When all tricks were exhausted and there was no hope of victory,
one should cast aside all dignity and pride, kneel before the opponent, and repent for past mistakes. Perhaps then, there might still be a glimmer of hope for survival.
"Truly wrong?" Lam Pham looked at the mercenary kneeling before him. When encountering such a survivor, many things became much easier. Thinking back on the other survivors he had met, they were truly infuriating.
He had acted very friendly, but who would have thought those survivors would be so vicious, either stabbing him with a knife or shooting him with a gun, forcing him to act in self-defense.
"I was truly wrong. I am willing to turn over a new leaf."
This mercenary had long since thrown his sniper rifle aside. He was no fool. The person before him was not someone he could deal with. Even those monsters in the base he came from would have to kneel and behave when faced with such a terrifying figure.
Lam Pham said, "You still have two companions, right?"
"Yes, yes, I'll have them come out right now." Hearing Lam Pham's words, he reacted in an instant and hurriedly spoke into his earpiece, "Cho Con, Dai Bao, drop your weapons and get over here now! We surrender, we admit defeat! Don't put up any useless resistance."
He spoke very directly.
The other two mercenaries, hidden in the distance, heard this, blinked, looked at the sniper rifles in their hands, then looked into the distance. Finally, with a sigh, they put away their rifles and prepared to come over and surrender.
They were all combat personnel with rich combat experience.
But they now understood clearly that some people were truly not someone they could handle.
Just as their companion had said, all resistance now was futile.
Just as these two mercenaries were about to come out,
suddenly,
they felt a chill behind them, accompanied by a gloomy voice that made them shiver uncontrollably.
"The price for betraying the organization, have you considered it?"
Just as these two mercenaries were about to speak, they felt an icy coldness on their necks. Then, they touched their necks; it was sticky. Looking at their fingers, they were stained with bright red blood.
They wanted to speak, but their throats could only produce a hoarse, gloomy sound. The world spun, and with a thud, they collapsed to the ground. As their consciousness gradually faded, they saw the figure standing in front of them.
They knew who these people were.
The Aberrants from the base, terrifying fellows with dreadful strength. They were like demons, capable of capturing and killing zombies at will with their own power.
At this time,
the mercenary captured by Lam Pham was waiting. "Strange, why haven't they shown up yet?"
He had already notified his other two companions to surrender. Logically, they should have surrendered. But looking at the current situation, they should have crawled out by now.
Suddenly,
a rustling sound came from the mountain forest. A figure, like a ghost, streaked through at high speed, its target unexpectedly being the mercenary standing next to Lam Pham. If it were any ordinary person facing such a situation, they would definitely not have time to react.
Clang!
Lam Pham acted, grabbing the opponent's wrist. The mercenary next to him saw the suddenly appearing figure, and his expression changed completely. This person was an Aberrant from the base.
Did he suddenly appear in front of him to kill him?
Thinking of this, he felt a wave of fear.
"Hey, your actions are really not good. He has already abandoned evil for good and is under my protection. You are not allowed to harm him," Lam Pham said.
The moment he let go of the opponent's wrist, this Aberrant fiercely retreated. The five fingers of its right arm had turned into sharp flesh blades, extremely sharp, definitely a lethal weapon.
A total of two Aberrants appeared in front of Lam Pham.
Both were male, in their thirties, exuding a fierce aura.
The surviving mercenary hid behind Lam Pham.
His two companions hadn't appeared for a long time. Seeing the current situation, they had definitely met a tragic end.
"Lam Pham of the Hoang City Sunshine Shelter, I hear you're very strong. My brother and I don't quite believe it. Are you really that awesome?"
These two Aberrants were very confident in their own strength.
They too were once weak and powerless ordinary people.
But in the base, they were injected with serums, fused with zombie genes, and their own bodies underwent a world-shaking change, surpassing the limits of humans and reaching an unimaginable level.
"So-so."
Lam Pham assessed the two in front of him. "I hope you can maintain your reason. My target is not you, but the Aberrant organization that turned you into this. Although the apocalypse is very terrifying, it's not without hope. Fusing with zombie genes to enhance one's own strength is not the best choice."
He hoped he could make these two Aberrants understand this point.
However, he found that many Aberrants who had been injected with serums had very irritable tempers, with a sense of not taking anyone seriously.
"Hahaha... ridiculous, foolish and ignorant. What do you know? Do you know how exhilarating it is to possess true power?"
One of the Aberrants sneered at what Lam Pham said, not taking him seriously at all.
Lam Pham shook his head, expressing regret for their actions.
He had seen too many survivors like this.
