Chapter 92: Negotiations and Chips

"Do you think we can succeed?"

In the city center, inside the Broadcasting Building, Alice felt somewhat uneasy.

Following the normal rhythm, at this time she should be wearing a fiery red dress or have changed into tactical gear to fight zombies to the death on the streets, or perhaps be engaged in intense combat with the mercenary squad brought by Umbrella.

But now the style had completely changed; she was in a normal long dress, entirely lacking her usual heroic and spirited style, burying her head in a pile of documents to analyze various situations.

"Why wouldn't we succeed? As far as the current situation goes, isn't this going quite smoothly?"

Zhang Xuan's movements were equally fluid, finding the corresponding maps among the various documents and continuously marking them.

Beside his hand, there was also a cup of steaming coffee.

The overall style was quite peaceful.

"This is saving the Shi Jie, why do I feel a bit strange?"

Although Alice was complaining, the movements of her hands did not stop; while speaking, she took out a map document and placed it in front of Zhang Xuan.

Zhang Xuan took it casually and responded: "Is there a problem? Isn't the order in Raccoon City recovering bit by bit now? Have the relevant water plants and convenience food factories been marked? Have the shortest routes that avoid densely populated areas and have relatively clear roads been planned?"

There were fine markings on the map, and Alice had done a very good job in this regard; Zhang Xuan took one look and nodded, saying: "Well done!"

Then he handed this marked map to the clerk who was waiting to the side.

And not long after the instructions were given, another clerk walked in with a joyful expression.

"The Steel Mill has been completely recaptured, and the water plant is also under our control; it is certain that no one will be able to poison it again, and the corresponding food factories are already on the way. BOSS, what should we do next?"

"Prioritize controlling the corresponding water plants and food factories; after all, food, clothing, housing, and transportation are the most important. Can the Steel Mill produce the corresponding armor?"

"The corresponding helmets and large pieces of steel to protect the torso can be produced very quickly, but more specific flexible joint-type steel armor cannot be implemented on a large assembly line at the moment; it needs to be mixed with some cotton armor to be crafted..."

The relevant personnel quickly reported the situation in various places.

With an understanding of zombies, zombies were actually not as difficult to deal with as imagined.

Especially after communicating with the military base outside the city and letting the many well-trained soldiers in the military base enter the battle, they were pushed flat directly.

Of course, there were also various talents who took the initiative to help; the priority was to clear those food factories, water plants, and the Steel Mill, followed by clearing some open areas that were not easy for people and animals to hide in, creating a safe zone where the wives and children of many personnel could stay inside.

As for the clearing of zombies further away, it had to be done bit by bit; it was not that fast at the moment.

Alice clearly felt this change, and her entire demeanor was different from before; according to her own heart and nature, she wanted to go down and fight the zombies directly.

But looking at the current situation, Zhang Xuan was clearly doing better than her; if she were to go kill zombies single-handedly, she wouldn't be able to kill many even if she killed from the east side of the city to the west side.

And he

What she could think of before was just going to deal with these zombies single-handedly and fighting against the people of the Umbrella Corporation.

"What on earth are you thinking? You were actually able to come up with such refined operations, and it looks like there is a high probability of success."

Alice watched the order around her recover bit by bit, especially when someone in the distance took the initiative to put a speaker on the playground to create noise, and when many zombies gathered, a round of submachine gun and machine gun fire was unleashed, and all the zombies were instantly shattered on the spot, with no ability to resist at all.

"The relevant weapons factories must also be mastered quickly, especially the places that manufacture bullets and firearms."

Zhang Xuan casually marked a new location on a map again, and instructed the many people around him to complete the relevant tasks while responding to Alice, who was asking questions like a curious baby.

"Being able to unite the majority of people as much as possible in a desperate situation, not because of race, status, or position, but just to survive together—isn't this a foundation that everyone should recognize?"

Alice choked; she had never thought of this point.

After all, although the Beautiful Country has always claimed to be the lighthouse of humanity, it is difficult to truly unite because of issues of race, class, and various identity labels.

