'Where Did He Get That Bag From?'

"Boom! Splash!"

Sui Bian tucked the silver, rod-like Neuralyzer into his pocket, gave the toilet a perfunctory flush, then turned to open the door and exit the stall.

Stepping out of the restroom, he saw four Omicron operatives in black suits waiting in the brightly lit corridor, including the lieutenant in charge of the unit.

Sui Bian accompanied the four of them to the central hall on this floor, where they boarded a private elevator to head down to the underground research center.

Soon, the group arrived at the third level of the research center via the elevator.

Stepping out, they entered a corridor similar to the Hive, passing by several production workshops filled with large culture tanks.

Inside the tanks, floating in nutrient solution, were a multitude of 'children.'

Looking closely, one could see that these human-like 'children' had skin covered in dark green scales, with sharp claws already beginning to sprout from their hands and feet.

These were one of Umbrella's mass-producible bio-organic weapons: the Hunter Alpha.

They were a low-cost B.O.W. developed by combining T-Virus-infected reptilian DNA with cloned human embryos.

Hunter Alphas were fast, possessed extreme athletic ability, and their claws could easily tear through light armor, while their scale-covered bodies could withstand small-caliber armor-piercing rounds.

Even more valuable for mass production was the fact that, having developed from human embryos, Hunter Alphas possessed enough intelligence to carry out simple orders.

They understood human speech, had a short growth cycle, and were cost-effective, making the Hunter Alpha highly popular in Africa and the Middle East.

Passing the Hunter Alpha production zone, Sui Bian and his group arrived at the third level's 'Living Specimen Detention Area'—or, in simpler terms, the cell block.

The area contained a large number of cells holding nearly three hundred prisoners secretly captured by Umbrella, the vast majority of whom were drifters with expired visas who refused to work under the table.

Before Sui Bian took power, these prisoners were primarily used as living test subjects for researchers or as cannon fodder to demonstrate the power of Hunter Alphas to potential partners.

After taking control, Sui Bian didn't have a sudden bout of saintly compassion to release them; instead, he planned to send them to Africa or the Middle East to serve as cheap labor for the company.

After all, these people already knew the dark side of Umbrella, and brainwashing surgery was complex and time-consuming; there was no need to waste it on these lazy bums.

But now that he had the Neuralyzer from the Men in Black, he could just 'zap' them and let them go; otherwise, sending them to Africa or the Middle East would just mean he had to keep feeding them.

09:01.

The five of them arrived inside the detention area and walked into an observation room equipped with a massive one-way mirror.

Inside the room were several researchers in white lab coats, along with sixteen fully armed Alpha members. Hunk, having removed his helmet and mask, was also present.

The four Omicron operatives acting as E Team had already returned to their posts.

"Mr. Sui." As the automatic door to the observation room slid open, the group paused their work.

"Mm." Sui Bian responded with a nod and a slight wave of his left hand, signaling them to continue as usual.

He then walked over to Hunk's side and heard the taciturn man staring at the other side of the glass, asking with a rare note of confusion:

"Sir, is this the threat you spoke of?"

Following Hunk's gaze, he looked through the one-way mirror into an interrogation room furnished with white floor tiles, white walls, a metal table, and a metal chair.

Sitting on the metal chair was the Plague Doctor in his black robes.

At this moment, the Plague Doctor sat alone, his right hand resting on a notebook on the metal table, his left hand holding a pen as he recorded something.

Before the Plague Doctor was moved to this interrogation room, technicians had performed a full-body scan. The Plague Doctor had been completely cooperative throughout, showing no signs of resistance.

The examination confirmed that the black gloves, black robe, and bird-beak mask worn by the Plague Doctor were physically connected to his body.

However, X-rays showed that beneath these outer layers, the Plague Doctor still possessed a human skeletal structure.

This wasn't what puzzled Hunk. What baffled the Grim Reaper was that after the Plague Doctor entered the interrogation room, he had, in full view of everyone, pulled a black bag larger than his side pocket out from that very pocket.

The notebook and fountain pen the Plague Doctor was currently using had come from that mysterious black bag.

Where did he pull that bag from??

The Plague Doctor's action had completely shocked all the researchers present; most of them had that exact question running through their minds.

Even though all data indicated that the Plague Doctor had nowhere to hide that black bag before entering the room, the reality was that he had simply pulled it out of his pocket right before their eyes.

As rigorous scientific researchers, they naturally didn't believe in sleight of hand or magic, so they were forced to label the phenomenon as 'temporarily unexplainable.'

Watching the Plague Doctor in the interrogation room as he took notes, Sui Bian remained silent for a moment before replying to Hunk: "That's right. This strange doctor is merely the tip of the iceberg.

In the future... you, your Alpha team, and the company's other units will encounter phenomena even more bizarre, strange, and incomprehensible than this doctor."

"Yes, sir," Hunk replied in his usual flat tone.

For Hunk and Alpha, they didn't need encouragement; they only needed to understand the enemy they were facing.

"Mr. Sui." At this moment, a researcher in his forties or fifties walked up to Sui Bian, handed him a paper file, and said:

"This is the list of victims and survivors compiled by the person in charge of Charland Apartment No. 26 and the local government."

"Mm, thank you." Sui Bian reached out and took the file.

Flipping through it briefly, he found no commonalities among the victims; their income levels and work environments were all different.

However, based on Sui Bian's understanding of the Plague Doctor, the entity likely only killed humans and performed his so-called surgical treatments when he determined they were suffering from a 'plague.'

He did, however, notice a common thread among the survivors: the six children under the age of sixteen, including the ten-year-old Middle Eastern girl, had not been killed by the Plague Doctor.

Of course, when Hunk led Alpha in the assault, they had also tried their best to avoid harming these children, so all of them had survived.

What exactly is the 'plague'? Sui Bian frowned after finishing the file.

He handed the file back to the researcher and ordered in a calm voice: "Prepare for the interrogation of the Plague Doctor."

"Yes, sir."