69: The S Virus

Six and a half hours later.

Lyon rubbed his temples as he returned to the East Wing lobby of the research facility.

Marvin and the others immediately gathered around him.

It was now the morning of September 29th, 7 AM.

"Big Brother Lyon, do you need to take a break for a while?" Little Sherry asked, holding a box in her hands.

The box contained the ashes from the cremation of Annette Birkin a few hours earlier, mixed with some of William Birkin's carbon remains.

"No need, I'm just feeling a bit irritable," Lyon waved his hand.

In the past five hours, combining the data of the Progenitor Virus with the T-Virus and G-Virus, he had developed a prototype of a new virus.

With his super brain working at full capacity, even though his research time was short, the results were more advanced than what people like William had achieved in decades.

The prototype of the S-Virus.

This was the name he gave to the new virus, the S-Virus.

The virus possessed the broadest range of transmission and the highest lethality. It could spread through the air and had an extremely strong vitality, remaining active for up to six hours after exposure.

Once infected, his initial estimate was that there would be over a 90% chance of the patient turning into a zombie.

Moreover, the transformed would be super zombies—immensely strong and difficult to kill.

However, for those who survived the infection, they would retain full mental faculties and gain extraordinary physical strength as well as regenerative abilities.

In terms of airborne transmission, the S-Virus was still less efficient than common respiratory diseases like pneumonia.

The breath or droplets of an infected person wouldn't directly cause viral spread.

Only the exposure of infected bodily fluids or blood, where the virus concentrated heavily, would cause transmission through evaporation.

Despite these limitations, once Spencer, Wesker, and others learned of the virus's effects...

They would undoubtedly proclaim it as the next step in human evolution and immediately begin promoting a global evolution plan!

In fact, the moment the virus was successfully synthesized, Lyon could even sense a burst of excitement from the world's consciousness.

But unfortunately, he didn't need a virus like this.

What he required was something with a 100% success rate that could enhance the body's regenerative abilities.

After all, this was supposed to heal Tony's body, and turning him into a zombie would be.. ehm* disastrous.

Given the high mutation probability, Lyon realized he might need to head to Europe after dealing with the Raccoon City crisis.

Combining the characteristics of the Plaga parasite and the E-mold fungus might lead to a more perfected version of the S-Virus prototype.

However, before that, he might need to return to the Marvel universe.

At the very least, he had to check the time flow differences between the two worlds.

In the meantime, while the timing was perfect, Lyon also extracted a drop of his own blood and attempted to infect Kryptonian blood with the S-Virus prototype.

Ever since awakening his powers, what used to be normal human blood had started containing Kryptonian factors.

Or rather, it had transformed into a hybrid of Kryptonian and human DNA.

So, referring to his blood as Kryptonian wasn't wrong.

However, the experiment results were not good.

As soon as the substances came into contact in the container, the Kryptonian blood immediately devoured the S-Virus prototype.

Moreover, it exhibited a wild drive for replication.

Within just a few breaths, the Kryptonian blood, now infused with the S-Virus prototype, seemed to gain a life of its own. It began corroding the container, attempting to escape into the air.

If it truly managed to escape, considering the air-transmissible nature of the S-Virus prototype combined with the extreme vitality of Kryptonian blood, Lyon couldn't even begin to fathom what the final outcome would be.

"He..hehe.. That would be disastrous.." A child ran down his spine.

Anyway, in that split second, the world's consciousness seemed to go insane, constantly bombarding him with feelings of fear and despair.

"Yeah, Yeah. Tsk"

Lyon had no choice but to immediately use his heat vision to destroy it.

The glass container reduced to ashes on the testing bench made Lyon realize that he had a long way to go in terms of bloodline research.

So when he left the lab, he was rubbing his forehead, feeling frustrated.

"How are the production results and the experimental effects of the vaccine and serum?" Lyon turned to ask Bard, tossing the syringe containing the golden S-Virus prototype to Jarvis to store safely.

He had destroyed every trace of the S-Virus prototype in the lab.

Even after leaving, he made sure to completely obliterate the entire room to ensure no one could enter again in the future.

The only remaining S-Virus sample was now in his possession.

"The G-Virus serum trials went smoothly. For now, any organism infected for less than five hours can be cured after injecting the serum," Dr. Bard reported, holding the documents.

"We've also produced enough of the enhanced T-Virus vaccine and serum to cover the entirety of Raccoon City."

