After rescuing Barry's family, Eddie and his group returned to Raccoon City via Brad's plane. Brad apologized the entire way; his actions last night were indeed shameful. Flying away directly in the helicopter was a despicable act, but fortunately, his conscience wasn't completely gone, and he returned in the early hours, which somewhat mitigated his fault.
Eddie knew that complaining about Umbrella to Chief Brian this time was an irrational act. That guy would not give up numerous bribery opportunities for the sake of justice. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many valuable animal head decorations in his office and his private room at the orphanage!
As expected, after returning to Raccoon City, despite the S.T.A.R.S. members fighting diligently and providing some information about Umbrella, it was fruitless.
Chief Brian merely accepted the evidence, then dismissed the S.T.A.R.S. members, stating that they still needed to search for Wesker and that a report from the captain was required to be valid.
This was clearly a prevarication, but Brian was the person with the most authority. If he was unwilling, even Mayor Warren had no good way to deal with him.
Eddie did not meet with Brian; there was no need. He couldn't get too caught up in these trivial matters. He had many things to do, and the most urgent now was to go back to his apartment and rest.
Back in his apartment, Rebecca had already prepared dinner. After dinner, Eddie immediately fell asleep. He needed rest; continuous high-intensity combat, coupled with facing terrifying biochemical monsters once again, indeed required time to adjust.
The Mansion incident concluded, and Umbrella's high-ranking officials received the news immediately, unanimously agreeing that the spread of the biochemical weapon was unstoppable. The continuous explosions at the Mansion laboratory and the Executive Training Center could only slow down the spread a little; it was unknown how many monsters were still alive in the forest.
Spencer, however, felt indifferent. Umbrella was bound to collapse sooner or later. He needed to re-establish a company to continue laundering money, providing more resources for his immortality project.
Sergei also transported the Talos Project's main body. With Talos, once the project was successfully developed, Talos could withstand even tanks and planes, truly achieving a cross-era biochemical weapon against thermal weapons!
Even Sergei was unclear about Spencer's true intentions. The immortality project was not disclosed to Sergei, though he could vaguely guess. Yet, Sergei had never doubted Spencer's intentions; he was just a retired general whose duty was loyalty and gratitude.
The Arklay Mountains remained blockaded, and reporters also learned that the S.T.A.R.S. had gone to the Arklay Mountains for investigation and returned, with even Captain Wesker reported killed in action. The specific situation was not understood.
Brian, acting on Umbrella's instructions, merely ordered police officers to blockade the roads leading into the Arklay Mountains to prevent further attacks. There was no further investigation into the whereabouts, and it was publicly announced that there were thugs operating and a cult planning certain conspiracies, with the police fully committed to stopping illegal elements, and similar rhetoric.
None of this concerned Eddie; he was enjoying a rare sleep. With Svetlana guarding him, the apartment would be very safe!
In the Raccoon City underground laboratory, William Birkin had developed the G-Virus to an almost complete state. He had not realized that Annette had already reached conclusions based on his experimental data, thereby completing the G-Virus research ahead of time, though without further improvements, the prototype was there.
"Director William, Wesker is dead! He was killed by the prototype Tyrant during the Mansion incident," Daniel conveyed a message.
William continued to observe through the microscope. "Oh? That's quite surprising. Please pay for a burial plot for him in Raccoon City, send a wreath, and preferably hire a pastor. Consider it my duty as a friend!"
Daniel noticed that William's expression was genuine, so he nodded. "Alright then, I'm about to leave work. You should get some rest too."
After Daniel left, William took out his phone and placed it on the table, continuing to study the serum for another hour until a call came in. "The plan succeeded?"
"It went smoothly enough, just a small mishap. I need some cash; I'm leaving Raccoon City!" The caller was none other than the resurrected Wesker!
Chapter 113: William's Hat Style is Astonishing
The penniless Wesker still needed to borrow money from William, otherwise, he wouldn't even have money for a boat ticket. To have fallen to this state, it couldn't be described by just one word: miserable.
"Umbrella will definitely suspect me now. You need to be careful too. You know Spencer's character; he will never let you go!" Wesker reminded him. He could leave temporarily, and Umbrella wouldn't pursue a dead man.
"Spencer? Humph, I'm not that foolish. I've already made preparations. Let's leave it at that for now; I have other matters." William finished speaking and hung up the phone.
William had long since bribed a small team within Umbrella's Biohazard Countermeasure Unit. This team was entirely composed of death row inmates, criminals, and mercenaries. As long as the money was right, they would do anything.
Recruiting a thirty-person team to follow his orders and ensure his safety was enough.
Moreover, the Federation had agreed to William's terms, preparing to rendezvous with William and appoint him as Chief Researcher in the Federation, provided he brought the G-Virus and the enhanced T-Virus!
The T-Virus still had potential for enhancement, but William's focus was more on his developed G-Virus, and he hadn't paid much attention to the T-Virus.
