Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

They realized this, they understood this, and once they knew everything, the invisible shackles left them.

Claire's eyes were filled with confusion, her fighting instincts were overwhelming, her muscles tensed and expanded, and then contracted in localized areas.

—The first stage of the gene lock is unlocked.

The confusion in Leon's eyes vanished, replaced by focus, as power flowed freely within him. Every muscle obeyed his commands, every inch of flesh was under his control.

—The second stage of gene lock is unlocked.

In an instant, they acquired this chosen power and mastered this divinely bestowed authority. On their very first encounter, they were as adept as seasoned reincarnators, skillfully mastering the ability to unlock and close their genetic locks at any time. An invisible and traceless aura of humanity entwined around them, threatening to propel them to even higher levels at any moment.

The protagonist's destiny was activated, and from that moment on, the world gained a slight ability to resist. Although the two protagonists were still under the direct watchful eyes of the reincarnators, and their transformation was even orchestrated by the reincarnators behind the scenes, they and their world still enjoyed a degree of freedom.

As the gazes of the two newly chosen gods met in mid-air, a silent understanding was quietly established between them. However, silence did not mean inability to speak; they knew they had to communicate.

“North America has definitely changed, just like Western Europe and East Asia. That bluish-gray bio-giant, that unknown entity fighting against the giant, and the power we possess—power that could have changed the outcome of a battle in the past… perhaps our place is North America.” Leon looked around. What he saw was an ordinary city at night, brightly lit and bustling with traffic. He and Claire were on the rooftop of a building, looking down at this seemingly unremarkable city at night. But he clearly sensed that something was amiss.

“Not North America,” Claire dismissed his idea, pointing behind him. “This is South America, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. Because behind you is Christ the Redeemer.”

Leon turned around, and even across the vast distance and the deep night, he could still clearly see the enormous white figure tens of kilometers away. The genetic lock, while granting him explosive power, also enhanced his fundamental attributes. Now, even without weapons, he could take down ten of his former selves.

"South America... So that means we have another enemy to deal with. I remember Ms. Sirin seemed to have also obtained a power similar to ours, and she even called it a gene lock. Perhaps she is one of us?"

“That’s a possibility, but we don’t have time to deal with it right now… This city seems normal, but there’s definitely some kind of dark and hidden change lurking within it. We’d better find it while no one or nothing is paying attention to us, so we can gain some initiative later.”

“That makes sense.” Claire nodded. “So, where should we begin?”

.......................................

"Alright, that should be about right." In the church in Raccoon City, Patchouli withdrew her hands from Leon and Claire's heads. Looking at the two protagonists' surging aura and their furrowed brows in the dream, she breathed a sigh of satisfaction.

She had put in a lot of effort to orchestrate this operation, and now she was finally seeing results. She had spent considerable time connecting the two protagonists with the will of this world, humanity, or rather, the principles of civilization, and then using those principles to guide them by projecting them into physical forms. When they became the true protagonists, she carefully concealed herself and made a small intervention at the right time.

Ah, yes, just a little interference.

The backlash against the principles of civilization has already begun. Soon, the Reincarnators will become the enemies of all spirits in this world. But there are varying degrees of hostility. Well-behaved witches like her, who have been good children from the start, and good kids like Zhao Yingkong and Xilin, who have only had a minor impact on the current world and haven't even had any contact with its humane civilization, should obviously not be the priority targets. On the contrary, certain troublemakers named Alexia should be dealt with first.

She carefully guided the protagonists' attention; having already traveled to Western Europe and East Asia, they would now be exploring the landscapes of South America and the North Pacific. They would firmly believe that a great evil was lurking behind the scenes, controlling everything—though this was indeed the case—and that in the moments before they awoke, they would witness someone carrying calamity from the south, heading north.

Who told someone to be busy spreading viruses right now? Who told someone to create a large number of supernatural creatures by spreading viruses everywhere, and even induce the entire Earth's civilization to develop in the direction of magic? Her interference with the principles of civilization is even greater than the sum of Chu Xuan and the others. When the backlash begins to operate, who else can the world's will... or rather the principles of civilization, criticize if not her?

"If everything goes smoothly, they should both reach the third tier when they wake up tomorrow. Then, they can be enhanced with the T-virus from this world... Although the enhancement level is relatively low, it should be enough to support the appearance of a third-tier gene lock once it reaches its limit. And when someone leisurely arrives from South America and enters the United States, the welcoming ceremony she'll be giving will definitely be spectacular." Patchouli's lips curled into a malicious smile, while the little devil, who had somehow transformed into a miniature form, floated on her shoulder, waving a flag in support.

