"Forget about that damn spaceship for now! Deploy the army and clean up Raccoon City immediately!" The President, slumped in his chair after his outburst, issued the direct order. With the situation having spiraled to this point, the government officials, foreseeing their impending downfall, immediately agreed to the proposal. Only by completely eradicating all traces from Raccoon City before the world's full attention converged on it did they have a slim chance of slowly mitigating the impact they would inevitably face through future operations and public opinion manipulation.
Furthermore, they couldn't use nuclear bombs, as that would validate "William's" statement in the broadcast; they could only dispatch conventional forces to swiftly erase all evidence from Raccoon City. This included both the zombies and the Umbrella Corporation's incriminating data. As for the survivors who had already been detained, they would undergo memory erasure and correction, at least to make them completely forget what the government army had done to them. Even if they understood this was merely a dying struggle, drowning men always grasp at anything that allows them to breathe for a moment.
"Also, dispatch special forces to clean out all of Umbrella Corporation's bases within our borders! At the very least, we must sever our ties with them!" some clear-headed officials couldn't help but interject.
"With the technology of that spaceship, there's a high probability our troop movements will be detected, and if that gets exposed again—"
"Bang!" A pile of investigation reports was thrown at the person who spoke. "Idiot! Don't you know to first dispatch the army under the guise of assisting in clearing infected individuals?! Immediately send in the National Guard from around Raccoon City!"
The order was issued, and the gears of the state and war machines began to spin rapidly. Soldiers who had not seen the incriminating video footage were selected. They quickly drove into Raccoon City in armored vehicles and tanks. Before the steel war machines, the fragile zombies were, ultimately, just flesh and blood. There was no need for artillery-level weapons; the sheer firepower of large-caliber machine guns could easily suppress and clear out an entire area of zombies. The fallen Necromorphs were then incinerated on the spot by flamethrowers. Survivors, being far from the city center, who had temporarily not been discovered by the Slashers and Tyranid Warbeasts, were also brought out of their shelters by these soldiers and sent to the rear for memory erasure and correction.
The spread of the T-Virus was ultimately limited; facing fully armed regular troops, nearly ten thousand zombies were quickly cleared out. Most of Umbrella Corporation's secret bases located in the suburbs and outer areas of Raccoon City were also found and burned to the ground. Only a small portion of research data was secretly protected and transferred to the Presidential Palace in Washington.
However, just as the army was steadily advancing towards the city center, some soldiers witnessed a situation they simply couldn't comprehend. Necromorphs were slaughtering zombies and converting them into their own kind. This bizarre situation was quickly reported to headquarters and delivered to the Commander of this operation. "Don't worry about it so much," the Commander dismissed, assuming the Slashers were merely a new, aggressive type of zombie. "As long as it's not human, clean all of them up!"
Receiving the order, the frontline troops began to open fire on the Slashers. But no matter how many bullets they fired, even if a Necromorph's head was completely blown off, it still couldn't halt its movements.
Inside the Raccoon City Police Department lobby, Marcus's ears twitched, keenly catching the distant sounds of the approaching army. "It's just a dying struggle," he muttered. Since the American government had dispatched troops to erase Raccoon City's traces, Marcus naturally chose to counterattack. Approaching the Red Marker, Marcus once again modified its restrictions, now allowing the Necromorphs to attack army personnel. The Marker's control signal surged outwards, instantly sweeping through Raccoon City.
Only a small number of Necromorphs remained to continue converting zombies; the vast majority of the remaining Necromorphs began to pour out of Raccoon City. Under the glow of the crimson moonlight and towering flames, black waves of Necromorphs surged from every street, rushing towards the unprepared army. The Slasher legion was no mere zombie horde. Their movement speed and sheer aggressiveness far surpassed the latter. Almost instantly, without anticipating such a fierce attack, the army's defenses were breached. Infantry without tank or armored vehicle protection were instantly swallowed by the black tide. No matter how desperately they fired, or how many bullets pierced the Necromorphs' bodies, they couldn't kill a single Slasher.
On the armored vehicles and tanks, large-caliber machine guns began spitting fire, sweeping across the Necromorphs' heads. But even if the bullets tore them into fragments, the Necromorphs' flesh and blood still twisted and reshaped under the influence of the Marker.
"Use artillery! Quickly!" Inside a tank, a quick-thinking Commander immediately shouted. Shells were loaded, then fired with ferocity. "Boom!" A towering ball of fire suddenly exploded within the Slasher wave. Dozens of Necromorphs' tough bodies were blown into pieces, scattered on the ground. But then, they were quickly twisted and reshaped by the Marker. Only the Slashers at the very center of the explosion, whose vast majority of flesh and blood had been completely vaporized, were temporarily unable to recover quickly.
Seeing this, the tank Commander's eyes widened. "What kind of monsters are these?!" He couldn't believe that any creature could survive a direct hit from a tank's large-caliber artillery. The only saving grace was that the Necromorphs temporarily couldn't penetrate the tank's thick armored shell. Dozens of Necromorphs had already climbed onto the tank, beginning to scratch at the armor with their sharp bone blades, constantly emitting an ear-piercing sound.
"Retreat! Quickly!" The tank Commander immediately gave the order, beginning a rapid retreat. The heavy treads directly crushed dozens of Necromorphs surrounding the tank, flattening them into paste. Because the existence of the Slashers was not anticipated at all, the number of tanks and armored vehicles within the National Guard around Raccoon City was already very scarce. Moreover, the several thousand-strong force was completely dispersed into small teams, operating separately. This had been intended to increase the speed of zombie cleanup, but it played right into the hands of the Slasher legion. These small detachments, most of which didn't even have the protection of tanks or armored vehicles, were almost instantly devoured by the Slashers. As for those fortunate units with tank and armored vehicle fire support, only their infantry were completely devoured. The remaining tanks and armored vehicles quickly withdrew from the battlefield, retreating ignominiously out of Raccoon City.
Marcus naturally wouldn't let them retreat so easily. "It's your time to shine."