Infinite, Progressing from Arasaka

"Where is Dr. William Birkin? His denunciations and objections to my Flesh is Weak proposal before the Board of Directors were so loud I could hear them all the way on the West Coast."

"This..."

"I'm here. Have him come see me. If he has any objections, he can raise them to my face. We can have a friendly discussion, seeing as we're colleagues. Hmm? Where is Dr. Birkin?" Vera pretended to look around.

The Administrative Head of the Umbrella Department in Raccoon City immediately found his smile stiffening at her words.

She had come with hostile intent...

He had long heard that Dr. Vera Adelheid Russell possessed extraordinary intelligence, a genius in no way inferior to Umbrella's former rising star, the prematurely deceased Alexia Ashford.

More importantly, Dr. Vera's field of research was completely different from the virology and biological research that currently dominated the Umbrella Corporation.

Ever since Dr. Vera had risen through the company ranks, her talents and achievements in Materials Science, Intelligent Control Technology, Human Bionics, and Prosthetic Engineering had become common knowledge.

Flesh is Weak, Machinery Ascends.

Dr. Vera had emphasized this phrase many times at internal Umbrella Corporation meetings, even before the Board of Directors.

One could easily imagine her attitude toward the old Umbrella "Virology School," represented by William Birkin and others.

Studying medicine cost money.

Medical and biological research cost even more. Especially when so much of it was spent on work that could not see the light of day and could not be widely marketed to secure funding.

And Umbrella only had so much funding to go around.

Dr. Vera wanted research funds to expand her Prosthetic Research Base and Drone Factory; Dr. William wanted funding as well, for the G-Project and improvements to the Raccoon City Underground Research Institute. The two sides had clashed bitterly over the budget.

Whenever Dr. Vera launched an attack one day, Dr. William would respond with a counterattack the next.

This was the conflict within Umbrella between the new "Prosthetic School," led by Dr. Vera, and the old "Virology School," led by William Birkin.

At first, relying on his seniority, Dr. William could still suppress Dr. Vera for a while. But as Dr. Vera's achievements emerged one after another—the Disabled Prosthetic Limb Market she had created, the Drone Market, electronic equipment, and more—the profits they brought in grew ever greater. More and more people within the company had begun supporting Dr. Vera.

After all, compared to projects that could be made public and openly financed, what were the T-Project and G-Project worth? No matter how grandly their prospects were touted, they could not be made public.

Over the past two years, Dr. William's life had only become more difficult.

The more brilliant Dr. Vera was, the more money she made. And the greater the pressure and fury became for William Birkin, who had considered himself a genius since childhood—proud, arrogant, and possessed of an exceptionally high opinion of himself.

Many times, staff members at the Raccoon City Umbrella Department had even heard Dr. William roaring and smashing things in his office.

As they made their way toward the conference room, the group chattered over one another, changing the subject and introducing Vera to the glorious history of their Raccoon City Umbrella Department: the Umbrella Executive Training Institute, the Arklay Research Institute, the retirement facility—the mansion—and so on.

Vera did not know most of them, but she spotted a familiar face: Annette Birkin.

The name on the badge pinned to her chest identified her.

William Birkin's wife.

A white woman dressed casually beneath a lab coat, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and long hair tied into a ponytail that rested loosely over her shoulder.

Noticing Vera's gaze, the distracted woman forced herself to smile in greeting. "Dr. Vera."

"And this doctor is?"

Vera stopped walking, accepting a glass of ice water from a conference room attendant as she knowingly asked the question.

"Dr. William's Partner, Dr. Annette—an outstanding researcher in our company and Co-Developer on the projects led by Dr. William," an Umbrella executive explained.

"Oh? Ms. Annette, may I call you that?" Vera stepped forward and said thoughtfully, "Your husb—"

Before she could finish, "Adelheid!"

Bang! The voice arrived before its owner did, and the conference room doors were violently shoved open.

"Stay away from my Family Members, Vera Adelheid!"

He was a gaunt middle-aged man with a gloomy face. Having gone without sunlight for so long, his skin was deathly pale. His features were thin, and his flowing center-parted blond hair had begun to grow sparse.

