"I understand, Rebecca. Let me look at this file first…",
"The Cadre Institute's training objective… is to train all highly efficient personnel for the Umbrella Corporation. Is it a pyramid scheme? Discipline and unity create strength… Tsk, this is just empty rhetoric. Let's look at the next part. Hmm… Both meetings are classified as Level Five and will be held at the following locations: F1 West Operations Command Room, F2 Southeast Conference Room. Hmm, it seems these two clues are more useful."
In a corner,
Javier picked up the damaged file on the table, quickly scanned its contents, and finally found some key information amidst a lot of useless words: two confidential meetings were held here, one in the Operations Command Room on the first floor and one in the Conference Room on the second floor. It seemed that investigating these two places would yield more useful information.
"Hey, Billy!"
"How's your situation? If you're done… we need to go to Rebecca's location. There's no point in staying in the central hall. Let's quickly explore other places!"
After memorizing the information on the damaged file, Javier looked up and quickly reminded Billy, who was searching in the distance. After all, staying put wouldn't help; it was better to search around more, and perhaps they could find some unexpected clues.
"Understood…"
Hearing Javier and Rebecca's words,
Billy Coen nodded in response and then took the crank handle from the cabinet. He hadn't come away empty-handed; at least, his intuition told him that this vintage, clock-like crank would definitely be useful later.
After all,
this Institute was like a maze,
everything required solving puzzles. Who knew if this item was one of those tools? So… after putting the crank in his pocket, Billy Coen dragged his injured leg and quickly followed Javier and Rebecca.
Soon, the three of them arrived at the door Rebecca had mentioned.
This door indeed didn't require a key, but the dangers inside were unknown, so they had to be careful and vigilant—!
"…"
"According to our previous arrangement, I'll lead the way. You two keep an eye on the sides and above. Be careful not to get ambushed from behind,"
Before opening the door, Javier put on his gas mask again, loaded all his bullets, held the doorknob with one hand, and pressed his shotgun against the door crack with the other, ready to fire at any moment. At the same time, he gave Rebecca and Billy a final reminder.
Although in Resident Evil 0,
there were no fast-moving elite monsters like Lickers, the ceiling was still full of many dangers, such as crows that had devoured zombie carrion and become extremely aggressive, as well as giant bats and baboons infected with the T-Virus, and locust-like Plague Crawlers. These were all Umbrella Corporation's initial test subjects. These creatures loved to jump down from above.
Therefore, it was very necessary for Javier to tell Rebecca and Billy Coen to pay attention to the ceiling. After all, he didn't want to experience the feeling of a Plague Crawler lunging at his face, and these crawlers were about the size of large dogs, truly disgusting.
"Clang—!"
Then,
with a clear sound, after confirming they were ready,
Javier pushed open the door.
What came into view was a long, dark corridor, covered in cobwebs and dust. Only the moonlight filtering through the window at the far end barely illuminated the interior. Many shelves lined the walls, holding numerous items and firearms. It was highly likely this was a storage room.
However,
"Ugh… Ho ho… Ugh…"
Just one step inside,
a familiar low growl immediately reached their ears.
Sure enough, a zombie in military attire slowly emerged from the corner of the storage room corridor. It was wearing a tactical vest and helmet, its skin pale and rotting, its eyes white, and its face covered in bite marks. It raised its arms and swayed unsteadily towards Javier and his companions.
Looking at the military zombie before him,
Javier shook his head helplessly,
raised his shotgun, and treated it to several long-awaited popcorn feasts.
"Boom—!!!"
With loud bangs,
the pump-action shotgun's trigger and lever were rapidly pulled. Under several spurts of fire, bullets slammed into the military zombie's face. The entire body was instantly blown back several meters, along with its bulletproof vest, all blasted to pieces on the ground, emitting a foul, bloody stench.
As Javier recalled the military zombie's slow movements just now,
he couldn't help but sigh that there wasn't much 'grease' in this Institute. While the speed of a zombie's movement was partly determined by its type, like the Licker, which always attacked quickly regardless of the situation, generally, it was determined by its satiety.
It had been explained before that
the virus could greatly enhance the host's physical functions and accelerate the body's metabolism, allowing injured areas to heal faster. However, the cost was severe energy consumption, requiring the host to eat frantically. As long as it was alive, the host's mind would only have one goal: eating.
