Another Ending

"Your experiment succeeded?"

As for Yinsen's experiment, they only knew the general idea. But what exactly was it about? What result did Yinsen want? None of them knew those details. Even Arthur had no idea what Yinsen was trying to create.

Magic or something? Yinsen had never displayed it in front of them, so they simply assumed he was researching the T-Virus.

"It couldn't be considered a success."

After working for a month, Yinsen had finally managed to use a Magic Array to extract the T-Virus's Mental Power-enhancing effects while removing all sorts of side effects.

The drawback was that once those side effects had been removed, the T-Virus's effects had almost completely vanished—the virus essentially stimulated the body's cells into an extremely active state, which in turn stimulated Mental Power.

If he eliminated those so-called side effects, he would be fundamentally negating the virus's effects. So Yinsen could only change directions and suppress the effects to a level that would not harm people.

Even that had been difficult, especially since he also had to consider whether such an explosive increase in Mental Power would contaminate his own Mental Power.

After a month of hard work, he had achieved results, but they differed somewhat from what he had originally envisioned.

"I only made this."

He casually took an iron case from his hand. When he opened it, rows of cigarettes lay neatly inside.

Arthur merely examined them curiously for a few moments, while the others assumed Yinsen was joking. Alice, who was more familiar with him, reached out and took one. She scrutinized it for quite a while, then finally gave it a sniff.

"Don't tell me you spent a whole month in the laboratory just to make a box of cigarettes?"

But Yinsen truly was not joking. This was indeed the result of his month's work. "That's right. I spent a month making this box. Want to try one? Special tobacco leaves, soaked in Virus Stock Solution."

Alice shuddered all over at that, nearly throwing the cigarette in her hand straight into Yinsen's face.

"Have you lost your mind? Did you make this thing to harm people?"

Yinsen caught the cigarette in midair without a word, then carefully returned it to the case. "Don't worry. I've removed the harmful side effects. This stuff is very beneficial to people."

"Oh?"

Hearing that, everyone became interested. Alice, who had been extremely wary just moments ago, even wanted to take another cigarette for a closer look.

"So what benefits do these cigarettes have?"

"They refresh the mind and restore your energy!"

"..."

Alice ultimately could not resist rolling her eyes at Yinsen. If she had not known this young man's Combat Power was off the charts and that she was no match for him, she might have been unable to stop herself from punching him.

"Doesn't all tobacco do that?"

"No, no, no!" Yinsen wagged a finger. "Those only forcibly stimulate you. They're equivalent to squeezing out the little remaining energy your body already has. What I mean is restoring energy—restoring it in the literal sense."

No one present was stupid. They finally understood what Yinsen meant.

"You mean if I'm exhausted and mentally drained, smoking one of these can restore me?"

"It can only restore mental fatigue. Physical fatigue still needs time to recover." Yinsen thought for a moment, then pulled a cigar from his pocket. "This, on the other hand, can provide some physical recovery as well. But its effects are still unstable, so I intend to improve it further first."

Even so, both items were remarkable. As an Umbrella Corporation executive, Alicia had considerable knowledge of science and understood both the effects and side effects of the T-Virus. In a sense, the virus truly could produce the effects Yinsen described—but how had he done it?

The Umbrella Corporation had researched the T-Virus's uncontrollability for a long time without solving it. Yet this young man had hidden in a laboratory for just one month and figured it out? Was he simply too brilliant, or had Umbrella Corporation been keeping a bunch of useless fools?

Yinsen then gave them a detailed introduction to his results.

A small iron case of cigarettes. Their effects were exactly as he had described: they refreshed the mind and restored mental energy. What he had not mentioned was that they could also very slowly increase Yinsen's total Mental Power without contaminating it.

The increase was extremely small. If Yinsen's Mental Power were one hundred, then smoking one cigarette might not even raise it by 0.01.

The advantage was that he could already manufacture them in bulk, as long as he could ensure a supply of materials. And it was precisely for mass production that he had chosen to make them into cigarettes, allowing the newly made solution to be reused repeatedly to soak more specially prepared tobacco.

Naturally, for safety's sake, the first thing he had done was study that tube of super antidote and use it to improve the solution he had recreated, removing its terrifying infectivity. At this point, it was less a virus than a medicinal broth. He could not use this broth directly. Although it was more potent, it would indeed contaminate Mental Power.

