Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

A new logo with a black background, yellow stripes, and a V-shaped pattern nested within a square appeared on the paper.

"Military technology."

As Vera uttered the word, a captivating light flashed in her eyes.

The vehicle manufacturing workshop must be put into operation as soon as possible. We need vehicles from Arasaka and military science institutions. As for the old and outdated models, it wouldn't be difficult for me, as a high-ranking member of Arasaka Security, to obtain them.

The prosthetics industry also needs to accelerate its pace of upgrading and iteration.

Today, she designs and manufactures implants that are currently available on the market, primarily for replacing missing or damaged limbs and organs.

Limbs, artificial heart valves, vertebrae—these are all designed to save a patient's life or allow the patient to work normally after suffering severe physical trauma.

In the definition of the cyberpunk world, these are considered to be Generation 0 cyberpunk components.

Vera needs to create genuine first-generation, and even second- and third-generation, cybernetic components to arm her personal bodyguards.

At the same time, she needed to expedite the takeover of some of Umbrella's private armed forces, ideally several USS special operations units. As for the takeover of the USF guard forces, she had already begun that process long ago.

The Arasaka series of weapons have been produced in small quantities, and Vera has already delivered them to the USF guard forces under her control.

Thoughts surged forth.

Just as Vera was pondering how to more easily extract more benefits from the collapsing Umbrella Corporation, knock knock...

"Please come in."

"Director Russell, a man who has infiltrated the industrial park wants to see you."

The secretary pushed open the door with a strange expression, hesitated for a moment, and continued to report with some doubt: "He has identification from the Raccoon City Police Department. He said he has very important information to give you, it's a matter of great importance, it's company inside information. He also said you must see him."

Raccoon City is William Birkin's territory, and everyone in the company knows about his feud with Director Russell. That person is probably the director's spy planted in Raccoon City.

"what?"

Vera was taken aback by what she heard.

"what is his name?"

"He said his name was Chris Redfield."

------

Chapter 026 Chris, Let's Go Back to Raccoon City (Part 2)

night.

Deep forest.

A bizarre mansion.

The bodies of his comrade Kevin Dooley were mutilated, their faces gnawed and their torsos torn apart—horrific corpses.

The face that turned around in the darkness, that pale, rotting face...

"call..."

Chris Redfield, sitting with his head down and leaning forward, took a deep breath.

When he opened his eyes, what came into view was a huge red and white umbrella-shaped floor tile, which was shiny and spotless after being silvered and glazed.

"Umbrella..."

The sound was almost spit out from his throat; the muscles in the man's face trembled with rage, and his bloodshot eyes seemed to be spitting fire.

Chris will never forget that day—what happened on the night of July 24th.

As a member of the Raccoon City Police Department's STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Team) Alpha Squad, he participated in operations targeting incidents involving 'cult organizations' that occurred in the Arklay Mountains this spring.

He swore it was the nightmare of his life.

What a load of bull!

It's zombies, the undead, biological weapons, and the sins of the USA military and Umbrella Corporation!

For the past two months, whenever Chris closed his eyes, he would dream that he had returned to that damned mansion, facing the bites of rotting, mangled, and blood-soaked corpses, as well as attacks from various deformed biochemical experimental monsters.

"...Hmph, Umbrella executives, hopefully they'll be useful."

Chris looked up. Under the high-tech chandelier, the reception hall of the newly built headquarters building in San Francisco's Umbrella Industrial Park was as bright as day, causing him, who had grown accustomed to groping in the dark, to involuntarily squint.

After the ordeal at the mansion, he received treatment and recovered at Raccoon City General Hospital, where he, along with Jill, Barry, and Rebecca, as STARS survivors, made several attempts to expose Umbrella's crimes to the authorities.

Unfortunately, you can't fight city hall.

Umbrella took control of everything in Raccoon City and suppressed the situation.

Chris's whistleblower letter to the FBI went unanswered, and even STARS was forcibly shut down. All Chris could do was keep gathering dirt on Umbrella and evidence of their biochemical research from various sources.

He was suspended from his job due to some of his excessive behavior during this period. But Chris did not give up and planned to use this as an excuse to go on vacation in Europe while continuing his investigation at Umbrella's headquarters in Paris.

The process remains fraught with difficulties.

At this point, Rebecca's letter gave Chris another idea.

Rebecca, who had been invited to work for the STARS Exeter branch in Maine, suddenly appeared in California, saying she could try to divide Umbrella from within.

Chris considered the possibility of this to be utter nonsense.