That's why William continued to work openly in the Raccoon City underground laboratory. Some things couldn't be taken away and could only be continuously researched, and experiments couldn't be interrupted, otherwise, it would take an unknown amount of time to recover the losses.
This was a game between William and Spencer, and William's aide, Annette, had already left Umbrella through the Zodiac Express's faked death incident and joined Eddie's research team to assist in research.
Everything proceeded as usual, the only change being that the S.T.A.R.S. members were forced to take a vacation. After continuous reports of Umbrella's inhumane experiments, Chief Brian could no longer tolerate them, so he forced these individuals to take leave. Fortunately, their salaries were still paid, which was a small blessing in an unfortunate situation.
In the new apartment, Eddie had just woken up and saw Rebecca sitting at his room's desk, reading books, all of which were medical books he had already studied.
"You're awake? Want something to eat? You sure can sleep, you've slept for a whole day. I have good news and bad news; which one do you want to hear?" Rebecca smiled sweetly.
"Bad news first, then good news." Eddie picked up the coffee prepared beside him, tasted it, and found it quite good, very refreshing.
"The bad news is that Chief Brian doesn't accept the evidence we collected. He thinks we've been fighting continuously and are mentally exhausted, starting to hallucinate. He's made us take a vacation, but our salaries are still being paid," Rebecca said with a hint of sadness.
"Isn't that a good thing? No work and still getting paid, where else can you find such a good deal!" Eddie's focus was different from normal people, only considering the money.
Rebecca said, annoyed, "What are you thinking? The evidence we collected had no effect, so those who died tragically won't get justice. How can that be a good thing?"
Eddie could only sit up, look into Rebecca's eyes, and say seriously, "I've said it before, it's very difficult to sue Umbrella. Our chance is to rest well and act behind the scenes. Almost more than half the people in Raccoon City are connected to Umbrella; do you think we can succeed? You need to learn to change your mindset. Alright, what's the good news?"
Rebecca frowned, "Everyone is meeting at the Raccoon Bar today. We might go our separate ways, we'll see about the specifics. Do you have anything you want to say?"
Eddie shook his head, "No, we can only look for evidence that can shake Umbrella, or find their adversaries. Otherwise, it's very difficult for us to win. Alright, there's one more thing I need to tell you."
"What is it?" Rebecca tilted her head.
"Your next fifteen years are mine, so, go cook me a steak now. Next, I'll arrange for you to go to my laboratory, which should be almost finished. Jill will be there too," Eddie said calmly.
"Hmph! What do you mean 'mine'? Don't talk nonsense; I'm just joining your research team. If you dare to bully me, I'll tell Jill!" Rebecca waved her small pale fist, looking completely harmless.
"Haha, go on, you'll get used to it." Eddie winked, scaring the shy Rebecca away. She really was a bit easy to trick!
Svetlana sat quietly on the sofa, organizing her modified firearms, maintaining her guns and tactical knives. "Rookie, you're really slow. Never let your guard down, or you'll die."
Eddie, however, smiled indifferently, "I'm not afraid, aren't you here? I trust you."
"Hmph, just spouting nonsense!" Svetlana turned her head away, not looking at the smirking Eddie. She was very unaccustomed to that kind of smile from men.
After organizing some things in the apartment, Eddie had originally planned to go to the villa in the Arklay Mountains for research, but then he remembered he still had a farewell gathering.
In the evening, the Raccoon City Bar was still brightly lit. Located in the northern part of Raccoon City, it had a relatively dense flow of people. The newly built central zoo divided Raccoon City into the southern and northern parts.
The northern part was for living and entertainment, while the southern part was the industrial zone and sports arena. The foot traffic was similar in both, and both were controlled by Umbrella, with not much difference.
Eddie brought the two women to the Raccoon City Bar and happened to see the reporter Alyssa there, drinking beer and flipping through her notebook.
Richard, Chris, and others had also arrived. It seemed this might be their last gathering, and even the injured Sub-Captain Enrico appeared.
Everyone found a private room and sat down together to drink and chat, the atmosphere was a bit strange. Barry, however, brought his entire family, seemingly worried about them being kidnapped again.
"Eddie, let me introduce you, this is my wife, Cornelia, and these are my two daughters, whom you've already met," Barry said with a laugh, introducing them.
"Hello, Eddie, I'm so glad you saved us last time. I haven't had a chance to thank you yet," Cornelia said with a gentle smile. She was very beautiful, otherwise, she wouldn't have given birth to such a beautiful daughter as Moira.
"Eddie, the way you skillfully killed that giant worm monster was just, so cool!" Moira also chimed in happily, seemingly with some other meaning.
Chapter 114: Going Separate Ways, Each to Their Own Future
"It was alright, nothing special, easy once you find the weakness. What about you, do you have any plans?" Eddie asked with a smile, taking a bottle of beer and handing it over, then asked with a confused expression, "I'm sorry, minors can't drink!"