Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Alice looked at him with a half-smile, as if to say, "Keep pretending, I won't play along." So he immediately shut up and changed the subject—how could he, Zheng Zha, possibly admit that this so-called internal competition was just something he'd made up on the spur of the moment when Chu Xuan refuted him? After all, it was baseless speculation, completely without any evidence. How could he, Zheng Zha, just because he was eager to spend his extra reward points, come up with a random idea, concoct a plan he himself hadn't even figured out, and hastily throw all the reincarnators into this Resident Evil world?

It's obviously impossible!

“Fine, the competition’s canceled, fine. It’s not going to continue anyway,” he said, somewhat dejectedly. “So what are your plans now? Remodel the world? Is there any heavy lifting you need me to do? Or do you expect me to do nothing and just stay in this Antarctic base to avoid getting in the way? And Zhang Heng and the others… Luo Gandao and Cheng Xiao are newcomers, but Zhang Heng and Ming Yanwei are our comrades who have fought alongside us for a long time. Are we just going to leave them like that?”

“Your multiple questions are really troublesome.” Alice shook her head slightly. Although answering them one by one was quite boring for her, she still patiently explained to Zheng Zha step by step. “First, let’s talk about what we’re going to do. Our goal, roughly speaking, is indeed to change the world, to influence the current form of civilization and in turn correct the principles of civilization that operate in this world—”

"However, this so-called transformation isn't about directly infusing technology and magic into this world as you might imagine. What we intend to do... is more about modifying the structure of this world's civilization."

“…You could elaborate.”

Alice's fingers came together, and behind her, layers of light screens, each cascading with massive amounts of data, quietly unfolded. The data interlocked and merged, ultimately constructing a detailed depiction of a primitive Earth before her.

The primordial Earth was a fledgling planet filled with oceans, volcanoes, barren lands, and a near-constant barrage of lightning and torrential rain from thick clouds. Of course, there were even older, hotter stages before that, but perhaps to save time, the Earth that Alice is currently experiencing is the one before the continent of Mu split apart, before the low-lying landmass transformed into oceans, before life emerged from the water, before any living creatures appeared on the surface, and only before the ceaseless torrential rains and the ever-burning volcanoes.

In that era, the first life began to be conceived.

“First of all…” Her fingers gently stroked the exquisite Earth model, and the glow that made up the model immediately began to flicker and evolve rapidly, from a barren world to blue-green algae born at the bottom of the water, from the metamorphosis of anaerobic bacteria to the large-scale appearance of plankton, the desolate land and the vast ocean gradually came to life, and billions of years passed in the blink of an eye, through the rapid evolution of several life forms such as amphibians, reptiles and mammals, after the extinction of dinosaurs, Homo erectus appeared on this world for the first time.

"We need to confirm one thing: the period during which humanity has influenced this world only occupies a very short segment of the planet's lifespan. Even so, the principles of civilization in this world have still been interfered with by humanity, or rather, a part of it has become part of humanity. In other words, before the emergence of humanity, this planet was almost meaningless to this world."

"...I always thought the planet you were referring to was the world," Zheng Zha couldn't help but interject.

"Is this what you're focusing on?" Alice shook her head slightly, but decided to explain anyway. "Worlds and planets are different, and worlds are different from each other. Although the underlying structure determined by the principles of civilization in this world is the same as your real world—particles and quarks—this world is not connected to endless galaxies and has an incomparably huge volume as you think."

She held up one finger. She said, "This world, with its Resident Evil backdrop, is only about the size of our solar system. Matter is concentrated within this solar system. Beyond Pluto, after passing through a region of matter dissipation roughly one light-year, everything is nothing but emptiness. And the starry sky beyond that emptiness is a projection from somewhere I don't even know where it came from. Of course, the cause of these phenomena isn't important, at least not for us right now."

Seeing that Zheng Zha was about to ask again, she simply waved her hand, indicating that they should skip the topic.

"In short, I can say for sure that before the emergence of humankind, the planet we stand on had almost no value to the world itself. It was only after the emergence of humankind and the evolution of civilization that the underlying rules of the world began to shift and change to varying degrees, which is why I call them the principles of civilization—because only civilization can interfere with these underlying rules." She did not add the phrase 'human civilization' at the end.

"And in your eyes, Zheng Zha, do you think human civilization... from its birth until now, has it undergone any fundamental changes?"

