The faint crackle of radio static filled the air. Mero's lips curved slightly upward, a quiet sign of his good mood.
"Secure the T-virus. Payment is one hundred million dollars."
"One hundred million? The Progenitor virus we sold last time only got three million."
"That was outdated junk. It's not even comparable. This job alone could let us stop working for a hundred years. Finish this, and we can retire early."
"One hundred million isn't enough, Ada. We're still young. Make it ten billion. That way we'll never have to worry again."
In 1998, even one hundred million dollars was enough to live comfortably for a lifetime, as long as you avoided bad habits.
Ada had been an agent for nearly a decade and had never earned that much.
Any mission that commanded such a price was bound to be critical.
So why was Mero so relaxed about it?
Because from the moment he was born, he had been blessed with an extraordinary body.
Extraordinary to the point that he could perfectly fuse with the Progenitor virus.
The Progenitor virus was Umbrella Corporation's earliest viral creation. Umbrella itself was a global pharmaceutical giant on the surface.
Most people infected with the virus suffered total immune collapse and died horribly.
But in extremely rare cases, one in tens of thousands, the virus granted superhuman physical abilities and lifespans stretching into centuries.
Bang. Bang. Bang!
The sharp crack of gunfire snapped Mero out of his thoughts.
Then came a savage roar.
He lifted his gaze. The underground laboratory of the executive training facility was piled high with corpses.
All of them had been taken down by him moments ago.
Humans. Mutated animals.
Zombies.
It was deep in the night. Dim emergency lights stretched long shadows across the corridor, outlining a thin figure moving in the distance.
Paired with the feral growls and ragged breathing, it felt like something straight out of a horror film.
"Someone's coming. Or just another walking corpse. Hmm… judging by the voice, it's human."
Mero stretched lazily, flexing his idle hands. Slung across his back was a Barrett M82A2.
His weapon.
This was Raccoon City, in Arklay County, Colorado, deep in the American Midwest. Surrounded by mountains on three sides, the city now sat on the edge of disaster.
He was currently inside the executive training facility in the northern Arklay Mountains.
On the surface, it was a training ground for Umbrella's future high-ranking executives.
In truth, it was a viral research facility.
Now that the virus had leaked, the entire base was overrun by infected creatures driven only by instinct to attack.
In the dim corridor, two shadows stretched long across the floor.
The first to emerge was a young policewoman, dressed in a white tactical vest, pistol raised.
Behind her, a towering humanoid monster gave chase.
This was no ordinary zombie.
It stood nearly 2.5 meters tall. Its heart and spine were exposed, its flesh rotting and sloughing off.
The grotesque mutation had twisted its body, especially its right arm, which had transformed into a massive claw.
Its fingers looked like tangled tree roots, the protruding middle digit sharp like a spear.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With a bone-rattling crash, the creature overturned a lab table covered in equipment.
The pistol rounds barely scratched it. Some were deflected by dense muscle, others embedded uselessly in its flesh.
The young officer was forced to dodge, rolling awkwardly across the ground.
"BOW! Umbrella's BOW!"
"Not bad. A member of S.T.A.R.S., able to dodge attacks from the prototype Tyrant-001. But that little handgun won't do much."
"Looks like we're lucky… running into a prototype Tyrant before even securing the T-virus."
Compared to Mero's excitement, the woman on the other end of the radio sounded exasperated.
"Don't get carried away. We've never faced something like this before. Be careful you don't get yourself killed."
Having worked together for years, Ada knew him too well.
"This is a perfect chance to collect combat data. There are plenty of buyers in the organization willing to pay top dollar for it."
Behind a metal wall, Mero stood with a faint smile, clad in black tactical gear, the Barrett resting on his back.
For him, encountering monsters was a good thing.
Not only could he sell BOW combat data for extra cash, but any footage he recorded could also cause trouble for Umbrella.
At present, Mero worked as a mercenary for "the Organization." You could call him a peripheral member, or simply a bounty hunter.
Someone who worked for money.
In truth, after transmigrating into this world and growing up within Umbrella, he had once been part of the company.
But after his unique physiology was discovered, things became… unpleasant.
So he left and became a mercenary.
His gaze settled on the Tyrant T-001 in the lab, information about BOWs flashing through his mind.
Umbrella posed as a pharmaceutical giant, but secretly conducted bio-weapons research.
A viral outbreak had torn through the facility from within.
Across the Arklay Mountains, everything, living and non-living, had undergone varying degrees of mutation.
But these creatures were merely byproducts of uncontrolled viral evolution.
The true products of their research were BOWs.
Bio-Organic Weapons.
The Tyrant T-001 was one of them.
Created by injecting the T-virus into a death row inmate, it possessed physical abilities far beyond human limits.
The Tyrant project aimed to create the ultimate lifeform with human-level intelligence.
T-001 was an early prototype. The excessive viral load had caused severe brain damage and bodily decay.
Even so, compared to ordinary zombies, it was immensely valuable.
"Complete combat data from regular zombies can sell for ten thousand. BOW data should fetch at least a hundred thousand."
"Oh?" Ada let out a faint, amused laugh. "Planning to tip off your media friends too? Stir up another scandal about a global pharmaceutical giant conducting illegal bio-experiments?"
"We've done that before. It doesn't matter. They've got enough money to bury any scandal. But…"
Her tone shifted, a hint of anticipation slipping in.
"This time, it doesn't look like something they can easily suppress."
Mero let out a soft scoff.
"Raccoon City is already flooded with reports of disappearances and cannibalistic monsters. The police couldn't handle the pressure, so they sent in S.T.A.R.S. to investigate."
He turned, his cold gaze sweeping across the lab.
The young officer had been knocked down near the doorway by a heavy strike from the Tyrant.
For a split second, she froze.
Then, the sound of light footsteps echoed behind her.
"How did you end up running all the way to my side?"
A relaxed, almost cheerful voice sounded from behind her.