"Don't put too much pressure on yourself, sweetie."
Seeing that Halsey still looked dejected, William patted the top of her head and said:
"Right now, you only know the characteristics of Elizabeth Green, but you don't even have a sample. Thinking about it alone won't solve the problem."
"Before Andre arrives here with a large force, let's first obtain detailed data on the Red Fog Zone, and then we'll make further plans."
Halsey seemed to have received enough encouragement; she completely lost her previous dejected look and instead nodded happily, saying:
"I know~"
"..." William just smiled faintly and said nothing.
He, of course, knew this was one of Halsey's little tricks.
The number of D-Class Personnel who had died because of her was at least twenty-nine thousand, if not thirty thousand.
Scared?
That look at the theater parking lot was probably faked too.
However, it was precisely this eccentric personality that made William like her.
Restraining his flippant expression, William took Halsey and walked toward Hank and the others, preparing to head to the Umbrella branch's wartime Command Center at Kennedy Airport.
The group had just left the location where the helicopter formation was parked and hadn't walked far within the airport.
When dozens of fully armed Marine Corps members, surrounding a high-ranking general, came rushing toward them.
Under the illumination of the floodlights set up in the airport, William could see the face of the general among the Marines even from a distance.
His hair and beard were gray, his face had some wrinkles, and he was holding a cigar between the index and middle fingers of his left hand.
The black beret with three stars and the name tag on the right chest of his military uniform indicated the general's identity.
A three-star Lieutenant General of the United States Marine Corps, Mike ODonahue.
Mike, who had originally maintained a stern demeanor, froze the moment he saw William. His old, dry eyes sparkled as if memories of the past had suddenly surfaced before him.
Then, the Lieutenant General quickly threw his cigar on the ground, extinguished it, and walked quickly away from the Marines beside him.
He wanted to get closer to William but was stopped by Hank's raised hand. The latter said in a calm, warning tone:
"Excuse me (glancing at Mike's name tag). Lieutenant General ODonahue, please do not come any closer."
"Oh?"
Mike, having been stopped, showed no dissatisfaction; instead, he looked at Hank with an appreciative gaze and said, "Not bad, young man."
As for William, upon seeing Mike, he finally remembered who the other person was.
In the memories he inherited... when Grandpa was alive, he would frequently take him on trips to the United States, and Mike, who was only a Lieutenant Colonel at the time, was one of the many people who came to visit.
Even though the memory was relatively blurry, William still remembered that Mike would often make his younger self laugh by telling him strange stories from the military.
Years later.
Mike's hairstyle and beard style had not changed, which was how William recognized him at a glance.
The only difference was that this Lieutenant General was facing the same problem as Andre: he was no longer young; he had aged.
Confirming that Mike had been promoted by Grandpa, and through the system's loyalty monitoring, William said to Hank:
"Alright Hank, let the Lieutenant General come over. He looked after me when I was a child."
"Yes."
Receiving the order, Hank lowered his raised left hand, allowing Mike to walk into the defensive perimeter of the Alpha.
However, those Marines responsible for protecting Mike were still kept on the perimeter by the Alpha.
While walking toward William, Mike spread his arms, showing that kind of smile of caring for a younger generation, and sighed:
"William, I didn't expect that after so many years, you still remember me."
William also left Halsey by his side, spread his arms, walked up, and hugged Mike, laughing:
"Uncle ODonahue, I remember that when I was a child, Grandpa was too busy to look after me, and only you would keep me company to pass the time."
"Haha!" Mike laughed heartily. He released William and shook his head helplessly, saying: "The main thing is... back then I couldn't get a word in; I couldn't fit into the circle of those big shots at all.
I figured you were bored as a child, so I chatted with you and took you around. Who knew that because of this, My Lord Russell would call me childish... sigh..."
"Hehe." William smiled along with Mike, then gestured forward and reminded him: "Lieutenant General, how about we talk as we walk?"
"Alright." Mike nodded in agreement.
Immediately after, nearly a hundred armed personnel surrounded the three of them: William, Mike, and Halsey.
Halsey didn't interject the whole time, but she didn't expect that a dignified United States three-star Lieutenant General would be so respectful to William's Grandpa.
She had thought only Andre would be like that... It seems there's another one to add now.
William looked up at the starless night sky and said to Mike the question he had been holding back for a long time:
"Lieutenant General, back then my Grandpa secretly controlled almost the entire World. Take you, for example; if it weren't for the anomalous phenomenon erupting in Manhattan, I wouldn't even know that you were loyal to the Russell Family.
But why... (he paused) why, the moment my Grandpa passed away, did the Russell Family disintegrate in an instant, and why did you all stop contacting my father?"
William had once asked Andre for the specific reason for this, but that old, burly man just spread his hands and said he didn't know.
Or rather, he only knew of Paul Heller, an official loyal to the family, and then would try every way to change the subject. Like... pouring vodka down his throat.
Fortunately, he had Wesker's physical constitution; otherwise, before the World was destroyed, he would likely have been incapacitated by the combustible water first.
Could it be that the fighting nation's way of solving problems is always vodka?
Hearing this, Mike did not brush him off like Andre, but lowered his voice and explained:
"My Lord Russell gave a strict order before he passed away, for everyone to immediately cut off contact with the Russell Family, because..."
Speaking of this, Mike raised his right hand and placed it on William's shoulder, saying with gratification:
"Because My Lord Russell's son was, after all, mud that couldn't be propped up on a wall; the family could not be destroyed in the hands of that mud.
But My Lord Russell once said that William, that is you, would definitely revitalize the family.
Only when you are in urgent need of help will we, these secret operatives, actively show ourselves; otherwise, under normal circumstances, we are to keep our distance from you.
Actually, every time you arrived in Manhattan, I was always keeping an eye on your safety.
I didn't expect it would actually come in handy today. Dispatching armed helicopters to escort the Umbrella formation, and incidentally, sealing off Manhattan at the first opportunity, prevented the large-scale spread of the anomalous phenomenon."
!
Hearing Mike's answer, William's face was nothing but shocked.
How did Grandpa Sears determine that he would definitely be able to revitalize the family? Was he a prophet? Could Sears have been the earliest anomalous phenomenon?
William had too many curiosities and questions, but the truth had long been buried with his god-like Grandpa.
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