“I did attend history classes in high school,” Zheng Zha replied. “I have a general understanding of the development of primitive society, slave society, feudal society, capitalist society, social society… and I think the changes between them are enormous.” He shrugged and answered. “But I imagine you have some different opinions?”

“Yes, that’s right, there are some changes. In my eyes, the human world has never changed.” Alice nodded, and the model of Earth in her hand rapidly evolved as Zheng Zha spoke, from the time when Homo erectus picked up tools, made fire, built nests, made clothes, established settlements, settlements became villages, villages became towns, people fought each other, and then found peace in the intervals between wars, dynasties rose and fell, empires were established and perished, tens of thousands of years passed in the blink of an eye, and finally it became the Earth as it is now.

"Do you see? In tens of thousands of years of evolution, there is one thing that has never changed."

"War?" Zheng Zha asked.

“No, it’s class,” Alice replied, snapping her fingers and the model of the Earth vanished.

"From ancient times to the present, from barbarism to civilization, from the past to the present, from war to peace, classes have always existed and have never changed."

Alice tilted her head slightly.

"In primitive society, the leaders and priests of the higher class ruled over a group of warriors and producers. In slave society, the class was expanded to include slaves. In feudal society, the slave class changed its appearance, and the priest class appeared and disappeared intermittently. In capitalist society, the division between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat is self-evident—even now, it is the same: those who labor with their minds govern others, and those who labor with their hands are governed by others. At all times, one group of people rules another group of people, or one group of people rules another group of people and then rules another group of people, and thus classes have always existed."

"That's just the division of labor in society..."

“But it’s still a class system,” Alice replied calmly. “Different classes form a homogenized society. And it is precisely because of this that I can conclude, at least from this perspective, that human society in this world has not undergone any fundamental change since its creation—and after confirming that the brief history of human civilization is the greatest factor interfering with the principles of civilization, using this point as the starting point for the project of ‘artificially interfering with the principles of civilization’ is undoubtedly an experimental plan that may not be the optimal one, but is certainly the most effective.”

"You... intend to eliminate class distinctions in this world?" Zheng Zha's eyes widened, his voice filled with utter disbelief. "But how could such a thing be possible... Society always needs division of labor and cooperation; there will always be hierarchical structures!"

"How do you know you can't do it if you don't try?" Alice blinked and retorted. "Right now, this world is too insignificant for us to resist. We can change it according to our own ideas without worrying about some strange things suddenly appearing and getting in our way..."

Moreover, our large-scale social experiment is actually helping human civilization on this world. If we do nothing, then according to the plot of the Resident Evil movies, the world will face a catastrophic zombie apocalypse in a few months at most. Our experiment will save them from the apocalypse, and as for the change in social structure, that is just a small price to pay in the process of rescue.

She snapped her fingers, and the images of several famous cities appeared on the light screen behind her.

"Xiao Honglu and Zhang Jie are in Japan. Their theory is that 'if everyone is given equal power, then class will be eliminated.' So their strategy is to remove the lethality of the T-virus, transform it into pure physical enhancement abilities, and equip it with genetically engineered weapons capable of destroying most of the world's military equipment. In this way, no one will die from the T-virus infection, but everyone will have the opportunity to become a smaller version of Superman. Although I am not very optimistic about their plan, at least before the new order is established, the concept of class will cease to exist in Japan."

“Order has also vanished.” Zheng Zha’s forehead veins throbbed, but he finally sighed. “Forget it, it’s Japan anyway, let them be. But I won’t allow it if China does the same!”

"Don't worry about that, because it's Chu Xuan who's going to China," Alice replied. "Chu Xuan thinks socialism is great, so he plans to push them a step further, giving them supramolecular engineering creations based on the nanobug system and related technologies. He'll give them 'extreme material abundance' using something like an unlimited 3D printer. At the same time, he also got a copy of the construction method for the memory world from me. So, in a world where there are basically no native third-order life forms, 'extreme spiritual abundance' can also be achieved through the memory world. And in this way, I think class can be eliminated."

“This is just a cage.” Zheng Zha frowned, but the veins on his forehead relaxed slightly. “Chu Xuan simply used near-limitless resources and a false dream to build a cage… How is this any different from the mastermind behind The Matrix?”

