Taking the Reins

13:14.

Sui Bian and his group arrived outside the meeting hall inside the castle.

But they could go no farther. A security door stood between Sui Bian and Spencer, along with the other board members.

As Sui Bian stood before the metal door and looked it over, Hunk, standing just behind him to the left, quietly reminded him:

"Sir, the firepower of the MA5Bs and 40 mm grenade launchers won't be enough to breach this door. We'll need to plant plastic explosives at the critical points and blow it open."

"Mm. Then blow it up," Sui Bian said with a nod. "Might as well blow up the entire castle while we're at it."

?

Hunk was a little confused.

After all, the mission briefing identified the traitors as company executives, including some board members. Under normal procedure, they were supposed to be arrested.

But Hunk couldn't be bothered to wonder what Sui Bian was planning. He nodded as well. "Yes, sir."

The demolition experts from Alpha and Omicron began planting plastic explosives throughout the castle, following Sui Bian's orders.

Thanks to the convenience of their Mechanical Exoskeletons, the two squads had brought along more than enough plastic explosives. If they were going to blow it up, they might as well send the entire castle sky-high.

As for talking things over with Spencer?

Sui Bian had no intention of wasting his breath chatting with a man who was as good as dead.

13:26.

Once the explosives had been planted, everyone began evacuating the castle.

During that time, Spencer tried to communicate with Sui Bian through the screens inside the castle. Sui Bian promptly shot them all to pieces.

13:28.

Everyone, including the two Sniper teams, had evacuated to the castle's front courtyard. They boarded the four Sikorsky S-76Cs parked on the castle helipad. Sui Bian knew each S-76C cost more than twenty million dollars.

Leaving them behind would be a terrible waste.

13:31.

The four fully fueled S-76s took off one after another, flying in formation at an altitude of about two hundred meters and maintaining a safe distance from the castle.

Then the demolition experts from the two USS teams detonated the plastic explosives they had planted inside.

"Boom—boom—!"

The deafening blasts, along with the rubble, debris, and dust they unleashed, completely engulfed Spencer's family castle.

In an instant, the castle that had stood for centuries collapsed.

Sitting in the helicopter cabin, Sui Bian gazed through the window in the cabin door at the castle below, now buried in billowing smoke.

Just as he was about to order the formation to descend so he could send a few USS teams back to sweep the area, the system reminded him:

[The system has detected that the host used the Red Queen and White Queen to sideline Umbrella's board of directors, then led the recruited Alpha and Omicron squads in successfully eliminating every board member, including Oswell E. Spencer. The host now has sole control of Umbrella.

The system will therefore award the host 1,000 points. The host currently has 1,160 points.

The system has detected that Alfred Ashford still controls several important Umbrella facilities. The host is advised to deal with him as soon as possible.]

Hearing the system's official confirmation of their deaths, Sui Bian couldn't help thinking, So they're dead just like that?

Going by the games and movies, where characters could walk away from smoke-filled explosions without a scratch, Spencer might have some kind of "second form" or escape and try to make a comeback.

But no one could have survived an explosion of that magnitude in real life. The shockwaves alone could have shattered Spencer's and the board members' internal organs.

Sui Bian wasn't particularly worried about the remaining Alfred Ashford, a mentally ill man with an incestuous obsession with his sister. It was his sister Alexia Ashford who gave Sui Bian a headache.

The woman's intelligence was practically at the pinnacle of human potential. She had graduated from university at ten and created the T-Veronica Virus at twelve.

To perfectly fuse with the Veronica Virus, Alexia had chosen to enter cryogenic sleep. She was currently "asleep" in the Antarctic Laboratory.

In the games, she could be considered one of the strongest bosses.

But in the end, she was still a boss defeated by the siblings Chris and Claire. Sui Bian hoped to wring every last bit of value from this queen of a boss. After all, no one could match her expertise in viruses.

At that moment, the system had one more thing to say:

[The system has also detected an abnormal phenomenon in the Paris area. It will now issue a mission. Please listen carefully.]

"."

[Mission: Contain and eliminate the abnormal phenomenon before it causes mass casualties or panic.

Success: The host will be awarded one lottery draw.

Failure: No penalty.]

What's coming will come, Sui Bian sighed to himself. Then he gave the USS pilots an order through his headset: "Proceed to Paris Headquarters as planned."

"Yes, sir."

Paris time, August 15, 1998, 15:35.

The S-76C formation carrying Sui Bian, Hunk, Alpha, and Omicron arrived at the helipad at Paris Headquarters.

With the Red and White Queens' arrangements in place beforehand, Sui Bian took over all operations at Paris Headquarters with unusual ease. He also went down to inspect the underground research facilities.

The Paris Research Center was twice the size of the Hive, with a staff of two thousand.

However, its main focus was mass-producing perfected, mature B.O.W.s, such as the Tyrant T-103 and Hunter Alpha.

As a result, the Paris Research Center lagged far behind the Hive in virus development and even the research and development of advanced weapons.

Of course, Sui Bian hadn't forgotten to send a group of technicians from Paris to the Spencer family castle to collect the bodies.

Sergei's body and the corpses of the two Ivan Tyrants were a particular priority.

August 16.

With the Red and White Queens' assistance, the situation in Umbrella's European branch stabilized. In the eyes of the employees, the company's executives had simply gone through another "routine" changeover.

The only thing that surprised them was that the new chairman was Chinese. There were bound to be plenty of rumors about it in the short term.

But according to the White Queen's advice, as long as the pay, salaries, and benefits were good enough, sooner or later the employees would start calling Sui Bian "Dad."

Sui Bian wouldn't just offer them kindness; he also needed to command their respect. Only by balancing rewards with authority could he make Umbrella more efficient and do his best to ensure the employees' loyalty.

So, between the 15th and the 16th, the double agents already identified by the Red and White Queens got to experience Alpha and Omicron's "warm welcome at the door."

While stabilizing the situation in Europe, Sui Bian had the Red Queen direct the intelligence agents stationed in Paris to search for the abnormal phenomenon the system had mentioned.

To put it simply, Umbrella's intelligence agents were spies.

Wesker, who had infiltrated STARS and even become the captain of Team A, was also an intelligence agent. The difference was that Wesker held a higher rank and status within the company.

These intelligence agents were also capable fighters. They held legitimate identities all over the world, working as police officers, doctors, office workers, and even government employees.

At 05:35 on August 17, Paris time, intelligence agents followed clues provided by the Red Queen to investigate the scene and confirm the location of the abnormal phenomenon.