☆ First encounter, traveling together

Ye Xi woke up amidst the turbulence.

She opened her eyes and found herself lying on someone's back. His back was strong, and it felt very comfortable. He had a faint smell of gunpowder and sweat, which surprisingly made her feel at ease...

etc!

Ye Xi immediately straightened up, but grimaced in pain from the sudden onset—her whole body ached terribly, as if she had pulled a muscle and was so sore after strenuous exercise (←this word is very innocent, really). The man carrying Ye Xi seemed to sense this and immediately stopped, putting her down. The other two men following him also stopped. "Are you alright?" the man asked with concern, then grinned handsomely. "We were really startled when we saw you rush out of the zombie horde."

“Yes,” another person chimed in, “Miss, I never expected you to look so frail but actually be so tough~~” His tone was somewhat teasing, sounding quite unserious.

Ye Xi took a deep breath, trying her best to hide her pain on her face. She looked at them warily, or more precisely, at the injured man being held by the man who had spoken so tauntingly, then looked away. "I'm not that fierce. I just saw a gap and fought desperately, and I didn't expect to see you all..."

"Good luck~~" The man carrying her patted her shoulder along the way. For some reason, Ye Xi suddenly felt that the man's smile was very annoying. "Although you were so scared that you fainted in the end, if I hadn't dragged you to a safe place in time, you would have been eaten by zombies long ago."

Yes, he really deserves a beating. Damn it, how could I have thought he was reliable at first? Clearly, Ye Xi was very unhappy with his interpretation of her fainting as "being scared unconscious." Although Ye Xi didn't know why she had fainted—she had been like a Super Saiyan charging through the zombie horde, instantly decapitating any zombie that came within a meter of her with her Miao sword—there were no scratches on her body, so it couldn't possibly be due to evolution. But Ye Xi hated it when people interpreted her unconsciousness as a cowardly fainting from fear. This was hard for the always independent and strong Ye Xi to accept—"Frightened unconscious? Scare my ass! That's an insult, that's a personal attack!"

Perhaps realizing he'd said something wrong from Ye Xi's sullen expression, the man was momentarily confused, but quickly understood and laughed helplessly—what a proud person! However, it seemed he still misunderstood: "Don't be upset, it's not something to be ashamed of. After all, it really takes courage for someone to rush out of a horde of zombies."

You still think it's because you fainted from fright! You still think it's because you fainted from fright! Ye Xi's expression was still not good, but the displeasure disappeared immediately—well, actually this is fine too. Being seen as someone with a strong sense of pride but a coward and no ability isn't bad either. At least when we encounter zombies, I don't have to fight; I can just stand behind them and watch them fight to the death. Okay, considering they can protect me in the future, I won't hold these little things against them.

"I am Ye Xi," Ye Xi said in a serious tone.

"I am Carlos, the person you were just talking to is Nikolai, and the person he was helping is Yuri." Seeing that Ye Xi was no longer bothered by it, the man who had turned his back to Ye Xi readily introduced them.

"Is that Carlos?" Ye Xi sized him up with a subtle look. "Oh, so this is Carlos, the UBCS recruit who had a fling with Jill in the game and Alice in the movie? I can't believe my luck. After all, there are 120 UBCS soldiers assigned to Raccoon City. Is this the law of protagonist conservation? ~But when I played Biohazard, I was only interested in Chris Leon Wesker, especially in Wesker and Chris's bromance..." Ye Xi suddenly remembered the huge difference between the game and the movie, and thinking of those two idiots, her face immediately fell...

↑PS This is purely a dust complaint and has nothing to do with Wentworth Miller or anything like that. You can ignore it.

↑PPS Actually, I really like Dust's "Prison Break"...

Seeing Ye Xi's strange facial expressions, Carlos suddenly felt a chill. Fortunately, Ye Xi didn't continue staring at him; she had already shifted her gaze to the other two people. Nikolai smiled brightly at Ye Xi, and Yuri, who was about to meet his end, also waved to her.

"Are you from Umbrella Corporation?" Ye Xi asked, feigning indifference as she noticed their insignia.