“Perhaps, but this world is only as big as the solar system. They can never escape the stars. It’s no different from a cage. Now it’s just a more comfortable cage,” Alice continued. “And he’s at least much more restrained than Zhan Lan in South America. Zhan Lan’s theory was that ‘everyone is dreaming, so there won’t be any problems.’ He then used this to modify the T-virus, removing its lethality while transferring the T-virus’s physical enhancements to specific areas of the human brain. The effect of this was that people’s dreams were connected.”

"She plans to let everyone in South America live in a dream, while leaving their physical bodies to maintenance robots—of course, both the modified T-virus and the maintenance robots are actually products of the Great Library. But I don't think this will have a fundamental impact on her social experiments."

"Next up is Zhao Zhuikong. He and Zhao Yingkong are in Europe, and their theory is to eliminate class by eliminating blood ties and family lineage."

Section Fourteen: The Commentary and Artistic Style Take a Sudden Turn

Zhao Zhuikong's theory is very interesting. Perhaps because the generation represented by their 'Kong Project' were all genetically engineered, orphaned and modified, he and Zhao Yingkong focused on kinship and family lineage from the very beginning when they were thinking about how to eliminate class.

In his understanding, class distinctions exist among people because of the concept of parents and children. Parents make efforts, achieve results, and provide for their children. Descendants inherit the legacy, carry it forward, and give back to their ancestors—if there were no parents and children in the world, then class distinctions would probably be difficult to maintain.

It's easy to understand: the saying "like begets like" applies here. A king's son remains a king, and a beggar's son remains a beggar. Scholarly families and wealthy clans that have endured for millennia, where sons inherit their fathers' businesses and bring glory to their ancestors—these all refer to this situation. Excellent predecessors create achievements and then leave them to their descendants. These descendants naturally acquire a superior starting point compared to the descendants of less capable predecessors. And when many descendants with superior resources gather together, they form a community, and a class is naturally born.

Throughout history, rulers of dynasties, in order to maintain their rule, repeatedly weakened the power of aristocratic families and clans. And ultimately, they did achieve some success; with the end of feudalism and the mutual antagonism between capital and society, aristocratic families and clans ceased to exist in many countries. However, their disappearance did not signify their demise; they simply transformed into households, smaller units than large clans—of course, the existence of households is actually beneficial to contemporary society, as children always expect parental care. But in Zhao Zhuikong's plan, concepts such as family, bloodline, parents, and descendants are all things he must eliminate.

Of course, his goal wasn't to carry out a continent-wide purge, directly causing everyone within the experimental scope to become childless or orphaned—he wasn't Sirin, and his methods weren't that crude. In fact, his imagination ran a little further than Alice had anticipated.

“Psionic Ascension, this is Zhao Zhuikong’s plan.” Alice waved her hand, and a series of complex industrial charts appeared clearly behind her. The charts showed the specific operation of the 'Biological Ascension' project in a way that even Zheng Zha could understand. By modifying the T-virus (still produced by the Great Library), all the infected people in the entire Western European test zone will have the same frequency of brainwaves. They will thus become a unified whole in terms of thought, sharing the same will. One is all, and all is one. When everyone is one person, and one person represents everyone, then parents, relatives, children, and descendants will naturally become meaningless, and the so-called class will naturally cease to exist.

"You've basically created a Zerg supercomputer!" Zheng Zha couldn't help but shout. "Or is Zhao Zhuikong planning to create a Western European-exclusive version of the Will of Humanity, a degraded and shrunken version of Alaya?"

"The principles are similar, but the content is different." Alice answered slowly and deliberately, "A mere billion people can't support a true god. Perhaps in some worldviews, the entanglement of the thoughts of a billion people is enough to construct a great god, but at least in this world, it's impossible—this is just an experiment by Zhao Zhuikong, and a rather half-hearted one at that. For him, spending a unique 'Roman Holiday' with his dear cousin is probably much more important than carrying out our class elimination experiment, and he's just going through the motions in the story."

"...Should we contact an orthopedic hospital in Germany for him?"

"He doesn't have a father, so who would break his legs?"

Zheng Zha covered his face, looking like he couldn't refute what he said. He waved his hand and continued, "So what about the rest? Overlord, Zero Point, and what are your and Norrell's plans?"

"Overlord is in Russia now, and he has his own path to follow, so there's no need for sociological experiments to embellish it. As for Zero... to be honest, I don't know what he's doing right now. I can only be sure that he's probably in India, but what he plans to do or is doing is beyond my calculations or surveillance."

