That single remark snapped Rebecca and Billy back to reality.
He was right.
If they submitted a report explaining all of this later, without evidence it would be nothing but a castle in the air.
No one would ever believe in zombies, giant scorpions, or those unthinkable Leech Man.
Rebecca gave Ivan a thumbs-up, and Ivan returned an OK sign.
Then the two of them shared a knowing smile.
Billy had no objection to Ivan’s proposal either.
With the decision made, the three of them launched into a sweeping, all-out search of the Ecliptic Express.
Along the way they cleaned out the stragglers that had slipped through, restocked on ammunition, and found a grappling gun.
They also recovered the original transfer order mentioned in one of the notebooks.
Back at the hatch, Ivan now had a camera hanging around his neck.
Its memory already held a wealth of physical evidence he had photographed regarding the Ecliptic Express incident.
“Click, click.” After Ivan snapped two shots facing the hatch and the front of the train.
The three of them, now fully prepared, formed up with Billy on point, Ivan in the middle, and Rebecca bringing up the rear.
They pushed open the rust-caked iron door before them and stepped through.
They had barely gone a few paces inside before a wave of stench rolled over them.
Billy wrinkled his nose in disgust.
Facing the murky yellow-green sludge underfoot, he didn’t hesitate and was the first to wade in.
Ivan and Rebecca followed close behind, their faces just as unmoved.
The three of them stayed on guard the entire way, wary of any surprise.
Fortunately it was more alarm than danger, and the three of them reached their destination safely.
Billy looked at the ladder ahead, gave the other two a nod, then led the way himself, gripping the rails and climbing up.
“Clang!” As Billy threw open the cover plate overhead.
The space before them opened up wide.
It was a main hall.
Under the dim, yellowish light, traces of classical decor were everywhere.
If he hadn’t already learned the truth, Billy would have found it hard to imagine that this mansion-like building could hide so much evil.
Ivan’s focus was a little different from Billy’s.
He paid no attention to the surrounding architecture; instead his gaze locked first and firmly onto the square opening at the center of the hall.
Rebecca stared at the red-and-white logo beneath her feet, finding it hard to believe.
(How can this be?
Isn’t this the Umbrella mark?) In Rebecca’s impression, Umbrella had always been a conscientious pharmaceutical company.
Through astonishing technology, they had produced vast quantities of medicine that benefited people all over the world.
And in Raccoon City, Umbrella’s standing was even more irreplaceable.
Ever since Mayor Michael Warren struck his partnership with Umbrella.
An ocean of capital had raised towering buildings from the ground.
Wages and benefits, social security, public employment.
Umbrella had shouldered all of it single-handedly.
You could say that without Umbrella, there would be no Raccoon City as it stood today.
But why?
Why would such a conscientious pharmaceutical company be linked to a term as seemingly unrelated as biological weapon?
By now Billy had also fixed his eyes on the enormous logo beneath his feet.
“Umbrella?
Why would they be running biological experiments?” He couldn’t make sense of it either.
Why would a conscientious pharma company leave a perfectly good, wildly profitable medical industry untouched.
Only to go off and run some biological weapon experiment that ruins nations and torments the people.
Had their brains been gnawed on by leeches, or carried off by zombie dogs?
Ivan took several photos with the camera, giving the Umbrella logo on the floor special attention in particular.
His actions drew the notice of two young men in a hidden communications room somewhere within the Umbrella Executive Training School.
“Wesker.” William, in a white lab coat, drew a finger across his throat toward his partner beside him.
But Wesker shook his head.
“William, there’s no point.
Say I really did go and eliminate all three of them.” “Would that make the matter in the Arklay Mountains all neatly resolved?” William slammed the desk hard, then drew back his aching, throbbing fist.
He gritted his teeth.
“Wesker, are we really going to let them stroll right out of here with the evidence and hand it over to the media?” “That would have an incalculable impact on the progress of the G-Virus research.” At his words, a cold glint flashed in Wesker’s eyes, and he pressed his hand over the microphone.
Even though no one could overhear their conversation now, the caution in his heart still made Wesker do it on instinct.
“William, you know it yourself.
Umbrella used to be a mighty ship, but now the ship is sinking…” “James Marcus could die at our hands, so why should we get to walk away untouched?” William wasn’t surprised by this.
If anything, it was precisely James Marcus’s death.
That had hardened Wesker’s resolve to break away from Umbrella.
The reason he had applied to transfer into Raccoon City’s S.T.A.R.S.
unit as a spy was for this very day.
Understanding was one thing, but for William, his thoughts differed from Wesker’s.
“I know.
But my life’s work is all left inside the mother nest.” “Wesker, I, I can’t…” Wesker gave William a long look, his tone sincere, carrying a measure of understanding and reluctance.
“William, you have to realize, we don’t have much time left.” “The knowledge is in your head.
You can always start over.” “But if you end up like Professor James Marcus…
everything…
will be nothing but a fleeting dream.” William was a proud, high-minded genius, but Wesker’s words alone he was willing to hear, no matter how unpleasant.
Yet the completion of the G-Virus was right before his eyes, just a little more, only a little more.
How could he bear to pull out now?
At that thought, William forced some spirit back into his weary face.
He looked through his sunglasses at the sharp, expectant eyes of Wesker, and smiled.
“Wesker, don’t worry.
The military is just as interested in my research.
I’ll be fine.” Getting that answer, Wesker turned his head away, some light going out of his eyes, the fingertip pressed on the microphone starting to whiten.
“Your choice, William…” In the end, all he had left was a barely audible sigh.
Just as the atmosphere in the communications room grew heavy.
The monitor feed was disrupted, and the white-robed man Ivan and the others had encountered earlier on the train appeared on the screen.
Wesker leaned forward, his voice sharp and cold.
“Who are you?!” Faced with Wesker’s demand, the white-robed man carried on as if talking to himself.
“I’m the one who released the t-Virus into the Spencer Mansion.” “And of course, the train was my doing as well.” The moment those words came out, William was thrown into alarmed doubt.
“What?!” And whether or not it was just his imagination, he kept feeling that the white-robed man looked somehow familiar.
The white-robed man was very pleased with William’s reaction.
He spread his arms wide as if to embrace the whole world.
He tilted his head back, his voice rising higher and higher.
“This is my revenge against Umbrella!” The word Umbrella was bitten off hard, a clear sign that this one came with ill intent and boundless hatred.
Then the white-robed man paid no more attention to the reactions of the two men.
He simply closed his eyes and began to chant that song which summoned the leeches.
“Ah~ ah~ oh~” A black ocean, writhing, gathered to his side.
And at tremendous speed it fused into a single old man.
If Ivan and the others had been there, they would have found that this old man and the one who had attacked Billy weren’t just related, they were identical down to the last detail.
Wesker’s brow knit tight.
“Professor James Marcus?” William’s face was full of shock.
“James Marcus, how is this possible?”