Chapter 31: Schemes Exhausted

In the early hours of July 24, 1998, heavy rain swallowed the entire Arklay Mountains.

The Arklay Research Facility beneath the Spencer Mansion had fallen to James Marcus's Leech army hours ago. Now, as James Marcus rushed toward the Ecliptic Express, it descended into a state of deathly silent chaos.

Emergency lights flickered in the winding underground corridors. The dim yellow light swept over floors covered in Leech slime, dried blood, and experimental debris. A lingering stench of rot filled the air, punctuated by the occasional distant roar of mutated creatures, making the abandoned facility feel all the more eerie and terrifying.

Wesker walked alone through the second basement level. His black S.T.A.R.S. tactical uniform was neat and crisp, without a single stain. Dark sunglasses firmly covered his eyes, completely hiding all emotion and radiating a cold, unapproachable aura.

His steps were steady, the routes of this area etched into his mind. Before William Birkin's evacuation three years ago, this was the core experimental zone under William's control. Even now, with most facilities fallen and security systems paralyzed, he could still precisely avoid collapsed sections and wandering zombies.

By now, he had long since shed his disguise as the S.T.A.R.S. captain, devoting himself entirely to his long-prepared plan.

He needed to confirm the deployment status of the B.O.W.s within the facility one by one, activate the self-destruct system permissions, and verify every detail of the plan to lure the S.T.A.R.S. members deep underground to collect combat data on the bio-weapons. This was the final preparation for faking his death and completely breaking away from the Umbrella Corporation.

He had plotted this chess game for years; he would allow no irrelevant variables to interfere.

As he passed the laboratory at the end of the corridor, which was encrypted with the highest level of security, Wesker paused slightly.

System monitoring showed that in this area, which had long been judged to have no signs of life, there were actually stable vital signs.

His gaze turned cold as he pressed his hand against the authorization panel by the door. His fingertips entered a password he had long ago memorized. Three years ago, this was still a top-secret Umbrella research area, and as a core manager, he still retained top-level access.

"Authorization passed. Protective door unlocked."

A cold electronic prompt sounded faintly. The heavy alloy door, deformed by Leech corrosion, slowly slid open to both sides with a dull mechanical groan.

The interior of the lab was a mess; the console was shattered, walls were peeling, and pipes were leaking. Only in the center stood a reinforced glass isolation chamber partially encased in alloy armor. A faint light flickered within, clearly outlining the silhouette of a young girl.

It was Chloe.

Wesker's gaze swept over her indifferently, without a hint of emotion. A few hours ago, he had been discussing this Subject S01 with William Birkin in the underground command post. William had stated plainly that he had already cut off her exclusive S01 Inhibitor, leaving her to fend for herself in the depths, unworthy of further attention.

He hadn't seen Chloe for several years. Their last encounter was when Oswell E. Spencer viewed her as the perfect vessel for memory transplantation and kept her under strict guard. In his eyes, she was nothing more than a discarded Umbrella experiment, utterly worthless.

Inside the isolation chamber, the moment Chloe saw the man outside, her long-dormant heart suddenly accelerated. A flash of light crossed her eyes, only to be immediately covered by extreme composure.

Albert Wesker.

His appearance here meant that the moment she had waited eight years for had finally arrived.

The events of Resident Evil 1 had officially begun. The Arklay Mountains were in total chaos, and Umbrella's dark secrets were about to be completely exposed. This was her only chance to escape this cage.

Her negotiations with James Marcus had just failed. Having finally waited for James Marcus to leave and Wesker to appear, she would never let this hard-won chance at life slip away.

Chloe slowly stood up and walked to the glass wall. Her fingertips pressed lightly against the cold glass as she looked calmly at Wesker and spoke first: "Mr. Wesker."

Wesker didn't respond. He only looked at her with indifference, his eyes devoid of warmth. Clearly unwilling to linger, he turned to leave.

"I've seen Dr. James Marcus," Chloe said immediately, throwing out the line she had prepared to try and keep Wesker there.

"Just a few hours ago, he came to this facility, covered in leeches. He's here to seek revenge on you and William."

