Alice.
She was undoubtedly the chosen protagonist of the Resident Evil universe.
Saving the world had always been her mission.
Vincent knew perfectly well that merely mentioning the existence of the T-virus antidote would immediately capture Alice's attention.
As expected!
As soon as Vincent spoke, Alice's expression changed, her eyes shining with seriousness.
"Where did you get this intel?" Alice questioned gravely.
Even Carlos, standing beside her, suddenly looked alert and attentive.
Vincent smiled faintly and replied, "I've been tracking the Umbrella Corporation for a long time. Recently, I managed to destroy one of their smaller branches and found this information hidden within."
Alice considered carefully, "How reliable is your intel?"
"Raccoon City isn't far from here. It wouldn't hurt to take a look ourselves," Vincent answered calmly. "Then we'll know for sure."
Alice found his reasoning persuasive. She glanced toward Carlos and whispered, "What do you think, Carlos?"
Carlos shrugged nonchalantly. "It's your call. I'll follow you wherever you decide."
After a brief moment, Alice looked Vincent directly in the eyes, determination evident in her voice. "Fine. We'll go with you. I hope everything you're saying is true."
Vincent gave a small, confident smile. He wasn't surprised in the slightest by her decision.
It would've been stranger if Alice had remained indifferent after hearing about the cure.
…
With an agreement reached, the convoy immediately changed course.
Vincent boarded the armored bus, taking a seat beside Carlos. Alice sat directly behind him.
"We're near California right now," Carlos informed Vincent. "Raccoon City's about 140 kilometers away from here. It'll take around two hours. You can take a nap if you want."
Of course, Vincent had no intention of sleeping in someone else's vehicle. That would mean placing his life in the hands of others.
"Thanks, but I'm not tired," Vincent politely declined.
Carlos didn't mind, instead casually asking, "Then how about telling us your story?"
It was clear Carlos didn't trust Vincent just yet. Understandable—this was their first meeting, after all.
Vincent, fully prepared, began weaving a plausible half-truth: "I come from the East. I used to live a peaceful life until the T-virus turned everyone into monsters. Only a few of us survived. Since then, I've been hunting down clues about the virus's origins…"
Mixing truth with fiction and leveraging his extensive knowledge of the plot, Vincent effortlessly captivated his audience. Soon, everyone on the bus, including Carlos and Alice, couldn't distinguish fact from fiction in his narrative.
Two hours passed swiftly.
The bus finally came to a stop.
The driver, an African-American man, turned around. "We've arrived at Raccoon City. Should we keep going?"
Alice stood up, looked outside, and said decisively, "No, stay here. Wait until I return."
She turned to Vincent, eyes resolute. "I'm going with you. I know exactly where the Hive entrance is."
Vincent was more than pleased by her volunteering. He nodded immediately.
Carlos rose to his feet as well. "Count me in, too," he said firmly, clearly unwilling to let Alice go alone with a stranger.
Vincent had no objections. After all, cannon fodder was always welcome—the more, the merrier.
The trio exited the bus and set off toward their destination.
"So this is Raccoon City?" Vincent murmured in shock as he surveyed the area after stepping off the vehicle.
No. To call it a city was no longer appropriate.
What lay before him was nothing but desolation and ruin.
At the city's heart was a massive crater more than a kilometer in diameter, utterly obliterating everything around it. All buildings in the vicinity had been leveled.
It was a scene of complete devastation!
Without a doubt, that enormous pit had been carved out by a nuclear strike.
If not for a handful of buildings barely standing at the outskirts, one would never guess that this had once been a thriving metropolis.
"Yes, this is it," Alice said, her voice heavy with mixed emotions.
Carlos interjected, "It's been over a year, but there's still residual radiation here. We shouldn't linger any longer than necessary."
Alice glanced briefly in one particular direction, then pointed toward a damaged building on the crater's edge. "The Hive's entrance is in the basement of that building."
Without further hesitation, the three swiftly moved toward the entrance.
…
At that very moment, deep inside the Hive.
Albert Wesker stood before a bank of surveillance monitors. The screens clearly displayed Vincent, Alice, and Carlos approaching cautiously.
As the core facility of the Umbrella Corporation, the Hive's security was naturally airtight.
From the moment Vincent and Alice's group approached, their every move had been recorded by hidden cameras.
Observing their careful advance, Wesker calmly reached out and pressed a red button on the panel beside him.
Immediately, deep within the Hive, iron cages slid open one by one, and unknown creatures emerged from within, creeping silently toward their prey.