Chapter 129: Putting Yourself in Someone Else's Shoes

Chapter 129: Empathy

The container platform sank slowly with the harsh sound of metal grinding, finally coming to a steady halt underground. The heavy iron doors slid open to both sides, and a cold wind mixed with rust, gunpowder, and decay rushed toward them, making their clothes flutter loudly.

The Underground Training Ground was even more empty and dilapidated than imagined. This place had once been where the Umbrella Corporation trained its private forces; now, only deathly silence and rot remained.

“Tch, what a hellhole.” Steve, still in a foul mood after getting a submachine gun full of ammo, flicked the bolt and took the first step forward.

Claire quickly followed his pace, unable to stop herself from speaking up: “Steve, don't be so impulsive. There are traps and monsters everywhere here; we have to move together.”

“Do I need you to teach me?” Steve didn't look back, his tone carrying obvious resistance.

“I'm just worried about you...”

“Worried about me?” Steve stopped abruptly and turned around, a hint of hard-to-detect hostility in his eyes. “Why do you people who just popped out of nowhere care about me?”

After saying that, he toyed with the submachine gun in his hand. “Compared to humans, this thing is more reliable.”

“Humans?” Claire hadn't expected him to say that.

“Steve!” Claire called out to him as he prepared to walk away. “Why were you locked up here? Your family... where are your parents?”

“Enough, stop asking unnecessary things!” Before he had even finished speaking, he suddenly raised the submachine gun toward the ceiling and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the cavernous training ground, and bullets struck the concrete ceiling, splashing debris.

“Steve! Are you crazy?!” Jill's expression changed, and she immediately stepped forward to shield Claire, raising her gun at Steve and questioning him sharply, “What do you think you're doing?!”

Steve curled his lip, lowered his gun, but still kept his neck stiff, turning to walk toward the elevator on the other side without a word. His back was tense, like a hedgehog with its quills standing up.

“Don't be nervous, Jill.” Claire gently pulled Jill's arm, a trace of helplessness on her face. “It's my fault. I just asked about his family and touched a sore spot.”

Chloe leaned against the metal doorframe of the lift, her fingers unconsciously tapping the hilt of her dagger, taking in everything that had just happened.

She watched Steve's back as he entered the elevator, then looked at the worried Claire and said softly, “I'll go talk to him.”

Without waiting for a response, she had already strode across the training ground and squeezed in just as the elevator doors were about to close.

The elevator car was small and cramped, the light from the incandescent bulbs pale and piercing. Steve leaned in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest, staring coldly at the floor, deliberately avoiding Chloe's gaze.

Chloe didn't speak, just stood quietly opposite him until the elevator began its slow ascent, then she spoke calmly: “Do you know what my relationship with Claire is?”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “Comrades? Or sisters?” He didn't look at Chloe, only glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

“Three months ago, we were total strangers.” Chloe's voice was soft, yet it carried a power that pierced the heart. “She found a poor little girl in the Raccoon City police station. To save that child, she was willing to rush into an underground Hive full of monsters, willing to fight to the death against creatures ten times stronger than herself. I also crossed the ocean to come to this godforsaken island just to save her.”

She paused, turning to look at the darkness rushing past the window. “I don't know what you've been through, and I don't want to force you to say. But you can always trust us. At least for now, you are our companion.”

The elevator reached the top floor with a 'ding,' and the metal doors slowly slid open. Chloe walked out first without looking back.

Steve stood in place, watching her back, his fingers involuntarily tightening around the grip of his submachine gun. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately swallowed it back. After a few seconds, he quickly chased after her.

Chloe stood at the end of the corridor with her back to him, a faint, imperceptible smile on her lips. She didn't turn around, simply pointing downstairs: “Don't say I didn't give you a chance to prove yourself. There's a straggler down there.”

Steve looked in the direction she pointed and saw a zombie in tattered prison clothes shuffling through the corridor, its decayed arms hanging limply at its sides. He gave a cold snort and raised his submachine gun to pull the trigger.

But just as he saw that rotting face clearly, his finger suddenly froze.

The submachine gun hit the floor with a 'clatter.'

Steve retreated two steps, his whole body trembling. His eyes were bloodshot and his lips quivered, but he couldn't make a sound.

He looked at that familiar yet strange figure as if all his strength had been drained away, slowly squatting down and covering his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking violently.

Not long after, Jill and Claire also came up on the elevator. They saw Steve crouching next to a corpse not far away and were about to step forward when Chloe gently held them back.

“Don't go.” Chloe's voice was very low. “That's his father.”

Claire suddenly covered her mouth, her eyes full of shock and sympathy.

“A former researcher for the Umbrella Corporation.” Chloe looked at Steve's back and explained softly, “Because he sold secrets to a competitor, the whole family was arrested. His mother was executed during the capture.”

The corridor was deathly silent, with only the faint, distant roars of zombies audible.

After a long time, Steve finally stood up slowly. He didn't cry; he just gently took off his jacket and covered that rotting face. He knelt down and lightly brushed his hand over his father's cold cheek, his movements as tender as if he were touching a fragile treasure.

