Uncontrollable Mutation

One of the things Yinsen had found most annoying in his previous life was when someone acted like they knew everything, opening their mouth with, "You don’t know anything at all." Just when you thought they were impressive, it turned out they only knew that little bit.

Ben Bertolucci was obviously one of those people, so Yinsen had no intention of indulging his bad habits.

He patted Leon on the shoulder, telling the good cop who was still trying to reason with Ben to move aside. Then, amid Leon’s surprise and Ada’s confusion, he kicked the Prison Cell door into a C-shape.

"Hmm? It was sturdier than I expected."

Although he had not kicked the door flying, turning a metal Prison Cell door designed to hold people into that shape with one kick was enough to make Leon do nothing but bitterly grumble to himself, Aren’t you supposed to be a mage? He could only smile helplessly—ever since Yinsen had "revealed" his identity, he had become more and more uninhibited. It had been better when he had quietly pretended to be an ordinary person.

Though Yinsen had not kicked open the Prison Cell door, he still scared Ben badly. Ben had chosen to lock himself in here because he believed this place was sturdy enough to guarantee his safety.

But now? Not only had that man kicked the door crooked, he had casually torn the warped door off and tossed it aside, as easily as pulling up a weed.

"I don’t care how much you know, because you definitely don’t know as much as I do. You’d better understand the situation. The entire city has become hell, and we are the only survivors in this Police Station. No one is coming to save you."

The simplest way to deal with someone like this was to make him understand that he was trapped in a hopeless situation.

"You have two choices now: stay here, and there are several empty rooms next door. We won’t stop you from locking yourself up. Or come with us and find a way out of this city."

Leon wanted to say something, but Yinsen stopped him before he could speak. He knew Leon wanted to try and persuade Ben, but Yinsen did not think someone who did not want to be saved was worth saving.

Ben had already been frightened senseless. It took him a while to process what Yinsen had just said.

"There’s no one left in the Police Station?"

"Yes. We just searched the entire Police Station. Everyone standing before you is all the survivors."

Having finally understood how dire the situation was, Ben could only curse a few times to vent his frustration. Then he cautiously glanced at Yinsen before ultimately choosing to leave with the group.

"I’m coming with you. It looks safer to stay with you."

As he spoke, his gaze kept flicking toward Yinsen. Leon and the others noticed it too, and for some reason, they felt that Ben made perfect sense.

No matter how they looked at it, moving together with Yinsen, a "mage from another world," was far safer than having a few ordinary people run around a city full of monsters.

"As a mage, he must have extensive experience dealing with all kinds of monsters… The ease with which he defeated that monster earlier proves it."

Only Ada did not understand why everyone kept focusing their attention on the man named Yinsen. Curious, she began paying closer attention to him as well.

She could not help noticing him. The sight of Yinsen kicking a Prison Cell door out of shape and then ripping it off as if pulling weeds had left an overwhelming impression on her.

As an elite agent, Ada even suspected that the man before her had some connection to Umbrella Corporation.

Had he been enhanced with some new bioweapon drug and sent into this crisis for field testing?

Once that thought arose, Ada realized the situation did not seem to match her theory. If this were field testing, Yinsen should not have been mingling with survivors. He should have been fighting those bioweapon monsters out on the streets. Why pretend to be a survivor fleeing with everyone else?

Did he have some deeper objective?

Ada’s gaze continued sweeping over the group. Naturally, she noticed the little girl Claire had been caring for. She recognized the girl’s identity, then naturally filled in several details herself, believing Yinsen’s true purpose for blending in with this group might be the same as her own.

Was he trying to find a G-Virus sample?

By sheer coincidence, Ada had guessed Yinsen’s true objective. But she could never have imagined that Yinsen already knew the whereabouts of the G-Virus sample and simply had not gotten his hands on it yet.

Moreover, Yinsen wanted more than just one G-Virus.

Following Ben’s directions, the group found a passage to the underground facilities in the nearby Dog Kennel. From there, they could enter Raccoon City’s sewers.

If they were lucky, they might be able to travel through the sewers and leave the city limits.

Perhaps because they could finally see hope of escape, the exhausted group perked up considerably. After drinking some water and eating a few pieces of chocolate, Leon and Yinsen once again took the lead as they climbed down.

