[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 503 - Controlling William — Face to Face

"This can't be mass-produced! An army that turns on you — Spencer would skin me alive if he found out."

"Then how do you plan to fix it?"

"Reduce their intelligence." William stopped walking. A cruel light flickered in his eyes.

"Completely destroy their higher cognitive functions."

"On the next batch of Subjects, I'll directly excise part of the frontal lobe. Or implant a forced suppression program into the genetic sequence."

"That way they become idiots who can only follow simple commands."

He ticked them off on his fingers.

"Kill. Advance. Stop."

"That's enough."

"I don't need them solving calculus. I just need them to obey like dogs."

All that talking had left his throat bone dry. William grabbed the water bottle tucked under his arm, twisted the cap, tilted his head back, and drank deep.

The cold liquid slid down his throat and settled into his stomach, killing the burning thirst.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and set the half-empty bottle on the workbench.

He smacked his lips. His brow creased slightly.

Ada felt a jolt of alarm but let nothing reach her face.

"Something wrong?"

William scratched his head.

"This genetic modification project is massive. I'm estimating at least 2 more months."

Ada exhaled quietly.

William had no suspicions. His mind was already back inside the Tyrant's genetic blueprint, turning it over, looking for the next angle. He didn't spare a thought for a bottle of water.

Who would think to look for something hidden in the water?

He turned back to his recording board and kept writing.

Ada stood behind him. Her gaze drifted from the back of William's head down to that half-empty bottle sitting on the workbench.

Her red lips curved upward, just slightly. That particular smile of hers — unhurried, knowing, dangerous.

The homologous virus inside Leon carried a ferocious capacity to infect and assimilate. It could bring bio-organic weapons to heel. A scientist with a stratospheric IQ but an ordinary human body was a far easier proposition.

The residue in that water probably wasn't enough to reduce William into an obedient puppet right now. But it didn't need to be. A Trojan planted deep in a hard drive doesn't announce itself. It waits.

The moment it entered William's body, the moment it reached his bloodstream, a deep neural connection had already begun forming in silence.

Someday, when Leon walked into the heart of the Umbrella Corporation, what exactly would this man, this genius virologist, deliver to him?

If Leon knew, he'd lose his mind with excitement.

And when William eventually injected himself with the G-Virus and became something no longer quite human, would that thread of control already woven into him override his will entirely?

Now that was an interesting thought.

But Ada was no transmigrator. She only knew that William might prove useful to Leon. That was the extent of it.

Task done. She turned and walked toward the lab door.

"Where are you going?" William called after her without turning around.

"To take a bath." Ada's heels tapped out a light, unhurried rhythm on the floor. "And sleep."

"Looking forward to your mass-production Tyrant rolling off the line soon."

"Don't keep the board waiting too long, William."

The word board did something unpleasant to his expression.

"Ada. Don't forget your own assignment. Wesker ordered you to get close to Researcher John — you need that hard drive, and you need to actually get it."

Ada didn't bother turning around.

"I know," she said, impatience clipping the words short. "John has already set his computer password to my name."

"Give me a little more time and the hard drive is mine. Stay out of it."

The metal door slid shut behind her without a sound.

William shuddered.

He couldn't say why, but he had the distinct feeling Ada was angry. Before her disappearance, she had always seemed fully committed to the mission, methodical, professional. But she'd been gone 2 months, and the woman who came back had resistance written all over her.

He replayed that last look she'd given him. A warning, clear as glass.

A strange heat stirred deep in his gut. It climbed his spine and crept into the base of his skull.

He shook his head hard, trying to knock the sensation loose.

"Damn that woman," he muttered. "She's genuinely unsettling. My stomach's been off ever since she walked in."

He turned back to his work, trying to sink back into the genetic code, but the room tilted gently around him.

"...Fine. I'll rest for a bit first."

"Probably just been pushing too hard lately."

➤ Next: A Secret Sorrow