☆ Login, the start of the battle
The USS Arcadia was anchored not far from the coast of Los Angeles. Since the outbreak of the biohazard crisis, life on Earth has been fading away day by day, and now there is almost no trace of human activity. This aircraft carrier is no longer the glorious ship it once was; only a deathly silence permeates every piece of steel and every screw. Occasionally, a gentle wave stirred by the wind laps against its cold, hard silver hull, then silently recedes, as if even it fears this eerie giant.
A sound shattered the silence of the world as a helicopter smoothly approached the Arcadia. In this desolate world, such a moving object seemed utterly out of place. It landed smoothly on the Arcadia's wide deck, the sound of its propellers fading until, gradually, the world returned to deathly silence.
"Da da..."
Three men and one woman stepped off the helicopter. Their expressions were serious and wary; they were fully armed, as if something dangerous on the deserted aircraft carrier posed a threat to them. They had clearly been through a fierce battle, their clothes inevitably showing signs of wear and tear.
"This is the Arcadia." One of the men looked around, casually touching the pistol tucked into his left leg pouch, then his sharp eyes swept over the three men beside him. "Are you sure you want to go in? Wesker isn't as easy to deal with as you think."
The only woman curled the corners of her lips into a smile: "Is that still a problem? Besides, even if you, Wesker's old acquaintance, say he's not easy to deal with, you're still going, aren't you, Chris?"
Chris's eyes darkened slightly, and his voice turned colder: "Of course, Alice, we have to find time to settle old scores with him."
“I don’t know much about STARS, but it’s hard to imagine that Wesker is the commander of your squad. Tsk, his informants are everywhere.” Another man patted Chris on the shoulder to comfort him. “Don’t be impulsive. I have a feeling that if you ruin his plans as you said, he will definitely not go easy on you out of ‘old feelings’.”
It's true that Chris Redfield originally belonged to STARS, and it's also highly likely that Albert Wesker, an Umbrella mole, was the squad commander. However, the other three remained skeptical about the feud between Chris, Wesker, and STARS, especially Carlos and his best friend Nikola, who had just spoken up to comfort him. Mercenaries' vigilance forced them to remain somewhat suspicious of the matter.
After all, Chris's origins are unknown, and they haven't known each other for long. He also has intricate connections with their common enemy. Anyone would be on edge if they stayed in this post-apocalyptic world for too long. Who knows if he's a spy sent by Wesker, whose network of informants is everywhere?
It's not their fault; Chris's explanation was so vague. He said Wesker, as the commander, was with them to test the performance of a virus, using them as test subjects, but Chris's perfect insight and unexpected strength thwarted their plan, allowing them to escape. The experience was tragic, but also somewhat unbelievable. After all, Chris didn't seem that… to put it bluntly, he didn't seem that smart to see through Wesker's plan, unless Wesker did it on purpose? (←This, to some extent, reveals the truth about Carlos and Nikola.)
If that's the case, then Wesker must have set some trap for Chris again, which makes them have to be careful. As for his claim that Umbrella also abducted his sister Claire, Carlos and Nicola, who had traveled with Claire for a while, said that this matter still needs to be verified—this guy doesn't look anything like the pretty Claire, and besides, that pretty girl even colluded with the government to target Alice and Ye Xi, almost killing them. If it weren't for Alice and Ye Xi's exceptional ferocity, who knows where they would still be wandering now?
"Alright, stop hesitating. There's no turning back now." Alice cocked the long gun in her hand with a flourish. "Be careful, a whole bunch of zombies might come running out when we open the door."
"Hey hey~" Nikolai replied with his usual grin, exchanging a glance with Carlos before raising his gun and stepping sideways toward the only door on the deck. When they reached the door, the four stopped, looked at each other, and Chris gestured. The other three immediately stepped back, pointing their guns at the door. Only then did he cautiously approach, placing his hand on the doorknob. After a few seconds of hesitation, he yanked the door open. Behind it, there was nothing but darkness.
No traps, no zombies? This surprised the four, as they were used to Umbrella's countless traps. But their surprise only lasted a moment before they moved forward again. They hadn't carried any lighting equipment, so they had no way of knowing what dangers lurked in the darkness. Besides being cautious, there was nothing else they could do.
