Captain James stared at Kazuhiko Uchiha, his face grim, and demanded angrily, "I think you owe me an explanation."
Kazuhiko Uchiha neither shook the tainted blood off his katana nor answered the question. Instead, he asked with certainty, "James, you know about the T-Virus, don't you?"
"Of course." Although Captain James had no idea why Kazuhiko Uchiha was asking, he still shared what he knew about the T-Virus. "The T-Virus is..."
"That's correct, but it's not the whole story." Once Captain James finished, Kazuhiko Uchiha added, "The company's research found that when creatures infected with the T-Virus die, they become zombies carrying the virus. They're highly aggressive and infectious. The only way to kill them is to destroy their brains or the nerve center in their cervical spine."
"How could dead people come back to life?"
"I don't believe it. You're lying!"
The others clearly didn't believe Kazuhiko Uchiha's explanation. To them, the dead coming back to life was utter nonsense.
"You don't believe me? No problem. There happen to be two more bodies in the next laboratory. Let's wait and see." Kazuhiko Uchiha shrugged indifferently, sheathed his katana, and leaned against the nearby wall, quietly waiting for Chad to crack the laboratory's access code.
Kazuhiko Uchiha said nothing more after sheathing his sword, while Captain James looked thoughtful. Seeing this, the others fell silent too, waiting to discover the truth.
In less than ten minutes, Chad successfully completed his task, and the oppressive atmosphere broke with the sound of the electronic door opening.
Standing water spilled out into the passage, while bodies and debris lay scattered throughout the laboratory.
Captain James signaled for everyone to stay alert, and the commandos aimed their weapons at the two researchers' bodies.
A dozen seconds slipped by under everyone's watchful eyes. Suddenly, the bodies lying on the floor twitched, then staggered to their feet like elderly people struggling to move.
Aside from Kazuhiko Uchiha, who had already been prepared, everyone felt their scalp crawl at the eerie sight and involuntarily backed away several steps.
"Raaagh!"
The two zombies caught the scent of the living. Turning their stiff necks toward the group, they roared and lunged at them.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
The commandos fired their assault rifles without hesitation, only stopping once they had riddled both zombies with bullets.
"Hah... hah... damn it, what the hell are these things? What the hell is the company researching?!"
The timid Chad dropped onto the wet floor, panting from sheer nerves as he cursed in terror.
"The company is researching biological weapons for use in warfare. These zombies are just defective products created by the virus leak."
Privy to the Umbrella Corporation's secrets, Kazuhiko Uchiha offered that explanation, then swept his gaze over the group and said with a light chuckle, "Now I imagine you believe me. And you understand why I wanted you to choose melee weapons."
They exchanged glances, seeing the same uncertainty and confusion in one another's eyes. None of them knew how to deal with this complicated situation.
"Don't worry too much. Individual zombies aren't very strong. Destroy their brains or the nerve center in their cervical spine, and you can put them down."
After offering a few words of reassurance, Kazuhiko Uchiha ordered Chad, "Chad, unlock the cold storage room right away."
"Yes, sir." Chad got back to work. The moment he cracked the code, he retreated into the group, afraid that a zombie might attack him from inside the cold storage room.
"All right, what comes next involves company secrets. Go ahead and wait for me in the B Dining Room. Once I've completed my mission, I'll join you immediately."
After sending everyone away, Kazuhiko Uchiha stepped into the cold storage room, where icy air billowed out.
Whoa, I've hit the jackpot.
At the sight inside the cold storage room, even the usually composed Kazuhiko Uchiha felt his eyes light up with eagerness, his heart surging with excitement.
Two rows of huge refrigerated cabinets held dozens of spiral-shaped vials containing blue or green solutions, along with dozens of other drugs that had never appeared in the original story and a large pile of medicinal ingredients that looked extremely valuable.
He swept everything in the cold storage room into his system space. Only after making sure he had missed nothing did he leave and hurry after the others toward the B Dining Room.
When Kazuhiko Uchiha reached the B Dining Room, the commandos had only just arrived themselves. They discovered that it wasn't a dining room as anyone would normally understand it, but a huge warehouse containing dozens of small shipping containers.
"This is the B Dining Room. At least, that's what my map says." Chad checked the map several times, confirming that their location was indeed marked as the B Dining Room.
"It looks like there are secrets hidden here. Secrets the company doesn't want the outside world to know."
After the zombie incident, Captain James had clearly guessed the reason. He didn't dwell on it and instead asked, "Forget about that for now. I just want to know whether we can reach the Red Queen from here."
Chad glanced at the map and replied, "No problem, boss. If we go this way, we'll reach the Main Server Room. Then there's a short passage leading into the Core Server Room, where the Red Queen is housed."
"Then here's what we'll do. J.D., Rain, stay here and watch the prisoners. Secure the exit. We'll rejoin you as soon as we're done." After a moment's thought, Captain James made the same arrangements as in the original story.
The other commandos followed Captain James onward. As Kazuhiko Uchiha passed the two remaining behind, he reminded them quietly, "Remember, there are no living people left here."
Without waiting for either of them to respond, Kazuhiko Uchiha disappeared into the passage.
Rain and J.D. exchanged a glance, then chose to trust Kazuhiko Uchiha's warning. They raised their weapons and stood guard warily.
After passing through several more electronic doors, the group reached the Hive's Main Server Room. Chad put on another display of his computer skills, and after a flurry of keystrokes, the door to the passage connecting to the Core Server Room opened.
The passage was a little over ten meters long. Unlike the steel walls outside, its sides were lined with sleek, high-tech glass walls.
At the far end stood the final electronic door leading to the Core Server Room. It wasn't connected to the internal network, so cracking its access code remotely required the Decoder.
"Stay here. I'll go install the Decoder."
As captain, James took the task upon himself without hesitation and cautiously stepped into the passage.
When Captain James reached the middle of the passage, the glass walls around him suddenly lit up, giving him a terrible fright.
"Boss, they're just automatic lights. Don't worry." Chad's voice came through the radio, soothing Captain James's tightly wound nerves.
After placing the phone-sized Decoder, Captain James immediately withdrew from the passage and waited for Chad to finish cracking the code.
Before long, with the final command entered, the door to the Red Queen's Core Server Room finally began to open slowly.
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