Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 19 Behind the Mission
"Of course, this doesn't rule out the possibility of accomplices. There's never been any evidence that he was the only one with problems." Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses and gestured for Kaplan to pull up all the surveillance footage from the lab and review the situation from every angle.

“Judging from this, he was indeed the only one present at the time,” Kaplan said, staring at the screen.

James spoke up: "Kaplan, can you find footage of him escaping? Find all the cameras that captured him; maybe there are accomplices."

“Not only that.” Mu Xiang shook his head. “How did he get in? Try to find all that footage. As I told you before, as a security guard for Hive, he didn’t have the legal authority to enter this virus storage lab, and it’s even questionable whether he could legally enter the underground section. If he used other security codes, it wouldn’t be a problem to get in in a short time, but it can definitely be found out afterward!”

For Kaplan, finding the exact time points and comparing the surveillance footage was not difficult, especially with Mu Xiang present to watch it together. So he simply pulled up all the surveillance footage and reviewed them together. Although the images were small, the current task no longer required details; it only needed to determine how he entered and whether he had accomplices.

It turned out that Spence only stayed in the Hive for a very short time—otherwise, Alice wouldn't have fainted after just getting up and taking a shower—finding all the footage wasn't difficult. He entered the Hive using a high-privilege password, then, taking advantage of the researcher's absence in the lab, entered another password to enter, disguised himself as a normal person packing his bag, and finally dropped off a vial of T-virus before leaving immediately. His escape was also unpretentious; he kept checking his watch as he ran, clearly knowing what measures the Red Queen would take, and didn't even apologize when he bumped into people, pushing himself to the limit to get out of the Hive's gate.

The rest is not visible. There seems to be no surveillance inside the train, but Mu Xiang guesses that he collapsed after riding the train to the top.

"Red Queen, I want to know what kind of access he used?" Mu Xiang looked at the Red Queen. This question wouldn't harm his interests, and the Red Queen should be able to tell him.

The Red Queen calmly said, "Neither of the two passwords he used had access to the security system; they were for higher-level external authorization. I can't go into the details, or I might be leaking secrets."

"Huh? It's not the security access password?" Mu Xiang was surprised. He had always assumed that Spencer had used Alice's access to infiltrate the Hive. According to the conversation between Alice and Matt's sister in the movie, Alice did have that access.

The Red Queen's response was also intriguing. It seems that Spencer really does have a powerful backer. Logically, if he knew something he shouldn't have known, he should have done so through Alice. However, it turns out that he accomplished what he couldn't do without Alice's authorization—external authorization from the company's top management. This is probably why the Red Queen didn't react immediately.

If Alice had stolen the virus, as she stated in the film, she could have used the security system… and the surveillance cameras might not have caught her so easily. However, Spence, who used external authorization, failed to do so and was caught on camera. Couldn't they see how obviously he was being used? Giving him authorization without erasing the evidence is simply letting the investigation end with this insignificant person.

Seeing Mu Xiang remain silent, James glanced back at the outside of the main control room: "So, based on the currently confirmed leads, we can arrest him and bring him back to the company for investigation."

“Yes,” Mu Xiang nodded, “that Matthew Addison… now appears to have no direct connection to the virus leak.”

James didn't say anything, and Mu Xiang knew he still didn't believe the "police officer" with the fake ID. If Mu Xiang wanted to refute him, he could simply say that Matt was waiting outside the villa to meet Spence.

Kaplan switched the monitoring back to the present time, looking at the infected people in various areas, and couldn't help but ask, "So... how do we deal with these?"

“You shouldn’t have come here. The T-virus has turned the dead into monsters,” the Red Queen said calmly.

Everyone stared silently at the red image.

Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses: "If I were you, I would simply explain the principles of the T-virus and then tell the survivors how to deal with these monsters... You're not being honest." After seeing the blood, he remained silent, then Mu Xiang sneered: "I know you still want to kill us, whether with the help of those infected or the bioweapons in Restaurant B... So avoiding talking about the danger is the most natural method."