"Patch didn't start her own project because her landing point was in the Sahara Desert. Also, because she had to take on the responsibility of being a logistics person—the hardware support for several projects had to be handled by her under the control of the Great Library. Whether it was the modification of the T-virus, the synthesis of bioweapons, or the preparation of the material circulation system, none of these could be done without her. It was precisely because of her help that these projects could be carried out, instead of being just empty talk."

“As for me…” Alice tilted her head slightly. “My experimental site is not among the nations, but I will bring magic and techniques to this world. After all, the nations chosen as experimental sites will not only be able to avoid the zombie apocalypse, but will also be destined to experience leapfrog development. And this world is so vast, it’s always better to have more actors on the stage than fewer.”

"After all, the theme of this world is 'zombies.' It's impossible for us to interfere and forcibly change the principles of civilization without any backlash. And 'zombies,' the element that is about to be eliminated, should be the biggest source of this backlash. If left unchecked, these zombies, which are almost useless except for biting and infecting people, may soon mutate and eventually be forcibly pushed by the principles of civilization to evolve into a group of combat power close to the fourth tier." She gently clenched her fist. "So, rather than letting them evolve freely and eventually transform into a form that might even trouble us extraordinary beings, it's better to let them develop in a specific direction under my supervision from the beginning."

"...Even if everyone else fails, you can still achieve new results, right?"

“You can think that way,” Alice replied calmly.

"...How confident are you?" Zheng Zha asked suddenly after a long silence.

“Who knows, it was just an experiment.” Alice made a helpless gesture. “An experiment is an experiment precisely because the outcome is uncertain, so it needs to be verified. Success and failure are both…”

"I'm not asking about your experiments, I'm asking about what you've put behind these experiments!" Zheng Zha rudely interrupted her. "Don't think I can't see through it! Your so-called experiments are simply using mortals from this world to simulate the cellular communities inside the human body. Your so-called 'elimination of classes' is just exploring ways to control the seventy trillion independent cells inside the human body that have acquired self-awareness after entering the fourth-order state, except for forceful suppression... Don't try to fool me with those nonsense theories of civilization, I don't understand that stuff!"

“First of all, I’m not lying to you. The purpose of our experiment is indeed to verify the means of interfering with the principles of civilization.” Alice’s tone remained unchanged. “Secondly, I don’t deny that calculating the other ways to reach the fourth stage of the gene lock is indeed a secondary objective of this experiment. But my previous conclusion remains unchanged—this is just an experiment, and the results cannot be confirmed until it is completed. It may succeed, or it may not. We cannot be 100% certain until the final step. And even if the social experiment ultimately obtains the result of ‘stable coexistence,’ it will only slightly increase the advancement rate of the third-stage reincarnators in our queue.”

She stretched out her hand and made a gesture between two fingers.

“It increased by a tiny bit, very little, just a tiny bit,” she emphasized again. “And this tiny success rate only applies to the experimenters themselves; it’s worthless to everyone else.”

Zheng Zha remained silent.

From the experimental styles of the reincarnators, he could easily discern the paths chosen by his teammates who hadn't yet reached the fourth tier. Luo Gandao and Cheng Xiao did nothing because they were far from reaching that level. Zhang Heng and Ming Yanwei did nothing because they were eroded by their own Dao. Zero… forget about Zero. As for Ba Wang, he went to Russia alone because he intended to follow the most mainstream path, or rather, the fourth-tier path taken by Zheng Zha, Alice, Patchouli, and others; therefore, he had no need to participate in the experiment.

Zhao Zhuikong provides a negative example: the idea that one is the whole, and the whole is one, ensures diversity but also leads to internal chaos. The path he sets is essentially one with the cellular will, the path he and Zhao Yingkong took before meeting Alice. This path is a dead end; he reveals it as a warning.

Patchouli had already reached the fourth rank, and therefore did not participate in the experiment, only providing experimental equipment for others. Alice, on the other hand, acted as the external pressure to push the experiment to completion—she would teach information magic and other power knowledge to some scattered forces in this world, while the zombies would also master this magical power and push it in new directions when the Civilization Principles backfired—her plan was quite good. The faster the reincarnators developed, the stronger the backlash from the 'zombie' element in the Civilization Principles would be, and her information magic could take advantage of the Civilization Principles' 'supercomputer' to gain more development. Once the experiment started, she was destined to be the winner, and yet no one could punish her.

