"Confirmed, this individual is indeed an employee of our company. He appears to be one of the former security guards from the Hive, who vanished after the Hive Incident. Therefore, what he says is very likely true. After the T-Virus leak, he became a natural host for the T-Virus, and in this process, the T-Virus mutated in an extremely significant way. Of course, we currently cannot grasp the extent of this mutation, so for now, we shall name the newly generated viral entity the G-Virus!" Upon receiving reports from the site supervisor regarding the existence of the T-Virus ultimate evolution, the upper echelons of the Umbrella Corporation rapidly convened a conference call. Especially after hearing the explanations and analyses from several key research specialists, coupled with the footage displaying that terrifying power, the corporate high command quickly issued orders: cancel the nuclear strike, dispatch a massive contingent of mercenaries into the city, with the absolute objective of capturing the precious G-Virus host alive and returning them to the company. Simultaneously, they approved the activation of the Nemesis-2 subject, agreeing to temporarily grant the G-Virus host any demands, provided they remain stabilized within the city.

It must be noted that Umbrella Corporation's efficiency was startling; such a meeting concluded in less than half an hour. Just as Zheng Zha and the others descended from the bridge, they found the other end completely blocked by countless abandoned vehicles—a complete vehicular catastrophe site. Moreover, beyond the mass of cars, numerous zombies wandered aimlessly.

Everyone acted decisively, drawing their weapons and opening fire on the zombies. Jill noticed Zhang Heng trembling violently and rushed over, grabbing his arm to ask, "When were you infected?" Zhang Heng looked at the beautiful police officer with innocence, strangely replying, "Nothing's wrong, I'm not infected."

The beautiful officer looked utterly bewildered, holding Zhang Heng's arm and examining him, then looking down at his feet. After a long moment, she finally asked in confusion, "If you're not infected, then why are you shaking like that? Have you gone mad?" Zhang Heng felt a mix of annoyance and amusement, yet he dared not answer, knowing that revealing the truth would be intensely awkward no matter what.

So, he could only keep scratching his head and laughing, "Hahahaha." Meanwhile, Zheng Zha and the others had already cleared the zombies. Crossing through the wreckage of smashed cars, the group reached the far side of the bridge. The situation here was clearly far worse than the side they just left. The surrounding storefronts appeared to have been burned, and those scorch marks extended to the vehicles lining the streets. Zombies occasionally roamed the thoroughfare—a complete scene of doomsday.

The group trudged forward for another thirty minutes before the surroundings finally began to look somewhat more intact. Both the streets and the parked cars appeared relatively undisturbed here. The group began carefully searching for a large vehicle, perhaps a bus capable of carrying over a dozen people.

As they walked, a telephone by the roadside suddenly rang loudly. Zheng Zha exchanged a glance with the others, then walked over and picked up the receiver. "Hello? Who is this?" A man's voice came through the line: "Hello, host of the T-Virus ultimate evolution. I am the site supervisor in charge of this biohazard crisis; my name is irrelevant. I have only one thing to tell you: your demands have been approved by the company's upper management. We will halt the nuclear missile attack and dispatch seven teams of elite company mercenaries into the city. For your safety, I request that you assemble at this location. I will provide you with detailed directions to that spot." Zheng Zha quickly interrupted, "Just call me Zheng Zha. I don't wish to discuss other matters. There is another faction operating in this city attempting to capture me. According to them, they are members of a rival company, hidden in the shadows, always plotting to overthrow the corporation's rule. Before anything else, I need the company's strength to eliminate this contingent. They seem to have set an ambush; when they appear, they will certainly launch tracking and direct attacks. You will be able to trace their location then. This group seems to be enhanced by various means, and their power is considerable; be wary."

The man immediately exclaimed in shock, "Are you joking? Do you comprehend the scope and power of this corporation? There cannot be any hidden enemies of the company, or how would I not know? You must be joking. Don't try to use these words to evade our tracking, I tell you—" Zheng Zha cut him off again: "Words like that are useless to me. How about this: when that team appears, I require your seven mercenary teams to engage them, and dispatch helicopters to extract me from this city, along with all my companions, of course. Frankly, that team's power is terrifying; perhaps only slightly less than mine. You only send seven mercenary teams; I doubt they can defeat that force."

