With these two traitors stabbing Umbrella Corporation in the back, the company is currently in a precarious position, but Spencer, who has weathered many storms, is not alarmed, because the money Umbrella Corporation earned in its early years is enough to sustain them for some time. Even if there is no revenue on the surface, it will not cause Umbrella Corporation to completely collapse.
After all, the public outcry from the American people has only cut off their pharmaceutical industry. Because Umbrella Corporation is involved in many fields, other industries can continue to sell. Although the profits are thin, they can barely make ends meet. In addition, the BOWs sold secretly in the black market can also provide Umbrella Corporation with extra income.
And if necessary,
Umbrella Corporation can also choose to cooperate with the United States Government, giving the results of their virus research to the United States Government and military. In this way, with the government's "Umbrella," Umbrella Corporation can be completely whitewashed.
Don't think the United States Government is so righteous. Bio-weapons like viruses have a huge scope, similar to nuclear weapons research, and are very beneficial to the government. If Umbrella Corporation wants to cooperate, the United States Government would be very happy.
It's just a pity...
Currently, Spencer does not have this idea because he does not want his plans to be leaked. Moreover, once he cooperates with the United States Government, a large amount of power will be handed over to the high-ranking officials of the United States Government. He would completely transform from a chairman above all others into a subservient clown, which is the most unacceptable thing for Spencer!
Therefore, the two are still in a stalemate... As for whether the plunge in Umbrella Corporation's stock price will cause a financial market crisis in the United States? The answer is definitely yes... but the impact will not be significant.
Although Umbrella Corporation accounts for a very high proportion of the total United States GDP, the United States Government is ultimately the one in control. Since it dared to abolish Umbrella Corporation, it is not afraid of this problem. After all, there is also Tricell that can be supported, so there is no need to worry about financial problems at all!
...
On the other side,
With Umbrella Corporation's silence, Claire, as the strongest college student, did not listen to Javier and continue to wait for news. Instead, she set out alone to find her brother. After infiltrating and causing a ruckus at Umbrella Corporation's Paris branch, Claire was eventually captured by Umbrella Corporation and detained, preparing to be sent to Rockfort Island Prison—
That is an Island that Umbrella Corporation bought at a huge cost. Umbrella Corporation spent a large amount of money to transform it into an experimental research Island, isolated from the outside world, secretly researching new Bio-weapon virus experimental projects. The famous mass-produced T-103 Tyrant was produced in the Tyrant factory there.
Although it sounds a bit strange and funny,
In Umbrella Corporation's eyes, Bio-weapon BOWs like Tyrants are indeed as simple as toys produced in a toy factory, used as bodyguards and war weapons to be sold to other countries and some scientists interested in viruses. This is undoubtedly Umbrella Corporation's largest secret storage location.
As for why Claire was not immediately killed but escorted to Rockfort Island Prison, the reason is very simple: why not take advantage of free human experimental material? Due to the outbreak of the Raccoon City incident,
Umbrella Corporation's methods of obtaining human experimental material have become scarce. Therefore, for a spy like Claire who tried to infiltrate their branch base to obtain intelligence...
Directly killing her is not the best punishment,
but transforming her into a monster is making the best use of her—!
...
Island—
On Rockfort Island,
Inside a secluded but particularly magnificent grand castle, a strange figure was pacing hurriedly in a boudoir filled with flower scents and women's clothing. The figure had both a man's broad back and a woman's fragility. The figure's steps were sometimes hurried, sometimes slow.
Inside, there were even two different voices conversing. Although there was only one person in the room, it was as if a loving brother and sister were discussing the interesting events of the night, which was horrifying.
Everything in the boudoir was reflected in the large dressing table mirror,
and in front of it sat a beautiful woman with an extraordinary appearance.
A lavender purple evening gown perfectly accentuated her figure. A golden pendant necklace adorned her fair, proud neck, with a dazzling ruby inlaid at the bottom. If it could be displayed in a brighter light, it should emit an even more dazzling glow.
