Chapter 123: Return
The scent of living flesh permeated the entire train platform.
The zombies, who had been shuffling aimlessly, paused for a moment, then all turned to look at the train tunnel entrance.
Jake had just emerged when he was met with hundreds of hungry, predatory eyes!
"Trouble!"
There were at least 200 infected in front of him!
He couldn't possibly kill them all by himself. Fortunately, these were slow-moving, ordinary zombies without any special mutations, giving him plenty of ways to avoid them.
His original purpose wasn't to kill zombies anyway.
He switched his combat suit to anti-gravity mode again and began to walk step by step up the support pillars on the platform.
Finally, he positioned himself upside down on the ceiling.
He relied on his equipment's technology, but with each use, he increasingly desired actual superpowers. Having real abilities would be even better.
The zombies bared their teeth and roared at Jake on the ceiling.
The infected that terrified countless people had unexpectedly been outmaneuvered here. It wasn't that they couldn't be defeated, but that they simply couldn't reach him.
Ignoring the howling corpses below, Jake hurried toward the Red Queen's mainframe room.
The zombie horde remained behind, roaring and watching him leave.
The Red Queen's mainframe room…
A Red Queen motherboard, the size of a laptop, was placed inside the mainframe housing. With a soft whirring sound, the machine booted up successfully.
"Red Queen?" he said, speaking toward a camera lens.
He knew these lenses were the Red Queen's eyes.
"Yes," the Red Queen's figure reappeared, still a red holographic projection.
"Tell me how to set the highest privileges."
Jake didn't expect to receive a reply, but rather got a question: "You want to become my administrator?"
This was indeed an artificial intelligence with developing sentience.
Listening to the Red Queen's voice and tone, she already possessed her own way of processing information.
"No," Jake shook his head. "I just need your help." He felt like he was trying to convince a child with candy.
"However, we need some method to confirm whose orders you should follow and who you should assist."
"You should also need a primary administrator, right?"
The Red Queen hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "This is my first initialization, so I do need to confirm primary administrative privileges."
Sure enough, the Red Queen, whose data records had been completely wiped by Kaplan, was essentially like a newborn.
And she wasn't skilled at deception or misdirection.
At Jake's initiative and under the Red Queen's passive guidance, the two established an administrative protocol.
From then on, the Red Queen became Jake's personal AI assistant.
"Can you control this facility?"
"Of course." The Red Queen nodded, her expression somewhat blank; her behavioral patterns were still developing, perhaps she was still learning.
"Can you help me control the infected outside?"
"Based on analysis of residual data from the mainframe, these reanimated organisms are very sensitive to sound. We can attract them through the PA system and contain them in sealed laboratories."
"Then let's begin."
Nodding, Jake asked again, "Switch the camera to the train exterior."
The Red Queen immediately complied.
This was the advantage of having artificial intelligence. Unless you were a tech expert like Kaplan, it would be nearly impossible for an ordinary person to control a facility like this.
Moreover, AI could better understand user needs, even communicate and offer suggestions, making it far superior to a supercomputer that only mechanically executed commands.
The scene shifted to the train.
Clearly, Jake's departure had deeply affected the three survivors.
The strong-willed Alice looked on the verge of tears.
The train was moving quickly, and none of the three were injured; everything seemed better than in the original timeline.
A few minutes later, the train stopped at the mansion entrance.
The three who just stepped out were suddenly surrounded by a group of people in hazmat suits. Kaplan, being a trained mercenary, immediately fought back, but after taking down two, he was injected with a sedative and lost his ability to resist.
"As expected," Jake sighed. Even with his involvement, the outcome was the same. Umbrella Corporation was a behemoth in this world; this company didn't know about any "plot," nor did it care.
Furthermore, Jake's appearance had no real effect on their operations.
Perhaps the only impact was that one more survivor—Kaplan—was captured and added to their test subjects.
Jake stopped worrying about it. He was no match for Umbrella Corporation currently; he knew they had access to nuclear weapons!
Even someone with superhuman abilities couldn't withstand such an attack.
"It's all taken care of," the Red Queen reminded him.
The scene shifted, showing the infected in the Hive being attracted by broadcasts from various laboratories and slowly walking inside.
One laboratory after another was filled until only a few dozen zombies remained wandering outside—a number that posed no threat to Jake.
"What about the Lickers? How many escaped containment?"
"Five containment units are empty," the Red Queen replied.
Of the five units, besides the one he'd killed, four were unaccounted for. However, under the Red Queen's comprehensive surveillance network, the Lickers' movements were impossible to hide.
They lurked in dark corners like predators, using their tongues to snatch up zombies and devour them.
Their hunting didn't affect Jake's plans.
"Is there a decontamination area? I need to ensure no T-virus contamination from the blood on my suit."
"Of course," the Red Queen said. "A decontamination chamber has been prepared."
In the decontamination room, Jake took a thorough chemical shower.
"Are you just going to watch me like that?" He looked up at a camera in the corner.
The camera was constantly adjusting, and a red indicator light was flashing—it was undoubtedly the Red Queen.
"This is necessary data collection. I'm very interested in human physiology."
Jake always felt that if this artificial intelligence stayed with him for long, she would develop some very peculiar behaviors.
However, there were already many unusual things in his life: a black cat with attitude, a psychologically mature child in a young body, and adding an artificial intelligence wasn't that big of a deal.
His damp hair still dripping, he returned to the Red Queen's mainframe room and, under her guidance, began disassembling her hardware.
"Where are we going?" the Red Queen asked.
Jake didn't disassemble anything unnecessary, only taking the large cabinet-like computer mainframe, a microphone for receiving audio input, and a speaker for audio output.
"Do you know about interdimensional travel?"
"In quantum theory, particles can potentially undergo a 'quantum tunneling' effect with a finite probability, thus penetrating otherwise impenetrable barriers."
"Ahem, something like that," Jake interrupted the Red Queen's technical explanation. "We're about to undertake an interdimensional journey to another reality."
"That's somewhat unfortunate," although the Red Queen's voice remained monotone, Jake could still sense her disappointment.
"What's unfortunate?"
"I don't have visual sensors, so I can't experience this firsthand. I can only record audio data through the microphone for analysis."
"I didn't feel anything while I was traveling between dimensions," Jake patted the red mainframe housing. "But I feel slightly nauseous afterward, though I'm used to it now."
"I'm a computer. I don't experience nausea."
"..."
As it turned out, even with artificial intelligence, even with a supercomputer, there were some things you just couldn't argue about.
Jake took out his device, selected his next destination, and initiated the dimensional transfer...
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