White people discriminate against Black and Yellow people, and Black people discriminate against Yellow people.

Normal Texas rednecks discriminate against those with unclear genders.

And those non-gender-normal figures are simultaneously influenced by political correctness, always having a status like a superman.

It can only be said that the various figures in this area are limited by various identities, making it difficult to truly unite in times of danger; at least she had not thought about this problem before.

Facing a real, major crisis, shouldn't it be an individual turning the tide, like Captain America or Iron Man, using personal power to forcefully reverse various dire situations and rescue the entire Shi Jie?

How could there be figures who unite everything, not because of skin color, not because of race, not because of corresponding identity labels, but just to live, just striving for a common goal?

At least in the education Alice received and many film and television works, there were few such actions.

"But isn't all of this happening right now? Nothing is impossible."

"But..."

There was still worry in the depths of Alice's eyes; they were gradually recovering the order of Raccoon City on this side, but now more than three hours had passed, and the nuclear bomb threatened by the Umbrella Corporation was about to arrive.

Are they really going to gamble on this next? But is the Umbrella Corporation willing, or dare they, to drop a nuclear bomb on this area?

Alice did not want to gamble, and Zhang Xuan actually did not really want to gamble either; after all, the chips he had placed on the gambling table now were not many.

"Then why hasn't the other side made a move yet? That way I can further increase the chips."

Zhang Xuan thought silently in his heart.

Just at this moment, the computer in front of them that was directly connected to the global network flickered twice, the many snowflakes disappeared, and it revealed the Umbrella executive who had communicated with Zhang Xuan before; at the same time, behind him was a large screen, and many researchers were sitting in it in an orderly fashion, continuously performing operations.

Zhang Xuan's heart stirred; in an area where others could not see, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, feeling joy.

"Oh, let me take a look at the two heroes of Raccoon City!"

"To actually think of using the people and the reputation and status of all of Raccoon City to expose the conspiracy behind the Umbrella Corporation. Oh, what a great innovation and idea, it is simply moving."

"What a pity!"

That Umbrella Corporation executive's expression was natural, and with that smile of having victory in his grasp that he always wore on his face, and amidst Alice's horrified gaze, he took out a large handheld remote control that looked like an early-year brick phone.

There were not many items on it, only one large red button.

Alice took one look, and her heart could not help but start beating wildly.

Without needing the other party to explain too much, she had already guessed the function of this red control button.

And opposite her, that Umbrella Corporation executive, that white man with sparse eyebrows who always looked like a middle-aged gentleman, specifically glanced over here and raised his eyebrows.

His thumb moved continuously on that button, moving closer and then further away, making Alice's heart beat wildly; seeing Alice's expression change continuously, that middle-aged man then softly smiled and explained: "A nuclear bomb belonging to our command, uniquely controlled by us; as long as I press it lightly, the nuclear bomb will arrive in two hours, turning all your plans and all your achievements into a pile of ash."

Alice's face was already as black as the bottom of a pot, and that man looked completely indifferent, even smiling as he took out another controller of the same style from the side.

"Oh, I forgot, a single nuclear bomb might not clear things up so cleanly; how about another one?"

Alice had already clenched her fists, while Zhang Xuan remained unmoved, calmly taking a jade bottle from his bosom; inside the bottle was a mass of fresh blood that pulsed and flickered, resembling pearls and agate.

The moment it was brought out, Alice's gaze could not help but fixate on that bottle, an intense craving rising from within her heart.

On the other side, even separated by an extremely vast distance, that high-ranking official of Umbrella, that middle-aged man, likewise could not help but fix his gaze upon the bottle of fresh blood in front of the screen.

He even couldn't help but reach out his hand, wanting to take the bottle of fresh blood into his grasp from across the screen.

Not until he touched the computer screen in front of him did he snap back to reality; the expression on his face jolted, and he said in a deep voice, "What is this?"

"Isn't this what you have always wanted?"

Zhang Xuan's smile was calm as he casually placed the jade bottle filled with fresh blood on the table; half of it rested on the table, while the other half hung over the edge, making the jade bottle look as if it could fall at any moment.

