RE - Chapter 348: Umbrella: “Yo, Bro, You Too?” Tricell: “I F***...” (Patreon)

Sedative gas poured from the small sphere, and pale yellow smoke instantly filled the entire laboratory.

Heavy bodies hit the floor one after another. Alan glanced back over his shoulder.

“Figure out who we’re handing them over to yet?”

“Hard to say. But if we want to make sure Tricell can’t escape responsibility, we have to keep them alive for now.”

Alan looked at the enemies sprawled unconscious across the floor, then turned and led the others away.

“That dose should keep them asleep for a full day. Come on. Let’s find out what caused that explosion earlier.”

Before leaving, Leon placed an infrared sensor on the floor. If anyone passed through the area, they would know immediately.

...

“Copy. Beta Squad, head to the lowest level and assist. There are a lot of criminals down there who need to be secured. Turn on your body cameras. Anyone who doesn’t is responsible for the consequences!”

“Dispatch, which squad is under the crane? Tell them to move. They’re blocking the lifting area!”

“Airspace report. No hostile aircraft detected.”

“Copy. Maintain surveillance!”

Cranes towered across the port as squad after squad of fully armed BSAA personnel boarded the freighter and began systematically clearing the battlefield.

Alan and the others stayed on-site to supervise the operation, and they actually caught several spies in the process.

Barry, back at the North American branch, called with good news of his own.

“Chris, I caught that little rat you’ve been raising! Name’s Jessica. Ring a bell?”

“...Jessica. Yeah, I know her.”

Chris felt a wave of exhaustion, but he still answered Barry.

“I swear, you haven’t changed at all! Anything that isn’t fighting, you’re complete shit at! Hahahaha!”

“Make fun of me all you want... but thanks. We only just brought you in, and you’re already cleaning up this kind of mess for us.”

Barry sighed softly on the other end of the line.

“Don’t mention it. Ever since the Mansion incident, my whole life’s been turned upside down anyway. Stuff like this doesn’t even rank that high anymore.”

Chris silently agreed.

“All right, I’ll take care of things over here. You’re the busy one, so remember to look after yourself. When you get back, we’ll sit down and have a proper drink.”

“Thanks.”

After hanging up, Chris tossed the phone onto the table and stood to stretch.

“Jessica... Hah. So she was already setting things up this early?”

A knock sounded at the door.

Chris looked over.

Jill tapped on the already-open door and walked in. Seeing Chris stretching with an obviously irritated look on his face, she raised an eyebrow.

“Who pissed you off? Looking at you right now, I almost don’t want to tell you what just happened.”

Chris waved a hand and sat back down.

His sleeves pulled tight around his arms the instant he bent them. Resting both hands on the table, he rubbed his temples.

“Go ahead. I can take it.”

“All right... Alan and the others went over to supervise the cleanup, and sure enough, they caught a few spies. They were trying to secretly download data, or...”

Jill paused.

“Trying to rescue the researchers.”

“Hmph. Looks like Tricell is panicking. They’re openly sending people in to snatch prisoners now?”

Jill sat across from Chris and rubbed her aching shoulder.

“The international community exploded the moment the news got out. Tricell, one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, was caught leading virus research while completely disregarding human rights.”

She smacked her lips and added dramatically, “It’s like we ripped off the establishment’s fig leaf, then slapped them right across the ass.”

Chris could not stop the corner of his mouth from lifting.

“Good analogy.”

“Hey, we’re out there working ourselves to death, and you two are hiding in here flirting?”

Leon walked through the door and tossed an ice-cold beer to Chris, then another to Jill.

Alan came in behind him carrying an entire case.

Chris stared at the cold bottle in his hand, baffled.

“What are you two doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re halfway through the mission. We’re taking a break. Relax. Didn’t you notice we brought beer? There aren’t any kids here. It’s basically wheat juice.”

Leon popped the cap off with his teeth and immediately drank half the bottle.

“Who’s flirting?” Jill asked.

“Oh. Looks like a certain blockhead is still as dense as ever.”

Alan set down the case and waved at Jill.

Jill blushed faintly, then glanced at Chris, who showed absolutely no reaction.

She took the knife from her chest rig and used the tip to pry the cap off her beer.

Seeing Jill start drinking too, Chris gave up on arguing.

“...Fine, fine. Just don’t get drunk.”

“Obviously. We still have Wesker to worry about.”

Once Alan and Chris had opened their bottles as well, the four sat together and drank.

No food. Just beer.

Alan extended one finger from the hand holding his bottle and pointed vaguely outside.

“You guys have no idea how stupid Excella is.”

“What did she do?”

“She hid a vial of the Uroboros Virus.”

Chris immediately started lowering his beer, but Alan stopped him.

Then Alan pulled two vials of the Uroboros Virus from inside his coat and waved them in front of the other three.

“If I’m telling you about it, that obviously means I already dealt with it.”

Leon leaned back in his chair and took a small sip.

“Unbelievable. Was she planning to inject herself and take everyone down with her?”

The other three immediately looked at Alan, waiting for the rest.

Alan enjoyed the cold taste of the beer, let out a small burp, and waved dismissively.

“You’re overthinking it. When she woke up after being knocked out, she figured she was probably dead either way, but she still wanted to escape. So... remember Irving?”

“That merchant? I thought he was already...”

“Right. He couldn’t move any of his limbs. Excella was so pissed off by the way Irving mocked her earlier that she decided to go all in and inject the virus into him.”

“Cause a commotion and escape in the chaos?”

Leon chuckled, then gave his verdict without hesitation.

“You actually saved her life.”

“Tell me about it... She’s restrained now. I’m sure she’ll tell us everything she knows if she thinks it’ll buy her a few more days.”

Alan finished his beer and leaned back to rest.

Chris had already drunk more than half of his before speaking again.

“Price and the others were sent to scout the tribe. Once he reports back, we move... What do you think we’ll find there?”

“Tricell’s secret base. Something that can at least compete with NEST back in Raccoon City?”

Leon looked to Alan for his opinion.

“Mm-hmm. I’m with Leon.”

Although...

Alan opened another bottle and thought back to the plot of Resident Evil 5.

He had played the Resident Evil 2 remake, so even though the laboratory beneath the ruins in Resident Evil 5 was huge and packed with incubation chambers, it still felt a little underwhelming compared to NEST.

Maybe it was the graphics?

“This time, Tricell might end up becoming the next Umbrella.”

“Yeah. I agree.”

“It’d be even better if we could take Wesker out while we’re at it.”

“And if the BSAA can use this opportunity too...”

Jill noticed Chris was still not in the best mood, so she slowly raised her bottle.

“Either way, shouldn’t we celebrate a little?”

Chris and the others looked over, then raised their bottles as well.

“You’re right. We should celebrate a little.”

“Even if saying this jinxes us, there’s no way Tricell walks away from this intact!”

“To that...”

“Cheers!” x4