Chapter 13

At the moment of Ma Le's death, several blue-purple energies emanated from his body, converging into Xia Yingying's hand. Xia Yingying spread her palm, and inside lay a blue-purple gem that resembled crystal.

Zhou Ruinan, upon seeing this, couldn't help but feel a great sense of regret: "Empress, it's not easy to obtain this black soul stone. Isn't it a waste to absorb the soul of such a rookie?"

Xia Yingying ignored Zhou Ruinan, holding the soul stone in front of her eyes. She sighed as she observed the surging life energy inside, then put the soul stone away and said to the others, "Let's go. We can't recruit Alex, and it's not practical to kill him. We won't gain much from this world. I'm tired; let's return!" As she spoke, a white light surged from her body, and she disappeared in an instant.

Liu Lei and Wang Na also chose to return. Jiang Daha was about to leave but was held back by Zhou Ruinan: "Big guy, do you think something is off with the Empress? She usually wouldn't waste so much time talking to a dying person!"

Jiang Daha sneered, "What could be off? Don't overthink it." With that, he also returned.

Zhou Ruinan glanced back at Ma Le's corpse, his eyes narrowing. He shook his head and chose to return as well.

The quiet room was left with only Ma Le's corpse, the black viral tissue still slowly writhing and emitting a nauseating sound...

...

"Ugh... ugh..." Ma Le slowly opened his eyes. He felt a bit dizzy, blinked hard, and shook his head, groaning as he sat up.

"Where am I... Oh no!" Ma Le suddenly remembered what had happened. He immediately jumped up and looked around, confirming that the veterans were gone before he let out a sigh of relief and slumped into a chair, exhausted.

"What exactly happened? I remember being shot..." Ma Le touched his forehead, which was smooth except for two pimples, with no bullet hole. He moved his body, and his broken right hand had healed, as had all his wounds, with no trace of blood. Only his tattered clothes remained to prove that the intense battle and betrayal were not a dream.

"Not only did the injuries heal, but it seems... my body is much lighter!" Ma Le jumped a few times in place, feeling his strength had increased, perhaps more than doubled. Clearly, after this near-death experience, Ma Le's attributes had significantly improved!

Ma Le carefully recalled the situation when he was "killed." At the time, his body was crippled and infected with the black light virus, and he was in great pain. Xia Yingying picked up a gun and shot him in the forehead, and then... Ma Le suddenly remembered that at the moment of being shot, he felt something strange. It was a very subtle feeling, as if a hidden function in his body had been triggered. Now, thinking about it, it seemed like the feeling of activating a skill.

Ma Le now had only three skills. The first two were passive abilities from the game, while the third was obtained from a lottery. Ma Le now remembered that the skill was called... Feign Death!

That's right, Feign Death! From the name, he was almost certain that he had activated this skill at the critical moment, creating the illusion of death and fooling the veterans! Thinking of this, Ma Le also remembered his mysterious talent, which allowed him to "not be affected by critical hit bonuses." At the time, he didn't fully understand it, but now, he realized that being hit in the head by a bullet would usually be fatal, which was the critical hit bonus. Even with the Feign Death skill, the bullet had hit him solidly, and his survival was likely due to this talent!

Ma Le took a deep breath. If his deduction was correct, he was incredibly lucky. The talent, skill, and attribute points were all necessary to save his life!

Ma Le clenched his fists. His body still felt weak, and he felt he had only about half his life force. Estimating the time it would take to recover, he looked at the dim light in the room and the darkness outside the window. It had probably been about five or six hours. Ma Le stood up and tried to turn on the light switch. Fortunately, the electricity was still on, as the infection had only been ten days, and the city's power system hadn't yet collapsed. But the next moment, Ma Le immediately turned off the light, cursing himself for being careless. In this infected area full of zombies, no one could live here, and the surroundings were dark. The light from the window would have been very noticeable, essentially telling the zombies and mutated creatures that someone was here! If it was just zombies, it would be manageable, but if it attracted the veterans back, it would be a disaster. Ma Le decided to leave the apartment immediately!

Ma Le picked up the metal stool he had been sitting on, but it felt awkward in his hands. He stepped on the stool with his foot and began to twist the metal legs. His strength had been enhanced, now more than ten times that of a normal person. The thick steel bars were easily twisted off in a few moves. He swung them a few times; they were a bit light, but better than fighting zombies bare-handed. Ah, Ma Le now missed his homemade iron spear...

