This World Is Seriously Ill

Jill heard this, kicked the foul-mouthed commander, then narrowed her eyes slightly and snatched the box of mints from Kevin's hand.

"Hey! Candy isn't free! Remember to protect the leader!"

As Kevin spoke, watching Jill's retreating figure, he helplessly pulled out the Mentos, shook a few into his mouth, and tossed them in.

As for the covert order given, the two naturally understood each other without words.

"Commander, the path is clear!"

Moments later, after clearing the way, Kevin looked into the pitch-black corridor ahead, took a deep breath, and waved for the two mixed units to advance in coordination.

ps: Explaining some issues accumulated from earlier readers.

1. This primarily uses the Resident Evil film universe, but the film's depiction of Raccoon City is relatively shallow. To flesh out the world's structure and make it more three-dimensional and intuitive, some Resident Evil game settings have been adopted.

2. According to online sources, Tomahawk missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, though they are less specialized than models like the Minuteman.

Section 33 Chapter 32: Divine Stairway to the Sun

"Clear! Toxin level zero, environment safe, can enter!"

After a quick reconnaissance, the group advanced in threes, coordinating as they moved down the corridor, scanning their surroundings.

The upper floor housed administrative and field work areas, stacked with various chemical materials, with few personnel present.

But now, the wooden crates here had been violently pried open, scattered with broken bones and severed limbs, while foul entrails hung from shelves—the scene was gruesome.

In several staff offices along the way, glass and doors had been shattered, with bloodstains everywhere and claw marks gouged deep into the walls.

Even cleanly gnawed white skeletons were frozen in all sorts of struggling poses at the moment of death—the scene was horrific.

"Three per team, sweep the surrounding area quickly! Confirm if anyone's alive!"

Kevin's brow furrowed tightly. Though his stomach churned, his face maintained the commander's characteristic calm solemnity.

"Something wrong?"

Jill chambered a round in her pistol, stepped close to the commander, and asked in a low voice.

"What do you think killed these people?"

Kevin took a deep breath, pointing at the violently snapped bones around them, his gaze testing the police woman.

"The T-Virus broke out in the underground Hive! Infected people, due to accelerated metabolism, have an extreme craving for food. Were they... eaten by zombies?"

Familiar with the T-Virus, Jill instinctively gave the closest answer.

"I'm afraid it's not just ordinary zombies..."

"Some bones have clean cuts, and the scratches on the walls are nearly two centimeters deep. Low-level zombies infected with the T-Virus alone couldn't cause this much destructive power."

"I'm worried that what's inside the Hive might be even more dangerous than what's outside the old castle..."

Jill listened, her expression growing more serious as she thought, based on her experience fighting zombies.

Those pale-skinned, stumbling zombies actually posed no absolute threat to a well-organized elite unit.

Instead, it was the special breeds secretly developed in Umbrella's genetic weapons that had terrifying lethality.

From the angle of the scratches, there was more than one of these things!

"Bang!" As Leon, the female soldier Rain, and assault trooper J.D. searched an abandoned warehouse, a shelf stacked with clutter suddenly toppled over.

By Brahma, finally free from those demons! A middle-aged Indian man in a white lab coat burst out of the room in a frenzy.

But the moment his front foot crossed the threshold, his body stiffened and froze.

Because a full squad in the corridor was collectively staring at him.

The Indian guy's legs went weak, and he immediately knelt obediently with his hands on his head, trembling.

The female soldier Rain walked up unhurriedly, cuffed him, aimed her pistol at his head, and said in a teasing tone.

"Pretty fast runner, huh, kid? Spill it! What do you know?"

The Indian guy shook his head, terror in his eyes, and replied in a thick curry-accented English.

"Don't kill me! I don't know anything!"

Kevin pushed down Rain's raised gun, grabbed the Indian guy's collar, and slammed him against the wall. Though his face smiled, it radiated a chilling aura.

"If you want to play 'silence is golden,' you should at least tear off your Level 3 researcher badge first, idiot!"

"We're here to investigate, not to silence!"

"What the hell happened in the Hive? Talk!"

"Otherwise, I don't mind moonlighting as U.S.S. for a side job!"

As he spoke, the boy, his tone impatient, grabbed the Indian guy's right pinky and slowly bent it back.

"A T-Virus leak! And... Dr. Isaacs has gone mad!"

Hearing that this group of Umbrella employees wasn't a professional hit squad, the Indian guy was overjoyed and hurriedly tried to explain everything.

"Snap!" But with the crack of bone, the survivor's pinky still inevitably dislocated.

"You're too slow! Now, within three minutes, tell me everything! Including how you survived!"

The commander's face was cold, the faint smile on his lips radiating bone-chilling frost.

Under the pain, the Indian Guy's face went pale. He immediately recounted everything that had happened inside The Hive in the fastest, most concise, and most accurate language of his life.

When the possibility of survival appears, not many are willing to pay the price of blood for the sake of backbone.

"The night before last, Spence, the guardian of the castle, secretly infiltrated Lab 1 and stole the refrigerated T-Virus!"

"But he didn't expect that Dr. Isaacs, who was supposed to be escorting other experimental samples and data, hadn't left."

"So he was caught and became part of the material..."

"But unexpectedly, that bastard Spence, trying to clear himself of guilt, started randomly accusing people. A fifth of the experimental staff got dragged into it."

"After they were taken away by the security personnel around Dr. Isaacs, they never came back!"