The man’s voice sounded hesitant for a long time before he replied, "I will report this situation to upper management, but within my authorization, seven mercenary teams are the absolute limit. If top management agrees, they might increase the deployment, but until then, I hope you—" Zheng Zha interrupted him once more: "We have matters to attend to first. I give you four hours. Before dawn, the mercenaries and helicopters must be deployed near the city center—let's designate the Umbrella Corporation headquarters in this city. I will arrive there in four hours. During this time, monitor the entire city closely; that contingent is the company's enemy!" With that, he abruptly hung up the phone.

"Excellent! Just as we discussed, pull the corporate faction to our side. Ideally, get them to deploy dozens of mercenary teams. That way, even with sheer numbers, we can drown the Demon Reincarnation Squad! Furthermore, once they provide helicopters, we can easily fly to the checkpoint. Perfect!" Xiao Honglü's voice resonated directly in Zheng Zha's consciousness.

Zheng Zha replied with a wry smile, "I hope so, but I have a bad feeling in my gut. I sense the Demon Reincarnation Squad might be significantly stronger than us, and they might even have individuals capable of pushing their strength to the absolute limit. I hope my premonition is wrong."

Regardless, after settling the terms with the company, everyone seemed somewhat relieved, except for Alice, whose expression was unsettling. She walked alongside Zheng Zha, asking him earnestly, "Do you really intend to cooperate with the Umbrella Corporation? To use the T-Virus ultimate evolution inside you to create more bioweapons? Do you really plan to side with Umbrella?" Jill sighed, "Of course not. But there is another team tracking and attacking us—no, not including you and Jill, only my core members will be attacked. Their power is immense, far surpassing mine, so I had no choice but to seek outside help. Currently, only the power of the Umbrella Corporation can assist me. But rest assured, I absolutely will not help Umbrella complete their bioweapon production; I guarantee you that."

Alice nodded slightly, walking a few more paces before saying, "We survived the life-and-death battlefield together; several comrades are dead—Matt, the Captain—we don't know where they are. I never want to fight you; I hope it never comes to that point."

Zheng Zha didn't know how to handle the friendships developing with the characters within the narrative. Fortunately, it was merely friendship. Although he possessed a tracking watch from the "Main God" that could be exchanged for a D-rank side mission and a large number of reward points, if a narrative character learned everything about the "Main God" space and agreed to leave the scenario with you, you could place the watch on them and bring them out of that scenario. To wander around aimlessly was equivalent to creating a life form yourself. Developing friendship with a narrative character was manageable; however, developing romantic love with a narrative character was an extremely difficult matter.

The group walked on for a short while longer until, under Zhan Lan's mental scan, they successfully located an abandoned bus. Aside from missing keys and broken window glass, the bus was largely intact. Cheng Xiao skillfully pulled a bundle of wires from near the driver's seat and touched a few connections, causing the bus to easily ignite.

"Same old routine, everyone rest up well. I'll wake you when we reach our destination. Zhan Lan, I'll trouble you to help me navigate." Zheng Zha started toward the driver's seat, but he noticed Cheng Yongjiang was still sitting there, showing no intention of moving.

Cheng Xiao chuckled, "Let me drive. You should rest up too, Captain. You are our primary combat force. Just leave the trivial matters to us to expend energy on, right? You need to conserve your stamina for the battles ahead, don't you? Besides, you get to spend time alone with the beautiful lady, hahaha! Captain, don't fight me for it."

Zheng Zha looked at him deeply. Despite the man's flippant tone, his eyes were remarkably clear. He wasn't motivated by spending time with a beautiful woman but genuinely wanted the Captain to rest more. This man simply wasn't skilled at expressing his true feelings, so he used such banter to convey a serious point. Thus, Zheng Zha nodded silently to him and walked over to a bench seat to feign sleep.

The night was as dark as ink. The group was drawing closer to the primary school, and correspondingly, the time for the Demon Reincarnation Squad to appear in this world was also approaching rapidly.