The woman took off those oversized sunglasses that almost covered half her face.
Revealing those sharp yet charming almond eyes that both Noah and Claire were incredibly familiar with.
She just stood there casually, her bright red qipao fluttering gently in the breeze, outlining breathtaking curves.
It was a kind of beauty that was completely different from Claire's, one filled with aggression and a sense of danger.
She gave Noah and Claire a slight smile.
There was a hint of laziness in that smile, a touch of knowing, and a sliver of tacit understanding belonging only to their kind, which only they could read.
"Get in the car."
Her voice was as slightly raspy as ever, yet it was like the most mellow wine, intoxicating.
"If you have questions, ask them in the car."
Claire, holding the sleeping Angela in her arms, exchanged a look with Noah.
Noah nodded gently.
Etienne and Sophia stood to the side, looking somewhat ill at ease.
They looked at this mysterious woman who had suddenly appeared, whose aura was so powerful it was suffocating, their eyes filled with unhideable vigilance and confusion.
Noah took the first step, walking down the rust-stained platform toward the black Iveco.
Claire followed closely behind.
Etienne hesitated for a moment, but eventually took his wife's hand and followed.
The space inside the car was much more spacious than imagined.
Compared to the underground world they had just escaped, filled with the smell of blood and scorched flesh, this was practically another dimension.
The high-end leather seats emitted a faint leather fragrance.
The interior was spotless, and the air conditioning System was running silently, sending out a cool breeze at just the right temperature.
The group boarded the car one by one.
Ada was in no hurry to get in; she just leaned against the door, and after everyone was settled, she unhurriedly closed the heavy car door.
With a 'click,' the desolation and sunlight of the outside world were completely shut out.
The interior lights of the cabin automatically turned on, emitting a soft orange glow.
Ada sat in the driver's seat and skillfully started the car.
The engine let out a steady and powerful roar.
The vehicle smoothly pulled away from this forgotten, abandoned platform and merged onto the distant asphalt highway.
Inside the cabin, it was quiet.
There was only the subtle 'hiss' of tires rolling over the road surface.
Etienne's family of three sat stiffly in the back row.
Sophia held her husband's arm tightly, as if only by doing so could she gain a sense of security.
Etienne was restless; his messy hair looked even more like a bird's nest ravaged by a gale at this moment.
Through the rearview mirror, Ada glanced at the restless man in the back row.
The corners of her lips, painted with bright red lipstick, curled up slightly.
"So, Mr. 'Bird's Nest'."
Her voice broke the silence in the cabin.
"Where does your family plan to go? I'll drop you off."
Etienne was taken aback by this sudden, slightly playful nickname.
He subconsciously reached out to scratch his hairstyle, which was comparable to a work of art, and a look of extreme embarrassment appeared on his face.
A faint, barely noticeable blush even rose on his weather-beaten face.
"You... you can just drop us off near the apartment where I live."
His voice stuttered slightly, sounding out of place with his status as a Genius scientist.
"The address is... 37 Boulevard Saint-Michel."
After saying this, as if remembering something, he added another sentence.
"Sophia and I have discussed it; we'll pack up briefly and... and go back to Italy."
His gaze fell upon his wife beside him and his sleeping daughter.
That look was filled with the cherishing of something lost and found, and a hint of uncertainty about the future.
Sophia felt her husband's gaze, looked up, and gave him a gentle yet firm smile.
She reached out and gently stroked Angela's soft, golden hair.
Then, she gave Etienne a heavy nod.
Paris.
This romantic capital that once carried their countless dreams and hopes.
Now, only memories of an endless nightmare remained.
Leaving was the only choice.
Italy, their homeland, was the harbor that could heal all their pain.
"Fine," Ada responded crisply.
She quickly entered the address into the car's navigation System. (Car navigation already existed in '98)
Silence fell over the cabin again, a silence that made Noah feel a bit oppressed.
He looked at the couple in the back row, who were still immersed in the complex emotions of surviving a disaster, and decided to find a topic to ease the atmosphere.
His gaze fell on Sophia's face, which was still somewhat pale.
"Ms. Sophia," his voice was very calm.
"I've always had a question I can't figure out."
Hearing this, Sophia's body subconsciously tensed up.
She looked up at Noah somewhat nervously, then cautiously glanced at the mysterious woman in red who was driving.
Noah saw through her concerns.
