The road to completion starts from the Gate of Truth

And this flower has a magical property. In addition to growing in this flowerbed, once it is transplanted to other places, it will lose its magical function and can no longer be used to strengthen the human body.

It sounds like the heart-shaped grass in Wakanda, a pure natural human strengthening agent with special growth restrictions.

Well, from the point of view that people who eat the Stairs of the Sun and survive successfully will become the king of the Dubai Empire in ancient times, the two are more similar-I don’t know who copied whom... Well, regardless of these similar settings, Fang Yuan didn’t come here to explore this.

What he is looking for is the Stairs of the Sun and the unscientific effects of the many viruses derived from it! 　　In fact, Fang Yuan already had some guesses.

For example, the unscientific increase in body mass after mutation completely violates the general law of conservation of mass, but it also reminds Fang Yuan of the effect of using the Philosopher's Stone in alchemy-the Philosopher's Stone made of human souls can break the principle of equivalent exchange in the eyes of ordinary people, and naturally increase the mass of objects out of thin air.

Thinking of the strange Philosopher's Stone extracted from the bodies of T virus infected people, Fang Yuan guessed that this virus might be able to use the human soul as raw material to create matter out of thin air, just like alchemy? In other words, the T series virus is not a simple biological virus that can only act on the material level, but a supernatural substance that can act on the soul level.

But this is just Fang Yuan's guess, so he needs to experiment.

However, it is not particularly difficult to find experimental subjects, and Fang Yuan does not need to sacrifice his conscience. He directly uses a group of Umbrella Company remnants that he has caught for experiments - although this kind of scum is difficult to catch, there are really a lot of them. Fang Yuan always catches them in groups.

First, inject the T virus into their bodies, and when they are in different stages before they are about to become zombies, perform Philosopher's Stone Alchemy on them separately to observe the difference between their separated souls and ordinary normal human souls.

Fang Yuan discovered that after the T virus infected the human body, the soul of the infected person showed different degrees of decomposition. This decomposition phenomenon not only occurred after the brain was infected and eroded, but also occurred when the consciousness of the infected person was still clear at the beginning of the disease.

When this decomposition developed to the extreme, it was naturally the extremely weak and discrete chaotic soul that Fang Yuan extracted from the zombie body. At this time, the brain of the infected person was completely eroded by the virus.

However, according to Fang Yuan's experience of using the Philosopher's Stone, when humans were completely transformed into zombies, the soul mass lost in these people's bodies, if converted into material changes, would be enough to stimulate them into the size of a tyrant at one time, but the fact is that they are still ordinary weak chicken zombies of similar size to humans. What's going on? 　　Is it because the efficiency of soul conversion to matter is too low, or is it because the brain is infected and eroded due to the damage to the soul's attached organs and additional loss? 　　Fang Yuan didn't know, so he needed to find another similar thing for comparison.

Originally, he wanted to find the G virus, but that thing had already been destroyed in the underground laboratory in Raccoon City, and the samples that leaked out to the black market had long been bought up, and Fang Yuan could not trace its whereabouts.

(Although he knew that the G virus would flow into a company called Wilfarama later, it was obvious that the company had not yet obtained it, and Fang Yuan had come up empty-handed.

) And at this stage, it is not the period in which various mutant biochemical viruses will emerge in an endless stream in a few years. The only biological weapon on the market that can be regarded as a biological weapon is the T virus.

Perhaps T-Veronica is one, but although Fang Yuan knew that the developer of this virus and the most successful host Alexia Ashford was sleeping in a secret base somewhere, he had not really played the game "Resident Evil: Code Veronica" and only had a rough understanding of some of the plots, so it was naturally difficult to find her.

Even Charles, who is also a member of the Ashford family, can't help him with this. After all, Charles is not a core member of the family, but a distant branch with the same surname and blood. This name has no other use except to make his promotion in the Umbrella Company smoother. It is impossible for him to know such extremely confidential information.

Although the Las Plagas parasite that appeared in the fourth generation of the game is also an option, Fang Yuan really can't remember which mountain valley the cult that dared to abduct the daughter of the US president is hiding in. Is it Spain or somewhere else? I can't figure it out, so I can only pass it.

Therefore, the only reliable option is the ancestor virus.

