After dealing with the Muscle Monster, there were no other monsters active near Green Home.
They had all become the protein needed for the former's evolution.
Inside the Green Home apartment, there were still over a dozen survivors alive.
Yoon Ji-su learned from a friend named Lee Eun-yu that the monsters had appeared about ten days ago.
Based on the virus having a fifteen-day incubation period,
the virus appeared approximately 25 days ago.
That time point was exactly when the Alien Alliance invaded Earth.
A battle had broken out near Green Home, specifically in the suburbs of Busan.
Shortly after the battle ended, a contingent of people wearing protective suits drove grandly toward the suburbs.
Following that, the virus began to spread outward.
The Muscle Monster appeared exactly nine days ago, killing many residents in the apartment before someone tricked it into falling from a high floor.
They watched helplessly as the Muscle Monster ate all the nearby monsters and then wandered near Green Home, waiting for the walking protein inside the apartment to come out.
There were still a few monsters inside the apartment, including the security guard who turned into a Rotten Face Monster, a Green Spine Monster hiding in the pipes, and a Lotus Root Monster transformed from a dance streamer who had half her head shaved off.
It took the combined efforts of the apartment survivors to clear out all the monsters.
However, some of the remaining survivors were still being infected by the virus.
One was the convenience store owner, and the other was the protagonist of the show, Cha Hyun-soo.
The convenience store owner, due to his baldness and desire for hair, became the Long Hair Monster. Cha Hyun-soo, due to his kindness and sunny disposition, suppressed his desires for more than ten days and became a Special Infected—a Fallen Angel.
However, this protagonist was somewhat weak; he could only erupt at special moments. Although his monster form had strong combat power, he couldn't control it freely and required a human sacrifice to possibly awaken.
They had only recently shown signs of viral infection and were currently locked alone in a sealed room.
After the survivors learned that Luke had killed the evolved Muscle Monster, they all looked at him with astonished eyes.
"How did he kill that giant? That monster could smash a car with one punch!"
"Sss~ You think... he might be a monster too? Only a monster can defeat a monster."
"If all monsters look this handsome, then I want a romance between a human and a monster. It wouldn't be so bad to stop being human."
Luke glanced over the discussing crowd. Lee Eun-yu gave an awkward laugh. "I'm sorry, they've been terrified these past few days. Their nerves are shot, and they get anxious about everything they see."
"It's fine, I understand."
Luke didn't react to those few words. He changed the subject and asked, "Have you not received any outside rescue during this time?"
Lee Eun-yu shook her head, saying disappointedly, "We tried to contact the outside World, but for some reason, all signals here are blocked. Maybe the base station was destroyed?"
"Now we know nothing about the outside situation, and with the Muscle Monster blocking the door, we have no chance of escaping."
"We suspect Busan has already fallen. Why else haven't the police come to save us?"
Green Home is an old apartment building and has no underground garage.
The apartment building only has one exit.
The Muscle Monster wanders nearby. No one knows where he will appear. He's like a monster from a horror movie—clearly enormous, yet he appears and disappears unpredictably.
He always manages to surprise people.
"How is that possible? The public security in Busan is quite good..."
Luna Snow thought of the Stark Expo being attacked by unknown forces, and she corrected herself. "At least better than many smaller places."
"Then did you see any military forces on your way here?" Lee Eun-yu felt extremely confused.
Yoon Ji-su interjected, "In fact, we didn't walk here; we were teleported."
"Luke is a powerful magician who can take people anywhere in the World."
"I just showed Luke a picture, and he instantly brought us outside the apartment building."
"That's incredible!"
Lee Eun-yu looked at Luke with admiration.
Luke withdrew his gaze from the 3D stereoscopic map. "We should leave. Busan is about to fall. If we don't go now, this place might be subjected to a nuclear attack."
Lee Eun-yu was shocked. "Huh?"
Yoon Ji-su and Luna Snow also panicked.
Everything was fine just a few hours ago, so why is it all over now?
"What happened?" Helen Cho was also flustered and quickly asked.
"According to what you just said, there should be a biochemical laboratory in the suburbs of Busan. It was affected during the previous alien war, and the virus subsequently leaked."
"The group of people wearing protective suits afterward should have been preparing to deal with the leaked biochemical virus, but they clearly failed."