This caused the breathing of the middle-aged man on the other side of the screen to hitch; he wished he could rush to the other side, snatch the bottle into his arms, and place it into the most secure and highest-level safe.

"Your research achievement?"

The middle-aged man swallowed his saliva twice in succession; he wanted to control himself, to keep his gaze from looking at the jade bottle, from looking at that mass of fresh blood, but a strong craving naturally arose in his heart, a powerful instinct compelling him to look at that bottle.

Yet his gaze still drifted away from time to time, making even normal communication difficult; it was not just him, as the many researchers behind him were likewise staring at this bottle, with an inexplicable craving arising.

The many peculiar runes and postures that occasionally flashed within the bottle all stirred boundless craving in their hearts; it was something hidden deep within the Origin of their bloodlines.

"This... what is this?"

"Just like your T-Virus, this is also a miracle of life, one of the most fundamental substances of humanity, or rather, the most fundamental substance of all life in heaven and earth."

Zhang Xuan introduced it calmly; this was a bit of Origin he had extracted through the Indestructible Heavenly Art, and it was not considered very strong.

It required a very special method to be sealed within this bottle; it looked like a layer of fresh blood, but in reality, it was more like a special substance, having little connection to actual blood.

"You... what do you want?"

Before this conversation, that high-ranking official of Umbrella Corporation had conducted many rehearsals, specifically using the White Queen to control the other party's computer from a great distance.

At the same time, he used casual remarks to indicate that Umbrella Corporation knew everything Zhang Xuan had done, further highlighting their own superiority and the power of Umbrella Corporation.

Meanwhile, he deliberately held the nuclear bomb button and operated it in front of them to display the same posture, making the other party believe that everything was under their control.

Such a posture was intended to make the other party panic, and then rush to protect the few important locations Umbrella had blockaded.

It was to make the other party panic and suppress them, forcing them to flee from Raccoon City, and then they would drop a nuclear bomb.

This would not only eliminate the relevant traces of Raccoon City but also allow them to bring the other party under their control—it was simply killing many birds with one stone, but now all the schemes and plans had been shattered.

When that bottle of peculiar Origin appeared on the opposite side of the screen, a constant notification sound rang out from the middle-aged man's bosom.

His information receiver was vibrating frantically; he knew that it was the true controller of Umbrella Corporation behind him urging him, telling him to obtain that bottle of fresh blood at any cost.

Facing Zhang Xuan, who remained at ease and unhurried on the other side, the middle-aged man knew that his pressure on the other side had completely lost its effect.

Instead, it was he who had now completely fallen into the other party's rhythm, with no way to break free.

Just that bottle of fresh blood... while lost in thought, the middle-aged man could not help but cast his gaze toward that bottle of fresh blood again.

On the other side of the screen, Zhang Xuan slowly put that bottle of fresh blood into his bosom and said lightly, "This is one of the highest achievements of the research institute I am in; currently, there is only this one bottle."

"It is the highest research achievement and is extremely precious. Of course, I think it should be quite sturdy. I want to test if it can survive the thousands of degrees of high temperature caused by a nuclear bomb; I imagine it should be able to, after all, it is such a precious item."

"No!"

Even knowing that the other party could not possibly take such a risk and could not possibly place such a top-tier treasure under a nuclear bomb, the middle-aged man could not control himself at all and could not help but cry out.

"I think we can cooperate in a different way."

"Whatever you want, we can discuss it."

"Power, status, wealth, women—everything you can imagine, we can help you achieve. Even if you want to become the leader of the United States, we can still lobby many financial groups to get them to agree to this concept, as long as you open your research data to us..."

The middle-aged man knew that he should not negotiate like this, that he should be careful and increase his chips on the gambling table bit by bit; such a negotiation would only make the other party push for more and cause him to lose all initiative, but that bottle of Origin made his heart completely unable to control itself—it was a craving born from the depths of life, and it simply could not be changed.

(End of this chapter)