Infinite Progress, Starting with Arasaka

Bullets struck the old, rusted steps of the fire escape, sending sparks flying. Jill didn't have time to catch her breath and could only leap down towards the blind spot directly below the wall.

Using a pile of garbage to cushion her landing, Jill rolled forward to dissipate the force.

"Cough... spit!" The pain from her shoulder blade rubbing against something made her let out an involuntary grunt. Suppressing the nausea brought on by the pervasive stench of decay in the air, she plunged into the alley.

Coming straight at her—"Roar!"

In the alley, drawn by the clamor of explosions and gunshots, a middle-aged zombie woman who had been staggering unsteadily suddenly became alert at the scent of fresh flesh and lunged at Jill.

Jill sidestepped the lunging zombie and then shot its head, shattering it.

For her, compared to human malice, a mindless zombie was still too easy to deal with.

"She's in the alley!"

Damn it!

The shouts from behind made Jill's expression turn grim. Even in this hellhole, Umbrella still wanted to eliminate her. Moreover, on the street across the alley, seven or eight zombies were approaching her step by step.

Just as Jill was caught between a rock and a hard place, click, "Come here!" A side door was opened, and a man with messy hair pulled Jill inside.

Bang! The door closed.

"Thank..." Jill was about to apologize when she suddenly saw the Umbrella logo on the man's shoulder and sharply exclaimed, "You Umbrella bastard!"

"Hey, hey, calm down, I just saved you."

The man, dressed like a mercenary and certainly not like a regular soldier, quickly spread his hands. "I'm Carlos from U.B.C.S."

"What's the difference?"

"At least I'm not like them. We were deployed here to save citizens," Carlos shrugged. "But I didn't expect things to get this bad, it's too chaotic..."

Knock knock! The sound of something hitting the door.

The man quickly waved his hand. "This isn't the place to talk, let's get out of here. I found them acting suspiciously and followed out of curiosity. I didn't expect they were here to kill you, beautiful lady. What did you do to incur such wrath?" he said as they walked.

"Don't be ridiculous!"

Jill said indignantly, "If anyone's incurred wrath, it should be you people at Umbrella!"

"I don't understand all that. I'm just a mercenary,"

Carlos said, jogging along, with a self-deprecating and helpless tone. "How would a pet owner explain to a dog why it should fetch a frisbee?"

"..."

Jill was speechless. After thinking it over and recalling that Chris had mentioned he was with an Umbrella unit, she spoke, "Do you want to leave here with me and go to the west side of the city? An Umbrella unit will be there to meet me."

"Huh?"

Carlos was momentarily stunned.

What was going on?

Weren't Umbrella's secret forces trying to eliminate her just now? You don't trust me, an Umbrella U.B.C.S. member, and I haven't received any orders. Now you're saying an Umbrella unit will meet you in the west of the city?

Wait, let me think, this is too confusing.

Is Umbrella having an internal conflict?

Ding ding~

While thinking, Carlos quickly ran to the end of the building and opened the door. "Not good!" Following behind, Jill was tackled by Carlos before she could react. The moment they fell, a rocket launcher flew over their heads.

BOOM!

The interior furnishings were blasted to smithereens, hot smoke and dust filled the air, and wall plaster and debris rained down.

"Cough, cough, cough, what the hell is this?"

Carlos rolled over, looked up, and his face was filled with horror.

Outside the door, on the other side of the street, a tall monster clad in a black robe lowered its rocket launcher. Its faceless, eyeless head, wrapped in black bandages, was looking at him, or rather, at Jill beside him.

With another deafening roar, another tall monster clad in a black robe jumped down from the rooftop, crushing a small car under its foot, letting out a hideous roar, a distorted word.

"S.T.A.R.S... evidence... destruction..."

Thump~ thump~

Its heavy foot stomped on the ground, and in response, the tall monster moved, starting to run, like a heavy tank, roaring thunderously.

"My God, miss, what exactly did you do?"

"Damn it, don't just stand there! Umbrella's bio-weapon, run!"

Jill bolted, and looking back, she could even see a deformed heart on the monster's face. Huh?! What was that?

Suddenly, Jill saw a small flying object with a propeller fall directly onto the monster, and then, boom—!

The explosion flared, the air was instantly compressed, and then expanded at an astonishing speed. Burning pieces of clothing flew through the air. Jill stumbled from the impact outside the door, her eyes wide.

Then, another flying object landed, hovering outside the door, and even made a sound.

"Jill? Is that you, Jill?"

"Chris?!"

Chapter 030: All Fear Stems From—

"No time to explain, run!"

Chris's voice, amplified by the drone's speaker, cut through the smoke-filled room. Their shared life-or-death experiences during their time in S.T.A.R.S. made Jill instinctively trust his command.

"Run!"

Jill hadn't forgotten Carlos, who had saved her life just minutes ago, even if he was an Umbrella UBCS mercenary.

She tugged at Carlos.

Carlos reacted quickly as well, and the two darted out of the doorway, blackened and scorched by the explosion, one after the other. As they passed, Jill finally got a clear look at the monster that had exploded and was now engulfed in flames.

It was humanoid, an undeniable mini-giant, over nine feet tall. Its bandaged face was a blur, devoid of skin, with a protruding jawbone and swollen facial muscles.

In the explosion, its all-black outer garment, resembling a straitjacket, had been ignited. Its torso, the focal point of the self-detonating drone's impact, was splattered with blood. The monster's left shoulder and chest had been blown open, exposing bone fragments and sinews that writhed and were blackened pink from the flammable materials ignited by the blast.

Jill thought she smelled something like improperly cooked meat, a foul, burnt odor.

