"Ah, I don't want to become a zombie!" In the middle of the night, Daniel Davis suddenly jumped out of bed, shouting loudly.
After seeing his surroundings through the light filtering in from the window, Daniel let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He realized that his forehead was drenched in sweat, and his pajamas and bed were soaked as well.
"Looks like it was just a dream." Feeling uncomfortable with his damp clothes, Daniel tried to get out of bed. But as soon as his hand touched the bed, he leaped out of it.
"This..." Daniel immediately sensed something was off.
Concentrating deeply, Daniel's face suddenly took on a strange expression. He raised his right hand, and a hemispherical space appeared under his palm.
"This is..." Staring at this peculiar space, Daniel didn't know what to say for a moment. "Room." As soon as he spoke, the hemispherical space expanded, forming a two-meter diameter hemisphere in front of him.
"The Surgical Fruit," he realized. The memories in his mind and the scene before him left no doubt—he seemed to have gained the ability of the Surgical Fruit.
"Why the Surgical Fruit? Could it be because I ate a fake Surgical Fruit earlier?" Of course, what Daniel had eaten wasn't a real Surgical Fruit, but a replica bought at an anime convention. These replicas came in various types and flavors, completely unlike the disgusting taste of the original Devil Fruits.
"If I'd known, I would have eaten a Logia type." Putting away his abilities, Daniel muttered to himself. He had no memory of how he traveled or reincarnated. All he remembered was a loud bang while he was in an elevator, followed by darkness, and then nothing.
"At least I have a cheat ability now." After confirming he indeed had the Surgical Fruit's power, Daniel began experimenting with its abilities based on his memories.
Spatial displacement worked, but the two-meter range was practically useless. However, the ability to control everything within the space was quite impressive.
The essence of the Surgical Fruit is that within its range, it's like being on an operating table, under the absolute control of the one performing the surgery. In a way, this is akin to having a domain.
Despite the powerful ability, Daniel's current usable range was too small to be of much help.
"Law could extend his room to cover an entire city; his stamina is incredible." Using the Surgical Fruit's abilities consumes stamina. After testing a few abilities, Daniel felt as if he had run several hundred-meter sprints and was on the verge of exhaustion.
"It seems the Surgical Fruit neutralized the T-virus and might have even evolved me a bit." Sensing the changes in his body, Daniel figured out the reason for his physical changes.
"With this ability, becoming a doctor wouldn't be bad." Within the Surgical Fruit's domain, even if he dismembered someone, they wouldn't die. Not utilizing this power to be a doctor would be a waste.
Modern surgeons face numerous challenges due to the body's complexity, but the Surgical Fruit eliminates those issues.
"The Surgical Fruit and the virus make a perfect pair." Umbrella has all kinds of viruses with various side effects. Unless one is compatible, the only result of infection is turning into a monster.
Even Wesker, whose body could adapt to many viruses, eventually turned into a monster due to excessive virus injections.
Umbrella's researchers couldn't solve these side effects, but that didn't mean Daniel couldn't—or rather, that the Surgical Fruit couldn't.
"T-virus enhancement, G-virus enhancement—if these viruses could enhance without side effects, they would significantly boost my strength. I wonder how long it will be before Raccoon City's crisis erupts." Thinking about Raccoon City's impending crisis dampened Daniel's excitement about gaining the Surgical Fruit's power.
Given its current range, the Surgical Fruit's ability wasn't much help to Daniel. The scope was too small.
"I'm exhausted. I need to rest. Wait, I feel like I forgot something." Exhausted from experimenting with the Surgical Fruit's powers, Daniel quickly wiped off his sweat with some water and lay down to sleep.
"Recovering is great; health is indeed the foundation of revolution. But..." The next day, feeling invigorated, Daniel still pretended to be very weak.
"I knew I forgot something. It's Stark—Iron Man, Tony Stark. I completely forgot about him." While eating breakfast, Daniel finally remembered after hearing the news mention Stark again.
"Stark, Stark... of course, it's that playboy." Although Stark looked younger now, Daniel hadn't recognized him at first glance. Yes, he hadn't recognized him.
Daniel had a mild case of face blindness, especially with foreign faces. If it were the middle-aged Stark, he might have recognized him, but now, he just couldn't.
The only reason he could confirm it was Stark was because of Captain America. In a world with Captain America, Stark was undoubtedly that Stark. This world wasn't just the Resident Evil world; it was also the Marvel world.
Resident Evil was already dangerous enough, but compared to the Marvel world, the two weren't even on the same level.
Besides other threats, there was that cosmic madman with the nickname "Purple Grape," who could wipe out half the universe with a snap of his fingers.
That's a distant threat. Closer ones include Hydra, the organization that cuts off one head and grows two more.
"I'm thinking too far ahead. I need to get through the current crisis first. The zombie dogs have started attacking people, which means Raccoon City's crisis is about to erupt." Checking the internet for recent mysterious and brutal murders in Raccoon City, Daniel immediately understood why Jill and Rebecca had visited him before.
"I think they're part of S.T.A.R.S., not regular police officers. Well, this world is already different from the Resident Evil I knew."
Daniel then started studying the maps of Raccoon City and its gun stores. In Resident Evil, not having a gun was a death sentence. Even with the Surgical Fruit, giving him immunity to the T-virus, he wouldn't dare let zombies bite him.
"Unfortunately, there's no time to study more; otherwise, I could enhance the Surgical Fruit's abilities." To better utilize the Surgical Fruit's powers, besides being strong himself, Daniel needed extraordinary knowledge.
Within the domain of the Surgical Fruit, Daniel could automatically acquire knowledge about objects, like the composition of glass or the ingredients in medicine.
But this automatic acquisition was akin to reading an instruction manual. Without a solid understanding, it was meaningless.
Unlike Devil Fruits purely meant for combat, the Surgical Fruit's power wasn't designed for fighting.
Perhaps due to the combined powers of the Surgical Fruit and the T-virus, Daniel's memory had improved significantly, though not to the point of photographic memory. Soon, he memorized the general map of Raccoon City and the locations of several gun stores.
"Daniel, someone is here to see you." As Daniel was looking at the map and planning his next steps, the nun came over with a blonde, eleven or twelve-year-old girl with a delicate face.
"Are you alright?" The girl asked with concern.
"And you are?" Daniel asked, finding the girl somewhat familiar yet strange.
"This is Sherry," the nun immediately said.
"Sherry, ah, I remember now. Sorry, I've had headaches recently and can't think straight," Daniel said apologetically.
"It's okay," the girl replied understandingly.
"Sherry Birkin." After a brief conversation, Daniel realized who the girl was—her father was William Birkin.
Sherry and Daniel had a good relationship because Daniel's parents had been researchers under William. Since his parents spent most of their time in the lab and rarely came home, Daniel and Sherry had become friends.
Knowing who she was, Daniel's expression turned complex. In a way, Raccoon City's crisis was caused by her parents' research.
Sherry was also a victim of her parents' actions.
Thinking about this, Daniel couldn't help but sigh.
"Rebecca, be careful. Shoot first if you see the target," a teammate from Bravo Team, standing by a stopped train in the Arklay Mountains outside Raccoon City, cautioned Rebecca, who was new and on her first mission.
"Yes, Captain." Rebecca's face changed slightly as she looked at the wanted notice, then she took several deep breaths to calm herself and replied solemnly.
The wanted man on the notice was Billy, sentenced to death for the massacre of twenty-three people.
For Rebecca, who had just graduated from university, encountering such a person was unprecedented. Graduating from a prestigious medical school at eighteen, Rebecca was undoubtedly a genius.
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