"Therefore, the virus followed the nearby suburbs and reached Green Home, turning the surrounding area into a ghost domain. It's only because the Muscle Monster was entrenched nearby that you haven't been hit by more zombies or monsters."
"But the virus doesn't just infect humans; it also infects animals, and some strains can even spread through the air during short-range contact."
"There is a military outpost five kilometers away. Just two hours ago, the military camp was infected by the biochemical virus and fell."
"Now, large-scale virus carriers have spread throughout the entire city via zombies, monsters, rats, and even water treatment plants."
"Every minute, every second, tens of thousands of people are being infected for various reasons."
"The X-virus is manageable, but the t-virus spreads at an astonishing speed. Busan is now experiencing a zombie frenzy, and no one can save it."
As if to prove the truth of Luke's words, an explosion suddenly sounded in the distance, and thick smoke billowed, seemingly signaling the arrival of the apocalypse.
The Green Home survivors rushed to the windows to look out at the massive city of Busan.
This pride of South Korea, its largest port city and second-largest city, had thus met its end.
Because the incubation period of the t-virus is short—mutation can be completed in tens of seconds to minutes—it successfully overpowered the X-virus and quickly occupied the entire city.
However, due to the unique nature of the X-virus, X-virus infectees, even during the incubation period, gain increased immunity to the t-virus.
But t-virus infectees prioritize attacking X-virus infectees, and under the massive zombie tide, even the Muscle Monster would fall.
Lee Eun-yu and Yoon Ji-su turned pale. They couldn't understand why Busan had just become history.
"It must be the doing of Umbrella and South Korea Bio-Pharmaceuticals!"
"I heard they jointly established an International Medical Research Institute in the suburbs of Busan, specializing in terminal illnesses such as cancer, leukemia, and AIDS."
"They also recruited volunteers from the outside World and selected people with special antibodies or those who were impoverished through aid stations to participate in certain experiments."
"No wonder I never heard of any volunteer returning. Now that I think about it, those volunteers have all become test subjects for the biochemical virus!"
Lee Eun-yu said despairingly. Suddenly, she remembered something and fiercely grabbed Luke's hand. "You are a magician, can you stop all of this?"
Luke thought for a moment. "I can destroy all of it, at least making sure people don't suffer so much when they go."
If they were merely infectees who hadn't fully turned yet, Luke could use the horse talisman to remove the virus.
But if the virus had completely taken over the body, even the horse talisman would be useless.
Because the virus completely destroys human cells and kills brain activity, the virus itself replaces human brain function.
Even if the horse talisman is used to clear the virus from a zombie's body, all that remains is a corpse.
The X-virus didn't seem as tyrannical as the t-virus, but after Luke observed it through the stereoscopic view, he found that this thing was even more tyrannical than the t-virus in some respects!
Because the X-virus not only acts on the physical body but is also influenced by human desires and obsessions.
It no longer just infects the host physically; it forcibly transforms the infectee at the conscious level!
Even special infectees who overcome their own desires and can function in human form, such as the original protagonist Cha Hyun-soo, are affected.
They look like New Humans, but in reality, they are just monsters wearing human skin, somewhat similar to the Hulk and Bruce Banner.
But essentially, they are even trickier than the latter.
With just a moment of inattention, the human consciousness will be completely occupied and eroded by the monster consciousness.
Perhaps the tiger talisman could create more stable special infectees.
But then again, unless he gives everyone a horse talisman, even if he uses the horse talisman to clear the virus from their bodies, it doesn't mean they won't be infected again.
Moreover, the t-virus has an extremely short incubation period, leaving no time for rescue.
It's also impossible for Luke to save people one by one throughout the city.
It can be said that,
once the virus broke out on a large scale in Busan, there was no possibility of saving the city.
Even if Luke didn't intervene,
the Avengers and even the United Nations would absolutely not allow this city to exist.
Based on Luke's understanding of the five major powers, within an hour at most, once it's confirmed that Busan has no salvage value, dozens or even hundreds of nuclear warheads will wipe this city off the map.
Compared to nuclear radiation, the biochemical virus is truly impossible to guard against.
Moreover, the nuclear radiation belongs to South Korea; as long as the virus isn't taken out, the USA and Europe will stay safe.
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