Chapter 354

Outside the bridge.

The hatch was tightly shut, and there were dents and scratches on it, more bloodstains and flesh fragments, but the main structure remained intact, indicating the bridge had not fallen.

Leon then had the elite and the two squads of undead guard the rear, while he himself used the terminal on the right bulkhead, leveraging his highest clearance, and smoothly unlocked the sealed hatch.

"Creak… squeak…"

With a jolt and a piercing metallic screech, the hatch slowly swung open to both sides, and all the "living" people inside the bridge, tense-eyed, pointed their guns at Leon and his group.

However, when a young agent got a clear look at Leon's face, he hastily lowered his weapon and exclaimed excitedly, "Sir! It's the sir! The sir is still alive!"

"Director Kennedy?!"

"We're saved!"

At this point, everyone in the bridge finally lowered their guns to avoid accidental discharge.

Leon also nodded lightly to the people in the bridge, then had all the undead and that elite withdraw to the bridge; finally, the hatch sealed again, temporarily blocking the threat of the mutants.

With a "thud!", the hatch was completely sealed.

Standing before the hatch, Leon slung his laser submachine gun across his chest and scanned, counting the survivors inside the bridge.

Roughly counting, at least over a hundred people survived, the majority being duty crew members, a few hunters wearing simple protective gear, and two researchers in white coats now stained with dried blood.

After the count, Leon's mood became agitated again, because that red figure was nowhere to be seen in the bridge.

But now he is everyone's backbone, so he cannot show any anxiety; instead, he walks calmly to the main console and tells the highest-ranking chief mate, "Report the situation; I need to know what exactly happened to the Yudora."

"Yes." The chief mate followed Leon behind him, walked to the console, and while operating it to bring up a holographic screen, prepared to play the relevant surveillance footage for Leon, and gave the report:

"Sir, about thirteen hours ago, a violent Spiritual Shock erupted from the Yudora's cargo hold; afterward, among the crew and soldiers hit by the Spiritual Shock, nearly 95% underwent various degrees of mutation. Sir, please look."

As the chief mate spoke, the holographic screen before Leon began playing the cargo hold explosion from seven hours earlier.

In the cargo hold, the Stalkers and Tyrants standing in the corners remained motionless, staying alert, while hunter soldiers in teams of four, equipped with powered armor, were slowly patrolling.

Suddenly, among all the containers and sealed boxes, the largest one, which even Ada feared, emitted a scarlet light through its seams, spilling outward.

This commotion instantly drew the attention of the Stalkers, Tyrants, and hunter soldiers.

But immediately after, the scarlet light transformed into a substantive Spiritual Shock, which instantly overturned the Stalkers and then rapidly radiated throughout the entire Yudora.

At this moment, the surveillance footage zoomed in on a pair of fallen, unconscious soldiers, as if to observe their condition.

But as the zoom finished, the four downed soldiers began to spasm uncontrollably, mutating and proliferating, with bloody bone tissue thrusting "from inside out" through their powered armor, exposing it to the air; then the soldiers lurched up, twisting and turning, staring blankly around.

Having witnessed this, the surveillance footage quickly readjusted to its original view to oversee the whole cargo hold.

In just a few seconds, the hunter soldiers tasked with patrolling the cargo hold were all affected by that Spiritual Shock, undergoing an irreversible mutation en masse.

Conversely, the Stalkers and Tyrants experienced no change from the Spiritual Shock; however, precisely because of that, the fully mutated soldiers regarded the Stalkers as hostile targets.

In an instant, the hunter soldiers who were once the elite, with the firmest will, and specialized in hunting interdimensional demons, now became unconscious mutants, attacking their fellow Stalkers and Tyrants.

Facing this melee assault, the Stalkers and Tyrants could almost completely overwhelm them; although the mutated soldiers had strength boosted by their powered armor, their numbers could not pose an effective threat.

But…

The surveillance showed ever more mutants streaming from other compartments into the cargo hold, quickly forming a "blood‑red ocean" that heedlessly sought to engulf the Stalkers.

