[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 765 - Rebuilding the Signal Network
The heavy transport touched down smooth on the runway.
The rear cargo door lowered, and Leon walked out first.
On the tarmac outside Atlanta Prison, the welcoming crowd was already waiting.
Rebekah stood at the front in a miniskirt, clipboard in hand.
The moment she spotted him, she broke into a jog.
"You're back."
She peered past him at the equipment crates being unloaded by the logistics crew.
Leon nodded, reached into his pocket, and pulled out the dark-green seed from the Antarctic Underground Laboratory.
Casual flick.
"Catch."
Rebekah fumbled it into both palms.
The seed was a full fist in size. Its surface ran with dark-brown veining, and it sat heavy in her hand like a chunk of stone.
"What is this?" She leaned in for a closer look.
"Little souvenir from Antarctica." Leon said offhandedly. "Fifteen years ago, Umbrella infected a plant with the T-Veronica Virus under the Antarctic ice. In temperatures dozens of degrees below zero, it didn't just survive — it grew into a monster dozens of meters tall. Evolved the instinct to hunt animals and drain them dry." He paused. "I burned it to ash. That's all that's left."
Rebekah's eyes went wide.
She stared at the seed.
Fifteen years in a sub-zero environment. Still viable.
That wasn't biology. That was a miracle.
"Unbelievable..."
Her breathing quickened. She cradled the seed in both palms like it was made of glass.
"The genetic material in this thing must have extraordinary research value!" Her voice climbed. "If we can extract the cold-resistance genes, our camp's crops could adapt to climates we can barely survive ourselves!"
Her face had gone red.
She didn't even say goodbye, just spun around and sprinted toward the Underground Laboratory.
"I'm running tests tonight! I'm not sleeping!"
Leon watched her go, that blur of energy and wild hair, and shook his head.
That girl. She'd caught the same fever as Marcus and William. A complete science maniac now. Barely spent any time around him anymore...
Just then, Simon stepped out of the aircraft cabin, one arm around Kaya as he helped her down.
Kaya was still bundled in her thick thermal gear. When she saw the fortress ahead, those enormous vines wrapped around the walls, the sheer scale of it, she went completely still.
She'd been in that desolate icebox for so long.
Now suddenly there were people everywhere. Living people. And in the distance, harvesters rumbling through the fields.
She almost thought she was dreaming.
Simon looked just as dazed. He swallowed, visibly at a loss.
Glenn and the others were already closing in.
"Hey! So this is the guy who's been talking to us over the radio every day?" Glenn was first, pushing to the front. He threw an arm around Simon's shoulder and gave him a hard slap on the back. "Brother, you finally made it!"
"If it hadn't been for your broadcasts, a lot of us would've been torn apart by walkers long ago!"
Daryl came over too.
For once, there was no scowl. He just raised a fist and gave Simon a light thump on the chest.
"Your intel was solid." A beat. "Every time we went out for supplies, your traffic reports kept us clear of the herds." Another beat. "You saved a lot of people."
Simon stood surrounded by men who radiated something raw and hard-earned. A hacker who'd spent his whole life in front of a screen, he'd never once been in a situation like this.
He stammered.
"I... this is what I should have done." He shook his head. "I just moved my mouth. You were the ones putting your lives on the line."
Maggie walked over and took Kaya's hand.
She glanced at the slight swell of Kaya's belly and her expression softened.
"Long journey?" she said gently.
Kaya shook her head, firm.
"Not at all. I'm just glad to be here."
Leon cut through the reunion.
"Alright. Plenty of time for catching up later."
He turned to Maggie. "Are any of those new standalone villas in D-Block still vacant?"
"Yes," Maggie said. "The best one's still being held."
"Give it to Simon and Kaya." Leon decided it on the spot. "Get medical staff organized for a full check-up on Kaya. From now on, their supply rations run on the highest tier. The expectant mother needs nutrition."
Simon's lips were trembling.
In the apocalypse, a safe place to sleep was already more than most people could hope for. A private villa with 24-hour hot water and medical support was something else entirely.
"Commander Leon..." He wanted to say something, anything.
Leon waved him off.
"You've earned it, Simon. Get a proper day's rest. There's work tomorrow."
Simon snapped upright.
"No need to wait until tomorrow. I can start right now."
Leon looked at that face, eager, practically vibrating, and gave a single nod.
"Fine. I'll take you to the server room."
---
Atlanta Prison. Server room.
The blast-proof door slid open.
Cold air. Rows of indicator lights blinking in the dark.
At the center console, the Red Queen's holographic projection hovered in silence. The little girl in the red dress turned her head as they walked in.
"Welcome back, Mr. Leon."
Her mechanical voice carried through the room.
Simon laid eyes on her and froze.
Then he moved like a starving wolf who'd just spotted treasure, straight to the console, both hands slamming onto the keyboard, pulling up row after row of data before anyone could say a word.
"Finally seeing it in person." His voice was almost reverent. "An actual AI. The original core architecture from Umbrella itself."
He kept reading.
"Still too crude though. A bit dated."
He delivered the verdict without an ounce of diplomacy.
"It has some capacity for autonomous learning, but the hardware processing power can't keep up. Not even close."
The Red Queen's projection flickered.
"Unauthorized personnel detected accessing core code. Initiating defense protocols—"
"Shut it down." Leon said.
The Red Queen went still immediately.
"Yes, Leon."
The logistics crew began carrying equipment in from outside, liquid-cooling servers, magnetically shielded hard drive cases, unit after unit hauled in from Antarctica and set down along the walls.
Simon rolled up his sleeves.
"Leon, I need you to establish direct physical connections between these motherboards and the Red Queen's core server cabinet." He pointed at the liquid-cooling units. "Those ones."
Leon didn't say anything. He stepped forward, wrapped one hand around a server cabinet weighing several hundred pounds, and slotted it cleanly into the reserved bay. Then the next. Then the next.
Simon moved between the cabinets with thick data cables, fast and precise.
One hour.
All physical connections complete.
Simon dropped back into the chair in front of the console and pulled in a long breath.
"Powering on."
He pressed the red button.
Hmmm,
Every light in the underground server room dimmed for a single second.
Then the liquid-cooling servers from Antarctica woke up, a deep, resonant rumble rising from the floor up. Blue coolant flooded through the transparent tubing in frantic circulation.
Above the console, the Red Queen's holographic projection began to flicker violently.
The red dress that had always looked slightly washed-out sharpened into something unmistakably solid. Even her face changed, the expressions that moved across it were real now, not the mechanical blankness she'd always worn before.
"System reorganizing..."
"Connecting to Antarctic Base satellite key terminal..."
Simon's hands blurred across the keyboard.
"Firewall breached."
"Global low-Earth orbit military satellite array — control re-established."
"Scanning global communications base stations..."
The massive screen at the front of the room came alive.
A high-resolution three-dimensional map of the globe filled the display. Across it, areas that had been nothing but black began to flicker, faint green dots appearing one by one.
North America. Europe. Asia.
More and more of them. And then more still, until the dots linked together into a single vast network stretched across every continent.
"We did it!"
Simon threw himself back in his chair and let out a long, slow breath. He dragged a hand across his forehead and turned to look at Leon.
"We haven't just restored global communications broadcasting." His voice was quiet, like he was still processing it himself. "Any base station that still has power, we can force our way in."
➤ Next: The Organized Runner Horde