Chapter Three: First Encounter with the Biohazard (Part One)

Chapter Three: First Encounter with the Biohazard

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Now, the story continues.

As the unit pressed deeper, isolated research chambers began to appear along both sides of the corridor. All these chambers were filled with water, and besides the water there floated the corpses of many researchers, their pale forms ghastly to behold. The reincarnators and their companions understood all too well: these people had succumbed to the T-virus and become zombies. Once the central computer rebooted, they would break free from their restraints and begin to hunt the living.

“This is bad,” one of the mercenaries said. “To get to the Red Queen, we have to go through these labs, but now they’re all flooded. I don’t think we can get through.”

Matthew Addison nodded. “Rain, JD, go and see if there’s any way to drain the water.”

At his order, the long-haired female mercenary and JD, another mercenary, gripped their guns and walked deeper into the corridor. Matthew then turned to the flooded laboratory. “Kaplan, Zhang Jie, you two look for another route to the Red Queen.”

Kaplan raised his gun and followed Rain and JD. Zhang Jie, meanwhile, waved casually to the white-collar youth and the others, appearing at ease as he headed off in their direction.

While Matthew and the main characters were talking, a shadow slowly appeared on the glass wall where Matt was leaning. Looking closer, Matt realized it was a corpse drifting in the water, which frightened him so badly he leapt away with a scream.

Everyone jumped, even the reincarnators—those not from the original plot—were startled out of their wits. All eyes turned to the wall, where a pale female corpse floated behind the glass.

Although Matthew and the others were visibly unsettled, they quickly regained their composure. Some of the reincarnators, however, were genuinely chilled to the bone. When watching a movie, such horrors are easy to dismiss, but being present in reality—especially while knowing the corpse was already a zombie—gave the scene a chilling terror beyond words.

“Hmm. This body is already a zombie, but for some reason it’s dormant right now,” Shuster observed quietly as he looked at the corpse.

The white-collar youth was still staring, lost in thought, when suddenly a small hand tapped him on the shoulder. Any movement at such a time could scare someone to death, and he jumped several meters away, turning to find the bespectacled girl standing there, laughing.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you. How about we introduce ourselves? After all, we’ll be relying on each other soon,” the girl said with a smile.

The reincarnators seemed to have no objection. The bespectacled girl went on, “My name is Jane Lan—‘Jane’ as in the engineer, ‘Lan’ as in mountain breeze. It sounds like a boy’s name, doesn’t it? I’m a writer. Before coming here, I kept complaining about a lack of ideas and inspiration. Who’d have thought I’d end up in a world full of endless inspiration? I suppose this is karma.”

The white-collar youth smiled amiably. “Zheng Zha—‘Zheng’ as in Zheng Chenggong, ‘Zha’ as in Nezha. I work as a company manager. I did complain about how boring and monotonous real life was before coming here, as if people were rotting away day by day. I wanted some excitement... but this is a little too intense.”

Jane Lan shook Zheng Zha’s hand with a laugh. “Kindred spirits! Honestly, I felt the same way.”

A middle-aged man grinned good-naturedly. “Mou Gang—‘Mou’ as in the surname, ‘Gang’ as in steel. I can’t compare with you educated types; it’s just a name. I’m a long-haul truck driver. Before coming here, I complained that my wife was too stingy and my son didn’t live up to expectations. In short, I was disappointed with reality. I clicked ‘confirm’ while playing games online with friends, and then I ended up here.”

Then the unremarkable young man spoke. “Li Xiaoyi, a senior in high school. I used to complain about a lot of things, but honestly, being here isn’t so bad—as long as I don’t die, I can become a superhero. And from what Zhang Jie said, if we make it back, we get to keep our abilities. I can’t stand being bullied at school anymore. If I can go back, I’ll kill those bastards!”

Shuster saw everyone looking at him, shrugged, and stepped forward. “Shuster Redona, stateless. I suppose you could call me an exorcist.”

“Lolita Redona, stateless as well. I’m Shuster’s sister, and also an exorcist,” Lolita said, stepping up beside him.

“Exorcists... I never thought such characters from novels would really exist in reality!” Jane Lan exclaimed in surprise.