"Yes, we belong to UBCS. We came to Raccoon City for a rescue, but we're stuck here now. Luckily, we just spotted a helicopter and it's heading that way. Okay, enough talk, or we'll miss it. Can you keep up with us?"

Although Ye Xi was sore all over, her pride rose again when she heard Carlos's uncertain tone. She glared at him and said, "Of course, your sister has been practicing running a lot these past few days, sometimes for a whole day!"

Carlos chuckled and ruffled Ye Xi's hair, then beckoned his two companions to run in the direction where they supposedly saw the helicopter. Ye Xi suddenly noticed the two knives at Carlos's waist looked familiar, then belatedly realized they were her own Miao swords. She immediately checked her weapons: the submachine gun on her back was gone, the dual pistols were gone, the grenades were gone, the bullets were gone! Damn it, even the dagger?! This is robbery! Ye Xi gritted her teeth, fixed her hair, and painfully started running to catch up with them.

↑Daughter, you really pay attention to your image in front of someone.

Get lost, you bastard! Stop distorting the facts!

When the group arrived at one of Umbrella's buildings, the helicopter had already left, leaving only two empty crates in the lobby. The weapons inside had long been taken by Nemesis, also known as Matt.

That's where Carlos got bitten, right? Ye Xi glanced at the man sitting on the ground, already delirious. Except for his orange head, his entire body was red. She immediately moved away. Whether Carlos got bitten or not was none of my business. It wasn't me who got bitten, so why should I warn him? He'd eventually be saved by the antibody in Angela's hand anyway, and who knows when that guy might turn into a zombie? If I warned him, I might get bitten by a zombie the next second. I don't want that! Who wants to be bitten? Thinking this, Ye Xi took another step back—I only need to protect myself; I'll ignore everything else.

So Ye Xi selfishly watched Carlos get bitten. After he hesitated and killed his own brother, Ye Xi pretended to be worried and ran to his side. Looking at his bloodied arm, she ignored the little bit of guilt in her heart and asked with concern, "Are you... alright?"

"It's alright." He clutched his arm, not even flinching, but looking sadly at his comrade's body on the ground, he said in a low voice, "I thought... we could still be saved... Now I know I was wrong. After seeing one brother after another die, I know I was terribly wrong..."

Nicola kicked a nearby overturned box in anger, cursing the damned Umbrella Corporation.

Compared to their sadness and anger, Ye Xi appeared very calm. She had already experienced this kind of thing back in the Hive—abandonment and blacklisting. Having known the ruthlessness of the Umbrella Corporation all too well, Ye Xi had long since become indifferent to it. "Don't be sad. If the Umbrella Corporation abandoned you, did you abandon yourselves too? The most important thing now is to escape. Once you escape, you'll have antibodies. Then, how you seek revenge against Umbrella depends on your determination."

Ye Xi patted Carlos on the shoulder, unusually offering them comforting words. She held out a hand to him, but Carlos looked at her strangely. Seeing that Carlos didn't understand, Ye Xi said helplessly, "Can you give me back my things?" Ye Xi pointed to her empty waist and gestured, "Your arm is injured. You can't expect to be as fierce as before. More fighting power means more safety, right?"

“…Ah, sorry, I didn’t tell you I took your things without telling you.” Carlos handed Ye Xi the Miao sword at his waist, then asked Nikolai for the two guns that belonged to Ye Xi, and finally drew his dagger and gave them to Ye Xi as well.

"That's it?" Ye Xi raised an eyebrow, still looking at Carlos. This time, Carlos understood Ye Xi's meaning and said, "Having so many is useless. Besides, having too many weapons will only give you a sense of security; if you don't know how to use them, they'll just become a burden. These two guns are full of bullets; that's enough for your self-defense. We're not as weak as you think. And my gun just happens to be out of bullets, so you can have your submachine gun. As for grenades, girls shouldn't use such dangerous things; it's not good if they blow up their own people."

...Damn it! What do you mean by this? You look down on me, don't you?! Believe me or not, I'll shoot you right now, you bastard! No, stay calm, stay calm. Shooting him means I'm less safe. This damn man is complimenting me on my delicate and pretty looks...

This damn misleading appearance!!