At that same moment, the container, as if regarding the Stalker with the highest output and critical hit as a threat, burst forth again with a small wave of Spiritual Shock.

"Roar!!!"

The Stalker, under Spiritual Suppression, threw back his head and roared in uncontrollable rage, but his anger could not free him from the suppression; eventually, hundreds of mutants engulfed him, and he vanished without a trace.

The surveillance feed went dark due to the Spiritual Energy, and from then on the bridge completely lost control over the cargo hold.

After watching that clip, Leon's already grim face grew even more solemn.

Stalker…

Although it is an "individual" bio‑weapon, the Stalker is also an "elder" of Umbrella, and Umbrella's and its oversight department's "mascot"; after all, no matter how harsh the environment, the Stalker can overcome and survive, and even slaughtered through the hellish plane together with D-1999.

Who would have thought the Stalker would die so easily and simply, which inevitably made Leon feel a pang of sorrow.

"Sir." The chief mate, without waiting for Leon to continue questioning, went on with the report: "After that, we lost helm control of the Yudora, and a Spiritual Energy stance forcibly blocked our jump drive, dragging us into a region suspected to be interdimensional space.

Because the incident happened suddenly, and we also lost contact with you, Sir, Deputy Director Wang, and the captain, we had no choice but, after taking in enough survivors, to seal the bridge to prevent the Yudora from being completely overrun."

"You did well." Leon praised them, then manipulated the console to bring up the Yudora's deck plan and said:

"However, according to your account, on a Yudora with forty thousand people, the number of survivors will be under two thousand, possibly even fewer."

"Oh~! Indeed." The elite who broke out of the encirclement gave an "oh" and added with a hint of sorrow: "I fought my way out of the training bay; alas… many comrades turned into monsters, so I had to kill them, and in the end I was the only one left."

"Director Kennedy…" another crew member said anxiously: "What should we do?"

"Don't panic." Leon turned to the two researchers nearby and asked: "Regarding the mutants ravaging the Yudora, what's your take?"

Upon hearing this, the two researchers exchanged glances, and then the older researcher said to Leon: "Director Kennedy, we currently lack sufficient biological samples and have no experimental conditions for research.

But based on our observations, the mutants are not demons in the traditional sense; they seem more like a mutation caused when people receive some kind of signal hint that stimulates the nerves."

"Mutation?" Leon said in a low voice.

"That's right." The senior researcher nodded: "The vaccine can help us resist corruption from interdimensional space and chaotic Spiritual Energy, but if we bypass the vaccine and directly attack our brains, that could produce the current situation; moreover, the vaccine hasn't failed, otherwise we in interdimensional space would have long lost consciousness and become playthings of evil gods and demons."

"Hmm."

Everyone present agreed with the researcher's analysis.

After receiving a relatively reliable speculation from the researcher, Leon turned again to the chief mate and asked: "Can we directly open the jump entrance to get us out of here?"

"No, sir." The chief mate gave a helpless explanation: "The bridge also lost control over the regular, fold, and jump drives; the Yudora is currently cruising in regular mode through this region resembling interdimensional space."

"Then we'll operate it manually."

Seeing everyone's worried faces, the straight‑tempered elite could no longer hold back and immediately offered a suggestion he deemed extremely "reliable."

"…"

Yet this suggestion drew everyone's gaze; although no one spoke, their micro‑expressions and looks conveyed the meaning "You can't be serious, can you?"

"Is what I said wrong?" the elite asked, bewildered.

"Ahem." The chief mate cleared his throat, first glanced at the number, rank, and name on the elite's left chest plate, then proceeded to explain:

Sergeant Waso, the engine room is located at the rearmost end of the warship, and to reach it one must pass through the hull area where the cargo hold is situated—unless you exit the hatch and walk around—but in the void of aberrant space you could rashly exit the hatch…

The Chief Mate didn't continue saying to go first, but everyone understood implicitly; even Sergeant Waso clearly understood that actively exposing oneself in aberrant space amounted to suicide.