Her azure blue eyes were deeply captivating,
and her perfectly sculpted face was delicately powdered. Her thin lips were painted with bright pink lipstick, giving her a hint of charm. Her golden hair was casually draped over her shoulders. Without a doubt... this was an extraordinarily beautiful blonde woman.
Her two fair, jade-like arms were adorned with white transparent lace gloves. Her slender, long fingers slowly hooked her chin. The blonde woman in the mirror was breathtakingly beautiful, and her gesture of caressing her jade-like neck seemed like self-admiration—!
The woman in front of him was very beautiful,
truly beautiful,
like a perfect sculpture, like the Louvre's treasure, the Venus de Milo, the goddess of love and beauty, perfect and dazzling, without a single flaw.
But the only regrettable thing was,
this beautiful work of art did not possess its own soul and temperament. Its appearance was infinitely close to perfection, but it lacked a soul. This was truly a pity!
However,
the next second...
...
"My dear sister, Alexia, do you know what interesting thing your brother discovered today?"
"You don't know, today I discovered a natural enemy that ants are very afraid of. Its name is Antlion. Although it has 'ant' in its name, it is not the same species. They like to dig holes and hide in sand pits. Their back shells are huge and hard, and the front of their heads has sickle-shaped mandibles. They are incredibly strong and can easily drag ants into their holes, then use their sharp mandibles to pierce the ants' bodies and suck out all their body fluids."
"I have observed for a long time, but no ant can be its opponent. My dear sister, Alexia, do you think our ants are truly invincible?"
Although it was a beautiful woman,
the voice that came out was that of an adult male. If someone discovered it... they would surely be incredulous.
But soon,
something even stranger happened.
Just as the adult male voice fell, a sweet female voice, matching the beautiful female body in front of him, suddenly sounded.
"My dear brother, Alfred, you seem to have overlooked one thing. That is, ants are social animals, and I am the Queen Ant who commands and controls everything. As long as I am alive... I can continuously produce my loyal Soldier Ants. They will charge for me regardless of death. One ant may not be able to defeat its natural enemy, the Antlion, but what about ten? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred million?!"
"So don't overlook this. My dear brother, believe me... I will make the Ashford Family rise again! At that time, I will stand at the pinnacle of the Earth, I will become the Queen of all living creatures, believe me...!"
A gentle and confident female voice sounded.
Facing the adult male voice's previous question, this female voice not only refuted it but also put forth a decisive idea, overbearingly declaring her ambition!
"Hehe..."
"I knew my dear sister would think things through so thoroughly, Alexia, your brother will always protect you...!"
The sickeningly sweet voice continued to come.
If Javier saw this wonderful two-person act, he would definitely be unable to resist applauding and praising it, because they could not imagine that there would be such a talented person in the Ashford Family. Not only a cross-dresser, but a voice acting master, comparable to a national treasure-level voice performance, even the cherry blossom country next door would be amazed!
That's right,
the two male and female voices heard in this castle were actually both produced by one person, and the breathtakingly beautiful blonde woman in front of him was also a man in disguise.
And this man is Alfred Ashford, the current eldest son of the Ashford Family head. The female voice he just made was him playing his sister, Alexia Ashford. Because they are twins, their relationship is more special than ordinary siblings.
The story begins decades ago—
In 1971,
Edward Ashford, one of Umbrella Corporation's three founders, died from the Progenitor Virus. His son, Alexander Ashford, became the sixth head of the Ashford Family.
However, ever since the death of Edward, the Ashford lineage's influence has steadily diminished, especially under Spencer's political control. This made Alexander, as the sixth family head, feel extremely humiliated. To restore the family's prestige, Alexander secretly began a clandestine experimental plan, without Spencer's knowledge.
