Raccoon City wasn't hard to find; thanks to the outbreak of the T-Virus, most Americans knew of the previously obscure city—that is, the ones still alive. The dead, even if they knew, couldn't speak of it. And not all the Reincarnation Squads were full of fools and simpletons; naturally, some elites existed among them. They knew whom to ask and what to inquire about, and they could roughly guess that clues about Laboratory No. 7 were tied to Resident Evil 1 and 2.

Especially with the relentless pushing and pulling from the Central Continent Team, roughly seven or eight squads, barring those too weak to matter, began making their way toward Raccoon City. Yet, the first to arrive wasn't any of the major factions—not the Deities, the Devils, or the Central Continent Team—but instead, an obscure little group called the North Sea Team. They weren't numerous either, only nine members, simply because they were already extremely close to Raccoon City. Without personal flight gear, they reached the outskirts of the city using vehicles.

“Is this Raccoon City? It looks awfully dilapidated…” a young, seductive girl in the squad murmured, gazing at the distant city towers.

Raccoon City was even more ruined than imagined. Several towers in the distance had completely collapsed, and the remaining structures looked battered and broken. Vaguely, dark shapes seemed to shift in the distant alleyways. The entire city felt eerie and spectral, bearing no resemblance to its bustling appearance from years past.

Everyone in the team stared at the distant city with trepidation. The alluring girl smiled faintly. “Alright, let’s go. We head into Raccoon City to find the clues for Laboratory No. 7.”

“C-Captain, are you sure about this? This city looks incredibly dangerous. Who knows what kind of monsters are inside? Maybe we should wait here and see if any other teams pass by. We could cooperate and enter together. How about that?” a man in the team suggested kindly.

The girl didn’t turn around. She merely raised the blood-red whip in her hand and cracked it sharply. Smack! The sharp sound sent the man flying two to three meters away. He writhed on the ground, twitching uncontrollably. While he didn't seem severely injured, for some reason, he couldn't gather the strength to stand up at all.

“I have made my decision. My humble men, since when did you start questioning my orders?” the girl cooed charmingly. Then, she gestured toward Raccoon City in the distance and led the way, stepping into the city first.

It must be noted that Raccoon City entirely inherited the scale of the main battlefield from Resident Evil 2. That is, "Main God" had completely altered the city’s size and layout, making it many times larger than a typical American city in reality. Even a powerful Psychic Controller couldn't scan the entire metropolis. In fact, being able to scan even one-twentieth of the district was considered formidable psychic capability. In a sense... the sheer size of this city implied that something special must exist within it, and these things were likely the primary clues of this horror movie world...

As the first squad entered Raccoon City, the other teams gradually began converging. The second, the third—the city’s scale was so ridiculously enormous that the entry zones for the Reincarnation Squads covered only a tiny fraction of the whole. The entire city remained shrouded in its profound stillness...

Meanwhile, just as the first Reincarnation Squad breached Raccoon City, in a hidden valley not too far away...

“Huuuh, huuuh…”

A beautiful Caucasian woman ran forward relentlessly. This area was riddled with countless alleys and traps, not to mention unimaginable monsters...

The woman had no idea why she was there; in fact, she didn’t even know who she was. All she knew was that she awoke in a cold room, and her immediate consciousness screamed that she was in extreme danger—a dangerous, unknown creature was closing in on her, though she couldn't identify it. She only knew she had to escape, and fast.

So, the woman fled. Emerging from the room, she bolted forward through winding passages. Many traps were laid along her path, yet she seemed to possess an innate premonition, evading them just before they sprung. Moreover, her reaction speed, agility, and strength far surpassed that of a normal person. In truly perilous situations, she could even reinforce specific muscle groups, achieving bursts of power several times greater than an ordinary human's to dodge disaster. This body had saved her from several near-fatal calamities, and her instincts told her the exit was now very close.

Suddenly, the woman halted abruptly, glancing around in panic. For some reason, her intuition warned her of a creature so terrifying it posed a genuine threat to her life.

“Who? Who’s there? Come out!”

The woman suddenly roared toward a nearby alley, her arm and leg muscles inflating uncontrollably. If anything appeared there, she would strike instantly.