Kevin, hearing the crucial part, immediately and roughly interrupted the Indian Guy's account.

"Alice! Was Alice, the other security officer, involved?"

The Indian Guy nodded frantically like a chick pecking at rice.

"Yes! She was among the first batch taken into the lab, but no one knows what happened to her!"

Then, as if noticing Kevin's grim expression, he racked his brain to recall the situation and added some fragmented details.

"Oh, right! After the first group of implicated people was taken into the lab, Dr. Isaacs started going crazy."

"He said, 'The Divine Stairway to the Sun has finally opened! The perfect sample has descended to my side!'"

Kevin pondered. Could it be that Dr. Isaacs had discovered Alice's special potential to perfectly fuse with the T-Virus?

Perhaps he had not only been inspired but had also made new progress in his research on the T-Virus.

"Then the nightmare came!"

At this point, the Indian Guy's eyes were filled with terror, as if reliving the horror of that experience.

"Dr. Isaacs sealed The Hive, cut off communications, locked himself in the terminal lab on the 100th Floor, and started researching all night."

"Nearly half of Umbrella's 500 employees were sent into the lab on charges of leaking company secrets."

"In the end, even those U.S.S executioners couldn't stand it and prepared to resist, but once they entered the lab, they never came out!"

"Until last night, the Artificial Intelligence inside The Hive, Red Queen, suddenly crashed..."

"Everyone thought it was an opportunity! So they prepared to escape from here..."

"Unexpectedly..."

Kevin's eyes Narrowed Slightly. His fingertips brushed over the deep scratches on the wall, and his voice was low.

"You didn't expect The Hive to be completely sealed off, with no way out."

"And with the power cut, the test subjects in B Cafeteria and Dr. Isaacs' latest research results all got out!"

Under the Indian Guy's horrified gaze, the young commander tossed him to the female soldier Rain and the others to guard, while raising his hand to give orders.

"Head to B Cafeteria immediately! That's the only way to the lowest level!"

ps: Thanks to reader @{"reader_id":"145472","reader_name":"Beck Street Requiem"} for the tip. Also, thanks to reader system? for the correction—I've already made the edits.

Section 34 Chapter 33 Lick It Once

In B Cafeteria, dozens of cylindrical cultivation pods lay shattered, the thick green Nutrient Solution long dried up.

The surroundings were dead silent, with no sign of living creatures, but after the battle outside the castle, everyone was on high alert.

"On the electronic map, this is clearly marked as B Cafeteria. How did all these damn things get here?"

The black squad leader, James, holding a micro-computer, stepped forward to ask Kevin.

Kevin decided to reveal more of Umbrella Corporation's dark secrets to drive a wedge between them.

"The virus outbreak in Raccoon City right now comes from The Hive's latest research, codenamed 'T.' If we don't find a solution inside The Hive before eight tonight,"

"Tomorrow or the day after, you should see a giant mushroom cloud rising from here!"

"So we have to get the new airborne antidote from Dr. Isaacs before the crisis erupts!"

James Hesitated. The cost of betraying Umbrella Corporation was too heavy, and he had to think it over carefully.

Kevin stroked his chin, then pulled the Indian Guy over and pointed at him as he asked James.

"According To this guy, Red Queen had already sealed The Hive before she crashed. So here's the question..."

"How Did the T-Virus spread so widely in Raccoon City?"

Rain's eyes narrowed slightly as realization dawned. She and the other team members exchanged glances with their captain, James.

Clearly, the only one who could have spread the virus was Dr. Isaacs, who was controlling Red Queen's network at the time!

As security staff—officially registered as a legitimate security team under the company—they were naturally different from those U.S.S desperadoes.

"Fine. We won't interfere. Between you and the company, there's only one goal now!"

"Reach the 100th Floor. Find the antidote."

James nodded slightly. He could clearly see that these RPD officers were definitely not Red Cross volunteers here to rescue trapped personnel. From their words to their actions, they exuded hostility toward the company.

Although he himself also depended on Umbrella Corporation for a living, since the higher-ups had deemed this Umbrella Squad expendable pawns, then pawns naturally had no right to question the moves between players.

"Sir, the Red Queen network is self-repairing. We've picked up a weak signal requesting a connection!"

At that moment, the squad's computer expert, Kaplan, discovered the source of the signal and excitedly handed the micro-computer to James and Kevin.

"Cut it off immediately! Deny access!"

Kevin snatched the computer and blocked the weak signal attempting to connect.

Since Dr. Isaacs held the highest Red Queen network management authority in Raccoon City, once this thing booted up, they might as well be exposing themselves right under that madman's nose.

James held back the agitated Kaplan and gave him a slight nod, signaling the green computer expert to follow orders.

"You're heading to the 100th floor—I can guide you! Can you untie me first?"

The Indian Guy swore by Brahma that he wouldn't run, and emphasized his value.

But Kevin and James weren't fools. No matter how you looked at it, surviving in such a perilous environment meant this Indian researcher was no idiot who just ate curry.

If they let him roam free, the risk would only rise invisibly.

Seeing the two commanders unmoved, the Indian Guy grew anxious. The familiar surroundings had already awakened the fear in his bones.

As a researcher, he knew exactly how terrifying these escaped things were. If he remained a captive the whole way, his life might not be spared.

But before he could plead further, Ada, scouting ahead, raised her right arm, her expression odd.

"Listen... something's approaching..."

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! The strange sound of walls being cut through gradually echoed from the corridor ahead.