye Xi remained silent for a moment, but did not answer. Judging from Red Queen's tone, she probably thought I had already turned into a zombie, meaning I looked almost exactly like one. Ye Xi thought to herself, being mistaken for a zombie was fine. Perhaps Red Queen already knew about zombies, which was why she spoke in that tone. She must know that zombies were very difficult to kill, so she had no way to deal with Ye Xi, who had already become a "zombie."
To survive, Ye Xi would even pretend to be a Licker.
So Ye Xi cooperated perfectly, swaying as she walked towards the door. Then, she stiffly raised her arm and began pounding on the reinforced glass door repeatedly. Ye Xi's hand ached from the pounding, but she maintained her blank expression—zombies felt nothing, and she couldn't let her expression betray her. If the Red Queen knew that besides Alice, there was another person who had received the T-virus and undergone incomplete evolution, then when she went out, she would definitely be tied up and taken to a lab by a large group of people dressed in white and wearing white masks, just like Matt and Alice.
What else can I do to survive? This kind of wretched existence is truly shameful... Ye Xi mocked herself inwardly, counting how many times she had already hit the door, when suddenly the lights in the main laboratory went out, and with a "click," the door opened.
"Holy crap, I finally shut down Red Queen." Ye Xi immediately relaxed and rubbed her bruised hand, exclaiming with relief, but was startled by her own voice. That thick, hoarse voice sounded utterly disgusting!
Fuck! Ye Xi didn't dare to open her mouth again, afraid of scaring herself again.
Okay, let's put that aside for now. The main problem now is how to escape. After the Red Queen was imprisoned, the zombies were released, including that large group of Lickers. Although Ye Xi now looks almost like a zombie, she doesn't think any zombie would consider her one of their own. After all, she hasn't seen any zombie treat Alice as one of their own.
Staying put isn't a solution either. There's no food or water here. Even if she's incredibly lucky and doesn't encounter any zombies or Lickers, Ye Xi will be dead in seven days. And even if she's incredibly lucky again and doesn't die, an atomic bomb would be enough to blast Ye Xi to ashes.
I should find Alice and her group, try to gain their trust, and then leave with them... No, I can't go with them. We'll encounter an evolved Licker on the train, and even if I'm lucky, I'll get caught by a bunch of white-clad bastards once we're out—I don't want to become a monster like the Nemesis! Although that would be awesome and hard to kill...
No, Ye Xi, you should have some backbone and dignity in life! What's the point of living as a monster! Even if she becomes a Tracker with greatly increased speed and strength, and zombies and Lickers don't dare to mess with her, for Ye Xi as a woman, becoming such a monster is worse than being dead! What woman would willingly become like that?
So Ye Xi immediately rejected the idea of going out with Alice. Relying on others is worse than relying on herself; I have to get out by myself! Ye Xi clenched her fists. Although she didn't know how to use a gun or a knife, and had only studied karate for a month, she believed in herself. If she could escape from the elevator, she could definitely hold out until Alice left!
So the priority now is to quickly find a sturdy and secure hiding place. Although the glass walls of this main laboratory have been reinforced, there are no weapons here. If she's unlucky enough to have a Licker rush in, she won't even have a chance to fight back.
A sturdy, secure place filled with weapons… an armory! Ye Xi's eyes lit up. Armories are usually heavily guarded, and large corporations like Umbrella typically have walls made of steel to prevent weapon theft, making them extremely sturdy. Most importantly, the armory contains a large number of weapons; even if she doesn't know how to use them, it's still a form of security.
Thinking this, Ye Xi kicked open the door to the main laboratory, running forward while keeping an eye out for zombies rushing out. However, because Ye Xi was unaccustomed to her current green vision, she ran very slowly and stumbled frequently. Before she had run more than a few dozen meters, a purple object suddenly appeared in her field of vision. The object's outline was completely indistinct; she only knew it was human-shaped and moving extremely slowly…
Zombie! Ye Xi was startled and immediately hid, but kept her eyes fixed on the slowly moving purple object. Although the color of her vision had changed, it didn't mean she couldn't see the object's outline! The object continued to move, and then seemed to turn a corner, and Ye Xi could finally see its appearance clearly—a blank expression, stiff movements, wearing a researcher's robe, and emitting a faint stench of decay. Although the humanoid object appeared entirely purple to Ye Xi, she could easily guess its darker skin—it was a researcher who had turned into a zombie!
Only now did Ye Xi realize that the reason she couldn't see his appearance clearly before was because of a wall blocking her view. When he went around the wall and came into Ye Xi's field of vision, Ye Xi could clearly see his appearance and outline.
The zombie was purple, while other inanimate objects, such as walls and floors, were green… This meant that Ye Xi had gained X-ray vision, which meant she could spot a zombie before it could see her and then escape quickly! Thinking about this, Ye Xi was somewhat excited; it meant she wasn't afraid of zombies suddenly appearing and attacking her!
