Chapter 89: This never ends

"Theo... please, stop..." May’s voice carried a heavy, tearful sob, dripping with sweet weakness.

Theo paid her no heed.

His breathing grew steadily heavier, his chest heaving violently. Behind his glasses, his rational resolve was fracturing inch by inch. Watching her crimson, tear-stained face and the bleeding skin beneath, his hard-earned self-control felt like it had collided with its absolute nemesis.

"Is it almost fully healed?" May asked through her tears, trying to retract her leg.

"Not yet."

Theo’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he continued the application, his movements growing progressively slower and more deliberate.

Suddenly, he ’accidentally’... moved where he shouldn’t have. Between her thighs.

May’s eyes widened dramatically. Theo didn’t speak; he froze stiff.

"Theo, where are you... touching...?"

Teary-eyed, May was caught between intense embarrassment and mounting outrage.

Maintaining a completely straight face, Theo found his earlobes flushed completely crimson. "Checking if the toxic blood has fully dissipated."

"What the hell!" May exploded in fury. "Where the hell is the wound down there?! Stop using public duty as an excuse for private gratification!"

"Hmph, you simply don’t understand."

Theo lowered his head, his warm breath fanning across her skin. "All the lymphatic drainage pathways are centered right around here. If we don’t massage it out, the toxic blood won’t clear completely."

"Then you don’t have to stay parked right on...!"

Theo continued without flinching.

"Ah—!"

A sharp shiver wracked May’s entire body as tears welled up instantly, splashing down onto the metal table.

Lifting his head, Theo stared at her flushed, tear-drenched face, his expression turning terrifyingly dark.

"Does it hurt?" He asked, his voice laced with ragged breathing.

"It doesn’t hurt, but use your head!"

Gritting her teeth, May shot him a sharp, bitter glare.

Theo offered no response. He held her gaze for several seconds before suddenly letting out a low chuckle. The laugh was low and raspy, carrying an eerie tone that made the skin crawl.

"It seems the toxic blood hasn’t completely cleared yet."

"Theo! Don’t!"

If you keep this up, I’m going to end up doing something crazy to you!

Reflecting a cool, metallic gleam off his gold-rimmed glasses, Theo’s attitude remained absolute. "Endure it a little longer."

Outside the operating room, the rumbling explosions continued unabated, sounding almost like a rhythmic soundtrack matching the chaos inside.

Lying on the examination table, May wept uncontrollably while cursing the system’s sick sense of humor.

Is this medical treatment? It’s a full-blown tribulation! My poor body is going to end up completely broken in this sly fox’s hands sooner or later!

Theo continued still...

"This is payback for what you have done earlier."

"I’m begging you, I was wrong, okay?! I shouldn’t have peeked at you taking a shower!"

"Too late."

A wicked, wicked smirk tugged at the corner of Theo’s lips. "Since you chose to watch, you must pay a reasonable fee."

***

Back at the battlefield...

"Break it open for me!"

BOOM—!

With a thunderous crash, the reinforced concrete wall shattered under his two-meter-tall frame, blowing open a massive breach amid billowing smoke and dust.

"Ray, it’s open!"

Jack poked his head out through the hole, flashing a wide, dust-covered grin.

Dragging him through the breach, Ray whipped around to fire a single round straight up into a ceiling fire sprinkler head.

WHOOSH—!

Water cascaded downward instantly, turning the entire corridor into a torrential downpour that severely impaired the Stitch-Splicer’s visual perception.

"Brilliant!"

Praising the move, Mitch scrambled upward to the third floor in a few swift strides. Kicking open a ward door, he set up his heavy sniper rifle and aimed straight down at the massive silhouette below.

On the other end, Ace and Alex exchanged a glance.

"Alex, stick close."

Ace’s almond eyes narrowed into crescents as he smiled at Alex.

"You better run fast, Ace—don’t make my scrawny frame stick around to collect your corpse."

Jokes aside, Alex had already darted out like a swift civet cat.

With a soft chuckle, Ace chose to advance rather than retreat, charging straight toward the giant Stitch-Splicer. His twin blades flashed across its massive frame, leaving a trail of sparks and successfully seizing 100% of the monster’s attention.

"Over here, you ugly freak!"

Wagging a finger at the creature, Ace turned and sprinted deep down the corridor.

Roaring furiously, the Stitch-Splicer broke into a heavy sprint in pursuit.

Meanwhile, Alex slipped noiselessly into a side utility room, pulling a tablet computer from his backpack.

Across the screen, a blinking red dot zipped rapidly across the digital floor plan—the micro-tracker he had embedded earlier inside the zombie’s flesh.

"Ace, take a left. Ahead is the laundry room with exposed pipe networks," Alex whispered softly into his comm-piece. "Mitch, it’s approaching the corner. In three seconds, hit the kneecap of its third leg on the left."

"Copy that."

Mitch’s calm voice echoed through the earpiece.

Three seconds later.

BANG!

A gunshot cracked through the air. The giant Stitch-Splicer, still chasing Ace, buckled violently on its left side, its massive frame losing balance before crashing hard against the hallway wall.

"Nicely done!"

Seizing the opening, Ace flipped through the air, driving his twin blades deep into the sutures along the monster’s upper neck and twisting hard!

Black blood spattered everywhere!

Yet before he could retract his blades and leap back, the creature’s remaining seven arms lashed out toward him simultaneously.

"Ace, look out!"

Alex’s alarmed shout rang through the comms.

CRASH!

The ceiling overhead suddenly burst apart as Jack’s massive head poked through. Wielding a heavy steel hospital bed rail he had ripped free, he brought it crashing down directly onto the monster’s skull.

"Eat my blow, you bastard!"

The impact staggered the creature, buying Ace crucial breathing room.

Ray’s cold, commanding voice cut across all comm channels: "Don’t slug it out in close quarters! Draw it down to the underground parking garage! There are load-bearing pillars down there—blow them and bury it!"

The squad’s coordination operated with flawless precision. Every member functioned like a component in a finely calibrated machine, executing their assigned roles perfectly.

Despite its immense strength, the giant Stitch-Splicer found itself toyed with like a provoked, clumsy bull, reduced to mindlessly smashing its surroundings in vain.

Roars of combat and shattering explosions echoed back and forth.

"Damn it!"

Ray kicked aside a still-snapping zombie head rolling across the floor. The skull ricocheted off the wall, snapping its jaws in a futile attempt to bite his combat boot.

"This never ends!"

Swapping to his final magazine, Mitch’s rifle barrel radiated enough heat to fry an egg. He fired a final round into the writhing pile of regenerating flesh; the bullet sank in, exploding into a tiny splash of blood that accomplished precisely nothing.

"Ray, it’s still moving! There’s no living through a nightmare like this!"

Jack swung his blunted fire axe, panting heavily. His brutal raw strength proved entirely useless when pitted against an unyielding, regenerative pile of mud.

More terrifyingly still, right at the center of the writhing blood pool, the distinct outline of a brand-new, even more twisted head was rapidly regenerating.

"It’s evolving!"

Ace’s twin blades were covered in jagged notches.

A heavy sinking feeling gripped everyone’s chests.

Physical assaults had reached their ultimate limit, yet this monster functioned like an unpatchable glitch in reality.

Ray’s mind raced at maximum velocity.

It couldn’t be hacked to death, couldn’t be blasted apart, and it could merge and evolve...