They traversed the dangerous sewers.
Leon, walking at the very front, pushed open a plain metal door deep within the sewers, arriving at the underground [Sewer Cleaning Company]. A small electric light behind the door illuminated the interior.
A woman in a white coat was crouched on the ground, examining the zombie corpses. Even Leon opening the door didn't make her look up.
"This must be William's doing…"
"Annie Birkin…"
Leon called out her name. Annie looked up at Leon and still murmured, "There isn't much time. We must get rid of it…"
"I can help you get rid of it…"
This corpse was the host of the G-Virus. Although it couldn't mutate or proliferate like William, it still held significant research value.
"Furthermore, I can help you protect the pure G-Virus original solution, ensuring no one obtains it."
Annie frowned, looked at Leon, and asked, "Who are you? Why are you helping me?"
"It's simple. I want the entire Hive Base."
Leon's goal from the beginning was very simple. Besides the plot progression, what he valued most was the Umbrella Corporation's underground base.
"You can choose to trust me, or you can choose not to. At most, it will just take me a bit more effort."
"Also…"
Leon reached out and took out Sherry's pendant.
"This is Sherry's pendant. I think you know better than I do what's inside."
"The reason I want to help you is because of your authority… I don't want a bombed-out base."
"Alright, the choice is in your hands now, Annie Birkin. As you said, we don't have much time."
To show his sincerity, Leon directly threw the pendant to Annie Birkin.
Annie caught the pendant and, after confirming it was real, looked at Leon with confusion. An empty experimental base, in her opinion, had no value whatsoever.
The most valuable research results of this experimental base were casually tossed to her by Leon.
"How is Sherry now?"
As soon as she finished asking, the figures of Claire and the others appeared behind Leon.
Upon seeing her mother, Sherry immediately let go of Claire's hand and excitedly ran towards Annie.
"Mom…"
Annie hugged her daughter tightly.
"How are you? Where's your father?"
Sherry sobbed in Annie's arms and said, "Dad… he's dead."
Annie was somewhat disbelieving because the G-Virus was something she and William had researched together, and she naturally knew how abnormal the G-Virus was.
Now her daughter was saying William had been killed, which made it difficult for her to accept at once.
People are so contradictory; on one hand, they want to eliminate the carrier of the G-Virus, yet on the other, they can't believe their research results were so effortlessly eliminated.
Claire walked up to Leon, gun in hand, and asked, "Leon, is this Sherry's mom?"
"Yes, Annie Birkin, who is William's lover and colleague."
Leon casually explained, then said to Annie, "Alright, Ms. Annie, we can talk about mother-daughter affection later. Now, I've brought your daughter and the G-Virus back to you. I even cleaned up William, the G-Virus prototype that escaped outside."
"Now you should have seen my sincerity. What do you think of my earlier proposal?"
Annie Birkin released her daughter, stood up, and looked at Leon, saying, "Of course, but if the Hive doesn't self-destruct, the Umbrella Corporation will definitely send people over…"
"That's my concern."
Leon had already planned it. As long as Annie could help him control the Hive, he would directly seal all entrances to the Hive with walls dug from the Backrooms.
The walls of Backrooms Level 0 are harder than stone. If all passages are blocked, even if the Umbrella Corporation wants to use large machinery to dig in, it would take them ten days to half a month.
Ada Wong, standing behind, saw Annie Birkin, and her eyes became somewhat complex. This woman was one of her target individuals for this trip.
But now the situation had become somewhat complicated.
The group, led by Annie, arrived deep within the factory.
Claire looked at the cable car, which shouldn't have appeared in such an environment, and said, "Oh, a cable car. A cable car actually appears in a place like this."
"Logically speaking, shouldn't the Sewer Cleaning Company be managed by the city government? Why is there no news from the government at all?"
Ada Wong chuckled and looked at the naive Claire, saying, "The Umbrella Corporation has always secretly controlled Raccoon City. Whether it's the police department, the city government, or this sewer waste disposal site, they are all their own people. This is the power of capital."
Claire, who had just entered society, was now experiencing what reality truly was.
The group boarded the cable car, and an electronic announcement sounded: "This car is heading to the Hive. Please do not exit before reaching the final station."
Leon said with a smile, "It's quite user-friendly, but without a 'hold on tight' announcement, it feels like something is missing."
A slight friction sound was heard, and the cable car slowly began to move.
At this moment, Annie sat on the bench and looked at Leon, asking, "All the virus research data in the Hive has been destroyed by me. There's no value there anymore."
"Why do you insist on going to the Hive?"
Leon stood at the front of the cable car, looking through the glass at the rapidly passing scenery outside the window, and said, "The value you speak of is completely different from the value I perceive. What you consider worthless might be a rare treasure to me…"
The cable car moved steadily forward for about ten minutes.
The electronic prompt sounded again inside the cable car.
"Arrived at the Hive…"
A sound of air pressure escaping was heard, and the cable car door opened automatically.
Stepping off the cable car onto the concrete floor of the Hive, a smile finally appeared on Leon's face.
After everyone had disembarked, Leon took out an iron pickaxe and directly dug down both cable cars at the station.
He looked at Claire and the others.
"Alright, the Hive is mine now!"
"Now, there are some things I need to tell you. The government has completely lost control of the Resident Evil incident in Raccoon City. Tomorrow morning, a nuclear bomb will be used for the final clean-up operation."
"The main reason I brought you to the Hive is to have you take the internal train to leave the Raccoon City area."
"Don't even think about the G-Virus, especially you, Ada Wong. I don't want to kill you, but you can't repeatedly cross my bottom line."
"Claire, your brother is not in Raccoon City. He has already gone to Europe to investigate the Umbrella Corporation headquarters. But don't worry, your brother has a very tough life; even if I have problems, he won't. Also, one more thing: never, ever team up with your brother."
"Annie, send them away from my Hive."
However, as they were leaving, Leon secretly gave a key to both Claire and Ada Wong.
The plot of the Resident Evil world was stuck at 60%, clearly indicating that the plots of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 were mixed together.
But the nuclear bomb would arrive soon, and it was unrealistic to go to Raccoon City to advance Jill's progress now.
So he planned to see if the subsequent plot could make up for the world's exploration progress.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.