Whether it was Albert Wesker, Excella Gionne, or the weapons dealer Irving, Bella had no recollection of any of them. She might have seen Wesker's name in some fanfiction, but she had no idea what abilities he possessed.
She asked Natasha, "What exactly does Albert do?"
The atmosphere between them had been a bit awkward earlier, but they were both highly capable of controlling their emotions. Now it was as if nothing had happened. They bantered and joked as usual—everything was the same as before.
Natasha muttered, "Chris already said—cunning, ruthless, stops at nothing."
"And then? That's it?"
"That's it!"
Hearing them whispering on the side, several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents also looked at Chris. Since he's your old enemy and old friend, you should at least say more than that! Cunning and ruthless—and that's all?
Seeing the questions in their eyes, Chris considered his words carefully before adding, "It's not that I don't want to say more. It's that Wesker's character is very complex. I once thought he was brave and upright, but facts proved my judgment was terrible. I don't want my subjective opinions to influence your assessments... As for personal abilities, his marksmanship and combat skills are both excellent."
Everyone shook their heads. That told them nothing! Everyone present had excellent marksmanship and combat skills. If you didn't have those abilities, what were you even doing here?
The S.H.I.E.L.D. team leader, old man John Garrett, snorted heavily. "No need for more talk. We'll prepare our weapons and head out immediately!"
Both sides mobilized together, carrying a large amount of weapons and ammunition as they left the safe house and advanced deep into the jungle.
"Mr. Redfield, where exactly did this biochemical virus originate? Does the BSAA have more intel?" Bella asked Chris quietly as they moved.
Given her friendship with Chris, she could easily call him by his first name, but she was currently wearing her CIA cover, so she asked very politely.
Bella knew about the T-virus and G-virus, but as for the virus's origin... sorry, in her previous life she never cared about background information like that.
Just point your gun at zombies and shoot! Who cared about the lore?
She'd never known how these viruses were developed—whether through generations of accumulated research or some accident.
Chris seemed reluctant to discuss this with a stranger, but Bella's natural charisma affected him somewhat.
He thought for a moment before speaking slowly. "The information we have isn't comprehensive either. I only know the Progenitor Virus originally came from something called the Stairway to the Sun ceremony. In the nineteenth century, the Travis family began researching this. Up until the 1960s, the Travis family reorganized their trading division, natural resource development division, and pharmaceutical division into what we know today as Tricell."
His answer was very brief. Then he changed the subject, transitioning from the virus to their current mission target, Tricell. He clearly didn't want to discuss this further.
Stairway to the Sun—what was that? Bella frowned deeply. She'd thought it was some kind of cutting-edge tech, but why was a ceremony involved?
Her suspicion wasn't unfounded. Mentions of ceremonies naturally brought to mind mysticism. You couldn't say scientific research required ceremonies, right? Enter the lab with your left foot first for success, right foot for failure? Science didn't work that way...
Claire was friendlier to everyone. As the female agent among the BSAA operatives, based on their shared gender, she explained a bit more to Bella.
"I heard the Stairway to the Sun is some kind of ancient plant cultivated in a special location."
Bella felt even more confused. Her first thought was: "A plant? Like grass?"
The original biochemical virus came from a plant? And this plant grew in a special environment?
She thought of the famous Heart-Shaped Herb from the Marvel world. The Heart-Shaped Herb grew in soil containing vibranium. Could this Stairway to the Sun be similar?
Some meteorite fell to Earth, the soil mutated, and in this special environment, this mysterious Stairway to the Sun was born?
Natasha nudged her elbow, meaning: stop overthinking, just fight. What's the point of pondering this?
...
The group bypassed the Ndipaya tribe's territory, boarded hovercraft, and traveled upriver. As night fell, they quietly arrived outside Tricell's oil refinery.
The refinery at night was bustling with activity. Many soldiers carrying automatic weapons patrolled and stood guard. Searchlights on watchtowers illuminated the area like daylight, leaving no blind spots in their field of vision.
"There's definitely something wrong here!" said John Garrett, the oldest among them.
The others shared similar thoughts. Not sleeping in the middle of the night was one thing, but such tight security? Who would believe there wasn't a problem?
After discussion, they agreed infiltration would be impossible. One or two people might manage, but getting more than a dozen inside together was too difficult.
They decided to split up. John Garrett preferred direct assault—his military background was strong, so he'd create chaos outside to draw attention.
Chris and the other BSAA agents were more professional at identifying bioweapons, so they'd handle infiltration, capture, and evidence collection.
Bella and Natasha, as "CIA," would infiltrate with Chris's team.
Seven on each side—perfect.
After splitting up, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team quickly got into position. They needed to attract enough enemies.
They eliminated two patrol squads, then deliberately exposed their position, engaging the refinery guards in a firefight.
After three minutes of combat, John Garrett gave the order to retreat while fighting. The refinery guards were gradually drawn into the nearby jungle.
Hearing the gunfire and grenade explosions, Chris's team slipped in through the outer cargo truck passage.
Seven people were still too conspicuous. Everyone confident in their skills, they split up again to search for clues separately.
"Be careful," Bella quietly reminded her fake sister.
"You too. Kill if you need to—don't hesitate," Natasha reminded her back, worried she might have an attack of misplaced mercy.
They agreed to meet on the fourth basement level, then quickly separated.
Bella relied on her sixth sense to search.
She was looking for the person or weapon that posed the greatest threat to her.
This sense was peculiar—a "follow your instincts" kind of thing. Hard to explain, impossible to describe clearly, but often remarkably accurate.
With her invisibility active, she moved through the facility like a ghost. While searching the third basement level, her spiritual awareness fed back a signal—not extremely strong, but not weak either. There was danger here.