Thinking they had some strength, they began to act lawlessly, not putting anyone in their eyes.
Tu Giang, inside the base, had been paying attention to the situation here all along.
He urged the two Aberrants to act quickly.
He knew these two Aberrants were definitely not Lam Pham's match, but now was not the time to care about these things. Stall, they must stall. He was already thinking of a way.
The two Aberrants exchanged a look, nodded in understanding, and in an instant, rushed towards Lam Pham. Their speed was very fast, even faster than a cheetah.
One of them targeted Lam Pham, while the other targeted the surrendered mercenary.
"If you act like this, I can only defend myself," Lam Pham reminded them, hoping they would stop in time. All along, many unfriendly survivors had been killed by him in a state of self-defense.
He was different from Officer Hoang. In Officer Hoang's eyes, there was only right and wrong.
Right could live.
Wrong was death.
But he was willing to give any survivor a chance to change.
Such a chance depended on whether they were willing to cherish it.
The two Aberrants did not take Lam Pham's words to heart. The Aberrant rushing towards Lam Pham had a cold smile on his lips. He fiercely swung his arm, the sound of it breaking the air. The flesh and tissue of his arm changed, turning into the most classic flesh scythe form.
This was a change that many Aberrants would undergo.
Common and yet possessing astonishing lethality.
"Die!"
The Aberrant roared, raising the flesh scythe high and bringing it down from the sky, aiming viciously at Lam Pham's head.
"Sigh."
Lam Pham sighed. Faced with danger, he would never be careless. He carried a heavy burden and needed to do many things. He absolutely could not joke with his own life.
If he encountered danger, then many things would be unable to proceed.
Boom!
As the opponent approached, Lam Pham didn't think and threw a punch at the opponent's chest. A dull thud sounded. This Aberrant's expression suddenly changed completely, and his body was sent flying.
Crash!
Crash!
Trees were broken, unable to stop him.
The Aberrant who was sent flying lay on the ground, his blurry eyes looking at the vast blue sky. He vaguely felt that his chest was very empty, like a small stream was flowing, and a viscous stream was pouring down from some kind of wide gully.
He wanted to touch his chest to see what was going on.
But he didn't even have the strength to lift his hand.
Let alone strength,
even his consciousness was beginning to dissipate.
And the Aberrant who had locked onto the mercenary thought that his companion could hold on for a while. Who would have thought that his companion rushed up very fast, and flew out even faster.
In a flash, the person was gone.
He didn't care about this and still focused on his target. Just as he was approaching, a huge force came from the side. He couldn't dodge it. In an instant, he felt his waist was severely injured, and his whole body spun out, as if his body was not his own.
The two confident Aberrants were finished in an instant.
Fighting was like that.
It often happened in an instant.
"Is it over?" The mercenary hiding behind Lam Pham observed nervously.
Lam Pham said, "It's over. You can take me to the base entrance."
"Ah... ah..."
The mercenary looked at the two corpses in the distance, licked his lips, and was glad that his choice was wise. Surrendering was not a shameful thing. A wise man submits to circumstances; that was the decisive principle.
Inside the base,
"Damn it, what a bunch of trash. The serum injected into them wasn't low-grade."
Tu Giang watched helplessly as the two Aberrants were dealt with.
They didn't even have a chance to mutate their genes.
Aberrants had two forms. One was to maintain a humanoid form for combat, and the other was genetic mutation, an uncontrollable non-human form. This form had no turning back. Once the genes mutated without limit, they would become terrifying monsters.
But it was too late to say anything now.
The people were gone.
What was the point of talking about mutation or not?
Tu Giang looked at the assistant beside him, prepared to throw caution to the wind. "Prepare all the serums for me. Open the final project."
"But that project is still in the debugging phase. Everything is unstable. Something will definitely go wrong," the assistant beside him said.
Their final project was to obtain an embryo. This embryo was found in the body of a dead Creator and had a very strong life force. This kind of life force was something they had never encountered before, so vibrant.
"Are you talking to me about instability now? Look at the current situation. Do you think that Lam Pham will give us a chance?" Tu Giang roared angrily.
The assistant lowered his head, knowing that what Tu Giang said made sense.
But this situation would definitely cause a big problem.
There was no way.
Tu Giang was the person in charge here. What he said went. There was no way to resist.
...
"Is the entrance here?"
Lam Pham followed behind the mercenary. He felt that the entrance to this base was hidden very deeply. If he had to look for it, it would probably be difficult.
Of course, he knew that the base's space was under his feet.
