"You don't need to know who I am."
Noah felt like he could rip a man in half with his bare hands right now. Who the hell was this person to be so unreasonable? You couldn't even communicate with them properly!
Oh, right. The other party might not even be human.
"Then why the hell am I in this place?"
"We are simply granting your wish."
The female voice spoke lightly, as if she were merely discussing the weather.
"Huh?" Noah looked bewildered. When did I ever wish to come to this hellhole?
"In the first chapter, didn't you say you'd rather be in the dangerous world of Resident Evil?"
"I was venting! I was angry about my reality! And I distinctly remember the second half of that sentence being that I didn't want any 'trash people' around me either!"
"There are no longer any of those 'trash people' around you now..." the female voice replied softly, sounding as if she had fully anticipated this argument.
"Then what about that phone call I just took? The tone of that guy on the other end—how is he any different from my garbage boss back home?" Noah retorted instantly. "No matter how I look at it, I'm still surrounded by trash."
"Er..." The female voice seemed to realize that Noah had a point. She didn't know how to refute it in the moment, so she decided the best course of action was to change the subject immediately.
"We saw your love for the Resident Evil world, so we resolutely violated regulations to transport you here!"
Why did that reek of gaslighting? 'Everything is for your own good'? Was this mysterious voice some kind of veteran manipulator?
But Noah, a battle-hardened veteran of the corporate world, wasn't going to fold that easily.
"Loving the world of Resident Evil doesn't equal wanting to risk my life in it, right?" Noah shot back.
"Uh..." The voice apparently hadn't expected to lose that round so quickly.
"Since you realize the problem now, hurry up and send me back to my original world. I'm still waiting for Resident Evil 9 to be released in a few years!"
"Um..."
"Why do you sound so weak all of a sudden?!" Noah shouted in anger. Even though there was no one else in the room, he still projected his fury at full volume.
He liked the world of Resident Evil. Sure.
To Noah, zombies—creatures that had lost their humanity and devoured the living—were just an external projection of the dog-eat-dog nature of modern society. A metaphor. An emotional expression.
But if he actually had to survive in a world teeming with bio-organic weapons? Whether he could last even a few days was a huge unknown. Compared to his "passion," his own life was far more important.
"There is no way to return to your original world now."
Hearing this, the frustration on Noah's face twisted into pure rage.
"You have the guts to say that again?"
"No, no, don't get so excited..." Seeing Noah's state, the female voice actually started to sound a little panicked.
"Fuck! Tell me exactly what is going on. Why can't I go back?!" Noah bellowed, his emotions boiling over. His voice was loud enough for the neighbors upstairs and downstairs to hear.
Although, considering Noah was speaking Japanese, it was hard to say how many people in the United States would actually understand him.
"Because transporting you to this world created a trans-temporal sonic boom effect. It has already altered history and future developments. If we transport you back now, this world will be destroyed."
"What does that have to do with me? If it gets destroyed, just fix it!"
"Then your favorite female characters will vanish along with it!"
"Uh..." Noah hesitated.
Right. If this world was real, then the adorable Rebecca, the drop-dead gorgeous Jill, the mysterious Ada, and the passionate college girl Claire... they would all disappear.
Wait. There had to be a remedy.
"Then just transport them back to my universe with me. Problem solved."
"In that case, they would become corporate drones just like you. They would be reduced to ordinary people, stripped of their spirit and individuality. Would you be willing to see that?"
"Um..." This time, it was Noah's turn to fall silent.
"So, do you really not want to meet them in this universe? Or Leon? Chris?"
"Whoa, stop, stop. Seeing the beauties is enough. Those last two? One is a vehicle destroyer and a magnet for kidnapped girls; the other is a squad-killer who leaves no teammate alive. Just thinking about them scares the shit out of me."
Noah paused, sinking into thought for a moment.
First, he thought about the popular female characters in Resident Evil. Then he thought about the popular male characters. Then he thought about the Resident Evil reality itself.
The more he thought, the more hopeless it felt. The more he thought, the sadder he got. After weighing it over and over, he made up his mind.
"Hearing you say all that... I still want to go back to my original world."
"Why are you so impossible to reason with?" The mysterious female voice was gradually losing her patience.
"If you force a return to your original world now, the Resident Evil universe itself will glitch. Even the Resident Evil games in your world will disappear."
"No, wait, why? Putting it plainly, you just won't be happy unless I'm chained to this universe, right?"
"Unless you voluntarily become a zombie and die in the upcoming Raccoon City disaster, the operating logic and future development of this world cannot remain stable."
"Then what if I just move away from Raccoon City now?"
"No!"
"..."
Noah was speechless. "You didn't verify that 'No' at all, did you? You just blurted it out."
Battle-hardened Noah instantly heard the truth behind the panic in her voice.
"This won't work, that won't work. If that's the case, I might as well end it all right now. Maybe dying gives me a chance to return to my original world!"
As he spoke, Noah began scanning the room for something sharp. Fortunately, the original owner of this room must have been someone who knew how to live; Noah found a gleaming fruit knife in the kitchen.
Noah examined it quickly, then pressed the blade against his own neck.
"I'll give you one more chance. Tell me what we're going to do."
"No, no, no! If you choose suicide now, you won't return to your original world either!"
"I can't read the text here, I can't communicate with people, and I don't seem to have any special abilities. I'm stuck in Raccoon City, which is about to face a zombie outbreak followed by a nuclear explosion. Rather than turning into a zombie and getting vaporized by a nuke later, I might as well end it myself now. Save everyone the trouble."
Hah. Suicide? How could someone as terrified of death as Noah do something so brainless?
But since he had transmigrated to this world, and the dialogue confirmed he had already influenced it, he definitely wasn't some nameless nobody whose death wouldn't make a ripple. He definitely had a role to play in this world.
Since he had a role, he had value. And a person with value wouldn't just be allowed to die. Noah believed this with absolute certainty.
That was why he feigned suicide—to try and extort some benefits from this woman with the mysterious powers. Like an invincibility skill? Invisibility? Flight? Immunity to the T-Virus? At the very least, getting a skill or two would make moving through this world a lot easier, right?
Thinking of this, Noah couldn't help but let a wicked smirk creep onto his face.