Chapter 12

Lying on the ground, Ma Le endured the physical pain as countless visible black, bizarre tissues entangled and weaved around his body, making anyone who saw it shudder. Ma Le glared coldly at the few veterans in the room and gritted his teeth, uttering a few words: "Why?"

"Are you asking why we, a few veteran adventurers, would play a trick on a newbie like you? Or are you asking why you ended up in a veteran-level world? Or both?" Xia Yingying squatted down on one knee, lowered her head, and smiled at Ma Le face-to-face. At this moment, Xia Yingying was no longer the innocent and shy girl she used to be; instead, she exuded a sense of competence and composure, with a subtle aura of a queen reigning over the world. She turned to Jiang Dahu and said, "Cannon, show him our real mission briefing, let him die with a clear conscience!"

Jiang Dahu sighed, walked up to Ma Le, and took out the necklace-shaped Miracle Badge. He peeled off a transparent film (Ma Le guessed this was the trick they used to alter the display of the Miracle Badge) and showed the mission briefing to Ma Le again:

**Plot World:** Prototype

**Entry Time:** 10th day after the infection spread

**Entry Location:** Manhattan, New York City

**World Difficulty:** Veteran Level

**Trial Mission:** Survive for seven days without leaving Manhattan. Completing this will earn you the Miracle Badge and the qualification to enter Miracle City. (Detected a veteran adventurer mixed in the trial world; veteran adventurers can choose to return at any time!) Difficulty Rating: Relatively Easy

**Side Mission:** Secret File - Deliver the CD containing the latest research data on the Blacklight virus to Gentek Research Institute or Alex Mercer. Adventurers can freely choose the mission path. Difficulty Rating: Moderate

**Detected a veteran adventurer mixed in the trial world; all system rewards for veteran adventurers are reduced to one-quarter. Detected a veteran-level trial world; all system rewards for beginner adventurers are quadrupled.**

*Introduction: In the 1960s, the U.S. Department of (and) Defense and its subordinate Advanced Research Projects Agency established a special force called "Blackwatch," aiming to use biological warfare to defend against all threats to the United States and hostile forces overseas. A few years later, Blackwatch discovered a special virus that could significantly enhance the physical abilities of organisms at the genetic level and launched a research project codenamed "Blacklight."

In the late 1980s, biological doctor Mark Muller founded a biotech company called "Gentek," which became a subordinate research institution of Blackwatch, further researching the "Blacklight" project.

Recently, due to unknown reasons, the "Blacklight" project leaked, and Blackwatch decided to destroy evidence and eliminate those who knew about it. Alex Mercer, a researcher at Gentek, secretly investigated the military's plan to eliminate and, to protect himself, stole a sample of the Blacklight virus and fled Gentek, hoping to use it to threaten the military. However, at Pennsylvania Station, Alex was discovered and killed by Blackwatch soldiers. Before dying, he released the Blacklight virus.

The Blacklight virus consumed Alex's body and scattered memories, ultimately forming a viral prototype with Alex's appearance and partial personality. Now, this prototype believes it is Alex after losing his memory and has begun a journey to uncover the truth.

It has been ten days since the virus was released, and over 60% of the population in Manhattan has been infected, turning it into a city of hell.

...

After reading the mission briefing, Ma Le was not only confused but even more puzzled. These veterans must have used some special means to turn a veteran-level world into a trial world, and as a result, they were punished with only one-quarter of the rewards. What was the point of all their efforts?

Xia Yingying seemed to see through Ma Le's thoughts and smiled faintly. "Strange, isn't it? We, a few veteran adventurers, went to great lengths to pretend to be newbies and enter this extremely difficult world, only to receive one-quarter of the rewards."

"Actually, we paid more than you can imagine. In Miracle City, only one person is allowed to enter each trial world, and intervening in someone else's trial world is a violation of the rules. Not to mention, we even forcibly upgraded your trial world to the veteran level. If this is discovered, we will face unimaginable punishment. But even so, we had to come here, for our old captain!"

"Old... captain?" Ma Le asked, enduring the intense pain.

"Yes, we five are a team, and you should have noticed that I am the captain of this squad!" Xia Yingying explained. "I became captain just a month ago. Before that, our captain was a powerful and kind old man whom we all called Old Fu. We all joined the team because he saved our lives in mission worlds, so you could say Old Fu is our benefactor!"

"However, a little over a month ago, Old Fu suddenly left, handing over the captain's authority to me and disappearing. We tried to find him, but with nearly ten thousand adventurers in Miracle City and hundreds or thousands of mission worlds opening each time, finding one person is no easy task. But three days ago, Old Fu contacted us in the real world and asked us to help him with something."

"He... wanted you to help him... turn this world... into a trial world?" Ma Le guessed, unable to help but ask.

