Chapter 8

"Time's up, everyone, let's go!" Since they hadn't encountered any zombies, Stars didn't need much preparation. After James had Kaplan confirm the authenticity of the motherboard, he issued the order to retreat.

"I'll stay here. You all go ahead." Chu Ci, following the pre-planned strategy, requested to stay behind.

"What do you want to do?" James was taken aback, his expression darkening instantly.

"Sorry, I seem to have recovered some of my memory. I must stay here to maintain the central computer. If you go out, please notify the company's upper management as soon as possible to send a large team to recover the base." Chu Ci's decision to stay wasn't a whim but the result of careful consideration. After learning the plot of Resident Evil 2 from the new recruit, he finally made up his mind.

From the moment they entered the Hive, Chu Ci, who usually kept a low profile, had been unusually active. In the end, he completely took control of the Hive base just as the scene was about to end!

Indeed, the entire Hive base was now in Chu Ci's hands. The switches for the various gates, the activation of defense mechanisms, the acquisition of permissions, the panoramic surveillance, and even the malfunctioning laser corridor, were all connected to the mobile phone Chu Ci had taken from the mansion via the ubiquitous signal nodes.

By dialing the corresponding number, he could control the corresponding parts, even activating the Hive's ultimate move, the 'Final Execution,' which would release the B Restaurant's舔食者 (note: this term is not commonly used in English, so it's translated as 'Lickers') from their dormancy, turning the entire Hive into a true 'restaurant'!

Of course, Chu Ci wasn't foolish enough to actually activate this ultimate move. However, when James requested to leave, it clearly went against Chu Ci's wishes.

Although James was grateful for Chu Ci's help along the way, he was also annoyed by Chu Ci's insubordinate attitude. Since the Hive base, under Chu Ci's influence, hadn't become the zombie stronghold as in the original story, James saw it as a half-abandoned base flooded with water. Therefore, he didn't bother to persuade Chu Ci, treating him as a loyal company dog. Thus, James nodded and said, "Alright, I'll report your opinion to the company's upper management and have them send a recovery team to repair the Hive as soon as possible."

"Captain, we'll follow you; we want to leave." Liu Dian, who had been in the world for many years, was both tough and cautious, immediately clinging to James.

A group of over ten people left the Hive, including Alice and Spence.

Without the mental shock of the zombie encounter, Alice and Spence's memories recovered slowly, so Matt could only obediently remain a captive.

Chu Ci watched through the monitors until everyone boarded the electric train back to the mansion, then he activated the closure mechanism, lowering the gates and locking the path from the Hive to the mansion.

At the same time, Chu Ci also retrieved the most complete map of the Hive!

Indeed, the map in Stars' hands was incomplete. As a large-scale research institution, it was impossible for the entire foundation to be just office space.

Umbrella Corporation, a company that covered pharmaceuticals, medical hardware, defense industry products, and other high-tech industries, had extremely strong technical capabilities in biological research, electronic engineering, and military research.

The area of the Hive base truly used for T-virus research only accounted for 36.6%, including large-scale cultivation tanks, micro-molecular dialysis areas, and experimental combat zones.

If it were only the size of the area on Kaplan's computer, it wouldn't have the resources to cultivate nearly 300 Lickers in the B Restaurant.

"Red Queen, project the complete Hive structure in holographic form."

Chu Ci gave the order directly.

"You don't have permission to view it." The four corners of the ceiling in the central computer room rotated, and four probes extended. The light converged, quickly forming the image of a pretty little girl, who sternly said to Chu Ci with a very lifelike expression and tone. If not for her slightly transparent body, Chu Ci would have thought she was a real person.

"I have permission now." Chu Ci shamelessly recorded his face in the camera and locked his voice spectrum, directly setting his permissions to the highest level.

"No, that's tampering." Although Red Queen was an AI based on a logical system, she was clearly not a stiff and rigid pseudo-intelligence. Her synthesized electronic voice conveyed a sense of frustration.

"I, I have permission, and you must do as I say." Chu Ci didn't bother to argue with Red Queen, directly accessing her backend source code, making a backup, and then starting to modify it, setting his commands as the top priority.

After a decisive reset, Red Queen vanished without a word, and a vast, stunning map appeared before Chu Ci.

"Damn, Umbrella is really impressive!" Chu Ci stared at the complete map of the Hive, suddenly feeling that staying behind wasn't a bad thing.

How big was the Hive?

246 square kilometers! It included eight office levels, five core levels, a super-large greenhouse, incubation areas, and experimental zones, almost hollowing out the entire mountain basin.

