Infinite, Progressing from Arasaka

"Hey, Chris, the director's orders are in. We have to move out as soon as possible. Something happened!"

A burly man in a dark combat suit waved at the two of them, speaking English with a heavy Russian accent and rolled Rs.

Realizing something was wrong, Chris rushed out of the shooting range. The moment he entered the combat preparation room, he saw a group of Umbrella security personnel gathered around an LCD television, watching an emergency news report from Raccoon City, Colorado:

"Just yesterday, a suspected acute and highly contagious disease appeared in the northern district of Raccoon City. Incidents of the so-called 'Cannibal Disease,' in which severe coughing causes victims to cough up blood, have begun occurring on a large scale. Patients appear to have an overwhelming craving and impulse for flesh and raw food. Confirmed cases at the city hospital have risen sharply. City residents are advised to..."

On the screen, the field reporter spoke at a frantic pace. The situation elsewhere in Raccoon City was unclear, but in the northern district behind him, smashing, looting, arson, and free-for-all theft had already broken out. The situation was obviously dire.

"Some protesters have turned their anger toward Umbrella, the city's largest corporation, claiming that a leak at Umbrella's biomedical laboratory caused this infectious disease..."

"Umbrella's chief researcher in Raccoon City, Dr. William Birkin, has reportedly gone missing..."

"Fuck! That's the same damned virus from the mansion..." Chris shoved past the guards around him, each built like a bear and clad in full sets of high-tech combat gear. He stared fixedly at the news on the monitor and muttered.

"...Jill, fuck! Damn it... I need to see Russell. I have to leave now!"

With that, Chris went to the personal equipment locker temporarily assigned to him and began gathering gear and protective equipment, including Umbrella's specially made combat suit, resistant to stabbing and biting and equipped with an identification system and fluorescent markings.

Just as Chris prepared to leave, Vera's irritated voice rang out from the speakers in the preparation room, carrying a hint of exasperation.

"U.S.F. mobile security units, Teams 4, 5, and 6, move out with Chris."

"That bastard William Birkin probably flipped the table because he couldn't handle losing. He's gone insane. Does he intend to drag everyone down with him? And the Board of Directors—just how much of my money did they move behind my back?!"

"Deploy immediately! Dig up Raccoon City's secrets before the Board of Directors destroys the evidence. I can announce this to you in advance: California and US Umbrella is breaking away from Umbrella Paris Headquarters. In an emergency, use your own judgment. The mission comes first. No report is necessary."

"Chris, do what you think is right."

Action Begins

Beep... beep...

Chris set off.

"Tch. Chris is working with Umbrella, going back to Raccoon City to take down Umbrella, and Jill will probably join in too. I wonder what those S.T.A.R.S. survivors will look like when they see Chris bringing Umbrella's mobile unit to rescue them... What an absurd sight."

Vera walked to the floor-to-ceiling one-way glass window and looked down over the industrial park below.

Sunlight spilled down and danced across countless silver metal surfaces. Rows of modern industrial buildings stood in neat order, square and straight. Trucks bearing Umbrella's logo occasionally passed along the roads, following predetermined routes like silver ribbons winding through the park.

A convoy of heavy box-style multipurpose transport vehicles drove out of the underground parking lot beneath the U.S.F. security force's training base and sped inland toward Colorado.

With her left arm folded across her chest and several fingers pressed against her cheek, Vera silently watched the U.S.F. convoy disappear into the distance until it vanished from sight entirely.

"A carnival, isn't it?"

Murmuring softly, Vera turned and walked over to activate the projection screen. She sat down and leaned back in her chair, watching the Raccoon City Umbrella surveillance feed slowly load and connect while lifting the receiver of the integrated service phone and dialing a number.

The Raccoon City incident was undoubtedly a carnival.

A carnival where Umbrella fell, and everyone else ate their fill.

Before the Raccoon City incident exploded, Umbrella Corporation had seemed like an overwhelmingly powerful monopoly with an exceptionally positive international image. Its pharmaceuticals, medical hardware, and technological reserves were all world-leading. But Vera refused to believe that nobody else coveted them.

Especially before she joined Umbrella and pushed for its transformation, Umbrella's true sources of profit had come from hidden industries such as advanced military technology, life engineering, and bio-weapons.

Many of them were top-secret projects that could not withstand investigation or be made public.

In the past, everyone had their own dirty secrets, and none was cleaner than the others. They minded their own business. But now, the bomb Umbrella had buried itself had exploded. Would its business peers and rivals—such as Travis Company, its largest competitor, Tricell—really just stand by without kicking it while it was down?

As for believing Wall Street's vampires or Washington's politicians would offer help in the snow? You'd be better off believing in me, Vera, or Jehovah. Send money!

Now, Vera would be joining this feast of division as well.

Ah, you said Vera was also part of Umbrella?

Not for much longer.

From now on, please address me as the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of MILITECH!

