The two moved cautiously through the dim basement.
Unlike the floors above, the lights here flickered unpredictably, badly limiting visibility.
Even with the small searchlights mounted on their shoulders switched on, the distance they could see was pitiful.
They had already encountered plenty of infected along the way.
Their appearances varied: some wore CT gear, some T equipment, some were institute guards, and some had clearly been the original human test subjects.
Li Yun put them out of their misery.
Whatever had been done to them while they were alive, having to rise again as zombies after death was simply too cruel.
This place truly was rotten to the core.
How could the multinational government ever have approved experiments like these?
Even if some subjects had volunteered at first, should the entire program not have been suspended the moment the first zombie appeared?
Whether through luck or something else, after entering the so-called B-1 sector Li Yun finally found the first living person they had encountered on this mission.
Better yet, she was not an enemy.
She was a researcher.
“A CT rescue team?
Thank God.
I’m Dr.
Soi from the Rex Research Institute.” The woman visibly relaxed when she saw their gear, though she immediately raised both hands to show that she posed no threat.
One look at the pathetic USP pistol in the researcher’s hand told Li Yun she was no danger to either of them.
Even so, he did not relax in the slightest.
The surroundings were simply too dangerous.
He slowly waved her forward, signaling her to approach.
Soi finally began to relax.
Keeping her hands raised, she slowly walked toward Li Yun.
But the instant she passed him, Li Yun moved like lightning—yanking her backward toward Natasha while driving a kick at the darkness behind her.
He had seen it, even if only for an instant.
The moment something behind Soi crossed from darkness into the edge of his searchlight, its shape had become visible.
The impact of his kick confirmed that he had not imagined it.
Something really had been following directly behind Dr.
Soi, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Li Yun’s kick knocked the creature away, and it vanished back into the darkness.
Natasha caught Soi with one arm while gripping her rifle with the other.
“One of the institute’s bioweapons…
It woke from cryogenic storage and has already evolved its abilities again in this short amount of time?”
Soi was badly shaken herself.
The thought that a monster had been following inches behind her without her ever noticing sent a chill through her entire body.
Hearing that, Li Yun felt his balls ache.
It had only been a few months, and Rex had already produced a bioweapon like this?
Dr.
Rex, you’re somehow even more outrageous than Umbrella’s entire research division put together.
That comparison was not entirely fair, though.
The two sides were simply working with biological materials on very different levels.
The original progenitor strain behind the T-Virus essentially produced only two outcomes when inoculated: either the subject became superhuman, or the subject died outright.
Even zombies could arguably be called the result of later researchers painstakingly refining the virus.
The progenitor strain of the Z-Virus was different.
Even in its earliest form, its capabilities already made it an influential bioweapon.
Dr.
Rex was merely using more research and experimentation to draw out even more of its potential.
“Take Dr.
Soi upstairs.
Our mission is to rescue researchers.
We get her out first, then decide whether to explore farther.” Li Yun had barely turned when eerie, girlish laughter began echoing through the corridor.
In a place like this, the sound was enough to raise goosebumps over anyone’s skin.
“Dr.
Soi, can you run?” Natasha immediately asked the researcher in her arms.
Soi nodded, drew a deep breath, and forced herself fully back under control.
Then she snapped both heels off her high-heeled shoes, making it clear she was ready to sprint at full speed.
Li Yun immediately led both women back the way they had come.
B-1 was not terribly far from the hole leading to the first floor, but it was not close either.
As they ran, he fired on zombies flooding in from side passages, while that sinister laughter followed them the entire way.
Li Yun had no idea what was making the sound, but he had the distinct feeling the laughter itself was driving every nearby zombie into a frenzy and drawing them toward this corridor.
Running flat out, they finally reached the opening connecting the basement to the first floor.
Li Yun immediately turned and opened fire, covering Natasha and Soi as they climbed up first.
Fortunately, once they reached the brighter area, that damned laughter finally stopped.
Li Yun glanced at the plentiful light around him. Find the original chapter at g.com.
The creature was intelligent—or perhaps it simply had an animal’s instinct for danger.
“Hurry up!” Natasha and Soi moved quickly.
Once they reached the first floor, both turned around and fired downward to cover Li Yun.
He immediately spun, charged up the rubble slope, and scrambled onto the first floor in seconds.
Once there, he heard howls outside the main entrance and saw the mass of zombies blocked only by reinforced glass.
Had the viral leak really spread this far already?
“Move.
Upstairs, now.” Li Yun led Soi and Natasha in a sprint toward the rooftop.
Fortunately, Li Yun and Natasha had already cleared the upper floors on the way down.
A few stray zombies had wandered back in while they were underground, but nowhere near enough to pose a serious threat.
When they reached the roof, Li Yun immediately shut the door.
Zombies could not turn a handle, after all.
The door only needed to delay them long enough for one of the helicopters patrolling in shifts overhead to arrive.
Natasha immediately fired a signal flare.
The thick plume of smoke quickly attracted the attention of a helicopter in the distance.
Just as the transport helicopter reached the airspace above the institute, the door they had merely shut finally burst open under the zombies’ weight.
Li Yun and Natasha whirled around and opened fire again, dropping the attackers one by one.
“You up there!
Drop the ladder!
Dr.
Soi, get on the helicopter!” Li Yun kept mowing down the incoming zombies, and at that moment he felt profoundly grateful to have Natasha beside him.
She was an outstanding second.
Their alternating fire was so well coordinated that the entire horde remained more than five meters away.
Soi did not waste what they were doing for her.
She immediately climbed the rope ladder into the transport helicopter.
The moment she got aboard, she shouted down for both of them to come up as well.
Li Yun did not stop firing.
Instead, he started moving forward.
Natasha followed directly behind him, and together they went back into the Rex Research Institute.
Before shutting the rooftop door behind them, Li Yun gave the pilot one final order: “Take Dr.
Soi out of here.
Tell General Victor to seal the entire city perimeter.
Tell him Li Yun’s team is re-entering the institute to link up with Andrey’s advance team and eliminate the T-faction forces inside.”