The Journey of Resident Evil

The entire street was deserted, with no sign of the intense battle that had taken place just moments ago.

At this moment, I was staring blankly at my hands, transformed into black, sharp claws. Although both hands had turned into large, elongated claws, there was no sense of discomfort, as if my hands were always meant to be this way.

The sleeves of my school uniform had long been torn apart by the bulging muscles. I could clearly feel something crawling inside my arms-my muscles writhing, each fiber distinct, reminiscent of the tentacle creatures from certain animated films. Yet they appeared like black, hard steel, exuding a powerful sense of strength and explosiveness. Especially those sharp, giant claws, they surpassed even the giant monster I had fought against!

I gently scratched the side of a nearby car door with my claws. “Bang!” The door sliced neatly in half, and this was without me exerting any real force. However, I could feel the strength in my entire body rapidly draining away, like a broken faucet that couldn’t be stopped. As a result, I was only able to maintain this claw form for five minutes before reverting back to my human arms. I breathed a long sigh of relief; if I couldn’t change back, I wouldn’t know how to face Qimeng and the others. Seeing my steel claw form, they would surely treat me like a monster.

I glanced around. Most of the cars here were unusable, so it seemed I had no choice but to go back and find Ye Xiang and the others for another plan. But before I could take two steps, a strong wave of fatigue washed over me. The recent battle and the mysterious steel claws form had drained a lot of my stamina. Cold sweat started to pour out of my body, my limbs began to tremble slightly, and my consciousness was starting to blur-symptoms of severe physical exhaustion.

Worse still, the familiar chaotic footsteps were getting closer. It was the sound of a large group of zombies approaching. Although I didn’t know why they hadn’t appeared during my fight with the giant monster, I knew they were now here to clean up the battlefield. I had to leave immediately, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t muster any strength. Running was out of the question, and even walking seemed impossible. Just keeping my eyes open was an immense struggle, and my eyelids grew heavier.

I chuckled bitterly, “Qimeng, it looks like I’m going to die here.”

But just before I lost consciousness, I faintly heard the sound of explosions and saw a pair of military boots suddenly appear before my eyes. Then, everything went black.

The person who appeared in front of me was the mysterious figure known as the lady, who had been watching us from behind the electric net. She looked deeply at my unconscious body lying on the ground, her eyes full of complicated emotions. It seemed she had witnessed my battle with the giant monster. Meanwhile, the group of zombies, without the monster’s mental suppression, was getting closer. The mysterious lady let out a long sigh, surprisingly lifted me up, and took me away.

…

Time rewinds to after I left.

After the giant monster followed me away, the previously retreated zombies emerged again without the monster’s mental oppression, and Qimeng and the others found themselves under siege from the zombie horde once more!

Ye Xiang picked up the wrench Liu Yonglin used for car repairs and smashed a zombie’s head. Xueqi grabbed the Type 99 Sniper Rifle from Qimeng and attached the bayonet. Ye Ling took care of Qimeng while trying to get the engine started again. Meanwhile, Liu Yonglin climbed onto the car roof, urging Xueyang to escape behind the electric net first. But no matter how much he pleaded, Xueyang refused to leave, leaving Liu Yonglin sweating with anxiety.

Just as Liu Yonglin was about to ignore Xueyang’s protests and throw her over the electric net, a loud shout suddenly erupted: “Everyone get down now!!” Ye Xiang and the others turned to see two people climbing out from behind the electric net, dressed in riot suits and wearing riot helmets, each carrying a hydraulic flamethrower on their backs. “Get down now!” one of them shouted again as Ye Xiang and the others stood there frozen.

Ye Xiang and the group followed the command and dropped to the ground. As they did, two wide streams of flame shot over their heads, setting a large number of zombies on fire. The zombies resembled moving torches but fell after just a few seconds. The smell of burning flesh permeated the air, causing waves of nausea.

“Hurry to the other side of the electric net! I’ll cover you!” said one of the taller people who had come from the other side of the net, pulling Ye Xiang to his feet. The shorter one remained behind the electric net, providing support with the flamethrower: “Retreat now, the vehicle can be retrieved later!” It seemed the power to the electric net had been temporarily shut off.

Without saying much, although they didn’t know who these two people were, Ye Xiang and his group realized they had been saved. Liu Yonglin, holding Xueyang, leaped over the Hummer with ease, followed closely by Kiku. Ye Ling and Shen Wei helped Qimeng over the electric net, and Ye Xiang and Xueqi covered each other as they crawled across. After burning another patch of zombies, the tall person covering them deftly slipped under the net. As soon as he made it over, the zombies followed.

