After dealing with the Licker, they didn't encounter any more trouble.
Everyone searched the rooms they passed through. Besides finding many combat reports in the conference room, which gave them a rough idea of what had happened at the police station, they also learned that the red monster was called a Licker.
Ethan found the fireplace in the inner room of the conference room and specifically took down the painting hanging above it, but he didn't find anything like a ruby there.
"It seems that although this is a world based on a game's storyline, it doesn't completely follow the game's mechanics."
That made more sense. Although the Raccoon City Police Department wasn't originally built as a police station and had been converted from an existing building, the presence of so many bizarre mechanisms in the real world would be hard to justify.
In reality, many doors that block progress can be opened without a key. Even Claire could just kick the lock off.
"What are you looking for?"
Claire saw Ethan examining a wall painting and curiously walked over to look, but she couldn't see anything special about it.
"Maybe it's just a feeling. I thought there might be a safe hidden behind this painting."
"You've watched too many movies."
Ethan shrugged and tossed the painting onto the floor. He wasn't going to carry it around.
They continued searching forward, easily dealing with the zombies along the way. The group successfully reached the second floor and found the STARS office.
"This is my brother's desk."
Claire searched carefully for a while and unexpectedly found a diary.
The contents weren't extensive, only recording the events following the mansion incident. Through this diary, everyone learned that the virus causing this disaster was called the T-virus, and Umbrella was also researching a newer G-virus.
Additionally, Chris wrote in the diary about what he planned to do next: go to Europe to investigate more information about Umbrella.
Seeing this, Claire was visibly relieved. It seemed her brother wasn't in the city. Although investigating a large corporation's secret experiments in Europe was also dangerous, it was much better than the current situation in Raccoon City.
"Looks like I don't have to worry about Chris for now."
Claire thought for a moment and ultimately decided not to take the diary but to destroy it on the spot. Leon had a lighter, so burning the diary wasn't difficult.
Ethan had originally found it strange that a diary would be left in the police station, but now it seemed it might have been a safeguard Chris had set up. If something really happened to him, at least Claire would know what he had encountered.
However, Chris definitely didn't know that the Raccoon City Police Chief had been bought by Umbrella. If something happened to him in Europe, it would be difficult for this diary to ever reach Claire.
"Let's look around the police station a bit more and try to leave here as soon as possible."
There didn't seem to be anything useful in the STARS office. After searching for a long time, they didn't find much ammunition or weapons. In the end, Ethan only found a photo of Rebecca in Wesker's desk.
"..."
Ethan looked at it and confirmed it was indeed Wesker's desk. What was this guy doing collecting a photo of Rebecca? Although there was such an easter egg in the game, he hadn't expected to actually find it.
"What is this?"
"A photo."
Leon took it and turned it over, finding a line written on the back: Rebecca: A promising newcomer.
"Looks like a new member." Then he remembered Marvin had mentioned the name Rebecca before, a newly joined member of STARS and one of the surviving team members from the incident in the suburbs. "So, she's the survivor named Rebecca?"
Ethan hadn't noticed the writing on the back. Was that there originally? But it didn't matter. There was nothing valuable in Wesker's desk. After a thorough search, everyone left the office one after another.
The group continued moving forward, but this time they didn't go far before suddenly encountering a little girl ahead.
"Wait."
The little girl's first reaction upon seeing them was to turn and run, but Ethan had been focused on finding her. How could he just let her get away?
Although he knew she would keep wandering around the police station and they would eventually run into her again if they kept searching, this wasn't a game. The girl wouldn't stay in a fixed location like an NPC waiting for players. Plus, he had already caused some subtle changes, so who knew if missing her now would mean missing all subsequent encounters that were supposed to happen?
Even if Claire kept thinking about her afterward, it would only introduce more variables.
So, the safest choice was to stop her from running away upon first encounter and keep her with the group.
Seeing the little girl turn to run, Claire hadn't even had time to chase after her before Ethan dashed forward, catching up in a few large strides and grabbing her to stop her from fleeing.