He stood up and picked up the submachine gun from the floor. The impetuousness and rebellion in his eyes had vanished without a trace, replaced by a steadiness and determination that surpassed his age.

He didn't look back, only saying softly, “Let's go. Let's find Alfred.”

Claire looked at his back, her eyes reddening slightly. Chloe lightly patted her shoulder, signaling her to follow.

The four of them walked out of the training facility along the corridor. Outside, the sky had turned completely dark. The salty sea breeze swept dark clouds across the isolated island, and distant waves crashed against the reefs with a dull roar.

“Look, there's a tank over there!” Claire pointed to a nearby clearing and shouted in surprise.

An abandoned tank sat in the clearing, its hull covered in bullet holes, but it still looked intact.

“Great, with this we can...”

Before Jill could finish her sentence, the ground beneath their feet began to vibrate violently. The earth churned like water, debris flew everywhere, and distant trees crashed down.

“Oh no! It's that worm!” Chloe's expression changed, and she immediately pushed Jill and Claire behind the tank. “It's back!”

Almost at the same instant, a Giant Worm the size of a truck burst from the ground.

Its grayish-brown cuticle gleamed coldly in the dim light, and its mucus-covered mouthparts opened, emitting a piercing screech. Its massive body twisted, instantly crushing a nearby wire fence into scrap metal.

“Stay behind the tank! I'll lure it away!” Chloe barked, her body instantly mutating. Silver Blade Claws extended from her fingertips, and her blood-red pupils lit up in the darkness, her entire being radiating a freezing killing intent.

“A monster!” Steve was startled and instinctively raised his submachine gun at Chloe. “She's infected!”

“Don't shoot!” Jill immediately stood in front of Chloe and shouted to stop him. “She's not a monster!”

Jill quickly told Steve about Chloe's past: from being an experimental subject in The Orphanage, to eight years of imprisonment in the Arklay Research Facility, to her resurrection in the Raccoon City Hive.

She looked at Steve's shocked face and said softly, “She hates the Umbrella Corporation more than any of us, and she understands the pain of loss better than any of us. What she just told you was from the heart.”

Steve lowered his gun and watched Chloe, who was currently fighting the worm not far away, his face full of guilt.

He finally understood from what perspective that seemingly cold and distant girl had said the words “you can trust us” to him.

“Open fire! Cover her!” Steve shouted and was the first to pull the trigger.

A dense hail of bullets hit the worm's body like raindrops. Although they couldn't penetrate the hard cuticle, they successfully drew its attention.

The worm roared in anger, spun around, and spat a stream of dark green corrosive liquid toward the tank.

“Watch out!” Chloe leaped into the air, her Blade Claws slashing fiercely at the worm. Black blood gushed out, and the worm let out a pained screech, its massive body recoiling backward.

“Its weakness is its belly! There's no cuticle there!” Chloe shouted, rolling quickly upon landing to dodge the worm's swinging tail. The heavy tail slammed into the tank's armor with a loud bang, sliding the tank back half a meter.

Jill immediately raised her grenade launcher, aimed at the soft part of the worm's belly, and pulled the trigger. The grenade exploded precisely inside the worm, spraying black blood. In pain, the worm dove back into the earth, leaving a massive hole in the ground.

“Watch your feet! It's underground!” Chloe stared warily at the ground, her virus perception fully activated, catching the movements beneath the surface.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Steve's feet split open. The worm opened its bloody maw and burst from the ground, looking like it was about to swallow Steve whole.

“Steve!” Claire screamed.

At the critical moment, Chloe rushed over like a bolt of lightning and shoved Steve aside. Using the momentum, she leaped up, gripping her Blade Claws with both hands and thrusting them deep into the worm's throat.

“Screee—!”

The worm let out an agonizingly high-pitched screech, its massive body twisting frantically and smashing the surrounding ground into pits. Chloe held onto her Blade Claws tightly, refusing to let go no matter how much the worm thrashed. She concentrated all her strength into her arms and slashed downward with a violent jerk.

The Blade Claws sliced from the worm's mouth all the way down its belly, completely disemboweling it. Black blood and organs poured out like a waterfall, and the worm's massive body convulsed a few times before crashing to the ground, completely dead.

Chloe jumped down from the worm's corpse and retracted her Blade Claws, her mutated form slowly fading away. She panted heavily, her forehead covered in cold sweat.

Steve quickly walked up to her, head lowered, his voice carrying a hint of guilt: “I'm sorry, just now I...”

“It's fine.” Chloe waved her hand and wiped the blood from her face. “If I were in your shoes, I would have shot too.”

Jill checked everyone's injuries and, after confirming no one was hurt, looked up at the Ashford Mansion on the distant hilltop. In the darkness, the Western-style mansion looked like a crouching beast, with eerie lights shining from the windows.

“Alfred should still be there.” Jill's gaze became determined. “We're going there now to settle the score with him.”

The four of them nodded, organized their gear, and began walking up the winding mountain path toward the mansion at the top.