“Eddie, are you alright?
If you can hear me, answer!” Annette held her pistol on her still-sleeping friend.
Eddie wanted to open his eyes, but a wave of weakness left him without even the strength to lift his eyelids.
It felt like he had been asleep for a very long time.
“I’m fine.
I just don’t have the strength to open my eyes yet.
Let me rest for a bit.”
“Alright then.
Do you need anything?
A blanket to warm you up?” Annette finally eased her tension and even managed a small smile.
She felt relieved—deeply relieved—that her friend was safe.
“I need something to eat.” Eddie spoke with his eyes still closed.
“If you have time, bring me some food.
I’m starving.
I want to eat a lot.”
When Annette returned with food, Eddie was already sitting in a chair, eyes open, but still a little unfocused.
Annette set a burger and fries on the table and asked with concern, “How do you feel?
Do you need a check-up?”
“Give me a second.
Let me eat first.” Eddie spoke while quickly shoveling food into his mouth.
“I feel much better now.
Just now it felt like I’d just woken up after surgery—sleepy, exhausted.” He downed an enormous bottle of cola—two full kilograms—like it was nothing.
Annette smiled and nodded.
“I understand.
When I gave birth to Sherry, I used anesthesia too.
That feeling is awful.
I get it.”
Five minutes later, Eddie had finished everything edible on the table, yet he still felt hungry—though it wasn’t that kind of meat-craving urge.
“You go ahead and work.
I’m going to eat some more.
Don’t worry— I feel good.”
“Alright.
Be careful.” Annette observed him closely and only relaxed when she saw no signs of zombification.
If there were, she would worry Spencer might suspect they had been plotting against Eddie, and that would shorten William’s time to research the G-serum—raising the danger for everyone.
Once he reached the surface, Eddie hurried toward the main gate.
Mark—the Black “uncle” from the security company under Umbrella—walked over and asked, “Director Eddie, you don’t look so good.
Need me to drive you somewhere?”
“Yeah.
That would help.” Eddie nodded.
Even the legendary “Wesker”—Albert Wesker himself—needed to get stabbed clean through the chest by the Prototype No.
002 Tyrant before he gained superhuman abilities.
Compared to that, what Eddie was dealing with wasn’t much.
Alexia had needed to freeze for fifteen years—that was the real misery.
If this were a “who’s more miserable” competition, Eddie definitely wouldn’t rank number one.
“Director Mark, there’s a security meeting at Spencer Memorial Hospital that needs you,” a young guard ran over and reported.
“Ah, damn it.” Mark cursed under his breath.
“I was going to give someone a ride.” Then he suddenly turned and called out to a patrolling officer nearby.
“Wait—I know who to ask.
Kevin!
Do me a favor and drive Director Eddie for me.”
An officer with medium-length hair parted down the middle walked over.
“Hey, Mark.
You want me to drive someone?” He grinned.
“Remember to buy me a drink after work.
This gentleman, right?
Come on—I’ll take you.”
Compared to other people, this officer seemed a bit laid-back and frivolous—hard to trust at first glance.
But as a friend?
Sure.
As a colleague?
People would struggle to rely on him.
Eddie knew exactly who he was: this sloppy officer Kevin was Leon’s rookie instructor, and also an officer who had failed twice to get into the tactical rescue unit.
Most importantly—he was one of the civilians who escaped Raccoon City during the outbreak purely on his own skills!
“Just drop me off near the pedestrian street by the university district.” Eddie closed his eyes after speaking.
He could feel it—after weakness came a pulsing vitality, like a “survive death and be reborn” sensation!
“Alright, you’re really polite,” Kevin said, joking as if they’d known each other forever.
“I remember those serious Umbrella directors don’t talk like that.
You’re a real weirdo.
Haha— I’m not insulting you.
I mean you’re interesting.”
“There’s nothing worth being proud of in that identity,” Eddie said flatly.
“Sometimes it’s also a burden—a drag.”
Right now, it looked glamorous.
But in a few more years, Umbrella would become something everyone wanted to beat and curse.
Then it would truly be a burden—everyone would desperately try to cut ties with Umbrella to avoid getting dragged into disaster.
“Haha, you really are interesting.” Kevin laughed.
“Umbrella isn’t somewhere you can get into just because you want to. Find the original chapter at g.com.
I heard you’re Jill’s boyfriend?
She’s a really good girl.
You’d better treat her well.”
“Even you know?” Eddie felt a faint surge of pride.
Being the one who took the goddess’s “first time,” plus being her boyfriend—yeah, that was absolutely something that could make a man’s tail wag.
“Who doesn’t?” Kevin laughed.
“I swear Chris looks like he’s about to cry these days.
You’ve got skills—snatching away our team’s prettiest flower.
Don’t you dare bully Jill, or we won’t let you off.
Haha!” He joked like this wasn’t even their first meeting.
In less than ten minutes, Eddie arrived near the university district.
They called it a “university district,” but there was really only one university here—Raccoon City University.
Still, it was huge, specializing in biology, mechanical engineering, and medical science.
Probably thanks to Umbrella’s investment, the disciplines all leaned toward what benefited Umbrella.
Eddie came here for one reason: it was cheap, it was good, the food came fast—and fast-food places that catered to broke students couldn’t taste that bad.
The moment Eddie arrived, he ordered like a madman, then started devouring food.
The frenzy made him look like he hadn’t eaten in centuries.
Kevin didn’t leave.
Instead, he watched with interest.
A man who could eat was usually healthy—”healthy” meaning mentally healthy too, the kind who wasn’t a bad guy.
The employees around them stared at Eddie with strange expressions.
The burger shop owner almost thought Eddie was here to cause trouble.
One person buying that much—what if other students came and found nothing left?
Over time, they’d stop coming.
Eddie didn’t care about people’s looks.
And he didn’t care whether Spencer would notice.
He displayed it openly—playing the role of a simple-minded fool with a bit of cleverness, someone without much scheming.
Only like that could he stay alive under the suspicion of that old silver fox Spencer.
“Hah—so good!” Eddie exhaled.
“I’m finally at least a little full.” He looked up.
“Kevin, right?
Sorry.
I wasn’t in a good state earlier, so I didn’t invite you to eat with me.
My fault.
Come on, come on—let’s get a couple more skewers.” Eddie invited him generously.
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.