He built a secret Institute in the cold Antarctic, primarily focusing on genetic research. Because of his minor talent in this area, he planned to extract the genes of the first Ashford Family head, Ms. Veronica, to artificially inseminate and give birth to a child prodigy with extraordinary intelligence to deal with Spencer.
Just like Spencer's "Wesker Project," Alexander's idea was correct: through artificial insemination,
the genes of the first generation head of the Ashford Family, Ms. Veronica, successfully conceived a pair of twin siblings: Alfred Ashford, the elder brother, and Alexia Ashford, the younger sister.
However,
it's unclear whether there was a problem with the experiment itself, or if Alexander secretly used his own genes for insemination,
which resulted in the elder brother, Alfred, among the twin siblings, not having outstanding intelligence. Although he was better than ordinary people, compared to his younger sister, Alexia, the difference was like heaven and earth. Alfred only showed slightly above-average intelligence compared to children his age and even graduated from university at the age of 22.
His younger sister, Alexia, not only had astonishing looks from a young age, but her intelligence was truly like that of a prodigy. She graduated from a prestigious university at just 10 years old, with an IQ over 180, and an astonishing degree of brain development, even more outstanding than the famous genius Albert Einstein.
She was exceptionally promoted to become the youngest researcher director at Umbrella Corporation, and her performance during her research at Umbrella Corporation was groundbreaking. A teenage girl's intelligence crushed countless people, not only making Spencer deeply wary but also putting immense pressure on the promising young talent William Birkin at the time.
Because he simply couldn't imagine,
what Alexia had eaten to grow up like that. Why, at such a young age, was the scope of her thought even broader than his? She was even incisive; any virus research was not difficult for her. The rapid progress of the T-Virus at that time was also thanks to Alexia, this prodigy.
This led her father, Alexander, to treat them differently.
He didn't care much for his son, Alfred, but was extremely fond of his daughter, Alexia. The biased education caused huge psychological problems for his son, Alfred, but fortunately, his prodigy sister, Alexia, did not look down on her brother, which prevented Alfred's young mind from becoming too extreme.
In their leisure time, the siblings often amused themselves by playing with various insects. The elder brother, Alfred, particularly enjoyed tearing off dragonflies' wings and throwing them to ants on the ground to be eaten. This was a psychological distortion he developed after being scolded by his father, Alexander; only by tormenting creatures weaker than him could he vent his anger.
Meanwhile, his younger sister, Alexia, observed an extremely interesting phenomenon in her brother's act of throwing dragonflies to ants: the division of labor among ants. Ants have a Leech Queen, drones, female ants, worker ants, larvae, Soldier Ants, and so on. Each has a unique method of division of labor.
For example, worker ants, being infertile, are dedicated to collecting food, expanding the nest, and feeding the larvae and the Leech Queen, etc.
The Leech Queen, on the other hand, is responsible for breeding the colony's offspring. She doesn't need to go out; she only needs to lie in the nest and quietly control the worker ants' feeding.
Alexia loved this 'person above people' setup. If possible, she also wanted to be a 'person above people' creature, similar to a Leech Queen, rather than just a human!
And so,
the siblings' mentality began to change.
During her research at Umbrella Corporation, Alexia applied this idea to reality, fusing the Progenitor Virus with ancient queen ant DNA to create her new masterpiece, the T-Veronica Virus!
However,
one day in the future,
something unexpected happened.
One day, Alfred broke into his father Alexander's room and accidentally discovered the secret of their birth. It turned out their mother had not died prematurely; in fact, they had no mother at all. Their father, Alexander, in order to have more excellent offspring, had combined his own genes with those of Ms. Veronica, the first generation head of the Ashford Family, to produce them, the twins.
Upon learning the truth, Alfred developed extreme disgust for his father, Alexander, because he believed his father had no respect for them as siblings. For excellent offspring... he had arbitrarily created them through artificial insemination. This was not the propagation of life at all, but disgusting cloning.
