The Situation

"What do you mean?" Birkin furrowed his brows.

Sui Bian did not answer. Instead, he rose, walked around the table to stand before Birkin, and reached out with his left hand to grab Birkin by the collar. Then...

!!!

"Mr. Sui, what are you doing!!"

At Birkin's startled cry, Sui Bian effortlessly lifted him off the ground with one hand, releasing him just before he began to struggle for breath.

"This..." Birkin, his feet back on the floor, stared at Sui Bian with a look of astonishment.

But soon, Birkin forced himself to calm down.

Because of Sui Bian's actions, Birkin had intuitively felt that Sui Bian possessed strength far beyond that of an ordinary human, which instantly piqued the genius's curiosity.

Action is always more persuasive than words.

That was exactly the effect Sui Bian wanted.

However, when he noticed Birkin's eyes seemed to be glowing, Sui Bian immediately stepped back twice to put some distance between them.

"Ahem." Clearing his throat and lifting a hand to straighten his tie, Sui Bian explained to Birkin:

"Dr. Birkin, not long ago I injected a serum that can push my physical capabilities to the human limit.

For certain reasons, I lost the formula for this serum, so I need you to use my blood to re-extract it. Tell me, Doctor, are you interested?"

"A serum? The human limit? Hmm... I have no reason to refuse."

Birkin had no intention of digging into how Sui Bian had obtained this serum; he possessed the professional discretion not to ask about things he shouldn't.

Moreover, Birkin was both a genius and a madman; faced with the 'temptation' of the serum, he agreed quite readily.

"It's just..." There was still one thing Birkin needed to ask Sui Bian: "Mr. Sui, I want to know how I can trust that, once I finish the G-Virus and the serum extraction, you won't move against me and my family?"

There was one more thing Birkin couldn't bring himself to say: How do I know you aren't cut from the same cloth as Spencer?

After all, Sui Bian had just said he would take complete control of Umbrella, and Spencer had done many underhanded things to control the company in the past.

Sui Bian could certainly hear the concern in Birkin's voice, and he chuckled. "Doctor, no matter what I say, it won't eliminate your doubts, and you do have a history of colluding with the U.S. military.

But I can reveal one thing to you: completing the G-Virus and extracting the serum is not for the company's or my own personal benefit, but for the continuation of our human species."

"The... continuation of humanity?" Birkin was stunned.

"That's right. I am doing this for humanity." As he spoke, Sui Bian walked toward the automatic sensor door of the conference room.

As the door slid to the left, Sui Bian glanced at Birkin and added, "Doctor, rather than agonizing over this here, you would be better off refocusing on your work. It won't be long before you get closer to the truth."

With that, Sui Bian stepped out of the conference room, and the automatic door closed behind him.

Inside the room, only Birkin remained, his brows tightly knitted.

Upon reaching the corridor, the Lieutenant who had been waiting outside stepped forward and asked in a low voice, "Sir, how should we handle William Birkin and his family?"

"Send two teams to monitor them separately. Try not to interfere with William Birkin's work, and do not use his family to threaten him," Sui Bian said.

"Yes."

Following this, Omicron dispatched two combat teams to 'protect' Birkin's wife and daughter, as well as Birkin's personal safety.

As for the fact that Wesker was dead, Sui Bian planned to inform Birkin only after establishing a stable working relationship.

Birkin and Wesker had a deep connection, and even though Birkin understood Wesker's ambitions, there was still a sense of camaraderie; if Sui Bian told him prematurely, it would only shatter the sliver of trust that currently existed.

With William Birkin handled, the remaining task was the seven hundred-plus employees.

Two days prior, the Red and White Queens had conducted a comprehensive investigation and analysis of these employees, categorizing them into four groups: the loyal, the mercenaries, the slackers, and the disloyal.

For the pure slackers and those with ulterior motives, Sui Bian planned to arrange memory-wiping surgeries before forcibly dismissing them and sending them home.

That's right...

Umbrella already possessed 'brainwashing' technology, but the surgery to modify memories had significant side effects and a high probability of causing brain death.

However, the technology to clear specific segments of memory was relatively refined and had almost no side effects.

As the Hive was the first and most important base Sui Bian had established in this world, he had to ensure its secrecy and security; it could not be known to the outside world or society.

After a round of culling, over six hundred employees remained; the slackers and the disloyal were, in the end, a minority.

The Hive's employees returned to their respective posts, and Birkin, under surveillance, continued his follow-up work on the G-Virus. As for the serum extraction, Sui Bian planned to wait until Birkin had completed the G-Virus.

June 1st, 09:00.

Sui Bian officially moved into the second level of the Hive, which also became the base for Alpha and Omicron. Wesker's corpse was kept frozen on the fourth level.

The Red Queen modified Birkin's access permissions, and Sui Bian became the current director and person in charge of the Hive.

The employees adapted to this quickly.

As the former director, Birkin had been solely focused on his viruses and hadn't paid much attention to the management of the Hive; in truth, he had very little presence.

Having successfully occupied the Hive, the system determined that Sui Bian had completed the main mission, and 150 points were deposited into his 'account' as scheduled.

Now, his next goal was the challenge mission: eliminate the Leech Queen, Marcus. But before that, Sui Bian still needed to 'bring' the power of the Raccoon City Police Department 'under his wing'.

Chris, Rebecca, Jill, and even Leon, who wouldn't enter the fray until the end of September—these were all special talents, or even anomalies, that Sui Bian certainly wouldn't let slip through his fingers.

Furthermore, the Raccoon City Police Department was home to many tough men and women, especially Deputy Chief Raymond, who had sacrificed himself to wipe out a horde of zombies that had swarmed an entire street.

If it weren't for Chief Brian Irons deliberately cutting off communications, providing false intelligence, and strictly forbidding the use of heavy weaponry, the disaster as seen in the game might have had a chance of being contained.

Although Sui Bian favored Deputy Chief Raymond and wanted to help him ascend to the top position, Brian Irons was also a loyal lackey of Umbrella.

Therefore, in order to eliminate Marcus with minimal casualties, Sui Bian still needed the cooperation of Irons to mobilize the Raccoon City police force to assist him fully.

Naturally, during this period, Umbrella's upper management also noticed that two USS squads, who had been executing missions in Europe and South America, had disappeared without a trace.

Based on reports from the Red and White Queens, Sui Bian learned that Spencer, hiding in his family castle, seemed to take this incident very seriously, terrified that some unforeseen change might occur at such a critical juncture.

Spencer had even dispatched Colonel Sergei Vladimir, the prototype for all Tyrant models, to personally investigate the matter.