Of course, even if someone could subdue her, the reincarnators wouldn't agree, because this experiment only lasts thirty days. Without a sufficiently strong external force to pressure them, perhaps no one could complete the experiment. Zhang Jie and Xiao Honglu's experiment used force to trigger battles between individuals. In terms of fourth-tier advancement, this means letting cells that have awakened their own will fight each other, while their own will remains above the battlefield, not commanding everything but secretly guiding everything. Chu Xuan's experiment satisfies the needs of each individual, thereby restraining their restless will. From a fourth-tier perspective, this means appeasing and restraining each cell. Although it seems far-fetched, there's a high probability of achieving this goal when Chu Xuan is the executor. Zhan Lan's experiment, on the other hand, involves confusing all individuals, that is, confusing the will of all cells during the fourth-tier advancement, making them unknowingly become Zhan Lan's allies. All three methods are means of advancing to the fourth tier and controlling the will of cells, apart from using force to subdue them. And no matter which method is used, external pressure is needed as a test.

After all, achieving the fourth rank is for the purpose of acquiring a fourth-rank life level and fourth-rank power. While these theories seem feasible—that successful implementation could restrain the rampaging cellular consciousness—restraining cellular consciousness does not mean one can utilize the subtle power naturally acquired after controlling seventy trillion cells. If the experiment is not tested by external forces during the experimental phase, the final advancement may lead to undesirable results.

This must be Alice's true purpose. Although she repeatedly emphasized that her goal was to research the secrets hidden within the Principles of Civilization, and that assisting others in completing the deduction ritual for advancing to the fourth tier was only a secondary objective, Zheng Zha believed that this was actually her main objective, while the so-called Principles of Civilization were merely incidental.

So, were her clumsy attempts at persuasion before also a cover-up for this...? No, she wasn't covering it up; she deliberately used this gradual approach to persuade me. From the beginning, she knew I could understand, and she guided me to understand... Yes, those previous clumsy, almost idiotic attempts at persuasion, which sounded like reciting an encyclopedia, were simply to make me think for myself. And once I figured out the cause and effect on my own... I wouldn't be a hindrance to her anymore.

After all... I had already made up my mind beforehand. If it's for the sake of my comrades, then what does it matter if my hands and heart get dirty?

“So,” Zheng Zha, finally understanding everything, revealed a knowing look in his eyes, “this experiment, this sociological experiment involving the entire surface civilization, you can’t guarantee any results, can you?”

"Exactly."

"There is actually no place for me in this experiment. All I need to do is stay here obediently. No matter how the war is going on in the other countries, no matter how much trouble the various forces strengthened by your magic and the zombies have caused, I should turn a blind eye to it all until the experiment comes to an end, right?"

"Exactly."

Zheng Zha leaned back lazily in the seat behind him.

"Then you have to find me something to do. I don't want to sleep for thirty days in this freezing, desolate place!"

“Oh, then I do have an activity to recommend to you.” Alice waved her hand, and all the light screens behind her disappeared in an instant. Then the surrounding environment changed, and a physical projection covering the entire experimental hall, showing a dark police station tens of thousands of kilometers away, appeared.

"Interested in watching a live-action role-playing game? With remote control enabled, you can even appear as a boss and participate in the battle!"

Chapter Fifteen: The Lively Miss Sirin

Celine felt her heart pounding, and a terrible premonition kept creeping into her mind. She was certain it was a warning triggered by her heightened sense of danger in her current state, but when she tried to pinpoint the source of this warning, it vanished as if it were a hallucination.

Hallucination? No, a being that has unlocked the fourth-order genetic lock cannot hallucinate. If it does, it means that the person who unlocked the fourth-order genetic lock is not far from death—and Sirin doesn't want to leave this world so soon, but when she tries to do something, doubts creep into her heart.

Should I really follow my gut feeling? Should I really change my actions based on this unfounded warning?

Alice is smarter than me, and she says there's no threat in this world. Zheng Zha is better at fighting than me, and he also says there's no threat in this world. And I, neither smart enough nor strong enough, should I really ignore their opinions and make preparations beforehand? You know, in the last world, if I had followed my intuition, Alice's plans probably would have failed… although the outcome seems pretty much the same.

