Chapter 66: The Bloodstained Promise

The sound of the slide locking back on an empty chamber rang out in the deathly silent laboratory, as harsh as a death knell.

Jill's rifle barrel was searing hot; the last bullet in her magazine had long since been emptied into G1's mutated torso. However, the monster only swayed its massive body, and the wounds torn open by the bullets healed rapidly with visible writhing. The bloodshot giant eye on its shoulder locked firmly onto her, its new prey.

A pungent smell of blood filled her nostrils, half from the shredded flesh on G1's body, and half from the petite corpse lying just a few steps away, torn brutally in two.

The young girl she had personally rescued from hell—the one who was always insecure but could always sense danger ahead of time—now lay on the cold floor.

Her broken spine and internal organs were scattered on the ground, and her long silver hair, soaked in blood, clung to her face. Her once-clear eyes were open, but they no longer held a spark of life; only the frozen shape of her mouth remained, mouthing for Jill to leave.

It felt as if Jill's heart were being squeezed by G1's claws; every contraction brought a heart-wrenching pain.

She had died to save her. If not for Chloe's desperate leap, the one torn apart on the ground right now should have been her, Jill Valentine.

“You bastard... I'll kill you!”

Jill's body shook with rage. She discarded her empty rifle and drew her pistol. Using a lab table for cover, she quickly darted out, her bullets pouring toward the giant eye on G1's shoulder with precision.

That was the most fragile part of William's lingering consciousness and one of the monster's few weaknesses.

But G1's reaction speed far exceeded her expectations. Its mutated right arm swept out violently, swatting the heavy steel lab table away like a piece of paper. It crashed into the wall with a thunderous bang, deformed and useless.

Jill managed to dodge the fatal blow by rolling, but her back slammed hard against the alloy wall. The air was instantly squeezed out of her lungs, and her pistol slipped from her hand, sliding far away.

She was completely trapped in a desperate situation with no cover left.

G1 approached with heavy steps, a thick and violent roar erupting from its throat. Each step made the ground vibrate slightly.

It was now entirely dominated by the instincts of the G-Virus, with nothing but slaughter left in its eyes. It could no longer distinguish whether the person before it was the target who had taken its virus samples.

Jill's hand reached for her waist, her fingertips touching her last remaining high-explosive grenade. She knew very well that this grenade wouldn't kill G1; at most, it would only temporarily force it back.

What made her even more despairing was that G1's body stood right between her and Chloe's corpse; she didn't even have a chance to get near the remains.

Just then, the tactical headset clipped to her collar suddenly erupted with a burst of harsh static. Following that, a cold, emotionless synthesized electronic voice echoed throughout the corridor without warning:

【Warning! Out-of-control Class A biohazard detected. Maximum authority lockdown protocol activated. All entrances and exits in the Level 3 Main Laboratory Area will undergo virus decontamination procedures in 90 seconds. After the access control is locked, full coverage of VX Nerve Gas will be initiated within the area. Repeat, 90-second countdown has begun.】

Red warning lights instantly flashed frantically throughout the laboratory, and the piercing alarm drowned out G1's roars.

The sound of heavy machinery operating came from inside the walls. The only exit to the outside, that half-open alloy door, had already begun to slowly close.

Ninety seconds.

Either turn and rush out now, escaping this hell alive with the chance Chloe bought with her life to expose Umbrella Corporation's monstrous crimes to the public...

...Or stay, fighting until the last bullet, only to be forever locked in this sealed iron box alongside Chloe's corpse, dissolved into a pool of blood by the gas. Nothing would change, and the young girl's sacrifice would be rendered utterly meaningless.

Jill's gaze remained fixed on Chloe's corpse, and tears finally welled up uncontrollably, sliding down and mixing with the bloodstains on her face.

She was an elite member of the police force; her code was to never leave a teammate behind, not even their corpse. She had promised Chloe she would take her out of Raccoon City together.

But now, she couldn't do it.

G1 let out another deafening roar, its mutated giant arm raised high before smashing down toward her. Jill snapped back to her senses, rolling on the ground to dodge the fatal strike. The claws smashed deep cracks into the floor, sending stone fragments flying.

She took the opportunity to pick up the pistol that had slid across the floor, her finger hooking into the grenade's safety pin. The despair in her eyes was replaced by a resolve that seemed ready to burn everything down.

She couldn't die here.

Chloe had traded her own life for Jill's chance to survive. She couldn't let that sacrifice go to waste.

She had to get out alive. She had to make Umbrella Corporation pay for everything they had done in blood. She had to let the whole world know what this girl named Chloe had experienced here and what she had given up to protect others.

“Chloe...” Jill's voice choked, yet it was exceptionally firm. “I'm sorry. I will definitely come back. I swear, I will avenge you.”

