Wesker was decisive; his intelligent mind quickly led him to retrace his steps. He didn't want to get entangled with that guy any further, and he knew he couldn't beat him. He decided to make a run for it.
Marcus, meanwhile, watched the fleeing Wesker with a sneer. "Heh heh, do you think you can escape?" He then transformed into a four-limbed, crawling leech monster and gave chase.
Eddie had no idea the plot had changed. Marcus was supposed to intercept all four of them, but upon seeing his old enemy Wesker, he immediately went after him for revenge.
This was quite normal. Marcus retained his memories from before his death, especially those of William Birkin and Albert Wesker, who ultimately caused his demise. Marcus had taught them everything, treating them as his prized disciples; otherwise, William would not have been talented enough to discover the G-Virus.
Without predecessors planting trees, how could their successors expect to enjoy the shade? No way!
Eddie and the others finally emerged from the train tracks to the surface. This was the Training Facility, located halfway up a mountain, featuring typical European architectural decor.
On the walls hung three large, half-body photographs. They depicted Umbrella's three founders: Spencer, Edward, and Marcus.
"Whose photos are these?" Rebecca asked, puzzled.
"These are photos of my uncle. All the photos displayed here are of Umbrella's founders. It's strange, my uncle died ten years ago, so why would someone impersonate him? Let's go find the monitoring room and see if there's any footage we can check. Maybe we'll find out what's going on," Eddie suggested.
"Should we split up?" Billy asked.
"No, acting alone is too dangerous. Moving together is safer, and we can help each other. You're traumatized from being betrayed by your companions, aren't you? Haha, don't worry, even if we aren't good people, we wouldn't stoop to harming our companions," Eddie said proudly.
"Hmph, you're not a good person either!" Rebecca playfully chided him.
Chapter 93: Terrifying Monsters
Eddie finally found the monitoring room in the hall, only to discover that all the equipment there had been destroyed. Left with no choice, he could only retrieve the stored disks, planning to find an opportunity later to slowly review what had happened inside.
Rebecca, however, saw something unusual on one of the monitors. "Eddie, come here, look at these things!"
In a certain laboratory, there were numerous cultivation tanks, filled with countless leeches. These leeches were absorbing nutrients and beginning to merge, forming a strange crawling creature.
"What the hell is this?" Billy asked, somewhat startled and uncertain.
"This is a genetically modified organism, transformed into a lethal monster. You can think of it as turning harmless mice into ferocious tigers," Eddie explained.
"How do you know?" Billy was suspicious. Eddie was too calm, as if he knew everything.
Eddie spread his hands and said, "It's normal. I used to be a researcher at Umbrella, responsible for developing ordinary medicines. I also knew that Umbrella was researching other things, related to genetic engineering, but my clearance wasn't high enough. Plus, as Marcus's relative, I was marginalized."
Rebecca patted Eddie's shoulder, a little sympathetically. "It's okay, everything will be alright."
Svetlana, however, rolled her eyes.'Stupid woman, it's obvious not everything this guy says can be believed. Some of it must be false, but even I can't always tell which part.'
"Do you have a plan?" Billy also felt lost. He was a fugitive now; even if he returned, he would be arrested and executed, without any chance to defend himself.
"I'm going to destroy all these things. I know the Training Facility has a self-destruct device, with a large amount of explosives hidden here. It was originally meant to destroy evidence. Before that, I need to find some evidence and give it to my journalist friend to expose Umbrella's crimes," Eddie said righteously.
Svetlana, however, was a bit suspicious and scoffed, "If you do that, you'll go from a rich second-generation to a poor commoner. Are you willing to do that?"
Rebecca's beautiful eyes showed hesitation and doubt. She really wanted to know what Eddie would do, hoping he wouldn't do something that would put her in a difficult position. Would she choose justice or friendship then?
Eddie, however, laughed heartily. "It's better to rely on yourself than on others. If I'm gold, I'll shine wherever I go. Earning money myself brings a sense of accomplishment; inheriting a family business isn't my style. Don't you agree, Rebecca? You'll help me, won't you!"
Rebecca's beautiful eyes filled with a smile, and she nodded emphatically. "Of course, I'll help you. You really haven't disappointed me."
"Hey, buddy, I thought you'd choose to side with Umbrella. After all, Umbrella is a huge corporation, and we can't afford to provoke them," Billy also laughed. He admired such an open and honest person; that's a true man!
Even if Svetlana had some doubts, it didn't prevent her impression of Eddie from improving. This was the kind of man she admired, a man with masculinity, a self-made man, who always commanded women's respect.
