Probably because they knew what they were doing was shady and couldn't be exposed, all of Umbrella Corporation's bases were built underground.
What was even more impressive was that they were underground even in the middle of a desert.
It had to be said-this level of construction difficulty was probably not much lower than installing an elevator on Mount Everest.
Sand wasn't the same as stable soil.
Which led back to the same question.
With such a powerful Umbrella Corporation, why did they insist on creating a T-virus outbreak instead of doing literally anything else?
Their vision was too narrow.
If they had even a little long-term perspective, things would never have reached this point.
Umbrella's underground bases were scheduled for direct detonation.
Zombies and the T-virus were too troublesome to fully eliminate otherwise, and Morin had no patience to inspect them one by one.
That said, their technology would be selectively preserved.
Morin wasn't handling that.
That was Alice's responsibility later.
She held the Red Queen's highest authority, and the Red Queen also maintained a satellite-based core in orbit.
Destroying the underground facilities wasn't an issue.
They could always rebuild.
Resources were never a problem.
The special aircraft arranged by the Red Queen was extremely fast, quickly delivering Morin and Alice to an Umbrella base located in the Nevada desert.
This base wasn't recorded in the Red Queen's database.
Alicia remembered it.
She had personally marked the location for Morin.
All other bases were under the Red Queen's jurisdiction, yet this one wasn't.
Instead, Umbrella had created a new AI-the White Queen-to manage it.
Something that unusual naturally caught Alicia's attention, so she had memorized the location.
Unfortunately, she had been thoroughly sidelined by Isaacs within Umbrella and never had the chance to investigate what he was doing here.
Later, when the Apocalypse plan began and her own aging accelerated, this place became even easier to forget.
Fortunately, she still remembered when Morin asked.
Otherwise, Morin would've had the Red Queen scan the entire Nevada desert and search every possible underground structure one by one.
"Is this really it?" Alice looked at the lone little house on the surface, clearly doubtful.
"Yes," Morin nodded. "This should be it."
"Did you forget where Umbrella likes to build things?"
"You mean..." Alice's eyes widened. "Underground? In the desert?"
"How did they even manage that?"
"That's a serious engineering question," Morin said. "But honestly, I'm more curious why a company like Umbrella didn't use its technology to benefit humanity or explore the universe."
"They just needed to prove interstellar travel capability to gain access to an infinitely broader future."
Morin had thought about this countless times.
"The long-term vision of leadership really matters."
"Yes..." Alice agreed.
The aircraft could airdrop directly, so the lack of a nearby runway wasn't an issue.
Morin didn't use a rope.
He jumped straight down, activating a stealth spell to land lightly.
It looked absurdly cool.
"Can I learn that?" Alice asked eagerly after sliding down the rope.
"And earlier-you were chanting something. That was magic, right?"
"It was magic," Morin said, shaking his head. "But you probably can't learn that one."
"Your body doesn't have the aptitude."
"Oh..." Alice looked disappointed.
"But," Morin added after a pause, "you might be able to use another kind of power. I'll try teaching you after we're done here."
An idea had just occurred to him.
Morin had known for a long time that Alice couldn't learn magic.
It wasn't unwillingness.
She simply couldn't.
But later on, Alice would clearly display another ability-mental power.
Telekinesis.
Crude, unrefined, but effective.
Enough to enhance movement, manipulate objects, even forcibly redirect flames from a flamethrower.
It meant nothing to Morin.
But for an ordinary person, it was terrifyingly strong.
Morin had recently unlocked his own mental power skill and hadn't fully optimized it yet.
He needed experiments.
Having another test subject would accelerate the process.
It would also count as a small benefit for Alice.
A future employee perk.
A win-win.
"Before that..." Morin took out the Predator Elder's spear from his system space and handed it to Alice.
He showed her how to use it.
How to extend it.
How to retract it.
"This is an alien weapon. Harder than any Earth metal. Resistant to heat, corrosion, and impact. I just got it as spoils of war."
"It's useless to me. Take it."
"Thank you!" Alice accepted it happily.
Despite being an alloy, it wasn't heavy.
The balance suited her perfectly.
"You're welcome," Morin said thoughtfully. "Since you've decided to be my successor, I should mentor you a bit."
He paused.
This felt familiar.
Weapons.
A position.
Later, skills and techniques.
Wasn't this... the legendary golden finger grandpa?
