The Red Queen Again

"Found it?" Yinsen asked Kaplan again, carefully. "Are you sure you've taken control?"

"I'm certain." Kaplan nodded. "And wasn't the Red Queen already shut down?"

With the Red Queen shut down and no Artificial Intelligence left to contend with, only some mechanical defense programs remained. Kaplan didn't think this thing could possibly stump him, and he didn't understand why Yinsen kept stressing the point.

Of course, he had no idea that there should be another Red Queen mainframe where this elevator led. What Yinsen was worried about was that it was very likely the Red Queen's true body, and that she might pull some trick while they were heading down.

Fortunately, Kaplan really had gained control. Once everyone had gathered near the Control Console, Kaplan typed in the final command on the computer. The console shuddered, then began descending toward the lowest level.

The mercenaries did not even have time to care about the zombies still falling from the increasingly distant doorway above. They all stared at Yinsen in shock.

By now, Alice had gradually recovered some of her memories. She no longer seemed as harmless as before and suddenly became much more aggressive.

"Who exactly are you?"

That was the question on everyone's mind. Why did Yinsen know so much about The Hive? Who exactly was he? Judging from his actions, he seemed to be sabotaging Umbrella Corporation's plans. Had he been sent by one of Umbrella Corporation's rivals? Or was he an agent working for some government organization?

But... did agents have to dress like medieval knights?

That was the part no one present could understand. If Yinsen and Arthur had dressed more normally, then even though Arthur still looked like a teenager, they could have passed him off as a specially trained young agent. But that armor... that longsword... what the hell were those?

"Me?" Yinsen casually pulled out a piece of cloth and wiped down his longsword. He wondered whether he ought to disinfect it thoroughly. If he brought it back like this, would the T-Virus spread to the Sea of Tranquility?

When he heard Alice's question, his reaction was half a beat slow. He casually gave her the same answer he had given Jill before. "Probably this world's savior."

Everyone was speechless at Yinsen's answer, but Alice did not mock him. Instead, she pressed on.

"You think this virus will endanger the entire world?"

Only then did Yinsen fully come back to himself. He remembered that there was an ultimate antidote on the lowest level. Once released, it would spread through the air across the entire world and eradicate every T-Virus and all its derivative mutations. He was definitely going to use that thing, so there seemed to be no need to worry.

"Endanger?"

He finally had the mind to answer Alice's question. The elevator was painfully slow. As they descended deeper, zombies stopped raining down with clatters and thuds, and everyone could finally relax a little.

The mercenaries took the chance to refill their empty magazines, check their equipment, and inspect themselves for wounds.

At the same time, they listened closely to Yinsen and Alice's conversation.

"No, it's far more than mere danger." In a calm tone, Yinsen casually described what would happen next.

When they heard that after the Bio-Virus spread, not only would the vast majority of humanity become infected and turn into zombies, but even plants would not be spared and would all wither and die, leaving nearly the entire Earth a desert, everyone was too stunned to react.

"The end of the world... surely it won't come to that?"

"If we completely seal off The Hive, maybe we can prevent the apocalypse?"

Having seen zombies with their own eyes, they found Yinsen's words highly believable. Almost no one thought the future he described was too absurd or exaggerated.

Jill had fallen mostly silent by then. She had originally followed Yinsen with the attitude of wanting to see what tricks he could pull, but she had not expected to witness something this huge. Her mind was in turmoil, and for the moment, she had no idea how she ought to react.

Of everyone present, only Alice remained calm, considering how to avoid that terrifying, apocalyptic future.

Yinsen told them directly, "All of this is part of Umbrella Corporation's plan. So if you think sealing off The Hive means everything will be fine, that's nothing more than wishful thinking."

"The Hive research facility belongs to Umbrella Corporation. Do you really think they can't open their own research base? Besides, The Hive isn't completely cut off from the outside world. There are plenty of ventilation ducts and other facilities. Can you guarantee the virus hasn't already leaked out through them?"

In fact, Resident Evil had a separate shot showing damaged ventilation ducts, implying that rats could enter and leave The Hive through the broken pipes. And rats could absolutely carry the virus outside.

So even if Umbrella Corporation did nothing, a viral outbreak would be difficult to avoid, as though it were this world's predetermined fate.

