Leon spotted a ladder leading down in the room, with a wire-mesh-enclosed box at the bottom.
He jumped onto the box, then down to the floor.
Alan Han and Claire caught Sherry back and forth as she came down, then landed beside Leon.
“Ugh!”
A roar echoed from the distance.
Leon glanced at the nearby window.
The sound was coming from beyond it.
“That doesn’t sound good… Hope nothing’s wrong.”
He quickly stepped up to the window and looked out.
Nothing.
Then he suddenly looked down.
His eyes widened as he pressed closer to the glass, both hands braced against it.
“Ada!”
Hearing that, Alan Han and Claire hurried over and looked down as well.
They saw Ada Wong lying unconscious beside a pile of mechanical scrap below.
From behind the iron gate directly in front of Ada Wong, waves of roaring continued.
“Ada, I’m coming.”
Leon immediately began searching the room for clues and moved to the other side.
The lighting there was dim, with a red warning light flashing overhead.
There were four electrical panels on each wall.
Some had labels with different chess piece symbols, while others had their labels torn off.
Leon then examined a document posted on the wall.
It read, “I’m certain the rook and knight are on the same wall, while the bishop and queen are not adjacent, and the queen and rook are directly opposite each other.”
“Is this the puzzle?”
Claire walked over, read it, then looked at the nearby panels.
She stepped closer and noticed that each keyhole had a different shape.
“So… we’re supposed to find chess pieces?”
“Congratulations.
That’s correct.”
Alan Han brought over a sewer company manual from the table in the earlier room.
Two lines in the manual were bolded and stood out clearly: “Enjoy the Process” and “Exceptional Industrial Design.”
How bored were these people?
Setting up riddles in the sewers just to open a gate?
I suddenly understood why most Umbrella Corporation employees couldn’t escape.
Because they were all enjoying it.
Looks like we won’t be rescuing Ada anytime soon.
Still, that monster seemed to be locked behind such a heavy door.
It couldn’t just tear it open… right?
Leon tried to reassure himself.
“You’re not still thinking about Ada, are you, Leon?
Let’s go find some clues.”
Claire and Sherry had already reached the door, ready to head out.
Leon followed after them.
“Leon, didn’t you pick up a videotape?
There’s a player here.”
Alan Han pointed at the VCR on the table.
“Oh, right.
Let’s take a quick look.”
Leon.
I’ll come save you after I finish watching this.
Leon pulled the tape from his pouch and inserted it.
Static crackled.
“Please… stop… I’m begging you… stop… please… please…”
The footage showed a first-person view.
In front of him was an overturned bio container holding over a dozen vials, some already scattered across the floor.
The man’s pleading voice grew weaker as a monster lifted the box.
“No… no.
You can’t do this.”
The image flickered and abruptly cut.
A creature with half its body mutated dumped all the reagents from the box over itself.
The vials shattered across the ground.
Nearby, a fully armed man opened fire.
“Come at me, monster!”
Gunshots rang out.
The pleading voice returned, trembling with sobs.
“No… don’t hurt him… don’t hurt him…”
The creature pushed forward through the gunfire, walked up to the armed man, grabbed him, and hurled him hard against the wall.
A dull groan followed.
It was impossible to tell if he was still alive.
The camera then tilted toward the ground.
Several rats licked at the spilled chemicals before scurrying back into the sewers.
The monster stepped forward and crushed a vial right in front of the camera.
A trembling breath sounded, and the recording ended.
Leon fell into thought.
“The virus must have spread through the rats.”
“So this was an accident?”
Claire was shaken after watching the footage.
An accident had destroyed an entire city.
The three of them fell silent.
Leon finally broke it.
He took the map from the wall, studied it carefully, then passed it to the others.
“Let’s move.
There are still people waiting to be rescued.”
“Searching for chess pieces… this is going to be a headache.”
Claire still preferred the straightforward thrill of blasting zombies with a shotgun.
Even Alan Han, with his knowledge of the plot, felt uneasy.
Darkness, swarms of monsters, winding paths, and a terrible stench.
Resident Evil truly lived up to its name.
“I’m ready!”
Alan Han shouted and took the lead out the door.
“Typical Alan Han.
Full of energy.”
“I think he’s just scared and wants to finish this quickly.”
Claire hit the nail on the head.
Sherry figured being a kid wasn’t so bad.
Otherwise, she’d be the one solving the puzzles.
Outside, Alan Han looked at the suspended walkway above and pressed the button.
With the hum of machinery, the platform slowly lowered, connecting this side to the other.
The three adults and the child crossed over.
They headed left first.
Alan Han picked up an important tool from the table.
This was the most essential tool in the entire sewer system.
There was no way he was leaving it behind.
Leon grabbed the herbs by the table.
This place looked like a perfect spot to get poisoned, so he followed the instructions he had seen before and carefully mixed herbs of different colors, storing them for later use.
Claire examined the document in her hand.
Wait.
The safe combination was written on the side of the safe.
How was that any different from writing your bank PIN on the back of your card?
She looked around and quickly found the safe.
It was off to the far right, a short distance away.
Curious, Claire walked over and opened it.
Inside was… a wooden stock?
It looked like an attachment for a shotgun.
Suddenly, a nearby corpse twitched and let out a groan.
Claire drew her revolver and fired a shot straight into its head.
Bang.
It dropped back down and stayed there.