238: Chapter 238 The wool comes from the bear

"Bang!"

A mangled corpse slammed against the bulletproof glass of the command carriage, leaving behind a massive, viscous smear of blood.

Yuri stared intently at the face. It was his most elite guard captain, who just ten minutes ago had confidently promised to suppress the monsters in Carriage 32. Now, only the upper half of the captain's body remained, his intestines draped over the wiper of the bulletproof glass.

"Director! We can't hold them off!" The radio operator, his face covered in blood, roared at the top of his lungs. "The First Armored Brigade has been completely wiped out! They bit right through the tank barrels!"

Yuri grabbed the operator by the collar. "What did Moscow say? What about the Guards Division?!"

"The Guards Division will take at least forty minutes to arrive! And... and the Secretary of Defense said we can't let these things get near the capital. They're preparing to use thermobaric bombs to glass the area!"

"thermobaric bombs?!"

Yuri's mind went blank with a buzz. If they used thermobaric bombs, he didn't know if the monsters would die, but he, Yuri, would definitely be blown to smithereens.

"Those bastards!" Yuri kicked a chair over and drew the pistol from his waist. "Connect me to the direct line to The Kremlin! Now!"

Los Angeles, Umbrella Headquarters War Room.

Chen Feng leaned back on the leather sofa, holding a glass of cola, watching the holographic projection with great interest.

The projection was split into over a dozen screens, showing the carnage on the Trans-Siberian Railway from every angle with zero blind spots.

In the footage, a "Winter Soldier" whose size had surged to 3.5 meters slapped away an oncoming infantry fighting vehicle. The vehicle rolled twice in mid-air, crashed beside the tracks, and instantly burst into flames. Without even looking, the monster lunged at another tank, its sharp bone claws ripping open the tank's top armor like tofu and dragging out the screaming driver inside.

"Tsk, even Hollywood wouldn't dare film a scene of tearing a tank apart with bare hands." Chen Feng took a sip of cola. "Samantha, your nerfed version actually has some kick to it. This combat strength isn't much different from our official 3rd Generation Tyrants, is it?"

Samantha, wearing a white lab coat and holding a cup of black coffee, stared expressionlessly at the data flashing on the screen.

"Boss, you are insulting my professional standard." Samantha pushed up her rimless glasses. "The official Tyrants have complete tactical logic and friend-or-foe identification systems. Those on the screen are purely out-of-control masses of cancer cells."

She pointed to one of the monsters that was devouring its own kind. "They have no Gene Locks to restrict them, and their metabolic rate has completely collapsed. To maintain their vital signs, they can only keep eating. Those Russians even fed them three thousand tons of high-calorie frozen meat. It's practically pouring gasoline onto a powder keg."

"How long can they live?" Chen Feng asked.

"If they aren't destroyed by external firepower, four hours at most." Samantha pulled up a graph. "After four hours, their cells will undergo autolysis due to excessive division, turning them into a puddle of mush."

Chen Feng was amused. "Four hours? That's plenty of time for them to take a stroll in Red Square."

The door to the War Room opened, and Ada Wong walked in wearing high heels, holding a tablet.

"Boss, The Kremlin is in an absolute uproar." Ada Wong placed the tablet on the table. "Yuri's distress signal has already reached the president's desk. However, the Russian top brass clearly don't want to get burnt. They've ordered the Guards Division to establish a defensive line in Kubinka, preparing to use heavy firepower to level the entire train."

"Yuri definitely doesn't want to die." Chen Feng stroked his chin. "How much longer can the bulletproof glass hold?"

"According to the Red Queen's calculations, three minutes at most." Ada Wong glanced at the screen. "The perimeter of the command carriage is already surrounded by seven mutants. Yuri just tried to contact that shell company that sold the frozen meat to ask if there was any solution."

"Oh, grasping at straws, are we?" Chen Feng snapped his fingers. "Sarah, patch the communication through. I'll chat with him myself."