After all, although the African research center of the Umbrella is secret, the Dubai tribe is not! 　　Knowing that the two are deeply entangled, Fang Yuan directly found this primitive tribe that is also somewhat famous in West Africa, and then traced it here step by step.

Silently saying sorry to the people of the Diya tribe who had warmly welcomed him, Fang Yuan stretched out his sinful hands towards the sacred object that had been worshipped by the Diya tribe for generations - the Stairs of the Sun.

As blue lightning flashed in his hand, a ball of dark yellow liquid was extracted by him and placed in a test tube prepared in advance, and the price was that at least more than twenty Sun Stairs flowers withered.

This is the original original liquid of the ancestral virus. If it is injected into the human body, it will either create a superman or a monster, and the possibility of the latter is far greater than the former.

As for the problem of experimental subjects... Although it is not very comfortable to use these people from the Dubaiya tribe for experiments, there is not only one Dubaiya tribe nearby.

In the chaotic land of West Africa, all kinds of terrorists and separatist warlords are everywhere. Murder, arson, rape, looting, genocide, terrorist attacks, all the heinous people that humans can imagine can be found here.

Fang Yuan only needs to go out and run a long way around, and he can immediately catch a group of top scum who are not too much to die ten thousand times, and there is no worry about lack of experimental samples.

... So, in the following period of time, a legend of "Dark Night Demon" spread among many tribes in West Africa.

This invisible demon only appears at night, specifically catching those bad kids who refuse to go home after dark, dragging them into hell to eat them alive, fry them, cook them, and torture them in various ways... When Fang Yuan heard this legend from the surrounding tribes, he was confused - it was just a few times that a group of experimental subjects were captured from some terrorist camps at night, how could it be spread like this? ! ! The speed of distortion of this rumor is even more exaggerated than the information network era more than ten years later, making him seem like a villain! Well, although the people he used for live experiments were some real damn scum, anyway, they were experiments on living people, and this rumor was not wrong to some extent.

... Let's not talk about these depressing things.

Back to the abandoned research institute underground, it has been transformed into his private laboratory by Fang Yuan using alchemy. Although it is not as exaggerated as the transformation after the Sanlian Group took over ten years later, it is no longer the abandoned and dangerous building.

The test of the ancestor virus made Fang Yuan further confirm his guess.

Sure enough, the soul decomposition phenomenon also occurred in the bodies of the infected people of the Progenitor virus, and the weight change caused by this was much more drastic than that of the T virus - this shows that, at least in terms of the conversion rate of soul to matter, the Progenitor virus is higher than the T virus.

It can be said that although the transformation of the Progenitor virus into the T virus has improved the stability of DNA mutation in terms of biological characteristics, it is a complete regression in terms of soul-matter conversion. Compared with the original Progenitor virus, the T virus is almost less than one-tenth efficient in this regard, and most of the soul is dissipated meaninglessly during the conversion process.

In this regard, the G virus seems to have gone to the other extreme. After sacrificing the stability of mutation, it has increased the mass of the body after mutation to the point of being drastic and contrary to common sense. It can be imagined that the soul-matter conversion efficiency of the G virus must be very high.

However, Fang Yuan did not care whether the Umbrella virus took the wrong path in transforming the virus. He just finally confirmed one thing - the real source of the Progenitor virus is not simple! After all, this ability to decompose human souls and transform them into additional matter completely breaks the mass conservation principle of traditional science, and involves the secrets of the most fundamental rules of the universe, such as soul and matter, energy and mass. It is a completely sci-fi substance or even a magical substance, and it does not look like a species that evolved naturally from the earth! When thinking of the tentacles that are basically indispensable to all kinds of monsters in the Resident Evil series, Fang Yuan had a vague feeling of bad premonition in his heart...')049'\u003eChapter 49 A diary that makes people sweat

The guesses that flashed through Fang Yuan's mind made him a little suspicious, and something he found in this research center later made him even more uneasy.

It was a diary. Fang Yuan was originally browsing the research materials left in this research institute when he was free, hoping to find some inspiration from it, but he found it in a pile of report files.

Judging from the signature of the diary, it was written by a researcher with the abbreviation L.A. The first half of it was basically a record of some virus transformation experiments. Since it was not a formal record, it was written very casually and sloppily. Fang Yuan took a rough look and found nothing valuable.

