Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 20 Mutual Guarantee of Destruction (Seriously)
The Red Queen suddenly spoke, her tone revealing urgency for the first time: "You cannot take my motherboard! If you take my motherboard, the infected and bioweapons will be released, the virus will leak, and you will suffer the consequences!"

"Huh? Are you threatening me?" Mu Xiang glanced at his watch; only forty minutes remained. Based on the virus's onset timeline in the movie, he shouldn't be afraid of the infected anymore… Unless he was trapped in a horde of zombies or killed by a Licker, he was fine and could return to the Main God Space before the virus took effect. Now… he could completely ignore it, letting the mercenaries decide whatever they wanted, just surviving until the countdown ended. "I need to remind you, neither side has a real advantage. You can threaten us into abandoning the mission by saying we can't get out, and we can threaten you into letting us go by breaking the blockade."

Seeing that James remained silent, Mu Xiang added, "In fact, I still don't trust you, because you certainly don't want to leave such an unstable factor as us... Letting us die here is the best option. You can keep your goal of eliminating us, or we can shut you down. A group of people can just fight for their lives on their own, and some of them will eventually escape. But your mission to contain the virus will be completely ruined."

"..." The Red Queen fell silent. Her abilities were insufficient to allow her to easily control everyone after being brought into the main server room.

James frowned and said, "A temporary evacuation is a viable strategy. The company isn't sending us here to die. Kaplan has gathered enough intelligence to allow us to submit a preliminary investigation report and make recommendations for follow-up actions. Kaplan, save the important surveillance videos now; we'll need them after we evacuate."

"So the captain means to leave Red Queen on hold for now, let her carry out the lockdown procedure, and come back to deal with it after the initial report?" Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses. If that's the case, things might be much easier later on.

[Of course, it's just a possibility... Neither the Red Queen nor the Supreme God can be trusted.]

“That’s right. There are only forty minutes left before the preset closing time of the Hive Gate. We don’t have enough time to make mistakes.” James nodded. “The best solution is to evacuate first.”

From the mercenaries' perspective, they certainly don't think that failing to complete the task will lead to their elimination by the company... This thinking is perfectly reasonable. As for the final outcome... I don't know, but I can only say that James's decision-making as a leader was prudent.

“Then I suggest installing the pulse device first… Kaplan, I remember that the Red Queen mainframe was designed with a remote start/stop function, right?” Mu Xiang asked—of course, he knew the answer.

Kaplan nodded: "Yes, as long as the pulse device is ready, remote startup can also force Red Queen to shut down instantly. However, this method is very dangerous. Once is fine, but repeated use can easily burn out the motherboard."

"So how about this? We won't take the motherboard for now, and I can participate in the preliminary investigation report, which will increase the chances of it being accepted..." Mu Xiang asked James with a smile, "But at the same time, we must prepare contingency plans so that we can remotely shut her down if necessary. She has too many ways to kill us. Without measures to destroy each other, we will be in a completely passive position once we leave the server room."

James nodded. "I agree. Kaplan, let's install the shutdown device together." He then looked at Mu Xiang. "If possible, we will need your help with writing the investigation report. We have the authority to detain witnesses."

Mu Xiang nodded, watching them install those large, brick-like blocking devices. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he turned to look at Alice standing beside him, her expression somewhat complicated.

"Did you remember anything?" Mu Xiang asked softly. "In my memory, you should be my superior."

The woman in red looked confused and shook her head.

Mu Xiang wasn't surprised. In fact, Alice hadn't fully remembered anything by the end of the movie, and she probably remembered even less now. Moreover, Spence, who still had feelings for her even during her amnesia, was now proven to be problematic, so her confusion was understandable... The fact that she was staring blankly at the ring on her hand was proof of that.

James and Kaplan approached, and Mu Xiang knew the pulse device was in place. "Let's go out then, and take care of the people with problems while we're at it," Mu Xiang smiled. "We don't have enough time; we've wasted potential time."

Walking through the laser corridor, Mu Xiang felt a vague sense of unease. Judging from the movies, the Red Queen could only feign harmlessness; she didn't possess the incredible ability to automatically restart a system function after it was disabled. Unless the main god suddenly acted recklessly, he probably wouldn't get his head blown off by another laser beam.

As he walked, he kept a close eye on Kaplan, fearing that the Red Queen might suddenly activate her priority and instantly kill Kaplan, leaving them unable to shut down immediately and at her mercy...

Upon exiting the laser tunnel, Mu Xiang saw Li Xiaoyi chatting and laughing with Zheng Zha and Zhan Lan, while Zhang Jie stood alone at a distance, raising an eyebrow at Mu Xiang as he came out. Ryan and JD were holding Matt behind a computer desk, while Spence stood alone by the door, seemingly lost in thought.

[Will I stop being socially anxious once I leave? Haha.]

James gave Spence a deep look, and just as the man was looking on in confusion, he said coldly, "Bring out another pair of handcuffs and cuff him!"

Upon hearing this, everyone remaining outside the laser corridor was astonished. Spence roared and lunged at James... no, it was Ryan and JD who reacted extremely quickly, immediately putting Matt down and pinning Spence down on either side, handcuffing the man with another pair of handcuffs they had prepared.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" Spence struggled desperately, even resorting to punches and kicks, but Ryan kicked him in the knee, sending him crashing to his knees.

Mu Xiang walked up to him, looking at him with a half-smile: "Are you pretending or not? You're the mole who forced the Red Queen to shut down Hive and kill all the employees. Now we are arresting you on behalf of Hive's security department and Umbrella Special Forces... Hopefully you'll realize your crimes on the way."

[It sounds like a decision being read out...]

A rigid and solemn voice echoed in Mu Xiang's mind: "Identify Spence Parks, obtain one C-level side quest, reward 2000 points..."

Mu Xiang looked at the crowd, whose expressions were still lingering on the astonishment of Spence's arrest, as if they hadn't received this reward.

James, of course, couldn't hear this. After instructing the mercenaries to secure the two prisoners, he announced to Alice and the rest of the Reincarnation Squad, "Mission suspended. Retreat now. We have a little over half an hour left, and we need to return the way we came as quickly as possible." With that, he strode towards the door.

This is my first time posting a web novel, and since I wanted to explain a bit too much in the first part (making excuses), the pace is indeed a bit slow... The remaining parts will be finished in 2-3 days, and that will conclude the first volume. I've been quite busy lately, so this is the only way to keep things going. The pace will pick up considerably once I'm less busy. Thank you all for your support.

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(End of this chapter)