Annette

"Saving people and destroying evil?"

The Holy Light Cross had changed twice in total. The first time was when he killed Marvin. At the time, it counted as saving a righteous soul from being corrupted by evil power, causing a change in the Holy Light.

"It should also have something to do with what I was thinking at the time."

The Holy Light Yinsen wielded was similar in effect to Azeroth’s Holy Light, but there were many differences at their core. Because it was based on human faith, many of the Holy Light’s "moral standards" and "values" leaned more toward human concepts.

If Marvin’s case was not enough to prove it, then purifying William’s damaged and corrupted evil soul made it clear.

Because the monster William had become was an enormous threat to humanity, ordinary people generally regarded such creatures as evil monsters and hoped they would be destroyed. That "belief" influenced some of the Holy Light’s properties, giving it a certain restraining effect against the G-Virus.

And just because Yinsen’s Holy Light came from another universe did not mean it was ineffective against monsters from other universes. Any evil creature that could threaten humanity would be targeted by this Holy Light.

"So if I do something that meets its ‘expectations,’ it grows?"

Some of Yinsen’s actions were like nourishment, allowing the Holy Light to slowly grow and even evolve. As for whether it would evolve in a positive direction or one harmful to Yinsen, that was still uncertain.

What he could confirm now was that this change in the Holy Light Energy was not good for his complete control over it. The energy had become more complicated and mixed with too much information. He was a little worried that, once the Holy Light evolved far enough, it might try to control Yinsen’s thoughts in turn.

"That’s not impossible."

He would continue observing the Holy Light’s changes. If it showed any bad signs, he would decisively destroy it.

Having made up his mind, he turned his attention back to the corpse before him. This thing could not be left behind. He had no desire to be chased around by a monster.

He transformed Holy Light Energy into flames and set the entire corpse ablaze. No matter how tenacious the G-Virus’s Life Force was, it was useless before such flames. In the end, it would vanish completely from this world.

Without William, Sherry would not be implanted with a G-Virus embryo, nor would she become the only special human to benefit from the G-Virus. She could also avoid more than a decade of confinement and would not be reduced to a laboratory guinea pig.

If Sherry wanted to become Superman, Yinsen could simply improve the G-Virus before leaving and give the little girl an injection.

As the golden flames burned William until not even ashes remained, some people finally felt relieved, believing that only by dealing with such a monster this way could they feel at ease. Others paid even closer attention to Yinsen. His abilities were simply too miraculous.

The group prepared to continue onward. Although they felt that, with Yinsen’s strength, he probably would not have any trouble even traveling aboveground, the clever ones did not say so.

Even Robert realized by now that Yinsen had likely been aiming for Umbrella Corporation’s secret laboratory from the start. Otherwise, with his strength, there was no need for him to follow Leon all the way to the Police Station.

Considering that Yinsen had been fairly friendly toward them, and that they had now found the entrance to Umbrella Corporation’s secret laboratory through the Police Station’s underground drainage system, yet he still showed no inclination to "silence witnesses," they should keep quiet, avoid saying too much, and obediently follow along.

Only Ada looked somewhat displeased. She felt that her objective conflicted with Yinsen’s. Under the circumstances, obtaining a G-Virus sample would probably take more effort.

Everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts. Leon still walked at the front with Yinsen, but there was little conversation now, and the group was unusually quiet.

Only Selene occasionally exchanged a few words with Yinsen. If someone did not know the situation, seeing the stern expressions on most of the group would make them think they were in dire straits.

"Did the Holy Light change at all when you killed the monster?"

"No. The Holy Light can only be strengthened through devout faith and persistent training. Maybe because my faith isn’t devout enough, my Holy Light has always grown very slowly."

Yinsen felt that Selene’s slow Holy Light growth was probably not just a matter of faith, but also related to the planes. The Holy Light was closely connected to Azeroth, but that did not mean Holy Light Energy could be used without obstruction in every world. Perhaps the world Selene lived in was simply a little too far from the world where the Holy Light resided.

Or perhaps the barrier between planes made it difficult for the Holy Light to enter Selene’s world. Put simply, the signal was poor.