And when there was no food,
the zombie's body would enter a dormant state, moving slowly as its entire body entered a kind of pseudo-hibernation to reduce energy consumption. The military zombie in front of him, even upon seeing people, was still moving slowly, probably trapped inside for a long time and starved of energy.
That's why Javier sighed that the Institute wasn't well-fed. If it were outside, this military zombie would at least be a minor elite monster, chasing people around like Usain Bolt, because there was enough food outside!
"Screech—!!!"
However,
just at this moment,
above Javier and his companions' heads,
a piercing insect buzzing suddenly sounded. Two Plague Crawlers clinging to the ceiling wall suddenly opened their mouthparts, secreting disgusting acidic fluid, and flapped their wings and scythe-like claws, The sickle claws flapped their wings and limbs and swooped down suddenly.!
PS: Due to the complicated nature of the puzzle-solving plot, I will mostly speed up and skip some of the puzzle-solving processes for the sake of plot fluidity. Please forgive me. And that's all for today, goodbye. Going back to splashing water.
Chapter 20: Black Statue
"Screech—!"
"Whoosh—!!!"
A piercing buzzing sound filled the air,
as two massive Plague Crawlers suddenly swooped down! They were enormous, as large as sheep, covered in hard, yellow-green exoskeletons. Beneath their dark eyes were constantly opening and closing mouthparts, as sharp as two guillotine blades. Their hooked spikes on their four limbs and backs were especially terrifying, like saws.
Coupled with the roaring vibration of their wings,
it was chilling, like small aircraft engines crashing in. These were the Umbrella Corporation's initial bio-insect BOWs.
There was once a saying in the biological world that the strongest animals in the world were not lions and tigers, nor brown bears and elephants. These so-called top predators were only considered such because of their large size.
In terms of weaponry,
mammals do not have a significant advantage; the most typical are just tusks and claws. Coupled with their size dominance, they barely managed to squeeze into the ranks of top predators.
As for another type of animal,
they are masters of weaponry. Every part of their body has evolved for hunting. It is only because of their tiny size that they are not considered top predators. But even so, in the microscopic world, where they are barely visible to the naked eye, they are still the absolute kings of their small world!
Without a doubt…
this animal is the insect—!
Most insects possess their own unique arsenal of weapons. For example, venomous bees have pincer-like mandibles and a venomous stinger at their tail, coupled with their incredibly fast flight speed and large group behavior, making them extremely troublesome and deadly insects one would not want to provoke.
And then there are creatures like the praying mantis, with its saw-like mouthparts and two rows of retractable scythe-like blades in its hands, along with its unique arthropod structure and flexible eyes, earning it the title of martial arts master. It can unleash incredibly fast attacks in the blink of an eye!
There's also the rhinoceros beetle's immense strength and steel-like armor, and so on. Compared to mammals, insects undoubtedly possess a stronger arsenal of weapons. Therefore, biological scientists believe that if insects could be as large as mammals, they would likely become the absolute rulers of Earth and even the universe.
Because of this speculation,
many insect monsters and powerful cosmic races like the Zerg appeared in later film, television, and games.
Therefore,
insect-type BOWs were also among the most difficult monsters to fight in the early stages, precisely because of their speed and sturdy exoskeletons. Ordinary pistol bullets could hardly cause any fatal damage, and compared to zombies, these insect monsters seemed to inspire even more fear!
Of course,
as for why the Umbrella Corporation didn't mass-produce insect-type BOWs in the early stages, the main reason was probably too many flaws. Strong combat power was an advantage of insect BOWs, but their weakness to fire and fear of various insecticides were unavoidable flaws. With increased dosage, any commercial pesticide could kill these insects, but zombies remained unaffected.
Another issue was infection and control.
Zombie infection efficiency is very high; generally, human-to-human biting is enough to complete the infection. Also, some zombies can be controlled, as zombies still have human brains, which are highly receptive.
But insects…
Hehe,
the brain structure of insects is different, so it's very difficult to gain control over an insect's brain, unless the Umbrella Corporation finds a collective control system like the Plaga parasite, similar to bees having a queen bee and worker bees, relying on their information-sensing pheromones for control.
But most insect genes don't respond to this, as some insect species, from their primitive state to the present, have never had gregarious habits and are all solitary hunters. It's hard for them to suddenly start obeying bee habits just because a certain gene was implanted. This is very difficult… as difficult as artificially evolving a species!
