Chapter 58: Reunion

Chloe's fingertips still rested on the "NEST" mark on the hand-drawn map, the metallic tip of the pen pressing painfully into her fingertip.

The control room's emergency flashlight had only two bars of power left. Under the dim, yellowish light, the dense cluster of red infection zone marks on the map looked like blood-red flowers blooming in the darkness, stinging her eyes and making them ache.

After ten days of lying low, she had memorized every inch of the terrain from the sewage treatment plant to the main sewer line.

She had thoroughly cleared out the giant infected rat nests, marked several dangerous, flood-prone areas, and even recorded the exact spots where sewage occasionally dripped from the ventilation ducts.

Yet, this detailed map still felt inadequate when facing unknown intruders from the outside.

Three days ago, she found the mangled carcass of a stray dog deep in the tunnels; its rotting flesh was crawling with tiny maggots, and its skin showed signs of grayish-blue decay.

This was a more dangerous sign than the giant rats, indicating that the T-Virus had spread from the shallow underground layers to deeper areas.

She spent the night marking that area in the deepest red, anxiety surging within her like a tide.

Just then, a faint yet distinct vibration traveled up through the concrete pipe wall beneath her feet.

It wasn't the stomping of giant rats, nor the tremors of flowing sewage; it was a rhythmic, steady, yet hurried sound of footsteps. Each step landed on the concrete with a deliberately suppressed weight, yet it couldn't escape her senses, which had been enhanced by the T-Virus.

Chloe's heart constricted sharply.

Almost instinctively, she gripped the combat knife at her waist—it was something she had scavenged from a pile of discarded tools during the day, honed to a sharp edge, and it was her only lethal weapon for now.

Her other hand quickly switched off the emergency flashlight, and darkness instantly swallowed the entire control room.

Her silver-white hair hung down on both sides of her cheeks, masking the alertness in her eyes.

She held her breath, backed against the door panel, and pressed her ear against the cold iron door, carefully catching the movements outside.

The footsteps grew closer, moving along the main pipeline toward the sewage treatment plant's control room.

There were a few pauses along the way, as if the person were trying to identify the path or remaining vigilant against surrounding dangers.

It wasn't a pursuit team from the Umbrella Corporation.

Chloe judged instantly.

Umbrella Corporation's people would never move so sluggishly; they would bring precision detection equipment and seal off the area directly, rather than inching forward step by step like this.

It wasn't a drifter either.

She had long avoided all areas where drifters gathered; she was all too familiar with the smells and footstep patterns of those people.

Who could it be?

A thought emerged uncontrollably, like a bolt of lightning cleaving through the fog in her heart.

It was Jill.

As soon as this thought surfaced, she forcibly suppressed it.

Impossible.

The note she left was written clearly, telling Jill not to look for her and not to be implicated by her again.

Given Jill's personality, even if she were worried, she wouldn't rashly break into such a perilous underground pipe network.

Chloe's fingertips trembled slightly, but her hand gripping the knife tightened even more.

She walked to the door, her fingers resting on the iron latch, hesitating for a second.

The next second, she yanked the latch open and pushed back the rusty iron door.

The light from an emergency flashlight shone in from outside, illuminating a familiar figure.

Jill was wearing a brown windbreaker and a baseball cap pulled low; her face was smudged with dust, and the stray hair on her forehead was dampened by sweat, clinging to her cheeks.

She held a small handgun in one hand and a flashlight in the other, vigilantly scanning every corner of the control room, until the light fell on Chloe, and she froze completely.

The air instantly froze.

The two stood less than three meters apart, looking at each other, neither speaking.

Chloe's silver-white hair shimmered faintly in the darkness; she wore ill-fitting, old clothes, and her canvas shoes were caked with sewage and mud. Her once-pale cheeks looked even thinner due to the long-term underground life, but her eyes were still startlingly bright, carrying a familiar calmness while hiding a trace of imperceptible panic.

Jill's gaze swept from Chloe's silver-white hair to her stained clothes, then to the knife held at her waist, and finally landed on her pale face. Her throat moved, and her voice was as raspy as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper: "...Chloe?"