"And the antiviral bombs modified with the enhanced serum have also been produced, thanks to Mr. Jarvis's assistance. We've got over five hundred of them," Dr. Bard continued.

Lyon nodded. "That's more than enough."

"Hmm, now we can begin the operation to deploy the vaccines across the city. In a few hours, Raccoon City should be restored to its original state."

Marvin and Elliot straightened up immediately, standing at attention.

It seemed like they were on the verge of saluting Lyon properly.

"We'll start moving the bombs right away, Mr. Lyon!" Marvin indeed saluted, and with Elliot in tow, they hurried out, eager to get to work.

"Oi! Make sure to take Jarvis with you!" Lyon called after them, instructing Jarvis to assist by controlling the armor.

He then turned his attention to Ada Wong, who was leaning against the wall. "I thought you would've left by now. Not in a rush to deliver the G-virus to your employer?"

It seemed that, during the past few days, Ada had managed to clean up, maybe even take a shower. She was now dressed in a red jacket and black fitted pants, looking quite sharp.

"That's already my former employer," Ada said as she put on a pair of sunglasses. "Now I think I've found myself a better boss~"

She sauntered toward Lyon, her hips swaying slutry with every step.

"Would you like to establish a long-term employment relationship with me, Master~ Lyon?~" Ada tilted her chin slightly and bit her lower lip.

Over the past few days, she had seen firsthand the extraordinary abilities of the young man in front of her.

Not only did he possess unimaginable strength, but he also had an incredibly brilliant mind. Most importantly, he had a heart full of justice.

A person like this shone like the sun wherever he went.

Ada had to admit that she felt an irresistible curiosity, even a desire to get closer to this "sun."

Ideally, she wanted to bask in its light every day.

In simpler terms, she had developed a strong curiosity about this man.

Ada had decided to stick around Lyon for a while and observe this "savior" that the world itself had summoned.

"Is this a job application?" Lyon raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised.

He had assumed that someone as independent as Ada wouldn't want to work under anyone.

"If it is an application, do you think I'm qualified?" Ada replied with a slight smirk.

"Heh~ Just barely qualified," Lyon said with a smile. "Congratulations, you're now hired. From now on, call me 'Boss.'"

"You can set your own salary," Lyon added, still grinning, "as long as it's after I make some legitimate earnings in this world."

"So, I'm basically working for free right now?" Ada smirked. "Or are you planning to pay me in other ways?"

"Sorry, but interns at our company don't get paid," Lyon shrugged, not falling into her playful trap.

He had been around Natasha long enough to know how to avoid these kinds of flirty challenges.

"Come on, Sherry, I'll carry you," Lyon said as he lifted Sherry into his arms.

Behind him, Ada's expression became even more intriguing as she followed along at a leisurely pace.

...

Half an hour later.

The group was now ready to leave. They boarded the tram once again for the return trip.

Back in the sewers, the journey was just as tough as before.

This time, however, Lyon had Sherry on his back, Ada clinging to his neck, and he was carrying several crates of bombs in his hands.

Not just him, but Marvin and the others were also carrying crates full of bombs.

When they returned to the police station, the chubby police officer was bewildered. If he didn't know the situation they were gone inside, he would have thought they had gone out to do some shopping.

At some point, the station had filled with a dozen or so more survivors.

Upon hearing that the crates were filled with antiviral bombs and vaccines, the survivors became extremely excited.

At that moment, Kendo, the father, brought his daughter Emma over to Lyon, bowing repeatedly and expressing endless gratitude.

"Kendo, saying thank you too many times loses its meaning. When it's time to deploy the bombs, just make sure you help out," Lyon said, patting little Emma on the head. "Marvin says you're the best gunsmith here. Make sure you protect yourself and your daughter."

"Big Brother.. and what about me?" a small voice came from behind Lyon. It was Sherry, tugging at his shirt.

The girl was holding the urn with her parents' ashes, her shoulders hunched as she looked up at him expectantly.

The sight of Sherry made Lyon feel a bit dazed. It reminded him of when he was one year old and had just awakened his memories. At that time, he was just as anxious and uncertain as Sherry.

But unlike her, Lyon had Tony. Sherry had no one. Everyone around her now was a stranger; the world she knew had collapsed. It wasn't kind to her at all.

But she was brave—brave enough to seek out protection.

Lyon bent down and patted her head again. "Alright, alright. I'll make sure to protect you, Sherry."

Sherry's face immediately lit up, and she hugged Lyon tightly, smiling and wiping away her tears at the same time.

________

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