In the end, Evenson found himself accompanying Daniel Howister to Hydra’s underground laboratory.
The reason was simple.
Howister had ordered one of his bodyguards to spar with the newly transformed Rom.
The test lasted less than a second.
Rom threw a single punch.
The unfortunate guard’s head disappeared into his own chest.
Evenson calmly explained the incident.
"The enhancement has only just taken effect."
"He’s not accustomed to controlling his new strength."
"So we’ll need proper testing equipment before drawing conclusions."
Howister accepted the explanation.
Evenson wasn’t worried about the results.
He knew exactly how powerful Rom had become.
The enhancement surpassed what ordinary orcs had gained after drinking Mannoroth’s blood.
Not because humans somehow possessed greater compatibility with Pit Lord blood.
Nor because Hailmondas rivaled Mannoroth.
He didn’t.
Not even close.
The answer was much simpler.
Purity.
When Mannoroth empowered the Horde, he had been supplying blood to entire clans.
Even a Pit Lord couldn’t donate that much pure blood.
Only the clan chieftains drank it undiluted.
Everyone else received heavily diluted blood.
Rom, on the other hand...
Had consumed a mixture that was still more than fifty percent genuine Pit Lord blood.
The price was severe.
A human body simply wasn’t built to endure that level of corruption.
If Evenson’s estimates were correct, the enhanced soldiers would survive for roughly a year before their bodies failed completely.
That didn’t concern him.
His plan never required them to live that long.
Quite the opposite.
The sooner they died...
The better.
Only the location of their deaths truly mattered.
Evenson and Howister sat in the laboratory’s observation lounge, watching Rom’s evaluation through a bank of monitors.
One astonishing result followed another.
Finally, Howister exhaled.
"This is... miraculous."
Rom’s performance had exceeded every expectation.
Strength.
He overturned a family sedan with casual ease.
Durability.
Small-caliber handgun rounds barely scratched his skin.
Assault rifle ammunition could penetrate his flesh...
...but rarely reached his vital organs before becoming lodged inside layers of dense muscle.
Endurance.
He maintained a speed of nearly twelve miles per hour for four consecutive hours without signs of exhaustion.
Howister couldn’t hide his excitement.
"But..."
"One isn’t enough."
"If we’re going after the Obelisk, a single enhanced soldier still feels risky."
Evenson smiled.
"Which is why..."
"...I’m giving you a squad."
He placed both hands on the table.
When he lifted them again...
Twenty identical glass vials rested neatly before Howister.
Each contained the same thick emerald liquid.
Howister barely noticed the sleight of hand.
His attention locked onto the serum.
"So..."
"You’ve begun mass production."
His heart pounded.
Producing one prototype was extraordinary.
Producing twenty...
That implied a stable manufacturing process.
His eyes drifted back toward the monitor, where Rom continued tearing through test equipment.
The Umbrella Corporation suddenly seemed far more terrifying than he’d first imagined.
"We’ve reached limited production."
Evenson deliberately chose his words.
"Output is still relatively low."
That answer only reinforced Howister’s assumptions.
The more mysterious Umbrella appeared...
The better.
After a long silence, Howister asked another question.
"If your company possesses this level of technology..."
"...why not retrieve the Obelisk yourselves?"
It was a fair point.
If Umbrella truly commanded soldiers like Rom...
Why cooperate with Hydra at all?
Evenson answered without hesitation.
"Our philosophies differ."
Hydra believed powerful artifacts were the key to creating the world’s ultimate weapons.
"The Umbrella Corporation disagrees."
He leaned back.
"We believe humanity itself is the greatest marvel."
"The human body is the ultimate weapon."
Bioweapons.
The word immediately formed in Howister’s mind.
He had already suspected Umbrella specialized in biological enhancement.
Now he felt almost certain.
He glanced once more at the towering figure on the monitor.
"I have to admit..."
"Your research has produced remarkable results."
Evenson waved dismissively.
"The Tyrant project isn’t particularly special."
"It’s only one branch of our work."
Howister’s expression froze.
"...One?"
"You have others?"
"Of course."
Evenson answered casually, as though discussing different brands of coffee.
"T-Series."
"C-Series."
"X-Series."
"G-Series."
"Veronica."
"Las Plagas."
"At the moment, only the T-Series is sufficiently stable for practical deployment."
"The others still aren’t ready for mass production."
Howister stared at him.
His mind struggled to process what he had just heard.
One successful super-soldier program would have been revolutionary.
Umbrella apparently treated them like items on a product catalog.
"...Unbelievable."
That was all he could manage.
Evenson shrugged.
"Once you’ve successfully developed one enhancement platform..."
"Creating derivative variants isn’t particularly difficult."
Howister finally relaxed.
That explanation sounded... reasonable.
At least by comparison.
Then Evenson casually added,
"The truly difficult research involves accelerated human cloning..."
"...and rapid memory implantation."
Howister’s head snapped up.
"...What?"
Evenson continued as though discussing tomorrow’s weather.
"Imagine taking a fertilized human embryo..."
"Growing it into a fully developed adult within twenty-four hours..."
"...then uploading twenty years’ worth of carefully designed memories into its brain in five seconds."
"Complete loyalty to Umbrella."
"Complete combat training."
"Wouldn’t that be the perfect soldier?"
Silence.
Howister’s face slowly lost all color.
At last...
He understood what Umbrella meant by humanity is the ultimate weapon.
He pictured an assembly line.
Not one producing rifles or tanks...
But people.
Fully grown adults moving down conveyor belts.
Machines imprinting memories directly into their minds.
Five seconds later...
Another perfectly loyal soldier stepped off the line.
One final injection of T-Agent...
And the process repeated.
Not factories manufacturing weapons.
Factories manufacturing armies.
His voice came out almost as a whisper.
"...Has it worked?"
If Umbrella had truly succeeded...
They could create an army of enhanced soldiers almost overnight.
Evenson shook his head.
"Not yet."
He smiled faintly.
"If we’d already solved that problem..."
"...why would I bother asking Hydra for help?"
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