He tiptoed out of the room, confirming that the corridor was safe. Ma Le quickly reached the stairs and began to descend, lifting his feet high and placing them lightly. The dimly lit stairs were covered with dark, foul-smelling blood, but Ma Le's nerves had been toughened, and this scene barely registered.

Suddenly, Ma Le felt a drop of water on his face. He touched it and found it was a thick, yellow liquid. Looking up, he saw a bloated zombie half-protruding from the railing above, its tongue extended, staring at him! Ma Le was startled and instinctively took a step back to dodge, but he forgot he was on the stairs. This step caused him to lose his footing and fall! The zombie above took the opportunity to pounce, landing on top of Ma Le!

Ma Le's strength far exceeded that of a normal person, and in theory, dealing with a zombie should have been no problem. However, he had only been in this world for less than a day, and the disgusting creature was more of a psychological burden. Being pinned by the zombie, Ma Le panicked and began to wildly strike and stab with the metal leg. Unfortunately, his opponent was a zombie that didn't feel pain. Despite Ma Le's immense strength, each strike created deep wounds, but as long as the head wasn't destroyed, the zombie continued to bite at Ma Le's neck.

Ma Le's body was already weak, and after a few struggles, he felt exhausted. He had only eaten a bun in the past ten hours, and the intense physical activity, combat, and subsequent recovery had consumed a lot of energy. Now, fighting the zombie, Ma Le felt both fatigue and hunger, especially the hunger, which made him think the zombie might taste good!

At first, Ma Le found this bizarre thought disgusting, but as the hunger intensified, he began to view the zombie as food, and the idea became uncontrollable! In Ma Le's eyes, the zombie was no longer a disgusting monster but a delicious, protein-rich, crispy snack.

Driven by this near-hallucinatory feeding instinct, Ma Le subconsciously threw away the metal leg and grabbed the zombie's neck with both hands, squeezing hard into the flesh! Suddenly, his hands transformed, becoming countless black tentacles that pierced the zombie's body, instantly decomposing and assimilating it into the same black tissue, which was then absorbed...

Ma Le stared at his hands in shock, taking a while to realize what had happened. His eyes widened as he exclaimed, "Damn!"

He was clear about what had happened, but also confused. It was undoubtedly the signature skill of Alex Mercer, the protagonist of Prototype, Absorption! But why could he, Ma Le, use it?

After much thought, there was only one explanation. When Ma Le was infected by Alex, his body was filled with countless black light virus tissues. During his feigned death and unconsciousness, these tissues were miraculously assimilated by him! Now, Ma Le had become a perfect evolutionary being like Alex! This also perfectly explained his greatly improved physical attributes upon waking up!

Ma Le was both surprised and grateful. He had been so favored by fate, being a perfect match for the black light virus? Indeed, great misfortune often brings great fortune. The veteran group hadn't killed him but had instead given him such a valuable gift!

In fact, Ma Le was indeed very lucky, but not because of his special constitution. Although his compatibility with the black light virus was high, if he had been infected alone, he might still have become a zombie. However, when Xia Yingying "killed" him, she had intended to use the soul stone to bind his soul!

The soul stone is a special item from the Elder Scrolls universe, capable of binding a creature's soul upon death, which can be used as energy in enchantment spells. However, Ma Le was not truly dead at the time, so what soul did Xia Yingying bind?

This requires an understanding of the black light virus. Unlike ordinary viruses that act on instinct, the black light virus has strong evolutionary capabilities and can even mimic the cognitive abilities of higher organisms! Alex is the best example; the black light virus consumed his body and used it as a template to create a viral prototype, which, though a virus, possessed personality and cognitive abilities! Therefore, the black light virus, when it finds a suitable host, can be considered a virus with a soul!

In this case, the soul is essentially autonomous consciousness, or cellular will. The black light virus was given the will to decompose and absorb Ma Le, but this will was accidentally bound by Xia Yingying's soul stone, greatly reducing the virus's activity, leaving only its destructive instincts. However, Ma Le had a peculiar talent, "Unknown Constitution," which made the virus's microscopic destruction, primarily targeting the brain, organs, and immune system, and relying on critical hit bonuses to kill, ineffective. The virus wandered in his body but could not cause substantial harm, gradually being assimilated as Ma Le's life force recovered, eventually fusing with him.

However, Ma Le's constitution was not a perfect match for the black light virus. Even though he had evolved by chance, the attribute points he gained were not many, just a few dozen points in strength, agility, endurance, spirit, and perception. In comparison, the protagonists of the two games could lift cars and smash planes upon their first infection, which was a true perfect match!

---

(End of Chapter)