Awakening (Part 2)

The train gradually slowed to a stop. The dozen or so foreign mercenaries cautiously advanced outside with their guns in hand. The black-haired youth was the first to swagger out. The girl with glasses looked at Zheng Zha and the others, then followed him out. Watching the Black man called Matthew Addison walk away, Zheng Zha and the rest followed as well.

Outside the train was a station platform. Zheng Zha recalled the scenes from Resident Evil 1. This should be the entrance to The Hive, the underground laboratory they were meant to enter at the beginning.

Everyone followed the platform upward. Before long, at the junction between the station platform and the laboratory entrance, a sealed steel door blocked their path. A set of special symbols on the door indicated both the company that owned the laboratory and the danger within.

Zheng Zha and the others had stayed close behind the mercenaries. When they reached the door, Beauty, dressed in a fiery red gown with high slits along her legs, suddenly asked the Black man Matthew Addison, "I want to know who you are. And what exactly happened here?"

Matthew Addison turned to look at her. He waved to several other mercenaries, who immediately took some equipment from their packs and began working on the door. He continued speaking to Beauty. "We were hired by Umbrella Corporation. You too... This door leads to The Hive. You are a security guard registered with the company, which is why we brought you along."

Zheng Zha remembered this scene. This was when the female lead, Alice, asked about the cause of the whole incident. Though he had watched the movie and knew the truth behind everything, seeing it unfold before his own eyes still left him dizzy with disorientation from how real it felt.

Alice looked confused. She stroked the wedding ring on her finger and murmured, "Then what is this?"

Matthew Addison nodded. "You are not married. It is only a cover, and also a symbol of your duty to protect The Hive."

"Then what is The Hive?"

A man who was not one of the mercenaries suddenly asked from nearby. Zheng Zha recognized him too. He was Ryan, the corporate spy who had caused the entire incident by planning to steal the T-Virus, and also the male lead of Resident Evil 1.

Matthew Addison said to another mercenary, "Show them."

The man nodded and began tapping rapidly on the keyboard. A moment later, images appeared on his laptop screen.

"This is the passage into The Hive... The deepest part of The Hive lies beneath Raccoon City. This is the building where we found you. From there, we took the train underground. The train brought us to the entrance of The Hive, which is where we are standing now."

The images on the screen kept changing. Finally, a structure resembling a honeycomb appeared on the laptop display.

"This is The Hive, an extremely secret research facility buried deep underground. Umbrella Corporation owns and supervises it. There are five hundred scientists and other staff members inside. They conduct classified research here according to the company's needs. These secrets are vital to the company. Of course, even we do not know what they are. This is our current location, displayed by thermal sensors."

Matthew Addison continued explaining. The screen indeed showed their position. They were standing on the station platform at the top of The Hive. Zheng Zha knew that this was an absolutely safe place for now. In a short while, however, it would become a forbidden zone of death.

"What about them?" Alice suddenly pointed at Zheng Zha and the others.

Zheng Zha and the others were instantly startled. They had always believed they existed outside reality. In other words, a Horror Movie was a Horror Movie; the characters in its plot should not have been able to interact with them. They only needed to avoid the terrifying monsters. Who would have thought that the female lead of Resident Evil 1 would actually point at them and speak?

Matthew Addison said, "They are security guards here too. The company has records on them... But I seriously doubt whether the higher-ups made a mistake. Other than that Asian man, who is a qualified fighter, these people are ordinary civilians."

This must be the identity that the Main God had arranged for them here. Zheng Zha and the others suddenly understood.

Ryan asked again, "Why have I lost my memory? I cannot remember anything from my past."

Matthew Addison said, "The Hive has its own defense system, controlled by Fire Queen, the central computer of The Hive. When The Hive determines that it is under attack, the central computer releases a neurotoxic gas. It renders people unconscious for around four hours. After they wake up, they experience a series of side effects. One of them is memory loss."

Ryan asked, "Memory loss? How long will that last?"

Matthew Addison shook his head. "It depends on the individual. It could be an hour, a day, or even a week."

Another young man who was not one of the mercenaries suddenly asked, "Are you saying The Hive has already been attacked? Are there terrorists inside?"

Matthew Addison looked at him. "...Maybe it is worse than that."

Zheng Zha knew this young man too. He was Matt, a non-company employee who had come looking for his sister. His sister was a senior researcher inside The Hive. After learning that the company was researching the T-Virus and discovering how terrifying it was, she had tried to report the company to the government. The outside contact she had reached out to happened to be the female lead. Before she could steal the virus, Ryan had already stolen and leaked it. Later, after inhaling the virus, his sister had turned into a Zombie.

Zheng Zha truly thanked heaven. His life had once been so boring that he had watched a huge number of movies. His favorites had happened to be science fiction and horror. If he knew the plot's direction and who the main characters were, his chances of surviving would multiply several times over. The rule that protagonists did not die was common sense, whether in novels or movies.

Just then, a voice came from the door above the platform. A long-haired female mercenary said, "Officer, the door has been opened. We can enter now."

Matthew Addison nodded at them. Then he looked at Zheng Zha and the others and sighed before leading the mercenaries toward the door.

Under computer control, the door slowly opened. Beyond it was pitch-black. Other than darkness, they could see nothing. Matthew Addison said to a mercenary beside him, "J.D.!"

The man nodded and put on night-vision goggles. Matthew Addison hesitated for a moment, then turned to the black-haired youth. "Zhang Jie!"

