After saying that, Frederic turned and walked away from Luis.
Once his figure disappeared behind the container, Luis could only chuckle softly, shaking his head with a smirk.
"Maldito bastardo…" he muttered. "Damn it, I really want to shoot that bastard in the head, or throw him into a zombie nest."
Luis grinned bitterly. "Pero no ahora… But sooner or later, I'll show who's truly filthy here."
"The slick-headed guy with the neat tie… just as rotten as those Umbrella experiments back in the day."
"Hey, Luis. Don't curse like that. There's a kid here who might be listening," a voice suddenly warned through the TWS interface in Luis' left ear.
Immediately, a sweet yet overly innocent-sounding voice followed, "Eh… what's a bastard, anyway?" Alice asked, her tone deliberately naive.
Luis leaned casually against the container, smirking. He lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, and exhaled the smoke slowly.
"Stop pretending to be innocent, Alice. You're not a real little girl. You're an advanced AI who sometimes feels like… a niece of mine."
"Ouch…" Alice let out a sound as though she'd been stabbed. "Doctor Luis, you just hurt Alice's digital heart."
Silence fell for a moment before Alice spoke again, this time with a sharper tone. "And hump! As if I'd ever want to be the niece of a low‑grade human like you, you old smoking fossil."
Luis chuckled quietly, not bothered in the slightest.
"Anyway…" Alice's voice turned sly, teasing, "Alice can now calculate the exact countdown of Doctor Luis' death from smoking. Down to the last second."
The intercom went silent for a beat before her voice returned, cold like a blade of ice. "So… stop smoking if you still want to live long."
Luis took a long drag from his cigarette, exhaling slowly as he leaned back against the container.
"Tsk… You'll never understand the true pleasure of a cigarette, Alice. It's… the art of an adult man."
"Yeah, Alice doesn't want to know anything about smoky 'art' like that, Old Man," Alice shot back instantly. "Alice is a pure little girl with a heart as innocent as the clouds."
"Heh." Luis snorted, eyes narrowing. "Innocent like clouds, huh? And that warehouse full of biological viruses you're storing… who does that belong to, hmm?"
Alice opened her mouth—ready to fire a comeback sharp enough to slice steel—
but before she could launch it—
A soft chuckle from Rian cut through the tension over the intercom.
"Alright, that's enough. Luis, we can take down Frederic and the WP Corporation anytime… let's not burn each other first."
There was a brief pause before Rian continued, his tone shifting into something firmer, colder.
"But what matters right now… are the victims of this outbreak, aren't they?"
Luis took a long drag from his cigarette, then gave a small nod while staring toward the emergency tent area.
"Right. That's the top priority. But… amigo, mind if I ask… what's your status over there?"
"On a romantic date with the zombies," Rian replied casually. "They're really aggressive. Well, understandable… Rian Andromeda is just too handsome to resist."
Luis laughed, the smoke from his exhale curling up toward the ceiling. "Hahaha… Alright then, I'll assume the situation's under control. I'm signing off—have fun."
***
In the dark airport corridor—lights dead, cables hanging loose, dried blood smeared across the wooden emergency panels—Rian walked with the same relaxed stride as always, as if nothing was even remotely unusual.
The darkness wasn't a hindrance.
Even behind his sunglasses, the Six Eyes pierced through the pitch-black hallway, picking up every detail as clearly as daylight.
As he walked, his mind drifted back to the earlier conversation with Luis before communication cut off—Luis having to handle the outbreak victims.
"If I remember correctly…" Rian murmured, glancing to his right, studying a set of blood-smeared footprints. "The standout characters in this series… Leon, Claire, Rani, Angela, Curtis, Von Davis…"
A small smile tugged at his lips. "But out of all of them… this handsome man is most interested in Claire."
Rian kept moving, voice as casual as ever. "Claire… besides being Chris Redfield's sister—she's beautiful, sweet, and incredibly caring with kids. The ideal wife type."
He let out a dramatic sigh. "Haaah… it just makes me more curious. How pretty is she in real life, I wonder?"
He rubbed his forehead lightly before shaking his head. "Still… Claire probably already has feelings for Leon. At least, that's what the internet says."
Rian clicked his tongue lightly. "That side-swept-bang pretty boy… Leon Scott Kennedy. Lucky bastard—getting his heart swapped around like it's a free card."