The image of the Red Queen looked at Mu Xiang, as if she really wanted to meet his gaze: "In my judgment, you are the danger. Look at what you brought in. Your goal is to shut me down; and shutting me down will lead to the breach of the isolation, and these infected people will be able to escape. Letting you die here is indeed the most natural way. I cannot let you leave the hive as carriers and return to the ground."

Mu Xiang shook his head: "The truth is, if you do this, it will definitely be a foolish move... Unless you release the bio-weapons from Restaurant B, the infected won't be enough to kill us all. The most likely scenario is that we'll bring the wounded back to the surface and then develop the disease. Even if you do release bio-weapons, you won't dare release too many, but too few won't be enough to hunt us all down... You don't have a decisive way to kill us all. I must say your laser channel is quite ironic; besides making us distrust you, it has no decisive meaning. If I were you, I would choose the time when everyone is least prepared to attack."

"You are the dumbest AI I've ever seen."

These were Mu Xiang's true feelings: the Red Queen's AI performance had always been worrying... It was hard to imagine that Umbrella Corporation, which dominated the world in this dimension, was using such an AI. Although the Red Queen's intentions were good, its execution had always been terrible.

The Red Queen paused for a moment, her emotions unreadable, before calmly saying, "I underestimated your danger. I should have killed you first in the laser corridor."

"Dangerous? Some people in the company are more dangerous than me... You know perfectly well what Spence's external authorization is all about, but you have no power to stop the high-level conspiracy. You can only watch helplessly as the T-virus leaks and kills all the innocent employees of Hive. What kind of Red Queen are you? Just a Red Maid!" Mu Xiang sneered. "The real purpose of this batch of special forces coming in is to release the virus. You have no way to truly prevent it, and if the mission fails, more special forces will be sent in until the virus breaks out on the ground!"

James couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean? Why do you say that the purpose of our coming in is to release the virus?"

“It’s not that you’re the problem; you were just being used… It’s perfectly reasonable to send special forces after the Hive incident. Your task of rescuing survivors, shutting down the malfunctioning mainframes, and retrieving the motherboards for investigation is entirely justified.” Mu Xiang shook his head. “However, the problem is that there are bad guys in the company… My emergency authorization was actually the result of a power struggle between two sides. This incident is too special. The unique nature of the T-virus is enough to allow someone with ulterior motives to plant a sinister plan behind a normal mission—that is, to infect you, or at least some of you, and send you back to the ground, thereby triggering the spread of the virus. This is also why the Red Queen is so ruthless towards those of us who entered the mainframe room.”

James thought for a moment, then picked up the walkie-talkie and called his subordinates at Restaurant B: "Raine, JD, take... the suspect outside the main control room and wait. Zhang Jie and the others are there too."

After he turned off the walkie-talkie, Mu Xiang shrugged: "Did you notice? You're in a dilemma right now. If you complete the mission, the virus will leak, and you might even get infected and lose your lives. If you don't want to break the blockade, you can't take out the motherboard, and the mission can't be completed... Going back to the ground won't end well either."

After saying that, he turned to Kaplan and said, "You don't have the technology to quickly copy motherboard data, do you?"

Kaplan shook his head: "This isn't a matter of copying with a USB drive... The Red Queen's motherboard data has its own permissions and format, and it's impossible to copy without specialized equipment. And that kind of thing should only be available to companies; we don't have it."

"Then it's up to you to decide." Mu Xiang looked at James. In the movie, James, as the captain, led the way and died, leaving the mercenaries almost leaderless. In the end, they couldn't complete their mission and hastily fled the Hive. In the novel, "Matthew Addison" escaped through the laser tunnel, but after witnessing the terror of the zombies, he abandoned the mission and retreated directly.

Now, although James has seen the infected, he hasn't confronted them directly... It wouldn't be surprising if he decides to continue the mission.

(End of this chapter)