Chapter 50 The Support Plan for Madame Ophelia

Inside the biological testing grounds of the Foundation laboratory, Ethan, his security officer 2B, Dr.

William Birkin, Madame Ophelia, and her adjutant Leah were all standing inside an elevated observation room.

Through the reinforced glass, they could clearly see the B.O.W.

Tyrant undergoing live-combat testing below.

Nearly three meters tall.

Massively built.

Mutated muscles as hard as steel.

And enormous claws capable of tearing through reinforced concrete.

The performance of the T-103 Tyrant left both Ophelia and Leah, who had come from the Chaos Insurgency to observe the test, visibly delighted.

The Foundation side, however, reacted very differently.

Ethan and 2B remained expressionless.

William looked outright unimpressed.

The Tyrant was certainly a powerful biological weapon.

But it still wasn’t a truly qualified finished product.

The T-103 model was only the basic mass-production type.

Because of its limited intelligence, the T-103 Tyrant couldn’t properly use weapons.

Worse, once it suffered sufficiently severe injuries, it would transform into a mutated state.

Its right arm would become a terrifying oversized claw, making it even more lethal— But after that transformation, it could no longer return to normal.

And then there was the issue of appearance.

At best, Tyrants simply looked slightly more human than the Hunters created by the Chaos Insurgency, or inferior T-virus products such as zombies and Lickers.

Although Tyrants were indeed created through cloned human bodies, even a casual observer could tell that they were no longer truly human.

Deploying creatures like these openly in warfare would inevitably create enormous panic and moral controversy.

Most people were deeply repulsed by experiments involving viruses or biological modification performed on human beings.

That was one of the main reasons companies like Umbrella Corporation were so infamous in movies and games.

Of course, even when organizations like that were destroyed, the products of their research never truly disappeared.

Someone else would simply take over the technology.

Still, the moral problem surrounding biological weapons wasn’t the main reason Ethan had no intention of deploying current-generation Tyrants within the Foundation.

The real problem was intelligence.

They couldn’t properly use weapons.

They could only follow basic commands through implanted control chips.

And if those chips were damaged— They would go berserk.

At their current stage, Tyrants were simply unsuitable for the Foundation’s containment missions.

Against anomalies, insufficient intelligence could easily lead directly to containment failure.

But while the Foundation considered the current Tyrant far from satisfactory— Ophelia and Leah certainly didn’t.

The two women, who had never seen anything quite like this, practically lit up when Ethan smilingly handed them a hard drive containing the Foundation’s T-virus B.O.W.

research data.

The Tyrant had plenty of flaws.

But there was a reason it remained one of the signature products of the T-virus technology tree.

It was cheap.

A single unit cost less than one million U.S.

dollars.

The most expensive component was usually obtaining a suitable cloned human body.

Once deployed in confined terrain, a Tyrant became an infantryman’s nightmare.

It was essentially a humanoid tank.

In urban combat, especially at close range, even if it couldn’t necessarily destroy a main battle tank, tearing apart armored cars and infantry fighting vehicles was entirely realistic.

Its durability was also exceptional.

Even after entering its mutated giant-claw state, a Tyrant could survive hits from RPGs.

Unless it suffered repeated direct strikes to the head from rocket warheads or heavy anti-materiel rifles, killing one was extremely difficult.

And if it was severely wounded— It would mutate, become enraged, and grow even more dangerous.

According to the test data, a single Tyrant could defeat seven or eight Hunters head-on without much difficulty.

If the number of Hunters doubled, the Tyrant might be wounded.

But it would still take roughly thirty Hunters to reliably trade for a single Tyrant.

At the Chaos Insurgency’s current technological level, manufacturing thirty Hunters would cost at least thirty million dollars.

Ethan spoke generously.

“These are merely part of the Foundation’s support plan for you, Madame Ophelia.” “In the future, we’ll provide you with even more assistance.” Ophelia’s smile immediately became radiant.

“Only support for me personally?” “Not for the Chaos Insurgency?” Ethan’s expression turned serious.

“Of course.” “Personally, I hope you’ll use this technology to completely consolidate your control over the Chaos Insurgency.” “After all, you’re not yet its supreme leader.” “So consider this…” “A small personal investment from me.” Ophelia blinked.

Her smile grew even brighter.

“Oh?” “Only a small investment?” “If possible, Commander…” “I’d like to invite you to dinner later.” “We could discuss the details carefully.” Looking at the expectation in Ophelia’s eyes— And considering how far the atmosphere had already gone— It almost seemed unreasonable not to discuss it.

If the project fell apart because of insufficient communication, that would be a real shame.

After all, this was a genuine win-win arrangement.

Sharing this technology with the Chaos Insurgency benefited both sides.

The Chaos Insurgency could use its own funding and industrial system to manufacture products that were still too immature for direct Foundation deployment.

Ophelia could then field those biological weapons in actual combat.

The Foundation would remain behind the scenes, collecting combat data, improving the designs, and developing the next generation.

Once a truly perfected product emerged— The Foundation could begin using it itself.

The Foundation won.

And besides— Ophelia had already practically become completely aligned with the Foundation.

She obeyed Ethan’s instructions without hesitation.

So whether the Foundation used these weapons directly or the Chaos Insurgency used them on the Foundation’s behalf…

Was there really much difference?

If the Chaos Insurgency received Tyrants, they would still be using them to work for the Foundation.

So— The Foundation won again.

That was what Ethan called a win-win situation.

Meaning the Supreme Commander won twice.

He was winning so hard it was almost ridiculous.

As long as the Chaos Insurgency continued working diligently, the Foundation could eventually replace its current forces with a new generation of biologically enhanced super-soldiers much sooner.

The Chaos Insurgency would help advance the Foundation’s biotechnology with every deployment.

Having an affiliated organization like this was simply wonderful.

As for having to attend dinners and socialize?

What a hassle.

Ethan suddenly felt that the ceiling lights were a little too bright.

Sigh.

All this socializing…

What a difficult job.

Still, adults had to endure a little hardship if they wanted important projects to succeed.

Ethan sighed internally.

He hated social obligations more than anything.

But what choice did he have?

It was all for the success of the project.

“No problem.” “That’s a perfectly reasonable request.” “Since this is a mutually beneficial project, we naturally need to discuss the details properly.” After touring all the research projects, the Foundation’s Supreme Commander was therefore forced to spend the entire evening discussing with Madame Ophelia, leader of the Chaos Insurgency, the sinister plan of dividing up the organization’s power structure and turning it completely into a Foundation-controlled puppet— Along with refining every last detail of the arrangement.