He gave Sophia a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, she's one of us."
This simple sentence was like a calming pill.
Sophia's tense body relaxed slightly.
She took a deep breath and nodded to Noah.
"Go ahead and ask."
Noah organized his words.
"Why was the entrance to that base designed to be so complicated?"
"Triple encryption, musical notes, chairs, Greek letters..."
"Do you really have to play a puzzle game every time you go to work?"
This question was also a doubt in Claire's heart.
Hearing Noah's question, a look of both helplessness and disgust appeared on Sophia's face.
She seemed to recall that madman she would never forget.
"Durand."
She squeezed the name out from between her teeth.
"He's a total puzzle enthusiast, or rather, a paranoid narcissist."
Her voice carried uncontrollable hatred.
"He considers himself a Genius artist who stands above Mortals."
"And those cold scientific experiments, in his eyes, are the greatest works of art he has created."
Sophia's breathing was a bit rapid.
Etienne reached out and held her cold, slightly trembling hand.
"Don't be afraid, honey, it's all over."
The warmth from her husband's palm calmed Sophia's emotions a bit.
She closed her eyes to adjust her breathing and then continued.
"He had unspeakable secret dealings with certain high-ranking officials in the French Government."
"When the Palais Garnier underwent that large-scale renovation, he used the opportunity to bribe the designers and contractors in charge of the project."
"Then he secretly implanted that perverted puzzle mechanism under the opera house's stage."
The car drove along the banks of the Seine River.
The afternoon sun cast mottled shadows inside the cabin through the car window.
"The original geographical location of Umbrella's underground base was a very huge natural underground cave."
Sophia's voice became somewhat hollow.
"Durand believed that designing such a complex puzzle mechanism as the entrance to his 'palace of art' in a place filled with artistic atmosphere like the Palais Garnier would... would be very artistic.
"And..."
She paused, an incomprehensible expression appearing on her face.
"And he felt that every time he opened that door, the process of solving the puzzle through wisdom would give him a... huge sense of accomplishment..."
"Truly a... strange madman."
Sophia finally used this sentence as a summary.
Noah and Claire looked at each other.
They both saw a hint of absurd, wry amusement in each other's eyes.
For the sake of so-called 'artistic sense' and 'accomplishment,' he had created such a triple encryption System that could drive any normal person crazy.
Durand's thinking pattern had indeed completely exceeded the scope of a normal person's understanding.
"Then... how do you usually get in?" Claire couldn't help but follow up with a question.
"You can't be carrying markers and doing calculations on the floor every time, right?"
Sophia shook her head.
"Of course not."
"We have specially made employee chips."
She pulled out a white card, similar in size to a credit card, from the pocket of her worn-out uniform.
In the center of the card was the blue and white evil Umbrella logo; Sophia casually tossed the card into the car's trash can.
"On the side of the stage, there's a sensor area disguised as a decorative relief."
"Just scan the card over it, and that piano will automatically sink, and the lift platform will rise."
"The whole process takes less than ten seconds."
"Then where do you enter the opera house? Through the main entrance?"
Noah asked again.
"No." Sophia shook her head again.
"We have a dedicated employee passage."
"It's a secret door hidden in an abandoned utility room backstage in the opera house."
"Except for high-clearance Researchers like us and Durand's confidants, no one knows of its existence."
"Even the current person in charge of the Palais Garnier might not know that beneath their magnificent theater hides such an entrance to Hell."
"Moreover, we usually enter the base after two or three in the morning."
"At that time, the opera house has long been closed, there are specialized armed personnel on guard outside, and there's almost no one on the streets. Even if someone saw us, they'd just think the police were handling a special incident."
"So, basically no one finds out."
Sophia's explanation made everything seem reasonable.
A massive, evil secret hidden in the heart of the city.
Relying on this seemingly seamless disguise, it had operated for so long.
"What a strange hobby," Ada, who had been driving in silence, remarked coolly through the rearview mirror again.
No emotion could be heard in her tone.
A brief silence fell over the car again.
Noah's brain, however, was working rapidly.
He remembered another eerie detail that had been bothering him.
He looked at Sophia once more.
"By the way, Ms. Sophia."
"When we first came out of the cable car station, we found a very strange room."
"It was a circular lounge area."
"In that room, there were huge claw marks everywhere, as if it had been frantically destroyed by something."
"But the strangest thing was that there wasn't a single drop of blood at the scene."
