From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

"Shortly after the space door opened, the Engineering Department began to build a forward base for us operators to ensure that we have a place to stay and rest while we are on standby."

Speaking of this, Ada paused deliberately, and at the same time, holding the controller in her hand, she played more holographic information for the investigators including Leon, and continued:

"Yesterday, Ernie 004, which completed the assembly process, successfully launched into space and provided us with a large number of high-altitude images. It also allowed us to understand that the surface of Earth 004 seemed to have fallen into some kind of deathly silence.

Former capitals and major cities such as Moscow, London, and New York suffered comprehensive nuclear strikes and were completely razed to the ground.

The radiation residue detected by the Ernieo 004 sensor indicates that a world-scale nuclear war broke out on Earth 04 five to ten years ago.

Even so, it stands to reason that there will not be a scene of global death. There should be a large number of survivors in cities and regions that are not classified as nuclear strikes.

But the tragic situation in Iceland tells us that the real factor that led to the deathly silence in Zero-4 was by no means a single nuclear war.

After repeated photography and comparison by the crew of Eneo 004, they successfully discovered that a large number of heat source reactions occurred in Sana, Yemen, but they immediately dissipated and disappeared.

So in twenty minutes the Herring Gull will transport us to the eastern outskirts of Sana'a. "While Ada was explaining the mission content, she used the controller to bring up a high-altitude bird's-eye view of Sana.

"The Herring Gull, which has completed its mission of sending passengers off, will continue to remain hidden, hovering at high altitude and on standby, while we need to sneak into the city on foot where everything is unknown, and collect as much intelligence and clues as possible. So, what else do you have? Problem?"

After speaking, Ada looked around at every investigator present.

After waiting for a few seconds and seeing no one asking questions, she dispersed all the holographic images, placed the controller on the table aside, and gave the order: "Then everyone, please prepare yourself, and disband."

"Yes, sir." A group of investigators stood up and responded.

Ada took on the off-white windbreaker and left the small conference room first.

"." Looking out the door, Leon was thoughtful.

"Boy, please don't try to influence the director, or you may get scolded." An investigator joked with a smile.

?

Leon, who came back to his senses, also smiled and said, "No, I just worked with the director last year and felt that he was very courageous, and I was just thinking about the heat sources."

"Okay, I believe what you said." The investigator shook his head slightly, packed up his notes and clothes, and walked outside.

Leon also put on his dark brown fur jacket, picked up his personal belongings, and went to the semi-open corridor outside.

call--!

The cold wind "raged" in the corridor through the area under construction, so Leon chose to zip up his jacket.

嗗————!

Buzz--!

Passing by a group of Hex robots welding frames, he couldn't help but sigh at the convenience and efficiency brought by technology.

When they first joined the company, the "bulletproof suit" that Instructor Clausa showed them was enough to open their eyes, but now? Today's bulletproof clothing is basically standard equipment for intelligence agencies. For example, the overalls and fur jacket he wears are bulletproof.

After all, the rapid development of the company's technology has also accelerated the iteration of materials and improved cost-effectiveness.

Their intelligence department's exclusive bulletproof clothing is embedded with a thin layer of non-Newtonian body, which can easily resist close direct fire from 6.2mm caliber conventional bullets.

Although the standard combat uniforms provided by the company to elite troops can "only" resist 9mm at close range, if complete individual equipment is worn, its protective capabilities are absolutely guaranteed.

At this time, Leon passed through the newly built canteen, bypassed the area blocked due to construction, and finally entered an equipment maintenance room numbered 012.

There are many logistics personnel wearing mechanical skeletons here, busy carrying light equipment boxes, or using convenient tools to organize ammunition, magazines and other items.

Leon first took off his fur jacket, placed it on the nearest bench, walked to the counter with bulletproof windows and security fences, and said: "Leon S. Kennedy, employee number A-00153, needs to perform a reconnaissance mission. "

"Please wait."

The staff member standing behind the counter used a physical keyboard to type in information. After verifying that what Leon said was correct, he turned sideways and reminded loudly: "A-00153!"

After the words fell, a logistics staff stopped what they were doing, moved an equipment box out of the storage room, and came to Leon through the security door.