The tall one quickly pulled out a walkie-talkie and shouted, “Yang Yongxing, hurry up and give me power!” Soon enough, the zombies, upon touching the electric net, started smoking and quickly turned to charcoal! Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

Ye Xiang plopped onto the ground, saying things about being blessed with good fortune and turning danger into safety, making Xueyang playfully swipe his face, teasing him for being shameless.

“Phew, we’re safe here,” said the shorter person as she removed her riot helmet, revealing her true face. A beauty! That was everyone’s shared reaction.

Xueqi bowed to the two newcomers, expressing, “I sincerely thank you for saving us in such a dangerous time.” The beautiful woman responded with a smile, “It was my duty, for my daughter and her friends, right, Wei Er?” Shen Wei’s eyes brimmed with tears, “Mom…” she whispered, and threw herself into her mother’s arms, sobbing softly.

In this collapsed world, after facing life-and-death danger, meeting one’s mother is such a blessing. Even though Shen Wei had shown remarkable strength all along the journey, she was still a girl at heart. Naturally, everyone was overjoyed, whether for Shen Wei or for their own survival.

After Ye Ling’s expert massage, Qimeng finally felt a bit better, but she suddenly exclaimed, “Tiankuang! Tiankuang hasn’t come back yet!” At that moment, this group of “heartless” individuals remembered that I was still outside looking for a car. Without a word, Ye Xiang grabbed a wrench and was about to head out to find me. However, Shen Wei’s mother stopped him: “Don’t worry, that young man is your companion, right? He’s already at my house.”

“At your house?”

“We found him passed out on the road while we were patrolling the next street and carried him back,” explained the tall man. “That’s great news.”

“Alright, let’s head back.”

“Yeah.”

………

I wasn’t unconscious for very long-probably about an hour before I woke up. I patted my head but found that I didn’t experience the usual dizziness that follows fainting. Instead, I felt surprisingly refreshed. Were those events prior just a dream? It had to be! It had to be a dream! How could there be something like zombies? Haha, I can’t believe I confused dreams with reality… But where am I? This isn’t my home. Was everything with Qimeng also a dream? And that ability to transform my hands into steel claws…

I climbed out of bed and noticed that I was wearing nothing but underwear; a set of clothes lay on the bedside table. Regardless, I decided to try out that steel claw skill from before. If it’s real, then I wasn’t dreaming!

“Roar!” I growled softly, my arms trembling slightly as they were instantly covered with luminous black tendrils like electricity. Within half a second, both my arms transformed, becoming dark and muscular, etched with prominent muscle lines and exuding a metallic sheen. My hands turned into sharp, gleaming giant claws!

Looking at my transformed hands, I felt a bit conflicted. Should I be happy or sad? The sad part is that everything before wasn’t a dream; the world truly has fallen apart, with the streets dominated by flesh-eating zombies. Moreover, I have no idea how to face Qimeng and the others with my current appearance-not quite human, not quite monster. On the bright side, having this ability provides an extra layer of security in a zombie-infested world.

But I absolutely can’t let anyone know about this; it’s my secret last-resort defense. Who knows what the future holds? Moreover, I can only maintain this steel claw form for about five minutes, as it exhausts my energy tremendously.

“Thud… thud…”

The sound of footsteps reached my ears. Someone was coming. Quickly, I reverted my arms to their normal state and hastily put on the clothes from the bedside table. Judging by the footsteps, it was a woman, and I certainly didn’t want her to think I was a monster or some kind of crazy exhibitionist. Plus, I could seize this chance to find out my current location. I also wondered how Qimeng and the others were doing.

“Click.”

The door to the room opened, and the person who walked in was-Ye Ling!

“Ms. Ye?! How did you…” I exclaimed in surprise.

Ye Ling just smiled, “Tiankuang, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, but how are you all here? And where is this place?”

“Calm down; this is Shen Wei’s house. Her mother rescued us.”

Shen Wei’s house? That was a relief, no need for excessive worry.

Seeing my bewildered expression, Ye Ling chuckled, “Haha, don’t overthink it. You look full of energy, so come give me a hand.” She had a mischievous smile.

“A hand?”

“Hehe, you’ll enjoy it.”

“?”

………

Qimeng’s room.

“Ah, Tiankuang, Tiankuang, don’t, ah.” Qimeng was lying face down on the bed, bare-skinned and panting softly, while I knelt in front of her, blushing, holding her shoulders steady. Qimeng’s hands were tightly gripping my pants, and from a certain angle, it might have looked like…

Meanwhile, Ye Ling had her hands covered in a strange, sticky white lotion. She knelt at the foot of the bed, pressing down on Qimeng’s calves with her knees, smiling mischievously, and said, “Tiankuang, make sure you hold her down, don’t let her get away. Hehe, Qimeng, here I come.”

