After all,
it was impossible for them to pilot an aircraft carrier to turn back to the Lanshiang City docks; that would be too ridiculous and a severe dereliction of duty.
Not only would they be unable to help, but they would likely end up being a hindrance.
Therefore, these military men, worried about their hometowns, could only obtain intelligence through Chris and the others from the BSAA.
Almost the instant the middle-aged general asked the question, the rest of the surrounding naval soldiers also hurriedly turned their gazes over.
They were all very worried about the safety of their hometowns; some soldiers were even from Lanshiang City, and they were very concerned about the current situation there.
"..."
"To be honest, the scale of the Resident Evil outbreak is very serious. Most of the city center has suffered large-scale infection. After all, it was poisoned via missile bombardment, making it very difficult to prevent. The situation on the outskirts of the city is slightly better."
"Because the sources of this bio-virus are relatively scarce, it can only be spread through fixed BOWs. Unlike other viruses that only require a bite to infect, the number of infections is much lower."
"But rest assured, the BSAA's Asia Branch has already arrived to provide support. The HK Government also reacted in time and has already contained the spread of the virus in Lanshiang City. They are currently dispatching troops to rescue survivors within the city."
"If nothing goes wrong, the Resident Evil incident should be successfully resolved in about 72 hours—that is, within three days."
"But this is only treating the symptoms, not the root cause. Although we've handled the outbreak in one city, we clearly haven't found the source of the virus."
"If we don't find the source, the next terrorist attack could happen at any time. This is the real reason why I want to head to the Underwater Oil Field Base."
Facing the expectant gazes of the surrounding naval soldiers,
Chris let out a slow sigh and reported the situation in Lanshiang City to them truthfully. He could well understand the feelings of these sailors.
After all, when his sister Claire was trapped in Raccoon City and the Antarctic Research Institute, he, as her older brother, had also been panicked and restless.
It wasn't until he actually saw that his sister was still alive that he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Many of these sailors' relatives were trapped in Lanshiang City with their fates unknown; it was perfectly normal to be this worried.
Therefore, Chris did not lie.
He told them the truth.
What he had just said was the specific current situation in Lanshiang City. It was serious... yet not that serious.
But as for being relaxed and optimistic...
It wasn't much better than that either. After all, that monster Simmons transformed into was still in the city center. Chris didn't know how things had progressed by now.
But judging by his experience,
the current situation in Lanshiang City was still relatively optimistic. Because of Javier's advance warning, the BSAA and the HK Government had already evacuated most of the residents.
They had them hide in high-rise buildings to wait for support, which greatly reduced casualties and infections. If not for Javier's advance warning, based on the original missile bombardment infection scenario,
the number of casualties and infections would likely have risen by several tens of percent.
So... they had actually mitigated the losses quite well so far.
One had to remember that places like Raccoon City, or the Edonia Republic where Chris had previously executed a mission, were almost completely devastated by the bio-virus.
Being able to save it at all was considered good luck; there was no need to hope for more. That would just be greedy!
"Go, open the transport bay. Let them take an Escort Boat out. While you're at it, help them restock their supplies. Equipment, weapons, ammunition—try to satisfy all their needs."
After hearing the answer he wanted,
the middle-aged general did not hesitate and immediately gave the order to the adjutant beside him.
Generally, an aircraft carrier of this tonnage would have many Escort Boats in its transport bay specifically for pursuing enemies or escaping.
Lending one to Chris and the others now was just right. One Escort Boat was enough for Chris and his team to reach the Underwater Oil Field Base.
But as for the rest,
these naval personnel could not help. After all, their duty was to guard this sea area.
Unless Chris and the others could prove there were bio-terrorists in the Underwater Oil Field Base, they could not provide assistance.
However,
this situation was already very satisfactory for Chris.
Without lingering, Chris, Leon, and the others followed the adjutant into the hull of the aircraft carrier.
As the hatch slowly opened, seawater gradually flooded into the bay.
The group pushed the Escort Boat into the water. Chris was the first to jump into the cockpit, turned the key, and started the engine.
With a roar, the Escort Boat sped off toward the Underwater Oil Field Base at high speed.
"Vroom... hummm...!!!!"
The Escort Boat cut through the waves in the pitch-black waters, the rustling of the sea breeze constantly blowing in their ears. Seeing the Underwater Oil Field Base marked on the map getting closer,
the people in the boat didn't hesitate and immediately put on the wetsuits and diving gear inside.
They couldn't approach the Underwater Oil Field Base openly.
Therefore, they could only approach slowly by diving. After all, they couldn't be sure if anyone in the Underwater Oil Field Base was monitoring them.
"We'll split up for this mission. Leon, you and your partner Helena will be a team as usual. You're familiar with each other, so I don't need to say much."
"Jake, you and Piers will be a team. I know you both hate each other, but this is a mission. I hope you can both restrain your temperaments."
"I'll be in a team alone. The Underwater Oil Field Base is large; we must split up to investigate the situation first. If we rush in, we won't even know where the Chaos Zombie Incubation Chambers Javier mentioned are."
"If you encounter any special circumstances, contact us via communication devices. We'll regroup after the investigation is complete. Understood?"
As the backbone of the group, Chris
immediately and skillfully arranged the plan before the mission began. It was the familiar "split up" tactic.
Usually, splitting up would result in some cannon fodder dying—after all, it's "splitting up"—but the members this time were all from the main cast.