Just then, Zhang Jie and another mercenary returned. As Zhang Jie passed Jane Lan, he gave her a hard slap on the backside. Caught off guard, Jane Lan could only let out a shriek before Zhang Jie burst out laughing and walked toward Matthew Addison.

“Sir, we found another route, but it’ll take more time. We’ll need to loop back and go through the B cafeteria to reach the destination. This way will probably take twice as long,” the mercenary beside Zhang Jie reported.

At this moment, the other two scouts also returned. Rain, the long-haired female mercenary, said, “Sir, there’s no way through over there. This floor is completely flooded.”

Matthew Addison nodded. “Alright, we’ll take the second route. There’s not much time left. Let’s move.”

Helpless, the reincarnators followed the main group back the way they came. Fortunately, the mercenaries didn’t run this time. After walking for an indeterminate distance, they finally stopped outside a heavy steel door. One of the mercenaries used a computer to open it, and the lead group entered cautiously with weapons at the ready.

The hall was filled with countless small containers. Anyone who had seen the movie knew these were the storage units for the Licker.

Kaplan glanced at his computer. “This is the B cafeteria... at least that’s what the map says.”

Matthew Addison walked over to look at the computer, but Matt commented from the side, “There might be some secrets hidden here—secrets the company doesn’t want the outside world to know...”

Matthew glanced at him but said nothing. Instead, he turned to the mercenaries. “JD, Rain, Zhang Jie, keep an eye on the prisoners and guard the exit.”

Then another female mercenary suddenly spoke up. “Sir, the gas readings here are zero. Maybe there was no gas released in this area—perhaps the defense system malfunctioned.”

Matthew Addison nodded. “JD, Rain, Zhang Jie, there might be survivors hiding nearby. Search the area, but don’t go far. You must watch the prisoners and the exit. Understood?”

All three nodded, though Zhang Jie only sneered and pulled out a cigarette. After all, apart from zombies, there was nothing else here.

Zhang Jie trailed the main group, searching for something. The other mercenaries didn’t comment, and the rest followed closely behind the squad leader.

After passing through several steel doors, they arrived at the central computer control room. Naturally, the Red Queen had gone rogue by now, so it was no longer possible to control the facility directly from here.

The most computer-savvy mercenary, Kaplan, immediately set up three laptops. From Shuster’s perspective, his skills were far beyond the norm as his fingers flew over the keyboards. Yet after several minutes, the door leading to the central computer remained tightly sealed.

Another female mercenary couldn’t help but ask, “Why is this taking so long?”

Kaplan replied without turning his head, “The Red Queen is an intelligent computer with an extremely robust defense system. If its firewall could be breached so easily, they wouldn’t have made it the lab’s mainframe...”

As he spoke, there was a soft click and the sealed door finally began to open slowly. Matthew Addison nodded. “Pack up the equipment!” Then he turned to the group of transmigrators.

“You all stay here.”

Beyond the door was a corridor over ten meters long, lined with glass walls on both sides—unlike the steel walls outside.

With that, Matthew proceeded inside, moving with extreme caution. Still, when he reached the center, he jumped in alarm as the glass walls around him abruptly lit up—a shock that could easily leave anyone weak at the knees.

Kaplan’s voice came through the communicator. “Don’t worry, just automatic lights. Nothing to be concerned about.”

Matthew had already placed the transmitter—an object resembling a cellphone—on the door’s sensor. Kaplan quickly typed on his keyboard, and soon there was another gentle sound as the door to the central computer began to open.

Matthew exhaled and beckoned to the others. “Alright, bring the equipment over.”

Alice suddenly asked, “What is that thing?”

Kaplan, who was closest, explained, “It’s a device that can shut down the Red Queen. It releases a powerful electric current to disrupt the mainframe and force it to reboot...”

At that moment, the mercenary holding the device was just about to enter the corridor when a sudden voice rang out.

“Wait, wait! Don’t you think this is a bit odd? Isn’t this AI a little too useless? You’re just going to reboot it so easily? I don’t think it’ll be that simple. There’s probably something peculiar in this corridor.” The speaker was the white-collar youth, Zheng Zha.

“The plot is beginning!” Shuster and Lolita thought to themselves.

PS: Since ancient times, spearmen have had rough fates, with luck never better than rank E. I’m not much different from a spearman!