Da-da-da...
Without any hesitation,
The group walked into the building. The lobby was empty, with no sign of any living thing. What met their eyes was a gruesome sight.
The building's lobby was covered in an extremely viscous and disgusting liquid, and in the corners were dense piles of humanoid cocoons.
They could be called cocoons, or perhaps pupae.
It was like the silk cocoons caterpillars spin to surround themselves when they are about to evolve, or the pupae of rhinoceros beetles before they molt into adults. In short, the two were very similar.
"Damn it..."
"What are these things? Were they human corpses before?"
Looking at the dense humanoid cocoons before him, Jake, who was at the front, couldn't take it anymore and couldn't help but mutter.
As a battle-hardened Mercenary,
He had seen many ways to die, but the way these had turned into humanoid cocoons was truly eerie. It was like larvae in a beehive about to turn into bees, making one's skin crawl.
"I'm just as curious about that question myself."
In response to Jake's muttering,
Chris, standing nearby, shook his head and sighed helplessly. He also wanted to know the secret behind this. After all, the extent to which the Republic of Edonia was using bio-weapons was simply too rampant.
But soon,
Jake and Chris found a clue.
Because the floor around the humanoid cocoons was covered in dense syringe needles. Unlike the stimulants Jake had injected earlier,
The needles here were much smaller, like those used for vaccines, and they had a layer of introductory text on them.
"c-virus...?!"
Picking up a small needle from the ground and looking at the words described on it, Chris couldn't help but read it aloud.
Frowning as he looked at the needle, could it be that the new virus used by the Republic of Edonia was this so-called c-virus?
Da-da-da...
"c-virus..."
"That's right, that's what the Revolutionary Rebel Army calls it..."
Just as Chris was looking at the needle in his hand, puzzled, the sound of high heels suddenly came from the shadows on one side of the lobby.
Then, a seductive voice drifted over.
Under the alert gazes of Chris, the BSAA Squad, and the others, a familiar figure slowly appeared before everyone.
She had jet-black, elegant, and capable short hair.
With sharp, piercing eyes and a pretty face, she wore golden earrings and a red scarf tied around her neck. She was in a deep V-neck blue gown, her cleavage faintly visible, clearly indicating she was going braless.
A red belt was buckled at her waist, and the one-piece blue dress was slit down the side,
Revealing her fair, rounded, long legs, and one could even catch a glimpse of that mysterious dark area. On her feet were black leather boots, a perfect urban beauty look. This was an extremely beautiful and glamorous woman...!
Without a doubt,
The newcomer was Ada Wong—!
No... to be precise, it should be Ada's clone, Carla Radames—!!!
As a cloned duplicate, her appearance was almost indistinguishable from Ada's, with a similarity of over ninety-five percent.
She looked more like her than even biological twins.
If someone weren't very close to her, it would be difficult to tell them apart. But if Javier were present, he should be able to distinguish them easily.
It wasn't about the clothing; even if the two wore the same clothes,
Javier could still easily tell. The key was the earrings. During the Spain incident, Javier had given Ada a pair of priceless emerald and gold snake earrings.
They were stolen from the old Village Chief Mendez's private stash; they were unique antiques and could not be replicated.
Although the earrings Carla wore were also gold, they looked too cheap compared to the gift Javier gave. Javier would be able to tell at a glance.
Therefore, it was impossible to mistake her.
In addition, there were the bracelets and necklace pendants, all antiques worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Like the true and false Monkey King, it was easy to tell from what they wore.
Of course,
That's just a clever argument.
If he really had to differentiate, Javier could also tell from the look in her eyes.
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. The desire and ambition in Carla's eyes were very obvious, not nearly as comfortable as the calm and indifferent look in Ada's eyes.
And it's worth mentioning,
Carla's outfit with the red scarf and short hair,
Besides looking like Ada, also looked a lot like Mikasa Ackerman from a certain giant series. After all, the red scarf was just too much of a distraction.
"..."
"Who are you—?!!!!"
The moment they saw Carla, the fake Ada,
The surrounding members of the BSAA Squad didn't hesitate for a second, immediately raising their weapons in caution. Piers, as the second-in-command, questioned Carla with a look of hostility.
His gun was aimed right at Carla's head.
They were less than five meters apart; at this distance, it was a guaranteed hit.
If the opponent dared to make even a slight move... meanwhile, Chris looked at the woman before him suspiciously; he seemed to have seen this woman somewhere before as well.
"My name is Ada Wong. I work here. They took me hostage. These viruses are called c-virus."
"It's a new type of virus. Those Compound Eye Demons were created using these viruses. I hope you can protect me and get me out of here."