"Hello, Mr. Simmons. Interested in buying a stake in MILITECH?"

While Vera was working on jumping ship and discussing with the White House Side how to sever ties with Umbrella and divide it up reasonably, on the British Isles, within the Spencer family's hidden ancient castle...

"Master, the scale of the virus leak in Raccoon City is expanding rapidly. The city's water supply and underground pipelines have been contaminated with the T-Virus. The incident is already beyond control. The recovery operation conducted by the U.S.S. forces on the twenty-second failed completely. They have been out of contact for more than forty-eight hours. Alpha Team may have been wiped out."

"That traitor William Birkin injected himself with the G-Virus and turned into a biological monster. He is wandering through the underground laboratory, causing massive destruction. Unfinished and sealed B.O.W. test subjects are continuously escaping into the city."

"The inhibitors and neutralizers we developed were designed for the T-Virus. Their precise effect on the G-Virus is completely unpredictable. We are under tremendous pressure from the White House Side and public opinion."

The Spencer family's old butler delivered his report, his voice trembling slightly.

A virus leak of this scale, and the Resident Evil it had directly caused, were simply unprecedented in modern society. It was horrifying beyond belief!

Even he, a butler who had served the Spencer family for many years, could not help feeling the urge to retreat.

Although Umbrella was enormous, with its pharmaceutical business alone worth hundreds of billions of dollars, once the charges concerning Raccoon City were confirmed, it would be finished. The international community's frenzied boycotts, state-level intervention and sanctions, forced delisting, division, and dismantling...

Seated in the highly advanced wheelchair specially gifted to Vera, director of the Black Umbrella division, Oswell E. Spencer raised one aged, thin hand. As though he had not heard the old butler's hesitation, he merely asked calmly, "Have the U.B.C.S. forces deployed?"

"They have deployed ahead of schedule."

The old butler's composure was impeccable. He immediately adjusted himself and concealed his emotions. "The first batch of troops is expected to reach Raccoon City tonight."

"Since it can no longer be avoided, make maximum use of it to advance the experiments. Haven't they always said their products lacked opportunities for actual combat?"

Spencer raised his face, wrinkled and covered in age spots from old age and prolonged avoidance of sunlight. A streak of ruthlessness flashed through his pale blue eyes, along with a hysterical madness.

If I cannot even live standing up, and am about to die of old age, does Umbrella, founded because of my wish for immortality, still have any value?

"Deploy them all in Raccoon City. Gather mutation and experimental data. Perhaps mature B.O.W. products, biological weapons, and biotechnology can persuade Washington."

Raccoon City was already out of control. How much worse could it get?

As an observer, the old butler instinctively felt that his master's order was problematic. Because of his paralysis in old age and obsession with immortality, the master's wisdom and decisiveness from his youth had completely vanished...

"Yes."

He could not refuse.

After conveying the secret order to Umbrella Paris Headquarters, the old butler returned, seeming as though he wanted to speak but hesitated.

"Master, Director Russell of the California USA region has harshly questioned us during the Board of Directors meeting. Regarding Raccoon City, are we... really just going to stall like this? Director Russell's dissatisfaction may even cause Umbrella to split..."

"Stall."

Spencer both loved and hated Vera.

If Vera had been an ordinary corporate executive and dared question him like that during a Board of Directors meeting, Spencer would have sent the U.S.S. to make Vera shoot herself in the back eight times.

Unfortunately, he could not...

At least, not yet.

After William Birkin's problem, Vera's cybernetic prosthetic technology and talent were a line Spencer could never abandon.

Besides, Vera would not be easy to kill. Her bodyguard team and U.S.F. security force included elite veterans who had been dismissed and left unable to survive after the economic collapse following the upheaval in Eastern Europe in 1991, as well as former KGB and Interior Ministry personnel. They were no weaker than the U.S.S. at all.

Combined with her immense patent rights, the massive profits she brought to the company, her ability to make money, her youth, and the large number of supporters she had within Umbrella...

"Just now, our informant planted in the California branch sent back word. Director Russell seems to have learned about our secrets in Raccoon City..."

After a pause, the old butler continued, "At the same time, she has begun specifically digging into secrets our company concealed in the past..."

"Who?!"

This time, Spencer could no longer remain seated.

In the past, he had trusted Vera and entrusted her with important responsibilities partly because she truly had the ability.

But more importantly, she was young—far too young. She had joined the company late and belonged to an outside, emerging faction. There was no way she could know the details of the many filthy matters Umbrella had buried in the past. She herself had indeed shown no interest in virology, focusing instead on leading Umbrella's transformation in her own field.

Spencer had never considered the possibility that Vera knew the company's past secrets. Those secrets were older than she was. So what had made Vera start looking into them? What had she learned?

"It was Chris Redfield, a survivor of the mansion incident and former S.T.A.R.S. member of Raccoon City. He infiltrated the industrial park and pretended to be a company employee. Director Russell suspected William Birkin was making a move, so she met with him..."