"Then let's go. These things should be in the underground Training Facility. We need to find a way down. If we consider the theory of cultivating monsters, there will definitely be many monsters along the way, so we need to be careful!" Eddie nodded.
The four continued to search for the path to the underground laboratory. Along the way, they encountered the most famous zombie evolution, the Licker!
Billy stood still at Eddie's signal, because there was a Licker right above his head, crawling on the ceiling. It had no eyes, only a long organ used for eating and attacking, making it impossible to tell it had evolved from a human.
Its crimson muscle tissue and exposed brain made it look exceptionally hideous; a timid person would have screamed directly.
Eddie signaled the other three not to move. Lickers have no eyes and rely entirely on hearing. These creatures have a very strong sense of hunger because the rapid metabolism brought by the T-Virus forces them to constantly hunt to replenish energy consumption.
The Licker was still shaking its head, carefully listening to everything around it, seemingly searching for prey. It had been attracted by a sound just now, and now it was suddenly gone, which made it very confused. What exactly was going on?
Eddie didn't dare to breathe loudly. This intense sense of oppression made him aware of death approaching. Facing such a monster in reality was not the same level as facing it on a screen; now, one wrong move could mean death!
Hiss! Just then, several giant furry spiders and plague worms came from behind. These were products of Marcus's T-Virus experiments on various animals back then, all of which exhibited low intelligence and uncontrollability. Even with their enlarged bodies, they were failures and were discarded.
As these spiders and worms approached, they seemed to discover delicious prey and wanted to hunt.
The sound of their movement made the Licker become alert. Its eyeless head turned towards the giant spiders, and in the next second, it charged out at an extremely fast speed. Its sharp claws directly sliced the strange crawling creatures, a combination of giant cockroaches and dragonflies, in half, and it even grabbed a spider and began to gnaw on it.
Such swift speed made Eddie's eyes widen significantly. If he had acted impulsively just now, he would probably be the one dead. Such rapid speed was something no normal person could dodge!
Whoosh! Svetlana, however, wasn't nervous. The battle-hardened female instructor opened a Molotov cocktail and threw it with skillful force, almost without a sound.
The Licker, still gnawing on the giant spider and eating, didn't react at all until the Molotov exploded. It then started to react, but the flames had already spread to its body.
At the moment of the explosion, Svetlana pulled out her submachine gun, each shot accurately hitting the Licker's head, killing it!
Eddie and Billy exchanged glances. The two men seemed inferior to one woman, which was a bit embarrassing.
"These monsters aren't difficult to deal with. I just don't know if the heart is a weakness. If it is, they'll be even easier to handle," Svetlana said calmly, still reloading her magazine. As a special forces instructor, her combat skills were shockingly high!
Chapter 94: Rebecca Officially Joins
"Instructor, you're so fierce!" Rebecca showed signs of admiration. Can women be this strong too?
Svetlana, however, shook her head. "It's not hard to achieve this. There's nothing to be afraid of in this world." Her beautiful eyes looked at Eddie, clearly reminding the man in front of her.
"Alright, be careful, let's keep going. Anyone who hasn't seen something like this before would be scared. I'm not a professional veteran, after all," Eddie defended himself.
"No, even veterans can be scared. The enemies we face are not humans, but monsters!" Billy also felt lingering fear; he had witnessed the predation scene just now, which was even more terrifying than a massacre.
Continuing further, this area was already occupied by strange creatures, all mixed-breed insects, without exception, monsters infected with the T-Virus.
"What are all these things?" Billy shot and shattered a monster with a cockroach head and a dragonfly body. After these monsters died, many small bugs would crawl out, which was very disgusting.
"I heard my uncle used to do biological experiments. It seems he was creating some monsters. Look, these sharp arthropods can easily cut off a human's head. I have a bad feeling that my uncle might be a cruel biologist," Eddie said, frowning.
Rebecca, however, comforted him, "Eddie, this isn't your fault. Marcus is Marcus, and you are you. You've done nothing wrong, and I'll support you."
Eddie, however, smiled triumphantly inwardly, though his expression remained unchanged. It seemed he had gained Rebecca's trust on this trip. After this, if he invited Rebecca to join his research team again, it should be a piece of cake.
Svetlana shook her head. She had long seen through Eddie's ulterior motives. Rebecca was truly a bit naive; it was clear she had fallen for his trick. Sometimes, ignorance truly was bliss.
There were many laboratories in the corridor. As Eddie passed by, he found a large bottle of insecticide. The instructions indicated it was used to deal with these failed bioweapons.