However, what caught his attention was the second half of the diary.

That was the researcher's observation record of a virus-infected body, and the name also gave Fang Yuan a sense of déjà vu - Edward Ashford.

Isn't this one of the three founding fathers of Umbrella Corporation and the founder of the Progenitor virus series research! 　　Fang Yuan couldn't remember clearly what the ending of this Edward was, it seemed that he died of Progenitor virus infection? But why is there a record of him here in the African Center? And it seems to be the observation record of the last period before his death - [March 7, 1971, Sunday, sunny.

Mr. Edward is really crazy! He actually injected a high concentration of the ancestor virus into his body! God, does he really think he is the one chosen by God? I bet that even those primitive people who regard the Staircase of the Sun as a sacred object would not dare to do this! But he survived! Yes, no physical mutation occurred! Not insane! He survived! And he really has power beyond mortals! I saw him lift a two-ton box with one hand and throw it away, effortlessly! Is this a miracle? ……】 ……etc! Is this what Edward's plot is like? It’s never mentioned in the game at all! Fang Yuan was a little surprised, so he continued to look through the subsequent records.

[Wednesday, March 31, 1971, cloudy.

There seems to be something not good about Mr. Edward! He now often locks himself in a room alone and does not see anyone for several days. Even when he meets and talks with others, he often has problems such as being distracted, talking to himself, and confused language logic. His thinking and intelligence seem to be affected... … This should be a side effect of the progenitor virus. Mr. Spencer seemed to have noticed this. He proposed that Mr. Edward have a comprehensive physical examination, but he refused.

I hope things will not develop in the worst direction... […] Well, as expected, directly injecting the ancestor virus into one’s body is indeed a suicide attempt. Fang Yuan can already predict the fate of this Edward... Continue reading—— [Sunday, April 4, 1971, cloudy.

Mr. Edward's condition seems to have improved somewhat. He has finally come out of the room, and his conversation and greetings with people have returned to normal. Everything is no different from before.

It seems that God is still taking care of him! ……] [Thursday, April 15, 1971, sunny.

The situation has worsened again! Mr. Edward has severe symptoms of memory loss, as well as visual hallucinations and auditory hallucinations. The Ancestral Virus has damaged his brain. It seems that he still hasn't gotten over it... [April 1971] 25th, Sunday, overcast.

Mr. Spencer and Mr. Marcus both agreed that Mr. Edwards, who now has few waking moments, should be placed in isolation, like a patient with late-stage Alzheimer's disease.

Fortunately, he did not show the strong aggressiveness that other virus-infected bodies have, and his body did not undergo visible mutations. This should be considered good news... ...] [April 27, 1971, Tuesday, light rain.

Damn it! Edward has gone completely crazy! Okay, I take back what I said two days ago. Not only did he start attacking any living thing near him, he also developed terrible cysts on his body, with disgusting pus flowing out of them! He has been walking around manically in the isolation room all day long, and he is still shouting something loudly... I carefully distinguish some words from it, and found that it is the language of the Dibai people, and it seems to say "God" or something, I A little uneasy... [April 30, 1971, Friday, light rain.

Today he seemed to be more awake again. I saw him sitting quietly in the room, staring blankly at his severely diseased limbs. There was fear and daring on his barely human-like face. The expression of belief - Yes, if you watch yourself slowly turning into a monster, everyone will be scared and desperate! ……] [May 1, 1971, Saturday, sunny.

He started harming himself! He scratched his arm with his severely mutated nails, and then used the black and sticky blood stained with unknown substances to write and draw on the wall, but it was impossible to tell what he was drawing.

It’s all twisted lines, big stains, and patterns that look like letters but are actually nothing—it’s even more incomprehensible than Van Gogh’s post-impressionist works! The staff tried to clean up the graffiti, but he almost killed him! Is he protecting these graffiti? ​I don’t know...​…]…There’s something wrong with this plot! Fang Yuan felt that the things recorded in this diary gave him a sense of déjà vu as if he were looking at SCP records, or it seemed like the result of an investigator investigating something he shouldn't know... Looking further down - [ May 7, 1971, Friday, light rain.

he died! Yes, Mr. Edward is dead! And it’s suicide! He obviously woke up at the last moment, and then penetrated his brain with the tentacle limbs that had been severely mutated.