Slow growth had its benefits as well. Selene was, after all, a vampire. Although she had received Corvinus’ Blood and her physique had changed somewhat, she still generally leaned toward Dark Creatures.

Slowly growing Holy Light could gradually alter her physique. That was far better than being flooded with a massive amount of Holy Light at once, forcing her to endure immense pain and possibly being directly destroyed by the Holy Light.

If Selene could persist, the shadow-aligned traits of her vampiric body would gradually become more "neutral." At that point, Holy Light and shadow would form a balance within her body, perhaps bringing about some special change.

Yinsen considered whether he should do the same with his own cross, creating some balance to prevent the Holy Light from charging blindly toward an extreme attribute.

At that moment, a woman suddenly appeared ahead.

She wore the white lab coat commonly worn by researchers, but instead of research equipment, she held a pistol.

"Don’t move!"

The woman blocked the group’s path and aimed her weapon at them.

Leon reacted quickly. The moment the woman appeared with her gun, he had already raised his own weapon and warned her, "Don’t be nervous. We’re human, not those monsters."

He thought the woman had mistaken them for zombies, but her reply was not what he expected.

"Of course I know you aren’t zombies. Who are you people?"

She gripped her gun even tighter, not relaxing in the slightest just because they were not zombies. Yinsen could even tell from her expression that she seemed even more nervous.

Clearly, compared to zombies, she feared ordinary humans more.

Yinsen knew why. This woman was William Birkin’s wife, and Sherry’s mother. She was nervous because she did not know who they were. After all, it had been humans who had tried to steal the virus and seriously wounded William, forcing him to inject himself with the G-Virus and become a monster just to survive.

"Mommy!"

Just as the atmosphere became extremely tense, Sherry’s cry drew everyone’s attention. The woman, who had been gripping her weapon with taut nerves, removed her finger from the trigger, then opened her arms and embraced Sherry as she ran toward her.

Everything happened too quickly. From the woman appearing and questioning their identities to Sherry rushing out, only about ten seconds had passed. After seeing her daughter, she also learned from Sherry what had happened during this time—for example, that Claire and the others had been protecting Sherry.

"Thank you for protecting my daughter all this time. I’m Annette Birkin, Sherry’s mother."

The misunderstanding seemed to be resolved, and Leon relaxed slightly. As they introduced themselves, Annette explained what had happened during this period, including why William had become a monster and why she had shown such hostility toward people.

William Birkin had been researching the G-Virus in this hidden facility. Just as he succeeded, Umbrella Corporation sent agents to seize his research results.

William was gravely wounded and had only one breath left. He injected the G-Virus into his own body, becoming a monster and killing all the soldiers who had come to steal the virus. One person survived.

During the conflict, countless Virus Sample Test Tubes were shattered. The virus spread through creatures such as sewer rats and eventually infected all of Raccoon City. This was also the primary cause of the sudden Resident Evil outbreak throughout Raccoon City.

At this point, combined with the various fragmented clues they had learned earlier, everyone finally understood what had happened in Raccoon City.

To put it simply: no one in Umbrella Corporation was any good.

In fact, even Annette Birkin standing before them was not a good person. On the surface, she might not seem to have done much, but she had always been William Birkin’s assistant, and she had contributed to the birth of the G-Virus. When the others thought of this, they did not know how they should face this woman.

Out of justice, it seemed they ought to shoot her full of holes?

"I’ll take you out of this city, then hand you over to federal agents. As for what kind of trial you’ll face afterward… that will be decided by a federal judge."

Leon was a righteous police officer. Even if Annette was a criminal, he would first rescue her, then carry out a just trial according to the rules.

"Now I want to know whether there’s a way out of Raccoon City from here."

"Wait."

Yinsen had remained quietly silent. Only after Annette had said nearly everything she needed to say did he step forward. "Before that, I need to take care of something."

Annette had not paid much attention to Yinsen before. She had assumed that Leon, the police officer, was the leader of this group. But judging from everyone’s reaction when Yinsen stepped forward, this man seemed to hold considerable authority within the small team.

"I need every Virus Sample you have. I know there are many in this laboratory. I want you to take me to them."

As he spoke, Yinsen lightly curled a finger. The pendant around Sherry’s neck suddenly snapped, then flew into his hand.