The Journey of Resident Evil

Despite two large gashes torn across my chest, blood gushing forth in torrents, my consciousness remained crystal clear. Watching the flow of bright red blood, I knew I was still human-at least my blood was still human blood.

“Cough-cough-cough!”

Breathing was difficult; blood surged up from my trachea, blocking my chest cavity-pain! Suffocation! Now I had to heal these two wounds, and the best treatment for me at this moment was-assimilation.

I walked towards the two hunters I had already slashed, feeling their fear through their eyes. But I could never feel any pity for such monsters.

Placing my hands on the two hunters, I growled, “Assimilation,” and then controlled the black tendrils that sparkled like electricity to burst forth from my arms, piercing fiercely into the body of the hunter! Then, I rapidly began to absorb, quickly replenishing the strength I had lost, and the terrible wounds in my chest healed at a visibly fast rate. In just three or four seconds, like the previous hunter, these two were absorbed completely, leaving behind not even a trace of fur-though they had none-just two pools of green liquid and a pile of disgusting limb remnants.

“Ptooey!”

I spat lightly, expelling the blood that had surged up from my lungs, and then extended my claws. My steel claws immediately transformed into black tendrils that sparkled like electricity, swiftly retracting from the tips back into my body. My sleeves, burst by the swollen muscles, turned into tattered strips, and my arms returned to their original form.

Seeing Qimeng with her swollen eyes, I knew she must have shed many tears and worried a lot about me these past few days. As I turned to look outside, the dawn was breaking, yet Qimeng was lying by my bed. Had she been here beside me all this time, even throughout the nights I was unconscious?

The thought made my eyes well up with tears, feeling as if they were about to overflow. Something seemed to catch in my throat. I reached out to touch Qimeng’s slightly pale face, but just as I was about to make contact, my hand began to tremble. I’m hardly human anymore, my hands stained with blood. I don’t deserve to touch her anymore. I don’t…

I withdrew my hand silently, and subtly pulled back the hand that was holding Qimeng’s. Changing the subject, I asked nonchalantly, “Where are Shen Wei and the others?” But Qimeng didn’t answer my question. Instead, she gave me a complex look, lowered her head with a slight smile, then grasped my hand and pressed it against her cheek, gently rubbing it, quietly savoring the warmth of my palm.

Qimeng’s actions left me bewildered. I tried to pull my hand back, but she held on tightly. In the end, I relented, watching her beautiful face illuminated by the morning light, my heart trembling. I didn’t know when I had fallen in love with this woman before me, and how deeply I had fallen.

As Qimeng let go of my hand, she looked at me tenderly and said, “No matter what Tiankuang becomes, Tiankuang is still Tiankuang, I…” She didn’t finish her sentence, but instead pressed her lips against mine…

I froze momentarily, then slowly reciprocated. Thinking about all that we had been through, about this girl in my arms, love, I do love this girl. I pulled back my hand, and gently wiped the tears from the corner of Qimeng’s eyes, “Silly girl, I’m alright! Look, I’m fine now!”

After drinking some water and kissing, it was just right, fulfilling, a blissful moment.

At that moment, all the zombies had already retreated from the Shen Family estate. Shen Fei took this opportunity to have the remaining thirty or so guards temporarily reinforce the main gate, ensuring that even if the zombies returned, we would have enough time to escape to Camp 2.

I looked up and locked eyes with Qimeng, who was leaning over the railing on the Shen Family rooftop, watching me. Sometimes, even a brief glance can reveal so much.

Suddenly, my eyelids became very heavy, growing heavier by the moment, and my field of vision started to narrow. But all I could see was Qimeng. I reached out to her, but my eyelids finally shut completely, and my consciousness began to drift away. Maybe they would mistake me for a monster and shoot me in the head? But I am so tired… let me sleep for a while; I am truly exhausted…

My body fell like a kite with its string cut.

Where am I? I rubbed my eyes and got up. Everything around me was enveloped in a white haze. I shook my groggy head, trying to focus on the objects in front of me. As my vision cleared, I found myself surrounded by fragments of memory, shimmering like glass, orbiting around me. These fragments, like tiny screens, continuously played the memories stored within them.