She hesitated, and in that brief moment of thought, she realized that the so-called warning didn't seem serious—at most, it was like being hit in the face by a megaton nuclear bomb at close range—it was just troublesome, but not fatal, and if she hadn't been prepared, it might have only caused her minor injuries, like a superficial scratch...

[I guess I should just ignore it.] Sirin thought to herself. While she was thinking at the slow pace of her current character setting, her temporary companion noticed her odd behavior and waved at her while shouting.

“Hey, Ms. Celine. I think you should take a look at this.” Marvin, the Black sheriff who had narrowly escaped death, brandished his gun and pointed the beam of his flashlight at a dent in the metal railing. “That big guy crashed into this!” he shouted.

"Coming right now." Upon hearing the voice, Celine snapped out of her thoughts and quickly strode toward Marvin.

It is now late at night. To be precise, it is five minutes after Sirin, with the guidance and help of NPC Marvin, found the right magnet and successfully cracked the secret passage under the goddess statue. After passing through the secret passage and the secret room, she arrived at a machine room hidden underground in the police station via the elevator in the secret room.

They arrived at the location five minutes earlier and, unsurprisingly, found numerous signs of a battle. It appeared that a brave gunman and a towering monster had fought a fierce battle, with the former emerging victorious with overwhelming superiority. Throughout the entire battle zone, neither Celine, who identified herself as a seasoned FBI agent, nor Marvin, with over a decade of genuine criminal investigation experience, could find a single trace of human blood or injury. Conversely, the enormous monster had sustained at least thirty piercing wounds from 9mm ammunition and approximately ten close-range shots from shotgun shells—the bullet holes and scattered iron filings clearly attesting to this.

According to Marvin's assessment, the monster was at least nine feet tall, or 2.7 meters. It had a humanoid form and possessed immense strength, capable of twisting steel pipes off railings with its bare hands. He and Sirin discovered at least eleven impact marks left by direct impacts from steel pipes within the combat zone comprised of a cluster of unidentified machines. Judging from the depth of these marks, the monster must have exerted at least a ton of force when swinging it.

Without a doubt, any mortal hit by this thing would die. But clearly, the man who defeated the monster—the one Marvin identified as Leon S. Kennedy from the discarded shell casings—was completely unharmed. Not only that, but after the battle, he even had time to gather supplies scattered throughout the area—Cirin found a newly opened, completely empty ammunition box on a mechanical platform—and after collecting the supplies, he left through a well leading to the surface.

Celine and Marvin hadn't explored the well yet, because, at least in Marvin's view, since the 'new recruit' had been able to so easily deal with this humanoid monster—which he himself would most likely have died in—the dangers above the well probably wouldn't be able to touch him anytime soon. So instead of rushing up to meet him, it was better to spend more time down there studying the place and gathering some information that Leon might have forgotten.

Celine had some reservations about this strategy, as finding Leon seemed to be a more important primary objective. However, she quickly reconsidered, thinking she didn't need those few reward points, and the God's actions had already infuriated her. Therefore, she ultimately decided to prioritize protecting this NPC with whom she had already established a certain level of trust, and she also believed that the veteran detective Marvin must have a sufficiently reasonable reason for acting this way.

Sure enough, when Celine arrived at the depression Marvin had pointed out, this pattern of action proved to be correct.

“Look, a piece of flesh detached from the body, and it seems to still be alive.” Marvin’s flashlight illuminated a dark red patch stuck in the dent. It seemed to be a small piece of fresh flesh that had been torn off by the sharp edge of the steel railing. Under the flashlight’s light, it was wriggling slightly, as if tiny buds and threads were weakly swaying on the surface of the flesh. When Marvin got closer to it, its activity rate increased significantly.

“This is different from the zombies we’ve encountered before. Whether they’re alive or dead, the flesh on their bodies mutates and dies within a short time. Unless they consume enough food, they can’t possibly remain active after detaching from their host.” The black sheriff’s expression was serious. “Perhaps we’ve found something valuable.”

“It is indeed very valuable.” Celine nodded, took a blank test tube from her pocket, and used a pair of handmade tweezers made of wire to place the piece of flesh stuck to the dent in the railing into the test tube. “I suspect this is a biological weapon that goes a step further than the virus that turns living people into zombies. And the humanoid monster that your excellent agent, Mr. Leon S. Kennedy, encountered before we arrived is very likely its carrier.”