Sniping! (Part One)

"Dead people!?" Wang Ning's eyes widened.

Yin Kuang explained, "Idiot! Of course I mean pretending to be dead."

"Oh. You scared me to death. I don't want to die." Wang Ning said, "Pretend to be dead? That's not a bad idea... but what if some Zombies wander over here? What then? I don't want to make it real."

Yin Kuang said, "It should... be impossible, right? Besides, I think if our only enemies were Zombies... the Headmaster wouldn't have gone to all this trouble to set up a 'Hidden Mission.' A few Zombies wouldn't pose any danger to us, and if there were a horde of them... Mary would've been swarmed already. Why would we need to rescue her?"

Li Shuangmu said solemnly, "Perhaps we can take it to mean that the enemies we're about to face are already more than enough to deal with. There's no need to make the mission harder by adding Zombies. Haven't you noticed? Ever since we met the blind Mike, it's been unusually quiet around here. There isn't a single Zombie in sight. Remember, Raccoon City is overrun by Zombies. How could there be none? The only explanation is..."

It had to be said that Li Shuangmu had a remarkable grasp of the big picture.

"The Headmaster's setup!" Yin Kuang said. "So, if the enemy we're about to face isn't Zombies, but is still powerful, who could it be? Our enemies so far are Zombies, Lickers, Nemesis—that is, Matt the Tracker—and mutated animals. I really can't figure out what connection Matt the Tracker has to Guide Dog Mary. We can rule out Zombies, so that leaves mutated animals and Lickers."

The group was confident they could handle mutated animals. But if they were up against Lickers...

"If they're Lickers, then we really will be dead," Wang Ning said with a bitter smile.

Li Shuangmu nodded, then shook his head. "You've overlooked one possibility... Though I can't figure out what connection they have to that dog either, we can't rule them out."

"They?"

"The Umbrella Corporation!" Zeng Fei said coldly.

"How could that be? The Umbrella Corporation? A dog? How is the Headmaster supposed to connect the two? I'd rather believe we're facing Lickers than that damn Umbrella Corporation, the ones who caused all this. They're a hornet's nest! We can't afford to provoke them," Wang Ning said.

Li Shuangmu said, "Whatever enemy we're facing... if we lose confidence now, we're as good as dead! So get a grip. There's no point worrying about what we've already discussed. Whether it's Lickers, mutated animals, or the Umbrella Corporation barging in for reasons we can't fathom, we have to face them bravely, don't we?"

"Yeah!"

So Zeng Fei and Qian Qianqian paired up, while Li Shuangmu, Yin Kuang, and Wang Ning formed the other group. Before parting, they agreed on a signal: Qian Qianqian would hang a piece of cloth on the roof. If she let it fall, their enemy was Lickers; if she took it down, their enemy was the Umbrella Corporation; if it stayed in place, their enemy was mutated animals!

"Be careful!"

"You too."

With that, the two groups split up.

Li Shuangmu watched the two enter the building, then said, "We should change our clothes too. We don't look dead at all dressed like this. What a waste of all those Study Points I spent redeeming these outfits." Li Shuangmu, who had never needed to worry about money, couldn't help lamenting the importance of money once again. Of course, by money he meant Study Points.

After a bit of work, the three of them looked a little more like dead people. Then they lay down at a spot not too close to, but not too far from, Mike and began playing dead...

"Hey, boss, was the guy who gave that damn order dropped on his head as a kid? He actually sent the legendary Black Snake Mercenaries to catch a Labrador! Oh, God, I can't believe my ears. Is it April Fool's Day? This is the worst job I've taken since I started in this line of work." A skinny, fully armed Black man Chattered nonstop, running his mouth.

Ever since they'd boarded the helicopter and heard the mission briefing, he'd been grumbling without a break, working his thick lips. Even after getting off the helicopter, he still couldn't shut his sausage-thick mouth.

"Rona! Shut that hot-dog-thick mouth of yours, or I'll cut it off and feed it to a dog!"

Beside the Black man Rona, a white brute who'd had enough of him drew a gleaming Nepal Army Knife.

"Heh, heh, heh. Easy, William. You should calm down... All right, I'm sorry. I sincerely apologize." Rona finally gave in once again to William's Nepal Army Knife. "But, William, my good friend, don't you think giving us a mission like this is an insult to the Black Snake?"

William grunted and put his knife away. "Shut your mouth. If it were the boss, he'd put a bullet in you."

"Fine, fine. I admit I was just taking advantage of the boss being away to vent to the air. Keeping it bottled up was really getting to me! What a load of crap." Rona deflated like a balloon. "I wonder how the boss is doing. Has he found that damn dog yet?"

"Why don't you tune in on the radio and ask?"

"Fine, pretend I didn't say anything."

Suddenly, William stopped. His beastlike eyes swept over their surroundings.

The road was cluttered with all kinds of overturned cars, making it rather cramped. As far as the eye could see, there were nothing but abandoned cars.

The cold, eerie night shrouded every corner of Raccoon City.

"Hey, William, why'd you stop?"

"Don't you think it's too quiet here?"

"Too quiet? What!? You want a bunch of disgusting Zombies hanging around, saying, 'Hey, buddy, welcome to my stomach'? Are you crazy?" Rona made a face. "You should be thanking those idiots in the advance team. They drew all the Zombies in the city away, so we can stroll around like we're in a garden while we look for that damn dog!"

"..." William ignored Rona's nonsense and pressed the button on his wireless earpiece. "Boss, something feels wrong. It's too quiet here." As a mercenary forged in steel and blood, William had always trusted his instincts. They helped him stay alive longer!

"Crackle... crackle..." The earpiece crackled with static. Even when Rona leaned in close, he couldn't make out what the boss was saying.

"Yes, boss."

After replying, William said, "The boss says to prepare for combat!" He drew his rifle, checked it, chambered a round, and adopted a textbook ready stance as he advanced cautiously.

His eyes gleamed in the darkness.

Rona shrugged. "All right, all right."

As he spoke, he drew his gun.

Just then, clear barking rang out from nearby. "Woof, woof, woof!" The barks echoed through the street, growing louder, then fading into the distance as they carried along the road. In the eerily quiet night, the sudden barking sounded incredibly ominous. Anyone even slightly timid would have been trembling all over.

But Rona heard it and seemed to come alive. "Hey! That's the damn dog. It has to be! I can already smell that disgusting stench of hers. Just wait till I catch her—I'll give her a good beating!"

With that, he darted through a gap between the cars toward the source of the barking.

Rooftop.

Qian Qianqian lowered the Tactical Binoculars Zeng Fei had redeemed for 30 Study Points and said anxiously, "Zeng Fei, a helicopter just landed over there. I saw the Umbrella Corporation logo on it. What do we do?"

Zeng Fei, who'd been resting with his eyes closed, abruptly opened them. His slightly chubby, round face was grim.

"Damn it! Li Shuangmu was right. I never thought... it really is the Umbrella Corporation. Hurry and bring the blue cloth inside."

"Oh, right!"

Zeng Fei let out a heavy sigh. "If only I'd brought more money with me. I could've redeemed a set of wireless communication equipment too... There's no choice now! Even if it's the Umbrella Corporation... it's too late to back out. We fight!"