William Birkin. A genius Umbrella Corporation researcher who had risen to prominence ten years earlier, now the absolute authority on Umbrella's viral research.

"You won't succeed. You can't bring me down."

Shielding his wife behind him, William Birkin, visibly strained by recent work pressure, spoke in a somewhat deranged tone.

"I am the Chief. I will prove that I am better than you, a woman reeking of money. Once G succeeds, I'll sweep all those low-tech toys of yours off the table!"

Vera lightly shook her head. "How pitiful... You're trapped by your obsession."

"Shut up. I don't need your pity. You're short-sighted, obsessed with petty profits—you're not cut out for scientific research!"

William Birkin's gaunt face gradually twisted into a snarl. "What do you know about projects meant to 'extend human lifespan and strengthen the human body'?"

Vera was polished and glamorous, more like the executive or public relations spokesperson of a listed company than a researcher, and William could not stand the sight of it.

Especially since Vera had dismissed so much of his research as worthless and repeatedly opposed the company's excessive investment in viral research, insisting they should not lose sight of priorities.

"Words are wasted on people who don't see eye to eye."

How should one put it?

Ever since Vera had entered Umbrella, since Heaven's Gift had awakened and she had displayed her talent in bionics and other fields, her relationship with William Birkin had never been good. They had simply been natural opposites.

Part of it was the need to fight over limited funding. Part of it was that Vera was sick of having a neurotic Chief like him constantly bossing her around. This was not Arasaka, where a superior was an absolute ruler who could strip you of everything with a word and decide your life, death, and future.

As the small conflicts accumulated day after day, they became this.

"Chief? If you want the position, take it." Acting as though no one else was there, Vera pulled out the chair opposite William and sat down, crossing her hands on the table. "By next summer at the latest, the Comprehensive Research Base at my California Division will be fully operational."

"You..."

"Of course, you're still somewhat useful."

Vera rudely cut off William Birkin. "After I establish the new Black Umbrella Company, you will still be the nominal Chief of the White Umbrella Company's Biological Research Department."

The Umbrella Group was primarily composed of three divisions.

Namely, the Red Umbrella Company, a paramilitary division that also handled the development and management of research-related computers; the Blue Umbrella Company, the B.O.W. research and development division, mainly responsible for research into B.O.W.-related drugs and reagents; and the White Umbrella Company, the research division, which included the Biological Research Department, the Biological Weapons Development Department, and so on.

In other words, Vera's capabilities and achievements had already gained the support of the Board of Directors and a considerable number of influential forces within the company. The business she was responsible for would be separated from White Umbrella and turned into the new Black Umbrella Company.

"Just as you thought."

Facing William Birkin's increasingly grim expression, Vera lightly tapped the tabletop. "From now on, Umbrella will stand with Red, Blue, White, and Black side by side."

She was done playing with him! And she was climbing right over his head!

Dark clouds churned across William Birkin's face. Suppressing his anger, he snorted coldly, flicked his sleeve, and left.

"Wait," Vera called out.

"If your goal was to show off, you succeeded..." William Birkin turned his head, his voice seeming to squeeze out from his throat.

"No, I don't do tasteless things like that. It's already been approved: to expand into the Asia-Pacific Market, a new Pharmaceutical Factory will be built on the West Coast. I'll be overseeing it as an additional responsibility. Your Raccoon City branch will provide a batch of personnel and technical materials related to biological research... We don't need your projects. This should be your specialty. No problem, right?"

"No... prob... lem."

What could William Birkin say?

He was just a highly paid employee. Could he forcibly oppose something that had already been approved from above?

Vera's compliment was simply a reminder not to pull any tricks. The new factory's products would bear his name. If something went wrong, it would be his reputation taking the hit, and he would be responsible. Vera was merely overseeing it as an additional duty.

It could barely be considered a pleasant conclusion for host and guest.

With a copy of the Raccoon City Daily in hand, Vera left the Umbrella Raccoon City Building surrounded by bodyguards, got into the car, started it, and headed for Raccoon City Airport.

Sitting on the cushioned rear seat of the official vehicle, Vera flipped through that day's Raccoon City news:

Washington Time, 1997/2/12

The still-active recruitment notice for the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.), open to all citizens.

