The big Black man sighed as well. "Yes, not only is it dead, but I think this place might vanish entirely in the future. These kinds of horrors are too terrifying; no one will dare step foot in here for the next decade."

As they spoke, storefronts and residences gradually appeared on both sides of the street. The vehicle moved forward a little further, and then, guided by the big Black man, Jill gradually brought it to a halt. Sure enough, a church structure appeared ahead, seemingly one of the more intact buildings around.

Jill and Zheng Zha supported the big Black man, one on each side. She glanced silently at the ordinary civilians behind her, then said, "There's nothing we can do for them; this church probably can't hold many people either. Alas." With that, she helped the big Black man toward the church entrance.

The interior of the church looked surprisingly normal. The surrounding stained glass windows were mostly intact, and the pews and candle holders inside hadn't been smashed or looted. However, the flickering candlelight on the holders cast an eerie gloom over the sanctuary.

Everyone walked silently through the church. As they moved forward, a low growl suddenly cut through the air beside them: "You all listen to me!" Everyone jumped in fright. Even Zheng Zha and the others, who knew the general plot, flinched violently. Several people nearly drew their weapons. Turning, they saw a middle-aged man pointing a gun at them. He stammered nervously, "This is my territory! Whoever you are, get out of where you came from!"

Jill quickly interjected, "We have enough for our whole factory team to stay together. It's chaos outside; let us stay until morning. What do you say?" The middle-aged man seemed provoked and immediately pointed the gun back at Jill. "You—you shut up!"

The big Black man spoke up immediately, "Calm down, calm down. We pose no threat to you. Look, we aren't those flesh-eating monsters from outside; we are normal people!" The middle-aged man seemed to snap back to reality then, hesitating whether to lower his weapon until Zheng Zha said coolly, "Do you think it's safer for all of us to be here together, or for you to be alone? Having more people means better support, right?" Only then did the middle-aged man slowly lower his pistol, though his expression remained guarded. He watched silently as the group moved toward the pews at the front of the church, only following them over after everyone else had settled down.

Once everyone was seated, Jill took out two small bottles and tossed a compressed ration and a block of solid water to the big Black man, the woman with the DV camera, and the middle-aged man, one item for each. Zheng Zha and his teammates took out their own supplies, distributed two rations to the newcomers, and began eating.

The three newcomers—the big Black man and the other two—were eating this kind of food for the first time. They had initially assumed it was some kind of pill. After swallowing the rations, the hunger vanished completely, replaced by a faint, pleasant taste of food lingering in their mouths. The three looked at Jill in astonishment, but the beautiful police officer simply pointed toward Zheng Zha. "Don't look at me. This stuff is theirs; I just happened to get a bit extra."

With that, she pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her jacket.

Zheng Zha smiled at the others. When he saw Jill produce the cigarettes, an inexplicable pang shot through his heart. Then he chuckled, "Here, try a pack of my cigarettes."

Jill looked at Zheng Zha curiously as he also produced a pack. She took one, lit it, and took a drag, exclaiming in surprise, "What a fantastic flavor! These taste incredible! What brand are they?" Zheng Zha lit one for himself, then passed the pack to the other men on the team. "Private stash. I won't share the name. I have a sealed carton here too; take it." With that, he pulled a carton of cigarettes from his storage ring and tossed it to Jill.

By this time, the woman with the DV camera seemed to have recovered from the shock of tasting the compressed food and solid water. She pointed her DV at the group, filming while asking, "Does anyone here know what happened to this city? I was suddenly told by my neighbor in the sky to flee immediately, and then all along the way I saw all those flesh-eating monsters. Did you guys see those monsters?" Just then, a flash of lightning illuminated the church windows, suggesting rain was imminent.

The big Black man glanced around the church curiously. "Are there no other people here?" As soon as he spoke, a faint rustling sound echoed. Everyone looked around. Zheng Zha and his teammates exchanged glances; they each took out their weapons, particularly Cheng Xiao, who brought forth his Zaku Lightning Axe—its mere presence was already incredibly imposing.

Jill exchanged a look with the big Black man, then silently started walking toward the back of the church. The others remained in the main hall. After waiting for about a minute, the woman with the DV camera finally couldn't stand it anymore and said, "I—I need to leave here. This place looks too sinister, too terrifying." With that, she began walking briskly toward the church doors.

Zheng Zha murmured, "Cheng Xiao, Zhang Heng, protect Jill. If you see any Crawlers, kill them. The watch says there's a fifty-point reward for killing one; kill as many as you can. Be careful not to let them get too close; Cheng Xiao, you handle close combat."

