Chapter 14

After absorbing the zombie, Ma Le felt his health restored, and the hunger and fatigue vanished. According to the game's rules, absorbing creatures could restore health and also read their memories. However, since the zombie's brain was already occupied by the virus and lacked intelligence, Ma Le didn't read any memories.

Standing up, he stretched his limbs, feeling the abundant energy. Ma Le still couldn't believe that he had just "eaten" a zombie. At the time, driven by hunger, the zombie tasted delicious, but now, thinking about it, he felt waves of nausea... But now wasn't the time to be squeamish; he needed to leave quickly.

Since Ma Le had the ability to absorb, he was no longer afraid of ordinary zombies. Now, in terms of the degree of infection by the Blacklight virus, he was more severe than all the zombies! Ma Le hurriedly left the apartment and, under the cover of night, arrived at a supermarket. Although the streets were full of zombies that could serve as "food," if the situation wasn't dire, Ma Le still preferred to eat normal food.

It had been less than ten days since the infection, and the supermarket, though messy, still had vacuum-packed food that was edible, and many of the cookies and bread had not expired. Ma Le found a shopping cart and picked enough food for seven days, filling more than half the cart. He then removed the wheels, twisted the middle iron basket into a sealed "iron net bag," and found a rope to tie the "iron net bag" to his body, quietly leaving the supermarket.

For a place to stay, Ma Le chose another apartment building. The reason was simple: the corridors in apartment buildings were narrow, making it difficult for mutated creatures like Hunters to squeeze in. Even if they managed to enter, they wouldn't have much room to maneuver, increasing his chances of survival.

Ma Le put in a lot of effort to transport the large basket of food to the second floor of the apartment, cleared all the zombies on that floor, and then blocked the stairwell entrance with a lot of debris. This way, ordinary zombies wouldn't be able to enter this floor. As for himself, he could enter and exit through the windows, and with his current physical condition, climbing two or three floors was like a walk in the park.

After spending the night settling everything, Ma Le chose a relatively clean room to stay in. Looking at the food that would last him seven days, he began to plan how to spend the next few days.

First, Ma Le remembered that the plot of Prototype 1 actually only spanned eighteen days, from when Alex released the virus and the Prototype was born, to the eighteenth day when the U.S. military planned to use a nuclear bomb to clear Manhattan, which Alex prevented by redirecting the bomb into the ocean. It was now the tenth day of the infection, and the mission required him to survive for seven days, meaning he could leave on the seventeenth day, avoiding the final nuclear explosion.

As for the plot of the next seven days, although Ma Le couldn't remember it clearly, he was certain there was no threat that could endanger all of Manhattan. It seemed that as long as he stayed in the apartment, he would be safe.

However, Ma Le didn't think so. Even if this world could be safely passed, there were still more dangerous worlds waiting for him. He needed not just safety, but the ability and qualities to ensure his own safety. Moreover, Ma Le had a new goal: he secretly vowed to settle accounts with the veterans who had almost killed him! For this, he needed to become stronger as quickly as possible, using every second to enhance his strength!

Thus, Ma Le settled into the infected apartment building, hunting zombies and gathering supplies during the day, and returning to the apartment to rest at night.

These tasks sounded easy, but in reality, they were life-threatening. Manhattan was not only filled with zombies but also with mutated creatures like Hunters. Ma Le had encountered Hunters multiple times, each time narrowly escaping by hiding in narrow buildings. Once, a Hunter's claw even pierced his heart, but thanks to his "Unknown Constitution" ability, the damage wasn't fatal. Instead, it gave him a chance to counterattack, severely injuring and absorbing the Hunter.

This was the first time Ma Le absorbed a creature other than a zombie. Although the Hunter was also a virus-infected mutant, it had a simple mind, so Ma Le finally experienced the feeling of reading memories. As he absorbed the Hunter's brain, turning it into minced meat, countless memory fragments flashed through his mind, chaotic and fragmented. But these fragments were not useless; they provided information about the distribution of Hunters in the city, which would be helpful for his future actions. When Ma Le came to his senses, only about a second had passed.

Subsequently, Ma Le felt a sense of satisfaction spread through his body, as if a warm current flowed through his veins, instantly healing his wounds and dispelling his fatigue. He keenly sensed that his attributes had improved! This feeling was different from when he absorbed zombies, indicating that not just any creature could provide significant benefits; to enhance his strength, he needed to absorb powerful monsters!

Speaking of absorption, Ma Le had absorbed no fewer than a hundred zombies in the past few days, gradually summarizing the various characteristics of his absorption ability. In reality, the absorption ability differed from the game in several ways.