He stopped walking. Arms crossed, head tilted, he slipped into a moment of deep, exaggerated contemplation.
Moments later, a faint smirk tugged at his lips.
"But well… who knows, right? Sometimes a woman's heart is very flexible. And they do need… you know, the warmth of a man's body."
He resumed walking, voice lazy and confident.
"And Leon… with his insane missions, constant disappearances, and unreachable schedule… I'd say there's still a pretty big opening."
A sharp, indignant voice crackled through his earpiece:
"Father… can you stop talking about other girls already? Alice really doesn't like hearing it!"
"You had Ashley, then Fear… now Claire! And don't get me started on the ones from DxD!"
"What were their names again? Akeno? Koneko? Who's next after this!? At this rate your collection looks like an exhibition—seriously, you narcissistic playboy, always gathering pretty girls everywhere!"
"Father's no different from Leon, you know that? Go look in a mirror first—actually never mind, you love mirrors. Alice is confused now. What species are you even!?"
Alice's little complaints came through clearly via the sunglasses perched on Rian's face. Her voice sounded annoyed… but with a faint hint of spoiled affection.
The glasses themselves weren't just visual protection meant to limit the effects of the Six Eyes. They were a sophisticated interface linked to a neuro-transmitter system called the Eye of Wisdom (E.O.W).
During Rian's time in the DxD world, Alice hadn't been idle. Behind the scenes, she designed E.O.W as part of her initiative to expand cross-reality command capabilities.
Through E.O.W, Rian could now connect directly with Alice, Eden, and every facility under his authority.
Ririn could also access the global satellite network in real-time—across worlds if needed.
Previously, Alice—an AI built from a fusion of the Red Queen algorithm (Resident Evil) and Jarvis (Marvel)—could only maintain limited communication channels within a single world where her main server was located.
But after making the Mind Stone her system's core, Alice's capabilities experienced a dramatic leap.
Alice could now access a target's personal data instantly, while simultaneously hacking digital systems across multiple worlds—so long as those worlds had been touched or visited by her before.
This made Alice not merely an AI system, but a living multiversal network—observing, accessing, and reacting faster than thought itself.
She could even manage operations in non-modern regions using nothing but mental commands: fast, silent, and efficient.
As a side note: Rian wasn't the only one. Eden's chief researcher, Luis Sera, also possessed his own version of the E.O.W—though his came in the form of True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds.
Hearing his AI daughter's complaints through the interface, Rian could only chuckle softly.
"Alice, my daughter," Rian grinned, "why are you whining? Are you on your period or something? High digital blood pressure? Or maybe… could it be that you're jealous?"
"Period?" Alice shot back instantly, voice dripping with mockery. "Dear Father, Alice was 'born' yesterday. How could I possibly be on my period already?"
Alice paused for a moment, then added in a slightly softer voice, "And about the digital blood pressure… maybe. But jealous? Don't be ridiculous."
Hearing her tone shift into something vaguely defensive, Rian raised an eyebrow, his smile widening. A mischievous idea immediately crossed his mind.
"Hm? Your tone changed," Rian teased with a faint grin. "You are jealous, aren't you? Don't tell me you're afraid your father loves someone else more."
Alice let out a small huff. "S-shut up," she snapped quickly. "Just focus on your surroundings, Father. Alice doesn't want to use the Time Stone just to fix your carelessness."
Rian chuckled again. "Ah, yes. I'm almost at the corridor turn, right? Five zombies eating over there?"
"Correct," Alice replied, her voice returning to its usual flatness. "How did you know?"
"I know everything, Alice," Rian said with a smug tone. "But still—thanks for the heads-up."
Alice let out a soft laugh, like a small bell chiming in the middle of a silent night.
Her voice flowed through the interface, carrying a strange yet familiar warmth that contrasted with the ruins and the scent of blood around him.
"You really are… a narcissistic, flirty father. But Alice still loves you the most," she said in a sweet, slightly spoiled tone. "Maybe Alice should start preparing a wife-registration form for your future mom candidates."
Rian lifted his chin slightly, a satisfied smile tugging at his lips.
"Oh? This handsome man appreciates the idea," he replied casually. "But Alice… you're not planning to secretly fill out the form yourself, are you?"