Chapter 40: Suspicion and Betrayal

Deep in the winding mine, the darkness was as thick as ink, with only the beam from Jill Valentine's flashlight cutting through to create a small patch of light.

The railroad tracks stretched out beneath her feet, and the faint crunching sound of gravel being crushed echoed continuously in the empty mine. Occasional dull thuds of dripping water and the ear-piercing noise of unknown creatures scratching against the rock walls made every bit of movement tighten Jill's nerves even further.

She gripped her handgun tightly, her thumb resting lightly on the trigger guard, with a grenade launcher slung over her shoulder. Every step she took was exceptionally cautious; the cold, damp air deep in the mine carried a faint stench of decay, making it even more suffocating than the underground dormitory.

After an unknown amount of time, a heavy metal door finally appeared at the end of the light beam. The door panel was covered in rust and scratches, and the lock cylinder had long been damaged, clearly forced open by someone.

Jill slowed her pace, leaning her side against the door to listen carefully for any movement behind it. After confirming there were no abnormal roars, she reached out and slowly pushed open the metal door.

The door hinges creaked harshly, sounding exceptionally clear in the silent mine. She immediately held her breath and quickly swept her flashlight over the area behind the door. It was an even narrower passage through the rock walls, with loose stones scattered on the ground and fresh bloodstains remaining on the walls.

Jill gripped her weapon and went deeper into the passage step by step. The gravel beneath her feet kept sliding, and her heartbeat accelerated accordingly. Just as she rounded a corner, a faint but clear voice suddenly came from the darkness, carrying a weak gasp but sounding very real: "Jill, is that you?"

The voice instantly triggered Jill's memory; it was familiar yet carried a painful rasp. Her heart leaped, and she blurted out almost instinctively, "Is that Enrico?"

Jill didn't have time to think too much and walked quickly toward the source of the sound. After rounding the corner, the flashlight beam immediately locked onto the target.

Enrico was leaning against the cold rock wall, with a wound on his abdomen so deep the bone was visible. Blood seeped out continuously, staining his dark combat uniform a deep crimson. His face was as pale as paper, and even breathing had become exceptionally difficult.

"Enrico! You're alive!" Jill was both surprised and happy, immediately stepping forward to check his injuries.

"Stop! Don't come any closer!" Enrico suddenly raised his hand sharply, using all his strength to bark a stop. His eyes were full of tension and urgency as he stared fixedly at Jill, his voice trembling as he pressed, "Is anyone with you, Jill? Is there anyone else?"

Jill was halted by his sudden shout, a hint of doubt rising in her heart. She shook her head, her tone full of confusion: "No, just me. What's wrong? What on earth happened?"

Confirming that Jill was alone, Enrico's tense body instantly relaxed. His head slumped weakly against the rock wall as he let out a desperate sigh. His eyes were filled with sorrow and anger, and though his voice was kept very low, every word was clear:

"We're finished. S.T.A.R.S. is completely done for... There is a traitor among us. This whole thing was a trap set by Umbrella from the very beginning!"

A traitor? A trap?

Jill's pupils constricted. Wesker's deliberate testing, Barry's unusual behavior, and that secret letter revealing the truth all flashed through her mind in an instant. All the suspicious points connected, leaving her feeling cold all over.

She was just about to ask who the traitor was and what Umbrella's trap really entailed when she saw Enrico open his mouth as if to say more, but a painful sob came from his throat first.

At that moment, a dull gunshot suddenly shattered the dead silence of the mine!

The bullet pierced Enrico's heart with unerring accuracy. Blood erupted instantly, splashing against the rock wall behind him and blooming into a garish flower of blood.

Enrico's eyes widened in refusal and shock. His head slumped to the side as he stopped breathing entirely, his hand at his side still frozen in a posture as if trying to grab something.

"Enrico!" Jill cried out, instantly spinning around to aim her gun at the passage behind her. Her flashlight beam swept frantically over every corner, but the empty rock passage held nothing but cold darkness; not even a shadow was to be seen.

She quickly doubled back and knelt to check Enrico's pulse. The skin her fingertips touched was already cold; he had completely lost all signs of life.

Jill stood up and looked around, her heart pounding wildly and her back instantly drenched in cold sweat. Her heart was full of confusion and rage, and she couldn't help but growl in a low voice, "A traitor? Who is it?!"

The shooter was hiding nearby, had eavesdropped on their entire conversation, and had decisively moved in for the kill before Enrico could reveal the key information.

Jill stared fixedly at the dark corner, but she could find no trace. The person's movements were incredibly fast, and they were clearly very familiar with the mine's terrain, coming and going silently without leaving a single trace.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Enrico's death completely confirmed the existence of a traitor and made her realize that this Spencer Mansion and this underground area were filled with lethal traps at every turn.

