Chapter 18: Return to Biochemistry

Train platform.

The train had long since departed to the surface, and the dim lighting failed to illuminate the entire area; most of the space was shrouded in darkness.

This was the Hive, an underground fortress fallen to the tide of the zombie outbreak.

Suddenly, five figures, fully armed, materialized on the platform as if conjured out of thin air.

“Qian Gu, are you sure?”

A striking young man holding a submachine gun nudged the person beside him, curious. “Can we really dig out a side quest this time?”

Indeed.

These five were the Central Continent team, choosing to return to the “Resident Evil” scenario.

“I give it a fifty percent chance.”

Qian Gu’s casual remark immediately steadied the hearts of the other four.

That day, after the dragon blood injection enhancement, Qian Gu’s fourth step was to arm themselves fully and plunge back into Resident Evil to ruthlessly excavate its side quest rewards.

Their status was already firmly established. Though Zheng Zha and the others were puzzled, they agreed.

After all, following Qian Gu’s lead meant real gains!

Naturally, Qian Gu had his own considerations, and he wasn’t wrong—it was indeed only a fifty percent chance to uncover the side quest rewards.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter!

Yes, the very ending of the Resident Evil movies that Qian Gu had once reviewed.

Without meddling with possible future outcomes, at this time point, the most likely side quest reward to seize belonged to the final chapter: eliminating every last Umbrella executive frozen in stasis beneath the Hive.

Completely shattering the storyline of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

Due to Umbrella Corporation’s global purge plan, the T-virus had long since spread worldwide. Outside the Hive, one after another Umbrella experimental facility operated methodically, with cloned Umbrella executives advancing the plan.

Moreover, these clones did not know they were clones; they considered themselves originals and cloned new clones to continue the process, like nested dolls.

Under such circumstances, killing all the original Umbrella executives in the Hive without releasing the antidote would not affect subsequent storylines, which would proceed steadily through the clones.

“Three o’clock, open fire!”

Qian Gu suddenly shouted.

At his command, everyone turned their guns, and the submachine guns unleashed a torrent of bullets, forming a barrage that nearly tore through the darkness.

Zheng Zha said, “100 reward points, it’s a Crawler.”

“I’ve got one too.”

“I killed two.”

Zhang Jie summarized, “A total of four Crawlers.”

---

“Stop firing.”

Qian Gu waved his hand, and the gunfire ceased immediately.

“Detect Evil can only sense hostility, not strength. It’s still a bit lacking.”

The School of Prophecy, a first-level Detect Evil spell.

Lasting ten minutes, it allows the caster to sense any abnormal creatures, celestial beings, elemental creatures, fey, fiends, or undead within the duration, and pinpoint their exact locations.

The spell Qian Gu cast lacked the concentration limitation found in 5E, but it was mentally taxing.

Also, its range was not 30 feet but a spherical radius of 100 meters centered on Qian Gu—a considerable area.

Before mental detection or scanning were available, Qian Gu was effectively the team’s eyes.

Well…

Though these eyes were nearsighted and somewhat unclear.

“That’s already pretty good.”

Zheng Zha was excited; he had no other thoughts—just the result: four Crawlers easily dispatched.

Qian Gu glanced at him and said indifferently, “You and Mou Gang can try hand-to-hand combat with the Crawlers. It’ll help you adapt to your current physique.”

“Huh?”

“Me?”

Both were a bit dumbfounded.

Why use fists when you have guns?

Qian Gu raised his hand, lips moving silently, then touched each of them lightly.

“Mage Armor, lasts eight hours, automatically restores five minutes after being torn. Casting five first-level spells in one go is still a bit much for me.”

He wiped the sweat from his brow. His words were true, but it was already an enormous advantage—Qian Gu’s initial spell casting capacity far surpassed that of a certain someone.

But!

This did not rely on arcane energy. Pure arcane energy could support at most two first-level spells for Qian Gu.

The key was that spells he had analyzed could be cast using other types of energy, such as internal force, vampiric energy, or even large-scale electricity.

Qian Gu did not possess these, but he had dragon force—a power just half a level below true energy.

Telling Zheng Zha and Mou Gang to grapple with Crawlers was obviously a joke.

After all, these Crawlers were bioweapons capable of shredding steel doors over ten centimeters thick with their claws. Two reincarnators without fivefold normal human physical strength would struggle to survive without unleashing energy.

Their fleeting prowess would likely overwhelm ordinary first-level warriors.

‘Speaking of which, the T-virus...’

---

Qian Gu recalled the safe in his personal room within the Main God Space.

The T-virus stock and the antidote for the first phase were now in the hands of the Central Continent team. Unfortunately, he lacked sufficient knowledge to reverse engineer or optimize the virus.

Otherwise, he would have injected it long ago to stabilize the first-phase gene lock—it would be incredibly beneficial.

‘I’m not a scientific talent; this isn’t something I should worry about.’

Qian Gu never aspired to be a polymath. Although spellcasters are often symbolized by near-omnipotent magic, that didn’t mean he needed mastery across all systems. Everyone must have their primary focus.

Take Chu Xuan or Xiao Honglu, characters from the original story—they were better suited to research.

Especially Xiao Honglu—don’t let him covet his world-shaking brilliance; it’s best he stays focused on scientific work and producing some reliable big explosions.

“Qian Gu, what’s the next move?”

Zhang Jie, favoring his Desert Eagle and sporting a cowboy hat, with the flair of an American Western gunslinger, flicked the muzzle.

“Go out?”

Qian Gu didn’t share his plans.

The generational gap was too wide, and explaining why he’d seen the “Final Chapter” was just too troublesome.

“We stay here.”

Qian Gu raised his gun and took aim.

Bang!

A sharp gunshot echoed across the platform.

Qian Gu’s weapon was special—a barrel nearly as long as his arm, single-shot design, resembling a scaled-down anti-material sniper rifle, firing specialized 12.7mm rounds.

In fact…

It was a modified version of an anti-material weapon.

Manufactured by an American firearms company for civilian use, it was essentially a Barrett with a shorter barrel, only slightly less powerful.

Qian Gu had obtained the infinite ammo version, costing 150 reward points.

It could be wielded with one or two hands; using it single-handedly without twice-normal muscle strength was literally a wrist destroyer.

[Killed Crawler, gained 100 reward points.]

In the darkness, a Crawler just detected by Qian Gu’s Detect Evil spell was struck precisely by a bullet, its exposed brain exploding in a thunderous blast.

“Advance!”