Wesker clutched his right eye, writhing in agony, gasping for air.
He hadn't been injected with any anesthetics, and the pain of his eyeball being blown out was unimaginable.
Cold sweat streamed down his forehead, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably.
When his gaze fell upon Javier, an uncontrollable, mountain-shattering rage surged within him, his molars almost grinding to dust.
In that moment, Wesker swore he would kill Javier, that seemingly harmless, grinning bastard, who was even more detestable than Chris, that sanctimonious hypocrite.
...
On the other side, after blasting out Wesker's right eye with a single strike, Javier immediately raised his Desert Eagle, its cold, black barrel aimed at Wesker's head, as if ready to end Wesker's life at any moment.
"..."
"First blood, I've taken it," Javier said, looking at Wesker's resentful expression.
Javier didn't hesitate, quickly pulling the trigger.
Javier knew he couldn't completely eliminate Wesker, because the power of the Progenitor Virus was immense; as long as Wesker's resentment and anger were deep enough, he could use the virus to resurrect himself into any terrifying monster.
Therefore, Javier did not intend to provoke Wesker.
He just planned to kill him once first.
As for whether it was a feigned death or not, Javier didn't care; as long as he could deceive the system's golden finger, it was fine.
His current strength was too weak, and trying to completely kill a berserk Wesker was too difficult and not worth the risk.
After all, with the examples of G William and the Tracker, those two were as disgusting as unkillable cockroaches; no matter how many times they were killed, they would revive and pursue relentlessly.
Javier didn't want to experience the feeling of Jill being crazily pursued by the little tracker pervert, so he only intended to take Wesker's first blood!
"Click..."
"Boom—!!!"
A violent gunshot rang out.
The.50 caliber Magnum bullet instantly whistled out, a visible shockwave rippling outwards, and the orange-yellow bullet head rapidly flew towards Wesker's head.
Just as it was thought Wesker would be killed by this one blow, "Die!" a low roar came from Wesker's throat.
His previously shattered hand rapidly slammed towards Javier's face, completely disregarding any pain, even if only bare bones remained, like a wooden stick, it solidly struck Javier's face.
Intense pain spread through both of them.
Javier was struck painfully by the bone arm, his face was bruised and bleeding, and his head was dizzy.
And Wesker… he used his exposed bone arm as a weapon to attack, and the intense pain was undoubtedly no different from rubbing salt into a wound.
As for the Magnum bullet that had just been fired, due to Wesker's sudden outburst, the bullet did not hit Wesker's head, but instead struck his shoulder, splattering blood and creating a gruesome, gaping wound.
Wesker's shoulder looked terrifying, as if it had been half-severed.
But Wesker still felt nothing.
With one eye blinded, Wesker grabbed Javier's collar and began to violently ram Javier's head with his remaining forehead.
They hurt each other, and soon, blood flowed from both their heads; they were practically covered in blood!
"..."
"Now, let's see who wins, huh? Rookie—!!!"
Mocking Javier with his words, Wesker, who had suddenly burst forth and taken the initiative, gave Javier no chance to breathe.
He continuously slammed his forehead into Javier's head, like a relentless storm, leaving Javier's face covered in wounds.
It had to be admitted, a struggling Wesker was incredibly tenacious.
"Bang!"
Another elbow strike came, slamming hard into Javier's face.
The almost numb pain in his face gave Javier a chance to breathe.
Picking up his Desert Eagle again, Javier aimed at Wesker's heart and frantically pulled the trigger, emptying the magazine instantly, and blood gushed like a fountain from Wesker's back!
"Bang—bang—bang—bang—bang—!!!"
Five bullets were fired in rapid succession simultaneously.
The terrifying destructive power tore five bloody holes in Wesker's chest; his heart, lungs, and other vital organs were instantly ripped apart by the cavitation effect.
Wesker's previously frantic smashing movements immediately ceased, and he instantly collapsed to the ground.
Is he dead…?
In a sense, he was indeed dead.
Because in Wesker's current state, he was still within human limits, so being shot through the heart by bullets still meant instant death.