The moment those two words escaped, Jill's eyes turned red instantly.

She had thought she would never find this girl again, thinking she might have already died in this gloomy underground, devoured by monsters, or turned into a mindless monster due to the virus infection.

But right now, standing before her was a living, breathing Chloe—the person she had been thinking of constantly.

Chloe's lips moved; a thousand words were stuck in her throat, ultimately turning into just one sentence: "Why did you come?"

There was no anger or blame in her tone, only an indescribable sense of helplessness and heartache.

She knew Jill's personality too well; she knew that whatever Jill set her mind to, she would definitely accomplish.

But she knew even better how dangerous this place was.

"If I don't come, am I supposed to let you die here?"

Jill's voice carried a suppressed sob. She walked up quickly, reaching out as if to touch Chloe's cheek, but paused in mid-air, as if afraid of shattering the phantom before her.

"I searched for you for ten whole days, from the surveillance in the Old City to clues on the streets, and then to this underground... I thought I would never find you again."

"Why didn't you contact me? Why did you hide here alone? Do you know how worried I was?"

Chloe turned her face away, avoiding her gaze, her voice cooling slightly: "I don't want to implicate you. Irons is looking for me, and Umbrella Corporation is looking for me. As long as I'm by your side, you're in more danger."

"Implicate?"

Jill raised her voice sharply, reaching out to grab Chloe's shoulders, forcing her to look at her, her eyes full of anger and grievance.

"Chloe, what do you take me for? I, Jill Valentine, am not the kind of person who would abandon a friend because of a little danger! You are someone I personally rescued from Umbrella Corporation's hell; how could I possibly abandon you out of fear?"

Her palms were burning hot; through the thin cloth, it made Chloe's heart tremble slightly.

Chloe looked at her reddened eyes, at the worry and anger in them, and her internal defenses collapsed instantly.

She knew she shouldn't think this way, but eight years of life in an isolation chamber had made her accustomed to bearing everything alone, accustomed to not bothering others, and accustomed to pushing everyone away.

But Jill's appearance shattered all her disguises.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but heard a faint rustling sound from deep within the distant pipes, along with a sticky, dragging noise.

The senses granted by the T-Virus instantly peaked. She shoved Jill aside and shielded her behind her, her eyes turning sharp instantly: "Watch out! Something is coming!"

Jill reacted immediately, quickly raising her gun, back-to-back with Chloe, vigilantly looking toward the direction the sound came from.

The light from the emergency flashlight swept over, revealing a black shadow moving slowly around the corner of the pipe. Its grayish-blue skin shimmered with an eerie luster under the light, and a pair of blood-red eyes stared fixedly at them, thick saliva dripping from its mouth—it was a true infected, larger and more hideous than the giant rats.

This was the first time Chloe had seen such a monster in reality, while Jill was a S.T.A.R.S. elite who had dealt with them in the Arklay Spencer Mansion.

"It's an infected."

Jill whispered a reminder, aiming her muzzle at it: "Its weak point is the head; attacking there can be fatal in one shot."

Chloe nodded, her eyes frighteningly calm.

Although she hadn't seen this kind of monster, relying on her memory of the game's settings, she knew its weak point.

More importantly, the T-Virus in her body was boiling, allowing her body to react faster than her brain.

The infected roared and lunged over, moving extremely fast, a gust of foul-smelling wind rushing toward them.

Jill struck first, dodging its pounce to the side while simultaneously firing at its head.

But the infected was exceptionally agile, twisting its body to dodge, and instead pounced toward Chloe beside her.

Chloe didn't retreat. She took a deep breath, the power within her briefly erupting, her body exploding with speed far exceeding that of an ordinary person. As she dodged to the side, she drove the knife in her hand fiercely into its eye.

"Hiss—!"

The infected let out a shrill scream, its body struggling violently, and black blood splattered all over Chloe.

She didn't let go; using force from her wrist, she pushed the knife further in until it completely pierced through its skull.

The infected's body twitched a few times, then finally collapsed to the ground, motionless.