"Over a minor character like that?! Wasn't this Wesker's responsibility? He's useless too—cough, cough, cough..."

William Birkin was already flirting with senior U.S. military officials and had betrayed Umbrella. Spencer coughed violently in anger.

"Where is he? Kill him. Deal with every S.T.A.R.S. survivor. Clean up everyone involved!"

Butler: "Director Russell did not fully believe his side of the story. She dispatched a team and had them sneak back into Raccoon City to collect evidence..."

"Then have our people clean up the evidence in Raccoon City! Put the blame on William Birkin. Stall for as long as we can, cough, cough..."

The butler hurriedly handed him cough medicine and water, then withdrew.

"..."

After taking the medicine, Spencer felt much better. In the silence, news of the violent 'Cannibal Disease' in Raccoon City continued playing on the television. After a long while, he wheeled himself to the castle window. His cloudy old eyes looked through the antique crystal glass toward the dense forest beside the castle, swaying in the wind.

"...Why do you disdain virology? If it were you, with your talent, you could surely let me... Yes, there is still a chance..."

1998/9/25

Raccoon City.

Beneath a gloomy sky and the wail of overlapping sirens, the brightly lit city was in chaos. Collapsed and burning buildings, major roads completely blocked by vehicles, blaring broadcasts, fleeing crowds, inhuman howls...

Perhaps even heaven could not bear the tragedy unfolding in the city. After deafening thunder, lightning tore through the sky and turned the pitch-black night a deathly white. Cold rain fell without end, pattering softly.

It was a small room, with piles of strange documents, maps, and photographs covering the walls.

Jill Valentine awoke from the faint, unsettling creaking of bones.

She snapped her eyes open, rolled out of bed, instinctively grabbed the gun on her bedside table, aimed it forward, and vigilantly surveyed her surroundings.

A few seconds later, aided by the dim glow of the desk lamp, Jill saw where she was and let out a breath of relief.

This was her rented apartment in Raccoon City.

The wall was covered with evidence she had gathered over the past two months regarding Umbrella's illegal biological research in Raccoon City, as well as information about the culprit that turned people into Zombies—the T-Virus.

The radio intermittently broadcast updates. Umbrella claimed everything was under control. The city government advised residents to isolate at home. Some programs insisted this was Umbrella's fault, while others tirelessly defended Umbrella...

Jill put on her boots, got out of bed, and walked over to the wall covered in documents and photographs. She casually tore down a note.

"Damn it... Umbrella created this disaster, yet every citizen of Raccoon City has to bear it. Every night is worse than the last... In a few days, according to my agreement with Chris, I'll be able to leave Raccoon City with this evidence and information."

She picked up the note, which contained observations she had made from monitoring the Resident Evil situation in Raccoon City.

"Damn T-Virus."

She had thought the mansion nightmare was over. She had never imagined it would last this long.

Raccoon City had already been turned into a city of hell by the damned T-Virus. When she had gone out the previous day to purchase supplies, the entire city had already descended completely into chaos. The moment she heard the description of that 'Cannibal Disease,' Jill knew it was the T-Virus.

Just then, ring-ring—

The phone? Who could be calling? Following the sound, Jill picked up the Motorola brick phone from the landline. Beep. "Hello? This is Jil—"

"Jill, are you okay?"

"Chris? It's you." Jill's face brightened. "Didn't you go to Europe? Did you find conclusive evidence of Umbrella's illegal research?"

"No. Long story short, listen to me. Immediately—immediately—pack up every piece of evidence and document you have. Prepare weapons for self-defense and take basic protective measures. I've returned from Europe and left San Francisco. I'll be arriving in Raccoon City soon...

"Your location—your current location may have been exposed. Umbrella intends to destroy all the evidence in Raccoon City. You may be on their elimination list... In any case, relocate first. Go to the west side of the city. Umbrella's forces and I will enter Raccoon City from the west and meet up with you."

"Wait, what are you talking about? You're with Umbrella's forces?" Jill's voice rose several pitches.

"It's hard to explain. I'm with Umbrella's forces, but not Umbrella's Raccoon City forces..."

"Is there a difference?"

"Sigh, Jill, just trust me. Relocate first. Be careful. The sooner, the better." Beep! The call disconnected.

Jill blankly lowered the phone. "What the hell is Chris doing?"

Although she was deeply confused, the bond and trust forged through their shared hardships in S.T.A.R.S. made Jill act immediately. She stuffed the documents, photographs, copies, film rolls, and everything else from the wall into a travel bag. Just as Jill had roughly finished packing and began checking her phone, police shotgun, and ammunition...

Knock, knock.

A knock at the door.

Jill abruptly raised her head. She had not ordered delivery! Most of her S.T.A.R.S. teammates were no longer in Raccoon City at this time, and her colleagues at the police station were probably all working overtime given the current situation.