She violently pulled the grenade's safety pin, held it for two seconds, and threw it with all her might at G1's feet.

“BOOM—!!”

The deafening explosion erupted in the sealed laboratory, and flames instantly engulfed the entire space. The shockwave sent G1's massive body staggering back. It let out a roar of pain, temporarily losing its ability to pursue.

Using the explosion as cover, Jill didn't hesitate for a second, turning and sprinting toward the slowly closing alloy door. The red countdown flashed frantically in her field of vision: 10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds...

In the very last second before the door locked completely, she dove through sideways, slamming hard onto the corridor floor outside.

Almost simultaneously, the heavy alloy door slammed shut behind her. The heavy mechanical bolts dropped one after another with a series of cold clicks, completely sealing the path back to the laboratory. The alarm suddenly dimmed, and the electronic voice spoke again, announcing the completion of the lockdown procedure and the initiation of the gas filling.

Red warning lights flashed frantically in the long, narrow corridor. The cold alarm washed over her eardrums repeatedly, and the notification for the nerve gas filling looped in her ears. Yet Jill seemed to have lost her hearing; her back was pressed firmly against the cold metal door. All the strength in her body seemed to have been completely drained during that sprint, and she slowly slid down the cold door panel into a sitting position.

Chloe.

That name was like a red-hot iron, searing itself into her heart; every breath brought a heart-wrenching pain.

Just half an hour ago, this young girl with long silver hair had been half a step behind her, her steps light and her breathing steady, the muzzle of her submachine gun always alertly scanning the dark corners.

She would speak up to warn her before Jill fell into danger, provide precise cover during Jill's reloads, and in the brief intervals of rest, she would lift those clear eyes, give her a faint smile, and say, “Sister Jill, we'll definitely get out together.”

Jill had promised her.

Ever since they met at the Arklay Research Facility, seeing this little girl weeping and seeking her rescue, she had made a promise to the child: I will take you away from here, I will help you escape Umbrella Corporation and this damn virus.

Their core objective for infiltrating the Nest this time had never been some earth-shattering heroic feat. Jill wanted to get evidence of Umbrella Corporation's crimes and avenge her fallen S.T.A.R.S. teammates, but more importantly, she wanted to help Chloe find a cure.

Only after Chloe had hidden the fact that she was stealing S01 Inhibitors did they realize the girl's body had such a major hidden danger. Jill had told her that only in the Nest's core laboratory would it be possible to find an S01 Inhibitor that could stabilize the virus in her body and free her from the fate of being an experimental subject for life.

But now?

The S01 Inhibitor hadn't been found, the promise hadn't been kept, and the young girl who had fought so hard to push her away from the brink of death was now forever left in that sealed laboratory, enveloped by cold poison gas, locked in that hell.

“Chloe... I'm sorry...”

Jill covered her face, suppressed sobs escaping through her fingers. Scalding tears mixed with the dried blood on her face, dripping onto the dust-covered legs of her combat uniform.

She was a member of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team, a survivor of the Arklay Mountains nightmare. She had seen too much death and tragedy, but never before had she felt so powerless, so contemptible.

She hadn't even been able to bring Chloe's body out.

The alarms continued, and the low roars of zombies echoed faintly from deep within the corridor. Jill took a sudden deep breath and violently wiped the tears from her face.

She couldn't break down here. Chloe had traded her life for Jill's chance to live; she couldn't let that sacrifice be meaningless.

She propped herself up against the wall and stood, checking her weapons: her rifle had long been emptied and left in the laboratory, her Beretta 92F at her waist had only 7 bullets left, and her grenades were gone. All she had left to rely on was the gun in her hand and the combat instincts etched into her bones.

She turned off the headset that was screeching with signal interference and used the flashing warning lights to discern her route. This was the Level 3 Auxiliary Corridor of the Nest, less than two hundred meters from William's core laboratory. This was the route she and Chloe had originally planned. Now that Chloe was gone, she still had to finish this path.

Not just for the evidence, but for Chloe.

And behind that heavy alloy door, within the laboratory enveloped by poison gas and death, everything fell into an eerie silence.

G1, with half its body mangled from the blast, dragged its mutated form and disappeared into the depths of the ventilation ducts. On the floor, Chloe's body, torn in two, lay quietly, the blood on the floor already congealed into a dark brown.

But just then, at her severed torso, the previously still blood vessels suddenly began to pulse slightly.

Thin, pale red tentacles, carrying the activity of the T-Virus, slowly reached out from the broken spine and muscle tissue. As if possessing a consciousness of their own, they extended toward the other half of the body, intertwining and reconnecting. The broken bones, muscles, and blood vessels began to frantically regenerate and heal at a visible speed under the influence of the virus.

Her pupils, which had been dilated and lifeless, gave an extremely slight, faint contraction.