However, he wasn't completely dead… because he had been injected with the Progenitor Virus.
The virus would not allow its host to die, because once the host died, they would also disappear.
This state of mutual prosperity and mutual loss would cause the virus to frantically revive the host, no matter what form the host might take.
After all… the virus only wanted a host that could be parasitized and survive.
"Being parasitic" and "surviving" were the two states the virus desired.
As for what the host would eventually become, that was not something these non-cellular microbial viruses needed to worry about, just like the G Virus; even if the host became a puddle of mud, they could still keep that puddle of mud alive, because they needed the host to parasitize, and whether the mud was ugly or not was irrelevant.
Therefore—
"Ho ho…"
Just as Javier truly believed Wesker had temporarily fallen into a death-like dormancy, Wesker, who was lying in front of him, suddenly let out another low snarl.
However, this snarl was not human-like, but completely that of a beast.
Javier had heard such gasps countless times from those mutated zombies.
It was the yearning and greed for human food, the gasps of wanting to gnaw and devour everything… Could it be—
Thinking of this, Javier struggled to crawl backward, but to no avail.
The previous battle had almost completely exhausted Javier's physical strength; he simply didn't have the strength to stand up and escape.
Coupled with the wounds and bloodstains all over his face, Javier couldn't even see clearly, and what was even more frustrating was that the Desert Eagle magazines on his waist were all empty.
At this moment, Javier was truly unarmed…
On the other side, Wesker's evolution under the erosion of the Progenitor Virus was incredibly fast.
This was thanks to his will to survive, because he didn't want to die so quickly, coupled with his hatred for Javier and the S.T.A.R.S team, which led Wesker to successfully accept the power of the Progenitor Virus, and his entire body began to undergo a transformation.
Of course… this transformation was a malignant one.
A wrong evolutionary path.
Although Wesker endured the evolutionary power brought by the Progenitor Virus, he had no way to restrain or control this power, after all, Wesker at this time was not voluntarily feigning death, but was forced to die.
Unlike the original world line, to deceive everyone, Wesker was originally gutted by a T-002 Tyrant, and at that time, he controlled the virus to enter a state of suspended animation, then upon awakening, he successfully achieved a deeper, perfect fusion with the Progenitor Virus, allowing him to easily control the Progenitor Virus.
But now it was different.
Now, Wesker had died involuntarily, and at the moment of his death, he had no way to manipulate the Progenitor Virus to revive himself.
Instead, the Progenitor Virus simply believed that the host was about to die, and they had to save and revive the host's life; these were completely different concepts.
The former was giving himself new life, controlling the Progenitor Virus to obtain the power he desired, while the latter was being arbitrarily transformed and revived by the Progenitor Virus.
Therefore…
"Ho ho ho…"
Another low snarl.
To Javier's surprise, Wesker's previously shattered hand slowly began to sprout new flesh, twisting into an ugly, festering beast claw.
The gruesome wound on his shoulder, which was almost severed, rapidly healed, intertwining into a dark, hard tumor.
As for his blind eye, a new orange-yellow eyeball grew back, but that eyeball was not Wesker's; instead, it seemed to have a mind of its own, freely surveying the surroundings.
Sharp fangs also gradually grew around Wesker's mouth, making him even more grotesque and terrifying than a regular zombie.
At this moment, Wesker had completely lost his self-awareness, entirely controlled by the Progenitor Virus.
As for that orange-yellow eyeball, it was the consciousness of the Progenitor Virus.
It used and manipulated Wesker's body to re-perceive this world… and at the same time, its gaze towards Javier became greedy.
As the instinct of the virus, it wanted to infect any host it could parasitize—!
And this was the consequence of being controlled by the Progenitor Virus.
Wesker's cool appearance had plummeted by more than half, even hitting rock bottom; describing him as ugly would not be an exaggeration.
If this were a world where strength was determined by appearance, Wesker at this moment was almost like Aizen with his hair gel, beginning to enter a wrong evolutionary path.
After all, evolution, the more it evolves, the more refined it should become.