If he couldn't find the entrance, directly punching through the ground was a last resort, but if he could find the entrance, who would want to take another path?
The mercenary said, "Yes, it's right here, hidden very deeply."
Soon,
they came to a cave in front of a mountain. It looked like an ordinary mountain cave, with weeds and trees growing around it. If you didn't look carefully, you really might not be able to find it.
"I'll go first. You follow behind me." Lam Pham stopped him and had him follow behind.
The current location was not safe.
It was accompanied by various dangers.
Walking inside, they encountered a sealed metal gate. The mercenary spread his hands, indicating that he didn't know the password to the gate. In this situation, Lam Pham just smiled slightly.
He tore the metal gate open with his bare hands.
Seeing this situation, the mercenary pursed his lips and revealed a faint smile. Only a smile could alleviate the shock in his heart.
He had long been used to this kind of situation.
"While you were staying in this base, were there any survivors locked up?" Lam Pham asked.
The mercenary shook his head and said, "No, there used to be, but they all became test subjects. It's been a long time since any survivors were captured. It's probably because it's getting harder and harder to find living survivors now."
Lam Pham's mood was very low. It was useless to regret. Things had already happened and couldn't be turned back.
But at this time,
holes appeared in the walls of the corridor, and embedded weapons appeared.
Swish...
A silver light flashed.
The embedded weapons instantly exploded.
"Be careful, there are obstacles ahead," Lam Pham reminded him.
"Got it."
The mercenary followed closely behind Lam Pham. He knew the situation of this base and remembered that there were many dangerous weapons, not only for preventing foreign invasion, but also for dealing with the monsters created in research when they went out of control.
They walked and walked.
The laser corridor opened.
This kind of laser could even cut through steel plates. Once you fell into the trap of this kind of weapon, unless you cut off the power, it was a dead end.
"Many bases have this kind of weapon."
Lam Pham had been to several bases, and they all had this kind of weapon. The best way to deal with them was to punch the wall. The impact force would explode, forming a destructive shockwave, and the laser weapon would automatically shut down.
This seemingly simple solution actually dumbfounded the mercenary following behind.
Truly terrifying to the extreme.
Becoming an enemy of such a person was the most foolish act.
At this time, Tu Giang was paying close attention to the monitor. Seeing Lam Pham getting closer and closer, his face gradually became extremely gloomy. Then he quickly checked the evolution of the embryo.
After being injected with various serums, the embryo had begun to develop.
The flesh and blood swelled, and the tentacles stained with viscous liquid waved wantonly.
Boom!
Boom!
An accident occurred among the researchers who were injecting the embryo with serum in the laboratory.
The vibrant embryo was developing to the extreme. The surrounding researchers were targeted by the embryo in the Creator's body. The tentacles containing violent power wrapped around the researchers.
The miserable screams were incessant, sounding very tragic.
Tu Giang's expression was extremely calm. Everything was out of control, and he attributed all this uncontrollability to Lam Pham.
If Lam Pham hadn't appeared,
none of what was happening now would have happened.
...
"Did you hear the miserable screams?" Lam Pham looked at the mercenary following behind him. He had just heard a series of miserable screams coming from ahead.
"No."
The mercenary shook his head. He really hadn't heard it.
Lam Pham said, "When the heart is quiet enough, you can hear many sounds. I think something must have happened ahead. Is a terrifying monster being born to deal with me?"
He found that some survivors now were very irritable.
In order to accomplish something, they would become very crazy.
The mercenary was frightened by Lam Pham and was a little nervous. He could only shrink behind him and nod.
"Yes, you can hear many sounds when you're quiet. But I believe that with you here, no monster will be a problem."
Lam Pham said, "Confidence is good, but you must be wary of unknown dangers. No one is the strongest. Even me, sometimes I need to give the opponent enough respect."
The mercenary felt that Lam Pham of the Sunshine Shelter was truly humble.
Soon,
they arrived in front of a sealed laboratory.
This door was stained with sticky blood.
It was obvious that something very terrifying had just happened.
"Be careful, we're going in," Lam Pham said.
"Oh."
As they approached, the tightly closed laboratory door opened. It was a mess inside. The ground was covered in blood, and the surrounding equipment had been destroyed.
The mercenary swallowed his saliva. The pungent smell of blood assaulted his sense of smell.
How many people had to die to create such a disgusting scene?
On the ceiling behind the mercenary, a tentacle slowly descended, silently. At a suitable distance, the tentacle instantly exerted force, wanting to wrap around the mercenary and pull him into the ceiling.
Swish!
