With Natasha’s arrival and Victor’s transfer order, Li Yun remained at the European Branch for the time being.
He moved into new quarters and gained access to a new training ground.
Most extravagant of all, that entire facility was currently reserved for just him and Natasha.
A new team needed time to learn how to work together, after all.
And because Li Yun knew something about what lay ahead, he had to admire Victor’s foresight.
The man was a general for a reason; preparing for trouble before it arrived was exactly what someone in his position ought to do.
Against bioweapons, more people did not necessarily mean an advantage.
Li Yun had barely played Resident Evil, but based on his current experience and judgment, on a bioweapon battlefield where the infection risk was uncertain, a combat team of five to ten people was already a generous deployment.
The real question was how many such teams a situation required, and that had to be decided according to the battlefield.
Raccoon City and Lost City in the future were completely different matters, of course.
In disasters on that scale, aside from search-and-rescue missions, Li Yun would recommend flattening the entire city with missiles.
Throwing manpower into a place like that was a bottomless pit; no number of soldiers would be enough to feed it.
Although the team currently consisted of only Natasha and Li Yun, he was optimistic about its future.
General Victor wielded considerable authority.
If he truly called in favors to assemble an elite unit, plenty of people would be willing to oblige.
But that was not Li Yun’s problem to worry about.
His problem was right in front of him—Natasha, standing in his doorway and blocking the way.
“Come on.
Let’s train together.” Natasha’s voice was as cold as ever.
If Li Yun had not spent the last two days reading her personnel file, he probably would have found her attitude irritating.
The green dress uniform she had worn to the banquet had been replaced by combat gear, and her personal TRG-42 sniper rifle was slung across her back.
She looked every inch the dashing soldier.
Li Yun could not help thinking one thing: Damn, what a woman.
Over the course of the morning, Li Yun held an absolute advantage in physical conditioning and hand-to-hand combat.
In marksmanship, however, Natasha crushed him.
Victor had not been exaggerating when he called her the most naturally gifted shooter he had seen in years.
Li Yun was not discouraged.
There was no point competing in marksmanship with a super-sniper whose left eye had 2.5 visual acuity and whose right eye could supposedly make out everything within four kilometers.
At this point, Li Yun suspected she could rip the scope off her sniper rifle and still blow someone’s head off from eight hundred li away.
After a full morning of training, each had a much clearer idea of the other’s abilities.
Li Yun genuinely admired Natasha.
She was a properly trained professional, unlike him—a mixture of unconventional talent and what he jokingly called “connections.”
The two ate an utterly ordinary lunch in the cafeteria, then resumed training in the afternoon.
During hand-to-hand practice, after Li Yun put Natasha on the floor for the eleventh time, he finally called a stop.
“I know you’re working hard, but effort alone can’t solve everything.
You have extraordinary talent with firearms.
That’s where you should be pushing yourself—not standing here just to get beaten up.”
Natasha frowned, but her voice remained level.
“I can already last longer than I did this morning.
If I keep going, I’m sure I can—”
Li Yun cut her off with action.
He crooked a hand and invited her to attack again.
This time he stopped holding back.
Natasha learned the difference the hard way and hit the mat in less than twenty seconds.
“Understand now?” With someone this stubborn, facts were more persuasive than words.
Li Yun had no intention of coddling her here; doing so would only create trouble later.
Natasha’s close-quarters skills were already well developed.
Even among the people Li Yun knew, very few could have put her down quickly.
He was the exception.
He had the distinct feeling that even if he fought the battle-hardened future versions of Leon or Chris barehanded, the result would still be a decisive victory for him.
Natasha understood now that Li Yun’s physical ability and hand-to-hand talent were the same kind of absurdity as her marksmanship: natural aptitude pushed to the limit, then reinforced with extensive training.
She stopped arguing.
Li Yun could still tell, however, that something was bothering her.
“If there’s something you want to say, say it.
It’s just the two of us.” Li Yun gestured for her to speak freely.
There was no reason to keep things bottled up.
Natasha immediately asked, “You seem strongly opposed to the Super Soldier Project.
Why?”
So that was what she cared about.
Victor, you actually stuck me with someone from the pro-project camp?
“Because it’s unreliable.
You weren’t on that mission, so I understand why you think differently.
Tell you what—focus on training for the next few months.
When the time comes, you’ll understand.”
Time would prove everything; Li Yun believed that wholeheartedly.
And Dr.
Rex was not the only problem in this world.
There was also fucking Umbrella.
Once Natasha saw the endless parade of deranged bioweapons waiting in the future, she would understand.
Could seeing the power of bioviruses make her obsessed with them like certain other people?
Li Yun was confident it would not.
If she ever showed the slightest tendency in that direction, he would simply make sure she saw more of the victims left behind by bioweapons.
She was not a heartless person.
Hammer the lesson into her a few more times and she would become an excellent anti-bioweapon and counterterrorism soldier.
Meanwhile, at a special research institute in Zeta City in the western United States, Dr.
Rex had returned with the progenitor virus he had been longing to obtain.
The multinational government had approved the institute specifically for him, hoping he could complete the Super Soldier Project as soon as possible and resolve CT’s current predicament once and for all.
But when Dr.
Rex entered his office, someone was already waiting for him.
The moment he saw who it was, Rex narrowed his eyes.
This visitor was a genuine heavyweight.
“Mr.
Douglas Jacob.
It has been far too long.
What brings you all the way out to my remote little institute?” Dr.
Rex respectfully invited Douglas, who had been standing while he waited, to sit and poured him a cup of coffee.
Courtesy was only sensible.
Douglas Jacob was one man Rex had absolutely no desire to offend.
Douglas took a sip of coffee and regarded Dr.
Rex calmly.
He did not answer the question immediately.
For several moments, the two men simply looked at each other.
Only after Douglas set down his cup did he speak.
“Dr.
Rex, what is your current assessment of the Super Soldier Project?”
That immediately energized Rex.
He leaned forward excitedly.
“Rest assured, Mr.
Douglas.
Now that I have this progenitor virus, all I need is time to build on it and make progress.
Believe me—the project’s prospects have never been better.”
The corner of Douglas’s mouth lifted.
He took a personal business card from inside his coat and handed it to Rex.
Rex did not dare show the slightest carelessness; he accepted the card respectfully with both hands.
“If you run into any trouble, call my private number.
And if you make progress, you can report it to me directly.
I look forward to good news, Dr.
Rex.”
Getting a direct line to one of the financial powers behind the CT faction was the kind of patronage Rex could only dream of.
Ecstatic, he personally escorted Douglas all the way to his private car before daring to return to his experiments.
Inside Douglas’s car, Carlito idly spun a dagger in his hand and asked, “Boss, can that guy really do it?
Umbrella has been building its research base for years.
You think he can just catch up with them?”
Douglas smiled.
“It doesn’t matter.
Cast a wide enough net and something will bite.
Albert Wesker and William Birkin—you sent people to contact those two, didn’t you?”
Carlito nodded.
“You called it, Boss.
William hasn’t wavered yet, but that Wesker kid is a venomous snake.
Use him right and he might sink his fangs into Umbrella hard enough to kill it.”
“Then keep the channel open.
And when necessary, make sure we’re there to help him when he needs it most.
Understood?”
“Understood!”