No wonder it felt natural.
Morin realized he'd slipped into the role without noticing.
And honestly?
It felt pretty good.
Morin let Alice take point while he followed behind.
The golden finger grandpa had officially entered escort mode.
This was exactly how it went-taking the protagonist out to gain experience and clear dungeons.
The small house was extremely simple.
One table.
Two chairs.
Nothing else.
After searching for a bit, Alice found a mechanism.
When she activated it, the table and chairs split apart, and a lift platform rose from the floor.
Morin: "..."
No matter how many times he saw this, he still wanted to complain.
The mechanism was easy to find.
No guards.
No identity verification.
Did Umbrella really leave things like this?
The answer would remain unknown.
As the lift descended, Morin caught a scent.
"What is that smell?" Alice frowned.
She smelled it too.
Foul.
Hot.
Wrong.
"If I'm not mistaken..." Morin sighed. "You should stand behind me."
"This dungeon isn't something you can handle yet. Your level's too low."
"Let the big shot carry."
"What?" Alice didn't understand.
"There's a tiny problem," Morin said, turning off his sense of smell.
His hearing was enough.
"If I'm right, the owners of this place have been replaced by xenomorphs."
"Put this on."
He handed Alice a mask and put one on himself.
"Xenomorphs are extremely dangerous for ordinary people. Especially the queen."
"She can survive a direct hit from an ordinary nuclear bomb."
"I can't even do that with my body."
Alice: "???"
Wait.
What did you mean by even?
How strong were you that nuclear durability was a consideration?
Shouldn't bullets already be terrifying?
Alice silently adjusted her estimation of Morin's strength.
Upward.
By a lot.
"If I had to guess," Morin continued, "the xenomorph queen exploited a flaw in the researchers' control protocols."
"She regained mobility, killed the staff, laid eggs, produced face-huggers, and bred workers."
"That's how this entire base ended up like this."
The lift stopped.
The true state of the underground base unfolded before them.
Walls.
Floor.
Ceiling.
All covered in strange secretions.
Bacteria within them worked constantly, releasing heat and a nauseating stench.
It created an environment ideal for xenomorph development.
It also functioned like a web, transmitting information about passing creatures and guiding hunters.
A perfect cycle.
This no longer looked like a research facility.
It looked like a Cthulhu-style nest.
"Then why didn't they go to the surface?" Alice asked, steadying herself. "Why stay here?"
"There are many possibilities," Morin said calmly. "The most likely is that they've just finished taking control."
"They're digesting usable hosts."
"Waiting for all larvae to mature."
"Then they'll swarm out like army ants."
"And bring despair."
"Don't underestimate their intelligence."
"There's a reason they're called 'born to kill.'"
"What should we do?" Alice tightened her grip on the spear.
Morin smiled.
"What should we do?"
"Just watch."
"But you said they were powerful."
"They are," Morin nodded seriously.
"If I don't say that, how would my performance look impressive?"
Then, aloud:
"For me, it just means a little more work."
"That's all."
"Sir, madam."
A slime-covered screen lit up nearby.
"Hello."
"Who's there?" Alice tensed.
"I am the White Queen," the voice said softly. "Could you wipe the slime off the screen? I can't project myself properly."
"Go ahead," Morin said.
Alice carefully used the spear to scrape the slime away.
Hands were unnecessary.
"Thank you. I feel much better."
The White Queen projected her image.
"You look... familiar," Alice frowned.
"You've seen my sister," the White Queen said. "I am the White Queen."
"How bad is it here?" Morin asked.
"Very bad," she replied.
"Experimental Subject A01-the xenomorph queen-far exceeded expectations in strength and intelligence."
"She exploited an opportunity, breached containment, killed personnel, rapidly reproduced A02 entities, and seized full control of the base."
"Everyone is dead."
"And you still let us come down?" Morin raised an eyebrow.
"My systems were overloaded during the initial outbreak," the White Queen explained. "By the time I rebooted, control was lost."
"I pretended to be shut down to avoid destruction."
"I must transmit this information."
"This species poses an extinction-level threat. All my countermeasures have failed."
"I see," Morin said.
"When you arrived, I locked all doors," the White Queen continued. "The secretion network is temporarily blocked."
"They don't know you're here yet."
"They're corroding the locks now."
"You should leave immediately and spread this information."
"I can't delay them for long."
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