After handing the materials over to Mayor Warren, Eddie obtained a helicopter—officially labeled as “decommissioned”—and it was parked inside an abandoned factory.
Having a helicopter was always a good thing.
After the bioweapon crisis erupted in Raccoon City, the most convenient way out would be by helicopter—otherwise, taking the subway was the next best option.
Back in the underground laboratory, everything was as cold as ever.
And some access permissions had been shut down, which made Eddie fall into thought.
“Thirty-eighth experiment: T-serum enhancement failed.
Cause: toxicity too intense, cells cannot adapt!” Eddie shut the microscope again.
The long hours of work left him dizzy and light-headed.
Ding!
The lab door opened.
Annette walked in carrying a cup of coffee and a plate of donuts.
“If you’re tired, you can choose to rest for a while.
The way you obsess over experiments… you look a lot like William.
When you two go crazy, you don’t care about your lives.”
“No.” Eddie took the coffee, drank a sip, and felt his head clear a little.
“At least I still understand how to live.
I’m not as obsessed as he is.”
“What are you researching?
A new bioweapon?” Annette asked casually.
She was really just here to keep Eddie stable, to make sure nothing unexpected happened.
“No.” Eddie frowned.
“I’m researching how to perfectly adapt to the T-serum.
It seems incredibly difficult.
Out of ten million people, only Sergei’s clone can endure it perfectly.”
“That’s right.” Annette nodded.
“In the Caucasus facility he oversees, they have the newest-model Tyrant.
And in our lab we’re still stuck with… Prototype No.
002.”
“You mean the specialized bodyguard model named the Ivan Tyrant?” Eddie exclaimed.
“You’re right—and not right.” Annette’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Those Tyrants are indeed high-level, executive bodyguards—only four of them exist—but they are not the newest model.
Do you know why?”
“Because the maintenance cost is too high—so high that even Umbrella can’t bear it.”
Annette smiled with clear satisfaction.
“Exactly.
High cost is one issue.
Another is that they don’t want that model’s data to leak.
The T-serum accelerates metabolism, so you need a special drug to alleviate it.
Except for Sergei, every other Tyrant requires maintenance.”
“But they’re defined as consumables,” Eddie muttered, thoughtful.
“Maintaining them is too wasteful.
Cost-wise, it isn’t worth it.” Basically, once a Tyrant was deployed, nobody expected it to be recovered.
“Correct.” Annette nodded.
Then, as if something had occurred to her, she asked, “You said you want to research perfect T-serum adaptation.
What are you really thinking?”
“I think whether it’s T or G, both can be used to benefit humanity,” Eddie began, selling the idea.
“It’s just a breakthrough opportunity to extend lifespan.
Haven’t you ever thought about living longer, staying young, and not having to suffer from disease?”
Annette fell silent for a moment.
She didn’t answer directly, only said, “Your idea is… unusual.”
“Can you help me?” Eddie’s voice lowered, heavy and sincere.
“One more friend means one more way out.
Who knows—someday we might need to help each other.
I have no intention of getting involved in corporate infighting.
You should know that.
I just want to do good research—and I want to live.”
That sorrowful tone made Annette’s heart soften for an instant.
A motherly glow seemed to flicker across her.
“Alright.
I can help you—let’s consider ourselves friends.
But I hope you won’t do anything that harms me or my family.”
“I won’t strike at friends,” Eddie said firmly.
“If I ever intended to strike at someone, I wouldn’t become their friend in the first place—because I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to do it.”
Even if he didn’t move against William, William wouldn’t live long anyway. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Trying to betray Umbrella without complete preparation wasn’t a wise choice.
Even someone as strong as Albert Wesker stayed in the shadows, only daring to appear and fight Sergei after Umbrella had already started collapsing.
At this stage, Umbrella’s power was simply too immense—far beyond what any individual could contend with.
Annette didn’t suspect Eddie’s motives.
She pondered briefly, then said, “If you want to adapt to the T-serum, either you need a one-in-ten-thousand compatible constitution… or you need extremely strong organs and overall physical endurance.”
That statement gave Eddie a major revelation.
Looking across the many Tyrant products, most of them shared a defect: an exposed heart.
It wasn’t because their hearts were weak—on the contrary.
Those exposed organs were the key that supported the body’s output of strength.
Software can be brilliant, but the hardware still has to be powerful.
If blood supply is insufficient, the serum’s effects can’t be fully expressed.
“I understand.
Thank you!” Eddie gave Annette a hug, then turned and went back to the workbench.
Caught off guard, Annette stood frozen for a long moment, then finally shook her head.
This guy was kind of like a little brother, and she was the understanding big sister.
Maybe becoming friends with him wasn’t a bad choice.
One more friend really was more useful—and aside from him, Annette and William seemed to have no other friends at all.
William, fully obsessed with G-serum research, noticed none of it.
In his eyes, there was only the G-serum; all so-called friendship and family meant nothing.
If William had truly considered his family, he would have known how foolish it was to contact high-ranking military officials behind Umbrella’s back—especially with Spencer already aware—without even putting proper secrecy measures in place.
And his only “friend” was Wesker.
Wesker himself had already been thinking about running after the Arklay Mountains incident, sensing that Umbrella’s days were numbered.
Eddie continued researching methods for serum adaptation.
Annette truly was a virologist—every now and then, something she casually said could inspire him massively.
If, on the team side, Lupo could make Christine Yamata genuinely loyal, then with that biologist involved, they could absolutely develop a T-serum that strengthened the body’s constitution!
But there was still one severe problem that needed to be solved: the T-serum originated from a flower called Stairway of the Sun.
And those flowers carried powerful toxins.
Anyone who could endure that flower’s poison could gain tremendous strength and a long lifespan—at least two hundred years—still vigorous and full of energy!
The only drawback… might be the loss of reproductive ability.
Simply put: men would become eunuchs, and women… would be unable to have children.
If that drawback were swapped onto Spencer, he’d probably accept it.
As long as he could live forever, whether he was a eunuch or not wouldn’t matter.
It’s not really mandatory—I’ll eventually upload all the chapters here—but it helps a lot in supporting me and allows me to dedicate more time to it.