"Zhao Yingkong, protect everyone and the newcomers. I'll handle the fighting here."

With that, Zheng Zha pulled a combat knife and a micro submachine gun from his storage ring. He then yelled loudly at the woman with the DV camera, "Don't open the door!" Unfortunately, his warning came a second too late. The DV woman had already opened the door and, because of Zheng Zha’s shout, turned to look at him in astonishment. Then, a withered hand reached in from outside the doorway. A large swarm of zombies pulled at the DV woman, dragging her toward the exit. Zheng Zha reacted quickly, lunging past the big Black man to reach the DV woman, dragging her back from the grasp of the zombies. With a light flick of his combat knife, the entire swarm of zombies froze. Their heads were severed in one clean stroke. Zheng Zha immediately slammed the heavy door shut.

Everyone clustered in the center of the church hall. Zhan Lan had already closed her eyes, murmuring, "Mm, Zhang Heng and Cheng Xiao have found Jill. I've given Zhang Heng a slot for a Mind Chain, the other two are Zheng Zha and Yingkong. Go ahead and attack without worry. I've already marked the Crawlers hiding in the rooms."

The entire layout of the church flashed through Zheng Zha's mind, along with the locations of over a dozen Crawlers, each over five meters long—significantly larger than the Xenomorphs they had seen in Resident Evil 1. The number was also greater than the four Crawlers mentioned in the original plotline. It seemed the difficulty had indeed increased.

"Good work. Keep monitoring their positions. Don't attack yet; normal weapons don't seem very effective against them."

Zheng Zha paused, then pulled a heavy machine gun from his storage ring, connecting a full belt of ammunition to it. Just then, several massive silhouettes flashed across the walls and above their heads. The two newcomers were trembling uncontrollably from fear. The woman with the DV camera stared fixedly at her camera until one of the Crawlers paused briefly in the candlelight emerging from the darkness. When she finally saw its giant, lemur-like form, she was truly stunned.

Its body appeared skinned, revealing bulging muscles. Its massive claws could surely rip through steel. Its enormous body, over five meters long, had a tongue hanging out of its lemur-like mouth, which seemed to be dripping blood.

The middle-aged man screamed loudly and immediately bolted toward the back of the church, not even hearing Zheng Zha yell at him to stop. Only the big Black man and the DV woman hesitated. However, seeing that Zheng Zha's group seemed composed, they cautiously huddled together with everyone else.

"Zhao Yingkong, protect everyone and the newcomers; they have almost no combat ability! I'll handle the fighting here!" Zheng Zha took a deep breath. He didn't know which was more terrifying, these Crawlers or the Xenomorphs, but this was hardly the time to consider such things. His eyes briefly glazed over in focus, and then he aimed the heavy machine gun at the closest Crawler to the group.

Bang bang bang! This heavy machine gun was an enhanced-power weapon, acquired from the "Main God's" exchange—a relatively expensive piece of near-sci-fi weaponry. The muzzle flash stretched over half a meter long. Before the Crawler could move, its entire head was blown into pulp. The massive recoil of the weapon didn't stop there; it blasted a huge hole right through the church roof, allowing everyone to see the stars above.

The other Crawlers began moving rapidly. Two of them scurried over the roof, attempting to pounce on Zheng Zha from above. But as they leaped out, Zheng Zha had already targeted and fired back. The immense power tore them in half, scattering chunks of flesh and viscera across the floor.

(Strength is immense, the tongue has minimal offensive power, claws require close engagement, but agility is insufficient. Basically, slightly stronger in melee than a regular Xenomorph, but lacking in flexibility. As long as enough heavy weaponry is deployed, they can definitely be eliminated from a distance.)

Information streams from Zhan Lan were constantly fed into Zheng Zha's mind, allowing him to fire with almost no need for precise aiming. After killing seven or eight Crawlers, Zhan Lan suddenly uttered a low "Huh?" Simultaneously, Zheng Zha received a visual update: a gigantic Crawler, nearly eight or nine meters long, tore one of the fleeing Crawlers apart with a single claw, then coiled its massive tongue around the carcass and swallowed the remains. Its body seemed to swell even larger as it began slowly crawling toward the group.

"Evolved? Like in Resident Evil 1, consuming other beings to modify its genes? So it's an evolved form too?" Zheng Zha swallowed hard. He immediately aimed the heavy machine gun toward the giant Crawler. The massive creature was gradually revealing itself from the darkness, its gigantic, monstrous form poised to leap...