Captain James stared intently at Uchiha Kazuhiko, his face dark and stormy. He asked angrily,
"I think I need an explanation."
Uchiha Kazuhiko did not flick the foul blood from his tachi. Instead of answering directly, he countered with a tone of certainty,
"James, you must know about the T-virus, right?"
"Of course," Captain James replied, though he didn't understand why Kazuhiko was asking. He still shared the information he knew: "The T-virus is..."
"You're correct, but that's not the complete picture," Uchiha Kazuhiko interjected after Captain James finished. "The company's research revealed that after a T-virus infected host dies, it becomes a zombie, parasitized by the virus. They are highly aggressive and contagious. The only way to eliminate them is to destroy the brain or sever the spinal cord at the neck."
"How can dead people come back to life?"
"I don't believe it! You're lying!"
The others clearly didn't believe Uchiha Kazuhiko's explanation.
The idea of the dead returning to life seemed like pure nonsense to them.
"Don't believe me? No problem. Coincidentally, there are two more corpses in the next lab. Let's wait and see."
Uchiha Kazuhiko shrugged nonchalantly, sheathed his tachi, leaned against the nearby wall, and quietly waited for Chad to crack the lab's password.
With Kazuhiko's sword sheathed and his silence, and Captain James deep in thought, the others also quieted down, waiting to verify the truth.
In less than ten minutes, Chad lived up to expectations and completed his task.
The oppressive atmosphere ended with the sound of the electronic door sliding open.
Water flowed out along the corridor, and corpses and debris were scattered haphazardly throughout the lab's corners.
Captain James made a gesture for caution. The assault team members aimed their weapons at the two researcher corpses.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, over ten seconds passed quietly. Then, the corpses lying on the ground suddenly twitched.
Like elderly people moving stiffly, they shakily began to climb to their feet.
Everyone except the prepared Uchiha Kazuhiko was terrified by this bizarre sight, their scalps crawling. They uncontrollably took a few steps back.
"Groooan!"
The two zombies caught the scent of living humans. They turned their stiff necks towards the group, let out a hoarse roar, and lunged.
Rat-a-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat!
The assault team members didn't hesitate. They emptied their rifles' magazines into the two zombies, only stopping once the bodies were riddled like sieves.
"Pant, pant... Damn it, what the hell are these things? What exactly is the company researching?!"
The timid Chad sat down heavily on the damp floor, gasping for breath due to overexertion and fear, cursing with a horrified expression.
"The company is researching bio-weapons for warfare. These zombies are just defective products resulting from a virus leak."
Uchiha Kazuhiko, who knew Umbrella's secrets, explained. His gaze swept over the group, and he said with a light laugh,
"Now, I assume you all believe me? And you understand why I asked you to choose cold weapons?"
They looked at each other, a complex mix of confusion and uncertainty visible in each other's eyes, unsure how to face this complicated situation.
"No need to worry too much. Individually, zombies aren't very strong. You can deal with them by destroying the brain or severing the spinal cord."
Uchiha Kazuhiko offered a few words of comfort, then ordered Chad, "Chad, unlock the password for the cold storage room immediately."
"Copy that." Chad threw himself into his work again.
Once the password was cracked, he immediately retreated back into the group, worried that zombies might be inside the cold storage, ready to attack.
"Alright, what comes next involves company secrets. You all go wait for me at the B Dining Room. I'll catch up with you immediately after completing my task here."
After shooing everyone away, Uchiha Kazuhiko stepped into the cold storage room, chilly air pouring out.
Gasp.
"We've hit the jackpot."
Even the usually unflappable Uchiha Kazuhiko's eyes showed a trace of fervor at the sight within the cold storage room; his heart was filled with immense excitement.
Two rows of enormous refrigeration units contained dozens of spiral vials, some blue, some green.
There were also dozens of serums not present in the original storyline and a large pile of herbs that looked incredibly valuable.
He swept up every single item in the cold storage room into his system space like a whirlwind.
Only after confirming nothing was missed did he leave, hurrying towards the location of the B Dining Room.
By the time Uchiha Kazuhiko reached the B Dining Room, the assault team had also just arrived.
They discovered it wasn't a dining room in the conventional sense but a massive warehouse filled with dozens of small shipping containers.
"This is the B Dining Room, at least that's what my map shows."
Chad compared the map several times, confirming their location matched the B Dining Room marked on it.
"It seems this place hides some secrets, secrets the company doesn't want the outside world to know."
After the earlier zombie incident, Captain James had clearly guessed the reason. He didn't dwell on it and continued asking,
"Never mind that for now. I just need to know if we can reach the Red Queen from here."
Chad glanced at the map and replied,
"No problem, boss. Go through here, and we'll reach the host computer room. After a short passage, we can enter the core server room where the Red Queen is housed."
"Alright then. JD, Rain, you stay here to guard the prisoner and secure the exit. We'll regroup with you immediately after completing the mission."
Captain James thought for a moment and made the same arrangement as in the original story.
The rest of the assault team followed Captain James forward.
As Uchiha Kazuhiko passed JD and Rain, he reminded them softly,
"Remember, there are no living people here anymore."
Without waiting for their reaction, Uchiha Kazuhiko disappeared down the passage.
Rain and JD exchanged a glance, then chose to believe Uchiha Kazuhiko's words. They raised their weapons and began cautiously guarding.
After passing through several more electronic doors, the group reached the host computer room of the Hive. Comrade Chad once again began his computer magic.
After a series of frantic clicks, the door to the passage connecting to the core server room slid open.
It was a passage over ten meters long.
The walls on either side were completely different from the steel walls outside; they were made of glass that looked highly technologically advanced.
At the end of the passage was the final electronic door leading to the core server room.
It wasn't connected to the internal network, so the only way to crack the password was remotely using a decoder.
"You stay here. I'll go install the decoder."
Captain James, as the leader, took on the task, stepping cautiously into the passage.
When Captain James reached the middle of the passage, the glass walls on all sides suddenly lit up, startling him immensely.
"Boss, it's just automatic sensor lights. Relax."
Chad's voice came through the communicator, soothing Captain James's nerves, which were stretched to the breaking point.
After placing the phone-sized decoder, Captain James immediately retreated from the passage, waiting for Chad to complete the final cracking process.
Before long, accompanied by the output of the final command, the door to the Red Queen's core server room finally began to slowly open.