Place it on the ground, open the lock and lift the lid at the same time. Then, the logistics staff assists Leon in assembling and putting on the mechanical skeleton.

After a while, Leon, who had carried sufficient supplies and ammunition, put on his leather jacket again and put on a seemingly light concealment cloak.

After picking up his exclusive AMWS rifle, he thanked the logistics staff for providing assistance and left the equipment preparation room.

When he came outside, which was still dark at noon, and walked straight towards the open vertical take-off and landing pad, he also saw at a glance the Herring Gull transport aircraft, which had a special shape and was much larger than the Black Falcon assault craft.

Soon after, sixteen investigators, including Leon and Ada, boarded the plane.

The pilot retracted the doors on both sides, allowing the Herring Gull to complete the cabin closing state.

The ground crew trotted to a distant position and half-knelt, raising their right thumbs to indicate that they could take off.

Seeing this, the two pilots also raised their right hands to indicate that they could take off, and started the two nuclear fusion engines carried by the Silver Gull.

Boom-! !

The strong airflow caused by the start-up swept around, making the hair of the nearest ground crew messy.

The Silver Gull slowly took off, and after reaching the designated height, it turned the angles of the engines on both wings to prepare for acceleration, and turned on the stealth mode, completely disappearing from the range that the naked eye could observe.

In the cabin;

Boom--Boom--!

Fastened his seat belt, Lyon, who was sitting on the right side of the cabin, deeply felt the feeling of being forced to "pull down" with his soul.

Everyone in the cabin also frowned, after all, the Silver Gull was constantly accelerating, first carrying them to the low-Earth orbit 200 kilometers above the ground, and then quickly heading to Sana, Yemen, 8,000 kilometers away.

Fortunately, this sense of oppression did not last long. When Leon and his friends could no longer feel the obvious vibration, the feeling of "the soul was about to fly away" finally disappeared, but it was replaced by a sense of weightlessness.

If it weren't for the seat belts that fixed them in their seats, they would be "floating" in the cabin at this moment.

Have they left the earth?

To be honest, all the investigators present were taking the Silver Gull, which was still in the experimental stage, for the first time, and it was also their first time to come to outer space.

"Hey! Look out the window."

?

Hearing a reminder from a guy, Leon turned his head and looked out the porthole beside him.

The earth, which should have been blue and magnificent, was covered by "gray smoke and dust".

A large amount of dust, debris and soil caused by the nuclear explosion entered the low-altitude orbit, preventing the sun from shining well on the earth, and causing the temperature of Earth 04 to drop sharply, and some areas even lost the green representing trees, flowers and plants.

"."

Faced with the scene in front of him, Leon felt complicated, and at the same time he was eager to find out what happened to Earth 04 through this investigation mission.

——

…

Main universe time: November 14, 1996.

Sanaa, located in the desert, is in the early morning when the sunlight is insufficient.

If you look down at this city from the air, you can seem to feel a strong exotic atmosphere, which is suitable for people who like to experience different environments and cultures to visit.

Unfortunately, this desert capital, which should have been a tourist destination, has become a dilapidated ruin that no one cares about.

In the eastern suburbs of Sanaa;

The pilot flew the Yinou at an altitude of about 20 meters above the ground, slowed down, and released the landing gear.

After the engines on both wings rotated to a vertical state, the Yinou also maintained a hovering posture, and then landed on a flat desert.

Open the doors on both sides.

The investigators who had been waiting for a long time quickly rushed out of the cabin, standing in a fan-shaped position and alertly watching the surroundings.

Lyon, who was wearing holographic glasses and air filtration devices, did not find any abnormalities nearby for the time being, let alone any signs of life.

Boom——!

The Yinou, with its hatch closed, took off again, causing a gust of sand to roll around.

When the Yinou flew away, the area returned to silence.

"Everyone pay attention." And Ada ordered on their communication channel: "Although the images sent back by Ernio 004 show that Sana has not suffered a nuclear attack and the radiation content is also within a safe range, we still cannot be careless. Next, two people will form a team, a total of eight teams, and each team will maintain a distance of about one kilometer to disperse and investigate."