Will Umbrella's people fight amongst themselves and dismantle their own company?

But it's not a solution.

Given the current situation, waiting around is pointless anyway, so we might as well take a gamble.

Driven by a sense of justice and a mission to avenge his fallen comrades, Chris secretly returned from Europe.

After meeting up with Rebecca in San Francisco, he first reprimanded her for her recklessness, and then took over Rebecca's duties to keep watch for a few days to gather information.

After learning that there would be a big deal between the Pentagon and Umbrella today, Chris sneaked to the edge of Umbrella's industrial park. After the Department of Defense convoy left and he confirmed that Vera was still in the industrial park, he broke in as a former Raccoon City STARS member and demanded to see Vera, saying that he had important company secrets.

It's an open secret that Umbrella became the biggest financial sponsor of Raccoon City STARS after its reorganization in 1996.

The Umbrella employees here certainly know.

“Mr. Redfield, please come with me. Director Russell wants to see you.”

Not long after, the secretary arrived with security personnel to summon him.

"..." Chris remained silent and stood up.

Honestly, even knowing that Umbrella had unsuspecting members and different branches, he had absolutely no liking for these guys with Umbrella logo pins on their collars.

Ding.

The elevator doors opened, and Chris followed behind his secretary, deep in thought.

Walking down the wide corridor, he felt obviously being watched by surveillance cameras. He kept thinking about the information he had gathered about the so-called Director Russell after talking with Rebecca.

Vera Adelheid Russell.

Born in 1976, currently 22 years old.

German-American. (PS: California and Pennsylvania have the largest German-American populations.)

Adelheid is a middle or given name commonly used in German-speaking cultures to convey positive connotations, often associated with sweetness or nobility.

A genius, Umbrella's youngest executive and chief researcher, and the first director of the Black Umbrella division.

He skipped a grade and completed his studies early, graduating from the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

His parents died unexpectedly during his student years. After graduation, he joined Umbrella's California branch and quickly rose to prominence, becoming known for his expertise in mechanical engineering, bionics, ergonomics, intelligent control, electronic information, and many other fields.

A typical example of a genius among success stories.

He is suspected to have become extremely focused on the field of prosthetics and bionics due to the accidental death of his parents.

Opponents of Umbrella's old approach have repeatedly criticized Umbrella's excessive investment in medical and biological research, and are the biggest driving force and organizer of Umbrella's transformation from a single medical industry in recent years.

That damned mansion probably existed long before this Director Russell was even born.

Compared to the meager information Chris painstakingly gathered about the G-virus in Raccoon City, and the presence of William Birkin, the chief researcher there, Director Russell's arrival at Umbrella was undoubtedly too late.

T-virus, G-virus, BOW, and the like already existed before Russell graduated.

The woman's discord with William Birkin, her denigration and criticism of his research output as disproportionate to his investment, was something even the low-level employees of Umbrella in Raccoon City had heard about.

Considering her performance at the Umbrella press conference and symposium, she truly is the only one with the highest probability of success.

With this in mind, Chris had a better chance of success on this trip.

Rebecca, I hope you're right.

Da da--

The footsteps suddenly stopped. Seeing the fully armed company security personnel slowly gathering around, Chris turned to the secretary who had led the way. "What does this mean?"

Secretary: "Mr. Redfield, please understand, this is standard procedure. Please stand inside the security gate for a body search. Please cooperate."

Chris kept a straight face, but since he was already here, giving up halfway wasn't his style: "Okay."

Standing between two pillars, two tall and burly security guards stepped forward and began to search Chris thoroughly. They were holding a long, rectangular object with a display screen that Chris couldn't quite identify—a metal detector.

Only then did Chris begin to carefully examine the Umbrella security guards.

First of all, they look very intimidating; they are all tall, strong men.

In terms of equipment, it was definitely far superior to his STARS, completely covered from head to toe. Black stab-proof uniform, black military boots and tactical gloves, black jumpsuit, knee pads, arm guards, heavy-duty aramid bulletproof vest with armor plates, and...

hiss?

What model of gun is this? How come he's never seen it before?

As a former air force pilot, police officer, and special police officer, and a skilled gun enthusiast who frequently participates in shooting competitions and even wins championships, Chris may not recognize every model of gun in the world, but he has practical experience with most of the well-known and highly regarded guns on the market.

In Chris's opinion, the guns carried by these security guards were just as well-made as the prizes for the first, second, and third place winners at shooting competitions. Except for the lack of personalization.