First, there was a cooldown period. Ma Le couldn't continuously use his absorption ability. For ordinary zombies, the interval between absorptions was about ten to twenty minutes, which was not fixed and generally depended on the strength of the last absorbed creature. The stronger the creature, the longer the interval before the next absorption. For example, after absorbing the Hunter, Ma Le couldn't use his absorption ability for several hours, making him think it was broken... If he forced another absorption during the cooldown, he would feel a sense of fullness, as if he had no appetite and couldn't eat more. Ma Le speculated that this "cooldown" was a digestion period for his body.

Second, there was the ability to disguise. In the game, Alex could transform into the exact appearance of any creature he absorbed, even matching fingerprints. Ma Le tried this and found that he could indeed transform into the appearance of absorbed zombies. Moreover, his body had a magical memory function. Each time he absorbed a creature, he could temporarily remember its appearance. Even if he returned to his original form, his body would remember the previous shape, allowing him to transform at any time until he absorbed another creature, which would replace the previous one.

Additionally, Ma Le discovered that his body could permanently remember three appearances. Once an appearance was permanently remembered, no matter how many creatures he absorbed, it couldn't be replaced unless Ma Le chose to abandon it. This way, including the three permanent memories, one temporary memory, and his original appearance, he could have five different appearances at the same time!

Transforming into other appearances wasn't just a change in appearance; it also included changes in voice, body odor, etc. Ma Le even once transformed into a zombie and walked down a street full of zombies for an hour without being detected. However, this ability had a drawback: transforming into a zombie reduced his strength, the extent of which depended on the zombie's size. Thinner zombies reduced his strength more, while stronger ones reduced it less. But no matter how large the zombie, it would still be weaker than Ma Le's original form.

Furthermore, in the game, after absorbing Blackwatch soldiers, Alex could even transform into their uniforms, including communication devices and gas masks, which could still function! In reality, this was a bit absurd. Ma Le could transform into clothing by breaking down and scanning the fabric, remembering its structure and material. However, this was limited to natural materials like cotton or leather; synthetic materials like nylon or polyester couldn't be transformed. Additionally, metal buttons, zippers, and plastic accessories couldn't be analyzed or transformed. Therefore, every time Ma Le transformed into clothing, parts would fall to the ground, leaving him in a strange outfit without buttons or zippers.

Incidentally, after absorbing the Hunter, Ma Le tried to transform into this mutated creature but failed. Both were infected creatures, but zombies could be transformed into, while Hunters couldn't. Ma Le speculated that the issue was the size difference; he couldn't transform into something that was too different in size.

Four days passed quickly, and Ma Le gradually adapted to this bloody and tense life. He felt he had indeed become stronger. This strength wasn't just in attributes or skills but in a shift in his mindset! The accumulation of experience gave him a calm demeanor, and a person accustomed to killing and fighting could perform at 120% in life-and-death situations, while someone with strength but an unstable mindset would struggle to perform, no matter how powerful they were!

The Ma Le of now was vastly different from the rookie of four days ago. His eyes appeared dull and lifeless, only flashing with a fierce light when he sensed danger. His expression was relaxed and casual, only becoming strong and resolute when an enemy approached. At this moment, Ma Le's appearance was quite absurd: he carried a rocket launcher on his back, hand grenades on his waist, an automatic rifle around his neck, and a "pipe spear" in his hand. On the first day, Ma Le returned to the building where he encountered Alex, not only obtaining enough weapons and equipment but also finding the "pipe spear" that helped him kill the first Hunter. It seemed he had a special connection with this weapon.

Ma Le squinted and looked at the western sky; the sun was about to set, and the fourth day was almost over. He had three more days to survive before he could return. Today, he didn't plan to return to the original apartment room but came to a dilapidated building. He climbed to the fourth floor, hiding in a dim room, and looked down from the window.

Not far below was a Blackwatch checkpoint, separating the infected area from the safe zone. Next to the checkpoint were temporary defensive fortifications, and beyond them was a military base. Behind these military facilities was the safe zone where civilians lived.

Ma Le had been misled by Jiang Dahu, subconsciously viewing the military as the enemy. Now, he realized that in Prototype, the military mainly consisted of the Marine Corps and Blackwatch, which generally wouldn't openly harm civilians. Moreover, after the infection outbreak, Manhattan was completely sealed off, and residents couldn't leave, so many civilians still lived in the uninfected safe zones.

Unfortunately, Blackwatch wouldn't let anyone escape from the infected area, even if they had no external injuries, they would be thoroughly checked. For ordinary people, this might be manageable, but Ma Le was no longer ordinary. He had gained some of Alex's abilities, and if discovered by Blackwatch, they would dissect him for research! Therefore, these past few days, he had only dared to watch the streets and pedestrians in the safe zone from a distance, not daring to risk crossing the checkpoint.

However, today was different. Ma Le finally had a chance to sneak into the safe zone!