The Raccoon City Police Department had decided to officially relocate to an empty art museum in the city center during the summer of that year.

A package cooperation plan between the Raccoon City Government and the Umbrella Corporation.

"A storm is coming."

Vera smiled faintly and folded the Raccoon City Daily shut.

There was still a year left. But none of it had anything to do with her.

It was time to find a new patron, and she absolutely could not get too entangled with that pile of crap known as B.O.W. business. That was also one reason she had repeatedly opposed excessive internal investment in "virology."

Mm, she also needed to cultivate her connections with Washington a little more.

Closing her eyes, Vera leaned back.

This batch of technology should be enough to keep you going for a while.

A person's first time was always awkward and unfamiliar. After enough times, it became smooth as silk.

Inside the Arasaka Official Vehicle, Vera did not experience the kind of shudder that felt like her soul returning to her body. She simply went with the flow. It was as simple as glancing over and shifting her consciousness slightly; her vision naturally cleared, and then all the strange phenomena vanished.

As if nothing had ever happened.

The materials from Umbrella's Raccoon City research department are enough.

Vera rolled her neck.

This was why she could maintain the identity of an Arasaka Biotech Researcher alongside everything else.

Umbrella's biotechnology and medical products did have some substance to them.

For instance, Zombies were one product of T-Virus research. The remarkably effective Umbrella First Aid Spray, praised as being fifty years ahead of its time, was likewise a product of T-Virus research.

There was no need for anything especially cutting-edge. In the Cyberpunk world, where the Old Net had collapsed once and technology had suffered massive losses and regression, many giants, including Arasaka, lacked precisely these low- and mid-tier little things.

Basically every company had an Old Net Restoration Department internally. Its purpose was to salvage, fill in, and recover the technological trees and industrial chains that had once been lost or interrupted.

Unfortunately, her "Heaven's Gift" was more like a chat group or Tarot gathering connecting versions of herself across countless worlds. It synchronized and shared the thoughts of her selves from innumerable parallel worlds. Two mes and one me caused no discomfort whatsoever. Well, it was somewhat like the unity of self achieved by a Great Luo Golden Immortal—everything was fundamentally herself.

Except Vera's was an extremely watered-down imitation of an imitation.

At present, it was connected to only one other.

Nor had it displayed anything extraordinary. Mutual exchange could only share thoughts, knowledge, and ideas. As for exchanging physical objects, that was impossible for now, at least.

Vera was not in a hurry. Haste made waste.

She had a hazy, indistinct premonition—something very distant, yet undeniably present. A powerful summons from within her soul. She should be able to merge into one, and perhaps affect physical entities as well...

Was it because the crossing had split her soul into N portions through the marks of time and space, or because it had been assimilated by the properties of quantum mechanics and spacetime? Vera did not dwell on it. She focused on the present first. Since there was a problem, she would overcome it slowly.

Whether it was luck or something else.

If Heaven gives and you refuse, you will suffer for it.

There was no need to quibble over every little thing or fret over gains and losses. Focusing on the present, making the most of it, making the most of her own talent—that was how she showed it respect.

This was her "Heaven's Gift."

Beep beep...

The announcement sounded as they arrived at Corporate Plaza. The Black Arasaka Guard said, "Officer Vera, we have arrived at Arasaka Tower."

"Mm."

A Corporate Dog's Day

Corporate Plaza, Arasaka Tower underground parking garage.

With the faint, noise-suppressed sound of brakes, the vehicle bearing the Security Department's internal identification signal came to a steady stop.

After the security equipment cleared them and the Arasaka Guards and Hacker Agents at the entrance completed their routine inspection and salute, Vera opened the car door and stepped out. Once the vehicle had been handed over, she led the two personal bodyguards assigned to her by the company straight toward the Executive-Only Passage.

Arasaka valued clear distinctions in rank. Officers and soldiers traveled different roads.

As for the Old Arasaka Tower Nuclear Ruins beyond the steel-and-glass curtain walls nearby, Vera gave them a distant glance and paid them no further attention.

A portion had been deliberately preserved during the reconstruction of Arasaka Tower, supposedly to remember the humiliation. The Monument read: 2023, We should always remember.

She had seen it too many times. There was nothing new about it anymore.