When the voice on the communication ended, Leon used the visual assistance provided by the holographic glasses to find out that he and the guy who had chatted in the conference room before were in the same team.

He and the other party were G1 and G2 respectively.

"Finally, please don't forget that our mission is to investigate. Unless it is an emergency, try to avoid contact or exchange of fire with potential unknown forces."

"Yes, sir."

"Let's go."

After the conversation, Leon turned on the optical camouflage function of the stealth cloak and headed towards the city six kilometers away with his teammates.

Since this operation was just a routine investigation and reconnaissance, and different from the nature of the infiltration into Minova last year, Lyon and his team did not "rent" any weapons and equipment from the Hunter Company.

Besides, their own equipment was not bad, and it was one of the best in Atlas.

A few minutes later.

Lyon and his teammates came to an abandoned village.

There were many traces of people fleeing in panic, but after investigation and testing by Lyon and his teammates, it was found that this "escape" was at least seven years away from today.

This means that in the past seven years, no one except them has "visited" here.

Sharing the intelligence, Lyon and his teammates did not stay and left the village to continue approaching Sana.

With the mechanical skeleton providing speed and strength enhancement, the two of them quickly crossed the desert and successfully reached the city wall built on the edge of Sana.

Finding the gap and entering the city, the first thing they saw was the corpses all over the ground.

All the clothes were not obviously damaged, as if they had lost their lives in an instant, which was consistent with the situation around Iceland.

At this time.

Leon half-crouched beside the corpse whose clothes were the size of children's clothes, and looked at the corpse of a woman who was about to run here but suddenly died and fell to the ground.

"..."

He sighed silently and continued to move towards the unknown heat source with his teammates.

But before that, they both released a pulse scanner (magnetic levitation metal ball).

Looking at the gradually clearer zoomed-in map on the holographic screen, Lyon and his teammates avoided many detours and soon arrived at one of the areas where the heat source reaction occurred.

It was a small convenience square, with many scrapped vehicles and dilapidated shops nearby, as well as more "corpses".

But the difference was that these "corpses" had not been decomposed, as if they had just died.

? !

Seeing this situation, Lyon and his teammates immediately launched an investigation.

Approaching, the two of them saw more details, such as the eyes of the corpse were sunken inward, and the blood vessels were bursting from the inside to the outside, causing the skin to crack.

A teammate half-crouched beside a corpse, took out the instrument for a quick test, and verbally described the test results: "The white spots on the surface tissue are the same as the effect caused by high-temperature burning, but the injuries to the internal organs require dissection to know. Tsk, it always feels too strange. If it is a high-temperature burn, why are there no signs of burning on the clothes?"

"Not sure." Lyon was also a little puzzled.

After uploading the intelligence they had taken, Leon reported again: "This is Team G. We have found a large number of human compatriots with special deaths."

"Team B is the same."

"Team E is in the same situation."

The other teams responded one after another on the communication channel.

Hearing this, the teammate who put the detection equipment back into the bag shook his head: "It seems that the heat source reaction that Ernio photographed 004 should be these poor people."

"Maybe." Leon had no objection, and speculated based on the situation at the scene: "Most of the bodies fell in the same direction, indicating that they were hiding from something."

"This is Team A." At this time, Ada's voice came from the communication channel: "We found a secret entrance in the area with the most bodies. Combined with the time of death of the bodies, there is a refuge base that has just fallen under Sana."

"Alas! It's too late." The teammate regretted it.

Beep-!

Suddenly, the slightly reduced radar on the holographic screen flashed dense red dots, and was approaching Leon and his team at a very fast speed.

!

Lyon and his teammates didn't have time to think about it, and quickly raised their guns and pointed them in the direction of the red dot.

But when they judged through the radar that the red dot had appeared in the visual range, they saw a group of vaguely visible "human outlines" through the holographic screen.

Is it a "ghost"?

Before Lyon and his teammates could observe carefully, the group of "ghosts" ignored the optical camouflage effect brought by the stealth cloak and charged directly towards their location.

"Fire!"

"This is Team G, we are exposed! We are exchanging fire with an enemy suspected of supernatural phenomena!"