Most of the information in the file could be skimmed past.
The casualty figures were different.
That one line alone made Rex’s heart lurch; it told him just how enormous the consequences of this incident had become.
“No matter what happens, you can’t go back to CT now.
Still, I’m a fairly compassionate man.
I hate seeing people treated that way, so I’ll give you a chance.
Use any means you like to contact the people you know.
If they’re still willing to take you back, I’ll release you.”
Douglas did not mind offering Rex that chance, because he knew perfectly well that there was only one possible outcome.
Rex said nothing, and Douglas did not press him.
Before leaving, however, he added, “If you need anything, tell my men.
I’ve always had plenty of patience for talented people.”
Everything proceeded exactly as Douglas had expected.
It did not even take a full day.
Dr.
Rex gave in.
Every email he sent disappeared into silence; whenever he called a private number, the line went dead almost the moment he identified himself.
CT’s upper leadership had unilaterally severed all contact with Dr.
Rex.
Someone had to carry responsibility for the Zeta City disaster, and that someone could only be the man who was officially missing: Rex himself.
“It seems you understand now.” They were in the same office, and Douglas wore the same composed expression as before.
Rex, on the other hand, looked even paler.
“What exactly do you want me to do for you?” Rex knew perfectly well why Douglas valued him.
What he did not know was how far Douglas intended to push him.
“Stronger, more savage, more terrifying super-soldiers—or biological weapons.
Think of it as an industrial revolution.
A defense company can’t remain ahead of the market without advanced technology.
Dr.
Rex, I believe you can deliver.”
Douglas’s objective was simple.
He was, in the purest sense, a businessman.
“We sell super-soldiers to CT and biological weapons to T.
As long as the two sides keep competing, the market stays healthy and active.
Doesn’t it?”
Douglas’s method was old, but it worked extremely well—especially when the man using it had money, influence, and channels into both camps.
Rex fell silent.
Douglas was not even satisfied with the research Rex had conducted for CT.
He wanted him to carry out still more inhumane experiments and produce still more brutal results.
“Fine.
I understand.
But you’ll have to send me back to Zeta City, and you’ll need to provide the appropriate equipment and researchers.” Rex chose to accept Douglas’s offer.
At this point, all he could do was take things one step at a time.
Douglas smiled.
People with no road left behind them tended to accept whatever lay in front of them remarkably quickly.
“Why go back to Zeta City?”
Rex answered immediately.
“The first-stage results of my research are still in the deeper levels of the laboratory.
I need to go back and recover those three test subjects.
Besides, with Zeta City in its current state, no one will imagine that I’d return there and establish a new laboratory.”
Douglas kept his face expressionless, but inwardly he was stunned speechless.
Rex had progressed far faster than he had imagined.
He already had three test subjects valuable enough that he refused to abandon them.
Rex’s talent in this field genuinely seemed to surpass even Umbrella’s leading researchers.
That only strengthened Douglas’s confidence.
A mere Umbrella no longer seemed especially formidable.
Not when he had already planted several hidden pieces inside the company.
Umbrella’s collapse was only a matter of time.
“Then I look forward to working with you, Dr.
Rex.” Douglas rose and extended his hand.
After a brief silence, Rex reached out and took it.
Unlike Douglas’s warm hand, Rex’s was cold—scarcely different from the hand of an actual zombie.
Li Yun, Natasha, and the other task-force personnel did not return to Victor’s original camp.
They went directly to their assigned defensive sector.
After relieving the soldiers already stationed there, Li Yun and his men immediately settled into position.
Their sector covered Zeta City’s largest arterial road.
A few zombies still wandered in the distance, but at that range they had not yet entered the creatures’ aggression radius.
Three hours had passed since the changeover.
Natasha had spent most of that time using a suppressed M4 to pick off distant zombies one shot at a time simply to relieve the boredom.
Li Yun could not be bothered to stop her.
He treated it as target practice. The source of this chapter is g.com.
As for a whole horde charging them…
he glanced at the three M134 miniguns beside the position.
What exactly was supposed to survive that firepower long enough to reach him?
“Are we going to spend the rest of our lives wasting time here?” Perhaps even shooting had become boring.
Natasha lowered her rifle, walked over to Li Yun, and complained casually.
Li Yun was mildly surprised.
Natasha had always been so cold and reserved.
For her to seek him out just to talk, this assignment must have become genuinely unbearable.
“Nothing we can do about it.
They still haven’t decided what to do with the city as a whole.
I’ve heard the Americans wanted to carry out a so-called sterilization operation, but the coalition governments rejected it.” Li Yun had picked up a few inside rumors from the soldiers they relieved.
Whether they were true was another question.
Li Yun himself was not especially in favor of sterilizing the city.
Others might not know it, but he knew Rex would inevitably return.
Zeta City had not twisted only its citizens.
Rex was going to become far more warped than any of them.
Fighting Prototype Phobos in the Lost City and fighting it anywhere else were two completely different propositions.
At least there were no living civilians left inside the Lost City now.
If a major battle broke out there, no innocent people would be caught in the crossfire.
Natasha only pursed her lips unhappily.
She understood perfectly well that this was not something two front-line operators could decide.
No matter how many commendations they had earned, they were still on the execution side of the chain of command, not the decision-making side.
All she could do was vent her frustration on the zombies in the distance.
It looked as though she was going to be stuck here for quite some time.
In truth, she had been hoping to take leave and visit her younger sister.
Li Yun understood her frustration, but there was little he could say to comfort her.
This line of work was like that.
You needed not only the resolve to sacrifice yourself at any moment, but the patience to endure long stretches of loneliness and boredom.
Then again, once crises of every imaginable kind began erupting one after another in the future, he might look back on days like this as peaceful.
Li Yun raised his own rifle and joined Natasha in firing at the distant zombies.
Natasha gave him a surprised glance.
Before long, the two were competing to see who could shoot better.
Natasha was still more accurate, but Li Yun did not care.
It passed the time and sharpened his skills.
There were worse ways to spend an afternoon.