Chapter 28: Annette Birkin

Thanks to Umbrella's funding, Raccoon City's sewer system is very well-developed, very big, very wide, and also very complex, it can even serve as a temporary civil defense facility.

But for Aiden and the others, the complicated sewer was completely an obstacle, it was like a maze.

After walking in the sewer for almost an hour, they finally heard footsteps of other people.

Looking in the direction the footsteps came from, the three of them saw a blonde woman wearing a white lab coat.

The blonde woman also saw them, but like Sherry, didn't say a word and turned to run.

"Follow her."

They had a hard time encountering a living person, and she was even dressed like someone from a research lab, how could they let her get away so easily? The three of them sped up and chased after her.

Unexpectedly, the blonde woman didn't seem like a researcher at all, her physical ability was surprisingly good, and she seemed very familiar with the sewer routes. Very quickly, she disappeared around the corner ahead.

Ada ran at the front of the group. Seeing that they were about to lose her, she got anxious. She let go of her two-handed grip on the gun, swung her arms, and sped up.

When she was the first to reach the corner, what appeared in front of her was a pistol already loaded and ready. At that moment, it was a bit too late to raise her own gun.

Just as the blonde woman's finger began to press the trigger, Aiden suddenly appeared beside Ada. The intense battles over the past days had restored his reflexes to their original level. The moment he saw the pistol, he grabbed Ada's arm and pulled her aside. But doing this exposed him to the muzzle.

"Aiden," Ada shouted, wanting to push him away. Then a gunshot rang out.

"Damn it!" Aiden cursed, clutching his wound and jumping to the side. He'd been injured many times these past days, but this was the first time he got shot.

Luckily, the blonde woman only fired once and then ran away. She didn't shoot again.

This made Aiden let out a sigh of relief. He looked at where he got shot. It was on the shoulder. He tried moving his arm and found that apart from some pain, his movement wasn't affected.

Aiden couldn't help but sigh at his good luck. The bullet pierced directly through his muscle and didn't hit any bone.

But Ada wasn't that relaxed. She quickly tore open the clothing at the wound on his shoulder to check it, not even glancing at the disappearing blonde woman.

"Good thing it didn't hit the bone. Otherwise, your arm would've been unusable for a while."

Battlefield first aid wasn't something only Aiden had learned, as a former agent, Ada had learned it too. After checking Aiden's wound, Ada felt much more at ease.

She took out bandages and cotton to stop the bleeding from the small pouch on her waist. After cleaning up the blood, she stuffed the cotton into the wound and then used the bandage to wrap it up.

While Ada was bandaging Aiden, Leon came back. He first asked Ada about Aiden's condition. After hearing that it wasn't serious, he also relaxed. Then he continued, "Sorry, I lost her, but I saw a passage up ahead. At the end of the passage, there's a door, and it has Umbrella's logo on it."

'Looks like the other side of the door is the garbage treatment plant.' Aiden frowned. He remembered that in the plot, when Ada met Sherry's mother, they had already entered the garbage treatment plant. Clearly, the story had some minor changes.

"How about you rest here for a bit, and I go with Miss Ada?" Leon asked.

"Better to go together. My injury is no problem."

Aiden shook his head and raised the arm on his injured shoulder, waved it hard, then grimaced from the pain.

Ada glared at him, but still agreed and said, "If he stays behind, who's going to look after him? Better we all go together."

Since even the only woman in the group said so, Leon could only nod.

"This is it. Hmm, the door isn't locked. We can open it directly."

At the end of the passage, the three of them stood in front of the door, speaking quietly.

"Then who's going to open the door?"

Aiden's shoulder was injured. Although he didn't need someone to support him, he had already given his M16 to Leon. Now, he only had a Samurai Edge pistol for self-defense. So even if he wanted to open the door, Ada wouldn't let him.

"I'll do it."

Ada volunteered to approach the iron door. She had suffered a minor loss earlier, and she wanted payback.

But Leon squeezed in front of her and said over his shoulder, "I'm a cop. Kicking down doors and rushing in is my specialty. You better look after Aiden!"

"No need." Aiden waved the gun in his hand. "It's safer if both of you go in. It's just a small wound, not like I lost a limb. Don't treat me like I'm that fragile."

Since he said that, Ada and Leon couldn't argue, so they stood at the door one behind the other.

