Chapter 542: Ben’s Choice, Part 2
They were taking him very seriously, and they truly wanted him dead. He was just one man, yet they had sent over twenty Superpower Users.
Unsurprisingly, he was captured alive and brought before the man in charge.
The man was Gregory Hogan, his father’s deputy.
It was only then that he learned his parents had been assassinated because they had accidentally uncovered Gregory Hogan’s secret.
After the apocalypse began, some Eldorians began to stir.
They were extremely interested in the Zombie Virus that had plagued the entire world.
They wanted to study it, to exploit it.
In their eyes, everything was a double-edged sword. The virus was certainly terrifying and had killed countless people, but from another perspective, it was also an opportunity for them to make a name for themselves!
To study it, they needed a laboratory. To exploit it, they needed test subjects.
Conducting such research in their own country was far too risky, and human test subjects were hard to come by. So, they set their sights on the people of neighboring Astoria.
They took enormous risks to come to Astoria, where they built a secret base and established a connection with Gregory Hogan.
Through Gregory Hogan, they obtained a considerable number of healthy human test subjects.
They extracted the virus from Zombies, then processed and engineered it into a new strain.
If this virus was injected into an ordinary human, they would turn into a Zombie. These Zombies, unlike the wild ones outside, could potentially be controlled by them.
Just as Nora Lowell had once told Marcus Monroe in the secret tunnels beneath Norgate, their goal was to build their own immortal, undying Zombie army with immense combat power!
But the experiment was discovered before it was complete by Chance Shelby, who was Ethan Shelby’s father.
Gregory Hogan was implicated in it.
Knowing Chance Shelby’s integrity, they knew none of them would escape unscathed. So, the Eldorians and Gregory Hogan joined forces, deciding to strike first by assassinating Chance Shelby and his wife.
After that, it was Ethan Shelby’s turn.
To get rid of the weeds, one must pull out the roots.
Gregory Hogan was a firm believer in this principle.
He could only truly rest easy after he had captured Ethan Shelby.
Feeling relieved and smug, he held nothing back, revealing everything to Ethan Shelby before sending him off to the Eldorians’ laboratory.
Ethan Shelby was injected with the medicine.
Many Astorians had already been injected with this medicine developed by the Eldorians, but more than half of them had died. The few who remained were barely alive and had not transformed into the obedient Zombies the Eldorians envisioned.
‘Ethan Shelby will be no exception,’ Gregory Hogan thought.
But this time, he was wrong.
During his years in The Power Corps, Ethan Shelby had not only actively focused on the Cultivation of his superpower but had also paid great attention to physical training. He managed to pull through thanks to his robust physique and exceptionally resilient spiritual power.
He woke up from a deathlike state just as his body was about to be disposed of.
He wasn’t completely lucid.
Not only had his appearance become that of a Zombie, but his sanity was also nearly gone. The only overwhelming sensation he felt was hunger.
This time, he didn’t hold back.
He rampaged through the laboratory, using both his Earth Element Power, which had not disappeared, and his newfound sharp claws and teeth. He caught the lab personnel completely off guard, killing and eating several of them.
However, as he felt his abilities growing, he noticed his own sense of self was fading.
He felt a surge of fear, so he stopped.
After trapping the remaining personnel inside the laboratory, he hid himself nearby.
‘I have to kill Gregory Hogan before I turn into a full-fledged Zombie and lose all reason!’
Heaven rewards the persistent.
Just as he was desperately struggling with himself, Gregory Hogan finally arrived at the secret laboratory.
He had come to see Ethan Shelby. Though convinced he couldn’t have survived, Gregory Hogan had still made the trip for a final confirmation.
Ethan Shelby succeeded in killing him, just as he had wished.
But he was in terrible shape himself.
His neck had been nearly severed, leaving him unable to unleash his full power.
Just as he was about to be killed, someone saved him.
It was an Astorian girl, captured by Gregory Hogan and forced to do menial labor for the Eldorians.
She was actually very timid.
They had threatened her life and the lives of her parents, so she was terrified and could only do as they commanded each day.
It pained her greatly to watch helplessly as these Eldorians destroyed one perfectly healthy person after another.
But she didn’t dare to resist, so she could only bury the anguish deep in her heart.
Ethan Shelby knew who she was.
She had brought him food before.
She had silently mouthed “I’m sorry” to him.
She felt guilty because she couldn’t set him free.
When Ethan Shelby survived and turned into a Zombie, the girl was both shocked and overjoyed. So when he approached her, covered in the blood of others, she didn’t move an inch. She closed her eyes, thinking, ‘It would be fine to die by his hand. At least then, I won’t have to feel guilty anymore!’
However, Ethan Shelby still possessed a sliver of reason at that moment. He recognized her. So, he brushed past her without laying a hand on her, let alone killing her.
As he charged away, tears streamed down her face.
Later, she could never quite understand how she had summoned such immense courage upon seeing him in mortal danger, about to be killed by the other Superpower Users.
She not only set fire to the laboratory but also stole some explosives to fake a larger blast.
Then, amidst the chaos among the Superpower Users, she slipped out, hoisted Ethan Shelby onto her back, and fled.
She was actually very clever.
The Superpower Users wouldn’t stay disorganized for long before giving chase, so after hiding Ethan Shelby, she went off alone and lured them toward a cliff…
…
As he recalled everything, Ben often thought to himself, ‘No wonder I’m so devoted to Paige Summers. The silhouette of her back is so similar to that of the girl whose name I never even learned.’
And that image of her back, stumbling away into the distance, was his most profound memory of her!
‘I’m actually a very lucky person,’ he thought.
Whenever he was in his most desperate moments, a girl would appear to save him.
The first girl had allowed him to live, and now, Paige Summers had rescued him from his mindless, zombie-like state.
He didn’t regret staying by her side, and he liked protecting her quietly like this.
‘So, if becoming human again—even an incomplete version—means losing my superpower,’ he thought, ‘I’m not willing to do it.’
‘Without my superpower, how could I possibly protect her?’
‘If I regained my human form, how could I always remain by her side?’
‘Even if she were willing, Marcus Monroe would never agree.’
‘I can see it now. That guy is incredibly jealous; he wishes every other man would stay at least three feet away from Paige Summers!’
‘It’s only because of what I am now that he grudgingly holds himself back.’
At this thought, the amusement in his eyes deepened.
‘There’s no need for any changes. It’s better for me to stay just the way I am.’
Quietly watching them build Bloodfall into a better and better place, watching her live happily with her husband and child.
‘Yes, this is enough.’