Otherwise, with such a high casualty rate, he really wouldn't know where to sweet-talk people into joining BSAA's field operations department.
Secondly, there wouldn't be too much conflict between the Raccoon City Police Department faction and the Umbrella Squad faction, allowing them to maintain relative independence.
But in a military camp where strength spoke for itself, there would always be a few troublemakers who liked to make their presence known.
For example, Chris, who raised his hand and stepped forward...
"Then who are the team leaders? I'd like to have a friendly spar with them..."
Since they were team members, the team leaders had to be someone else.
Chris was grateful to Kevin for saving Raccoon City and gathering evidence of Umbrella Corporation's crimes.
But when his former teammates all obeyed this useless pretty boy before them without question, he was clearly rather displeased.
This proud and fierce soldier was obviously different from Rebecca, and he had never shared any life-and-death bond with the commander back in Raccoon City.
So making him submit would probably be difficult...
Kevin smiled and pressed his hand down in the air, signaling Chris to stay calm.
That dazzling smile made everyone familiar with the commander feel a chill run through their hearts.
"Want to spar? Perfect. I was just about to explain the upcoming intensive training..."
"To help everyone work better together, I specially selected an instructor for you."
"You may challenge her at any time, and she will decide any changes in position based on your evaluations over the next half month."
"If your abilities satisfy the instructor, you may choose whatever position you like."
As the Raccoon City group watched the person approach with graceful steps, they seemed to recall some unpleasant memories. Every face turned pale.
"As a welcome for the newcomers, let's play a game to relax."
"The game is called—hide-and-seek..."
"A thousand meters ahead is an abandoned industrial district. You have thirty minutes to get there and hide."
"Of course, your rifles are loaded with live ammunition. You may use any method to stop the instructor's search."
"Try your best to hold out until noon without being found."
"Otherwise, the losers will be responsible for cleaning the stables at Crawford Manor every night."
Kevin solemnly introduced the rules of the game. To everyone else, his delighted expression looked like a devil's smile.
"Any method is allowed?"
Chris rolled his wrists, pulled the Combat Dagger from his leg, and wiped the gleaming edge with great interest.
That kid was finished!
And so were we!
Barry wore a mournful expression, as if he could already see them all sticking their asses up at night and cleaning horse manure with their heads down.
I like recruits with this kind of fighting spirit. Kevin smiled and nodded, giving Chris an encouraging look.
"Finally, I hope everyone enjoys themselves..."
At the commander's order, the old Raccoon City crew scattered without looking back, each fleeing for their own survival. Only Chris, brimming with confidence, remained standing where he was.
"What should I do?"
Alice, also dressed in a black combat uniform, tilted her head and asked the commander beside her.
Kevin smiled subtly. "They're all old acquaintances. We'll be seeing each other often, so go easy on them."
Then the commander added quietly, "As long as you don't kill them, beat them as hard as you like..."
In the future, you'll face disasters far beyond the Biohazard Crisis. The more tears you shed in training, the less blood you spill on the battlefield.
Was I really still too kind?
Just as Kevin sighed over everyone's fate, thirty minutes quickly passed, and the first thing to echo across the training ground was the sound of a violent impact.
Tsk, tsk. His face was swollen. He couldn't talk now, could he?
Luckily, I'm a pretty democratic person. Back when you could still talk, I let you say as much as you wanted.
A few dozen seconds later, the poor child who looked as though he had been brutalized by a pack of burly men lay on the ground and blissfully passed out.
As Alice strolled into the abandoned industrial district, endless booby traps and traps, coupled with sudden sniper fire, made the place incredibly lively.
Then the miserable screams, like ghosts wailing and wolves howling, brought Kevin even greater delight.
Fifteen minutes later, a group of battered and defeated soldiers were thrown onto the training ground one by one.
"Originally, I wanted to arrange a reception so everyone could get to know each other."
"However, considering Chris's suggestion, I think my previous idea was still too hasty."
"Sure enough, a game that leaves a lasting impression is best suited for you."
Holding a cup of black tea, Kevin walked forward with a beaming smile, not forgetting to rub salt into the wounds of the physically and mentally injured group.
Everyone prepared to glare furiously at the troublemaker who had taken the initiative to step forward.
But after looking around seven or eight times, they finally identified the unlucky bastard whose face had swollen into a pig's head.
Hiss... Seeing his miserable state, everyone suddenly felt a little sorry for him.
"Tsk, tsk. Fifteen minutes? Your endurance isn't very good..."
"Let's test you again in three days. At the very least, you should reach the average standard of lasting thirty minutes, right?"
After the joke, the commander pacing before them turned serious.
"Everyone, you are all elites from your respective departments. In terms of combat alone, a half-baked amateur like me naturally has nothing to teach you."
"But the enemies we face are not African natives who treat shooting like some kind of mysticism, nor are they more elite forces from other countries."
"They can't even be called 'human'..."
"So experience can only be gained through real combat."
"How to last thirty minutes under Alice's attacks—that is the assignment you need to complete before your next mission arrives!"