For example, Raccoon City was 139 square kilometers, which, in China, would be a small but significant prefecture-level city. This city was built on the concrete and steel of the Hive base!

The original map was just the tip of the iceberg. As for the 500 researchers James mentioned, well, that number was likely several times higher.

Apart from the explored areas on the original map, the other areas had also suffered indiscriminate attacks from Red Queen, and most of the people inside were dead.

The reason it was "most" was that a few valuable talents had been rescued by Umbrella's USS forces.

From the central computer's operation logs, Red Queen didn't have the authority to activate the sealed extermination system. In fact, after discovering the T-virus leak, Red Queen only had the right to close all entry and exit points, trapping everyone in the base, and reporting to Umbrella's executive director and the Hive base's direct supervisor, Marcus Kane. The extermination order was issued by this bad guy who had already left through the high-level escape route.

Chu Ci didn't care what Marcus and Umbrella's upper management thought, his eyes fixed on a few green channels on the map, he exclaimed in shock.

"Damn, there are other unsealed channels!"

Feeling that his property was being coveted by others, Chu Ci quickly asked Red Queen, "Can these three channels be sealed?"

"I don't have permission..."

Chu Ci immediately interrupted, "I grant it! I order you to seal all the channels."

"As you wish, sir."

Red Queen lowered all the gates near the three channels and locked the elevator shafts leading to the surface, making the Hive a truly independent underground world.

"Good!" Chu Ci praised, then began to query the Hive personnel's information through Red Queen.

"Right, left eye -4.50, right eye -4.90. Hmm... the deceased, Kathy Mia, in the B11 area's mailroom, right?"

Chu Ci's first task was to find a suitable pair of glasses from the dead, as squinting and seeing things blurry wasn't a good thing.

Following the route Red Queen provided, Chu Ci first went to the containment room to replenish the Hive's defense mechanisms with materials like nerve gas, concentrated nitric acid, and potassium permanganate.

Different reagents required different containers and couldn't be used interchangeably.

After replenishing the 'ammunition' for the defense mechanisms, Chu Ci put on a pair of fiber plastic gloves and carried two glass dishes toward the B11 mailroom.

As he approached the door, Red Queen had already drained the water from the room through the drainage system.

Without the deep water to restrain them, the zombies in the office began to revive. Through the glass, Chu Ci saw two bloated female corpses staggering around the room, their movements stiff and their faces grotesque and green. They dragged their high heels, making a terrifying sight. According to Red Queen's report, there was another zombie in the office's tea room.

"You can do it!" Chu Ci took a deep breath, encouraging himself.

"Red Queen, open the door." Chu Ci gave the order, knowing he had to face the zombies!

As soon as the door opened, the zombies seemed to sense the presence of a living person. The two originally slow and sluggish female zombies suddenly burst into their maximum speed, their ankle muscles tearing as they lunged to bite!

"Die!" Chu Ci's eyes were cold, and he raised his hands, splashing concentrated sulfuric acid from the glass dishes onto the faces of the two female zombies. "Red Queen, close the door."

With a swoosh, the two female zombies were a step too late, crashing into the door. Chu Ci watched intently as their once beautiful faces, now disfigured as zombies, were further ravaged by the sulfuric acid. If the zombies had any sense, they would have screamed in pain, but instead, they continued to pound on the reinforced glass door, their hands breaking and bones piercing through the skin.

Chu Ci watched, only about twenty centimeters away from the two female zombies, until the sulfuric acid had eroded their brains, causing their heads to turn black and shrivel to about 80% of their original size, finally putting them out of their misery.

"Zombies killed *2, earned 2 reward points."

"Phew~" When the female zombies stopped moving, Chu Ci felt a sense of relief, taking a deep breath. After a while, he adjusted his emotions and asked Red Queen for the exact time it took to eliminate them.

"Thirty seconds." Red Queen gave an objective assessment and suggested a plan based on her logical database: "I recommend that you go to the F5 area security room to get an MK2 grenade and throw it into the tea room. This is a safe approach."

"Throw a 'pineapple'? And blow up my glasses too?" Chu Ci rolled his eyes and rejected the idea: "Give me a second plan."

"Plan B: Go to the F5 area equipment room to wear a safety work suit, and get a Cold Steel Big Dog Leg from the security room to split the zombie's head open."

Chu Ci paused, looking at his thin arms, then looked up at the camera: "Show me a projection, how do I throw the 'pineapple'?"

PS: A quick recommendation, please, it only takes a few seconds. Brothers, give me your extra recommendations!