Courtyard House: I fish in the heavens, a professional bird abuser.

The pickup truck was parked on the second floor of an abandoned parking garage.

This place wasn't chosen randomly by He Yuanchao.

The entrance to the parking garage is an upward spiral ramp. The ramp is narrow and steep, and ordinary zombies would frequently fall over on this surface—their balance systems are long gone. The second floor is large enough to park more than a dozen cars. It has concrete walls and load-bearing pillars on all four sides, with only two exits, making it easy to defend.

He Yuanchao drove the car to the innermost corner and turned off the engine.

After the main lights went out, only moonlight seeped in through the cracks in the ceiling, turning everything a metallic gray.

"Five minutes." He Yuanchao got out of the car. "Let's sort out the situation and then continue on our way."

He walked to the railing of the parking garage and looked down.

A few scattered figures could be seen wandering in the darkness on the street.

not much.

It's safe for now.

He turned around, leaned against the railing, and faced the four people who got out of the car.

Peyton leaned against the car door, his face ashen. Jill stood beside him, still holding Angela in her arms—the little girl was already asleep in her embrace.

Alice leaned against the hood, her arms crossed over her chest, her blue eyes looking like two cold, hard gems in the darkness.

"You go first," Alice said, looking at He Yuanchao. "What did you do after you left the Umbrella Corporation's lab?"

He Yuanchao briefly went through the matter.

Waking up in the hospital, violently escaping from prison, encountering Jill and Payton at a gun shop, taking refuge in a church, being chased by Nemesis, firing an RPG but failing to kill her, and running all the way to school to rescue Angela.

He spoke quickly, without rambling or exaggeration.

Alice remained silent for a few seconds after hearing this.

"You didn't kill Nemesis?"

"That thing's resilience exceeded my expectations. A high-explosive anti-tank round blasted in, injuring it but not killing it," He Yuanchao said frankly. "I'm running low on ammunition. Next time we encounter it, we'll have to use even more ruthless methods."

"That thing was Matt." Alice's voice trailed off.

He Yuanchao glanced at her.

Alice's expression didn't change much, but the fingers gripping the gun tightened slightly.

He didn't linger on the topic.

"And you? What happened after you left the Umbrella Corporation?"

"They locked me up in an underground lab in the south of the city," Alice said briefly. "They injected me with large amounts of T-virus derivatives, trying to turn me into the next Nemesis—an upgraded version of that big guy."

"Then what?"

"Then they underestimated my physical condition."

Alice's expression changed.

The change was subtle—like a beast recalling the moment it broke free of its chains.

"Those drugs didn't turn me into a monster. They made me...stronger."

"How much stronger?" He Yuanchao pressed.

Alice did not give a direct answer.

She raised her right hand, spread her five fingers, and pointed at a thick concrete pillar next to her.

I didn't touch anything.

But He Yuanchao saw it—a small crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the pillar with a "crack".

It was not caused by a physical collision.

That's... telekinesis.

He Yuanchao's pupils contracted slightly.

A notification popped up in his mind.

The T-virus fusion level in the target body has reached an advanced stage.

Some of the brain's potential has been activated—primary thought ability.

"You can break things with your mind?" He Yuanchao's tone carried a hint of genuine surprise.

"It's not just about breaking things," Alice withdrew her hand, "but it's still not very stable to control. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It's like a battery that's not fully charged."

He Yuanchao silently assessed the situation in his mind.

Alice's ability became standard in the later parts of the Resident Evil series.

But now it has appeared—which means those drugs accelerated her evolutionary process.

good thing.

That's a very good thing.

This means that their team's combat effectiveness has gained another qualitative factor.

"Alright, everything is clear now."

He Yuanchao pulled a knife from the system space—pretending to be from a toolbox in the back of the pickup truck.

That was a Nepalese kukri.

It wasn't some brand-name product—it looked like a heavy, curved machete with a wide, thick blade and a black leather strap wrapped around the handle. But it felt heavy and substantial in the hand.

He spent 200 karma points in the system shop to get this.

Not expensive.

But it's practical.

The Nepalese kukri is designed for one thing—to cut.

Whether chopping wood, killing people, or slaying zombies, one strike will break bones and tear flesh.

He Yuanchao handed the knife to Alice.