I lifted my hand and gently touched one of the fragments that held memories of my early childhood with the tip of my right index finger. As soon as my fingertip made contact, the fragment rippled like water, triggering a wave that spread to the other surrounding fragments. They fluttered in the air, eventually merging into a square about one meter in size. This square of memory then divided into smaller squares, resembling a large screen composed of multiple small screens. This screen played all my memories from birth to the age of five-mundane memories: the doctor wearing a large mask who delivered me, the stark white ceiling of the hospital room, my first time rolling over, my first steps, the bullying by older children in the orphanage… Yet, a voice kept telling me it was all fake, everything before my eyes was an illusion. I reached out again and touched the combined screen, causing another ripple to spread. The memories displayed began to fade away as if being devoured, and a sudden, intense pain surged through my brain! The cracks on the silvery-white wall also began to widen, from barely noticeable to as thick as a thumb, but these small cracks were no threat to the wall. I still had a long way to go to bring down this wall entirely.

Countless memories, both strange and familiar, surged in my mind. As these images appeared, corresponding old memories would dissipate like dust, and the newly emerged memories would immediately replace their original positions.

I don’t know how much time passed before the pain in my mind gradually subsided. The original memories had completely vanished, and now a segment of memories both new and familiar unfolded before my eyes, and I seemed to be completely engulfed in this recollection.

In the beginning of the memory, there was darkness-unknown and unseen. Yet, within this darkness, I felt a profound warmth, enveloped by a sense of safety. I don’t know how much time passed, but eventually, the darkness began to repel me, pushing me toward an exit that seemed to lead to light. I was thrust into this bright new world, where instead of warmth, I felt coldness. I couldn’t speak; the only thing I could do was cry to express myself. A man was holding me, smiling down at me, while a woman lay weakly on a hospital bed nearby, sharing the same joyful smile. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t clearly see their faces. I could only sense their kind and happy expressions. Were they my parents? As I wondered this, a wave of drowsiness washed over me again, and I slipped back into sleep.

The next time I awoke, I found myself in the front passenger seat of a car. My mother was gone, and my father was driving, his face etched with worry and beads of sweat forming on his forehead. I glanced at the rear-view mirror and saw seven or eight black cars pursuing us relentlessly. No matter how hard my father tried, he couldn’t shake off our pursuers.

As we approached a traffic light at a crossroad, my father suddenly accelerated, attempting to lose them. But…

“Bang-!”

My father lay beside me, his head bloody and motionless. In the instant of the crash, he had shielded me with his body, so I remained unharmed. The pungent smell of gasoline filled the air, triggering my tears and cries. My father’s consciousness resurfaced at the sound of my cries; he patted his head and looked at me with deep emotion, his eyes filled with shifting resolve before finally hardening with determination.

He reached into the hidden pocket of his jacket, pulling out a palm-sized box. After inputting a sequence of numbers, the box emitted a green laser that scanned his eyes, unlocking its contents. With trembling hands, he retrieved a vial of green serum and injected it into my arm. As the serum entered my body, an overwhelming drowsiness overtook me yet again. Before succumbing to sleep, I saw men in black extracting my father and me from the wreckage…

When I opened my eyes again, it seemed nearly three years had passed, and I must have been around four years old. During this time, I had been in a place that appeared to be part of a laboratory, filled with countless instruments, people in the lab coats, and numerous monsters, like hunters and zombies.

At that time, I had no sense of taste, smell, pain, or touch. I couldn’t perceive sadness or joy and was indifferent to emotions, feeling cold and unmoved by the outside world. I was surrounded daily by strange instruments and a group of peculiar individuals in the lab coats, subjected to blood draws, scans, and a myriad of other procedures. I did not resist because I lacked any awareness. I always thought that my life would proceed this way until I was eventually disposed of like those discarded experimental subjects.

That was until I met her, a little girl like me who was also confined in this Research Institute for study by those in the lab coats. She was the same age as me, but unlike me, she was lively, loved to run, jump, and laugh. In the laboratory, she was the only one who would speak to me. I didn’t know her name, but once overheard someone in the lab coat call her Lilith. She was a beautiful little girl with sky-blue short hair, porcelain white skin, and most strikingly, eyes the color of blood.