The further they went, the more surprised they became, and at the same time, the greater their unease grew—there was no danger at all, it was as if the doors were wide open to welcome them. Could it be that this was an empty ship, and all of Umbrella's people had been transferred? Or... they were just waiting for them to come inside, which was why they hadn't taken any action?
Anxiety made them grip their weapons tighter. The four men reached an elevator, exchanged another glance, pressed the button, and stepped inside. What was there to worry about? They'd come this far; were they really going to turn back? As long as Umbrella, or more accurately, Wesker, remained alive, the survivors would never have a good day.
The elevator doors opened again, revealing a bright light. The stark contrast between darkness and light made Alice frown. It was a spacious hall, with only a few railings and a large metal door, and the rest of the decor consisting of only two colors. Chris took the first step, but Alice stopped her. "I'll go first," she said earnestly, and then walked to the front.
Thanks to Ye Xi, Wesker was able to return to the United States from the Japanese base long ago. Although Alice led a large army of clones to invade the Umbrella Japanese base, she did not run into Wesker, nor did she lose her powers. Therefore, among the four, Alice, who possesses telekinesis, is clearly the strongest.
The four of them arrived at the door and opened it with ease. Although they were used to such smooth sailing, they were still on edge—their intuition told them that the real danger was finally coming.
The white metal doors slowly opened to both sides, revealing a tall, slender figure before the four. He had his back to them, short, dark brown hair, and wore a large camel-colored coat. He seemed to be reviewing some electronic documents, his fingers clicking incessantly on a screen in front of him. "You've finally arrived. I've been waiting for you for so long," he said, his voice cold and serpentine. Even after noticing their arrival, he didn't turn around.
"Who are you?" Alice looked around warily and asked loudly.
“Me?” He paused for a moment, as if he were really thinking about who he was, before continuing, his voice carrying a hint of arrogance, “I am the owner of this ship, the ruler of Umbrella.”
“Master? Ruler?” Chris sneered. “Don’t be ridiculous. Where is your so-called ‘ruler’s’ master, Wesker?”
This time, he stopped completely, even putting down his work. A chilling killing intent instantly spread, and the oppressive aura put all four of them on alert. Suddenly, the killing intent vanished, as if it had never been there. The man slowly turned around, adjusted his frameless glasses, raised his head slightly, and looked at the four people in front of him with disdain. He said slowly, "I am Wesker, but not the Albert Wesker you think I am. I am Alex Wesker, the real Wesker, not someone that loser can compare to."
His blood-red pupils were the same color as Albert Wesker's, but he lacked the cold arrogance that commanded the world, and instead possessed a chilling and sinister quality that was completely at odds with his scholarly appearance.
After a moment of silence, Chris's voice broke the awkward silence again: "Okay, I get it, you sulking little brother, where's your older brother Albert Wesker?" What a joke, if you were Wesker, where's Chris, who's been having a love-hate relationship with Wesker in the game all these years?
This is certainly not Chris's true thought, but it is similar to what the little devil in his heart was complaining about—what a joke, you are of course not the Wesker I am talking about, otherwise who would I be after chasing that bastard Wesker for so many years?
However, it's not surprising that Chris misunderstood. Alex shares the same surname as Albert Wesker and has the same blood-red eyes. His bookish, pretty-boy face looks younger than Wesker's cold, sculpted features, so he's easily mistaken for a proud little brother who's "unhappy that his brother-in-law has more achievements, fame, and ability than him, so he's going to throw a tantrum and show you that I'm the real Wesker, not your shadow, hmph." ╮(╯▽╰)╭
Enraged, Alex, who was not related to Wesker by blood but shared the same virus, flashed his frameless glasses and charged at Chris like the wind. Alice, whose reaction speed was far beyond that of ordinary people, was startled and immediately drew her machete and flashed in front of Chris. With a "clang," Alice successfully blocked the attack.