Jill gently laid Enrico's body flat and gave her former teammate a military salute. Suppressing the grief and anger in her heart, she gripped her weapon, turned, and continued toward the depths of the mine.

She knew that staying would only bring more danger. Only by finding the truth could she avenge her fallen comrades.

The Hunters deep in the mine were far more numerous than those inside the Spencer Mansion. Sleek, grey-green figures flashed through the darkness from time to time, their sharp claws scraping against the rock walls with a grating sound. Their keen sense of smell allowed them to easily catch the scent of a living person.

Relying on her quick observation of the terrain, Jill hid in rock recesses and under railroad tracks time and again, holding her breath to avoid the Hunters' patrols. When a lone Hunter occasionally approached, she would aim precisely at its head, a weak point, and fire quickly for a one-shot kill, never lingering to fight and thus saving her strength and ammunition.

After dodging and sneaking all the way, Jill finally reached the heart of the mine. This place was filled with complex mechanical devices and consoles, all covered with Umbrella logos; it was clearly a decommissioned mining control hub.

To go deeper, she had to activate the abandoned elevator to the side. Starting the device required solving three circuit puzzles and repairing a damaged power switch.

Jill crouched before the console, using her excellent observation and manual skills to untangle the messy wiring bit by bit, calibrate the power frequency, and patiently crack every mechanism. After a long time, she finally finished debugging the elevator's startup sequence.

Just as she reached out to press the start button, a familiar voice came from behind her, carrying a hint of hesitation: "Jill?"

Jill whipped her head around, aiming her gun at the source of the voice. When she saw who it was, her tense expression relaxed slightly, and she blurted out, "Barry?! Thank goodness you're okay!"

Barry, holding a revolver, stepped out of the darkness. He was covered in dust and bloodstains and looked quite disheveled. He walked to Jill's side and said with a sigh of relief:

"It's a relief you're okay too, Jill. I heard gunshots and movement in the mine and searched all the way down. I didn't expect..."

He looked around at the rusted machinery and the deep darkness, unable to help frowning. "I didn't expect a place like this. It's like a living hell."

Barry leaned over the metal railing of the elevator, looking down into the pitch-black abyss below. He turned to Jill: "Any idea what's down there?"

Jill looked at the elevator's control lever, her tone firm: "There's only one way to find out."

The two didn't hesitate long and stepped into the elevator together. Barry pressed the down button, and the metal lift let out a rumbling sound as it slowly descended into the abyss.

Everything around them was pitch black, with only the faint glow of the elevator's emergency light. During the descent, a strange, sob-like murmur suddenly drifted up from the darkness below—vague, yet hair-raising.

Barry instantly raised his revolver, his expression wary. He whispered to Jill, "What is that sound? It sounds like a human voice, but it's very strange."

He paused and looked at Jill, his tone carrying an uncompromising firmness. "Jill, you go ahead and take a look. We've encountered enough today. Just to be safe, I'll stay here and guard the elevator so we won't be trapped with no way out."

Jill didn't overthink it; given the unknown situation, splitting up was indeed more prudent. She nodded. "Alright. I'll go scout it out. Be careful."

With that, Jill gripped her handgun and, by the light of the emergency lamp, felt her way toward the source of the sound. As she moved forward, the murmuring became clearer. Accompanied by the ear-piercing sound of dragging chains, a hunched monster with long hair covering its face and chains wrapped around its body suddenly appeared in the beam of light.

It was Lisa, a poor soul used as a test subject by Umbrella, yet also a highly aggressive mutated monster with immense strength and extremely keen perception.

Lisa sensed Jill's presence and immediately let out a shrill scream, lunging toward her.

Jill didn't dare face her head-on. She turned and ran in the opposite direction, using the mine's complex rock walls and railroad tracks to constantly circle and dodge, trying every means to lead Lisa away.

After a series of thrilling maneuvers, she finally succeeded in leading Lisa to a fork deep in the mine. Only then did she turn back and run toward the elevator.

But when she returned to where the elevator had been, the sight before her made her heart sink.

The elevator was long gone, leaving only the empty metal tracks. Barry had also vanished without a trace; clearly, he had started the elevator and left on his own.

"Barry!" Jill shouted, but the only response was the endless darkness and the sound of the wind. The last shred of trust she had in her teammate cracked at this moment. Could the traitor Enrico mentioned really be Barry?

With no time to dwell on it, Lisa's roars echoed from a distance again. Jill had to give up waiting and ran deeper into the mine, dodging Lisa's pursuit as she struggled through the intricate tunnels.

After running for an unknown amount of time, she finally found a rusty, vertical iron ladder in a corner of the rock wall. The ladder led straight up, and a faint glimmer of light could be seen.

Jill immediately grabbed the iron ladder and climbed up with all her might. She finally climbed out of the mine, and what greeted her eyes was actually the Cabin in the Woods she had reached before.

