Raccoon City, The 'Prodigal' City

``` [Project: Chris Redfield.

Narrative:

The project is currently in the development stage and has not yet reached its peak.

Once the project reaches its peak, it will be proficient in various weapons, physical techniques, and combat styles.

When trapped in a desperate situation, all physical attributes will increase significantly, especially strength, which will far exceed that of an ordinary human, and luck will also increase substantially.

However, for humans trapped in the same desperate situation as the project, their luck will drop to the lowest point.]

So it really is Chris.

After hearing the system's report, Sui Bian remained calm on the surface, but he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Being on a team with Chris during a crisis meant your luck was essentially "sucked away"—it would be a miracle not to die, and he didn't seem to discriminate by gender either.

Even Jill, a tough woman, had nearly been done in by Chris.

Hmm... It's best to have him carry out missions alone to avoid unnecessary casualties, Sui Bian mused.

"Now then..." Just then, Irons, who had been speaking, gestured with his right hand toward Sui Bian, who was standing to his side, and said, "Mr. Sui, please take it from here."

With that, Irons stepped back two paces to the left to clear some space for him.

"Very well." Seeing this, Sui Bian walked behind the lectern, gathered his thoughts, and said in a low, steady voice to the assembled officers:

"Gentlemen, on behalf of the company, I would like to express our deepest apologies to you and the families of the victims.

Umbrella's slogan is 'Protecting your family,' yet we never imagined that one of our founders, James Marcus, would fall into such an obsession with the creation of viral weaponry, leading to the tragedies in the Arklay Mountains.

Therefore, the company has dispatched me to assist you all in handling this incident."

At this point, Sui Bian picked up the remote control from the lectern and operated the slide presentation.

Immediately, the screen displayed satellite views of the Spencer Mansion and the Training Facility.

Sui Bian scanned the room and continued, "Due to Marcus's madness, the researchers and biological samples within these two facilities have died and mutated.

For this joint operation, we will provide a sufficient quantity of vaccines to minimize or prevent casualties as much as possible.

Does anyone have any questions?"

"..."

The officers were all silent, their brows furrowed in deep thought.

They could hardly imagine that the "zombies" defined in George A. Romero's films were actually real.

A scratch or a bite would lead to infection, and after the onset of the disease and death, they would "resurrect" into walking corpses, losing their consciousness and memories, knowing only to devour every living thing in sight.

The Living Dead.

Moreover, the method to kill them was quite "simple"—destroy their central nervous system, or in other words, destroy their heads.

It felt completely surreal.

However, this also gave the officers a sudden sense of clarity; at least they now knew what those "beasts" were.

"Mr. Sui." Shortly after Sui Bian finished speaking, Chris stood up and asked, "How should we deal with James Marcus, who still retains human intelligence?"

"No need to worry about that. My assistant (Red Queen) will revoke all of his... its permissions. We just need to focus on dealing with those abnormal creatures," Sui Bian said with a smile.

Hearing this, Chris nodded slightly and sat back down.

As for Umbrella possessing a private armed force, the officers showed no surprise at all.

This was a perfectly normal occurrence in the United States.

According to the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Ordinary civilians owned weapons, which was precisely why police work was considered an absolute high-risk profession in the States.

However, the weapons held by civilians were semi-automatic; the purchase of fully automatic weapons was prohibited.

To obtain the right to use fully automatic weapons, one needed approval from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and given Umbrella's capabilities, they undoubtedly had "legal" authorization.

Therefore, the officers had no intention of digging into whether Umbrella's private force was legal, especially since the bulk of their own salaries came from Umbrella.

Next.

Irons took over for Sui Bian and continued the briefing, beginning to arrange the clearing operation for the Arklay Mountains.

The Raccoon City Police Department had a total of 422 officers.

According to Irons' plan, the clearing operation would officially begin at 12:30 that day, with 120 officers responsible for maintaining order within the city, while the remaining officers would be deployed to the Arklay Mountains in the north.

Among them, regular officers would be responsible for the blockade of the mountain range, ensuring that citizens would not stray into the area or that abnormal creatures from the mountains would not escape.

STARS teams A and B, along with thirty SWAT officers from Raccoon City, would cooperate with Umbrella's combat team to venture deep into the mountains to carry out the clearing operation.

11:05.

A convoy consisting of two black heavy-duty trucks and seven black SUVs arrived in front of the main entrance of the Raccoon City Police Department.

Furthermore, both sides of the truck cargo beds and the license plates of the SUVs were emblazoned with the striking red-and-white umbrella logo.

The refrigerated cargo container of the truck also carried a sufficient quantity of T-Virus Vaccine.

The SUV was occupied by Alpha Team and the technicians from the Hive.

Omicron was left in charge of guarding the Hive.

The Alpha Team led by Hunk was equipped with firearms of 5.56 x 45mm caliber and above, carrying specialized ammunition such as armor-piercing incendiary rounds to deal with any unforeseen circumstances.

At the same time, Alpha Team wore black combat uniforms and donned their signature "red-eyed octopus" gas masks.

The total annihilation of Alpha Team in Resident Evil 2 was primarily due to a lack of sufficient preparation against the G-Virus, as their primary weapons were still small-caliber MP5s.

Had they been fully prepared, and with the assistance of STARS and SWAT, they would have been more than capable of sweeping the Spencer Mansion and the Training Facility of all B.O.W.s.

The technicians, dressed in white jumpsuits, were prepared to recover B.O.W. corpses and various data once the clearing operation concluded.

11:45.

All personnel participating in the clearing operation, including Sui Bian, were injected with the T-Virus Vaccine.

11:48.

Over two hundred police officers drove ahead to the northern mountainous region to carry out the blockade.

The SUV convoy, carrying the technicians, followed behind, waiting to enter the mountains only after the clearing operation was complete.

Sui Bian, along with Alpha Team, STARS, and SWAT, rode in police vehicles toward the police helipad located on the western edge of Raccoon City.

11:57.

Sui Bian and his party arrived at the airport.

Parked there were six UH-1 204B Huey medium utility helicopters and six Eurocopter AS350 light multi-purpose helicopters.

One had to admit that the Raccoon City Police Department, or perhaps Raccoon City as a whole, was incredibly wealthy.

For a city of over one hundred thousand people, a police department having two to four light helicopters would already be considered remarkable; yet, Raccoon City possessed twelve light and medium helicopters.

The scenes of police helicopters frequently crashing in the games Resident Evil 0, 2, and 3 were enough to show just how "wasteful" the Raccoon City Police Department truly was.

12:02.

Everything was ready.

The six UH-1 helicopters carrying the team lifted off, adjusted their heading, and formed a formation as they flew toward the northern mountainous region.