She was genuinely cheering her on; she actually took out chess pieces that read "Go for it!", "Try your best!", and "Patchouli, GO!" and waved them vigorously behind the girl, even thoughtfully adding colorful backlighting and flower rain effects.

Xilin and Zhao Yingkong exchanged glances, their hearts filled with conflict and confusion. While they weren't entirely unable to understand, this seemed a bit too much…

A few seconds later...

“Zhan Lan is protesting to me. She says those two physical projections you sent over have made a mess of her testing site in Rio de Janeiro,” Zhao Yingkong said, breaking the awkward silence. “She said if we don’t deal with it, she’ll personally kick those two main characters out.”

A projection appeared in her hand, showing several city blocks of Rio de Janeiro engulfed in flames. After realizing that everyone in the city was nothing more than a mindless puppet, the two protagonists, enraged, embarked on a rampage of destruction. The rudimentary AIs, barely able to maintain consciousness within their dreamlike bodies, were clearly no match for the protagonists' destructive rampage.

They only blew up a gas station, yet it disrupted traffic on several streets, and the resulting chain reaction even affected a large part of the city. After all, AI and the like need sufficient time to develop into excellent tools capable of handling various situations, and clearly, only a few hours have passed since Alice handed these AIs over to Zhan Lan, which is far from enough time for them to grow.

Right now, the physical projections of the two main characters are wreaking havoc in Rio. Meanwhile, Zhan Lan, whose patience is waning, is harnessing the dream power of hundreds of millions of people, gazing down from the sky. Her will manifests in the night sky as a face large enough to cover the entire city. This face, already possessing rudimentary divine power, is ready to exhale a breath of hot air downwards at any moment.

A breath of hot air, a breath powerful enough to turn the entire city into a sea of ​​fire. If Zhan Lan really did that, then even the two chosen protagonists who appeared as physical projections would likely suffer severe injuries. After all, she wasn't just Zhao Zhuikong who simply intended to greet them. Judging from her current state, even Zheng Zha would have to take a small step back if he didn't activate his battle stance with a full-force attack filled with killing intent—although not taking a step back wouldn't really cause any serious problems.

“Let her…keep it under control as much as possible.” Patchouli rubbed her head, a little confused, and said softly. “Don’t use your full strength, just give them a good beating and drive them away. I still need them to grow to the third tier, it’s not the right time yet… Of course, if she feels threatened, then forget it. These two little devils aren’t so easy to kill.”

Zhao Yingkong shrugged, indicating she understood. Just as she was giving Zhan Lan her reply, Xilin, who had been observing cautiously, asked, "Uh... this... so this is basically what our Zhongzhou team's vacations are like? Calling it a vacation but actually just a change of scenery for experiments?"

Patchouli gave a subtle yet polite smile.

"In a sense, that is indeed the case."

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Continuing with the two-in-one update today, "Witch Wars" is still being updated... I'm going to make it through another week!

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Rabbit Bites!

Sometimes, seemingly insignificant actions can trigger huge changes.

Fate and the future always unfold in ways that even the wisest cannot foresee.

When Patchouli, Zhao Yingkong, and Xilin, three female reincarnators, reached a consensus and enthusiastically prepared for this novel vacation and their method of persecuting someone, something unimaginable changed somewhere in the world and for someone living there.

....................................

North America, Mexico, Sactecas, Santo Domingo Church. Molten gold crosses turn into scalding water. From this center, a spell covering half the city bursts outwards through curses, instantly transforming the life and death of all things.

The ground trembled, and skeletal hands emerged from beneath the cross-shaped tombstones surrounding the church.

The sky was dark, and from the burning clouds came countless wailing spirits.

The skeletons broke free of the graveyard, and the ghosts gathered into a storm.

As countless dead awoke from their slumber, roaring and howling as they swept in all directions, the feathered serpent, a mythical creature that materialized and materialized, summoned fire and lightning. It turned cities into seas of flame, dragging living beings into the abyss of death, while the moving remains continued their march in the flames, bringing calamity to every corner of the kingdom.

Death is not the death of the T-virus. As those grotesque undead shriek and attack those who failed to survive the first strike, the pale yellow potion the witch scattered across the land is activated. Potential that can only be unleashed in life-or-death situations rightfully comes into play between life and death.

Accompanied by ferocious roars, the infected, who were once barely human, abandoned their humanity in their pursuit of survival. They swelled, they twisted, they mutated, they strengthened. They battled the dead summoned by magic on the earth, then spread ruin and calamity to more parts of the land.