“Ah, Ms. Ye, no, ah.” Ye Ling completely disregarded Qimeng’s protests, applying the sticky lotion evenly on Qimeng’s smooth, jade-like back and began pressing firmly, causing Qimeng to cry out repeatedly, “Ah, ah, ah.”

Me: “………”

After about half an hour of massage, Ye Ling finally stopped, but Qimeng was already crying her eyes out. Ye Ling, with a mischievous smile, said, “So, how was it? Feels great, right? This is my exclusive secret remedy, super effective for treating muscle strains and injuries. Hehe, Qimeng, wasn’t it soothing?”

“Soothing my foot! It hurt like hell! And you, you traitor!” Qimeng turned her ire toward me. I felt utterly wronged. It was Ye Ling who called me over to help, and although I was-uh-happy in a way… ahem, no, I was just embarrassed. But there was no avoiding it.

I protested, “How did I become a traitor? I was just helping apply some medicine!”

Qimeng clutched the blanket, pouting, “Can’t you see the situation in front of you?”

Ye Ling, the troublemaker, immediately slipped out of the room, leaving me thoroughly confused by Qimeng’s words. The situation in front of me? What did she mean?

“Then what do you mean?” I asked.

Qimeng, holding onto the blanket, blushed and mumbled softly, “Applying the medicine would have been enough, there’s no need for Ms. Ye…”

“Huh?”

“Get out!”

Trying to understand a woman’s heart is like searching the depths of the ocean; I was completely baffled.

“Why so suddenly…” I said helplessly.

“It’s all because you were pressing on me while shooting earlier! My chest really hurt!”

Me: “………”

“From now on, I’m applying the medicine myself!”

“Bang-!”

I was chased out of the room by Qimeng, and the door slammed shut behind me. Leaning against the window in the hallway, I sighed, “…Sigh, she’s so headstrong. But there’s nothing I can do about it. At least I can finally take a proper break now…” Looking out at the seemingly peaceful scene through the window, I gradually felt a sense of calm settle over me. Ever since this Resident Evil outbreak, I hadn’t rested this peacefully.

I’ve learned a lot in these past few days, yet I still feel lost. In a world like this, can we even talk about having a future? Human nature changes with the environment, and although there are many beautiful aspects, I’ve seen much more ugliness. The family that killed Xueyang’s father, the people who attacked us, and many others…

There are even more questions. What is truly going on with this Resident Evil outbreak? Is it man-made or something else?

And what about my own body? During the fight with that monster, I somehow absorbed it, and now my hands can transform into those sharp steel claws. Can I even still consider myself human?

And what was that monster? During the three days I was unconscious after being bitten by a zombie, it felt like I had a very long dream. In it, I seemed to recall memories from when I was just an infant, and there was a part with a woman whose face I couldn’t see no matter how hard I tried. The dream was bizarre and fragmented…

What I hadn’t anticipated was just how enormous Shen Wei’s home would be. It couldn’t just be described as a villa; it was more like an estate, spanning at least the size of three soccer fields, and that’s just the area covered by the building. The garden and the small square add at least another two soccer fields in size.

Moreover, there were many tents set up in the small square, probably for some survivors. Just as I was contemplating the vast gap between the rich and the poor, a sudden argument broke out in the hallway. Judging by the voices, it seemed to be between Shen Wei and her mother. “I get it! Anyway, you’re always right, Mom!”

As soon as I turned my head, I saw Shen Wei storming over with an angry look on her face. “Uh… Shen Wei, you…”

“What!”

“Uh… nothing… nothing…”

“For a man, you really lack a spine. I’m done with this! It’s infuriating!”

Trying to understand a woman’s heart is like searching the depths of the ocean…

Watching Shen Wei angrily storm off, I couldn’t help but think this to myself. At that moment, Shen Wei’s mother approached me with a slight smile and said, “I’m sorry, Wei Er can be very headstrong. Thank you for taking care of her these past few days.”

“Headstrong, indeed. But don’t say that, Auntie. Shen Wei has helped us a lot too. Though, I have to say, I knew her home would be large, but I didn’t expect it to be this big.”

I glanced out the window and said, “Auntie, while this place is nice, it probably isn’t somewhere we can stay for long, is it?” It was a great location with a dedicated guard team for protection, but being on the outskirts of a city overrun by zombies made it prone to large-scale zombie attacks.

Shen Wei’s mother gave me a meaningful look and said, “You’re right. The estate’s primary electricity and water supply rely on the lake to the north, but…”