Chapter Two: A First Display of Skill

Chapter Two: A First Display of Skill

Thank you all for your support—just a small gesture, a word to your friends, and it gives me so much more motivation to update. If you have a recommendation ticket, please cast one; if not, add this to your collection. Every bit of encouragement fuels my drive to write, and with motivation comes an explosion of creativity.

The story continues—

"Lolita, you'll handle covering fire, and I'll take care of close combat. Heh, it's been a while since I've fought like this," said Schuster suddenly, following behind the group. His words drew the attention of everyone around him.

"You… your gear…" The reincarnators stared in surprise at the two, and the black-haired man with a scar even cried out.

"Hmm? We brought it ourselves—didn't expect it to travel across with us, but that solves a lot of problems. As you said, if it's just dealing with undead, I’m quite adept, right, Lolita?" Schuster unscrewed the silencer from his Paradise Spark and put it away as he spoke.

"Yes, ordinary weapons are enough for low-level undead. Aside from that scarred man, the rest of you seem to be just regular people. You’d better stay behind the main group," Lolita said, adjusting her weapon and loading a fresh magazine.

"Low-level undead?" the young woman with glasses asked curiously.

"Zombies—second-rank undead creatures. Slow-moving, strong, blind, and they hunt by sound," Schuster replied, pushing up his glasses.

"You are…" The girl wanted to say more, but was interrupted.

Several people kept close behind the mercenaries. When they reached the main door, a beautiful woman in a fiery red dress with a high slit in the skirt suddenly asked the black man, Matthew Addison, "I want to know who you are, and what’s going on here?"

Matthew Addison turned to her, waved at the other mercenaries, who quickly pulled some equipment from their packs and began working on the door’s lock. He continued, "We’re contracted by the UMBRELLA Corporation, including you. This door leads to the Hive. You’re registered as a security officer for this entrance, which is why we brought you along."

Alice seemed confused. She touched the wedding ring on her finger and murmured, "What’s this then?"

Matthew Addison nodded, "You’re not married. That’s just a cover, a symbol that you’re assigned to protect the Hive."

"So what is the Hive?" Alice asked.

Matthew Addison turned to another mercenary, "Show them."

The mercenary nodded and tapped away at his laptop. Soon, images appeared on the screen.

"This is the entrance to the Hive. The Hive is located deep beneath Raccoon City. Here is the building where we found you, and this is where we boarded the train that brought us to the Hive’s entrance—right where we’re standing now."

The images shifted rapidly, finally revealing a structure on the screen resembling a honeycomb nest.

"This is the Hive—a secret underground research facility owned and overseen by UMBRELLA. There are five hundred scientists and staff inside, conducting confidential research as per the company's requirements. These secrets are vital to the corporation, and even we don’t know what they are. This is our current location, as shown by the thermal sensors." Matthew Addison explained, and sure enough, the screen displayed their position on the train platform atop the Hive. Schuster knew this area was safe—for now. Soon, it would become a death zone.

"And them?" Alice suddenly pointed at the reincarnators.

Matthew Addison replied, "They’re also security staff. The corporation has their records… but I suspect there’s been a mistake in the orders from the higher-ups. Apart from the Asian man and the two women in black, the rest are just ordinary civilians."

Ryan asked, "Why have I lost my memory? I can’t recall anything from my past."

Matthew Addison explained, "The Hive has its own defense system, controlled by the central computer, the Red Queen. If the Hive is deemed under attack, the central computer releases a nerve gas, causing unconsciousness for four hours. Upon waking, there are side effects, including memory loss."

Ryan asked, "Memory loss? How long does it last?"

Matthew Addison shook his head, "It depends on the individual—could be an hour, a day, or even a week."

A young man not among the mercenaries suddenly asked, "You mean the Hive has been attacked? Are there terrorists inside?"

Matthew Addison looked at him, "…It might be worse than that."

Zhang Jie said nothing but strode inside, holding his Desert Eagle.

Soon, Zhang Jie switched on the lights. The room brightened, and the windows revealed a cityscape of towering buildings, bathed in sunlight beneath a clear blue sky.

The mercenaries and the rest entered the room. A female mercenary spent some time scanning with a detector and finally said, "The gas has dissipated—it's safe here now."

Meanwhile, Matthew Addison and several mercenaries opened the elevator doors, but inside it was pitch black. One mercenary, resigned, twisted open a flare and tossed it down the shaft. As the light receded, everyone saw the elevator deep below, its cables snapped, crashed at the bottom. There was no doubt—the people inside were dead.

A mercenary turned back, "Sir, looks like we’ll have to take the stairs."

Matthew Addison’s face paled. He addressed the group, "Stairs—everyone must reach the bottom within ten minutes. Follow me!"

"Lolita!" Schuster called, then leapt down himself.

"Understood!" Lolita followed, jumping after him.

Schuster spun gracefully in midair, landing smoothly, arms outstretched. Lolita fell directly into his embrace.

Ignoring the stunned looks from those above, Schuster set Lolita down and the two feigned vigilance as they continued downward.

"Let’s go as well. Don’t let these security guards underestimate us," Matthew Addison said, surprised—he himself couldn’t manage such a descent.

Schuster and Lolita kept a floor’s distance from the mercenaries as they moved.

Everyone raced down the stairs. Behind the mercenaries were only the young office worker, the scarred Zhang Jie, the bespectacled girl clinging to Zhang Jie’s sleeve, a middle-aged man, and a teenager.

Just before reaching the bottom, Zhang Jie said, "Two are out."

The office worker asked, "What do you mean, two are out?"

Zhang Jie sneered, "Them. Don’t ignore my warning—this is a real world, and you can die here. Maybe you haven’t realized it yet, thinking it’s just a movie? If you stray a hundred meters from him, you’ll explode. That’s one of the rules. They’re doomed."

Boom—

No sooner had Zhang Jie spoken than two violent explosions sounded from above. The office worker and others stared up in shock, but saw nothing except the stairs overhead.

Two eliminated.

The mercenaries and protagonists seemed oblivious to the explosions, or to the missing members. As the end of the stairs drew closer, a mercenary suddenly shouted, "Sir, the Red Queen has locked onto us. She knows we’re here."

Alice asked, "Who is the Red Queen?"

Matthew Addison glanced at her, "The nation’s best artificial intelligence system. She controls the entire Hive as its central mainframe."

The mercenaries had now reached the bottom. Zhang Jie looked back at the gasping group and scoffed, shaking his head, "Keep going—if you survive, thank heaven. Honestly, your luck is pretty good. This horror movie is one of the least dangerous—the kind you can solve with bullets. If you make it through, you’ll earn a thousand reward points to improve your physique. But as for you two, I can’t gauge your strength. I wouldn’t dare say if I could win against either of you," he said to Schuster and Lolita, who had finished the stairs without so much as a flushed face or a single breath out of place.

"Heh, you’re not bad yourself—about mid-level rank three," Lolita replied, glancing at him with a cool, pleasant voice.

"Whatever, do as you like. Let’s talk more after this horror movie is over," Zhang Jie shrugged and walked away.

PS: The first volume of Infinity is mainly about conquest! But of course, that's for the next volume. Also, the system is even more mysterious than the Lord God, but it doesn’t have options for summoning characters or directly exchanging skills. So you definitely have to come here!