Leon placed his hand on the doorknob, gently turned it, and when he heard a click, he pushed the door open forcefully and charged in with his gun raised.

Ada followed right behind, but before entering, she turned back and waved at Aiden, signaling him to stay close.

At that moment, a gunshot suddenly rang out from inside. Leon's gun fell from his hand.

On the other side of the door was a mechanical bridge. The blonde woman was standing at the opposite end of the bridge.

"Don't move." The blonde woman's face was cold, and she glared at Leon with resentment.

"You don't move." Ada appeared from behind Leon and pointed her gun at her.

The blonde woman glanced at her coldly and ignored her. Her finger again started to press the trigger.

At that moment, Aiden, who appeared last, raised his hand and fired a shot, hitting her gun directly.

Ada seized the chance to rush over, kicked the gun away, grabbed the blonde woman's arm with one hand, twisted it casually, and pinned her to the ground as she tried to pounce and grab the gun.

"Let go of me, you bunch of robbers!"

The blonde woman struggled fiercely, but Ada's skills were better than a professional soldier's. Her struggle was completely in vain.

"Listen, we don't mean to hurt you." Ada said calmly, trying to soothe her. "We're just looking for someone."

"So you are with them." The blonde woman glared at her. "Don't even think about getting anything from me."

Ada frowned and was about to ask who "they" were, when Aiden and Leon walked over.

"Who are you?" Leon squatted down and asked, staring at the blonde woman.

While asking her name, Leon instinctively looked at her chest. Normally, researchers would wear a name tag there, but there was nothing on hers. She must've lost it while running.

The blonde woman snorted and didn't answer.

Leon sighed and said, "I'm Leon Scott Kennedy, a Raccoon City police officer. I'm not a bad person."

Then he pointed at Aiden and Ada, "Aiden, Ada Wong. Survivors of this disaster. We're not bad people."

"Really?" The blonde woman sneered. "I don't know about you and Aiden, but her, Ada Wong, I remember her. I heard about you from the new researcher John. But you don't look like the ordinary woman he described."

"Anyone with eyes can tell." Ada replied calmly. "So who are you exactly? Why do you know so much?"

"Annette Birkin. I'm the wife of William Birkin, the creator of the G-Virus," said the blonde woman.

"So you think we're here to steal the G-Virus?" Aiden asked her.

"What else?" Annette glanced at Ada. "I don't believe you're good people, especially her."

Leon looked curiously at Ada, but since Aiden was here, he held back his questions.

Facing Leon's curious gaze, Ada felt a bit guilty and instinctively looked at Aiden. Seeing him smile at her, she immediately felt at ease.

'Looks like he doesn't suspect me.' she thought secretly, feeling relieved.

"We didn't come for the G-Virus," Aiden continued. "We just discovered this place by accident and came to investigate the truth."

"And if we really came for the G-Virus, wouldn't we already know who you are?"

At that point, Aiden glanced at Ada out of the corner of his eye, secretly thinking, 'You're still a bit green as a spy, not even figuring out what the target looks like or what their name is.'

This made Annette pause. She couldn't help but recall when the USS soldiers came to seize the G-Virus. Back then, they were very clear in their objective.

"You're right," Annette gradually calmed down. "Maybe… you really are good people."

"We're not maybe good people. We are good people." Aiden waved at Ada, signaling her to let go of Annette.

Ada was reluctant. She pointed at Aiden's wound and whispered, "She shot you."

Even though she was pinned to the ground, Annette had seen their actions. Her face, once full of resentment, now showed a bit of awkwardness.

"Sorry, I thought you were with the USS at the time." Annette apologized softly. After a pause, she added, "I know where there are medical supplies. The underground lab has a new special medicine that can heal your wound quickly. If you want it, you'll find it in the infirmary."

Her words made Aiden think of the disinfectant that shows up later in the story. A product so advanced it could even reattach severed limbs. Healing a small penetrating wound would be nothing in comparison… though he didn't know if it had been developed yet.

"Let her go, Ada." Aiden signaled again.

This time, Ada didn't object. She let go of Annette and stood aside, but her right hand hovered near her gun, showing she still didn't trust her.

Annette got up from the ground, patted off nonexistent dirt, and looked around, trying to find her pistol.

"Don't even think about it." Leon guessed her intentions and raised his left hand to show the gun he had picked up.

"Alright." Annette knew these people still didn't really trust her, so she just gave a bitter smile.

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