47: Is it going to break? No! It's the ultimate evolution!

Stared at by several grotesque eye-tentacles, Hank's hair stood on end.

At the same time, his body felt a bit off.

A blood-red eye had grown on the back of his gloved right hand.

'What the hell is going on? What the hell is this thing?'

Not just Hank, but all the survivors present, except for Polaris, Jill, and Emma, had undergone more or less bizarre changes in their bodies.

Even the police station walls were covered in spiderweb-like black-red flesh, pulsating rapidly with black-red light.

On that flesh, thick, densely packed, wildly flailing tentacles with eyeballs had grown.

Joa murmured, his gaze blankly sweeping over everything around him that was rapidly being infected by the drastically mutated Blacklight Virus.

“I think…I’m really…breaking down.”

He had thought he would recover after resting for a while.

But…the faster the mutation within him, the faster it mutated.

The speed was increasing geometrically.

In just a few minutes, he could no longer control the infectivity of the Blacklight Virus.

'No! This won't do! If I stay here, even Lorna and Jill might mutate. I have to leave first.'

With this thought, Joa instantly vanished.

······

New York, Manhattan.

On the rooftop near Pennsylvania Station.

Joa's figure appeared out of thin air.

“I’ll wait here for the evolution to complete and the mutation to stop before going back.”

“The flow of time is different between the two places, so it doesn't matter how long I stay.”

Muttering softly, Joa found a comfortable position and lay down on the rooftop.

He began to give up.

Since he couldn't control it, he simply wouldn't.

Anyway, this was the deepest part of the Blacklight Virus infection zone; one more of him wouldn't make a difference, and one less wouldn't matter.

However, Joa underestimated the unimaginable changes that would occur after the Blacklight Virus devoured the G-Virus, which also had limitless mutation potential.

The moment he released his body's restrictions.

Massive black-red tentacles surged out from Joa's entire body.

“····It’s so dark.”

“No, I still want to look up at the sky and ponder life.”

“Why am I locked in a dark room?”

He tried to control the tentacles to expose his head, but after several attempts, he found he could no longer control his body, which was evolving at an increasing speed.

He even lost the vision from the eyeballs on the tentacles.

“…..I’m tired! Let’s just destroy it all!”

“Next time, no matter what, I won’t eat random things!”

A constantly pulsating giant flesh cocoon tightly enveloped Joa.

A huge black-red eyeball also grew on the cocoon, continuously scanning everything around it.

And below the cocoon, what was originally a residential building infected by the Blacklight Virus was now also enveloped by tentacles.

The reinforced concrete was gradually eroded, and the energy contained within it was continuously absorbed, transforming into bio-energy to fuel Joa's continued rapid evolution and mutation.

The scope of the erosion continued to spread.

Wherever the tentacles reached, everything was devoured.

Infected individuals, covered in pustules, were constantly enveloped and devoured by the pulsating black-red tentacles, unable to even let out a scream.

The scope of the erosion continued to expand.

From a single building at first.

To several adjacent buildings.

Then to occupying the entire center of the infection zone.

The speed was getting faster and faster.

Outer perimeter, edge of the blockade.

Blackwatch's air and ground forces suddenly noticed that, for some reason, the infected were becoming fewer.

After reporting the situation to their superiors, they received a mission to penetrate the infection zone and uncover the truth.

Immediately, Blackwatch's air and ground forces advanced towards the center of the infection zone.

“Ugh… how much longer? Can it be faster?”

“It’s too dark, so boring.”

As if sensing Joa's will, the Blacklight Virus's speed of erosion around him suddenly increased significantly.

A Blackwatch pilot, flying an attack helicopter, was the first to approach the center of the infection zone.

But upon seeing the sight ahead, he was completely stunned.

“What… what is that?”

The entire center of the infection zone below was covered in writhing black-red tentacles, rapidly spreading outwards.

It was like countless, intertwined, endless waves of snakes, shimmering with red light.

And at the very center of this snake tide, a giant flesh cocoon was held aloft by black-red tentacles.

The flesh cocoon seemed to be alive, pulsating rhythmically, as if breathing.

These weren't the most important things; the most important thing was that this flesh cocoon also had a giant eye!

The moment he was stared at by that giant eye, immense fear rose from the pilot's heart, and his hair stood on end.

“Re-report!!!”

“Unknown mutated entity discovered at the center of the infection zone!”

“Request!…Oh! No!”

Before he could finish his sentence, the Blackwatch pilot saw a massive black-red tentacle emerge from the ground and lash out at him.

With a bang!

The pilot, with no time to dodge, pressed the missile launch button.

However, the airborne missiles were fired.

But they caused no damage to the massive black-red tentacle.

The tentacle's speed did not diminish in the slightest, and in the next moment, it struck down the helicopter.

A violent explosion sounded, and the attack helicopter shattered to pieces.

As soon as the wreckage fell, it sank into the continuously spreading tentacles on the ground.

Such intense and rapid evolution would be impossible for any other Blacklight Virus infected.

Even Joa, without the system, would have completely devolved into a monster that only knew how to evolve and devour in this state.

The flesh tentacles continuously spread, quickly breaking through the blockade established by Blackwatch.

Any soldiers who dared to approach even a little would be mutated into monsters covered in tentacles and eyes.

Manhattan was falling at a visible rate.

Upon learning this news, Blackwatch did not hesitate for a moment, decisively launching a nuclear missile towards the center of the mutation.

They attempted to eliminate the bizarre flesh cocoon captured by satellite.

Before the nuclear missile was launched, politicians in Congress and high-ranking Blackwatch officials considered.

How much research value this unknown, bizarre flesh cocoon had, how much profit it could generate, and how much change it could bring to the war.

They even prepared to retrieve samples for research after the nuclear explosion.

Project funding was even approved.

But after the nuclear missile was launched, these power holders all watched the live footage transmitted back by the satellite, their faces ashen.

The nuclear missile reached its target location, and before it could even detonate, it, like the infected, became covered in tentacles and eyeballs.

Then, the nuclear missile seemed to become a dud, sinking into the black-red earth.

“We… are finished…”

“Damn monster!”

“What the hell is this thing?!”

Fear, dread, despair.

Facing such a bizarre entity, with humanity's ultimate weapon, the nuclear missile, having lost its effect.

Does humanity still have a future?

The answer is…

No…