The bridge of the Poseidon.
Sitting in the captain's chair, Sui Bian crossed his right leg over his left and lightly touched his chin with his right hand. He frowned as he gazed out the porthole at the polar night, as if waiting for something.
"Sir!" The crewman in charge of communications reported loudly, "The Charon Task Force has discovered a cryogenic chamber hidden in the Antarctic Laboratory. They confirmed that there's an unidentified woman inside."
"Oh?" Hearing the report, Sui Bian immediately uncrossed his legs. "Tell Captain Marini to bring the cryogenic chamber and all related equipment aboard the Poseidon intact."
"Yes, sir." The crewman relayed Sui Bian's orders to Marini, Chris, and the others.
About an hour later.
A CH-53 appeared in everyone's field of view once again, soon hovering above the Poseidon.
After adjusting its angle, the CH-53 slowly descended onto the Poseidon's flight deck, guided by ground crew holding glow sticks.
The rear cargo door opened. The technicians, who had been waiting for some time, entered the cabin to help the Charon Task Force move the cryogenic chamber and related equipment out of the aircraft and transport them to the cargo hold below deck.
Once everything was in place, Sui Bian assigned twenty elite security guards to take turns standing watch, ensuring that nothing went wrong during the voyage.
Just after he ordered the guards to take up their posts, the system spoke in his ear:
[The host has successfully taken control of Alexia Ashford, who remains in a state of cryogenic hibernation. The system therefore deems the host to have completed the challenge task. The host is awarded 500 points. Current point balance: 1060.]
Well, at least I've got a little more spending money now.
Hearing that he had completed the task finally put Sui Bian at ease. For one thing, his points were back in the four digits. For another, he had successfully secured Alexia while she was still in cryogenic hibernation.
He was in a great mood.
Next, accompanied by Chris, Jill, and the others, Sui Bian boarded the CH-53 and personally made a trip to the Antarctic Laboratory.
Upon arriving at the laboratory, Sui Bian reassured the employees in the name of the company's board of directors. He gave them a pep talk and even offered them some tangible rewards—
Money.
He raised their base salaries and increased their benefits and paid leave, hoping to motivate employees who had been forgotten by the company for years.
Ever since Alexia had faked her death, the Antarctic Laboratory had been excluded from research into the Progenitor Virus and T-Virus. It had been forced to shift its focus to genetics, safe human cryopreservation and revival, and genetic engineering.
Despite receiving little support from the company, the laboratory had still made considerable progress in those fields. It had plenty of potential.
After the usual pep talk and show of support, Sui Bian took a group of researchers with him under the pretense of an exchange program. Finally, he left fifty elite security guards behind, citing the need to strengthen the laboratory's defenses.
Sui Bian did this to ensure Antarctica was firmly under his control.
Kind words were one thing, but he couldn't afford to be a good person in how he handled things. After all, "A good horse gets ridden, and a good person gets bullied."
August 31.
After spending two days in Antarctica, Sui Bian and his party began their return voyage, preparing to take Alexia back to the Hive in Raccoon City.
However...
03:32.
The Poseidon, Sui Bian's private cabin.
The cabin was small. A fixed single bed stood to the left of the door, and Sui Bian was asleep beneath a quilt on it.
Beside the bed was a fixed desk and chair. The laptop on the desk had not been closed; it had remained on standby.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
Suddenly, the black screen lit up, emitting a loud alert.
"Ugh..." At the sound, Sui Bian curled up, then struggled to open his right eye a crack.
"Whaah~!" Seeing the laptop screen light up, Sui Bian closed his eyes again, stretched, and yawned.
After taking a moment to wake up, Sui Bian finally opened his eyes fully and threw off the covers. He put on his thermal trousers and top, then sat at the desk and looked at the screen. His voice was hoarse as he asked:
"Red Queen, is there an emergency?"
"Sir." Red Queen reported in her usual emotionless voice, "Two minutes and thirty seconds ago, I used four of the company's spy satellites to conduct a routine scan of the globe.
"Since you are currently within the Antarctic Circle, I had one of the satellites scan your location more closely. It detected an anomaly."
After speaking, Red Queen displayed the anomaly on the laptop screen.
?
At that, Sui Bian rubbed his dry eyes and carefully examined the anomaly Red Queen had mentioned.
The screen showed a satellite image of Antarctica. Six hundred kilometers from the Poseidon, an area on the continent was marked with a red circle.
Using the reasonably responsive touchpad, he double-clicked the circled area to zoom in.
Once the image had enlarged, Sui Bian realized that it showed a layout resembling a city.
There was a city in Antarctica?
Before Sui Bian could ask, Red Queen promptly explained, "Sir, I detected a sudden increase in underground heat, which produced the plan shown on the screen.
"I used thermal mapping to generate a three-dimensional model. Please take a look."
As soon as she finished speaking, Red Queen changed the display, showing Sui Bian a three-dimensional model of the "city."
Only then did he realize that it wasn't a city at all, but a pyramid of some unknown style.
Wait.
Antarctica?
A pyramid?
Holy crap... Let me think this through. This scene feels oddly familiar.
[Limited-time challenge task detected.] Just as Sui Bian sensed something was off, the system—which had spoken to him not long ago—spoke in his ear again:
[Task: Investigate the anomaly discovered by the artificial intelligence Red Queen, and attempt to control or eliminate it.
Reward: One draw.
Time limit: 2 days.
If the host exceeds the time limit, the system will withdraw this task and its reward, but will not penalize the host.]
"."
He hadn't been able to remember at first, but the system's interruption had finally jogged his memory. He knew why the scene felt so familiar.
Alien vs. Predator.
Antarctica and a pyramid—the same setting.
But Sui Bian couldn't be sure whether the pyramid Red Queen had found was the one that held the Xenomorph Queen captive, nor could he be sure what was inside.
"Sir." When Sui Bian remained silent, Red Queen tentatively asked in her emotionless voice, "What are your orders?"
"Hmm..." Coming back to himself, Sui Bian pondered for a moment. "Tell both captains to change course and get as close to that pyramid as possible."
"Yes, sir." Red Queen acknowledged him, then immediately contacted the captains of the Icebreaker and the Poseidon.
Whether it's Xenos or Predators, Umbrella has to go and investigate immediately.
Before you continue