The night sky over Antarctica was devoid of even a single speck of Impurities.
The stars were like polished diamonds, embedded in deep black velvet, emitting a cold and pure light.
The silver-white seaplane, like a weary homing bird, glided steadily over the boundless ice fields.
Inside the cabin, the low roar of the engine was the only background sound.
The continuous travel and fighting had exhausted everyone's energy.
Chris Redfield's eyelids twitched heavily as he slowly woke up from bursts of tearing pain.
The wounds on his body had stopped bleeding after Noah treated them, but every breath still tugged at the injuries, bringing waves of dull pain.
He struggled to open his eyes, and his vision gradually focused in the dim cabin.
Then he saw it.
His sister Claire—the little girl in his memory who always followed behind him with a ponytail and a bright smile—was now quietly curled up in a man's embrace.
Her cheek was pressed tightly against the man's chest, her breathing steady and long; there was even a faint, peaceful smile on her lips that he hadn't seen in a long time.
Chris's heart felt as if it had been squeezed lightly by something.
An extremely complex surge of emotion—a mixture of sourness, relief, and a trace of loss he hadn't even noticed himself—instantly welled up.
He knew that from this moment on, the sister who once belonged only to him and required his full protection had found another harbor where she could rest so peacefully.
His gaze slowly fell upon the man's face.
Noah.
He had heard Claire mention this name more than once.
It was this Eastern man who had broken into their world with an unimaginably powerful presence.
He could smash a deep pit into the hard ground with a single punch.
He had forced back the inhuman Wesker.
His strength was beyond doubt, carrying even a hint of heart-pounding mystery.
Just as Chris was examining Noah, Noah also opened his eyes.
Their eyes met, and the air seemed to freeze in that instant.
Chris's brow furrowed subconsciously.
He tried to sit up, but the sharp pain in his chest made him let out a muffled groan.
"Don't move."
Noah's voice was flat as he carefully adjusted Claire's sleeping position in his arms.
Then he spoke, "You have a slight lung contusion. Although I've given you emergency treatment, what you need most right now is rest."
Chris ignored the advice and used his uninjured arm to force himself into a sitting position.
He looked at Noah, his blue eyes—identical to Claire's—filled with gravity and seriousness.
"Take good care of her."
His voice sounded somewhat raspy due to his injuries.
"She's the only family I have left."
These words weighed heavily on Noah's heart.
He could sense the deep love and responsibility this man felt for his sister, down to his very bones.
Noah didn't make any flowery promises; he simply nodded solemnly.
"I will."
Perhaps the sound of their conversation disturbed the sleeping girl.
Claire's long eyelashes fluttered a few times, and then she opened her eyes groggily.
When she saw Chris sitting up, her face instantly lit up with a surprise as bright as sunshine.
"Chris! You're awake!"
She immediately slipped out of Noah's arms and carefully leaned close to Chris, her azure eyes full of concern.
"How do you feel? Does your chest still hurt?"
"I'm fine." A slightly stiff smile appeared on Chris's face. He raised his hand, wanting to ruffle his sister's hair like he did when they were children, but it tugged at his wound, causing him to hiss in a breath of cold air.
"Look at you, I told you not to move!" Claire complained with heartache, then, as if remembering something, she turned and pointed at Noah, saying to Chris with a hint of pride.
"Chris, you have no idea how amazing Noah is! And... he's also very good at taking care of people!"
She lowered her voice, as if sharing a massive secret.
"You absolutely wouldn't believe it, but his cooking is good enough to be a chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant! Do you know? His food is so delicious you could swallow your own tongue!"
Watching his sister's animated expression, her face overflowing with pure happiness without a trace of shadow.
Chris's heart, which had been tense due to the appearance of his nemesis and his sister's peril, finally softened completely.
He knew his sister truly loved this man.
And this man had indeed given her the kind of stability and happiness that he himself could not provide.
He looked at Noah again. This time, his scrutinizing gaze had transformed into the most sincere recognition and entrustment.
"We're about to enter the Antarctic Circle. Prepare for landing."
Ada's cool voice came from the cockpit, interrupting the tender moment in the cabin.
She had already switched the plane's autopilot to manual mode.
The entire fuselage began to descend slowly, and the scenery outside the window became increasingly clear.
It was a pure white world covered by eternal ice and snow.
Massive glaciers stood between heaven and earth like frozen tsunamis.