“This girl is right, Carlos. We need to escape from here and teach Umbrella a lesson. But let’s treat your wounds first.” Nicola patted Ye Xi’s head and then said to Carlos.

Hey, I was wondering why everyone likes to pat my head! Damn it, I'm not a kid!

Carlos nodded, looking at Ye Xi's conflicted expression, and his smile became even more smug. He deliberately ruffled Ye Xi's hair, turning it into a mess, before walking towards the door with Nikolai.

You're even more of a bastard! Ye Xi gave him the middle finger as he walked away, then started fixing her hair again.

When the chaos broke out in the morning, many hospitals dispatched ambulances, so they easily found one parked on the side of the road. Nikola opened the back door, jumped inside, and began rummaging through the medicines. However, he didn't understand the effects of these medications and didn't want to just give Carlos any medicine, so he ended up with medicine bottles everywhere but couldn't find the right one.

Ye Xi stared at the bottles of potions rolling on the ground. Just by their color and smell, the scientific names of each drug popped into her mind, along with their preparation methods and uses. This woman was truly powerful. Ye Xi looked at each potion, none of which she recognized, but thanks to the original memories of this body, she could see all their information.

"Ugh, I can't find it anymore. Hey, Ye, come up and look for it." Completely at a loss with these medications, Nikolai scratched his head and got out of the ambulance.

"Why should I..." Although Ye Xi wanted to say that, given the current situation, no one knew if they would encounter another large group of zombies, and they couldn't let Nikolai drag on any longer. So, for her own safety, Ye Xi entered the ambulance, glanced at the scattered bottles on the ground, and immediately found some hemostatic and analgesic medicine. After finding gauze and cotton swabs, Ye Xi immediately called Carlos to come up.

Seeing that Ye Xi had found the items she needed so efficiently, Nikolai felt somewhat frustrated, but he said nothing and stood outside the car to prevent the zombies from getting close.

"What did you do before? Did you study medicine?" Seeing how familiar Ye Xi was with the medicine, and because Carlos was not used to the overly silent atmosphere in the ambulance, he casually asked.

"I'm sorry, I used to be a philosophy major..." Ye Xi thought, but still continued working according to her original academic background, saying, "No, I'm just good at chemistry and biology. I'm just an intern at a research institute now."

"That's impossible. As far as I know, the requirements for entering the research institute are very high, and you look only eighteen or nineteen years old."

"Twenty years old? I'm already twenty. Besides, don't you know the term 'skipping grades'? I told you, I'm better at chemistry and biology." Ye Xi rolled her eyes at him, then tightened the gauze around her neck.

"Hiss..." Carlos gasped. He was certain that Ye Xi was using such force now in retaliation.

"Alright." Ye Xi patted Carlos's wound, seemingly still not satisfied, and appeared quite pleased with his grimacing expression. She turned and jumped out of the ambulance, then smiled at Carlos, who was glaring at her from inside, and said, "Hey, don't act like a girl and make a fuss over a little injury. Hurry up and get out of here, or I won't be responsible if zombies find you~~"

Ye Xi no longer felt any soreness. Although she still didn't understand why she had fainted, recalling the soreness in her body and the state of her previous burst of inner power, she immediately guessed that it was probably because the evolution of the T-virus had given her unlimited combat skills and instincts, exceeding her body's capacity. Her brain overheated from working too fast, causing her to faint, and then wake up feeling sore all over. That must be it.

Ye Xi nodded, convinced she was right, ignoring the strange feeling she had when she unleashed her inner power to hack and slash at zombies earlier...

Suddenly, a ringing sound broke the silence of the street. Nikolai, who was holding a gun and guarding the ambulance, Ye Xi, who had just come out of her thoughts, and Carlos, who was getting out of the ambulance, exchanged glances. Finally, their gazes settled on the cell phone lying on the ground not far away, its screen glowing...

Author's Note: I had some drafts saved up, so I only uploaded one chapter, which was then combined into one. So, this is the last update; any further updates will have to wait until after the college entrance exams next year. OJZ So, for the sake of this final farewell, please don't write anything else! ↑ How obsessed are you with writing things up?