[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 734 - Arthur Behaving Strangely

"No rush. Let's verify the results first," Leon said.

Arthur walked two slow circles around Hanson.

Finally, he stopped directly in front of him and reached out, patting him on the shoulder.

Hanson's body showed no reaction.

"His knowledge... his memories... are they all still intact?" Arthur's voice dropped low.

Less a question for Leon than confirmation of his own suspicions.

Leon picked up a data pad from the control console and tossed it to Hanson.

"Write out a portion of your research findings from memory."

Hanson caught the data pad. No hesitation. His fingers flew across the virtual keyboard.

Row after row of complex molecular formulas appeared on the screen, logic clear and precise, not a single error.

Arthur's breathing grew heavy.

This was the perfect tool.

All unnecessary emotion, desire, and self-interest stripped away, leaving only the purest knowledge and skills paired with absolute obedience.

If...

If everyone in the Bunker became like this...

The moment that thought took root, it spread like vines through Arthur's mind, wild and unstoppable.

He snapped his head around and locked eyes with Leon.

All the previous hesitation and probing were gone. Only a desire that bordered on outright greed remained.

"Leon, there are 37 others like him in the Bunker."

Arthur stated the exact number. The gentle politician's mask was torn away entirely, exposing raw, primal desire.

"Top physicists, bioengineers... every single one of them has their fingers wrapped around one artery of the reconstruction plan, using it to drain the last of this country's lifeblood."

Arthur took a step forward and stood directly in front of Leon, nearly pressing his face close.

"Can you turn all of them... into this?"

Leon looked at the flames burning in this President's eyes.

Not a flame for the nation and its people. A flame for absolute, total control.

Under the weight of that immense temptation, Leon wasn't sure whether Arthur would still hold to his original intentions. But he gave an affirmative answer all the same.

"Of course I can."

"However, Mr. President."

"Hunting them down one by one is too much trouble, and it would make too much noise."

"If their colleagues found out someone among them had been turned into a dog, it would cause unnecessary panic."

Arthur immediately understood.

"You need an opportunity — one chance to catch them all in a single net?"

"Exactly." Leon snapped his fingers.

"What do self-important, clever people love most?"

"Honor, flattery, and the feeling of being above everyone else." Arthur said it almost without thinking.

He'd been enduring exactly that from these people for the past several dozen days.

"Then give it to them." Leon smiled.

That smile, in Arthur's eyes, was more captivating than any devil in hell.

"Hold a banquet in your name."

"A grand banquet, one that invites only these top experts," Leon explained.

"The theme can be something like 'honoring the torchbearers of human civilization,' or whatever else — you know this kind of thing better than I do."

"Bring out the best food, the finest wine the Bunker has to offer. Make them feel like they are the saviors of this world, humanity's one and only hope."

"Let them gather together at the moment they are most relaxed and most pleased with themselves."

Leon's gaze finally settled on Arthur's face.

"Leave the rest to me."

Arthur's mind raced.

A banquet.

A perfect trap.

Using the very vanity they were most proud of to catch them all in one sweep.

"I understand."

Arthur nodded firmly. He didn't even bother asking Leon the specifics of how it would be done.

The process didn't matter.

He only wanted results.

"Leon," Arthur said.

"I can agree to your terms."

"From this point forward, you will have the highest priority rights to allocate all expert resources in the Bunker. But I have only one requirement."

"What?"

"I want them alive and able to continue working."

"Don't worry. They will work harder than they ever have before," Leon said.

What he left unsaid, of course, was that they would be working for Leon alone.

On the surface, he appeared to be helping Arthur solve a problem. In reality, he was pulling the rug out from under him, seizing for himself the single most precious resource this country had left.

The sharpest minds in all of America would become his personal assets.

That was true wealth.

With them, Leon could build a technological empire entirely his own in the shortest possible time.

"Very good." Arthur got the answer he wanted, and a long-absent smile appeared on his face.

He turned around and glanced at Hanson, still kneeling on the floor. The look in his eyes was like that of a man regarding a worn-out tool, entirely stripped of any emotion he'd had before.

"Clean him up. Get him into fresh clothes."

Arthur issued the order to the guards outside the door.

"The banquet is set for 8 o'clock tomorrow evening, in the Central Banquet Hall of Zone A."

"Pass the word. Tell everyone that I will be hosting a celebration banquet for our greatest scientists."

Arthur finished speaking and turned to leave.

The anxious, harried president who had been tormented by his subordinates was gone. In his place stood a man on the verge of seizing absolute control.

A dictator.

Leon watched Arthur's retreating figure, and a trace of barely perceptible suspicion crept onto his face.

Something was off about Arthur.

He had seemed perfectly normal before, but the moment he learned he could control these scientists, the shift in him seemed a little too drastic...

Leon buried that suspicion deep and turned back to Hanson.

"Get up, Doctor." Leon patted him on the face.

"Tomorrow night, there's a big show waiting for you to make a guest appearance in."

Hanson slowly rose to his feet, his eyes still vacant.

At the far end of the corridor outside the laboratory.

Chris and Ada were leaning against the wall.

"I actually have a question, don't you think President Arthur seems a bit different from how he appeared in the videos?" Chris watched Arthur's retreating figure and said in a low voice.

"A little, yes."

Ada crossed her arms and silently watched Arthur's departing back.

"Chris, I'm going to follow him and see what's going on. Stay in contact at all times."

......

The Bunker, Zone A. Central Banquet Hall.

The news spread like it had grown wings, reaching every corner of the Bunker in under half an hour.

The President was personally hosting a banquet to commend those scientists who had made outstanding contributions to the reconstruction effort.

In an instant, the entire research district erupted.

Those experts who thought highly of themselves on a normal day were now wearing smiles from ear to ear.

In their eyes, this was a signal that the President was backing down, yet another victory for their class of "nobility."

"I've been saying it all along — without us, Arthur Graham is nothing!"

The physicist Cavendish stood holding his wine glass, holding forth in his luxurious suite.

"Tomorrow evening, I absolutely must raise a few more demands in front of everyone. For instance, assign me two more female assistants."

"That's right, our value should be reflected in exactly these kinds of things!"

"I heard this banquet will be serving pre-disaster frozen Australian lobster. God, I've almost forgotten what that tastes like."

They excitedly discussed the banquet menu, debated which formal attire to wear, and talked over how to use this opportunity to squeeze even more benefits out of the President.

No one realized what kind of crisis lay hidden behind that invitation.

They had even less idea that this so-called celebration banquet would be the last supper they would ever have as human beings.

➤ Next: Alexia Ashford — A Twist of Fate