Starting from Prototype to Immortality

Chapter 14: Battle Against Blackwatch

Blackwatch is affiliated with the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the United States Department of Defense and is heavily supported by the United States. Even Captain Robert Hoss, an elite among elites, was personally invited to join Blackwatch by General Randall after a successful operation (as depicted in the comic storyline).

After all, Robert was a man who, during a mission, faced a horde of infected animals, witnessed all his teammates perish, and emerged as the sole survivor. General Peter Randall believed that even within Blackwatch, there was no elite quite like him, hence the personal invitation.

However, now Randall felt disappointed. With the most elite captain, the most advanced Blackwatch soldiers, and the auxiliary special operations team, the casualties had only increased?

"Sir, a new type of infected creature has recently appeared. Our forces are no match for them," Captain Robert reported.

"What kind of creature could overwhelm someone like you, who single-handedly took down a female Runner?" General Randall skeptically asked.

Runners, or advanced infected individuals similar to Alex Mercer, were once killed single-handedly by Captain Robert.

"Sir, it's not me, but the soldiers," Robert corrected.

Facing the swift Deteriorated Hunters, even Blackwatch soldiers—who are far superior to Marine forces—suffered devastating losses in a short time. They simply could not contend with the Deteriorated Hunters.

General Randall soon reviewed the information brought by Captain Robert: horrifying images, shocking field reports, videos, and audio recordings. In the videos, only afterimages and the soldiers' screams were visible.

"They travel in packs and move incredibly fast."

The footage then showed the actual body of the Deteriorated Hunters that had been killed. Even though Robert's team had significantly reduced the casualties compared to fighting standard Hunters head-on, it didn't mean they weren't dangerous.

General Randall flipped through photos of corpses, anatomical diagrams, and internal structures.

"They look like smaller Hunters?"

"Yes, but they're more troublesome and intelligent. Unlike Hunters, which don't dodge and are easier to hit, these creatures disrupt our field of vision, evade attacks, and coordinate like wolf packs or lion prides. Moreover, we discovered a more potent strain of the Blacklight virus in them. The difference is as stark as that between a Black Hawk and an Apache—both helicopters, but with entirely different roles and firepower," Captain Robert elaborated.

General Randall frowned and decided to assign Captain Robert to lead the Super Soldiers in tackling these new "pack Hunters," which had caused significant casualties.

The Super Soldiers are enhanced Blacklight-infected individuals created by injecting the virus into human bodies. However, unlike typical infected, they do not undergo grotesque mutations or lose their sanity, making them a near-perfect transformation. Their strength is exceptional, and they even once suppressed Alex Mercer. At that time, Mercer had consumed almost everything except for Supreme Hunters and Elizabeth Greene.

With the deployment of Super Soldiers—and considering that the first-generation Super Soldiers are not as sluggish as the second-generation—casualties among the Deteriorated Hunters began to rise.

This drew the attention of the "Disseminator," a Four-Armed Hunter. Its intelligence was not low, and with Chang Wei having implanted it with memories of Blackwatch and Alex Mercer, it knew a great deal. It even transmitted these memories to the Deteriorated Hunters via viral inheritance, teaching them cooperation, evasion, and attack strategies, making them appear highly intelligent.

The Four-Armed Hunter initially had no specific target. The Deteriorated Hunters were only tracking Alex Mercer. However, after Blackwatch provoked them and caused substantial losses, the Four-Armed Hunter found this unacceptable.

Spreading the Blacklight virus was a painstaking effort for it. The mother organism had only created a single Four-Armed Hunter, leaving it responsible for continuous virus dissemination and hunting. It had painstakingly created hundreds of Deteriorated Hunters, but dozens were wiped out in one battle—a severe setback.

Chang Wei believed that a single Four-Armed Hunter was enough for Manhattan Island. With nothing better to do, it decided to assault Blackwatch's blockade on the island's bridges.

The Four-Armed Hunter ambushed the Super Soldiers. Hundreds of Deteriorated Hunters located the Super Soldiers' positions and swarmed them. Even though the Super Soldiers were tough and had skin too durable for the Deteriorated Hunters to penetrate, the Four-Armed Hunter's sneak attacks tipped the scales.

In its Four-Armed Overlord form, with strength comparable to Chang Wei's own, the Four-Armed Hunter could cripple a Super Soldier in one blow, if not outright kill them. Moreover, unlike Hunters, Super Soldiers lacked rapid regenerative abilities.

As a result, Blackwatch's newly developed Super Soldiers were wiped out in one fell swoop.