"If we go this way, we shouldn’t run into huge hordes of zombies, right?"

Once everyone was down, Leon looked around the quiet sewer and felt the road ahead should be easier. But before Yinsen could pour cold water on his hopes, Ben shattered Leon’s illusion first.

"Umbrella Corporation’s T-Virus doesn’t only affect humans."

"What do you mean?"

"Did you forget what we saw in the Dog Kennel?"

There had been several police dogs in the Dog Kennel. By the time they found them, they had become Zombie Dogs, extremely troublesome monsters. Fortunately, most had been trapped inside cages, making them relatively easy to deal with.

That reminded Leon: if dogs could be infected and turn into Zombie Dogs, then could the various creatures living in the sewers have mutated as well?

"Don’t even think about it. The sewers may not be any safer than the surface. We still need to be careful."

There were plenty of places in the sewers where monsters could hide. For example, something lurking underwater and suddenly attacking them would be troublesome. After all, creatures mutated by the virus did not need to breathe. They could lie in the water indefinitely.

"Should we go back up?"

Hearing that it was unsafe down here too, Robert felt that they might as well move across the surface. At least aboveground, they would know where they were and which direction to take to escape.

"There’s actually no difference, and… these sewers probably can’t take us out of the city."

The group took a brief look around the sewers and found them unusually clean, with dead ends appearing quickly. Aside from Robert, an ordinary Gun Shop owner, everyone present was sharp and intelligent. They quickly realized these sewers were unusual.

"Where does this lead?"

It did not take long for them to find a large door. Just from its construction, they could tell it was no ordinary door. A huge secret was likely hidden on the other side.

Ben Bertolucci, who claimed to know many things, made a solemn guess. "Could this be an Umbrella Corporation secret facility?" He knew that Raccoon City’s police chief had ties to Umbrella Corporation, so it did not seem surprising that an Umbrella Corporation facility might be hidden beneath the Police Station.

"You can decide what this place is later. Right now, we have a guest to entertain."

The group had been gathered before the door, discussing whether to enter, when they suddenly heard Yinsen’s warning. They followed the direction of his finger toward the other end of the passage.

They stood in a relatively spacious area with no cover to speak of. The lighting fixtures overhead were still intact, so there was no issue with visibility.

When Yinsen alerted them, everyone saw a figure—possibly a person—with a massive arm completely disproportionate to its body, slowly approaching them.

The monster carried a steel pipe in its hand. After letting out an angry roar, it advanced toward them step by step.

"It’s that monster!"

Sherry had said a monster near the Police Station was chasing her, which was why she had been running everywhere. Ben Bertolucci also knew a terrifying monster was nearby, which was why he had chosen to lock himself in the holding cells, believing he would be safer there with an entire Police Station full of officers protecting him.

In other words, neither of them wanted to encounter this monster, yet they had run into it here.

"Damn it."

Leon tried firing a few shots, but the bullets did not even draw blood from the monster. He immediately switched to the Desert Eagle he had found earlier.

"Die, monster!"

The Desert Eagle truly deserved its reputation as a weapon specially designed for large animals. This shot did have some effect. The monster staggered after being hit, but after adjusting itself slightly, it continued walking firmly toward them as though it had suffered no injury at all.

Yinsen had not made a move. He knew this monster was William, who had injected himself with the G-Virus. He was observing the G-Virus’s actual power. It seemed roughly comparable to the Tyrant, the T-Virus’s finest product.

Of course, the G-Virus’s greatest trait was its constant mutation. Whether after suffering severe damage or simply after absorbing massive amounts of energy, it would continuously transform into increasingly powerful and terrifying monsters.

These mutations were uncontrollable. Because they could lead to beneficial evolution or, like William’s later Fourth and Fifth Forms, a near-devolution into a monster, the G-Virus had never undergone further in-depth development.

Yinsen did not care about that. What he wanted was the G-Virus’s ability to provide a favorable direction for evolution. As for those flaws, if scientific methods could not solve them, he could optimize them through magic.

For now, though, it would be better to deal with William in his First Form.

This time, Yinsen did not even need to say anything. After several consecutive shots failed to stop the monster’s steady advance, everyone turned their eyes toward him.

The strange situation even made Ada lower her weapon, unable to understand what these people were doing.