Sarah tapped on the console a few times. "Line connected, Boss."

Inside the command carriage, Yuri was roaring frantically into a satellite phone.

"Can't get through? What do you mean you can't get through?! That company must know the background of these monsters! Search! Dig three feet into the ground if you have to, but find them!"

Just as he finished speaking, the large screen in the command carriage suddenly flickered.

The screens, which originally displayed surveillance footage from various parts of the train, all changed to a giant red-and-white Umbrella logo.

Immediately after, Chen Feng's voice echoed in the carriage.

"Good evening, Yuri. I heard there's been a slight hiccup with your military parade rehearsal?"

Yuri whipped his head around to stare at the screen, his hand holding the gun trembling. "Who are you?! How did you hack in?!"

"Don't be nervous, Director. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Chen Feng, Chairman of the Umbrella Corporation." Chen Feng's voice carried a hint of playfulness. "Of course, you can also call me the owner of that shell company that sold the frozen meat. After all, we just did an eighty-million-dollar deal."

Yuri was stunned.

A few seconds later, he realized what was happening, the flesh on his face contorting wildly. "It's you?! You leaked that gene map on purpose?!"

"You can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say whatever you want," Chen Feng corrected. "The blueprint was 'stolen' back by your ace agent through his own hard work. I was just being kind and didn't add an anti-theft lock to it. Who knew you guys would be so bold as to jump straight into mass production without even doing a control experiment?"

Yuri shook with rage. He finally understood that from the very beginning, the Russian Federation had fallen into a meticulously designed trap.

"What on earth do you want?!" Yuri growled through gritted teeth.

"To do business, of course," Chen Feng said in a relaxed tone. "You now face two choices. First, be torn to shreds by the monsters outside, or blown to ash by your own thermobaric bombs. Second, buy my products. Guaranteed to cure all ills, honest prices for all."

Boom!

A massive crack appeared on the bulletproof glass of the command carriage. A mutant's bone claws slammed violently against the glass, the ear-piercing screech making Yuri's scalp tingle.

"I'll buy it!" Yuri practically screamed. "How much do you want?! Just give me the solution, quick!"

"Splendid." Chen Feng snapped his fingers.

A price list popped up on the screen.

"'Wither' special nerve gas, capable of instantly dissolving these out-of-control mutants. One billion dollars a canister. In your situation, you probably need five canisters."

"Specialized inhibitors, which can suppress the mutants' frenzy for forty-eight hours. Five hundred million dollars a vial. If you want to keep a few alive to report back, you can buy some."

Looking at the astronomical price on the screen, Yuri's eyes turned bloodshot. "One billion dollars a canister?! This is robbery!"

"Robbery doesn't make nearly as much money as arms dealing," Chen Feng chuckled. "Director, the bulletproof glass is going to shatter in one minute. If you hesitate any longer, your brains will be mixed in with that frozen meat. Oh, right, I forgot to remind you: the bombers carrying the thermobaric weapons have already taken off, and they're expected to arrive over your head in fifteen minutes."

Yuri turned to look at the crumbling bulletproof glass. The mutants outside were baring their bloody maws, viscous saliva dripping down the glass.

"I agree! I want it all! Deliver it to me immediately!" Yuri shrieked in a total breakdown.

"Understood." Chen Feng tapped the table with satisfaction. "Remember to wire the funds to the designated account. Umbrella Corporation's delivery service is always on time."

The communication cut off.

Chen Feng turned to look at Sarah. "Is Hunk in position?"

"The Third Battalion has arrived in the Arctic Ocean aboard an 'Oscar'-class nuclear submarine. Ten minutes ago, they transferred to a stealth transport plane and are currently hovering twenty thousand feet above Kubinka," Sarah reported.

"Very well." Chen Feng stood up and stretched. "Inform Hunk to prepare for airdrop. Drop those five canisters of gas and clean up the scene while they're at it. Remember, don't let the Russians realize we did it. Disguise it as an 'accidental' biochemical incident."

