Chapter 39 Are you seriously an undercover agent?

"What should we do now?"

A heavy cloud of worry fell over everyone.

The most pressing issue regarding the T-virus had essentially been resolved. They had originally thought that surviving this crisis would be a straightforward matter of hiding out for three days. But when the moment truly arrived, they realized that lasting three days was not nearly as simple as they had imagined.

Raccoon City itself was not particularly large, and more than eighty percent of its area was occupied by the downtown district. Of the remaining twenty percent, the surrounding mountains and forests accounted for about ten percent.

Although it seemed like half of the city was left, that half was fragmented by all sorts of scattered terrain. These areas were far too small, leaving no room for them to hide. Realistically, they only had two choices—the mountains or the downtown area.

"Going into the mountains is a dead end!"

"Going into the downtown area... is equally a dead end!"

"Are we really going to die without a chance this time?"

Kaplan murmured, his eyes glazing over as if he had fallen into total despair.

"Heading into the mountains is indeed a dead end, but... going downtown might not be!"

Yu Fei spoke up just in time.

"Oh?"

Everyone's eyes lit up instantly.

However, Yu Fei did not elaborate. Instead, he instructed everyone to head into the downtown area first and find some random place to rest before discussing further.

"Well, alright."

Having been through everything so far, they still had that much faith in Yu Fei. Even though Raccoon City felt to them like a den of dragons and tigers, since Yu Fei said they could go in, they dared to brave it!

Raccoon City.

In a remote and secluded street.

A group of people quietly walked into a rather dilapidated-looking hotel. Their commando uniforms had long since been discarded; they were now dressed in casual clothes and wore some disguises. Unless someone knew them quite well, it would be difficult to recognize them at a glance.

"Give us a few rooms!"

Tap, tap, tap. Rain knocked on the front desk while speaking impatiently. In a place like this, acting tough was actually a good thing.

The hotel owner was a middle-aged man with a rather fierce appearance. He looked up and swept his gaze across the group, focusing especially on Rain, James, and the other commando members. Sensing the undisguised, hardened aura emanating from them, he raised an eyebrow slightly, and the fierce look on his face seemed to subside a bit.

"How many rooms do you actually need?"

"On the same floor, how many empty rooms are left at most?"

"Let me see... the fourth floor has the most left, five rooms available."

"We'll take those five rooms!"

"Alright, one hundred dollars a day per room, payment in advance. You folks don't have any objections, do you?" the hotel owner asked. He was perhaps a little intimidated, but business was business, and the money had to be collected.

Rain glanced at her captain—this was per Yu Fei's instructions, that whenever outsiders were present, they should all defer to James as the leader.

James cast a glance around the surroundings. The walls were covered in various stains, and garbage had piled up in the hallways; it could only be described as filthy and run-down. Judging by the environment, this hotel was definitely not worth a hundred dollars, but the guests who came here were not looking for luxury.

Naturally, James didn't care about the condition of the place—could it possibly be worse than the wilderness?

However...

He quietly glanced sideways at Yu Fei, wanting to know if Yu Fei minded such an environment. After receiving a subtle affirmative confirmation, James said in his usual concise manner,

"Agreed."

Then came the payment and the collection of keys, and the group headed straight up to the fourth floor.

From start to finish, the hotel owner never asked about their identities, nor did he request any form of identification. The transaction was like street vendors buying and selling: cash in hand, goods delivered, with no one caring who they were. Here, even the single security camera was broken!

Watching James and the others disappear into the stairwell, the hotel owner slowly pulled open a drawer, took out a few photographs, and carefully compared them. Then, he quietly sent out a few text messages.

...

On the fourth floor.

Inside one of the rooms, Yu Fei and the others had temporarily gathered.

Kaplan pulled out his detection equipment, thoroughly swept the room, and uncovered three hidden cameras and two micro-recorders. Once he had completely neutralized them all, he said,

"Alright, it should be fine now."

James spoke up immediately.

"Avery, that hotel owner from just now is suspicious! Although he hid it well, the moment he first laid eyes on us, he was clearly a bit unnatural!"

"Umbrella's movements are too fast! They've obviously distributed all our information, and by now, both the underworld and the police force in Raccoon City probably know who we are!"

His expression was extremely grim. Originally, he thought that even if Umbrella wanted to come after them, it wouldn't happen this quickly. At least for the first day, they should have been able to spend it in relative peace. Who could have imagined that even after coming to such a remote and dark corner, the news would still reach this place?

Normally, that would be the case. Although Umbrella held immense control over Raccoon City, spreading information throughout the entire city so rapidly was no easy task. But who could have blamed Kane for being scared out of his wits by Marcus? To salvage his own fate, Kane spared no expense and pulled strings at every level. In the end, he accomplished the nearly impossible feat in just over an hour.

"I'll go take care of him!"

The hot-headed Rain immediately prepared to head downstairs to eliminate the hotel owner, but Yu Fei stopped her.

"It's useless to go get rid of him now. If I guessed correctly, he has already sent the information out."

"Huh???"

Rain was completely baffled. If she didn't know for a fact that Yu Fei was on their side, she would have suspected him of being an Umbrella mole.

Yu Fei smiled and said,

"Relax, don't be so nervous. I did this on purpose."

"What!"

The others all cast peculiar looks at Yu Fei.

"On purpose?"

Are you really a double agent after all?

Yu Fei's expression remained unchanged as he turned to look at James.

"Didn't you mention earlier that Umbrella still has five commando squads left?"

"Um..."

James hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"That's right. If commando squads from other regions haven't reinforced them, there should be at most five squads left within Raccoon City."

"This is the final defensive force guarding Umbrella's main building; barring a life-or-death situation, they likely won't be dispatched."

"However, the greatest danger we face in Raccoon City isn't them, but... the police and the gangs!"