Chapter Thirty-Seven: Stark: Three Days? I Only Need One!

"It's that... the T-Virus has already leaked!"

"Oh! Shit!" Tony Stark clutched his forehead and cursed. "Has the goddamn Umbrella Corporation lost its mind?!"

As the head of another world-class conglomerate, he was, of course, familiar with the Umbrella Corporation. Although their focus on the pharmaceutical industry meant they had little intersection with Stark Industries, which leaned toward military technology, he had a basic understanding of them. He knew that Umbrella had deep ties to the US government, and unlike the hacks at Hammer Industries who only knew how to plagiarize, they possessed genuine, formidable research capabilities. At previous technology expos, some of the innovations Umbrella showcased had even managed to impress Tony Stark. If technology could impress a "megalomaniac" like Tony, one could imagine the caliber of the Umbrella Corporation. For that reason, Tony had once held a fair amount of interest and even a positive view of them. But all of that vanished the moment he learned of the T-Virus.

"The Umbrella Corporation has truly gone insane! To actually do something like this!" Pepper Potts couldn't help but chime in. Given Tony Stark's difficult personality, the level-headed and tactful Pepper was the perfect complement; she rarely spoke ill of anyone. She could even offer a polite smile to cutthroat rivals like Justin Hammer. For her to be moved to such a curse, one could gauge just how disgusted she was by Umbrella's actions.

Pepper's expression suddenly shifted. "Tony, are you alright?" She hurried over to steady Tony, who was clutching his chest.

"I'm fine, just suddenly furious!" Tony braced himself against the desk, his face turning pale. This was from the injury he had sustained in the Middle East, where a massive hole had been blown into his chest. While he had undergone surgery to save his life, he was far from fully recovered.

"Shouldn't you get some rest?" Pepper asked with concern.

"No, I'm fine!" Tony took several deep breaths, forcing himself to steady his nerves. He turned to the holographic phone window hovering in the air. "Speak. What do you want me to do?"

"Hmm, looking at you like that makes me feel like I'm abusing the disabled... How about this? I'll find someone else."

"Heh! It's rare to see you show such kindness!" Tony curled his lip, then added, "Although I don't have much interest in this 'saving the world' business you're talking about, I don't think you'll find anyone better than me!" He paused, perhaps realizing how arrogant that sounded, and quickly backtracked. "I assume, Mr. Avery, that you wouldn't want billions of people to die just because of your choice, would you?"

Yu Fei: "..."

What kind of anime-protagonist dialogue is this? While he was tempted to snap back that there were others who could solve the problem, he considered Tony's current state... Forget it, no need to keep provoking him.

"Fine! Since you insist, then it'll be you," Yu Fei said after a brief pause. "You know why I'm reaching out to you—that's right, to research an antidote for the T-Virus. The virus has already leaked in Raccoon City. While the standard incubation period is about twelve days, because the concentration of the virus in the Hive lab is so high, I estimate that true zombies will emerge within five days. It might even be sooner—the elderly, the weak, and the sick will have even less resistance to the T-Virus, and they will likely turn into zombies much faster. So, I don't have much time to give you—only three days! If you don't want to see Raccoon City turn into a city of the living dead, you had better develop a cure within three days! Don't worry, I won't leave you to start from scratch. I’ve just sent you the formula for the T-Virus and the antidote. With the formulas in hand, three days shouldn't be too much of a challenge for you, right?"

When he first heard he only had three days, Tony's heart sank. Despite his confidence, he didn't think he could develop a cure for a super-virus in such a short time. But upon hearing that he would have the formulas, Tony relaxed and retorted in a highly conceited tone: "Three days? Do you know who you're talking to? Tony Stark! The top genius with the smartest brain in the world! Saying three days is practically an insult! One day at most! In one day, I'll have this damn cure researched!"

Sensing the sheer, screen-piercing arrogance, Yu Fei chuckled. "In that case, one day it is! I'll thank you on behalf of the people of Raccoon City!"

"Uh!"

Tony's mouth twitched. He might have overdone it with the boasting. Even with the formulas, he thought... Wait.

"You already have an antidote? Why are you asking me to research one?"

"The antidote formula is for individual use—one dose per person. What you need to research is an airborne neutralizing agent to solve this biochemical crisis once and for all!"

"Fine."

"Remember! You only have one—"

Yu Fei's voice cut off abruptly.

"Jarvis!" Tony called out urgently.

"Sir, the signal from the other party has been disconnected."

"Can you call back?" Tony asked.

Jarvis didn't answer immediately, having already attempted the connection. "I'm sorry, sir, but all communications to Raccoon City have been completely severed. External signals cannot get through."

"Raccoon City's communications really have been cut off!" Pepper's expression darkened. This meant that what Yu Fei said was highly likely to be true. Raccoon City might look like a small, peripheral town with a population of less than 300,000, but as one of Umbrella's US headquarters, it was actually quite advanced. It was almost impossible for a total communications blackout to occur there otherwise.

Tony Stark took a deep breath. "Jarvis! Send me the files on the T-Virus and its antidote!"

As he spoke, his peripheral vision caught the hand cannon on the floor. He crouched down and picked it up. After a moment of hesitation, Tony ultimately set the hand cannon aside. Compared to the 'big toy' he was about to complete, solving the T-Virus problem was far more important.