Maybe he wants to die as a human? ​I'm not sure.

…] The records in the diary end here. There seems to be more written later, but those pages have been torn out artificially.

To be honest, when Fang Yuan saw this, he was covered in cold sweat.

Although this record seems nothing special at first glance, the whole story is about a crazy old scientist who committed suicide and then really died.

But for Fang Yuan, some details inside seemed more and more wrong.

Especially the "god" that Edward mentioned when he went crazy, and the graffiti he drew on the wall with his own blood, plus the physical mutation, cysts, pus, tentacles...what can you associate with it? 　　This looks like the reaction of looking directly at the Old Ones or Outer Gods and going crazy! 　　Damn! Could this Resident Evil world also be related to that damn Cthulhu mythology? ! 　　Although both have tentacles and horror elements, there is still a big difference between one being science fiction and the other being mythology! 　　Emmmmm, that's not right! It seems that the Cthulhu novel written by Master Ai Shouyi is also classified as science fiction? 　　Fang Yuan didn't dare to think about it anymore.

')050'\u003eChapter 50 Ominous Discovery

Calm down! 　　Calm down! 　　This is just your own guess, don't scare yourself! 　　Fang Yuan warned himself like this, trying to get that creepy feeling out of his mind as much as possible.

He knew that this was his preconception after encountering Cthulhu monsters many times in a row, and he would instinctively think of all the words such as tentacles, meat, and mutations in that direction... Damn it! The more I think about it, the more it looks like that! No! I have to calm down! He is an alchemist, and essentially a scientific researcher. He must be rigorous! Be meticulous! He needs to find evidence! Yes, evidence! Fang Yuan began a thorough search of this underground ancient ruins, not only the flowerbed where the Stairs of the Sun was located, but also the architectural ruins with only pillars and stone walls left.

In the process, Fang Yuan discovered some murals.

Some of these murals describe how the ancient Dubai people built houses, how they planted crops, how they fought, how they worshipped gods, how they cultivated the Stairs of the Sun, and how the king of the ancient Dubai Empire passed various tests in the succession ceremony and finally became the king recognized by the Sun God.

There are also other murals describing the last days of the Dubai Empire.

In these pictures, terrible monsters appeared in the underground world of Dubai. These monsters have human bodies, but many more tentacles.

These monsters tore at the local residents, and broken bodies were everywhere.

In the holy land of Dibai, two giant monsters were wrestling on the flowerbed of the Stairs of the Sun... This mural may describe the real reason for the demise of the Dibai tribe. Fang Yuan guessed that there might be a struggle for the throne in the Dibai Empire, and the two heirs to the throne let their supporters eat the Stairs of the Sun, resulting in terrible consequences - this may be the first biochemical crisis in recorded history.

From the overall painting style of all the murals, it seems that there is no twisted and grotesque feeling unique to the sects that believe in the Old Ones in the Cthulhu mythology. The murals, which are mainly composed of straight lines, right angles, trapezoids, and circles, are more similar to the Mayan civilization in America in style.

This made Fang Yuan feel a little relieved. At least the ancient Dibai people did not seem to be the kind of cult group that worshipped the old evil gods.

But this is not enough to explain whether the ancestor virus is related to those indescribable terrifying existences.

After all, it is not that the ignorant worshipped the gods of the past. For example, in ancient Egypt under the Cthulhu worldview, didn't they worship the incarnation of a foreign god as a pharaoh and a god? So everything has returned to the starting point, and in the end, we still have to find clues from the Stairs of the Sun itself.

At this time, Fang Yuan noticed a key point that he had always overlooked.

That is, as mentioned before, the Stairs of the Sun can no longer extract the Progenitor Virus after being transplanted to another place.

This was originally just a mystery created by Capcom to shape the mystery of the Stairs of the Sun, but when he thought about it again, he found that things could not be so simple.

After all, there are only a few main factors for plant growth - soil, water quality, light, temperature, and special ones also have companion animals or companion plants, and companion fungi.

For the three elders of the Umbrella, it should not be a problem to copy all these factors, but the fact is that no matter how hard they try, they can't cultivate an effective solar ladder outside this relic, which is very telling.

