The tear gas smoke began to thin, swept away by waves of black energy radiating from Anna’s body. The bunker, previously loud with military commands, went dead silent as the creature stepped out of the metal casket. It looked human-ish, but its skin was deathly pale, with organic cables embedded all along its spine. It had no face—just a horizontal slit venting cold steam. ​"Unit Zero-D, eliminate the unstable subject," the man in the bomber jacket ordered calmly, like he was ordering coffee in the middle of a slaughterhouse. ​Anna didn't wait. With a roar that sounded more like a wolf’s snarl than a woman’s voice, she lunged. Her speed was insane now; she was just a black blur flickering from one spot to the next. BAM! Anna slammed into the pale creature, dragging it through metal shelves of medical samples until everything was reduced to scrap. ​Nathan leaned against a cracked wall, clutching his head as it throbbed from the lingering EMP interference. His vision was shot, but th

The air inside the bunker felt static and scorching, as if the oxygen had been incinerated by the red glow radiating from the fake Alpha. Nathan stood there, chest heaving, his white-glowing eyes locked onto the countdown shrinking on his system’s HUD.​[Warning: Biological fusion at 90%. Time remaining: 30 seconds. Evacuate immediately.]​"Nathan! We have to run! The path behind Richard might still be open!" Liana screamed, grabbing his shoulder, but he stood as still as a steel statue.​"We won't make it, Liana," Nathan said, his voice eerily calm against the roar of the machinery around them. "This blast will level everything in a five-kilometer radius. You guys won't reach the surface in time."​Nathan turned to Dr. Richard, who was clutching his data bag, face pale as a ghost. "Doc, if I sync my system to that thing... can I pull back the self-destruct command?"​Richard’s eyes nearly popped out, his glasses sliding to the tip of his nose. "Theoretically... yes. But you’d have to

A harsh wind blew through the massive hole in the bunker’s ceiling, bringing with it the smell of gunpowder and wet earth. Nathan stood tall, his back to his teammates. His silver eyes stared straight at the dozens of missiles still frozen in the air, held back by the sheer force of his will. With a smooth wave of his hand, as if sliding a chess piece, Nathan redirected the missiles back toward where they came from.​"Targets locked," Nathan said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion.​"Nathan, what are you doing?" Liana’s voice trembled as she watched the missiles streak back at double speed, slamming into the helicopter fleet and the carrier in the distance, creating massive fireballs on the horizon.​Nathan didn't answer. He began walking out of the ruins, stepping past the destroyed steel door. Outside, special forces units immediately opened fire. Hundreds of bullets streamed toward him, but not a single one touched his silver skin. The rounds stopped in mid-air, just inches from

The chill inside Alice’s base was getting sharper, but the frantic pace inside didn't slow down for a second. Nathan stood like a statue in the center of the command center, his silver eyes staring blankly at rows of screens filled with scrolling data. ​"Still no access?" Nathan’s voice rumbled low, sounding deeper than ever since he’d taken over the Bio-Zero body. ​Giselle let out a long sigh, her fingers dancing across the keyboard. Beside her laptop, the blue glow from the System pulsed rapidly. "No go, Nathan. The chip you found is locked with high-level biometric encryption. Alice designed this to open only with your DNA." ​Giselle turned, looking at him with a pained expression. "But the DNA in your current body... it’s 100% Bio-Zero. The system reads you as a different person. You’re not the 'Nathan' this encryption recognizes." ​Nathan looked down at his shimmering silver palms. "Irony at its best. I sacrificed my body to save you guys, and now I’ve lost the key to save he

The resonance of the bells that had originally scrambled Nathan’s nervous system was slowly drowned out by a much stronger frequency thumping from within his own brain. Nathan, who had been on his knees, stood tall. His silver eyes, which had flickered red, now emitted a blinding white light, sending out invisible waves that swept across the entire gate area.​"Enough with the noise," Nathan hissed.​The dozens of ravager zombies that had been lunging ferociously suddenly froze exactly one meter in front of him. Their rotting bodies went stiff, as if pulled by invisible strings. Their snapping jaws clamped shut, and their red eyes slowly faded into a dim silver, syncing with Nathan’s brain frequency.​The cult leader in the skull mask gaped, shaking his bell frantically. "What are you doing?! Attack! Finish off that silver freak!"​Nathan turned slowly toward the crowd of black-robed cultists. "You gave them a frequency to obey. But I... I’m giving them a collective consciousness."​"