"Your marksmanship is good enough, but in this post-apocalyptic world, having a melee weapon is better than nothing."

Alice took the knife and weighed it in her hand.

Her fingers rubbed the hilt of the knife twice—an instinctive action of an experienced fighter assessing the feel of a weapon.

"That's good. More practical than all that fancy stuff from Umbrella Corporation."

"Those fancy things can be good too," He Yuanchao said. "Like the treasures they hid under Hive B."

Alice looked up at him.

He Yuanchao took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket.

That was a simplified floor plan of Hive Block B that he printed out using the system—of course, he claimed to the public that he "secretly took it in Umbrella's laboratory."

He unfolded the paper and spread it on the hood of the pickup truck.

Jill also came over.

"What is this?"

"Hive Area B." He Yuanchao drew a circle on the map with his finger. "It's the other half of the underground base we escaped from before. We turned Area A upside down, but Area B has hardly been touched."

"What's inside?" Jill asked.

"Everything you can think of." He Yuanchao listed them one by one, "Inactive biological weapon samples, a complete T-virus genetic database, the original fluid storage of the progenitor virus, the Red Queen's backup server, and—"

His finger touched a mark at the deepest part of the map.

"All research data from the Nemesis Project."

"Nemesis...that big guy?" Jill's voice tightened.

"Yes. The entire technology used to create it—including how to control it, how to shut it down, and how to completely destroy it."

The garage was silent for a few seconds.

The wind blew in through the gaps between the floors, making the dust on the ground swirl in the moonlight.

"You want to go back?" Alice asked bluntly.

"I need those things," He Yuanchao did not deny.

"You're insane," Jill said. "That place is teeming with monsters now—more than last time. Even though you modified the Red Queen's programming, who knows if those monsters have completely destroyed the doors?"

"That's why I need help." He Yuanchao looked at Alice.

Alice looked at him.

Their eyes met for about two seconds.

There is no language.

But they said everything.

"I'll go with you," Alice said.

In short.

No nonsense.

He Yuanchao nodded.

He then looked at Jill.

"You stay here. Take Payton and Angela and find a safe place to hide. The school is no good; it'll attract even more zombies. I suggest you head east—"

He brought up the system map in his mind.

"There's a gas station about three kilometers away, next to a motel. It's simple in structure and easy to defend. You wait for us there."

"How long?"

"Before dawn." He Yuanchao raised his wrist to check the time. "If we're not back by dawn—"

He paused for a moment.

"Then you can go on your own. Don't look back."

Jill was silent for a few seconds.

Her gaze swept back and forth between He Yuanchao and Alice.

The two men stood there, one holding a shotgun and the other a military knife, like two guardian deities emerging from hell at the boundary between moonlight and shadow.

Jill opened her mouth as if to say something.

But in the end, he just nodded.

"be safe."

He Yuanchao patted the roof of the pickup truck.

"Let's go."

Jill got into the driver's seat. Payton grunted in the back as a farewell. Angela was still asleep, the look of fear on her face finally easing in her sleep.

The pickup truck's engine restarted.

The red taillights flashed twice in the darkness before the car slowly drove away from the parking garage along the spiral ramp.

The sound of the car faded into the distance.

The parking garage returned to its deathly silence.

Only He Yuanchao and Alice remained.

He Yuanchao pulled out another gun from behind his back—the system space—and handed it to Alice.

It was a short-barreled Ithaca shotgun.

"Keep that Beretta for emergencies. Use this shotgun for close-range clearing."

Alice took the gun and pulled the pump grip with one hand, the movement flowing smoothly.

Which way to go?

"The sewers." He Yuanchao pointed to the ground floor of the parking garage. "There's a municipal drainage pipe entrance about 300 meters east of the school. That pipe connects directly to the sewage system of Hive Block B—it's big enough to fit through."

"What exactly is your source of information?" Alice finally couldn't help but ask.

He Yuanchao looked at her and gave her an enigmatic smile.

"I'm lucky."

Alice didn't ask any further questions.

The two walked down from the parking garage and disappeared into the night.

Behind us, faint black smoke was still rising from the Raccoon City skyline.

A distant explosion was heard from a building in the distance.

This city is slowly dying.

But before it dies completely—

He Yuanchao had another important task to accomplish.