Desolation, collapse, disaster, catastrophe.

Slaughter, erosion, distortion, twisting.

This vast kingdom collapsed and crumbled due to the will of a supernatural being. The witch, who should have patiently orchestrated the situation and gradually accelerated the erosion, instead adopted an aggressive approach. In just a few tens of minutes, billions of people were reduced to corpses. In just a few hours, several kingdoms were utterly destroyed.

Amidst this vortex of destruction, Alice squinted as she gazed further north into this North American country.

"Are you satisfied now? Patchouli, since you want to pin this blame on me, what harm is there in me taking the blame? In the end, it will only mean the collapse of the rules of this world and the destruction of the structure of spacetime. All you've done is shorten the process to that result by a few days."

She landed gently on the top of a tall building, in her original form. After all, this was just a game, and since she, as one of the players, hadn't yet joined the chosen battle, there was no need to waste time and energy preparing for pointless role-playing.

She was Alice, not Alexia. Or rather, Alexia had now become a part of her, encompassed by her yet unable to represent her. As she shifted her gaze from the north to her surroundings, a physical projection, marked with colored blocks representing various regions of Earth, appeared beside her. Green represented the experimental sites of the reincarnators, yellow represented the areas where reincarnators not participating in the experiments stayed, white represented unprocessed areas, and crimson was the zone she could intervene in.

At this moment, the deep red patches have covered the entirety of Central America, a significant portion of North America, most of the Pacific Ocean, Oceania, and West Africa. And they are spreading outwards at a visible speed.

Patchouli wanted to add some fun to the experiment, so we'll play along. She wanted the world's will to create a protagonist to fight against Alice, or rather, Alice's alter ego, Alexia. Alice would then become a threat to the world as she did so, expanding that threat at a visible pace. And as she wished, she would incite hostility between the world and the protagonists.

It's just a bubble-like plane the size of the solar system, and it only contains a few main characters who can at most reach the fourth tier. Even if they are blessed by fate, they will ultimately be nothing more than an enhanced version of Esdeath—easily killed if they are serious, and easily suppressed and defeated even if they are not serious. Since the outcome was already predetermined from the beginning, what harm is there in being a little more unrestrained?

In any case, from the very beginning, when the Reincarnators set their sights on this world for their advancement experiments, the civilization on this planet was already doomed. They were doomed from the start; the only difference was whether it was one or several of the Reincarnators who would eliminate them. But now that distinction no longer exists, because Alice has taken on this responsibility.

Since it's something Patchouli expects, I should do it well. Even if she doesn't require me to do it, I should still be mindful of it.

However, how to do it should be up to me to decide.

The girl, chin in hand, used magic to tear the earth beneath her feet and let it carry her northward. She could clearly feel a deep, dark hatred surging from the depths of hell, threatening to engulf her like a tidal wave. Then, all that hatred transformed into pure energy and wind around her.

Hatred was a curse, and curses were her sustenance. She clearly recognized that she was undergoing a change and that she had no intention of stopping it. And as she made this decision, her power, will, and manipulation continued to grow to higher levels.

She gazed at the night sky, and it seemed as if a reflected shadow in the night sky was also gazing back at her.

Am I Alice now, or Luo Ye?

[Never mind, it's not important. Not everything needs to be analyzed so clearly. That's the beauty of sometimes being a little confused. Since I originate from the East, it's not a bad thing to occasionally learn from Eastern philosophies of life.]

After all, this is exactly the kind of development I've been hoping for. We've reached a point where there's no further room for progress, so what else can we do besides give ourselves a push?

She exhaled a long, soft breath, and with her stirring will, some of the plans she had prepared in advance were activated ahead of schedule. The so-called magical revival was not just a trick she made to fool Zheng Zha; she had actually made many genuine preparations for the current changes and actions.

In the Pacific, the resurrected Leviathan shattered Bermuda, devouring the entire island and the surrounding waters, along with countless unidentified ruins, like snacks. Then, a deep-sea vortex, its outline visible even from panoramic satellite imagery, replaced the deadly triangle. And tsunamis and tides were about to ravage the surrounding coastal land.

In the Mediterranean, the nine-headed Hydra and the six-headed Scylla emerged from the seabed, transforming the entire Greek land into a mixture of deep pools and swamps, and giving birth to countless offspring. Vast numbers of sea serpents expanded outwards from their new lairs. While serpents clashed with mortals, dragons and giants constantly emerged from caves and rocky cliffs across Europe, preparing food and territories for themselves.