The biting cold wind whipped up the snow on the ground, forming white tornadoes that raged across this deathly silent land.
On a relatively flat ice field, a crude runway marked by signal lights appeared in everyone's sight.
Ada demonstrated her superb piloting skills.
Under her control, the seaplane landed steadily on the simple runway. After taxiing for several hundred meters, it finally stopped in front of a massive metal building filled with heavy industrial style.
The moment the plane landed.
A terrifying cold current, enough to freeze one's blood, mixed with countless ice-cold, knife-like snow grains, began to blow frantically outside!
Everyone subconsciously shivered.
"Quick! Put on your gear!" Leon shouted loudly.
Everyone quickly put on their Polar Combat Suits.
The moment the ice-cold tactical suits, like a second skin, completely wrapped around their bodies, the internal constant temperature System immediately activated.
A warm current quickly spread throughout their bodies, completely insulating them from the bone-chilling cold.
Once fully equipped, the six people filed out and stepped onto this white continent known as the end of the world.
Before them was a massive Transport Base constructed almost entirely of steel.
On the mottled walls, a faded, massive emblem of the Umbrella Corporation was printed.
The entrance to the base was a heavy isolation door, strong enough to withstand a nuclear blast, which was currently slightly ajar.
Leon and Noah exchanged a look. One on the left and one on the right, they walked at the front with guns drawn, carefully pushing open the heavy metal door.
Behind the door was a circular hall so large it felt oppressive.
The entire hall presented a massive, bottomless cylindrical structure. Countless steel passages and suspended platforms extended upward layer by layer like a spiderweb until they were swallowed by the darkness of the dome.
And in the very center of the hall was a massive, bottomless elevator shaft.
Only now, the entire base was in a deathly silent state of power outage.
Emergency red lights cast eerie and distorted shadows on the cold metal walls, making the place look like an entrance to the abyss of Hell.
"The power System here has been cut off." Ada checked the information on a nearby console. "The main elevator has completely stopped working."
Just then.
A faint, teeth-gritting groan drifted out from a dark passage not far away.
The next second.
Several figures of workers wearing Umbrella Corporation uniforms staggered out from the darkness.
Their skin had a bluish-purple hue due to the extreme cold, and a thin layer of frost even hung on their exposed skin.
The hollow look in their eyes and the corners of their mouths, which were torn open to their ears, proved they were no longer human.
The virus had leaked here as well.
"Bang! Bang!"
The MP5 in Claire's hand and Leon's shotgun spat out tongues of fire almost simultaneously.
Precise bullets instantly tore apart those few husks that had long since lost their Souls.
The battle ended quickly, but everyone's expressions became even more solemn.
They fanned out and began to search the hall carefully.
Soon, Claire found a discarded leather-bound work diary under the main control console.
She opened the diary, which was somewhat stiff from being frozen, and by the light of her tactical flashlight, she read it out softly.
"...December 5, 1998. Dammit, this place really isn't fit for humans! Every day, besides moving those heavy-as-Hell crates, it's enduring this cursed cold! I swear, the crevices of my bones are filled with ice shards!"
"...December 11. Today I heard old John from the warehouse say that all these things we're moving are to be sent to the 'Frozen Cell Block' at the very bottom. He also said that ten years ago, a monster codenamed 'Nosferatu' was imprisoned there. Supposedly, it's an extremely terrifying prisoner, a disgrace to the Ashford Family..."
"...December 18. Another batch of new cargo arrived. I took a secret peek at the shipping manifest; it said 'Active Virus Samples'. My God, what exactly do they want to do here? I'm starting to get scared. I always feel like something bad is about to happen..."
The diary ended abruptly there.
On the subsequent pages, only a large patch of dried, blackened blood remained.
"Nosferatu..." (Alexander Ashford)
Chris mulled over the name repeatedly, his gaze slowly turning toward that bottomless central elevator shaft.
His brain was working at high speed.
That bastard Wesker would never bring Jill to this godforsaken place for no reason.
He needed a place secure enough, hidden enough, and strong enough to imprison his most important bargaining chip.
A prison buried deep under the Antarctic ice, used ten years ago to hold the most terrifying prisoners.
There was no place more suitable than this.
Chris's hand tightly gripped the handguard of his M4A1 Carbine.
An aura mixed with anger and icy killing intent slowly rose from his body.
He turned to look at everyone, his voice low.
"Jill is very likely being held inside..."