According to the RDA employees and data from Hell's Gate Base, cultivating a new Avatar body would take at least several months, followed by a period of accelerated growth. Therefore, the official infiltration plan would require more than half a year, marking it as a prolonged endeavor.
However, Marcus was in no rush. After all, conquering an entire Pandora would take far longer than half a year itself. Moreover, this extended timeline allowed him to maintain continuous pressure on the Na'vi, enabling the later-infiltrating Avatar to be shaped into a heroic figure. Thus, the next few months would be dedicated to the PDF Soldiers' continued outward expansion.
Under Wesker's command, more building complexes had already been extended outward from Hell's Gate Base, serving as the core of their operations. These new structures were designed to accommodate the daily rest and training of over a hundred thousand PDF Soldiers.
All in all, everything appeared to be developing steadily for now, with no major unexpected incidents—at least, from the perspective of Marcus and Wesker, who were in overall control of the situation. The PDF Soldiers personally pioneering in the Pandora rainforest, however, would have a starkly different opinion.
"How many is this today?" Outside Hell's Gate Base, a PDF Soldiers field medic grimaced, looking at a deceased PDF Soldier being carried in on a stretcher.
"The fifteenth," another PDF Soldier carrying the stretcher immediately replied, "also from poisoning."
"Put him down." The medic carefully examined the poisoned soldier's entire body and eventually found a tiny, very concealed wound on the ankle, through which the toxins had entered the body. After recording the poisoned soldier's physical characteristics and various data, the medic waved his hand, instructing others to take the body away.
Since the PDF Soldiers had previously repelled the beast tide, there were no medium to large-sized beasts in the immediate vicinity of Hell's Gate Base. However, numerous small venomous creatures still lurked. It was unclear whether this was due to their innate nature or the direct influence of Pandora's will, Eywa
. These venomous creatures hid in various dark corners, patiently waiting for an opportunity to attack the PDF Soldiers responsible for pioneering. Due to their insufficient understanding of Pandora's diverse creatures, once bitten and injected with venom, it was almost always a death sentence. Field medics could only meticulously record the poisoning characteristics and analyze the toxin components as quickly as possible to develop antitoxin serums. This promised to be a prolonged war against toxins.
In the command tower of Hell's Gate Base, Wesker scrutinized the report in his hand. "In the past few days, nearly a hundred PDF Soldiers have died from the toxins of Pandora's creatures. Even if we used giant flamethrowers to burn the entire area beforehand, we still couldn't completely clear them out." Wesker's deputy, Alex, dressed in white, delivered the grim report.
"Biochemical warfare? Interesting." Wesker's eyes gleamed with a predatory light. "Then let this planet witness what a true Resident Evil is. Begin spreading the T-Virus and Nemesis-Alpha." The greatest threat from these small, venomous Pandora creatures wasn't merely their toxins, but the profound influence of Pandora's will, Eywa, which compelled them to defy their biological instincts and launch ruthless ambush attacks.
According to observations during the previous resistance against the beast tide, the T-Virus could temporarily free these Pandora creatures from Eywa's influence. For the PDF Soldiers, Pandora creatures that were in a berserk state and only attacked mindlessly were far easier to deal with than those ambushing from hidden corners. What's more, these T-Virus infected Pandora creatures would also turn on and attack each other.
With the order given, over four hundred Tyrants poured out of Hell's Gate Base. Tyrants, containing the T-Virus and Nemesis-Alpha, were the optimal carriers for transmission. Soon, with the cooperation of the PDF Soldiers, the Tyrants captured many Pandora beasts. Scarlet tentacles erupted from the Tyrants' palms, injecting large amounts of the T-Virus and Nemesis-Alpha larvae into these captured creatures.
As the Tyrants retracted their tentacles, the T-Virus within these Pandora beasts immediately began to take effect. Freed from Eywa's influence, the beasts instantly fled in fright, moving away from the area around Hell's Gate Base. Under Wesker's command, some of the Pandora beasts also had cameras and life monitoring systems attached to them, allowing for direct observation of the virus's effects.
Soon, with intense, erratic movement, the T-Virus within these Pandora beasts began to spread throughout their bodies at an extremely rapid rate. All four eyes of these Pandora beasts turned scarlet, their fangs continued to grow, and their saliva dripped with the T-Virus. Their minds became extremely unstable, their aggressiveness surged, and they began to indiscriminately attack the surrounding, still-normal Pandora beasts. Such a dense population of creatures, all unintelligent beasts in the rainforest, provided the most suitable environment for the rapid spread of the T-Virus.
The sound of tearing flesh and the wailing of beasts constantly echoed through the rainforest. The number of T-Virus infected beasts rapidly increased. Some of these creatures, driven by madness, lost control and charged towards Hell's Gate Base, where they were swiftly killed by PDF Soldiers and Tyrants. Many more beasts, now carrying the T-Virus, surged into other areas of the rainforest, continuing the spread.
In the base's command tower, Wesker watched all of this unfold with a grim satisfaction. After the "baptism" of the T-Virus, the venomous creatures previously hiding in dark corners had been located and infected by the T-Virus altered creatures, thereby freeing them from Eywa's influence. Now, the PDF Soldiers no longer had to fear dying from unseen poisoning. Looking at the darkening sky outside, Wesker gave the order to consolidate their positions and rest for the night. On this strange planet, over a hundred thousand PDF Soldiers welcomed their first night.
Flames constantly rose in various parts of the camp, dispelling the surrounding darkness and providing warmth. The searchlights on the high walls of Hell's Gate Base also continuously patrolled the surroundings, preventing a beast tide from attacking under the cover of night. At the very front of the position, hundreds of Tyrants still stood tirelessly, occasionally raising their autocannons, mercilessly killing any creature that approached the defensive line.
"What are those?" Among the PDF Soldiers, some had already begun to discuss the mysterious origin of the Tyrants.
"Something the Governor-General cooked up, they're like Servitors. Anyway, they're on our side, aren't they?" Most people didn't particularly care about the Tyrants' origins, as these monstrous entities had undoubtedly contributed greatly during the daytime battle against the beast tide. In the Warhammer Universe, even the Astra Militarum could fight alongside Orks against Tyranids. It wasn't entirely strange for the PDF Soldiers to accept the existence of the Tyrants.