In Central Asia, soldiers and civilians who have died on the battlefield over the years rise from the earth, turning their weapons against former friends and enemies. After all, the dead need not shed tears; all they possess is an endless yearning for life.

In Southeast Asia...in Northern Europe...in South Africa...

In every corner of the world, mythical monsters, born from Alice's prematurely detonated plan, attack all living and inanimate objects. Along with these monsters' attacks, people and zombies infected with a special version of the T-virus created by Alice, unbeknownst to them, also undergo reactive mutations. Mortals gain supernatural abilities, and zombies mutate into armed beings. And so, war breaks out.

This process progressed rapidly; under Alice's deliberate influence, the pace of change accelerated, with the situation changing dramatically every minute. In the first hour, mythical creatures attacked both living and dead beings. In the fourth hour, the mutant T-types within mortals and zombies began to function. And in the seventh hour, Alice arrived on the outskirts of Raccoon City.

She didn't plan to go in so soon, even though the guys in Raccoon City had already noticed her undisguised powerful aura—or rather, her presence. But now wasn't the time to make a move.

After all, the two protagonists who were sent by the world to level up and gain an unfair advantage haven't awakened yet. Without them, this operation will inevitably lack a certain amount of fun—of course, to show some respect for the protagonists, replacing "fun" with "a sense of urgency" is also acceptable. Ultimately, the final outcome won't change.

Alice stood on the outskirts of the city, silently watching the city bathed in the glow of dawn. Under her will, the zombies and ordinary creatures in Raccoon City had spontaneously transformed before being exposed to the mythical attack. And now, their strength was incomparable to that of their unmutated selves.

Alice continued to wait.

The world's hatred still haunted her. If hatred and curses could materialize, her body would be completely engulfed by a towering, pitch-black tornado. However, they could not, for the tornado was devoured and absorbed by her the moment it was created, becoming sustenance for her growth.

Her appearance remained unchanged, her temperament undistorted, her power unaltered, and her heart unaltered. She simply watched, completing her plans and waiting within that gaze. And she believed she wouldn't have to wait long.

"Magic resurgence, civilization advancement... I mean what I say. I have now revived the magic of this world, but whether it advances depends on the world's own will." Alice murmured, her voice seemingly directed at no one in particular. "I have made my choice, and you should make yours too."

"Either remain silent, continue to add a small amount of energy to my body with your hatred and look forward to that virtually impossible corrosive effect. Or fight me head-on, use your heroes to wage a war that will decide the outcome. And you should know that those two hastily created protagonists can't possibly pose the slightest threat to me."

As soon as she finished speaking, a rumble of thunder sounded in the sky. Gloomy clouds slowly pressed down, as if the entire world were about to slap down a giant hand on her, wiping her off the face of the earth.

However, she ignored it.

“You’d better make a decision quickly.” She sighed softly, her appearance gradually transforming into Alexia’s. “Otherwise, you’ll never have the chance to make a decision again.”

................................................

Meanwhile, in East Asia.

As darkness cleared over North America, somewhere in East Asia, inside a conference hall, the daylight outside gradually dimmed, and the screens in the hall lit up one by one, displaying specific graphics.

The figures of the reincarnators appeared in the center of the graphic. Not all of them, but a portion; those reincarnators who had not reached the fourth stage and were still at the third stage or below all appeared on their respective screens. Some looked fine, while most seemed to be in dire straits.

This is normal. After all, the fake mythical creatures arranged by Alice won't ignore them just because they are reincarnators or her teammates—the best they can enjoy is that they won't be chased or fatally attacked when they escape. And because of this, some people's vacation not long ago was... quite enjoyable.

For example, there's Luo Gandao, excitedly piloting his mech in Bermuda, only to find the floor explode and tentacles as tall as ten-story buildings crashing down on him. Or perhaps it's Cheng Xiao, wrestling with a lion on the South African savanna, only to bump into a forty-meter-tall, powerful gorilla. They didn't erupt in a commotion in what appeared to be a video conference simply because the monitors were muted, and they were powerless to change that.

They could only look at each other, expressing their opinions through their eyes and expressions. Although a simple phone call could end this silent drama, no one intended to do so at the moment—because just seconds later, Chu Xuan appeared in the center of the conference room.

"I have something to announce to everyone." He pushed up his glasses. "I plan to suppress my inner demons before reaching the fourth stage of the Gene Lock, and this process may require your cooperation."

"above."

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Today's update for "Witch Wars" also includes OAO.

Section 33: Make a Choice

Inside the secretive Umbrella base in Antarctica.