But now is not the time to be happy. The zombie is still moving aimlessly, but its "aimless" direction is exactly where Ye Xi is hiding.
Damn! Seeing him coming, Ye Xi immediately grabbed a chair nearby. Since there was only one zombie left, she'd take care of him if she could. Ye Xi didn't want to run away, because with her current visual impairment, she couldn't run fast enough to shake off this zombie, and might even attract more along the way.
Ye Xi took a deep breath, feeling a pang of sadness and reluctance, but she quickly suppressed this sense of conscience. Yes, he was human before, but at least he wasn't anymore. Ending his life might be a form of liberation for him. I can't hesitate like this; in this world, hesitation leads to death.
Ye Xi understood this principle clearly, so she gripped the back of the chair, gritted her teeth, abandoned any kindness in her heart, raised the chair, and smashed it hard against his head. One blow wasn't enough; he was still moving, so Ye Xi didn't hesitate to smash it down again, then a third, a fourth... until his head was completely shattered, only then did Ye Xi stop, panting heavily.
As Ye Xi smashed the zombie with the chair, she clearly saw the purple color on the zombie's body slowly fade and then disappear completely, turning into green. Fortunately, all she saw was green; otherwise, even with Ye Xi's thick skin, she wouldn't have been able to bear the sight of snow-white brain matter and bright red blood mixed with smashed skulls, eyeballs, and teeth.
Ye Xi put down the broken stainless steel chair, unable to look at the corpse in front of her again. The color change just now indicated that when a zombie was injured or weakened, the purple color on its body would fade until it disappeared upon death. This provided an extra layer of assurance; at least she could tell that the zombie was completely dead, while the one that was still alive but unable to move...
Ye Xi found an iron rod on the first floor of the laboratory. Holding it, she went to the elevator, looked at the map, and located the weapons room—the lowest level of the laboratory building. Luckily, Ye Xi had been a humanities student, and her exceptional memory was already well-developed. She quickly memorized the map, pinning it firmly in her mind, before pushing open the emergency exit door, gripping the iron rod tightly, and descending step by step. She had no other choice, because—
From the moment she picked up the chair, her hands were stained with blood...
Perhaps because the Red Queen had only recently been locked up, the zombies hadn't yet become active, so Ye Xi only encountered one zombie on the stairs. That zombie, like Ye Xi, was also going downstairs, but lingered more frequently. Seeing him, Ye Xi took a deep breath, reminding herself not to hold back any kindness—the rules of city life wouldn't work here—before cautiously approaching him. She shakily raised her stick, but unexpectedly, he suddenly turned around. Startled, Ye Xi immediately closed her eyes reflexively and swung the stick down. Only after confirming what she had hit did she slightly open her eyes, then avert them—green, completely dead… Turns out I'm more comfortable with a stick. I must join the baseball team when I get back; look how deformed that zombie's head is…
Ye Xi carefully avoided the zombie corpses, then quickly ran downstairs. She stopped only after reaching the ground floor, slowly calming her racing heart before cautiously approaching the emergency exit. The ground floor had no offices, only Red Queen's server room and weapons room, so there were no nightlights or anything like that; it was dimly lit, much darker than the upper floors.
Looking into the dark interior, Ye Xi's heart, which had finally calmed down a bit, started pounding again—she was terrified of horror movies, and this dimly lit, quiet room was the perfect place for a haunted house; she usually skipped those scenes when watching horror movies. Now, being there in person, it was even more terrifying, and Ye Xi couldn't help but tremble all over.
Ye Xi, don't be afraid. Zombies are nothing. You can take them down with one hit. Lickers can't possibly run down so quickly either. You have to trust your luck. Besides, don't you still have the Zombie Detection skill? With such a cheat-like ability, what are you afraid of? Ye Xi kept reassuring herself, but her body was still trembling, only her heartbeat wasn't so fast anymore.
After repeating this several times, she finally calmed down a bit. Ye Xi leaned closer to the glass of the emergency exit door to check for zombies, but unexpectedly met a pair of lifeless, almost entirely white, purple eyes. Ye Xi was startled, her heart leaping into her throat. She immediately covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming, and then quickly locked the emergency exit door—a zombie! A zombie was right by the door!
That was terrifying! Startled, Ye Xi nearly collapsed to the ground, thankfully propped up by a stick. The zombie had clearly seen Ye Xi; their eyes had met!
But the purple shadow walked away, without banging on the door or doing anything; it simply left!
What's going on now?! Ye Xi was shocked...
Author's Note: Haha, I said it's just disfigurement (picking nose). My mom is such a loving mother, so that day is absolutely impossible... I don't get home until 8:30 every night and I still have homework to do OJZ. As a high school sophomore, I'm under a lot of pressure OJZ. So please don't stalk me! My future husband is a stalker!!!
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