That was the fundamental reason Yinsen had insisted on coming down here: if he did not find that "antidote," the Bio-Virus in this world would be almost impossible to cure.

Perhaps if Yinsen stayed in this world and researched it for several years, he could solve the problem with the knowledge and abilities of Mystic Arts. But leaving aside whether he could remain in this world for that long, even if he could stay for years and develop a solution, how many people would still be left on Earth by then?

That was from the broader perspective. On a personal level, Yinsen also needed this antidote to understand its principles and avoid getting himself killed if he accidentally went too far.

He wanted to use the T-Virus to strengthen his Mental Power, but only if he did not end up killing himself in the process.

Mages often put themselves in danger while conducting certain experiments, so every mage possessed a wealth of life-saving methods.

If Yinsen had been a conventional mage, he would have prepared plenty of safeguards before beginning such a dangerous experiment. Unfortunately, his path as a mage was different from everyone else's, so he needed to take more extensive, meticulous precautions.

Then he roughly explained Umbrella Corporation's plan to purge humanity. Everyone present felt their worldview take a massive blow.

They had already been shocked to learn that a corporate giant like Umbrella Corporation had secretly been researching a Bio-Virus. But that was still within the bounds of comprehension, since this kind of agent really was powerful.

Even if Umbrella Corporation could not bear to abandon such a powerful virus and took enormous risks to reopen The Hive, it was not entirely impossible to understand. They were businessmen, after all. What was a little danger in the face of business opportunities?

But what the hell was a purge of humanity?

"Who does Umbrella Corporation think it is? God?"

As members of the human race about to be purged, no one present was not furious. Nothing was more enraging than having someone else casually decide whether they lived or died while they themselves had no choice at all.

When Yinsen revealed that Umbrella Corporation's executives were all hiding in cryogenic sleep chambers down here, quietly waiting for the apocalypse to pass before emerging to rebuild the Earth as humanity's leaders, almost everyone began rubbing their fists, eager to teach those lofty bastards a lesson.

"I'm going to drag them out of those metal cans and beat the hell out of them. I'll keep beating them until they wake up."

Having indulged his urge to spoil the plot, Yinsen had none of the self-awareness of a spoiler bastard. What gave him a headache now was how to find that antidote. That thing seemed to be with the final boss of this Movie World, personally kept by some doctor.

"And I don't even know whether that guy is asleep?" He had only watched the Movie Version finale once. On top of that, the film had not been especially good and had been full of flaws, so it had not left much of an impression on him. Now, he could only vaguely recall some of the general plot.

That was only because his Mental Power had improved, stabilizing memories from his previous life along with it. Otherwise, after so many years, he might not even remember the plot and could only recall a rough outline.

Just as he was racking his brains to remember, the elevator finally reached the lowest level. Everyone cautiously advanced forward, only to find, to their surprise, that there were no security devices or personnel at all. Before them stood rows of things resembling metal cans.

"Are these the lofty bastards who think they can decide whether every human in the world lives or dies?"

Yinsen glanced around and nodded. "They should be. You can decide for yourselves how to deal with them." He continued forward instead. He remembered this was where the movie's final battle had taken place.

This place contained The Hive's central Control Console, and the Red Queen's true body was hidden inside this machine as well. Through this console, they could awaken this world's true final boss...

"What was that guy called again?"

He had no impression whatsoever and could not even remember the name. Standing before the enormous screen, Yinsen casually tapped the Control Console. "If you don't want me to blow this place straight into ruins, you'd better come out yourself!"

When there was no response, Yinsen continued speaking to himself. "I'm sure you know what happened upstairs. If you don't want to end up like your Subroutine, do as I say."

This time, the Red Queen stopped playing dead. She projected the image of a little girl in front of Yinsen.

At the sight of the suddenly appearing Red Queen, the mercenaries almost instinctively raised their weapons, only to realize a moment later that she was merely a projection.

"Why hasn't this thing been shut down yet?"

Kaplan even looked specifically at the Red Queen motherboard he was carrying. Had his partner pulled out the wrong component? Had he mistaken a memory stick for the motherboard?

Yinsen studied the little girl, who was slightly different from the Red Queen upstairs. "So, if you can control all the facilities in this base, then you can also bring out Alice herself, right?"

"Yes! In fact, I had already awakened Alicia while you were coming down."