"Understood," Sarah nodded.

Chen Feng looked at Ada Wong. "How are things prepared on Alan's side?"

"One hundred billion dollars is fully in place." Ada Wong smiled slightly. "As soon as the news about Kubinka spreads, the ruble will absolutely collapse. Alan said he is confident he can siphon off at least three hundred billion from the Russians' foreign exchange reserves within four hours."

"Beautifully done." Chen Feng took a sip of his cola. "It would be a waste not to shear this Russian bear."

Meanwhile, in the cleaning room on the seventh underground floor of Umbrella.

Sergei was vigorously scrubbing a giant glass cultivation tank.

Outside the door, two researchers pushed a cart past, chatting in lowered voices.

"Have you heard? Something huge happened in Moscow."

"What happened? Was the military parade canceled?"

"What parade?! That batch of monsters without Gene Locks went out of control on the way! They ate the entire escorting armored brigade! I heard they're running toward Moscow right now, and the Russian high command is preparing to drop thermobaric bombs!"

"Holy crap, that's wild! Isn't Yuri dead meat then?"

"He's definitely a goner. Who told him to be so greedy for credit and act rashly? Our boss's move is truly brilliant, neutralizing the Russian bear's trump card without shedding a drop of blood."

The voices gradually faded away.

The brush in Sergei's hand fell to the floor with a clatter.

He froze on the spot, his mind roaring as if hundreds of bombers were droning simultaneously.

"Out of control?"

"The armored brigade was eaten?"

"Preparing to drop thermobaric bombs?!"

Sergei gripped the edge of the cultivation tank tightly, his fingernails scratching against the glass with a screeching sound.

"Impossible... This is impossible..." he muttered to himself, his face deathly pale. "The blueprint I took back... was fake? Did Umbrella give it to me on purpose?!"

He recalled the suffering he had endured in the cleaning room over the past few months, recalled the dreams of promotion and wealth he had every night, and recalled the scene of Yuri highly praising him in the video.

"It was all fake!"

"Not only did he fail to save his motherland, but he had personally delivered ten thousand demons to the gates of Moscow!"

"Ah!!!"

Sergei let out a despairing roar and slammed his fist violently against the cultivation tank.

The glass didn't break, but his knuckles were dripping with blood.

He slumped onto the water-soaked tiled floor, staring at his red and swollen hands, suddenly crying and laughing like an absolute madman.

The outskirts of Kubinka.

Yuri curled up in the corner of the command carriage, clutching his head tightly.

The bulletproof glass was completely shattered, and the cold wind, carrying the smell of blood, poured into the carriage.

A mutant over three meters tall squeezed past the deformed door, its crimson eyes locking onto Yuri. Opening its massive maw, it let out a deafening roar and lunged forward violently.

Yuri closed his eyes, waiting in despair for death to descend.

Just then, a sharp whistling sound suddenly echoed from the night sky.

Five black metal canisters fell from the sky, landing with precision in the snow around the train.

"Sssss—"

The metal canisters instantly burst open, and a pale green mist swept across the entire battlefield like a tsunami.

The moment the mutant lunging at Yuri came into contact with the green mist, its movements suddenly froze.

Immediately after, its iron-hard, grayish-white skin began to fester rapidly. Its muscles peeled off its skeletal frame like melting wax, dropping to the ground with a sizzling, corrosive sound.

In less than five seconds.

A super monster capable of tearing a tank apart with its bare hands dissolved into a puddle of foul-smelling black sludge.

Yuri opened his eyes, staring blankly at the scene before him.

Outside the carriage, the rampaging mutants fell and dissolved in droves under the shroud of the green mist.

The entire battlefield fell silent in an instant.

Yuri slumped on the ground, looking at the black sludge covering the floor, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

He had survived.

But he knew that his political life, along with the dignity of the Russian Federation, had been completely lost in that one hundred billion dollars and five canisters of gas.