This relic, or this ladder altar itself, has a problem! Fang Yuan first suspected whether there were any special minerals buried underground here. For example, Wakanda's ecology was affected by the vibranium meteorite. The solar ladder here is very similar to the heart-shaped grass in Wakanda in many ways, so Fang Yuan naturally thought of this.

However, the result was no.

Fang Yuan had magnified his mental scanning ability to the limit, but even if he extended his mental tentacles to a depth of ten kilometers underground, he still did not find any suspicious objects.

Or maybe the structure of the ruins here formed a special magnetic field that could have a special impact on the internal environment? Fang Yuan tested this again. He even spent time to test the magnetic field strength of each location in the ruins. He finally found that although the magnetic field strength of each location had extremely slight differences, there was no special magnetic field environment formed at the Sun Stairway Altar. The slight error was just a random magnetic field difference in the macro environment.

So, is there something wrong with the altar itself? Fang Yuan finally turned his attention to the stones that made up the altar.

He originally thought that the stones used to build the altar were the same stone as the ancient ruins outside, so he had not noticed them before.

But now that the possibility of other factors has been eliminated, the only ones left are these inconspicuous stones that have always been ignored.

Fang Yuan carefully leaned over the center of the altar, touched the ground with one hand, and spread his spirit into the stones that made up the altar - this was not the rough mental scanning he had done when he explored underground before, but the alchemical method. Ultra-fine detection based on "understanding" ability, the kind that can see every atom clearly! The result... A few days later, when Fang Yuan returned to his home in the United States from Africa, Jill came to the door again after receiving the news.

But when she came over, she found that Fang Yuan's face was very ugly, and he didn't have the relaxation and confidence he had in the past.

"Fang, what's wrong with you?" "..." Fang Yuan opened his mouth but stopped talking.

Jill: "Is the investigation not going well?" She still remembered what Fang Yuan said on the phone before that he went to Africa to investigate a plant called the Sun Staircase, which was the original source of the T virus.

But looking at Fang Yuan's expression now, the result shouldn't be ideal? "...No, the investigation went very smoothly...but it was a little too smooth!" Fang Yuan's answer made Gil feel confused.

Too smooth? What an answer! But this sentence is actually Fang Yuan’s sincere thought.

He would rather this investigation found nothing, which would be much better than the current situation! First in the real world, then in the secret realm, and then in this Resident Evil world, Fang Yuan came into contact with Cthulhu-type or suspected Cthulhu-type factors three times in a row. This encounter made Fang Yuan feel terrible. .

He is not the last line of defense for mankind, nor is he a legendary investigator. Why would Mao encounter these things one after another! It’s not like he’s never played the Resident Evil game before. There’s no mention of it being related to the Cthulhu Mythos! Fang Yuan didn’t know whether this was a hidden setting in the Resident Evil series that had not been disclosed, or whether there was something wrong with the world itself, but he knew that it would be really dangerous if he continued to explore! ')051'\u003eChapter 51 A short daily life...a new accident

"What exactly did you find?" Jill asked persistently. She was really interested in Fang Yuan's discovery.

"...Gil, do you believe that there is some kind of great existence in this universe that humans cannot easily contact, understand, and cannot be described?" Fang Yuan considered his words, because there is no Lovecraft in this world, Fang Yuan Yuan also couldn't directly reference the concept of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Gil thought for two seconds: "...you mean God?" Fang Yuan: "..." "Okay, I'm talking about beings similar to gods, demons, ghosts, etc., but they are more powerful than these legendary beings. It's more ridiculous, more illogical, and more terrifying. Can you understand what I mean?" Fang Yuan had to change his words, and at the same time he felt very tired - Mr. Love Craftsman, why are you not here? Where will your works be left in this world? "...I roughly understand. Have you discovered the origin of the T virus, is it some kind of terrifying existence that humans cannot recognize or fight against?" Jill's mind was quite quick, and she quickly understood what Fang Yuan meant.

"I really hope I didn't discover this..." Fang Yuan said helplessly.

