"Have you heard of Umbrella?"
That was Arthur's opening line to the battle-ready group.
As expected, everyone stared at him blankly.
Rika was the first to react.
"Blank, what's Umbrella? A parachute?"
Arthur gave a cryptic smile and slowly shook his head.
To the others, it felt like he was openly mocking them, like he was laughing at people who couldn't figure out that one plus one equals two.
This brat was way too cocky.
"Before I explain what Umbrella is," he said calmly,
"let me introduce myself properly."
"My real name is Arthur. 'Blank' is just my codename."
"I'm Agent 007 of the United States."
"After uncovering the Umbrella conspiracy, I was dispatched to Japan."
"My mission: to sabotage Umbrella Corporation's human experiments."
The room froze.
Dead silent.
Had this kid completely lost his mind?
"Wait a second, Blank— no… Arthur," Rika said hesitantly.
Arthur's lips curved upward, just slightly.
By revealing his real name now, he knew he could lend just enough credibility to whatever madness he was about to say next.
Besides, someone here might be an expert in psychology and microexpressions. Hell, even on social media there were people studying that and making money from it, now imagine an elite police unit like this one.
No world should ever be underestimated, every one of them harbors its own share of prodigies.
He still wasn't used to codenames the way others were.
If his alias, or any classified intel, were exposed later the entire plan would collapse.
He needed these people's cooperation.
Rika's expression was hard to read.
"Umbrella… Corporation? Human experiments? Are you saying they created these monsters?"
"Exactly!"
Arthur's voice rang out, sharp and decisive.
"Umbrella Corporation operates countless legitimate front businesses — pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, defense technology, nearly every high-tech sector imaginable."
"But their real profits come from clandestine military R&D: life engineering, bio-weapons… projects far too dark to ever see the light of day."
"In truth, those monsters aren't the 'corpses' the news keeps talking about. Their real name is zombies."
"Their aggression and their ability to infect comes from a virus…"
"The T-Virus."
"And the T-Virus is Umbrella's flagship creation."
"That's insane!"
Tajima felt his entire worldview begin to collapse.
Arthur shot him a glance.
"Monsters are overrunning our cities, and that is what you think sounds crazy?"
"Wait… Arthur."
Rika Minami was, after all, a woman... and a bit more rational than the others.
"Even if we assume what you're saying is true…"
"Then what exactly was the Umbrella Corporation trying to achieve by researching this? Just turning people into monsters?"
Arthur looked at her as if the answer should have been obvious, making Rika fight the urge to slam her fist into his head.
"After fighting those things for this long, haven't you figured it out yet?"
"It's genetic mutation."
"The T-Virus was created for gene enhancement. Umbrella's objective is straight out of a mad scientist's handbook, developing stronger bio-weapons."
"Even going as far as creating an entirely new humanoid species to replace humanity as we know it."
"The problem is that the T-Virus accelerates and amplifies genetic reshuffling, and most organisms simply can't withstand such violent mutation."
"So they turn into grotesque monsters."
"Umbrella's laboratories were already filled with hordes of these failed results. I've seen them myself: Cerberuses, Lickers, Tyrants…"
He paused, his gaze sweeping across the room.
"The only difference now is that those monsters are standing right in front of you."
Faced with Arthur's calm, confident explanation, everyone fell silent.
They searched for another possibility, another explanation, but found none.
It was the only answer that fit.
What choice did they have but to accept it?
Come up with a completely new excuse for the apocalypse on the spot?
Besides, as Arthur spoke, one of the teammates, someone who had once studied behavioral psychology, watched him closely.
To his quiet horror, he realized that every word Arthur said rang true.
It didn't sound like a fabricated story, nor did it have a single crack in its logic.
As the others fired off question after question, Arthur answered each one without hesitation or contradiction.
Even though he had never personally witnessed any of it,
he still painted, right before their eyes, the image of a colossal commercial empire lurking beneath the surface of human civilization.
Arthur didn't care about their scrutiny.
He had the backing of an entire game world, how could a handful of questions possibly corner him? (By the way, I've been thinking about making a slight change to the story regarding the types of worlds available, bringing in some movies or games like The Avengers and Resident Evil to write about. I've always been a huge fan of the franchise especially its characters [Ada, Jill, Claire… 😏] but that would come later in the story. There are still plenty of great anime worlds to include in this book first.)
As for them actually investigating the truth…
Setting aside the fact that the world had already ended, the internet was dead, and every nation's diplomatic system had collapsed, there was simply no way to contact the United States to verify his identity, or uncover the truth about Umbrella.
Even without Arthur's story, the true source of the virus wouldn't be all that different from what he claimed.
And even if the tale of the Umbrella Corporation were someday exposed as false, some convenient scapegoat would inevitably be pushed forward to shoulder the blame.
As for him?
By then, he would have already left this world. Why worry about something so distant?
For the foreseeable future, the truth would remain buried.
Unless Conan's theme suddenly started playing, and someone among them jumped forward in tears, confessing a tragic life story and admitting to being the mastermind behind the apocalypse… (classic of Conan)
Judging by the silence, that seemed unlikely.
Arthur let the pause stretch just long enough.
"You don't actually think that's all I wanted to say, do you?"
Never one to waste a moment of drama, he continued.
"What I told you was merely the background, so you could grasp the scale of this disaster."
His gaze swept across every face in the room, sharp and deliberate.
"I brought you here for one reason only."
"So that when death finally comes for this world…"
"…you won't face it ignorant of the truth."
And with that, the room fell utterly silent.