Faced with their high state of alert,
Carla continued to maintain her persona as a weak woman, raising both hands to show she was harmless as she explained. While revealing some information about the virus, she also tried to get the BSAA Squad to rescue her.
However...
When Carla saw Jake following Chris, a deep look of covetousness and scrutiny flashed in her eyes, but it vanished quickly.
After all,
The people from the BSAA probably didn't know who Jake was, but Carla herself knew very well. Jake was Wesker's illegitimate son who had been left on his own.
He possessed the power of the progenitor virus in his body,
And he also seemed to have a certain immunity to the c-virus. This was very important information. If she could extract some of Jake's blood, she could develop an even stronger c-virus later on.
"What else do you know..."
"Do you know the source of these viruses—?!"
But Chris wasn't a fool.
A woman appearing out of nowhere in a place like this was strange no matter how you looked at it. Chris didn't lower his guard and continued to question Carla.
"..."
"Neo-Umbrella... a new Umbrella Corporation. That's what they say. They are the power behind the Revolutionary Rebel Army of the Republic of Edonia."
After a moment of silence,
Carla put on a look of having hesitated for a long time before answering Chris.
This important information was like a small treat for Chris and the BSAA members, because she would later need this treat to lead them into an inescapable trap...
Volume 9 Resident Evil 6: Chapter 11 The Trap
"..."
"Neo-Umbrella... a new Umbrella?!"
Without a doubt, Chris was shocked to hear this news.
Because he simply couldn't imagine what a serious disaster the birth of a new Umbrella Corporation would cause for the people of the world.
This made Chris's mood extremely complicated.
Could it be that bioterrorism would really spring up like bamboo shoots after rain, as Javier said, and could never be completely wiped out no matter how much they cleared it?
At the thought of this,
Chris's heart felt heavy.
However, also because of the connection between Neo-Umbrella and the new Umbrella, Chris was certain that the Carla before him wasn't lying.
She was telling the truth.
After all, an ordinary person wouldn't be able to mention news like Neo-Umbrella.
Because it was too shocking. Now, the most important thing was how they should find this so-called Neo-Umbrella and destroy its conspiracy.
"Piers..."
"Protect and watch her. Don't let her out of your sight for a second."
Without hesitation, looking at the seemingly harmless Carla, Chris gave the order to Piers behind him.
It was impossible to let Carla go.
Chris knew this woman must still be hiding some secrets. Since that was the case, he would keep her by his side under the guise of protection.
Once they returned to the BSAA Headquarters,
Chris had ten thousand ways to make Carla talk.
Furthermore... a weak woman, Chris didn't think she could cause any harm to several burly men like them.
But in reality,
Chris was wrong, and he was completely wrong.
After all, the Carla before him was the founder of Neo-Umbrella. Currently, Carla and Simmons had already broken ties.
Carla had created Neo-Umbrella on her own just to destroy and take revenge on the world. The intervention of Chris and the others,
Was merely a small interlude.
To Carla, they were all ants that could be easily crushed.
Considering that Chris and the others had brought her target, Jake, right to her, Carla could give Chris and the BSAA Squad an unforgettable little gift.
"Finn... keep an eye on her!"
At this time,
As the second-in-command, Piers also didn't realize Carla's extreme danger. Instead, he had the team's rookie Demolitionist, Finn, watch her.
After all, in Piers's view,
She was just a woman. If she dared to run, she could be shot at any time.
Therefore, he didn't pay much attention. But it was precisely this move that gave Carla a simpler chance to escape. After all, as a rookie Demolitionist, Finn would easily be played like a fiddle by Carla.
"Alright,"
"Let's continue searching this building. Since we found c-virus syringes here, we should be able to find more data."
"If we have enough data, we'll be able to finish this mission soon. As for the Revolutionary Rebel Army, now that it's confirmed they are using bio-weapons, the military of Russia, the great Eastern European power, should soon take action to wipe them out."
Seeing this,
Chris waved his hand, signaling everyone to collect their thoughts and continue investigating the building, gathering as much data as possible.
With these things,
Russia, as a major military power, would send troops to stabilize the turmoil in the Republic of Edonia. After all... this was a special incident involving bio-viruses.
Their BSAA organization indeed couldn't stop a nation's internal conflict, but the international treaties signed by the UN clearly stated,
That the use of bio-weapons in war was prohibited. Once it was clearly discovered that bio-weapons were being used, it was a violation of the regulations.
The major powers of each continent would take action personally. And Russia, as a major Eastern European power, had always been unable to reclaim the territory of its predecessor, the Soviet Union,