Starting from Prototype to Immortality

Chapter 55: Dr. Ashford

"Thank goodness, you finally answered the phone," Dr. Ashford said urgently to Jill on the other end of the call.

"Who are you?" Jill asked.

"There's something very important. Come find me first, and I'll tell you everything. Hurry, or I might die, and then you'll have no way to leave Raccoon City," Dr. Ashford said as he cautiously looked around to confirm there were no zombies or Lickers nearby.

"Why should we believe anything you say?" Jill replied with a cold laugh.

"Because you don't have any other choice. Umbrella Corporation has decided to use a nuclear missile to wipe out all evidence in Raccoon City. I'm the only one who knows how to get out of here safely," Dr. Ashford answered.

"A nuclear missile? How could they? How is that even possible?" Jill exclaimed in disbelief.

So why does a company like Umbrella even have access to nuclear warheads? Chang Wei thought that was the more pressing question.

"You'd better hurry," Dr. Ashford said before providing Jill with his location.

Jill hung up the phone and turned to the group. "What do you all think?"

"What else is there to think? We're going, obviously," Chang Wei replied.

"…From what I know, Umbrella Corporation might actually do something like this," Alice said, unsure about the truth of the nuclear missile claim. However, given the situation, it wasn't entirely unbelievable. Raccoon City was built by Umbrella Corporation, and most of its residents were their employees or family members, effectively making it a company-controlled city.

Still, the city belonged to the U.S., and the government would hold Umbrella accountable. In such a scenario, deploying a nuclear missile or something equivalent to resolve the problem was not out of the question.

"In that case, shouldn't we focus on leaving Raccoon City as soon as possible?" Jill was reluctant to trust someone from Umbrella and thought it might be better to escape immediately. With a vehicle, they might be able to get far enough away to avoid the nuclear blast.

"He didn't give us a launch time for the missile. What if there are only two hours left?" Chang Wei said.

Two hours wouldn't be enough, even without zombies and obstacles clogging the streets, let alone in the current state of the city. With most routes blocked by walls erected by Umbrella, they couldn't even take shortcuts.

It seemed their only option was to meet this doctor and hope he truly had a solution.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ashford didn't entirely trust Alice and her group. To hedge his bets, he reached out to two mercenaries abandoned by Umbrella: Carlos and Nikolai.

The reason they were abandoned was simple—they weren't worth the trouble. Umbrella had cloning technology and didn't care about the lives of cloned soldiers. These clones were imbued with only the necessary memories to serve as mercenaries for the corporation. With this strategy, Umbrella effectively had an endless supply of expendable forces, which explained the large number of soldiers stationed at its global facilities.

Carlos and Nikolai hadn't given up on survival, and Dr. Ashford's message provided them with a much-needed lifeline.

---

Chang Wei and the group quickly arrived at the address provided by Dr. Ashford. However, they were stunned when they saw the man slowly rolling out in a wheelchair.

It was hard to imagine how someone with such limited mobility had survived this long when so many able-bodied people had perished.

"I'm the one you're looking for. Time is short, so I hope you're ready," Dr. Ashford said.

"What's this escape plan you mentioned?" Jill asked.

"There's a helicopter on standby. It's scheduled to take off in an hour, just before the nuclear missile detonates. It's the last transport out of Raccoon City," Dr. Ashford explained.

Even though the Umbrella base in the city had been wiped out, the corporation wasn't aware of it and would still follow the original plan to send a helicopter to retrieve data and records, which were of utmost importance to them.

"What's the helicopter coming for?" Alice asked.

"To recover all data and records from Raccoon City. This is vital to them. However, the helicopter isn't here to pick me up. If you want to use it, you'll have to seize it yourselves," Dr. Ashford said.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get moving!" Peyton urged. He was eager to leave after hearing about the nuclear threat.

"Wait. There's one more critical thing," Dr. Ashford said.

He had deliberately withheld the helicopter's location for this moment. He was determined not to disclose it, no matter what coercion Alice and her group might attempt, unless they first rescued his daughter.

He had also kept the two mercenaries from joining them for this reason. Alice's group included two police officers and a priest, making it more likely they would agree to his terms. In contrast, the mercenaries might resort to torture to extract the information.

"What is it?" Alice asked.

"You must first go to Raccoon City Elementary School and rescue my daughter, Angela. Otherwise, I won't tell you the helicopter's location," Dr. Ashford said with a resolute expression.