Chapter 42: Battle Ends

Hehe~.

Ji Er glanced at the Stalker not far ahead, let out a light laugh and quipped, "That ugly guy is a bit ruthless, but as a teammate he's reliable—much better than some humans, right."

After speaking, Ji Er turned his head toward the far‑away Bu Lai De, his gaze and tone clearly mocking the teammate who liked to wear a yellow vest.

In the game, Bu Lai De was cowardly and thus sabotaged the entire STARS-A, and even now he constantly drags the team's reputation down, no wonder Ji Er had a hidden jab in his words.

As for Bu Lai De's unease toward the Stalker, it's probably because in the original Resident Evil 3 the Stalker crushed his head with one hand.

While Ji Er was an endless rival of the Stalker in the game, in reality he became a comrade on the same side, even speaking well of it.

"Alright," Chris stepped between them, his face very serious, "Stay alert; now is not a time for idle chat."

"Yes." (x2)

Next.

The massive lift arrived at the area where they were, the doors opened, and the Stalker together with three squads of Eupsilon boarded first, heading to the control center beneath the castle.

The remaining two squads and the Caron Task Force followed closely, since the lift could not accommodate everyone at once.

Meanwhile, the battle on the ground was nearing its end.

The Olympus Spear, with support and cover from two AC‑130s and two CH‑53s, completely swept the airport, barracks and other main structures on Lockford Island, while four LCAC‑type hover landing craft delivered the main force to the island.

Facing the crushing situation, the remaining island workers immediately raised their hands in surrender.

Even a fool could guess that the island's being attacked on such a scale by the company must be tied to that bubble‑headed island manager.

To survive, surrender was the only option, especially since most of those workers weren't Alfred's confidants.

On the other side.

When Chris, Ji Er and others reached the control center, they met fiercer resistance: a large contingent of armed security loyal to Alfred, a considerable number of hunters, and four T‑103 Tyrants.

Those security forces and B. O. W. s evaded the A‑10's strafing runs and also avoided the AC‑130's fire suppression.

Facing such defenses, any ordinary nation's army charging in would inevitably suffer heavy losses; even if they breached the final line, the result would be a mutually disastrous defeat.

Fortunately, Chris and Ji Er had the Stalker acting as a fire‑attractor cover, making the cleansing operation run smoothly.

Moreover, a T‑103 against the Stalker only ends up being utterly crushed.

In the original game, the Stalker sustains heavy damage and needs ample heat to repair, so it "conveniently" consumed a T‑103.

Although both are Tyrants, the two models differ qualitatively.

In less than ten minutes, at the underground control center beneath the castle, outside the only remaining central control room, the other areas fell into the hands of the Caron and Eupsilon forces.

Before the two forces could even breach the central room, the mentally ill Alfred Asifort chose to swallow a grenade and kill himself, preferring death to falling into Spencer's hands.

Unfortunately, in Alfred's view, Umbrella's decision‑maker was still Spencer, so Alfred preferred death over any further tie to Spencer.

However, Alfred did not, as in the game, use voice control before dying to unlock and awaken the sleeping Alekxia in Antarctica.

Because all this was intercepted by the Red Queen, and Alfred's voice‑control code was also copied by the Red Queen.

According to the game's setting, Alekxia must sleep a full fifteen years, or even longer, to let her cells slowly fuse with the Veronica virus.

Alekxia fell into slumber on December 31, 1983, and was awakened in the game on December 27, 1998 by her brother moments before his death.

(Alfred was killed by the siblings Chris and Claire.)

Although only four days short, that gap is extremely dangerous for the Veronica virus fusion.

Now, Sui Bian, who knew how events would unfold, directly had the Red Queen stop Alfred's dying mischief, so Alekxia can sleep as long as she wishes.

According to Sui Bian's plan, once Wang Zhaofeng's research team fully masters the memory eraser technology, they will proactively awaken Alekxia and then use that tech to perform a complete memory‑alteration surgery on her.

In the original Code Veronica, even Wesker is at a disadvantage against Alekxia.

If the memory‑alteration surgery works on her, Umbrella would gain a highly combat‑capable humanoid B. O. W. and also a genius in virology, chemistry, and biology.

However, this cannot be rushed; results won't appear until early next year, i. e., early 1999.

On the bridge of the Bohan Dong.

"The Vulture Squad has completed the cleanup mission and is preparing to return to the base in Africa."

"The Caron Task Force and Eupsilon combat squad have secured the body of traitor Alfred Asifort and are expected to return to the surface in fifteen minutes."

"The T‑102 Tracker's metrics are all good; combat data has been uploaded, and the Sixth Institute will analyze and improve this field test."

The bridge crew, one after another, reported the current status to Sui Bian.

"Sir," a crew member turned to Sui Bian, who was seated at the captain's seat, and asked, "According to Major Michel Vick's report, we have captured 36 survivors in total; how should we handle them?"

Hearing this, Sui Bian rose from the captain's chair, moved to the forward port window, gazed at the smoke‑filled Lockford Island, and, hands clasped behind his back, ordered:

"Detain these survivors aboard the Bohan Dong first; the company will repeatedly screen them to determine which are traitors and which are loyal to the company."

"Understood, sir; I will relay it to the major."

"Mm." Sui Bian nodded slightly, then said to the captain standing at his left side:

"Captain, as originally planned, once all matters are settled, leave half the security forces to continue clearing Lockford Island and protect the engineering team that will soon arrive for construction and renovation.

Then immediately recall Caron, Eupsilon, Olympus, and the remaining half of security back to the Bohan Dong; we must rush to the Antarctic research facility, where an important cargo awaits our retrieval."

"Yes, sir."

With that, the Lockford Island battle temporarily concludes; the remaining task is to head to the Antarctic research facility and retrieve the sleeping Alekxia.

(End of chapter)