As her shout echoed, a man indeed emerged trembling from the alleyway. He looked deeply distressed, constantly massaging his temples as he walked. However, judging by his skin and physique, he wasn't a zombie but a very much alive human being.

“Zheng... Zheng Zha? Right! I’m Alice!”

The moment the woman saw the man, countless fragmented images flashed through her mind. She instinctively shouted out the man’s name and recalled her own. But this only deepened her confusion; she couldn't recall why she was here or what happened before she lost consciousness, only that their names suddenly surfaced.

“How are you?” Alice shook her head, pushing the chaotic thoughts deep inside. She immediately started toward Zheng Zha, but he suddenly lifted his head and shrieked loudly. His eyes were completely blood-red, no longer human. Furthermore, his veins seemed swollen across his body, and his muscles writhed as if imbued with their own life force. He looked utterly bizarre. Seeing this, Alice immediately halted her advance.

“Don’t you remember me? Zheng Zha, I’m Alice. We fought side-by-side,” Alice asked cautiously from a distance.

Zheng Zha paid no attention to her words. The man roared and charged, his speed far exceeding any mortal’s. The tens of meters between them closed in two or three seconds. Alice barely had time to execute a backflip to leap clear. Zheng Zha seemed unable to control the force of his charge; he slammed into the wall with a massive boom, leaving a concave dent in the concrete. The colossal sound resonated everywhere; Alice felt the very ground beneath her tremble, testament to the impact's immense power. Yet, Zheng Zha merely shook his head, seemingly unaffected, and turned back around, the muscles on his body writhing even more violently.

——————

“Roar!”

Zheng Zha howled. A red line appeared to flow down from his forehead toward his heart, while a stream of energy seemed to climb from his lower abdomen toward his heart. When these two unknown energies converged at his core, Zheng Zha stomped the ground hard. His speed instantly increased dramatically, and before Alice could react, he had tackled her to the ground. The force of his impact sent them both sliding forward across the floor, leaving a smear of indistinct flesh and gore behind them.

Alice groaned in pain, feeling as if her back had gone numb. Just as she gathered strength to break free from Zheng Zha's weight, he delivered a crushing punch directly into her abdomen, a force so great it felt like it would cleave her in two. Alice gagged, spitting out a large mouthful of blood. But Zheng Zha wasn't finished; he opened his jaws, aiming for her throat. If that bite landed, Alice’s life would surely end there.

Alice felt death drawing terrifyingly close. In that instant, time itself seemed to slow down around her. Her vision focused solely on the rapidly approaching teeth... and the spatial distortion blurring before her. Suddenly, a colossal force manifested between Alice and Zheng Zha, shoving him backward relentlessly. The steel walls along their path buckled under the pressure of this invisible power. Alice staggered to her feet, her eyes unfocused. This invisible force was emanating from her.

“You are not Zheng Zha, you monster… Die!”

Alice spat blood as she spoke, bringing her hands together. The fluctuations in the space around them intensified violently, enveloping Zheng Zha and squeezing and tearing at him. With a sharp hiss, one of Zheng Zha's arms was violently ripped away. But the power did not diminish; instead, it surged forward with even greater ferocity. Zheng Zha’s life hung by a thread.

The beast-like man let out another massive roar. The energy that had been converging peacefully suddenly turned frantic and violent, as if intent on self-destruction. The resulting power was impossibly immense. As the flesh on his body began to disintegrate, he instantly broke free from the invisible force and vanished from Alice’s dynamic field of vision, leaving only exploding footprints on the ground. In the very next second, Alice’s head burst apart entirely. The residual force of the punch sent her corpse flying dozens of meters away, slamming into the steel wall where it fragmented into pieces. Only Zheng Zha remained standing, his musculature utterly destroyed.

Zheng Zha roared to the sky. His body, too, seemed unable to withstand the power, and it disintegrated completely, leaving behind only shattered flesh and ruin in that corridor.

At the end of this corridor hung a metal plaque. Inscribed upon it in English were the words: Bio-Replication Laboratory No. 7... Jump to