Although each conversation with her ended with her leaving disheartened, she never gave up. While I had no feelings, something seemed to change within me during those days, though I couldn’t name that feeling. Being with her made me feel comforted, a unique sensation I had never experienced before.

This went on for over a year until one day, the people in the lab coats brought us to a strange room. We were both injected with anesthetics, and just before I drifted off, I saw her looking at me with eyes filled with endless despair, sadness, and a hint of reluctance-a gaze that seemed familiar. In my haze, I vaguely heard those in the lab coats discussing something but only caught the word “Lilith.”

This is where my newly awakened memory ends.

I don’t know exactly what those annoying people in the lab coats did to me, but at least I now know I’m no longer that puppet-like person, void of taste, smell, pain, touch, and unable to perceive sadness or joy, or any internal emotions.

And I’ve come to understand one thing: Shen Fei truly didn’t lie to me. These recent experiences are indeed my real memories, while all those previous ones were fabricated illusions, a realization that has left me incredibly shocked. It’s like the American movie “Men in Black,” where the agents can erase the memories of those who witness extraterrestrial beings. The people at this Research Institute have clearly surpassed that level of technology. Erasing memories is considered outdated now-they can completely create memories, overlaying the original ones, with such high realism!

What happened to that blue-haired girl now? How can I fully recover all of my memories? And what exactly did those in the lab coats do to me? How is my bizarre claw-like form connected? Where did those men in black take my father? Why did my mother disappear? What was that vial of green serum? And what triggered this resident evil?

Mysteries-everything is a mystery! And there are so many of them, each more perplexing than the last!

Watching those incessantly replaying fragments of altered memories frustrates me, yet I am helpless against them. Whenever I try to touch them, they instantly become transparent, allowing my fingers to pass right through.

And that silver-white wall-it poses even more of a challenge. In this mental world of mine, I cannot use my clawed form. Whenever I attempt to attack the silver-white wall, it immediately releases a powerful electric current. This current is potent and strange, causing no physical harm but inducing a severe jolt of pain in my brain, as if attacking my very soul.

After numerous attempts, I’ve had to abandon the idea of breaking through the wall by force. It seems I’ll need to find an alternative approach to get through it.

I lay down in front of the wall, staring at the memory fragments hovering in the air, thinking about many things, especially the gaze of that girl. It feels like I’ve seen it somewhere before-a maddening sense of déjà vu, yet impossible to fully grasp.

Watching those constantly flickering memory fragments, I begin to feel hypnotized. My eyelids grow heavier, and my vision blurs. Just as I am about to drift into sleep, a voice reaches my ears.

“Tiankuang… Tiankuang… Tiankuang…”

Someone was calling me. Who was it? The voice sounded so familiar.

Just as my eyes were about to fully close, I was suddenly startled awake, as if jolted from a light sleep. The first thing I saw was a snow-white ceiling above me. I lay on a bed in an unfamiliar place once more. Caught between memory and reality, I was struggling to discern whether I was in a memory or the real world. But at least I knew I was still alive.

At this moment, it felt like I was holding something in my hand. After a little sensation, I realized it was a small, soft hand, but it felt cold, almost as if it had no warmth. In contrast, my own hand felt like a furnace.

The person beside me was asleep and hadn’t noticed that I had awoken. I wanted to turn my head to see who was next to me, but my entire body ached so much that I couldn’t even do that. I could only slightly wiggle my fingers. As soon as I moved them, the person beside me woke up immediately, clutching my hand and crying, “Tiankuang! Are you awake? Tiankuang!”

This voice-it was Qimeng. I nodded, wanting to offer some reassurance, but my throat felt parched, as if it were smoking, and I couldn’t utter a single coherent word. I managed to mumble, “Water… water…” Hearing this, Qimeng quickly helped me sit up and brought a glass of water to my lips, helping me drink. The cool water opened a refreshing passage through the heat within me.

“Tiankuang, are you feeling any better?” Qimeng asked worriedly. After finishing the last drop of water, I replied, “Yeah, I’m okay. How long was I unconscious?”

Qimeng set the glass aside and wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes, “You’ve been out for nearly five days.” Five days-two days longer than last time.