Chapter 117: The Red Queen
"They're everywhere!"
"We're surrounded!"
When the group was pressed together almost back-to-back with nowhere to retreat, their only option was to fight their way through.
A pale-faced woman in a lab coat approached Rain.
Her initial steps were slow, almost dragging, but when she was within three feet of Rain, she suddenly lunged!
Rain had encountered this situation before; just moments earlier, a lab worker had lunged at her in this way and bitten her.
Although this female lab worker possessed incredible strength and opened her foul-smelling mouth wide, seemingly trying to tear a chunk of flesh from her,
this time Rain was prepared. Her skills, comparable to special forces, made her fearless in close combat.
Her injured right hand braced against the woman's chin, preventing her from biting.
Her left hand gripped the woman's head, and with a sudden burst of strength!
Crack!
The female lab worker's neck snapped, and she was thrown 180 degrees to the ground.
"Damn!"
Spitting in disgust, Rain looked up, only to be met with even more people—or rather, infected.
The remaining three mercenary squad members didn't hesitate any longer, raising their guns and pulling the triggers.
Bang bang bang—
A series of shots rang out.
Bullets continuously struck a man in front of J.D., whose stance remained steady; the recoil from the rapid fire didn't even cause his shoulder to tremble.
Five bullets fired in quick succession, accurately piercing the man's chest.
After being hit, the man only paused slightly before regaining his balance and walking toward J.D.!
"Damn it!"
Gunshots rang out one after another, yet not a single infected could be stopped.
These things seemed unkillable.
In an instant, not only Alice, but even Kaplan and Spence remembered what Jake had said: these things were the infection!
Had they really unleashed this disaster?
Kaplan, filled with intense doubt, gripped his gun and fired repeatedly.
The bullets only managed to slightly slow the infected's progress.
"Watch out for the containment tank!" Rain roared, the fierce gunfire drowning out all other sounds.
Even though they were very close, they couldn't hear her clearly.
Alice remembered Jake saying that these monsters' weakness was their heads.
If what he said before was correct, then this must be correct too.
She opened her mouth, wanting to warn the mercenaries, but a sense of unease washed over her. Not far from them, a containment tank first spewed out thick vapor.
Then, red warning lights flashed continuously.
Boom!
The containment tank exploded!
The vapor, mixed with flames, surged like a wave, quickly engulfing the infected and then sweeping toward the group.
Alice and Matt beside her were blasted to the ground, dragged several feet by the blast wave in the confined space.
Then they crashed heavily to the floor.
Enduring the pain, the two struggled to their feet.
Because the infected had already stood up, and if they didn't, they might be bitten or killed!
The explosion of the containment tank not only injured Alice and her companion, but also severely impacted the infected who had lost their minds.
However, the explosion only worsened their injuries and dislocated their joints. Except for one or two unlucky ones whose heads were destroyed and who lay on the ground forever, the rest all got up.
The explosion ignited flames on their bodies, but they still felt no pain, slowly walking toward the group.
"Shoot them in the head!" Alice finally got up from the ground, took two deep breaths, and shouted after gathering her strength.
Hearing her voice, the three mercenaries raised their guns with some hesitation.
The crosshairs shifted from center mass to head level.
Fire!!
Bang bang bang!!!
One by one, their heads were destroyed, red and white matter exploding.
The infected stood and swayed twice, then crashed heavily to the ground, never to rise again!
"Headshots work!"
The three exchanged glances, all seeing relief in each other's eyes. Finally, they had a way to fight back.
"You three, retreat first!" Kaplan commanded on the spot, while his pistol continuously fired rounds.
One infected after another was shot in the head and fell to the ground.
But this was a drop in the ocean; there were hundreds of infected, and their ammunition was far from enough!
"Hurry!!"
J.D. ran over, wanting to open the elevator.
Now that the Red Queen was no longer interfering, opening the elevator was the fastest way for everyone to reach the surface.
"What's the code!" J.D. shouted to Kaplan.
"0-4-3-2, no!" Kaplan's words were cut off by the attack of an infected.
"What is it?"
"0-4-3-1-9-6-5!!"
"Is it open?" Spence, who had been preparing to escape, came to J.D.'s side and asked.
Gasping for breath, J.D. nodded. "See, how simple."
However, as the elevator doors opened, hands reached out.
Pale hands, bones clearly visible!
"No!!"
By the time everyone realized it, J.D. had already been dragged inside by the numerous infected already trapped in the elevator, being torn apart piece by piece until he could no longer even scream.
Rain reached out to rescue him, but was bitten again.
"Ah—!!!!!"
A scream exploded from the elevator, quickly spreading throughout the entire level and even upward.
Finally, it faded due to the distance.
All of this happened within just 5 minutes!
"Go find that priest!" Alice suggested.
Aside from Matt and Rain, who didn't understand what "Father" meant, the remaining two—Spence, who raised both hands in agreement, and Kaplan, who lowered his head, pondered for a moment—
quickly agreed and returned to the laser corridor.
They found that Jake's position hadn't changed much; he was simply standing upside down on the ceiling.
Rain, seeing this strange sight for the first time, couldn't help but curse.
"You're right!" Alice spoke first after seeing Jake. "We might have really released disaster, so what should we do? Since you call yourself Father, you can surely save us, right?"
He lightly leaped down from the ceiling, landing gracefully on the ground. "Of course, Father has an obligation to guide lost souls to the right path."
"However, as I said, when you need my help here, you must pay a small price."
It was a deal they couldn't refuse.
Jake provided a way out, and they provided the artificial intelligence Jake wanted.
"You want the Red Queen?" Kaplan looked at the Red Queen mainframe on his back; this was his mission.
However, he quickly dismissed this thought. Everything before him was real, and he didn't want to die. Clearly, the mission given by the Umbrella Corporation wasn't so simple; he had to escape.
Compared to that, an artificial intelligence seemed insignificant.
"No," Jake waved his hand. "This computer's intelligence is too advanced. I want something simpler."
"What do you want to do?"
"Make me the highest-level user of the Red Queen, and then you need to delete something."
"Delete her self-evolution, or her emotions?"
"No, I want to delete her memories. I only need a clean slate. Even if she's a computer, the actions she has taken and will take are too problematic."
"We don't have the right to deprive her of her emotions, do we?" Jake smiled gently. Delete the Red Queen's automatic evolution and emotions? What's the difference between that and an ordinary supercomputer?
It's not worth his time.
As a computer expert capable of rendering the Red Queen inoperable in a very short time, Kaplan gave Jake the answer: just 30 minutes. He could complete the modification in 30 minutes.
But before that, he had to withstand the infected attack outside.
The group arrived at the Red Queen's server room, while outside the laser corridor, one after another, unsteady infected were slowly walking toward them.
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