After being silent for a long time, Gil asked: "Fang, do you think your discovery will have a direct impact on us and the cause of eliminating biological and chemical weapons?" "...Probably not!" Fang Yuan thought for a while, Finally, he shook his head: "The Umbrella group did not discover the real secret of the T virus. They just used it as a weapon, a human body enhancer, or a symbol of human evolution, but these are not the point!" "Then What are you worried about? No matter you discover this secret or not, it will always be there, and it will appear naturally when it comes. We just need to do the things in front of us!" Gil stepped forward and patted Fang. Yuan's shoulders.

Fang Yuan was stunned, and suddenly felt that what she said made sense. He had been worried about this and that before. I wonder if the things belonging to the old rulers had not disappeared yet. He almost scared himself to death - this was considered Do you know the disadvantages of too much? "...Okay, am I being educated by you?" Fang Yuan smiled, and his gloomy expression finally disappeared.

Gil could see that he had really let go of some of his worries and finally returned to the Fang Yuan he used to be.

... The next day, Fang Yuan rarely slept in. It was not until 9 o'clock in the morning that he lazily climbed out of bed.

Instead of directly using alchemy to clean himself as before, Fang Yuan went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face like an ordinary person for a long time. Then he had a delicious American breakfast. Looking at the warm sunshine outside the window, he felt as if he was brand new! After getting today's newspaper from the door, he sat on the wicker chair by the window sill, reading the newspaper in the sunshine, trying to see what interesting news there was - he looked like a retired old man.

This is when Fang Yuan decided to follow Gil's advice, not to push himself too hard, and just enjoy his daily life for a few days like an ordinary person.

He thought it made sense and decided to spend the next month like this.

In this way, for the next few days, he would sleep until he woke up naturally every day, and then eat, relax, entertain, go out and participate in community activities like an ordinary person. When he was really bored, he would do some unimportant but interesting things. Research... This made him feel the feeling he had when he was an ordinary person for a long time - although he knew nothing about the truth of the world, he was indeed calm and leisurely! ……However, a phone call came soon, interrupting Fang Yuan’s daily routine that had just lasted less than a week.

"What? Something happened to Alice?" This was a call from Carlos, and he brought the worst news.

Alice disappeared while on a mission! Well, the trees wanted to be quiet but the wind didn't stop. Fang Yuan just wanted to have a few days of leisure, but things came to him. What a coincidence! "Where did she disappear? What mission was she on?" Although the relationship with Alice is not particularly close, they are still friends at least, and Fang Yuan cannot leave her alone.

"She was lost in Spain while investigating some missing persons cases there."

Carlos on the other end of the phone explained the situation concisely and comprehensively.

"Missing persons case? Why would she investigate this? Does B.S.A.A. have so much free time?" Fang Yuan was surprised, how could Alice do this kind of work that should be done by the police.

Carlos: "What if the missing person is found, but turns into a zombie?" "..." Fang Yuan suddenly remembered that the plot of the fourth-generation game that he couldn't remember clearly seemed to have happened near Spain. Could it be possible? Is Alice involved? "Where did she disappear in Spain? Tell me the exact location!" "Do you want to take action? That would be the best. The location where she disappeared is..." "Okay, I know! Don't worry, I can definitely bring her back!" "Wait! B.S.A.A. has sent people to Spain to investigate. I think it might be better for you to contact him and work together."

"Oh? Has someone already passed by? What's his name?" "His name is Chris Redfield. He is the earliest insider of the Raccoon City incident. He is also a powerful warrior with skilled combat skills. I think you should be able to get along with him. Very good.”

"...No, forget it, let's investigate separately. It will be more efficient that way."

Fang Yuan declined the teammate recommended by Carlos - he didn't want to be killed by the aura of his teammate's nemesis.

"Okay... I am currently on a mission in Japan, and Gil and Nicholas also have their own missions, so there is really no way to go there.

I’ll leave Alice’s affairs to you! "Don't worry, leave it to me!" " After hanging up the phone, Fang Yuan immediately returned to the room and took out a box from under his bed. It contained the latest equipment that he had just developed. He would just take this opportunity to test the actual combat effect! ... One day later, a flight from the United States to Spain landed at the Madrid Capital Airport. When the passengers on board got off the plane, the customs police checked the visas of the immigrants one by one, but found nothing. I don’t know when, a silent figure He blended seamlessly into the crowd of people leaving.