Gene-Seed

"Super Soldiers... the human limit..."

Rebecca, who had gradually come to her senses, was now quietly mulling over what Sui Bian had said.

"Mm... Actually... Mr. Sui, the company established the Super Soldier Program after obtaining the Progenitor Virus, but progress has been extremely slow."

But when Sui Bian brought up Super Soldiers, Birkin, one of the company's top researchers, wasn't surprised. On the contrary, the genius doctor looked troubled.

Put simply, Umbrella's Super Soldier Program was a research project Spencer had given a euphemistic name to, as he sought immortality and hoped to evolve into a god.

The project had been around for at least thirty years, yet it had made no groundbreaking progress.

The only successes were the "prodigies" selected from among tens of millions. Albert Wesker was one of them.

Had Sui Bian not arrived unexpectedly, then according to the original plot of the game, Birkin would have used Wesker's genes to create a Progenitor Virus Beta strain, turning him into a "false god."

And it was Spencer who had secretly ordered Birkin to create the Progenitor Virus Beta strain.

But people like Wesker, who were exceptionally gifted to begin with, were exceedingly rare.

The T-Virus, refined from the Progenitor Virus, was stable by every measure, but only one in ten million people was compatible with it.

For the other 9,999,999, injecting the T-Virus meant becoming a "zombie."

Fortunately, human embryos and fertilized eggs were highly compatible with the T-Virus, making it possible to develop B.O.W.s.

The G-Virus, whose full name was Golgotha Virus, was entirely different from the T-Virus. Birkin also liked to call it the "God Virus."

After injection, the G-Virus would alter its host at the genetic level. Ideally, it would evolve the host into a higher form of life.

But the G-Virus was extremely particular about its hosts. If one failed to meet its minimum requirements, they would simply collapse and die.

If a host barely met the minimum requirements, infection would trigger "evolution" in an uncontrollable direction. The result could be good or bad.

There was another issue: the G-Virus couldn't spread rapidly like the T-Virus.

A host infected with the G-Virus had to find a genetically similar target to "reproduce" with. That was why Birkin, after becoming infected with the G-Virus in the game, kept pursuing his daughter, Sherry Birkin.

As far as the development of biological weapons went, the G-Virus was indeed a failure.

But the G-Virus in the game had only just been completed. Birkin hadn't had the chance to test and adjust it before Hunk and Alpha attacked.

Birkin now knew that Sui Bian had said he wanted to use the T-Virus, G-Virus, and serum to achieve the Super Soldier Program's goals, but in reality, he was placing his hopes on the G-Virus.

After a pause,

Birkin voiced his concerns to Sui Bian again. "Mr. Sui, the G-Virus is currently the most promising way to create beings that surpass the human limit, but in its current state, it's completely uncontrollable.

"Even if we find people compatible with the G-Virus, mass production will still be a problem. The G-Virus can only be passed on through genetically similar people—in other words, relatives...

"But I'll do everything I can to address that."

Seeing Birkin's worried expression, Sui Bian crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Actually, Doctor, I can offer you a completely new line of thought."

"Oh? I'd be very interested to hear your suggestion, Mr. Sui," Birkin said.

"Doctor, I looked into the company's cloning technology a while ago. Clones seem to have serious deficiencies in intelligence and cognition, but they inherit almost all of their original's genes and physical traits. Is that right?" Sui Bian asked.

"That's right," Birkin said, nodding without denying it.

Umbrella's cloning technology had been inherited from the Soviet Union. Yet among the many cloned subjects, only Sergei's clones possessed the intelligence to obey orders.

The brain was indeed humanity's most mysterious organ. Even though a clone's brain was almost identical to the original's, their thoughts and intelligence were vastly different.

"Then, Doctor, while you and Officer Chambers use my blood to extract serum, I'd also like you to use it to create clones. What do you think about conducting G-Virus experiments on my clones?" Sui Bian suggested calmly.

"Well... There's absolutely no problem with that! It's a great idea, an excellent one!" Birkin naturally wouldn't turn down such a good opportunity.

Setting aside Sui Bian's position as the company's chairman and boss, Birkin had always considered him an ideal experimental subject. He had only refrained from suggesting that they clone Sui Bian out of concern for his own safety and that of his family.

"Cloning yourself for experiments... Uh..." Rebecca shuddered, as if she couldn't accept the idea.

Sui Bian ignored Rebecca's reaction and asked Birkin, "There's one more thing, Doctor. Have you ever heard of the concept of a 'Gene-Seed'?"

"Gene... Seed?" Birkin repeated, furrowing his brow.

"???" Rebecca had never even heard of the concept.

Seeing their reactions, Sui Bian decided not to be mysterious. He explained it directly to Birkin and the bewildered Rebecca:

"Although the requirements for compatibility with the G-Virus are stricter than with the T-Virus, there should still be plenty of people who barely qualify. The company has hospitals all over the world, with blood samples from nearly six hundred million people.

"Among them, there are roughly sixty-seven million boys between the ages of eleven and eighteen. We can select those who are barely compatible with the G-Virus from among them.

"At the same time, you should already have carried out extensive G-Virus experiments on my clones. I'd like you to find a certain 'gland' among the results.

"If this gland really exists, we could remove it and implant it in these compatible boys. As they pass through puberty, the gland carrying the G-Virus could gradually and safely alter them.

"Once they've passed through puberty, we could perform various enhancement surgeries on them. That would make them beings far beyond ordinary humans.

"That 'gland' would be the Gene-Seed.

"Of course, everything I've described is just my ideal scenario. Even the so-called Gene-Seed could be nothing more than a figment of my imagination. Heh."

Sui Bian couldn't help chuckling as he finished.

It was true. His plan was far too idealistic.

The G-Virus had limitless potential for evolution and the possibility of making people godlike. It could even use relatives to "reproduce."

For some reason, this made Sui Bian think of Warhammer 40,000 and its "fatherly love and filial devotion."

The Emperor → Primarchs → Astartes.

If The Emperor was a "god" (believe in the Imperial Truth: The Emperor is not a god), then the Primarchs, his sons, were "demigods," and the Astartes, their grandsons, were "angels."

And the reason Astartes could be transformed from ordinary boys into angels was the Gene-Seed passed down from the Primarchs.