Yinsen had also already conceived of an even more advanced version of the cigarettes: mixing in herbs that could restore magic power, giving the cigarettes the ability to replenish magic power. He had no use for that at present, though, so there was no need to make them yet.

That would be like carrying around a pack of blue potions, and they would be easier to carry than actual potions.

As for the cigars, which could both restore physical strength and stimulate bodily injuries to heal rapidly, they were far too easy to lose control of. A careless mistake would not turn someone into a zombie, not to that extreme, but it would excessively consume the human lifespan. The number of times human cells could divide was limited. If metabolism were overstimulated beyond control, aging ten years in an instant would be nothing strange.

Come to think of it, the T-Virus in the Movie Version differed from the game version in its settings, and there were contradictions even within those settings. When Yinsen had obtained it, he had worried that its effects might differ from what he remembered. Fortunately, the overall direction had not been wrong, so he had achieved his goal.

He then asked about everyone else's situation.

He learned that the mercenaries had reached an agreement with Umbrella Corporation's executives and had already returned to their lives. Aside from Doctor Isaacs, whom Yinsen had killed before entering the laboratory, the executives had basically returned to their "original" lives.

Even those who had not prepared contingencies to deal with their own clones had received help from their "companions." Without anyone noticing, Umbrella Corporation's upper ranks had been replaced once again.

"They're busy reclaiming their power right now, so they can't spare attention for us. Once they have the time, they'll probably find a way to retaliate against us."

Yinsen shook his head. "No, they will retaliate against you alone. They can't find Arthur or me."

Arthur and he would soon leave this world. That was the fundamental reason he did not care about those people at all.

As for Alice and Alicia...

"Actually, as long as Alicia can remain healthy, Umbrella Corporation can't make a move against you... at least not openly. Besides, you can invite those mercenaries back. At least your positions align in certain matters. They would definitely make better bodyguards than anyone else."

This was the most reliable suggestion. Unfortunately, Alicia's condition was not optimistic. The T-Virus had originally been developed by her father to treat her premature aging disease, only for a terrible bioweapon to be created by a twist of fate.

She had tried to improve the virus before, but she had never succeeded. By now, she had completely given up and was merely waiting quietly for death here.

"Oh, that problem isn't actually hard to solve."

Troubles that technology could not solve were not entirely without solutions for Yinsen, who wielded the Mystic Arts. Otherwise, he would not have been able to remove so many side effects from the virus and make cigarettes that could increase Mental Power.

So, over the following days, Yinsen further improved the most mature drug Alicia possessed. It would not instantly restore her youth or turn her into a Superman like Alice after she had been injected with the virus, but living another ten or twenty years and living like a healthy person would not be a problem.

Alicia had not expected such an enormous gift. She did not even know how to thank Yinsen, and she even offered to give him her shares in Umbrella Corporation.

That was an enormous asset that could instantly make Yinsen a super-rich man. Unfortunately, it meant nothing to him, since he was about to leave this world.

Yinsen merely packed up his belongings, looted a large number of Firearms and ammunition from the base, and brought plenty of daily necessities. Then, under Alice and Alicia's initially puzzled and then shocked gazes, he left the Resident Evil world.

Looking at the room that had become somewhat unfamiliar, Yinsen suddenly sighed. "What a... hard-to-describe journey."

Arthur, who had set down a large pile of bags, shook his head. "For me, it was a very good journey. It allowed me to see many things... and I found an interesting book as well."

He casually pulled a copy of Le Morte d'Arthur from one of the bags beside him.

"I never expected to see a book in such a world that described my entire life. Though many parts of it differ from reality."

Yinsen was not surprised that Arthur had found it. Besides, the King Arthur recorded in that book differed in many ways from the one standing before him. Arthur had also learned the concept of Parallel Planes from Merlin.

"The King Arthur in this book is only the King Arthur of that world's story. As for what kind of king you will become in the future, that depends on you."

Arthur nodded. "I understand. But reading this book still gave me many warnings. At the same time, I realized that if I had not agreed to travel with you, my future might not have been much better than that Arthur's."

Yinsen spread his hands. "Who knows? All I know is that the Arthur before me can no longer have such an ending." He suddenly became very curious. What kind of King Arthur would this Arthur become in the future?