Chapter 12: Chestburst!
Many people had yet to realize that the massive rampage Abomination had committed in a fit of madness, while seemingly a dangerous performance that was temporarily suppressed before it could cause greater harm, had in fact ignited the ambitions of countless individuals with ill intent. It proved that a being with superhuman power could wreak havoc openly under the world's spotlight, declaring their might to the entire planet.
People had always known that a group of dangerous individuals existed in this world, such as the Brotherhood, but they had always felt that the Brotherhood was immensely distant from them.
From now on, that feeling would be a thing of the past. A truly intense era, a stage for all manner of madmen and devils to perform, had fully arrived.
Thud, thud, thud!
Abomination crashed through many obstacles—skyscrapers, vehicles—as he stumbled back to the laboratory.
In his muddled brain, he knew this was dangerous. The correct course of action would have been to immediately flee the bustling area and privately contact Ross to reach a settlement.
They could have easily pinned everything that happened tonight on the Hulk, then joined forces to continue hunting the Hulk for even greater rewards.
But unfortunately, Abomination felt as if his intelligence was about to completely short-circuit. He stubbornly believed that only by injecting more serum could he increase his power and reclaim his dignity.
Abomination searched frantically through the shattered laboratory.
"If you're looking for that big-headed doll, he's hiding about three hundred meters away, observing everything here."
Du Wa emerged from the darkness. He had been waiting for Abomination all along.
"You bastard, you've been waiting for me?" Seeing Du Wa, a look of fury appeared on Abomination's hideous face.
"That's right. I've been observing you, and I knew you would return here," Du Wa said. He didn't need to use his eyes; by simply focusing his senses, he could perceive the Xenomorph within Abomination's body and thus pinpoint his location.
The moment Du Wa revealed himself, it meant the time was ripe.
He had originally thought that a Xenomorph implanted in a formidable individual like Abomination would need some time to develop to the point of the Chestburst. He hadn't expected its development to be even faster than he'd anticipated.
Perhaps it was Abomination's genes—or the part of the Hulk's genes he'd acquired—that were so overwhelmingly powerful they could accelerate the Xenomorph's growth in an extremely short period.
Furthermore, Abomination, as a host, was a top-tier incubator, brimming with flesh and rich with energy.
"You know, in the several dozen minutes from when I first made my move on you until now, I have imagined the scene that is about to unfold countless times." Du Wa stared intently at the distorted monster walking toward him step by step, his gaze focused on its chest. "Compared to you, a vampire is simply not worth mentioning."
Abomination couldn't understand what Du Wa was saying. He only knew that something was very wrong with his condition. It wasn't that his dull and numb nerves had become more sensitive; it was purely because, with Du Wa's arrival, an exaggerated bulge had appeared on his chest.
If it weren't for Abomination's incredibly tough muscles and skin, had it been an ordinary person, the Xenomorph would have already burst out from such a drastic physical change.
"You did this? What in the world did you do to me?!" Abomination looked down at himself in disbelief. He reached out to grab it, but his fingers, capable of crushing steel, had barely applied any force when he felt an excruciating pain throughout his body, as if he were squeezing his own internal organs. It was an extremely bizarre sensation.
He remembered it then—that strange, spider-like crawler. He faintly sensed the crux of the problem.
"No matter what this thing is, I am Abomination, the strongest individual on this planet! I will not die!"
"No, you will die."
Du Wa approached step by step. "Don't mistake a Xenomorph for an ordinary parasite. The moment of the Chestburst means it has perfectly seized the genetic material within you, replacing your organs and your spine, becoming a part of you. Once it bursts from your chest, it means a part of your body has permanently separated from you. Your feeble self-healing ability cannot repair the missing organs, and besides, a body won't regenerate parts it perceived as whole just moments before."
Abomination's remains would also become food for the Xenomorph.
"Roar!"
Abomination glared with his blood-green eyes, a mix of brutality and terror, and swung his arm down powerlessly. With a single punch, he could smash this little thing before him to a pulp.
Bang!
Du Wa raised both his arms and blocked it head-on, though the price was that his legs sank halfway into the floor.
A large amount of his muscle tissue, having endured pressure beyond its upper limit, instantly ruptured, and dense fractures appeared on the bones within his body.
But he had managed to hold on, and all his injuries were rapidly recovering.
As for why Du Wa, a mere mortal, could withstand such an attack, the reason was actually quite simple. It was because his body also hosted a Xenomorph whose development had been halted...
"Splurch!"
With a loud squelch, Abomination's chest completely burst open. Countless sprays of blood shot out in all directions, a testament to the terrifying internal pressure his body had endured.
Abomination's massive body convulsed violently, his remaining sliver of sanity watching in horror as this thing drilled out of his own body.
This surpassed the limits of his barren imagination. It was like some terrifying devil, using his flesh as a shell to be born into the world.
And upon its appearance, it displayed an extreme, brutal nature, thrashing its head violently, bathing in flesh and blood, and letting out a sharp shriek.
This Xenomorph was frighteningly strong from birth, standing nearly two meters tall.
Don't be fooled by its height. One must know that other types of Xenomorphs are still infants when they first burst out, incredibly small, and require several hours of rapid growth to develop into a two or three-meter-tall mature form.
Du Wa assessed the state of this powerful Xenomorph, confirming that not only was it born with impressive strength, but its growth rate would only be faster.
Perhaps it wouldn't even take a few hours; just a few dozen minutes would be enough for it to possess formidable combat power.
As for Abomination...
He was about to die.
Just as Du Wa had said, after the Xenomorph matured and performed the Chestburst, it had absorbed the most outstanding genes from Abomination's body and had genetically detached from him as a host. Even though Abomination still possessed a certain self-healing ability, he could only watch the gaping hole in his chest, completely helpless.
None of the crucial organs within his lost chest cavity regenerated; it was as if they had vanished into thin air.
Abomination's eyes looked as if they were about to burst. He stared fixedly ahead and reached out feebly, trying to crush this terrifying monster that had crawled out of his own body.
But what greeted him was the Inner Jaw shooting out from the creature's opened mouth, faster than a bullet. It pierced through Abomination's skull in a single strike.
Gulp, gulp!
It began to feast, taking large bites of flesh, seizing every second to replenish its nutrients.
(end of chapter)