Putting aside Lear for now, Ada's trip to the West Area was far from smooth.
She had been the first to leave the front desk hall. As soon as she set foot in the West Area, zombies began appearing in an unending stream. These regular zombies, along with a few scattered Lickers, posed no real threat to Ada, but they did slow her down, leading to the appearance of a figure she really didn't want to see behind her.
Bang—bang—bang!
Gunfire rang out in rapid succession.
Ada was handling the zombies and Lickers with relative ease at first until a heavy set of footsteps sounded behind her. A small giant wearing a fedora and a leather jacket burst out from a dark corner and launched a surprise attack on her.
"Damn it, what's this thing doing here?!"
Ada cursed under her breath, quickly sidestepping and rolling to barely dodge the heavy punch.
A Tyrant! But wasn't the Tyrant supposed to have died at the Raccoon City Police Department? Why was it here?!
Dodging nonstop, her mind raced as her eyes narrowed, fixed on the monster in front of her. Cold sweat beaded on her temples.
If Lear were here, he would have told her that Umbrella had deployed more than one Tyrant into Raccoon City.
The one before her now was the second Tyrant sent by Umbrella to retrieve Sherry's key.
Now that Sherry had left Raccoon City and William hadn't killed it while chasing her, this Tyrant had followed them. Its goal was likely the same as Ada's—to obtain a G-Virus sample.
The narrow, elongated corridor of the West Laboratory restricted Ada's movements, leaving no room to maneuver. With only a handgun, she couldn't even get through the Tyrant's straitjacket with 9mm rounds, let alone deal any effective damage.
Moreover, this Tyrant's explosive power and defense were far more terrifying than she had anticipated.
A massive, thick fist grazed Ada's shoulder and slammed heavily into the wall.
A loud crash rang out.
Cracks like a spiderweb spread across the concrete wall, sending countless tiny chunks of cement flying. Several of them struck Ada's shoulder, instantly tearing through her jacket and the skin beneath.
Ada clutched her shoulder and rolled to the side. Blood quickly seeped out, staining her beige trench coat.
She looked up at the Tyrant slowly pulling its fist out of the wall, a hint of wariness in her eyes.
"How the hell did he take down something like this?!"
Ada's eyes rapidly scanned the Tyrant before her, trying to find an opening. But the Tyrant didn't give her the time. After freeing its fist, its massive body charged forward again like a heavy armored vehicle.
At the critical moment, Ada fired her Grapple Gun, sending her body soaring upward to hang from the lab ceiling. Using the momentum, she vaulted over the Tyrant's head, landing at the entrance of the Biotesting Lab before slipping quickly inside.
The Tyrant, having missed its target, turned its head and stared fixedly in the direction Ada had gone.
This time, thanks to Annette's presence, the group didn't have to go through the promotion procedures Leon originally had to endure. The access issue was resolved from the start.
Though they didn't have Annette's highest-level ID wristband, before getting out of the car, each person was given a level 3 ID wristband. The door of the Biotesting Lab closed again after Ada entered. The Tyrant pounded on it twice before stopping its assault—the lab door, made of experimental-grade alloy, was something it couldn't breach for the time being.
"Whew... good thing I got that wristband, or that would've been a real hassle!"
Listening to the dull impact tremors from outside the door, Ada wiped the cold sweat from her brow and let out a slow sigh of relief.
Back on the train, Annette had been very reluctant to hand over the Keycard to Ada. In her view, Ada was an agent scheming to get her hands on the G-Virus—the best outcome would be for her to die without clearance inside the NEST. But Lear convinced her with just one sentence.
"Ms. Annette, do you want their eyes to stay fixed on Sherry?"
Taking off her bloodstained trench coat, Ada carefully cleaned the wound on her shoulder with alcohol. The words Lear had said echoed in her mind.
"Lear... you took me for a Japanese woman, huh? Hiss~!"
The alcohol stung the wound, and the pain made Ada let out an involuntary whimper.
"You underestimate me. I'm not so despicable as to use a child as leverage."
After dressing the wound, Ada began scanning her surroundings.
When she caught sight of another door deeper inside, her eyes brightened slightly.
She stood up, shed her cumbersome trench coat, revealing the bright red qipao beneath, and headed toward the P-4 Laboratory within.
On the other side, Lear had just entered the West Area Laboratory. Friday, standing beside Lear, immediately went into an attack stance upon seeing something.
Lear followed its gaze—a man in a special operations uniform was slumped against the wall. The blood beneath him had long since coagulated into a dark red, clearly indicating he had been dead for some time.
"What's wrong?"
Lear pulled his gaze back and gently patted Friday's arm.
"They! Hunted! Despicable!"
Every word Friday transmitted was laced with intense anger and hatred.
Because of Friday's emotional state, the telepathic dialogue became severely distorted. It took Lear a good while to roughly grasp what Friday meant.
"You're saying it was them who hunted you before?"
Sensing Friday's affirmative response in his mind, Lear slowly crouched beside the corpse and examined the insignia on its combat uniform.
"USS..."
Lear muttered to himself. It really was the USS.
He'd had his suspicions before, after all. With gear similar to the UBCS and the ability to hunt down a specialized B.O.W. like Friday, there weren't many forces within Umbrella capable of such feats.
Aside from Sergei Vladimir, the former Soviet colonel who commanded and trained the UBCS, along with his Tyrant Special Forces, only the USS, represented by the Grim Reaper HUNK, possessed that kind of strength.
Lear stood up and walked back to Friday. Seeing it still tensed and alert, he patted it again.
"Alright, he's dead."
Hearing Lear's words, Friday did not let its guard down.
"Them, many, hunted, found me!"
Seeing how agitated it was, Lear could roughly imagine the brutal battle it must have once endured against the USS. So he could only patiently explain again.
"I promise you, there won't be any more USS in here. Even if there are, it won't be more than one or two."
After Lear's earnest and tireless explanation, Friday finally, reluctantly, dropped its combat stance.
Just as Lear was about to say something more,
a sudden burst of gunfire rang out from the corridor ahead, followed by a few heavy door-slamming sounds.
Friday immediately reverted to its previous state and charged toward where the gunfire had come from.
Watching Friday, already driven mad by hatred and fear, Lear had no choice but to follow closely behind, quickly closing in on the location of the shots.
(Translated by yourtl.app)