The one who made the move was a beautiful brown-haired woman wielding a rapier, the tip of which was blocked by the blade of Alice's machete. "You incompetent trash, how dare you compare my Lord Alex to such losers! It's an insult! Only death can quell Lord Alex's rage!" she roared, her pupils instantly contracting. Alice sensed danger and quickly increased her strength. As the rapier pierced through Alice's machete, Alice used the opportunity of the rapier being embedded in the machete to twist and break the woman's sword in two.
The beautiful woman almost instantly abandoned her sword, activated her telekinesis to blast Alice away like an air cannon, and then pushed off backward with both feet, rushing towards the flying Alice like an arrow. Her right hand somehow grabbed a dagger and aimed it straight at Alice's white neck artery!
Clearly, Alice hadn't expected this beautiful woman to be the same type as her, catching her off guard. But she wasn't one to be trifled with either. Almost the instant the dagger struck, Alice raised her right hand, and the dagger seemed to cut through an invisible blade, gleaming with metallic light! The beautiful woman gritted her teeth, her right hand holding the dagger trembling uncontrollably, but she still couldn't withstand Alice's powerful telekinetic force, which was enveloped by the protagonist's aura. She was knocked backward and finally came to a stop after sliding several meters backward on her half-crouched feet.
The confrontation ended in seconds. Before the other three members of Alice's side could even make a move, Alice knocked the beautiful woman away. The woman seemed unwilling to give up and wanted to rush forward again, but was stopped by Alex's cold voice: "Kaina, did I order you to make a move? Get back."
“…Yes, Lord Alex…” Kaina clearly wanted to argue, but seeing Alex’s indifferent expression, she hesitated and obediently retreated to Alex’s side.
“My only target is Alice—it’s not good to have too many ability users in this world. But I didn’t expect four of them to come. Well, I’ll just take them all out.” Alex snorted coldly, a contemptuous smile curving his lips. “Given your decent abilities, I’ll just give you a free gift.”
As he spoke, he pressed a button on the screen behind him. Instantly, the ground shook, and countless glass jars slowly rose, appearing before everyone. And those jars were filled with one person after another! Could it be…? The four people's expressions changed drastically.
“That’s right. These are all genuine humans.” Alex nodded in satisfaction as he saw the expressions on everyone’s faces. “It’s just a prank. I imagine you’re all tired of killing so many zombies, so how about I give you a change of pace? Oh, by the way, Mr. Chris Redfield, who was so rude to me earlier, seems to have a sister that I’ve taken in. How about you and your sister have a life-or-death game?”
Alex smirked contemptuously and pointed to one of the jars, which clearly contained Chris's dear sister, Claire! Chris shuddered, veins bulging on his forehead. If Alice hadn't stopped him, he would have already pounced on this "Wesker's naughty brother" and torn him to pieces—"You bastard! I'll fight you one-on-one if you dare!"
Alex ignored the furious Chris and continued, "As for Alice, she's certainly not worth my time..." He scrolled through the screen, found the jar containing Ye Xi, and looked over. His contemptuous smile vanished—no one was there! There was no one! But the screen clearly showed someone inside, with clear physiological data...
"Albert, I underestimated you. You couldn't even handle the poison gas specifically designed to counter the Progenitor Virus..." Alex's face darkened. He was supposedly on this ship for Alice, but his real purpose was to deal with Number 13. Now, both the bait and the target had escaped right under his nose. It was no exaggeration to say he was in a bad mood. However, Alex didn't immediately lash out. After all, he still had four bastards to deal with, so he turned his attention to Kaina. Alice was more than enough for Kaina. "Kaina, you..."
"Pfft... Ugh... Pfft hahaha Wesker, don't stop me... Stop me... I've wanted to laugh ever since I heard that this sissy is your brother... Hahaha, look how quickly his face changes, it's so damn funny..."
Just as Alex was about to hand Alice over to Kaina, a voice bursting with laughter interrupted his restrained words. Who else could it be but Ye Xi, the bait he thought had escaped?!
Author's Note: Had a blast on vacation, hehe. OJZ Here are a few pictures. Chris, Leon, and Claire's character designs are based on a game... So... Chris (C-bro): Leon and Claire: I flipped through and flipped, searching and searching, and suddenly realized something's not right in this one—
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