The most disturbing issue is infection.
Insect infection isn't as simple as a zombie bite, because insects don't have blood; they can't transmit viruses into the human body through blood. Therefore, the only way insects can infect is through parasitic egg-laying.
These insects would lay their eggs inside a human body, allowing their eggs to absorb human nutrients and then re-hatch. This is the only way insects can infect, making it very cumbersome and troublesome. If Javier were a high-ranking Umbrella Corporation executive, he probably wouldn't have chosen to primarily research insect BOWs from the start—
…
"Watch your heads!"
"Rebecca, Billy, quickly dodge and then shoot!"
Hearing the buzzing wings of the Plague Crawlers above, Javier quickly shouted a warning. These two Plague Crawlers were at the very top, making them very troublesome to deal with. It was unwise to immediately blast them with a shotgun.
This wasn't a game.
It would be too absurd if shooting the Plague Crawlers dead and having them fall on you caused no harm, as there's no magical biological auto-recovery system. Not to mention whether a sheep-sized Plague Crawler falling on you would cause harm, what if these two Plague Crawlers weren't completely dead and suddenly lunged at you, trying to take you down with them?
Rebecca and Billy's equipment was not as good as Javier's. Javier was armed to the teeth, with a helmet, gas mask, tactical vest, and various protective gear. Even if he was bitten, it would take a while to break through his defenses.
But Rebecca and Billy were different; they only had a tactical vest and thin clothes. If they were attacked by a Plague Crawler, its sharp mouthparts could easily cut their throats, causing blood to splatter.
Therefore,
the best approach
was to retreat and dodge first, and then, once these two Plague Crawlers reached the ground, unleash their full firepower from both sides!
"Jump—!"
Sure enough,
Rebecca and Billy instantly understood Javier's meaning, quickly retreated, pressing their backs against the wall, and simultaneously pulled out their pistols and shotguns, launching a fierce barrage of fire at the Plague Crawlers that suddenly landed on the ground with a "thud"!
"Click!"
"Bang—Bang—Bang—!!!"
Gunshots rang out,
Rebecca's police 9mm pistol bullets instantly whizzed out, a dense rain of bullets striking the Plague Crawlers. But unfortunately, most of the bullets couldn't penetrate the Plague Crawlers' bodies, being blocked by their hard exoskeletons. Although they did penetrate the armor defense, they only lodged a small part within the outer shell's flesh.
They simply couldn't create the so-called bullet cavitation effect…!
Just like bullets stuck in the skin of an arm,
such attacks could not cause fatal damage; instead, they provoked a furious assault from these Plague Crawlers.
"Hiss…"
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!!!"
A piercing buzzing sound echoed again from their mouths, accompanied by the trembling of their wings. The two Plague Crawlers targeted Rebecca, who had just attacked them, and instantly flew at her with their sharp mouthparts open. Their speed was incredibly fast; only a black blur was visible, like a small aircraft, attempting to slice Rebecca into pieces.
"I advise you not to come any closer…"
"Damn insects, don't think you can do whatever you want just because you've gotten bigger. Die!"
"Bang… Boom—!!!"
Billy Coen's eyes were resolute as he muttered, rapidly pumping the lever of his M1887 Exorcist Shotgun, then pulled the trigger. The old-fashioned shotgun unleashed its own 'Exorcist Flame'; gray smoke and fire simultaneously erupted from the muzzle, and several scattered pellets flew out, all penetrating the bodies of the Plague Crawlers before him.
"Hiss…"
Like a whimper,
the moment the pellets penetrated their bodies, foul green liquid splattered onto the ground, and the two Plague Crawlers instantly shattered into pieces, lying motionless on the ground. Looking at the truly dead Plague Crawlers, Billy and Rebecca let out a deep breath. This damned Institute was truly unforgivable for researching so many inhuman Bio-weapons!
Meanwhile,
Javier breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Billy Coen and Rebecca successfully deal with the Plague Crawlers. It was good that they were unharmed.
However,
soon after,
Javier found what he was looking for in a corner of the storage room's shelves: a barrel of gasoline and a black statue, headless, with a single wing, like a fallen angel from hell. This was undoubtedly one of the important items needed for the Goddess of Balance statue in the central hall!