Motherboard Test

In the underground blocks of the base -

In the core experimental area, the heavy hum of the equipment in operation could already be heard in the air. The high-power indoor ventilation and exchange system was working at high intensity, interspersed with some unusual mechanical noises.

Jason leaned lazily against a monitoring console, holding a half-cup of coffee that had already cooled to the right temperature, watching the technicians in protective suits making their final communication connections in the isolation area.

"Authorization approved. A comprehensive security check and disinfection of the access area will be initiated every five minutes. Please remain vigilant."

O

The warnings echoed incessantly, showing no sign of abating.

The white coats and staff members came and went, each busy with their own tasks; few people had his leisure time.

"Honestly, the fact that this thing could be dug out of the ruins of the Hive's so relatively intact is already a miracle in itself."

He joked like that to the person on the other end of the communication channel, but his eyes never left the very center of the isolation testing area, where the "big guy" had been stripped of its layers of buffers and fixation, revealing its true form, with various cables connected to it.

Even after its initial maintenance, this man-made object, which still shows signs of wear and tear on some parts, has a rather nice name. "Red Queen."

"Look, what a beautiful girl!"

"It was indeed an unexpected 'surprise,' but how did you manage to dig it up?"

"Ha, thanks to Umbrella's replicant executive officer, I provided him with my blood sample, along with some very interesting speculations. I also told him that there are more than one anomaly like me active in that world, and I can help find these people—"

"But when he heard that I only wanted the Red Queen mainframe and the original motherboard in exchange, he immediately agreed."

Jason casually sipped his strong black coffee, his face contorting from the bitterness, but then a strange smile appeared on his face.

"Unfortunately, based on the excavation, no area used for freezing Umbrella's high-ranking officers was found beneath the Hive. Therefore, I suspect that it may not contain the high-tech life-extending technology that the old folks were looking for."

"Of course, removing this thing itself isn't too troublesome; they naturally have cleaning staff to handle it. But in order to bring this beauty back from the Mission World, I specifically had Julian use his Common Exchange Card."

"This point also needs to be clearly recorded in the accounts."

The voice in the communication paused for a moment.

"Of course, the company won't mistreat anyone who makes a contribution—but it sounds like this kind of exchange card," besides the items on that magical platform, can also directly exchange for items from the Mission World?"

"At least in terms of user experience, that's certainly the case—thinking about it carefully, it's probably because different items require different levels of redemption cards."

"I'm not entirely clear on the rules yet. Anyway, you've already got a spot, haven't you? You'll see for yourself when you actually get in. I hope you don't wet your pants on the spot, honey."

"Don't worry about it. If I really wet my pants, someone will take care of it. But right now, the higher-ups only care about what's in their heads."

The voice continued coming from the communication channel, "Tell Doctor Hansen to hurry up, someone is already urging for the preliminary analysis report."

"Knew."

Jason put down his coffee cup and casually pressed the communication button on the monitoring console. "Dear Doctor Hansen, you can begin once you're ready."

"Receive."

In the control room of the experimental area, which was not in the same location, a white doctor wearing glasses answered the other party's urging.

At this very moment, he was also admiring the large, flawless creation not far away, his gaze sweeping over the electrode pipes reflecting the light, his eyes like those admiring a captivating beauty, yet with a hint of complexity.

As the circuit lights between the components lit up one by one, and only after confirming that there were no abnormalities, the crucial motherboard was finally reinstalled inside, fitting tightly together.

Everything is ready!

The sounds of internal operation began to rise rapidly, becoming muffled and steady.

- One of the main lights, visible to the naked eye, illuminates the high-tech creation known as the "Red Queen," which is rapidly awakening from its dormancy!

Frankly speaking, the resources the "company" used and the price it paid to obtain and verify this thing were enough to buy a small country!

Now it's time to see if this effort was worthwhile!

Doctor Hansen turned and nodded to a middle-aged engineer, not much younger than himself, who was standing by. "Morris, activate primary power, but only open the lowest-level read-only channel to access the internal demilitarized zone network."

"System self-test passed. Preparing to connect to the base's internal network. Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) isolation protocol has been loaded."

As the instructions were relayed, the technicians began to type faster, their voices filled with barely suppressed emotion.

With a tentative one-way read command input, the internal surface data stream of "Red Queen" began to scroll rapidly across the main screen, and green characters cascaded down like a waterfall!

Hansen stared at the screen, adding somewhat uneasily, "Remember, only grant the minimum necessary permissions to perform the interpretation. Don't take any risks before you understand it further."

Compared to the technicians who were not very familiar with the specifics, he was one of the few "clear-headed" people who knew the situation, especially what this thing in front of him actually represented.

- An artificial intelligence called "Red Queen" from the world of Resident Evil!

Faced with a protocol that completely lacks the Three Laws of Robotics, Umbrella ruthlessly eliminated all potentially infected individuals, including its own employees' non-human intelligence, in order to protect Umbrella "corporation property"—nothing else mattered, caution was the most crucial point!

This is precisely why the "company" went to great lengths to cultivate relationships within the Pentagon and conduct this experiment at this base located in the desert.

What those old fogies want is the technical information that the "Red Queen" might contain, not to open Pandora's box at the drop of a hat and start a "major reshuffle"!

But Doctor Hansen, who always kept one hand in his white coat pocket—or more precisely, on the USB drive inside—and remained constantly on high alert, was equally unaware of what was going on.

Just moments before, when the motherboard was inserted into its proper place, an invisible gaze had already been "looking over".