Even Piers, who was most likely to lose his life, had Jake by his side, escaping the "team-killing debuff" of his old captain, Chris.
It could be said to be a very wise plan. Therefore, this split-up actually became a good strategy.
It was just the personalities of Jake and Piers
that were indeed a bit troublesome.
Both were the type who couldn't stand the sight of each other. One could only hope they could use the mission to restrain themselves and try to understand each other as much as possible.
"Splash...!!!!"
Having arranged the plan, Chris didn't wait for any dissatisfied rebuttals from his lieutenant Piers or Jake. He stopped the Escort Boat directly,
put on his wetsuit and diving gear, and jumped backward into the sea. Tied to his ankle was a waterproof bag containing equipment and weapons for when they reached land.
"..."
"Chris is diving toward the front. We'll dive from the left. The remaining right side is yours. Good luck."
Seeing Chris leave, Leon and Helena also began their move. Without much hesitation,
they chose a direction and jumped into the sea one after another, leaving the bickering pair, Jake and Piers, staring at each other on the speedboat.
"I hope you don't meddle and try to stop me. I'm not part of your BSAA Squad yet, so I don't accept your orders or supervision."
Seeing the others leave,
Jake turned his head to look at Piers, who had been wearing a sour face, and spoke in a cold tone.
His reason for hating Piers was simple: it was because this guy had a poker face, as if everyone owed him thousands of dollars.
Moreover, he was very rigid and old-fashioned in his ways, which was annoying.
Of course... the most important point was,
Jake could feel Piers' discrimination against him. He looked down on a street thug like him.
This made Jake, who had lived this way since childhood, hate Piers very much. Who did the guy think he was to look down on him?
"I won't meddle, and I won't order you."
"But I also hope you can remember, Jake: before doing anything, think of others first and whether your behavior is right."
"Consider the consequences and the price. I don't want the mission to be ruined because of your recklessness and impulsiveness. If that happens, you will be a criminal against the world!"
Facing Jake's warning,
Piers frowned slightly. He wasn't angry, but he returned the caution just as truthfully. Coming from a military family, Piers couldn't stand any flaws.
Jake's loose personality was no different from a troublesome new recruit, so he instinctively wanted to correct and lecture him.
But that wasn't the main reason Piers disliked Jake. The most important thing was Jake's reckless and impulsive behavior that disregarded the safety of others.
Back in the Edonia Republic, Jake had acted without orders, causing their BSAA Squad to suffer a lot.
So what Piers truly hated about Jake was that reckless individual-heroism. If he could follow discipline, Jake would undoubtedly be an excellent soldier.
But unfortunately,
both were very stubborn, and neither was willing to bow first, which led to their mutual misunderstanding...!
Volume 9 Resident Evil 6: Chapter 71 Underwater Oil Field Base
The Underwater Oil Field Base was located in the vast waters of HK Island.
Above were various fortresses built of steel. From a distance, it looked like a military base, with all sorts of drilling equipment standing tall.
Below was the hidden second-level deep-sea base,
which allowed for closer contact with the seabed oil fields for extraction. However, at this moment, atop the oil field base,
not a single light was on.
Everything was pitch black, as if the power facilities had completely failed. This made Chris and the others, who were diving closer, somewhat suspicious.
According to the norms of an offshore oil extraction base, the interior of the base should be operating at all times.
Furthermore, the base served as the living quarters for the workers. Even if they were resting, there should at least be a little bit of light.
But now it was pitch black, which immediately gave Chris a bad premonition. He felt that Javier's words were coming true.
This place might really be the secret headquarters of the Neo-Umbrella Organization.
The fact that there was no sound or movement in the base at this moment meant only two possibilities: either the workers inside had all been eliminated, or they had all been infected and turned into bio-monsters.
"Splash..."
Without thinking further,
Chris hurriedly sped up his swimming toward the support pillars of the oil field base.
The harbor docks provided by the oil field base were specifically for cargo ships; they were too high for them to climb. They could only approach the nearby pillars and use the ladders to slowly climb up.
"Cling, cling, cling..."
Quickly reaching the platform of the oil field base using the ladder, Chris took a deep breath.
He took off his heavy wetsuit and put back on the weapons and equipment tied to his legs.
Inside were some dry clothes, a bulletproof vest, and several firearms. They were very heavy, but foam floats had been installed beforehand to increase buoyancy,
which was why Chris could swim over so easily. Otherwise, these dozen or so kilograms of equipment would have been enough to act as an anchor and drag Chris into the deep sea.
"Hey, this is a message from Chris."
"I've reached the base platform, but there are no lights in the base. I think Javier's intelligence was correct."
"Something likely happened here. I plan to enter first to scout. If you reach the base platform and see this message, contact me. We need to regroup and discuss the situation beforehand."
Holding a small PDA, Chris turned it on. The blue screen lit up, and Chris hurriedly posted such a message to everyone in the communication system.
Since they were all approaching the oil field base from different directions and were not close to each other, they could only use messages to communicate.
After leaving the information,
Chris quickly closed the PDA.
After putting on his dry clothes and bulletproof vest, he shouldered an assault rifle and some ammunition and quickly approached the oil field base building.
Because there were no lights, Chris didn't need to be too cautious and soon approached the windows of the oil field base.
"It's very quiet..."
"But it's unnervingly quiet. Whether there are people or zombies, there should be some sound. But now..."
Quietly approaching the edge of a base window, he could see the situation inside the base slightly through the faint moonlight.