A/N: For those who want to read ahead of the Webnovel schedule, you can read up to Chapter 111 on my Patreon.
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The Resident Evil arc is now complete on Patreon, and the MCU arc is about to begin.
*****
So after the short circuit incident which was caused by Luke which burst every light in the entire building.
Now in the hall,
A fire ball floating in the hall, illuminated the hall.
"So⊠it's been one week since the nuking incident?" Luke asked, casually biting into a slice of pizza that Peyton had brought.
His voice sounded almost too casual for what had just happened.
Everyone was gathered around him â Alice, Jill, Peyton, Terri, and Selene â all looking at him.
Not understanding how he could cause such a reaction just by waking up, shaking the whole building like an earthquake and short circuiting the entire place.
Selene wasn't one of them.
Jill folded her arms, giving him a look. "You're seriously acting like that was nothing?"
Luke just shrugged, chewing slowly. "I was asleep. Not my fault the place can't handle a little energy."
The others stared at him, half expecting a real explanation. They didn't get one.
"Well, ignore this small matter," Luke said, waving his hand like it was no big deal. "Continue with what happened."
He leaned back into his chair ."So," he asked, voice casual, "anything special happen while I was gone?"
Before anyone could even respond, a small smirk tugged at his lips. "Let me guess. Umbrella covered up the whole virus outbreak and the nuke as a 'nuclear plant meltdown accident,' right?"
The room went still. The only sound was the faint flicker of the fireball hovering above them, throwing light over their faces.
"And with the kind of personalities you people have," Luke went on, gesturing lazily with his half-eaten pizza slice, "you probably tried to tell the truth to the media⊠and now you're all wanted criminals."
He said it like he was commenting on the weather. Everyone just stared, speechless for a moment.
Jill narrowed her eyes. "Waitâhow the hell do you even know that?"
Alice crossed her arms, her voice calm but sharp. "You were in a coma for seven days, Luke. You're explaining this like you saw it happen."
Luke didn't answer. He just smiled faintly, taking another bite.
Only Selene didn't look surprised.
Jill gave a small, humorless laugh. "Don't tell me you were awake the whole time, watching us deal with all this crap?"
Her tone was calm, but her eyes weren't. It was that kind of calm that usually came before someone flipped a table.
Alice's expression wasn't any better. Anyone would be pissed â while they were out there dodging police, fighting off Umbrella agents, and barely staying alive, this guy had apparently just been sitting there like he had front-row seats.
Luke blinked, confused. "Why are you two looking at me like that?"
He honestly thought they would at least give him a hug â not stare at him like they wanted to strangle him.
He could tell they were definitely misunderstanding something. From their expressions, it probably looked like he had faked being in a coma and just watched them suffer through everything.
But the truth was, what he said earlier wasn't from watching them â it was just what he remembered from the plot.
He looks toward Selene for help.
"He wasn't awake," Selene said softly. "He was asleep the entire time."
At that, both Jill and Alice exhaled, their irritation fading a little.
Luke glanced between them and muttered under his breath, 'Women are really mysterious creaturesâŠ'
Then, with a small shrug, he asked again, "So, are you actually wanted criminals?"
Jill sighed, grabbed the remote, and turned on the TV. Static buzzed for a moment before the screen settled on the news.
Two faces appeared â Jill Valentine and Alice â stamped with bright red WANTED banners across their photos.
Luke blinked once. Then he burst out laughing.
"PfftâHahahaha! Oh man, you guys are really wanted! I can't believe you went public with the truth instead of hiding! Hahahaâthis is gold!"
"Keep laughing, and I'll show you how 'wanted' feels up close," Jill muttered through gritted teeth.
Alice's glare could've cut through steel. "Enough."
Luke raised both hands, still chuckling but slowly calming down. "Alright, alright. Sorry. But seriously â that was a dumb move."
"Excuse me?" Alice's voice snapped like a whip.
"Think about it," Luke said, his tone shifting â lighter no more.
"Even with Terri's footage, that doesn't prove anything. You're going up against a corporation that owns governments, armies, and half the world's media. You never had a chance. The battle was lost before it even started."
Silence fell like a curtain.
The fireball hovering above dimmed slightly, its glow softer now, casting their faces in uneven light.
Jill's voice broke the quiet, sharp and shaking with anger. "So you're saying we should just sit back and watch while those bastards walk free? After they killed millions of people"
Luke looked at her â calm, steady, unblinking. "Not millions, Jill⊠billions." His voice was low, heavy.
"The apocalypse has already begun. The world's ending â and none of us can stop it."
He stood up slowly, the fireball reflecting in his eyes, and for a moment, the room seemed to darken around him.
"We can only watch," he said quietly, "as the world falls apart⊠and people turn into mindless things â eating each other until no human's left alive."
No one spoke. The air felt cold, thicker.
Yes â no one could stop the T-virus. Not even him.
The only hope, the last spark of salvation, was buried where it all began.
Raccoon City.
Which is now filled with radiation which even he can't be sure be unscathed by the radiation
And so the truth was simple â humanity had no salvation left.
Umbrella had already won.
Those monsters in suits â calling themselves visionaries â had planned the apocalypse long before the first outbreak.
The fall of Raccoon City wasn't a failure. It was planned
Raccoon City was never the end.
It was only the beginning â the first spark of a chain reaction that would consume the entire world.