"Do you know what happened there?"
Hearing Noah's description, a look of confusion appeared on Sophia's face.
She recalled carefully and then shook her head.
"I... I've never been there."
"After I was discovered by Durand, I was kept in an employee lounge in Sector B."
"Later, after being released by that kind guard, I took Angela and hid directly in the 'Childrens Paradise Area' in Sector A."
"I never had a chance to go to the place you mentioned."
Noah nodded upon hearing this; he wasn't surprised.
His fingers unconsciously tapped lightly on his knee.
"I have a theory." His voice was calm.
"The level of destruction in that room looks very much like the handiwork of a Licker."
Lickers.
Unconcealable fear surfaced on both Etienne and Sophia's faces simultaneously.
They thought of that cable car carriage, which had been like a living Hell.
"Is it possible..."
Noah's voice became increasingly low.
"Those Lickers intentionally destroyed that circular room like that."
"Their purpose was to create panic and drive the scattered survivors in the same direction."
"Namely, that cable car, which they thought was the only way out."
"And then..."
Noah didn't continue.
But behind those unfinished words, the bloody picture painted had already clearly emerged in everyone's mind.
Waiting for the prey to come to them.
Trapping the prey in a corner.
The thought that those terrifying monsters with beast-like appearances actually possessed such calm and efficient hunting intelligence.
A chill that reached deep into their bones instantly swept through everyone in the car.
Everyone felt an indescribable tingling sensation on their backs.
Even the usually bold Claire instinctively held Angela tighter in her arms.
The car slowly stopped at the side of Boulevard Saint-Michel.
The navigation screen showed that they had reached their destination.
Etienne looked at the familiar cream-colored apartment building outside the car window with a complex expression.
This place used to be his home.
But now, it was just a temporary transit station.
"We're here."
Ada's voice pulled Etienne back from his complex emotions.
The car door slid open slowly, and Claire handed Angela to Sophia.
Etienne's family of three got out of the car one by one.
Standing on the familiar street full of the atmosphere of daily life, Etienne felt a sense of surrealism, as if a lifetime had passed.
He turned back and bowed deeply to Noah, Claire, and Ada in the car.
"Thank you."
His voice was raspy but filled with unprecedented sincerity.
"If it weren't for you, our family might have already..."
He didn't go on.
But everyone understood what he meant to say.
Sophia, still holding her sleeping daughter, also expressed her most sincere gratitude to the group again.
Noah and Claire simply accepted their thanks calmly.
Etienne handed Noah a slip of paper with a phone number and an email address written on it.
"If you and your girlfriend come to Italy in the future, remember to let me know. I'll take you to Naples to eat the most authentic Margherita Pizza!"
"It's a deal!" Noah and Claire nodded.
The car door closed again.
The black Iveco restarted, silently merging into the continuous stream of traffic on the streets of Paris.
In the car, only Noah, Claire, and Ada remained.
The atmosphere instantly became a bit subtle.
Ada drove while looking straight ahead, as if she were just a dutiful driver.
But Noah knew that what this woman was about to say next was the real point.
As expected.
After passing an intersection, Ada's voice rang out again.
"Mr. Trant is very satisfied with the bargaining chips you brought back this time."
Her voice was still flat.
"Especially Durand's complete diary."
"Also, the Prometheus sample you recovered from Leo that has preliminarily fused with the t-virus. And that holy mother of filthy blood..."
"The value of these things far exceeds our initial expectations."
Noah didn't speak, just listening quietly.
"As a reward," the corners of Ada's mouth curled into a meaningful arc.
"All of Sherry's adoption procedures and her new legal identification in the United States have been fully completed."
"Now, she is your legal ward."
"Congratulations, rookie parents."
Hearing this news, a bright, heartfelt smile finally appeared on Claire's beautiful, tense face.
That smile was like a beam of sunlight, instantly dispelling all the fatigue and gloom in her eyes.
Sherry.
That little girl they had fought so hard to bring out of Hell.
She could finally have a bright and stable future.
Noah also breathed a sigh of relief.
He reached out and took Claire's hand, their fingers tightly interlaced.
"And..." Ada's tone suddenly shifted.
Her gaze fell through the rearview mirror onto Claire's face, which looked even more radiant because of her joy.
"It's about you, little beauty." Her voice carried a hint of relaxed teasing.
"Regarding your brother, Chris..."