"Exactly, very smart. As for the reason, since you're going to die anyway, I might as well tell you." The girl smiled as she praised him, but Ma Le could only read contempt and mockery in her smile.

"Turns out, Old Fu is a trusted butler of a billionaire in the real world, responsible for taking care of the billionaire's only son. Recently, Old Fu's employer has had some problems, and the young master he serves might be in danger. Despite his power, Old Fu cannot protect the young master 24/7, and in the real world, adventurers' abilities are limited, making it difficult to ensure his safety. In desperation, he revealed the existence of Miracle City to the young master, who chose to enter Miracle City and become an adventurer!"

"However, Miracle City's selection of adventurers is unpredictable, and even if chosen to enter Miracle City, the dangers are far greater than in the real world. To address this, Old Fu sought methods, adventured alone in mission worlds, and went through countless hidden plots, risking his life to obtain a few special items. Using these items in a certain way, he could designate a world with a difficulty level not exceeding veteran as the young master's trial world. We could then cooperate with Old Fu, using another special item to enter the same world and help the young master complete the mission, maximizing the rewards. With the quadrupled difficulty rewards, the young master would far surpass other adventurers of the same level and become a superhuman as quickly as possible!"

"If so..." Ma Le forced a breath, puzzled, "Why... is it... me... here?"

"That's what we wondered too!" Xia Yingying said, grabbing Ma Le's hair and lifting his face. "For some reason, you, a confused newbie, ended up here, completely disrupting our plan!"

"But so be it, such accidents are not uncommon in the adventurer world." Xia Yingying released Ma Le, stood up, and sat on a nearby chair, crossing her legs. "When we saw your face, we immediately realized something was wrong. While you were unconscious, we formulated a new plan. Since the original plan failed, the goal of all adventurers is to maximize the benefits from the current world!"

"Considering the mission and the difficulty penalty, we remembered a rumor we heard from an adventurer a long time ago: Alex can be recruited!"

"Recruited?" Ma Le's mouth twitched in pain, and his speech was halting.

Xia Yingying stroked her chin and said calmly, "Yes, if certain conditions are met, adventurers can bring a character from a mission world out to follow them on their adventures. However, if the conditions are not met, adventurers cannot even inform the character about Miracle City, and any conversation about Miracle City will be blocked."

"Alex, as the protagonist of Prototype and extremely powerful, theoretically, cannot be recruited. However, an adventurer proposed a bold hypothesis: Alex's signature ability is absorption, which can instantly decompose and absorb any organism to strengthen himself. At the same time, absorption can read the memories of the absorbed!"

"In other words, if Alex absorbs an adventurer, he will know about Miracle City. Already confused, he might question the reality of his world. With proper guidance, he might agree to leave the Prototype world with the adventurer!"

Ma Le understood now: "So... I'm... the... unlucky one... to be absorbed... With your abilities... you could have forced me... to be absorbed... Why... deceive me..."

Xia Yingying frowned slightly but quickly regained her composure. "If we forced you, Alex would also know our plan when absorbing you. If he rebelled, we would lose more than we gain. The best way is to guide you to die voluntarily. In the Edge Space, you should have understood the concept of trial worlds. If you found five veterans upon entering, you would naturally be suspicious. So, we pretended to be newbies, with Jiang Dahu acting as the captain to guide newbies, gaining your trust."

"However, we were also lucky. According to our original estimate, it would take at least a few days to track Alex's movements. Unexpectedly, we quickly received a side mission about Alex, successfully luring him out. Plus, I secretly cast a perception-disrupting illusion on you, making you appear as a Blackwatch officer with special genes to Alex. He indeed tried to absorb you, but for some reason, it failed... By the way, you once told me that you sometimes blushed and felt your intelligence drop when you saw me? Hehe, that was due to my charm spell, subtly influencing you. Every time you suspected us, I would disrupt your thoughts!"

"You... bitch..." Ma Le gritted his teeth, and if he could move his hands and feet, he would have strangled Xia Yingying. "But unfortunately, even if Alex absorbs me... you won't succeed... He will read my memories... and know that... in my mind... this world... is Resident Evil... not Prototype!"

Xia Yingying was slightly taken aback, not expecting Ma Le to think of this "loophole" at such a time. She smiled faintly. "Do you think, as a character, Alex would know whether his world is called Resident Evil or Prototype?"

Ma Le was speechless, staring fiercely at Xia Yingying. The girl seemed to enjoy his hateful gaze, smiling as she stood up, picked up a gun from a Blackwatch soldier, and aimed it at Ma Le's forehead. "Alright, I've told you what you wanted to know. Any last words?"

Ma Le said nothing, just staring at Xia Yingying.

"Nothing to say? Fine then!" As she spoke, a gunshot rang out, and a black hole appeared on Ma Le's forehead. His eyes lost focus, and his head fell heavily to the ground...

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**End of Chapter**