However, Waso merely shrugged, insisting on his suggestion: 'So what? Just kill our way through and it's over.'

Saying this, Waso raised his hand pointing at the living dead who stood motionless, and continued: 'I, together with that group of silent warriors, should be able to break through the aberrants' encirclement! Besides! I am a member of the Hunter Unit—only we have the right to hunt others; who has the right to block us?'

'The Sergeant is right.' Leon took over the conversation: 'In this situation, the only way is to fight our way out to the engine room; otherwise, our only fate is death.'

But Chief Mate hurriedly protested: 'Inside the Yudora, tens of thousands of comrades and friends have been turned into aberrants; even if Sergeant Waso and the living dead are brave, they absolutely cannot break through the encirclement.'

'I know.' Leon did not deny it, but he enlarged the holographic blueprint of the Yudora, marked a route in red, and then said to the Chief Mate:

'A frontal breakthrough is indeed a dead end; presumably the area outside the bridge is now completely sealed off, but if we use the ventilation duct beneath the bridge to go around the cargo hold, we can minimize the risk of direct firefight with the aberrants to the greatest extent.'

'Furthermore...' Leon surveyed everyone present, his tone extremely calm: 'Don't forget we are the Oversight Department, as Sergeant Waso said—only we have the right to hunt others.'

'Now that's the spirit, sir!' Waso was the first to salute in response.

The others followed suit, saluting and saying: 'Yes, sir!'

'Very good.' Leon readied his laser pistol and began giving orders to the crew.

Next, Leon will personally lead the team, commanding Sergeant Waso and eight healthy living dead, as well as six Hunter soldiers, forming an assault squad of sixteen in total.

Meanwhile, on the bridge side, the wounded living dead and three Hunter soldiers were left behind, and the Chief Mate would direct the ship's personnel to attempt to restore communications; once Leon and his team succeed, and the Yudora escapes back to the real universe, they would immediately seek support.

———————

…

Soon after.

Inside the narrow, dim ventilation duct.

Leon and his team split into four groups; the front and rear groups, Team B and Team C, remained the eight living dead with the strongest overall abilities, while the central positions were Leon and Waso's Team A and Team D.

As they proceeded slowly, they would likewise encounter the 'intersection' of the regular passageway, and each intersection would have a row of grid-like ventilation fans; through the gaps one could see the corridor below or the various compartments.

And below…

Besides the sickle monsters, there were only aberrants; no living person was found at all.

After nearly thirty minutes, the group arrived directly above the cargo hold; as Leon passed the ventilation fan at the intersection and slowed his steps to observe, he saw that what should have been a clean, tidy cargo hold had become a 'flesh-and-blood purgatory'.

The deck and hull walls were stained red with blood, and covered with numerous tumor-like, semi-translucent flesh tissues; the source of all this, namely the largest container, had long vanished, replaced by a black 'stone tablet'.

Its main body appeared to have two intertwining, spiraling conical structures, and like the rocky exterior, it was engraved all over with unknown script emitting red light.

Of course, the cargo hold was also packed with countless aberrants; it seemed they had built this place into a nest.

Moreover, Leon discovered that beside those tumor-like tissues lay unconscious researchers, ground crew, agents, and Hunter soldiers.

At that moment, the tumors collectively split open a slit, extending nauseating, spindly tentacles that randomly ensnared the unconscious and dragged them into the 'belly'.

Leon, accustomed to such scenes, showed no change in expression nor heartbeat, but when he spotted among the unconscious crowd Ada, who always liked to wear cheongsams, his expression froze.

Fortunately, the tumors seemed to consume only one person at a time, so Ada luckily escaped.

But what about next time?

How long is the interval between the tumors' movements?

Leon completed his thoughts in an extremely short time; finally, he gestured for everyone to continue toward the engine room, so as to let the Yudora return to the real universe as soon as possible.

As for rescuing Ada…

Leon felt more anguish and anxiety than anyone, with an urge to jump down right then, but he restrained himself; after all, the only result of doing so would be not only failing to save Ada, but also pointlessly sacrificing his own life.

(End of chapter)