"Oh, Miss Daniels," Marcus began with a disarming smile, "I have a gift for you here. I hope you'll accept it."
Beside him, a Tyranid Warrior wielding a Devourer lowered its weapon, and from its muzzle, a pale Fleshworm sprayed out, writhing as it landed on the ground. Another Tyranid Warrior, armed with a Venom Cannon, silently aimed its devastating barrel directly at Daniels. Her expression immediately contorted. She was no fool; she instantly grasped Marcus's chilling intent. Staring at the Fleshworm, Daniels's face turned utterly ghastly. She had just witnessed a group of these worms devour a Slasher completely in less than thirty seconds.
"No! You can't do this to me! I am a Federal Agent! What you're doing is making an enemy of the Federation! Not even CEC can protect you!" Daniels shrieked, her voice laced with panic.
The moment her words died, the Venom Cannon fired ferociously. Green corrosive crystals streaked past Daniels, a single shot blasting away a large section of metal bulkhead behind her. "I hope you'll reconsider, Miss Daniels. Even the USM Valor will still need some time to reach Aegis VII," Marcus said, his smile unwavering. But to Daniels and Isaac, that smile looked no different from a demon's.
Under immense pressure, Daniels knew threats were futile. Trembling, she reached out and picked up the continuously wriggling Fleshworm. The next second, the worm leaped, pried open Daniels's mouth, and burrowed flexibly inside. Daniels immediately bent over, a wave of nausea washing over her, and began to vomit. But even after expelling a large amount of undigested food, there was no sign of the Fleshworm.
Marcus stood still, his expression unnervingly calm. The Fleshworms secreted by the Tyranid Warrior naturally obeyed his commands, and this particular command suppressed their innate devouring instinct. The Fleshworm had now burrowed into Daniels's stomach and entered a dormant state. But the moment Marcus gave the order, the Fleshworm would awaken and begin to devour her flesh and blood from the inside out. Of course, due to the Fleshworm's inherently short lifespan, this devouring would only last for half a minute. But that would be more than enough to kill Daniels, an ordinary human.
"As long as you don't do anything out of line, you will naturally leave the Ishimura alive, Miss Daniels," Marcus's demonic voice echoed again. "Think carefully, do you really need to sacrifice your precious life for the Earth Federation?" Daniels's face was grim, and she no longer dared to meet Marcus's gaze. Isaac, standing nearby, was equally distraught, fearing that such a worm would be implanted in him. However, Marcus did not repeat the act with Isaac.
Waving his hand, Marcus gestured for the two to leave. Without any hesitation, Isaac and Daniels immediately exited the tram control room to carry out their task of repairing the tram operating system. Watching them go, Marcus couldn't help but sigh with a sense of irony. Not long ago, he was being ordered around by Space Marines and constantly worrying about Librarians probing his mind. Now, in a different world, he was the one giving the orders.
After his moment of reflection, Marcus issued commands to the Tyranid Warbeasts around him, instructing them to autonomously continue hunting and destroying Necromorphs. Only one Lictor remained by his side. Marcus then strode towards the medical area with the Lictor. There was still some time before Isaac would fix the tram operating system, providing Marcus with an opportunity to complete his first system mission: to kill the Hunter, affectionately known as "Brother Chun" by players, and to deal with the annoying mad scientist, Mercer.
Along the way, all closed doors were effortlessly blasted open by the Lictor's Mind Power. Soon, Marcus arrived at the medical area. "Indeed, all fear comes from insufficient firepower," Marcus couldn't help but muse. If this were the original game, he would not only have to navigate countless detours but also face Necromorphs appearing out of nowhere with only a small Plasma Cutter in hand. But now, Marcus, fully equipped and with a Lictor clearing his path, was like a speedrunner with cheat codes enabled, pushing straight through to the entrance security station of the medical area, incidentally eliminating dozens of clueless Necromorphs.
At this point, the entrance leading into the medical area was completely blocked by a pile of burning debris. Marcus waved his hand, and the Lictor beside him continuously spat out three Mind Power orbs, blasting all the debris open. Perhaps because of the loud commotion, more than a dozen clawing Necromorphs simultaneously surged from various ventilation ducts and dark corners within the security station, pouncing towards Marcus and the Lictor.
Drawing his Chainsword, Marcus met these Slashers. Under the control of the Marker, these Necromorphs certainly possessed considerably more strength than ordinary humans. But facing Marcus, who now boasted a physical strength exceeding eight hundred kilograms, they were clearly outmatched. In just a minute or two, Marcus carved these dozen Slashers into pieces. Some were utterly annihilated due to triggering the "Corruption" and "Treachery" effects. The remaining Necromorph fragments were then handed over to the Lictor for final destruction.
Looking at the rapidly increasing Necromorph cleanup progress, Marcus nodded with satisfaction. Because Charles Mercer, the Ishimura's second science officer who fanatically worshipped the Marker, was conducting inhumane experiments on some survivors in the medical area, the number of crew-turned-Necromorphs in this section was naturally much higher than in other areas.
After destroying all the Necromorphs, Marcus examined a wall in the security station, where a map of the entire medical area was depicted. After scanning the map with his kestrel, Marcus began to advance towards his target destination—the Chemical Lab. The system's mission target, the Hunter, was currently in the Chemical Lab's cultivation tank.
Not long after he set off, a voice crackled from the loudspeaker on the ceiling. "It seems we have an uninvited guest in our medical area." Marcus recognized the voice as Charles Mercer's. "The Convergence is about to begin, why disturb it?" Marcus ignored the madman, who had been completely driven insane by the Marker, and continued towards the biochemical lab.
Seeing that Marcus ignored him, Mercer, while rambling on about his insane talk of "Convergence" and "Unity," used the control system to turn off the lights in the corridor. Immediately after, dozens of Slashers launched a pincer attack on Marcus from both ends of the corridor and from the ventilation ducts in the ceiling. Aside from the most common Slashers, there were also Leapers, who had lost their legs and instead had a thick tail, as well as Lurkers, which were transformed from artificial embryos on the Ishimura, resembled Bulbasaur, and could perform ranged attacks.
Marcus calmly gave orders to the Lictor beside him. Several Mind Power orbs shot out, instantly killing the ranged-attacking Lurkers. With no more worries about ranged attacks, Marcus donned his helmet, activated night vision, and once again wielded his Chainsword, charging directly into the Necromorphs. Beside him, three Psychic Flying Knives immediately unsheathed, rapidly cutting through the Necromorphs' limbs.