Chapter 12: Restaurant B and the Licker

"Ding!"

"Host has acted with kindness; merit is immeasurable!"

"Merit points +20!"

Current merit points: 48!

Having witnessed the existence of the zombies with their own eyes, the commando team no longer harbored any delusions or doubts; they all believed what Yu Fei had said.

Yu Fei had successfully gained another twenty merit points.

"Adding the twenty-eight I already saved, I now have forty-eight points—nearly halfway to fifty!"

He had already gathered nearly half of the one hundred merit points required to upgrade his LV.2 skills to LV.3.

"I’ll hold onto them for now!"

Although he could theoretically boost his physique significantly by pouring all his merit points into his physical attributes, Yu Fei was not keen on this approach, considering that upgrading his skills could also enhance his physique.

Why should I pay for something I can get for free?

"Unless there is an emergency that demands I increase my strength, and I am unable to make a breakthrough in my skills, I should avoid directly boosting my physical attributes."

Take his Marksmanship LV.2 as an example.

In theory, this should also enhance his physique. However, because his current physical attributes were already quite high, this level of skill was no longer sufficient to provide further improvement. By the same logic, if he were to raise his physical attributes now, any future upgrades to his combat or marksmanship skills to LV.3 would no longer yield any physical growth.

One option offers a "free" boost, while the other requires a significant expenditure of merit points. The choice was obvious.

"Captain, what do we do next?" The members of the commando team looked toward James.

Before, they were unsure if the zombies even existed, but now that they were practically in their faces, anyone who couldn't see the reality of the situation—and still believed Umbrella Corporation hadn't abandoned them—would have to be a fool.

"This..." James furrowed his brows, unsure of how to proceed.

"Let's continue," Yu Fei suddenly interjected.

"Huh?" The group looked at him in surprise.

He was suggesting they continue? Had they heard him right?

Yu Fei remained calm and spoke indifferently. "If I’m not mistaken, the Umbrella Corporation's armed squad must have already taken control of the mansion by now. We need to gain an intelligence advantage!"

Advancing further wasn't about retrieving the Red Queen’s mainframe, but about gaining control of the surveillance system to anticipate the movements of the other armed squads.

This explanation immediately won everyone's approval.

Of course, for Yu Fei, there were deeper considerations, but those involved his own secrets and didn't need to be shared with the others.

"If we want to continue, we'll need to take the second passage..." Kaplan said after checking his map.

When Rain and the others returned, they had made it clear that the previous route was blocked and completely flooded.

"Then let's go!"

The group changed their route and headed toward the second passage. After a series of twists and turns, they arrived.

"If we pass through the B-Dining Room ahead, we can reach the Red Queen’s main control room."

"Are we finally almost there?" The group couldn't help but quicken their pace. Only Yu Fei slowed down slightly, positioning himself to shield the others.

"Uh, Kaplan, are you sure the map is right? Is this really the B-Dining Room?"

Staring at the rows of unknown oval-shaped metal containers standing before them, the group felt a sense of confusion mixed with an inexplicable chill, as if something terrifying were lurking inside those vessels.

Just then, Yu Fei’s voice echoed softly in their ears.

"A dining room is a dining room, but what exactly is eating here... that’s a different story."

As his words faded, the chill in everyone’s hearts deepened.

"You mean... the monsters are kept in here?" Kaplan swallowed hard.

"I don't know," Yu Fei shook his head slightly. "But I don't think you’d want to be around these things."

"Alright! Let's move quickly. Once we pass through here, we can enter the Red Queen’s control room... Be careful, and don't wake them!" James ordered.

Everyone nodded and carefully made their way through the B-Dining Room.

This must have been a key location within the Hive. While other areas were flooded, this place remained bone-dry, and everything was perfectly preserved. Naturally, as long as no one disturbed the devices, the contents wouldn't suddenly break out.

The only minor incident occurred when Matt seemed tempted to see what was inside the containers, but he was immediately stopped by Yu Fei, who had been keeping a close watch on him.

"I know why you're here, but right now, you’d better keep it together!" Yu Fei whispered a warning.

Others might not know what was inside, but he did.

These containers, which looked like gaming pods, held the bio-engineered monsters created by Umbrella: Lickers.

Compared to the slow and obviously flawed common zombies, Lickers were truly formidable biological weapons. As an evolved form of the zombie, they had lost their sight, but their hearing was incredibly acute; not even the faintest breath or heartbeat could escape their perception.

That wasn't the scariest part. Their true terror lay in their exceptional leaping ability and lightning-fast speed, making them nearly impossible to hit with automatic gunfire.

In the original story, if it hadn't been for Alice’s "power-up," the entire main cast would have died at the hands of the Lickers. Even then, only she and Matt survived to the next installment.

Although Yu Fei now possessed the physique of a world-class athlete and marksmanship skills on par with a top-tier shooter, he still had no confidence in facing a Licker. In a sense, Lickers had transcended the category of normal living organisms. If Matt’s curiosity ended up releasing even one of them, Yu Fei would truly have the urge to kill him.

Matt felt somewhat resentful, but he didn't dare ignore Yu Fei’s warning. Not only did his survival in the group depend entirely on Yu Fei’s support, but the memory of Yu Fei shooting Spence in the head without a moment's hesitation had left a deep psychological scar.

Under Yu Fei’s careful protection, the group ultimately made it through the B-Dining Room without incident.