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Inside Umbrella's Hive, deep in the Ark chamber, Jack stood silently on the lift, staring at the endless rows of cryogenic pods as if lost in thought.
After a long, quiet moment, he reached for the bag he'd left by his side.
Inside lay over a dozen high-yield explosives, more than enough to flatten this entire place.
He pulled one out, tossed it into the air, then flicked his wrist. A web strand shot out, latching onto the bomb and fixing it to the ceiling.
One by one, he rigged the remaining explosives to different points around the chamber, making sure there were no blind spots.
When the last one was secured, he picked up a small remote from the desk. One press of that button, and the Hive would be reduced to rubble in seconds.
But now wasn't the right time. The Hive was built directly beneath Raccoon City—blowing it up would collapse the whole city in an instant.
And Alice was still somewhere up there. If that happened, who knew if she'd survive.
Jack slipped the remote back into his pocket and left quickly, heading in a different direction.
He emerged into the fresh air outside a suburban villa, scanning his surroundings.
Not far off, a police cruiser lay flipped in a small grove, smoke pouring from its wrecked frame. It was far beyond repair.
In the distance, he could just make out a few zombies staggering down the road.
It had only been fourteen hours since the outbreak, yet even the remote suburbs weren't spared.
He watched for a while, then lost interest and set off toward Raccoon City.
On the way, he ran into plenty of zombies, but none were a real threat to him.
Eventually, he spotted an off-road SUV parked at the roadside. It looked intact, not a scratch worth worrying about.
Perfect. That would get him to the city faster.
He hurried over, but as he reached for the door handle, he heard the unmistakable sound of tearing flesh coming from behind the car.
Curious, he stepped around the back.
A zombie was hunched over a corpse, tearing into its flesh. From the clothes, it wasn't hard to guess—the dead man had been the SUV's owner.
Judging by the scene, the poor guy had probably just pulled over to take a piss, only to get ambushed and killed before he could even unzip.
Having pieced it together, Jack didn't bother interfering with the creature's "meal." He just climbed straight into the driver's seat.
Lucky for him, the keys were still in the ignition. Otherwise things might've been annoying.
The engine roared to life, and Jack drove off toward the city.
As he drove, he opened up his system interface to check his life points.
They were skyrocketing.
Even though it was only a few points per second, the rate was insane.
Which meant that, every second, another person was dying.
That only confirmed his theory.
The system's definition of "killing an enemy" was deliberately vague. Whether he did it directly, or only caused it indirectly, it still counted as his kill.
By spreading the virus, every death it caused was linked back to him.
And the system rewarded him with their life points.
Meanwhile, Raccoon City itself had already descended into chaos.
At the Maymen Bridge, countless families crowded together, desperate to escape this demon-infested city.
There weren't any zombies here yet, but fear was everywhere. Cars were jammed into a gridlock that stretched for miles.
With the checkpoint up ahead slowing things down, no one could move forward. Shouting matches broke out left and right, arguments turned into brawls, and the whole place felt like it was about to explode.
Through this chaos, Jack's SUV crawled forward until it, too, came to a stop behind the wall of cars.
Sitting in the driver's seat, his sharp eyes picked out the checkpoint several hundred meters away.
A towering wall, ten meters high, sealed off the road, leaving only a single exit open.
Jack pushed open the door and stepped out, walking steadily toward it.
All around him, people screamed, shoved, and fought, but he only shook his head.
In times like this, panic was the fastest way to die. People who lost their composure usually didn't last long.
Still, he didn't step in. To him, those frantic survivors were already as good as corpses.
"Stay in line to pass the checkpoint! Everyone must go through scanning! Families must pass together—no exceptions!
Keep order and don't run around!"
The broadcast blared across the area as Jack reached the checkpoint and studied it carefully.
It was classic Umbrella—efficient and ruthless. In just a few hours, they'd managed to completely seal off Raccoon City.
"....."