The control room instantly returned to silence, leaving only the sound of their heavy breathing.

Chloe looked down at the bloodstains on herself, then looked at Jill, her tone returning to its previous calmness: "See? It's dangerous here. You shouldn't have come."

Jill crouched down, checked the corpse of the infected, and looked up at Chloe, her eyes complex: "I know it's dangerous. But I know even better that if you stay here alone, something will happen sooner or later. Chloe, come with me. Let's leave Raccoon City, go to a safe place, and never come back."

Chloe's heart constricted sharply.

Leave Raccoon City?

Of course she wanted to.

She knew the fate of Raccoon City; she knew this city would be completely destroyed in a month.

But she couldn't leave.

The T-Virus in her body hadn't fully stabilized yet; she needed to get the experimental data and the batch of S01 Inhibitor from the NEST to truly control her power.

Furthermore, she had already planned the route; once the NEST fell into chaos, she could take the opportunity to infiltrate it and get what she needed.

"I can't leave."

Chloe shook her head, her voice firm: "I have things to do."

"What is more important than your life?"

Jill was anxious. She stood up, walked to Chloe, reached out to cup her face, and forced her to look at her: "Chloe, listen to me, let's leave now. No matter what you need to do, we can do it together; I won't let you take risks alone."

Chloe looked at the sincerity in her eyes, feeling warm inside, but she was even more determined.

She gently pushed away Jill's hand and walked to the map, pointing at the marks on it: "Look, there are more and more infected here; the T-Virus is spreading much faster than I expected. If we leave now, we have nowhere to go. Irons is searching for me throughout the city, and Umbrella Corporation won't let me go either. I can only hide here; only when the time is right can I truly escape."

She paused, took the metal-tubed S01 Inhibitor from her pocket, placed it in her palm, and handed it to Jill to see: "I'm sorry I lied to you; I secretly took Chris's evidence while you weren't paying attention. I'm a monster, and the T-Virus in my body could go out of control at any time. If I don't go to the NEST to get more S01 Inhibitor and my experimental data, I might not be able to control my power, and I might hurt you!"

Jill looked at the small S01 Inhibitor, then at Chloe's pale face, the anxiety in her heart slowly being replaced by understanding.

"Then I'll go with you."

Jill was silent for a few seconds, her tone incredibly firm: "No matter where you want to go, no matter how dangerous it is, I'll go with you. We'll go to the NEST together, get the S01 Inhibitor, and then leave Raccoon City."

Chloe was stunned.

She had never thought about letting Jill accompany her to the NEST.

There was already William Birkin there, and if Jill were to lure the Nemesis over, even if they teamed up with Claire and Leon, it would be a suicide mission.

"No."

She refused immediately: "The NEST is too dangerous; it's full of Umbrella Corporation guards and mutated creatures. If you go, you'll just be throwing your life away."

"Then aren't you throwing your life away by going?"

Jill retorted. She walked to Chloe's side, took her hand, and interlaced their fingers.

"Chloe, we are in this together. You hid here to avoid implicating me, and I broke in to save you. Now, neither of us is going to leave the other behind. We'll go together, get the S01 Inhibitor together, and leave here together. I am a police officer, or at least I was; I can protect you, and I can protect ourselves."

Her hand was warm and strong, gripping Chloe's hand tightly, conveying a determination that could not be refused.

Chloe looked at her, at the firmness and tenderness in her eyes, and her internal defenses completely collapsed.

She knew she couldn't win against Jill.

Besides, having Jill by her side would indeed increase their chances of winning significantly.

She was the protagonist of the world; no matter what dangers she encountered, she would always turn bad luck into good.

She nodded gently, a long-lost smile appearing on the corner of her mouth: "Okay. Let's go together."

Jill smiled, the tears in her eyes finally falling, but they were filled with joy.

She reached out and hugged Chloe, patting her back gently: "That's great. Chloe, we can definitely do it."

In the control room, the light from the emergency flashlight turned back on, illuminating the two figures tightly embracing each other.

The darkness outside remained, and the dangers underground remained, but in their hearts, they had gained the courage and determination to fight side by side.