Everyone seemed thoughtful. They roughly understood the commander's good intentions, and much of their resentment at being beaten up for no reason faded away.
"Hey, what you wanted is here!"
Just as a certain dark-hearted man continued brainwashing this group of people he had fooled, Lara came galloping in on horseback and dismounted with a standard yet elegant motion.
Then the Countess casually tossed a document bag to the commander.
At last, it was here...
Hopefully, it wasn't as bad as he imagined...
P.S. The upcoming turn of events will probably surprise you.
It looked like you would see it tomorrow.
"Doctor" Open for Business
Inside the office, Kevin squeezed the thick stack of papers in the document bag, his gaze uncertain.
"Everything related to those terms near London is in here..."
"I put a lot of effort into making the investigation thorough. Aren't you going to open it and take a look?"
Lara leaned back in the swivel chair, her long legs pressed together and propped up in front of the desk in an extremely unladylike pose.
The Countess was also extremely secretive about the document bag in the commander's hands.
Seven days earlier, Kevin had secretly met with Lara and hoped she could mobilize the Crawford family's resources to gather certain intelligence.
The commander had provided the Countess with only a few brief terms.
"Yharnam..."
"Dunwich..."
"Blood Healing..."
"Avalon Island..."
"The Holy Grail..."
Yet based on those simple terms, Lara had found a great deal of information with countless connections to them.
It seemed she was slowly lifting the veil from the unknown entities lurking around Britain.
That was right. The potential threats around Britain were what Kevin worried about...
He did not like having too many supernatural variables interfere with certain plans.
Since he intended to make County of Surrey his base of operations, investigating the surrounding security situation had to be placed on the agenda.
The commander did not want to be quietly building up his strength, only to be slapped into a pile of mush by some Calamity-class creature that sprang out of some unknown corner.
Although he had already obtained the documents he wanted, the closer he came to the truth, the more intense the needle-like pain between his brows seemed to become.
"Host, Apocalypse 0001 reminds you: before you have made sufficient preparations, please do not seek the answers..."
Just as Kevin hesitated, the cold mechanical voice rang out in his mind once more.
Ever since this thing had assimilated the Red Queen's motherboard, it had remained silent, as though it had entered some kind of information-integration state.
The commander slowly withdrew his right hand, closed his eyes, and questioned it inwardly.
"What's the reason? Be specific..."
Apocalypse's distinctive synthesized electronic voice echoed through Kevin's mind.
"During our long years of research, we of the Divine River Civilization observed the evolutionary histories of many planetary civilizations..."
"Under normal circumstances, Calamity Viruses are incompatible with one another. They are separately buried at different nodes in a civilization's development, only taking root and sprouting when the right trigger appears."
"However, the rules in the Chi Wu Star System have been completely overturned!"
"More than ten Calamity Viruses are evenly distributed across the world, connected to one another while also opposing one another."
"Therefore, the World Will has cleverly used this trait to seal them within fixed regions, maintaining a delicate balance between them."
Kevin became thoughtful. He finally understood how those so-called "friendly cities" had come to be.
Apocalypse paused, as if determining a new Logical Algorithm.
"Thus, within these strange cities, time is chaotic, and the information of the Calamity Viruses is mixed together..."
"You never know what kind of unknown existence a thread you accidentally tug might draw forth!"
"More terrifying still, we ourselves come from outside this world. Although we have registered our identities, we cannot change that fundamental nature."
"Therefore, the disharmony we carry makes it easier to trigger Calamity Virus outbreaks, and may even induce their evolution!"
Kevin slowly opened his eyes in silence, glanced at the Tomb Raider before him, and calmly responded to Apocalypse's judgment in his heart.
"Just like how I clearly erased the Biohazard Crisis disaster in Raccoon City, yet ended up reaching Lara's doorstep?"
"So you don't want me to investigate the truth too deeply, lest I trigger an even more dangerous Calamity Virus outbreak?"
Indeed, although the Biohazard Crisis in Raccoon City had been erased before it could take shape...
The number of mutants, the strength of the enemy forces, even the unlocking of several "team-killers," and the appearance of the G-Virus—all of it proved this point.
But the commander clearly did not know that his reckless actions in Raccoon City had led him to far more than just the Tomb Raider's doorstep.
Apocalypse was very satisfied with the host's sharpness.
"And in order to protect the majority of life, the World Will follows the principle that ignorance is bliss."
"In other words, when you do not deliberately search for the existence of higher-level Calamity Viruses, the World Will will restrain them to the greatest possible extent."
"But if your blind actions activate higher-level Calamity Viruses in advance, or even induce them to evolve wildly..."
"I fear that even if the World Will descended, it would be powerless to reverse the situation..."
After carefully considering Apocalypse's words, Kevin reached several rough conclusions.
First, after perfectly removing the malignant tumor that was Raccoon City, he now counted as an officially recognized, licensed "doctor" of the World Will, permitted to operate legally.
Before you continue