Hardship

An eerie atmosphere spread through the air. Steve's saintly nature was reserved only for his family; the disconnect brought about by traveling between worlds left him feeling nothing but a faint sense of confusion upon hearing such astronomical figures.

No one believed it, or perhaps the matter was simply too shocking to be trusted.

Such a reaction was normal. Duncan explained, "The Umbrella Corporation's primary business is biopharmaceuticals. In reality, most of their drugs are created using a special virus. This virus destroys human cellular structure and erodes the brain, turning everyone into beasts that know only how to feed."

"Zombies?" Natasha found it hard to comprehend. "Doesn't that kind of thing only exist in science fiction?"

"Yes, zombies, the undead." Duncan gave the clever Natasha an appreciative look and sighed, "In your world, they might not exist, but in ours, they are real. The board of directors has already voted to pass a motion: they will proactively release the virus to carry out a great cleansing of all humanity. Once humanity is completely extinct in ten years, they will crawl out from underground, release the Airborne Serum, and claim a new world."

After hearing what Duncan had to say, Steve's worldview was refreshed. Compared to Hydra's cleansing operations against millions, the people in this world were clearly far more ruthless.

This was no longer something that could be described as ruthless; they were simply a group of lunatics!

The members of the U.B.C.S. who were still unaware of the truth were equally shocked, yet they still harbored a sliver of doubt.

"This... haven't you exposed the Umbrella Corporation's conspiracy?" Sam felt his throat go dry. Even though it was just a few simple sentences, they caused the ambient temperature to plummet. It was terrifying.

Facing Sam's question, Duncan explained, "Umbrella is a global monopoly with influence that is far from ordinary; you could say it is a state within a state. The most likely result of me going to report them would be getting killed, having my genes extracted to create a clone, and letting that clone take my place to continue their operations."

Clones—yet another piece of special technology!

Natasha already believed a portion of what Duncan said. While she was deep in thought, she suddenly caught sight of several raised gun barrels and screamed, "Look out!"

Rat-tat-tat!

"Ahhhhhhh!"

The piercing sound of gunfire caused Susan to let out an annoying shriek.

The five soldiers from the Special Operations Force, who had been indifferent moments ago, suddenly aimed their weapons at them. Even with Natasha's loud warning, some still failed to dodge the hail of bullets.

Fortunately, none of the people here were ordinary. Steve had heard the slight friction of the guns being raised; he immediately held his shield in front of him and, utilizing his god-like mathematical calculation abilities, deflected a portion of the bullets back at the shooters.

Duncan, who had never let his guard down from the start, rolled to the side, pulled a pistol from his waist, and rapidly emptied the magazine into one of the attackers.

Natasha also quickly drew her pistol to take one down. Bark and the other three, who had been recruited by Duncan first, were equally wary of the members from the other two squads and reacted quickly.

The gun barrels of Umbrella's lackeys were aimed at a single target: Duncan. The others huddled together didn't actually suffer much fire.

Bark took a bullet to the thigh, but he still endured the pain to fire at another Special Operations Force soldier.

Pfft!

Duncan still didn't manage to dodge every bullet. After all, he wasn't a professional. His left arm and right thigh were both hit, and another bullet grazed his waist, tearing through his suit and leaving a bloody gash on his flesh.

The last Special Operations Force soldier was sent flying by the shield Steve threw, and the job of finishing him off was done by Duncan.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After firing three consecutive shots, Duncan finally dropped the empty pistol and kept sucking in cold air. "Hiss! I knew it!"

After all five Special Operations Force soldiers were dead, the atmosphere in the warehouse didn't truly ease; instead, it became suspicious. The Security Force squads all pointed their guns at the seven members of the U.B.C.S., who still looked somewhat bewildered.

"Jeni!" Seeing that Duncan was injured, Bark, who now completely trusted him, immediately called over the squad's medic. "Hurry and stop the boss's bleeding, don't worry about me."

The short-range rifle bullet had pierced straight through Duncan's arm; his left hand was now hanging by only a sliver of skin. The bullet in his thigh hadn't hit any major arteries, passing straight through the flesh—a stroke of misfortune in the midst of tragedy.

"Sir..." James, the squad leader of the U.B.C.S., felt very nervous as he saw the Security Force pointing their guns at his own squad.

Regarding the content just discussed—the extinction of the world by Umbrella's top brass—if not for the attack, he, having grown up under Umbrella's wings, would have remained skeptical.

But now, he simply didn't want to accept the truth...

"Do you want to die along with this rotting world? Sergeant James!" Duncan, enduring the excruciating pain, glared fiercely at the seven men when he saw they hadn't lowered their weapons.

After hearing this question, James slowly lowered his gun and reached up to remove the gas mask from his face, revealing a rather desolate Black face. "Sorry, sir. Lower your weapons."

With the captain giving the order, the other six members of the U.B.C.S. also slowly lowered their guns.

At this moment, a sudden change occurred. One of them made a feint, pointing his lowered muzzle at the slumped Duncan and pulling the trigger.

Seeing the situation sliding toward the abyss, Steve's shield suddenly blocked the trajectory.

Two bullets struck the Vibranium shield and miraculously turned into flattened metal slugs before dropping to the ground.

Seeing this, the Security Force members didn't hesitate to pull their triggers at the shooter, and the wall of fire formed by seven guns instantly shredded the man's body.

Susan, who had little presence, let out another scream.

After the gunfire ceased, Duncan cursed again. Umbrella Corporation really had planted a mole right beside him!

"Wow... looks like you're having an even tougher time than us!" Natasha swapped the magazine in her small pistol and watched the others vigilantly.

In just half an hour, six people had died right here. That was truly exaggerated!

Steve didn't know what to say either. Seeing Duncan's difficult situation, he really didn't have the face to ask for his help.

Duncan, whose muscles twitched as he kept sucking in cold air from the pain, rolled his eyes and replied, "You know it. I don't have the ability to help you; on the contrary, I need your help."

Kevin, who had finished searching through the supplies, returned and gestured toward Duncan. "Boss, do you want to use this?"

Duncan, who had never been shot before, was almost fainting from the pain. Hearing this, he glared at the tactless Kevin and said, "Can't you see I'm about to faint from the pain? Of course I want to use it!"

"But boss, didn't you say the T-virus wasn't good?"

Kevin opened a small case and pulled out a metal syringe filled with green liquid, still looking slightly hesitant.

This was a painkiller and treatment agent used internally by the Umbrella Corporation. It contained a higher concentration of the T-virus, but it had been stabilized and had no obvious side effects, making it suitable for pain relief and treating internal and external injuries.

Natasha, Steve, and Sam all looked curiously at the vial of green liquid.

"Please be gentle, this hurts more than when I was stabbed dozens of times!" Duncan reminded Jeni, who was treating his wounds, then sucked in another breath of cold air and said irritably to Kevin, "Umbrella has been selling viruses for over a decade; their mature products are still usable. Unless you're unlucky enough to be that one-in-a-billion winner, don't just stand there, hurry up and inject me."