Chapter 24: First Grasp of Great Power

13:14.

Sui Bian's party arrived outside the castle's conference hall.

At this point, everyone could only stop here, because a security door blocked Sui Bian and his group from Spencer and the board members.

Standing before the metallic security door, Sui Bian surveyed the scene while Hank, who was behind his left side, whispered:

"Sir, the firepower of the MA5B and 40mm grenades can't breach this door; we'd have to plant a plastic bomb at a critical point for blasting."

"Hmm, then let's blast it, and blow up the whole castle as well." Sui Bian nodded in agreement.

?

Hank looked puzzled.

After all, the mission brief stated that these traitors were senior company officials, possibly board members, who should be arrested according to normal procedure.

Still, Hank didn't bother to consider Sui Bian's motives and also nodded: "Yes."

Next, Alpha and Omicron's demolition experts began placing plastic bombs throughout the castle on Sui Bian's orders.

Thanks to the convenience of the Mechanical exoskeleton, the two squads carried enough plastic bombs to blow the entire castle sky‑high.

As for talking with Spencer?

Sui Bian had no patience to chatter with a man destined to die, let alone waste spit.

13:26.

With the bombs placed, everyone began evacuating the castle.

During this time, Spencer tried to communicate with Sui Bian via the castle's screens, but the screens had all been blown up by a single shot from Sui Bian.

13:28.

All personnel, including the two sniper teams, withdrew to the castle's front yard and boarded four Sikorsky S‑76C helicopters parked on the helipad; Sui Bian knew each S‑76C cost over twenty million dollars.

Ignoring them would be a waste of treasure.

13:31.

The four fully‑fueled S‑76s lifted off in formation, about two hundred meters above ground, keeping a safe distance from the castle.

Then the two USS demolition experts each detonated the plastic bombs placed inside the castle.

"Boom—Boom—~!"

The deafening explosions, along with the resulting rubble, debris and dust, completely devoured Spencer's family castle.

In an instant, the centuries‑old castle collapsed with a roar.

Sitting in the cockpit, Sui Bian looked through the hatch window at the smoke‑filled castle below.

Just as he was about to order the formation to descend and dispatch a few USS teams for another sweep, the system reminded him in his mind:

【Detected host's use of the Red and White Queens to sideline Umbrella's board of directors, leading the Alpha and Omicron squads to eliminate all directors including Oswald E. Spencer, thereby monopolizing Umbrella's great authority.】

【Therefore this system grants the host 1,000 points as a reward; host's current points: 1,160.】

【Detection shows Alfred Asiford still controls some important Umbrella institutions; host should resolve this promptly.】

Hearing the system's official death notice, Sui Bian couldn't help but think to himself: "Is that it?"

According to the smoke‑without‑injury trope in games and movies, Spencer might have a "second form", or after escaping stage a comeback.

But in reality, no one could survive such a blast; the shock alone could pulverize Spencer and the board members' innards.

As for the remaining Alfred Asiford, Sui Bian isn't too worried about this sis‑obsessed lunatic, but his sister Alekxia Asiford does give him some trouble.

That sister's IQ is near the human ceiling—graduated college at ten, created the T‑Veronica virus at twelve.

To perfectly integrate the Veronica virus, Alekxia chose hibernation and is now "asleep" in an Antarctic research institute.

In the game, she counts as one of the strongest BOSSes.

However, she was ultimately taken down by Chris and Claire siblings, and Sui Bian hopes to squeeze every ounce of value from this queen BOSS, since her virus expertise is unmatched.

At this point, the system still had an unfinished sentence:

【The system also detected an anomaly in the Paris region; it will now issue the mission details, host, please listen carefully.】

"."

【Mission: Successfully contain and reduce the anomaly before it causes massive casualties or panic.】

【Success: Reward the host with one lottery draw.】

【Failure: No penalty.】

"What's meant to come always comes."

Sui Bian let out a silent sigh in his heart, then used his headset to order the USS pilots: "Proceed to the Paris headquarters as originally planned."

"Yes."

———————

…

Paris time, August 15, 1998, 15:35.

The S‑76C flight formation carrying Sui Bian, Hank, Alpha and Omicron arrived at the Paris headquarters helipad.

Then, thanks to the prior arrangement of the Red and White Queens, Sui Bian smoothly took over all affairs at the Paris headquarters and also inspected the underground research facilities.

It is twice the size of the Mother Nest, with a staff of two thousand.

However, the Paris research center focuses on mass‑producing mature B. O. W. s, such as the Tyrant T‑103 model and Hunter Alpha.

Thus, the Paris institute's virus development and even high‑tech weapon research progress are much slower than the Mother Nest's.

Of course, Sui Bian also didn't forget to dispatch a batch of Paris technicians to the Spencer family castle to collect the bodies.

Especially Sergei's and the two Ivan Tyrant bodies.

August 16.

With the help of the Red and White Queens, Umbrella's European situation stabilized, and to the employees it was just another round of "routine" bloodletting by the company's top brass.

The only surprising thing is that the new chairman is actually a Chinese person, and many rumors will surely arise in a short time.

But according to the White Empress's advice, as long as the treatment, salary, and benefits are adequate, employees will eventually call Sui Bian 'dad'.

Sui Bian not only bestows kindness but must also possess sufficient authority; combining kindness and authority enables Umbrella to work more efficiently and ensures employee loyalty as much as possible.

Therefore, those traitors earlier marked by the Red and White Empresses experienced a 'door-opening warmth' from Alpha and Omicron during the period of the 15th to the 16th.

While stabilizing the European situation, Sui Bian had the Red Empress direct the intelligence personnel deployed in Paris to look for the anomaly mentioned by the system.

Umbrella's intelligence personnel, put simply, are spies.

Wesker, who infiltrated STARS and even became captain of Team A, is also an intelligence officer, except that Wesker holds a higher status and position within the company.

Moreover, these intelligence officers are quite capable, holding normal identities worldwide—for example, as police, doctors, white-collar workers, or even government personnel, and so on.

At 05:35 on August 17, Paris time, intelligence personnel conducted an on-site investigation based on clues from the Red Empress and confirmed the location of the anomaly.

(End of chapter)