"Follow the drone. The roads in Raccoon City are all blocked. Survivors and zombies are mixed together. I'm still at least three blocks away from you..." The drone hovered, and Chris's voice came through urgently.

As Jill listened, she kept an eye on the rocket-launcher-wielding monster across the street. Suddenly, it moved. "Chris! There's more than one bio-monster."

"Roar!" Before she could even finish speaking, another Pursuer let out a low growl and raised its rocket launcher.

"Stop it." Chris's voice, along with others, came from the drone's speaker.

In response, the lead drone suddenly plunged downwards, heading straight for the Pursuer that was aiming at Jill. "Roar!" The Pursuer sensed danger, its basic intelligence causing it to switch targets. Whoosh! A rocket launched, obliterating the drone that had flown in front of it.

Why didn't this one have as much power as the previous one?

Reaching through the smoke, the Pursuer dropped its rocket launcher. Its single, eyeless socket stared intently at Jill. Thump! Thump! With an exaggerated speed that didn't match its physique, Clang!

Seeing it charge like a bull, ripping up a fire hydrant from the ground and swinging it at her, Jill dove forward, feeling the wind of its passage graze the back of her head. Jill felt overwhelmed.

Why was it so persistent? Why was it only targeting her!

Da-da-da—

Carlos grabbed Jill, then scooped up his M4A1 carbine, retreating while firing. He even threw a grenade, but the Pursuer ignored him. The thrown grenade was ensnared by tentacles that grew from the Pursuer's palm and then swung towards Jill?

Using both hands and feet, Jill crashed through the glass of shops along the way to dodge the explosion. She emerged from another direction, battered and bruised, with injuries to her face, shoulder, and arm. She threw a flashbang grenade while shouting, "Fuck, if you don't know how to throw, don't throw! Do you have flashbangs or stun grenades? This kind of B.O.W. should be afraid of high temperatures and bright lights."

With a bang and a burst of intense white light, the Pursuer's movements were indeed affected.

"But I didn't bring any!"

"Fuck! Then what do you have?"

"Offensive grenades, tear gas, flares, signal flares..."

The two temporary teammates dodged the Pursuer's attacks while counter-attacking and running. From their initial awkwardness, their coordination was rapidly improving.

"Hey, miss, where are your teammates? Get their flying things to help! I'm almost out of ammo..."

"Roar—!"

Before Carlos could finish speaking, a more exaggerated, inhuman roar echoed. It was that one!

In the distance, the scorched, burning Pursuer that had been blasted to its knees was stirring again.

Squelch.

A substance like pus sprayed from its charred, damaged body. Its muscles and bones seemed to multiply like bacteria, writhing.

The monster knelt on the ground, howling, its arms, which had burst through its clothes, repeatedly pounded the road. Carlos didn't know exactly how much force they exerted, but judging by the vibration of the small car next to it, one solid hit would send him to meet his maker.

"Oh no, this motherfucker isn't dead."

Just then, Thump! Thump!

More heavy footsteps echoed. Several figures wearing black fedoras and black trench coats, but with greenish-black faces and bodies that were definitely not human, emerged from an alley on the side street and began to accelerate towards them.

Carlos's lips moved, and he wore an expression more pained than a smile. "Beautiful lady, did you blow up the chairman of Umbrella's house, or did you have his stock contract in your bag?"

"I only blew up a damn mansion! And I didn't blow it up, it self-destructed!"

Jill was so frustrated she couldn't speak.

First, an extermination squad, then a B.O.W. Pursuer, a Tyrant... they really thought highly of her.

Whirr... Whirr...

The buzzing of propellers.

"Jill! You go first. We'll cover you with self-detonating drones."

It was Chris's voice coming from the drones.

As he spoke, several bulky, four-rotor metal boxes whirred overhead.

"Go through the alley to your left first. The zombie horde hasn't arrived yet. From the drone's perspective, I just saw a group of suspicious people circling behind you. Run towards the open area of Raccoon Avenue. The zombies aren't the problem. We have several sniper positions set up by our own Umbrella forces on the high ground there. They can cover you!"

After speaking, Chris's voice from the drones turned into an argument with others:

"... that B.O.W., the previous explosion didn't seem to kill it?"

"It's fine. The small self-detonating drones didn't have enough payload. I've notified the evacuation point, and a large self-detonating drone has been dispatched. It will definitely kill it! It won't get out."

"You guys, get the rocket launchers ready. You, set up the recoilless rifle... Slow them down first, control the firepower, let them come to us, then we'll deal with them."

"Captain, this is the data Director Russell just sent. It's from her informant in Paris, obtained travel data. The Paris headquarters has dispatched a large number of experimental subjects from the research institute. These should be the B.O.W.s."

"Two Pursuers, at least. Mass-produced T-103 Tyrants, more than seven have been found... Countless other T-Virus mutated and derived B.O.W.s..."

In San Francisco, Vera, who was monitoring the situation in real-time, slapped her forehead.

Although the image wasn't clear, she could still make out the silhouettes of two Pursuers cornering a man and a woman on a street.

This was really her fault.

Even though she objectively and subjectively hadn't been involved in any virology or B.O.W. work, nor had she designed cybernetic implants specifically for mutated creatures, she had made money for Umbrella.

Regardless of which department made the money, having funds allowed Umbrella's annual income to increase.

Although a significant portion was taken by Vera, and due to her existence, funds were intercepted and diverted to other areas, the board of directors would definitely increase investment in the research institutes in Raccoon City, Paris, and Africa with the appreciated money.

Not to mention that old bastard Spencer liked to use company funds secretly, bypassing public accounts, and pour it into virus research.

Vera had more points to leverage her argument.