She deliberately lowered her voice to create a sense of urgency. Following the same logic she used to manipulate James Marcus, she continued, "He hates you both for betraying him and stealing the T-Virus research with Oswell E. Spencer. He said that after he's done with the Training Facility and the train, he's coming for you next. He wants to personally destroy all your plans and make you pay."

Chloe knew very well that it was impossible for James Marcus to come looking for Wesker. According to the plot, he had already headed for the Ecliptic Express and would eventually die at the hands of Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen, vanishing forever in the ruins of the Training Facility.

She said this only to create a threat, making Wesker realize the crisis around him so he would take her presence seriously and give her a chance to negotiate.

But Wesker's pace only faltered for a second. He still didn't look back, and he didn't even show a hint of surprise.

He already knew James Marcus had been resurrected. He and William had reached a consensus: let James Marcus stir up trouble while they simply proceeded according to their own plans.

In his view, James Marcus was just a failure driven by obsession who couldn't possibly threaten his arrangements. Chloe's words were nothing more than a clumsy trick by a prisoner trying to escape; he didn't even have the interest to acknowledge them.

Wesker continued walking, completely ignoring Chloe's words, intending to leave for good.

Seeing Wesker unmoved, Chloe's heart sank. The frustration from her failed confrontation with James Marcus surged back. She knew that conventional manipulation wouldn't work; she had to use her trump card.

She stared at Wesker's back, took a deep breath, and spoke each word clearly: "Don't be in such a hurry to leave. I know what you're doing here. You're preparing to break away from Umbrella, aren't you?"

As those words fell, Wesker's footsteps abruptly froze.

The previously indifferent aura vanished instantly, replaced by a bone-chilling coldness and sharp killing intent. The air in the entire lab seemed to freeze, and even the distant roars became muffled.

Faking his death was a top secret Wesker had buried in his heart for years; it was his core card for leaving the Umbrella Corporation. No one knew a thing about it except himself. Even William Birkin, his colleague of many years, only knew he intended to betray Umbrella but didn't know the full details of the plan.

Yet this test subject, imprisoned deep beneath Umbrella for eight years, isolated from the world and long judged a discarded product, could actually accurately state the secret that could ruin his entire setup.

Wesker slowly turned around. His golden pupils, hidden behind his sunglasses, suddenly constricted as he locked onto Chloe inside the isolation chamber. His voice was low and cold, carrying an undisguised danger: "Just what do you know?"

This was the first time he truly looked at Chloe. His eyes were full of scrutiny and killing intent. If Chloe gave even a slightly suspicious answer, he would not hesitate to activate the isolation chamber's destruction sequence to completely eliminate this fatal variable.

Chloe met his cold gaze without backing down. Her tone was firm and steady, but she still kept a card up her sleeve to give herself room to maneuver.

"I know you've long been tired of working for Umbrella. You want to use this opportunity to escape, to betray the organization, and to go your own way."

"And I am just like you. I am also an enemy of Umbrella." Chloe's voice carried the grief and indignation suppressed for eight years, yet she remained rational.

"I've been imprisoned here by them for eight whole years, used as a perfect T-Virus vessel and a memory transplant experiment. Day after day, I was bled and monitored, with no freedom and no dignity, finally to be abandoned by William to rot. James Marcus didn't care to let me out, but are you going to be like him and give up a helper you can cooperate with?"

"We have a common enemy. If you let me out, I can help you. I'm familiar with all of Umbrella's secrets, I know Spencer's layouts, and I know James Marcus's weaknesses even better. I won't drag down your plan, and I certainly won't leak your secrets. I just want to leave this cage and get revenge on Umbrella."

She dropped all pretenses, only hoping Wesker would weigh the pros and cons and give her a chance at life.

Wesker looked at her silently and felt a slight sense of relief. It seemed she had only guessed his intentions and didn't know the full plan. His fingertips tightened slightly as he began to calculate rapidly in his mind.

Chloe did indeed have utility. She was well-versed in Umbrella's secrets, hated the organization to her core, and knew James Marcus's movements. In the early stages of his departure from Umbrella, she might become a useful pawn.