In a sense,
the siblings were merely clones and puppets of Ms. Veronica, the first generation head of the Ashford Family, and their father, Alexander, was the mastermind controlling them. Alfred, upon learning this truth, immediately told his intelligent sister, Alexia.
Alexia, being a prodigy, immediately understood the meaning of her existence: she was merely a tool. At the same time, she grew to resent Alexander, her selfish and ugly father.
And so,
the angry siblings immediately thought of the ants they often discussed when they were young. They decided to make their selfish father the first step in their great experiment. The elder brother, Alfred, and the younger sister, Alexia, together restrained their father, Alexander, and injected the T-Veronica Virus, the new virus created by fusing ancient queen ant DNA and the Progenitor Virus, into their father Alexander's body.
The experiment was a success,
but also a failure.
Their father, Alexander, successfully mutated and began to mimic insects, but he lost control halfway through his evolution. He completely transformed into a monster (Nosferatu), which greatly disappointed Alexia. However, this did not deter her, being a prodigy.
After repeated experience summarization,
Alexia understood that this was due to the T-Veronica Virus's excessively powerful destructiveness. If she placed herself in a nutrient capsule and froze herself, refrigerating herself at a low temperature to slow down the virus's destructive effects on her body cells and intelligence, then theoretically, she could complete her evolution in several decades.
No sooner said than done,
his younger sister, Alexia, instructed her elder brother, Alfred, to protect her, while she herself injected the T-Veronica Virus and jumped into the nutrient capsule to freeze and hibernate. This hibernation lasted for nearly several decades.
To protect his sister... Alfred announced false news of his sister Alexia's death to the outside world, deceiving Umbrella Corporation. And due to the death of Alexia, the prodigy, William Birkin, who was a top researcher at Umbrella Corporation at the time, breathed a deep sigh of relief. He could reclaim his throne.
And over the course of several decades,
due to his younger sister Alexia's departure, the lonely elder brother Alfred experienced an even greater psychological distortion, even developing a split personality. He would often imitate his younger sister Alexia's voice and appearance and talk to himself in the mirror.
This is also why...
in the castle's boudoir, the voices of both Alfred and Alexia conversing could be heard simultaneously.
Chapter Two: Rockfort Island Prison
As for the T-Veronica Virus—
it is the most unique of all Bio-weapons.
Because it itself is a new virus created by fusing the Progenitor Virus and the DNA of an ancient queen ant. Note... this is the Progenitor Virus, not the T-Virus. The T-Virus is a strain extracted from the Progenitor Virus; there is still a significant difference between the two.
A simple T-Virus fusion cannot create such a powerful T-Veronica Virus. Of course, what's even more surprising is that the T-Veronica Virus was created by a 12-year-old Alexia.
A 12-year-old Alexia is similar to a 12-year-old Sherry now. Can you imagine such a young girl creating such a powerful virus? Undoubtedly... it's simply impossible, not even by chance.
No wonder William's pressure was so immense. A monstrous child stood beside him, whose intelligence and character were not as simple as her appearance suggested. Anyone would feel extremely fearful of this.
After all, it should be known that,
William's teacher, Marcus, also spent several decades researching the Progenitor Virus before combining leech DNA with the Progenitor Virus strain to create the Leech Queen T-Virus. A comparison like this makes Alexia's terror clear—!
If she could have been utilized by Umbrella Corporation, then at this very moment, Umbrella Corporation's development would have accelerated unprecedentedly by nearly fifty years, and Spencer might also have fulfilled his wish for immortality. It's just... very regrettable.
Compared to the T-Virus and G Virus at the same stage, the T-Veronica Virus has its own unique characteristics:
namely, it can promote individual biological mutation and even ecological system modification, highly assimilate organisms, and create special social structures.
The T-Veronica Virus incorporates the DNA sequence of an ancient queen ant, which enables infected organisms to form social structures similar to ants. Depending on the infected body's own characteristics and the outcome of the virus infection, the virus will differentiate and mutate them, leading to various classes and traits.