How could anyone evolve to become uglier and larger in size, just like modern technology, the more precise instruments and equipment will abandon bulky sizes and become smaller and more portable, because they no longer need those overly cumbersome things.
But now… Wesker had completely leaned towards becoming a zombie.
This was a wrong way of evolution, and Wesker himself probably never expected to become like this.
As for the Progenitor Virus… as mentioned before, the Progenitor Virus didn't care about ugliness.
It only needed the host to become stronger, and without a doubt, Wesker, with his sharp fangs, giant claws, and hardened shoulder muscles, had perfectly overcome his previous flaws!
"Ho ho ho—!!!"
With a low growl, Wesker, controlled by the Progenitor Virus, rapidly charged towards Javier.
The Progenitor Virus intended to use Javier's flesh as part of its infection and replication.
As for Javier himself, he struggled to get up from the ground, his body leaning against the tunnel wall.
Wiping the blood from his face, he watched the incredibly ugly Wesker pounce towards him.
Though a little panicked at first, he quickly calmed down.
Javier was panicked because he was afraid of death itself.
He hadn't expected to be caught off guard like this, nor did he anticipate Wesker being controlled by the Progenitor Virus and reviving so quickly.
This completely exceeded limits; perhaps this was an unforeseen consequence of the butterfly effect, and it could be said Javier brought it upon himself.
As for the calm…
Approaching death for the second time, Javier felt nothing, as if he hadn't completely integrated into the Resident Evil world, still treating it as a virtual one.
But the intense, piercing pain on his face constantly reminded Javier that this was a real world—!
This strong contrast and contradiction plunged Javier into deep confusion and bewilderment.
Therefore, at this moment, his face was blank, as if he were quietly waiting to die.
However, just as the Progenitor Virus, controlling Wesker, was about to bite down on Javier's neck, a strange chain sound echoed in the tunnel, as if something heavy was being dragged slowly.
"Clatter… "
"Clatter… Clatter…"
The sudden strange noise caught the attention of the Progenitor Virus.
It made Wesker's head twist directly around.
At the end of the other side of the tunnel, a shadow slowly began to emerge.
The shadow flickered and distorted under the dim light, appearing exceptionally eerie and grotesque.
At the same time, it was accompanied by a strong oppressive aura.
Perhaps Javier, as a human, couldn't feel this aura, but the Progenitor Virus controlling Wesker could clearly sense that strong oppressive feeling—extremely lethal and dangerous.
The Progenitor Virus even smelled that the other party had a virus, just like itself, but it wasn't the same type of virus; rather, it was a newly evolved virus, full of tenacious vitality and a frantic aura.
This aura made even the most primordial Progenitor Virus feel a strong threat…
"Ho ho ho…"
Still the familiar low snarl, the distorted shadow gradually appeared before the Progenitor Virus, Wesker, and Javier.
A mass of messy, knotted flaxen hair was draped behind her, its tips dark red from prolonged exposure to blood.
Her back was covered in dense, writhing Plaga parasite tentacles, flailing wildly and grotesquely.
Slightly hunched, her body was slender and elongated, heavy iron shackles on her hands, but the center of the shackles had been cut off, and the iron chains on her wrists and ankles dangled to the ground, making a "clatter" sound as she walked…
Beneath her disheveled face were a pair of dark red, bloodshot eyes, constantly emitting a dangerous aura.
And the person who arrived was none other than the monstrous girl, Lisa Trevor—!
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Shedding
At this moment, Lisa… her greatly changed appearance somewhat surprised Javier.
Originally, Lisa's upper body, specifically her head, should have been covered by layers upon layers of thick human skin, making her look quite bizarre; after all, no one wouldn't feel revulsion and disgust at those terrified human faces.
But now, those ugly, terrified human faces had all disappeared, which was quite unbelievable, as if she had undergone a surgical removal.
What was even more miraculous was that Lisa also had long flaxen hair draped over her shoulders.
Although this hair had become matted, sticky, and tangled from prolonged immersion in the flesh and blood of human faces, with some of the tips even turning dark red, it still proved that Lisa retained a human appearance.