A flash appeared in front of the mercenary's eyes. He couldn't see what was happening clearly at all. He just felt something wet on his face. Looking down, his whole body was stained with sticky blood, and a severed tentacle was wrapped around his neck.
"Ah... ah..."
The mercenary's screams rang out. Even though he had seen big scenes, he was extremely panicked when encountering this kind of situation. His whole person was dumbfounded.
Lam Pham smiled and threw the tentacle away for him. "It's okay. Just now, the opponent's tentacle slowly descended from the ceiling, wanting to pull you away. I've been paying attention all along. There won't be any problems. With me here, I can guarantee your safety."
The mercenary's breathing was a bit rushed. Not everyone could be as calm as Lam Pham after receiving such a shock.
"What a terrifying mutant zombie. Its main body is not here. Its main body should be in the deepest part. It's like a hunter lurking in the dark, always watching us," Lam Pham said.
The mercenary looked around warily. Although he knew it would be safe to stay by Lam Pham's side, he was still shaken by the recent situation and was very nervous and scared.
Lam Pham saw that he was still very scared.
He just smiled.
He could understand his feelings.
Any survivor would be the same.
As they continued to go deeper, the tentacles lurking in the dark still appeared beside them like ghosts. Neither their speed nor their concealment was something that ordinary people could deal with.
Encountering this kind of situation, even if a team of a dozen people entered this place, the final result would definitely be the annihilation of the entire army, with no chance of resistance.
Not long after,
Lam Pham led the mercenary to open the last gate. What appeared in front of them was a huge, writhing mass of flesh. It looked very disgusting, occupying one-third of the space, and countless tentacles were moving.
"Oh my god."
The mercenary's mouth was wide open, his soul receiving a huge impact.
He had never seen such a huge monster.
This kind of existence, could it really be dealt with by humans?
"Lam Pham, you really deserve to die."
An angry voice came.
"Hmm?"
Lam Pham was very surprised. Someone spoke. Could it be that the mutant flesh in front of him also had human intelligence?
But soon,
he dismissed this idea.
As the flesh spread out, in the middle of the flesh, a human face appeared. This human face had a fierce and cruel expression. When it saw Lam Pham, it roared angrily.
"Who are you?" Lam Pham didn't recognize the other party. The feeling the other party gave him was very strange. They had definitely never met.
The mercenary said, "Brother, his name is Tu Giang. He is the person in charge of this base. Most of the experiments were done by him. He is absolutely evil, the kind of very evil person who never treats people as people."
"Oh." Lam Pham understood. It seemed that he had merged with the mutant flesh. Looking at the other party's current appearance, he couldn't help but sigh. "Why bother? Look at your current situation, neither human nor ghost. When I entered the base, if you had come to me proactively, I would have taken you to the Hoang City prison to receive reformation. Maybe you would still have some hope of survival. What a pity..."
"Shut up!" Tu Giang roared. Under his control, the tentacles waved wantonly, causing the surroundings to rumble. Every time they hit, the metal walls would dent, leaving deep marks.
From this, it was enough to see how terrifying the power of the mutant flesh's tentacles was.
"Shutting up is impossible. Where is the headquarters of your Aberrant organization? Can you tell me?" Lam Pham asked.
He was not very interested in Tu Giang.
What he wanted to know most was the location of the headquarters.
To be able to find this place, there must have been an element of luck, or it was because they didn't pay any attention when stamping documents, and didn't even correct some small details.
Tu Giang did not answer Lam Pham. It was the other party's fault that he had become like this. The development of the embryo was beyond his imagination, and even the other party's IQ was beyond his expectations.
After gnawing on some researchers, the mutant flesh actually knew that he was the person in charge here, so it manipulated its tentacles to search for him everywhere.
In the end, he couldn't escape.
And when he was being devoured, he had made preparations and was not completely assimilated by the mutant flesh, thus occupying the other party's body and maintaining a kind of stability.
"Go to hell."
Tu Giang manipulated countless flesh tentacles, which came crashing down like a sky full of them, blocking all of Lam Pham's paths.
Faced with this situation, Lam Pham was very calm.
Frostmourne in his hand gently touched the ground. Instantly, frost rose up and spread over. The waving flesh tentacles were frozen. No matter how Tu Giang struggled, he couldn't break free from the frost.
The mercenary on the side looked at Lam Pham in a daze.
His eyes were wide open.
As if he had seen a ghost.
He could accept what had happened before. The current situation was a bit surreal. The tip of the sword touched the ground, and frost appeared. If you said it wasn't magic, no one would believe it.
"Ah..."
Tu Giang roared angrily. His frozen body felt numb. He wanted to break the frost, but there was no way.