But the risks were equally fatal.

She had guessed his top-secret plan; she was too smart and uncontrollable. Moreover, the pitch she just gave him was likely identical to the one she gave James Marcus—nothing more than a pretense of cooperation to escape using their conflict. Once out, whether she would help him, James Marcus, or seek out another power was entirely unknown.

After weighing the pros and cons, all consideration faded from Wesker's eyes, replaced by his usual coldness. His tone carried an unquestionable finality: "I will not let you out."

That short sentence was like a cold blade, instantly shattering all of Chloe's hopes.

First James Marcus, then Wesker.

She had exhausted her mind manipulating and negotiating, casting aside all dignity, only to be rejected by two men in a row. Eight years of imprisonment, endless torture, and repeated dashed hopes finally crushed her sanity.

The composure she had been forcing instantly collapsed. Chloe completely lost control of her emotions, her mindset exploding. She suddenly clenched her fists and smashed them hard against the glass wall. Her voice was full of resentment, grievance, and anger as she shrieked at Wesker.

"Why?! Why won't you just let me out?! What did I do wrong?! James Marcus wouldn't let me go, and neither will you! I just want to leave this place! I just want to live! Why won't you give me even this small chance?!"

Her voice was tearful. Eight years of suppression and despair erupted at this moment. Her eyes were red, filled with frustration and confusion.

Wesker watched her lose control, a cold arc curling at the corner of his mouth. His tone was sharp and blunt, without a hint of pity: "You know my plan. Keeping you around only brings me disadvantages, no benefits whatsoever."

"Every word you just said to me is the same as what you said to James Marcus—nothing more than a fake cooperation to use our conflict to escape. I have no doubt that if I let you out, you'd turn around and join him to deal with me. An uncontrollable variable like you is a liability if left alive."

He saw through all of Chloe's little schemes at a glance. From the moment she mentioned James Marcus, he knew her cooperation was only a temporary tactic.

"Besides, do you think you even have a choice?" Wesker walked slowly to the front of the isolation chamber, his tone indifferent as he spoke the cruelest truth.

"You haven't been injected with Umbrella's exclusive S01 Inhibitor for months. The virus in your body may seem symbiotic, but it has actually begun to grow restless. Without the drug to suppress it, in a matter of days, you will completely lose control and become a mindless monster, eventually left to rot."

"Even if I let you out, you wouldn't survive. You'd just become a meaningless killing machine. Instead of that, you might as well stay here quietly and turn to ash along with this facility."

Chloe's whole body shook. Her screaming stopped abruptly, and she froze in place, speechless.

Lately, she had often felt a burning sensation from within, as if molten lava were flowing through her veins, and her consciousness would briefly blur.

She had been deliberately ignoring this feeling, but Wesker's words completely punctured her self-deceiving illusions and confirmed the unease in her heart.

It turned out that from the moment the facility fell and the inhibitor was cut off, she had already been sentenced to death.

Seeing Chloe's distraught, dazed state, Wesker didn't say another word.

His time was extremely precious; he had no extra energy to waste on a discarded experiment doomed to die. This brief confrontation was but a minor interlude in his plan, unable to change his decision in the slightest.

Wesker took one last look at Chloe in the isolation chamber, his eyes devoid of emotion. He turned and strode out of the lab without looking back.

The heavy alloy protective door slowly closed with a dull thud, completely isolating the world inside the chamber from the outside, and completely severing Chloe's last shred of hope.

In the empty lab, deathly silence returned, leaving Chloe alone, trapped in the narrow isolation chamber.

She slowly slumped to the floor, her hands tightly clutching her knees. Endless anger, resentment, and frustration surged in her heart, but she had nowhere to vent.

Outside, the rain continued to pour. James Marcus's revenge at the Training Facility, Wesker's fake death plot, and the arrival of the S.T.A.R.S. team at the Spencer Mansion—a great chaos was sweeping through Arklay.

And she could only be trapped in this dark cage, nursing a heart full of rage, feeling the virus within her gradually grow restless as she watched herself spiral toward loss of control and destruction.