Zhang Jie did not waste words. He picked up his Desert Eagle and swaggered inside. Zheng Zha guessed that this black-haired youth also knew the plot well. In Resident Evil 1, as long as they did not shut down the main computer, they would be safe here. At least, they would be safe for more than three hours. But once the main computer was shut down, this place would become the domain of Zombies and Lickers.

Before long, Zhang Jie found the light switch inside. Gradually, the room brightened. The windows in the walls especially revealed views of city skyscrapers. Outside, sunlight blazed beneath a clear blue sky. It was the sort of scenery Zheng Zha had grown numb to seeing in his everyday life.

The mercenaries and the others all entered the room. A female mercenary studied a detector for a while before saying, "The gas has dispersed. This area is safe now."

Zheng Zha knew the entire plot. This underground laboratory had been researching a biological weapon called the T-Virus. It could infect and reactivate human flesh, turning people into Zombies. They would lose all awareness and thought, leaving only one instinct: eat!

Earlier, when the plot character Ryan stole the T-Virus, he had broken a vial of it in the laboratory. Through the air circulation system, it spread throughout The Hive. All the researchers and staff inside became infected, though they did not know it. When The Hive's central computer detected what had happened, it cut off all contact between The Hive and the outside world and released poison gas into The Hive. By the time the mercenaries and the female lead arrived, no one remained in the laboratory except them... and the Zombies, as well as the Lickers.

It seemed Resident Evil 1 really had been a blockbuster. Zheng Zha and the people around him had all watched it. Thus, aside from Zheng Zha and the girl with glasses, everyone else leaned against the windows and looked outside. The sunshine was dazzling, and everything looked so real. They were not worried about being attacked at all, because they all knew this place was very safe.

Matt, the young man who had come to find his sister, suddenly said from the side, "This setup is meant to improve the underground working environment. No one wants to stare at lifeless steel walls all day. If they could see sunlight, they might think they were living aboveground."

Zheng Zha hesitated, then held out his hand. "Zheng Zha... Uh, perhaps a security guard here."

Since Matt had no company file, the mercenaries had handcuffed him as soon as he appeared. He turned around with a bitter smile. "I am handcuffed. I cannot shake your hand like this... And I have forgotten my name too."

Zheng Zha gave him a friendly smile. Matt had been a good person in the movie. He was actually the most innocent one, having only come to find his sister. Even at the end of the story, he had continued protecting the female lead. He was also one of those who survived, and he even fought for the female lead in Resident Evil 2.

Elsewhere, Matthew Addison and several mercenaries opened the elevator doors. But the inside was pitch-black. Left with no choice, one mercenary activated a flare and tossed it down the elevator shaft. As its light slowly receded, everyone finally saw where the elevator was... It had snapped free from its cables and crashed at the very bottom of the shaft. There was no need to think about it. Anyone inside was certainly dead.

The mercenary turned around and said, "Officer, it looks like we will have to take the stairs."

Matthew Addison's face turned slightly green. He turned back to the group and said, "Take the stairs. We must reach the bottom level within ten minutes. Everyone, keep up!"

The mercenaries' physical ability went without saying. The female lead had evolved T-Virus inside her body, so her stamina naturally far surpassed that of ordinary people. The other two male leads, Ryan and Matt, were not bad either. Zhang Jie had already survived three Horror Movies. Even if he had only spent a small portion of his rewards strengthening himself, his physical fitness would certainly surpass that of an ordinary person.

Of the six remaining people, Zheng Zha was an office white-collar worker, but he had always liked exercising. Every week, he spent at least a whole day at the gym. As he put it, that was the only way to handle the flirtatious white-collar women. Therefore, his stamina was somewhat better than average.

The girl with glasses looked delicate and weak. She had no advantage in terms of stamina, and as a woman, she was naturally weaker than the men. But she was clever. As soon as they began running down the stairs, she grabbed the corner of Zhang Jie's clothes, letting him bear part of her burden. Zhang Jie only glanced at her, then silently led her as they ran at the front.

The chubby man with the big belly looked around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. His body was full of fat and jiggled with every movement. Before long, he began panting heavily, and his speed grew slower and slower.

There were three others. One was a middle-aged man who seemed to do manual labor. He was not especially fast, but he kept following behind the main group and never fell behind.

There was also a middle-aged woman. She was even slower than the chubby man. By the end, she could only inch down the stairs one step at a time.

The last person was a teenage boy. He looked completely ordinary, and his stamina did not seem particularly outstanding either. In short, he was the sort of person who would disappear into a crowd. His speed was the same as the middle-aged man's, neither fast nor slow, as he followed closely behind the main group.

Before they had run very far, the chubby man and the middle-aged woman had already vanished from sight. Zheng Zha had been running beside Zhang Jie when he suddenly heard him say, "Two eliminated..."

Zheng Zha asked strangely, "What do you mean, two eliminated?"

Zhang Jie sneered. "Them! Do not treat my words as idle talk. This is a real world. We can die here. Maybe you still have not realized it and just think this is a movie. If you get more than a hundred meters away from him, you will explode. That is one of the rules. They... are dead for sure!"

Boom!

The moment Zhang Jie finished speaking, two violent explosions sounded from above the stairs. Zheng Zha and the others froze and looked upward, but they could see nothing. Other than the staircase above their heads, they could see nothing.

Two eliminated!