All Body, No Heart

Xiao Miao took a step back, his back hitting the wall as he gave an awkward yet polite smile. "Wait, aren't we moving a little too fast?"

Travelers of All Heavens traveled through countless worlds and left immediately after completing their missions, so Xiao Miao had no intention of starting a romantic relationship in a mission world.

Otherwise, he would finish his mission, pat his butt, and leave. He didn't even want to imagine what might happen to his girlfriend afterward.

Jill was taken aback. "Progress? What progress?"

Xiao Miao froze too. "Huh? Oh, so I misunderstood. I thought..."

Click!

Jill lifted one leg into a split and pinned Xiao Miao against the wall. "Thought what? Don't overthink it. It's just a friendly match. Consider it repayment for the favor you owe me. What, you're not willing?"

Xiao Miao blinked, finally catching up with Jill's rhythm.

So she had never intended to talk about feelings at all!

He knew Europe and America were open-minded, but he hadn't expected them to be this open. A friendly match was great. Friendly matches had to be played.

His gaze drifted toward the dice above Jill's head.

[Story Character: Jill Valentine]

[Current Bond: Level 2 (Friends)]

The deeper the bond, the higher the odds of drawing something good. After their friendly match, her bond level should rise by another level, right?

With that thought, Xiao Miao straightened his back and smiled confidently.

"Bring it on. Who's afraid of who?"

... Gun like a dragon, lone spear charging forth, spear between thighs, open attacks and hidden arrows, halftime break, swapping out the weaponry, loaded and ready, spear held high as the rider leaped onto the horse... (One million words omitted here.)

An hour later, Xiao Miao climbed onto the rooftop platform and chugged a can of ice-cold cola into the evening wind, trying to ease the melancholy in his heart.

Don't misunderstand. Xiao Miao hadn't lost the friendly match. Rather, after exhausting himself with a fierce round of output, he looked up and saw that their bond was still Level 2: Friends.

Come on, sis, was it really all body and no heart?

Someone handed him an ice-cold beer. Xiao Miao looked up and found it was the sniper guy from the roof.

"Brother, have one."

Xiao Miao raised a hand in refusal. "No. It's dangerous outside right now. Alcohol will slow my neural reaction speed."

"Hahaha, it's perfectly safe here. With me around, those zombies won't get anywhere near us."

The sniper guy shook the AWP Sniper Rifle in his hand and gave him a knowing grin. "Besides, slowing your nerves is exactly the point. Looking at that expression, you lost to Jill just now, right? Trust me, after a few drinks, once your senses are dulled, you'll definitely pull back a round."

"No, you've got the wrong idea. Also, why are you so experienced at this?"

The sniper guy blinked. "This is my secret to victory. I've been using it since middle school. You should know I've never taken those little blue pills."

Xiao Miao once again declined the man's kind offer.

In the sky over the distant downtown area, an Umbrella Corporation helicopter slowly flew past and dropped two enormous crates.

The sight gave Xiao Miao an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.

Wait... the SWAT team stationed at the gun shop, the sniper on the roof picking off zombies...

His sealed memories were completely awakened, and Xiao Miao's expression changed.

Weren't these people the unlucky bastards from the original story used to test Nemesis's combat performance?!

If things developed according to the original plot, the Special Forces Squad would encounter Umbrella Corporation's bioweapon, Nemesis, late that night, then cheerfully score a collective GG.

Xiao Miao hadn't known them for long, but the Special Forces Squad seemed like decent people. It would be a shame for them to just get written out like that.

Besides, Raccoon City was fraught with danger. A person's strength had limits, and a fully staffed Special Forces Squad could greatly improve Xiao Miao's chances of escaping Raccoon City.

So Xiao Miao immediately said goodbye to the sniper guy, climbed down from the roof, and went looking for the Special Forces Squad's captain.

When Xiao Miao found the old captain, he was standing around a conference table with several others. A map of Raccoon City lay spread across it.

Jill was there too. When she saw Xiao Miao approach, she gave him a look that said, Not bad. Keep it up.

When the old captain and the others saw Xiao Miao, they immediately exchanged suggestive looks and started whistling.

Xiao Miao greeted them one by one, but there wasn't a trace of a smile on his face. He walked straight to the conference table and pointed at Umbrella Corporation headquarters in the center of the map. "Guys, we have a problem."

"What problem could there be? As long as we stay in the gun shop, we're invincible." One of the squad members shrugged and curled his lip at Xiao Miao. "All right, kid, the adults are discussing serious business, don't..."

"Hey, relax!" The old captain cut him off, then turned to Xiao Miao. "You have inside information?"

Xiao Miao glanced at that squad member, smiled, and said nothing.

He knew the guy was one of Jill's simps. He had pursued her for years without success, and everyone could smell the sourness in his voice just now.

As for how Xiao Miao knew that, Jill had told him herself during halftime.

The facts proved that simps ended up with nothing. If a girl didn't like you at first sight, don't think sincerity could melt stone. Giving up decisively and improving yourself was the key.

Facing everyone's puzzled gazes, Xiao Miao nodded solemnly. "You all know I'm a journalist. In fact, I've been investigating Umbrella Corporation for a long time, and I recently uncovered some crucial clues."

"On the surface, they're a pharmaceutical company, but secretly, they've been developing bioweapons. This disaster was a chain reaction caused by a loss of control at the laboratory they built in Raccoon City."

"Given Umbrella Corporation's nature, they would never pass up the chance to test their bioweapons. And right now, the most suitable 'target' in the whole city for testing those weapons..."

The old captain understood instantly. "...is us?!"

"That's right."

The atmosphere around the conference table instantly turned grave. If everything Xiao Miao said was true, then they were in an extremely dangerous situation.

Based on the old captain's understanding of those pharmaceutical capitalists, they really would do something like this. Human lives were worthless in their eyes.

"I think you have a point, but I have to ask my squad members what they think," the old captain said.

Xiao Miao rolled his eyes. "This isn't the time for democracy. What if Umbrella Corporation has already activated the bioweapon?"

"We can spare this little bit of time."

The old man knew how important morale was. Democracy was necessary. Otherwise, once people's hearts scattered, the team would become impossible to lead. If they encountered a powerful enemy, they would each fight on their own and be defeated one by one.

Xiao Miao had little faith in democratic voting, because not everyone could assess the situation rationally.

It was currently the end of the twentieth century, when the United States stood at the height of its power, colonizing the globe.

Americans of this era generally possessed an inexplicable confidence—one might even call it arrogance. No matter what the objective facts were, they believed they could handle everything.

The result of the vote was basically what Xiao Miao had expected. The votes for staying put held an overwhelming advantage.

Several burly men with biceps bigger than Xiao Miao's head declared that if any bioweapon dared show up, they would teach it how to behave with their muscles.

Hope you can stay this optimistic after meeting Nemesis...

Fine words couldn't save those determined to die. His plan to cling to the Special Forces Squad's thigh had fallen through, so Xiao Miao decided to set out alone and cling to another thigh instead.

Alice!

She was the real protagonist!

Unlike the Resident Evil games, this Alice was an original character from the movie universe. Because of certain things everyone understood, the director had added plenty of personal indulgences to her character.

For example, Telekinesis!

If he could get a Telekinesis skill from Alice, he would be willing to have friendly matches with Jill every day!