"Let go of me!"
"Don't be scared. I'm not a zombie."
The little girl turned to look at Ethan and saw that although there were some bloodstains on his clothes (from the earlier Licker), his face was clean and didn't show any signs of decay.
Most importantly, Ethan could speak and communicate normally. He was clearly human.
"My name is Ethan. What's your name?"
By this time, Claire and the others had also caught up. Perhaps Claire truly had some kind of affinity aura, because when she crouched down in front of the girl and gently comforted her, the child clearly calmed down and said her name.
"My name is Sherry, Sherry Birkin."
"My name is Claire. We're all human. You don't have to be afraid of us." Claire gently stroked Sherry's head. "Are you here by yourself? Where are your parents?"
"My mom said it wasn't safe at home and told me to stay at the police station."
"Okay, your mom was right. But where is she now?"
Sherry looked around, then moved closer to Claire. "She's at Umbrella's bio-research factory."
"Umbrella?"
Everyone had heard this name more than once and knew the company was the source of all the tragedies happening around them. Still, they didn't regard Sherry's parents as enemies, just ordinary employees or something similar.
Only Ethan knew that Sherry's father, William Birkin, was the head of that research facility and had completed the new G-virus he was responsible for.
By now, that man should have already injected the virus into himself, turning into a monstrous, ever-evolving creature that had lost all reason. The monster's only remaining instinct was to reproduce, and due to the characteristics of the G-virus, it would seek out genetically similar hosts...
"The G-virus is truly evil."
The pendant Sherry wore contained a sample of the G-virus, which was Ethan's objective.
He didn't rush to snatch it because he didn't believe anyone could take it from her under his watch.
Not even that mysterious elite agent.
In short, after a conversation, Claire successfully gained Sherry's trust, and she agreed to escape the city with them. With Sherry as an example, the group continued searching the police station for any other survivors.
As expected, after such a catastrophe, it was nearly impossible for anyone without a protagonist's halo to survive. The group searched extensively but didn't find a second survivor.
Although Ethan knew that the Raccoon City Police Chief was currently hiding in his office, that guy would soon be killed by the mutated Dr. William. Ethan had no intention of saving him, so he didn't direct Leon to the chief's office.
After searching thoroughly and confirming there were no more survivors in the police station, the group began to consider how to escape.
"Downwards?"
"What do you mean?"
Ethan pointed down. "If we can't get out aboveground, what about underground?"
In reality, he knew the situation underground wasn't much better than the surface, but he still led the group toward the sewers, because beneath the Raccoon City Police Department was the underground research facility set up by Umbrella, which was where Ethan wanted to go.
"You mean, leave the city through the underground facilities?"
Claire and Leon didn't know Ethan's real goal, but they both thought it was a good idea. Even Robert agreed.
"We can give it a try. Things can't get any worse anyway."
Ethan really wanted to tell him that once they entered the underground facility, things would definitely get worse. Dr. William, who was obsessed with implanting larvae into his daughter, was currently roaming the sewers.
Just then, the entire building shook violently, as if something had slammed into the police station.
Ethan paused for a moment, then immediately understood what had happened.
After realizing that the situation in Raccoon City had become irreversible, Umbrella decided to turn the entire city into a testing ground for bioweapons. This included the previously deployed UBCS troops and all the civilians in the city, who were used as test subjects to observe the effectiveness of the biological weapons. In addition to the various monsters created by the widespread virus outbreak, Umbrella also independently deployed several bioweapons, the most important of which were the Tyrant and the Nemesis.
The Nemesis was currently targeting Jill Valentine and should be chasing her all over the city. The one deployed at the police station, however, was Umbrella's most mature product so far: the Tyrant.
Of course, in Ethan's eyes, the Tyrant posed no real threat. His first thought was that he should collect some samples to take back for research. After all, this was the most stable T-virus product to date.
(To be continued.)