She didn't have time to rest and, following the route in her memory, ran all the way back to the main hall of the Spencer Mansion.

The main hall of the Spencer Mansion no longer looked as it first did; the furniture was broken, the floor was a mess, and the stench of decay filled the air.

Jill didn't stop, heading straight for the basement door at the corner of the hall stairs. She pulled out the special key she had found during her earlier exploration, inserted it into the lock, and turned it. With a "click," the lock opened.

Pushing open the basement door, a mine tunnel leading further down appeared. This tunnel was steeper than the previous ones, with gravel and abandoned mining tools everywhere.

Jill followed the tunnel all the way down and found another iron ladder leading even further down. She didn't hesitate and climbed down the ladder. Upon landing, she found herself in a hidden Underground Tomb.

An old coffin sat in the center of the tomb, and Barry was standing before it with his back to her, his body swaying slightly as if he were doing something.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Barry whipped around. When he saw Jill, a look of extreme surprise appeared on his face. The hand he was hiding behind his back moved slightly, and his tone carried a forced astonishment: "Jill, you're alive! I was so worried, I thought you had..."

Jill's gaze was fixed on the hand he was hiding behind his back, her eyes cold. She walked forward slowly, approaching step by step, her whole body tense and ready for him to strike at any moment.

She knew Barry's skills too well and had long harbored doubts about his unusual behavior. His current actions only further confirmed the suspicions in her heart.

Barry watched the approaching Jill, his eyes flickering. He suddenly pulled his hand out from behind his back, aiming a revolver straight at Jill's chest!

The moment he raised the gun, Jill moved suddenly, her actions fast as lightning. She reached out and gripped Barry's wrist tightly, jerking it upward. Following up with a swift grapple, she snatched the gun from Barry's hand and immediately aimed it back at him, her tone full of rage and disappointment:

"Explain yourself! What is going on? Why did you take the elevator and leave me behind? Are you the traitor?!"

"Calm down! Jill, calm down!" Barry immediately raised his hands, his face full of anxiety and his tone pleading. "I didn't want it to be like this. Believe me, I can explain! There's a reason for all of this!"

"Don't even try to lie to me!" Jill hissed, her gun not wavering in the slightest. Enrico's death and Barry's various abnormalities made it impossible for her to easily trust the man before her again.

As the two stood in a standoff, a piercing sound of clashing chains suddenly came from the tomb's entrance!

Both turned to look at the same time and saw Lisa, her body wrapped in chains, walking into the tomb with a hunched posture. Her shrill scream echoed throughout the space.

As she entered, the metal gate at the tomb's entrance slammed shut, completely sealing their exit and trapping the two of them inside.

"Damn! It's that monster!" Barry's face changed drastically as he looked at Jill in panic. "Now is not the time for this! Jill, give me the gun. I'll lure it away, you find a way out!"

Jill looked at the approaching Lisa and then at Barry's anxious expression. After a moment of internal struggle, she ultimately chose to temporarily set aside her doubts and threw the revolver back to Barry.

Barry caught the gun and immediately fired toward the other side of the tomb to draw Lisa's attention.

Lisa was enraged by the gunshots and lunged toward Barry with a roar. Barry dodged while firing to keep her at bay. Jill took the opportunity to rush to the coffin and pushed open the heavy lid with all her might.

The moment the coffin lid opened, Lisa suddenly stopped her attack and stared fixedly inside, letting out a sorrowful wail. Inside the coffin lay a partial skeleton, and next to it was an intact skull—the remains of her mother, Jessica.

"Mother..." Lisa let out a vague and painful murmur. She walked slowly to the coffin and gently picked up the skull as if it were her most precious treasure. Then, she turned and leaped off the sheer cliff at the back of the tomb, her shrill cries gradually fading into the abyss.

Barry walked to Jill's side and looked down the cliff, saying in a heavy voice, "I don't believe that monster is really dead. She'll be back sooner or later."

He turned to Jill and nudged her shoulder. "Leave this to me. You go on ahead and find a way out of here!"

Jill gave Barry a deep look and nodded without saying a word. She found the switch for the tomb's gate, forced it open, and ran forward. She soon discovered a brand-new elevator.

Jill immediately pressed the button, and the elevator doors slowly opened. She stepped inside, and the elevator went all the way up, finally stopping by a large outdoor pool.

In the center of the pool was a console full of mechanisms. Jill quickly pressed the buttons on the console, and the mechanism activated. The water in the pool split to both sides, revealing a hidden underwater passage.

She walked all the way along the passage. At the end of the passage, another elevator sat quietly.

Jill stepped onto the elevator and pressed the start button. The elevator slowly descended through layers of rock, finally arriving at a brightly lit, sophisticated underground laboratory. The clear Umbrella logos on the walls were exceptionally striking. This was the Arklay Research Facility, the core of all the conspiracies.