In America, the President, sound asleep in his home, was abruptly woken. He rushed to the White House, and as he took his seat, he realized the circular table was already surrounded by high-ranking political officials and military commanders. All of them looked grim, their voices a low murmur of urgent communication. Seeing this, the President's expression immediately turned serious. For so many people to gather at the White House in the middle of the night, it could only mean an event of earth-shshattering significance.
"What happened?" he demanded. "A domestic biochemical crisis terrorist attack? Or an alien spaceship landing on Earth?"
"Mr. President, you'd best look at this first." An assistant handed him a computer. What was displayed on its screen made even the well-informed American President's eyes widen in disbelief. He suddenly stood from his seat, turning sharply. "Is this real?"
"Absolutely true, sir. Over a dozen orbital satellites have already photographed the target."
"When did this happen?"
"Half an hour ago, the target suddenly appeared in high orbit."
"What about other countries?"
"According to intelligence, satellites from Russia, the UK, France, Japan, and other nations have all discovered the target."
The President sat back down, his mind racing. "Initiate emergency protocols, mobilize the military, immediately notify the aerospace department, and get me a rocket that can fly into space right now! Also, constantly monitor the actions of other countries. Notify me immediately if there are any signs!" Looking at the Ishimura silently suspended in high Earth orbit on the computer screen before him, a sharp glint flashed in the President's eyes.
An aerospace worker, who had been urgently summoned, spoke up from beside him. "Currently, the opposing ship has not emitted any form of signal, and all signals we have sent to it have received no response."
The President frowned. "So you're saying there's a 1.6-kilometer spaceship above our heads right now, and we don't even know if there are aliens inside?" The worker wiped away cold sweat, able only to reply, "Yes—" The President looked displeased, then turned to face the high-ranking military officials beside him. "Can our missiles reach them?"
The group exchanged glances, then one of them said in a deep voice, "Theoretically, the range is sufficient, but the actual launch situation is too complex. The hit rate will be very, very low, and we don't have enough missiles that can reach such an altitude."
"First, have all missiles within range prepare for launch. We're going DEFCON 2, in addition, notify all weapon manufacturers to produce another batch for me. We must maintain a deterrent." The President shook his head, a grim resolve settling on his face.
At that moment, another White House spokesperson stepped forward. "Mr. President, civilian observers will also discover the ship very soon. Our statement to the public..."
The President rubbed his head, throbbing from the sudden influx of information, and casually said, "Just string them along for now. Those ordinary people can't stir up too much trouble. The most important thing right now is to establish contact with that ship and confirm their intentions." With that, he turned to look at the dark sky outside the window. Will humanity on Earth usher in an opportunity for progress, or will it face destruction? No one present could provide an answer.
Inside the Ishimura's bridge, now silently suspended in high Earth orbit, Marcus was observing the current actions of his crew members through the screen before him. The vast majority of them, after learning of the dimensional travel, had moved from disbelief to slowly accepting everything, and had finally found a measure of peace. "Could this be even worse than the disaster caused by the Marker?" Most held this resigned view. Only a very small number still refused to believe any of it. Marcus didn't care. What was done was done. These people would eventually accept it all. After mentally noting this small group, information collected by the Shield Intelligent System during this period popped up on the screen. In such a short time, the advanced artificial intelligence from the Titan Empire had already infiltrated Earth's internet via those orbital satellites and gathered a significant amount of data.
Marcus also learned the current timeline of the Resident Evil world. "America time, September 27, 1998." Looking at the timeline, Marcus nodded. "The time of the Raccoon City zombie outbreak?" If he remembered correctly, at this very time, within Raccoon City, William Birkin had already been accidentally killed by Umbrella Corporation personnel, and the T-Virus had completely erupted. Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliveira were struggling to survive, evading the pursuit of the Nemesis. Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield had not yet arrived in Raccoon City and had not yet endured the nightmare of the Raccoon City Police Department. "Hmm, it's a pretty good time point."
Marcus opened his system panel and reviewed the missions he needed to complete this time.
Mission Objective 1: Kill 10,000 infected individuals (including kills by summoned creatures) to receive 1 lottery draw chance and the title 'Zombie Butcher'.
Mission Objective 2: Collect 7 special infection sources (including but not limited to viruses, Mycelium, parasites, etc.) to receive 1 lottery draw chance and the title 'Extreme Evolution'.
Since Raccoon City had completely erupted into a zombie disaster, there would certainly be no shortage of 10,000 infected. Moreover, zombies were far less difficult to kill than Necromorphs. Marcus would only need to release his Tyranid Warbeasts, and the mission could be easily completed, though it would take some time.
As for Mission Objective 2—Marcus quickly began to recall the infection sources in the Resident Evil world: Progenitor Virus, T-Virus, G Virus, C Virus, A Virus, T-Veronica Virus, Abyss Virus, T-Abyss Virus, T-Phobos Virus, Las Plagas Parasite, Nemesis-Alpha, Ouroboros Virus, and Cadou Mold. A total of over a dozen infection sources. "There really are a lot of them, like scattered pearls," Marcus couldn't help but observe. However, since the current timeline of the Resident Evil world was still in 1998, some of the composite viruses had not yet been developed, such as the C Virus, A Virus, and T-Abyss Virus. Still, the remaining viruses were enough for Marcus to gather the seven types required by the mission objective.
"However, the number seven always feels a bit unlucky," Marcus thought, a brief shiver running down his spine as he remembered a certain "Benevolent Father" from the Warp. Shaking off the morbid association, Marcus quickly refocused on the mission objectives. These infection sources were distributed all over the world, and collecting seven types would inevitably take a lot of time. For now, Marcus's first target was the long-suffering Raccoon City. At this time, Raccoon City simultaneously possessed several infection sources: namely, T-Virus, G Virus, and Progenitor Virus. If the Nemesis-Alpha within the Nemesis was also counted, that would be a total of four types. More than half of the mission objectives were gathered at once. Raccoon City, a land of outstanding people, was truly living up to its reputation.