Lam Pham did not completely freeze Tu Giang, but looked around.
Before searching,
he still took a picture of Tu Giang with his camera. Although this kind of mutant flesh was unique, leaving it in the "Zombie Illustrated Guide" was also a kind of commemoration.
"It's really a serious mutation. The impact of the photo taken is very strong."
Lam Pham looked at the photo taken by the camera and could only say that it was still okay.
He looked at the mercenary and said, "Can you help me find out if there is any data on the headquarters' location?"
"Oh, okay."
The mercenary came back to his senses. How could he refuse? He began to search. Everything here was very messy, a chaotic mess, with all kinds of documents scattered on the floor.
Most of the documents were data related to the research of Aberrants or embryos.
A moment later,
the mercenary standing in front of the computer said, "Brother, this requires a password. I don't have a password and can't log in. I want to enter the back-end system to check the headquarters' location."
Lam Pham looked at Tu Giang, hoping he could tell him the password. But looking at the current situation, it was clearly a bit unrealistic.
"Will you say it?"
He hoped the other party would say it.
But what he received was an angry roar.
But at this moment,
an image suddenly appeared on the locked electronic screen.
A man was sitting there, and his voice came from the screen.
"Lam Pham, don't even think about finding us. We won't let you find us. This base was discovered by you, and what awaits them is destruction. Don't you think you're meddling too much?"
Lam Pham looked at the screen. "Are you from the headquarters?"
"Yes, that's right. This is the headquarters you've always wanted to find. But it's a pity, you'll never find it."
"I will find you. As long as you are still on this planet, I will find you. Your research on Aberrants has always been the wrong direction, turning perfectly good humans into such monsters."
"Haha, this is not something we forced. They voluntarily accepted the experiment."
Lam Pham stared at the figure on the screen.
He knew that some of what the other party said was true. Many survivors wanted to obtain power, and to obtain power, they had to be injected with serum and become Aberrants.
The purpose of their research on Aberrants was to research the most perfect Aberrant.
For example, Thoi Tieu Phi of the Vo Giao was currently the most perfect form.
But for humans, there was never a "most perfect" statement. Instead, they would continue to pursue perfection on top of perfection, and they would not hesitate to pay a greater price for it.
"Okay, goodbye. You'd better protect your Hoang City Sunshine Shelter. We won't have any intersection."
After the person on the screen said this, he disappeared.
At the same time, a countdown appeared on the screen.
10
9
8
...
The numbers were red, and the entire base was flashing with red light.
"Self-destruct?" the mercenary said.
Thump!
Lam Pham didn't think twice. He directly pulled the mercenary and disappeared in a flash, rushing straight outside. When the other party said "self-destruct," he thought of the movies he had seen before.
Bases all had a self-destruct mode, and then a violent explosion would occur.
He naturally didn't take the explosion to heart.
But this mercenary was just an ordinary person.
With the explosion, he was afraid he wouldn't even know how he died.
Outside,
Lam Pham was already far away from Huy Hoang Mountain. And just as he turned his head to look,
"Rumble..."
The earth shook and the mountains moved. The entire world was shaking violently. The impact from the explosion swept in all directions.
Lam Pham led the mercenary to watch the explosion scene in the distance.
He was amazed in his heart.
He let the impact hit his body.
After the shockwave dissipated,
where was Huy Hoang Mountain?
It had become a deep pit.
Lam Pham took the mercenary back to Hoang City, and the place the mercenary should go was the prison.
...
Aberrant Headquarters.
Boom!
"Damn it, so hateful. We didn't even provoke him, yet he pushed us to a dead end."
The person in charge of the headquarters had an extremely ugly expression.
The only base left was the headquarters.
The base that Tu Giang was in charge of was an important department. And now, the project had made no progress, and even the base was gone. This was something that no one could tolerate.
"Alright, he's strong, we're no match for him. If he finds us, we can only admit defeat. We are now just hiding and researching in the apocalypse. We once thought that the Creators could destroy him, but now it seems that's impossible."
"Neither the Creators nor our Aberrants are his match."
The person in charge of the headquarters said, "So we just watch as he tramples us under his feet?"
"No, we have a chance. If we can find the secret to becoming as strong as him, then we won't have to hide so carefully."
The person in charge of the headquarters looked at the other party and didn't say anything more. After the apocalypse broke out, their research results were possible. But who would have thought that a Lam Pham from the Sunshine Shelter would suddenly appear?
At first, they didn't care.
But gradually, with contact, the situation became abnormal.
Until now, they were forced into a corner.