"That's right, we will make Wakanda great again…"
"Let Wakanda become an empire on which the sun never sets…"
"Wakandans are the true warriors!!!"
"Long live Erik King…"
"…"
Even those who previously didn't understand Erik Stevens's speech or didn't quite agree with it were quickly swept up by the fervent atmosphere and passively joined the frenzied crowd.
On the high platform, Erik Stevens stood tall with his hands behind his back, looking at the agitated citizens in the square below, feeling an indescribable sense of triumph.
He had originally thought he would need to expend great effort to convince the people of Wakanda to accept his twisted rhetoric.
He hadn't expected it to be so easy.
They truly were a bunch of brainless fools.
Then, Erik Stevens turned his gaze to Okoye and the 18 tribal leaders standing behind him, and ordered in a commanding tone:
"Alright, now act as I've instructed… Pfft!!!"
However, just as the word 'act' was about to leave his lips, Erik Stevens's head, caught off guard, exploded with a 'pfft' sound in front of everyone, like a watermelon struck by a heavy object.
…
"Detected collectible soul, Warp souls +1."
"prestige points +9, +7, +7…"
…
Whoosh—
A thick, yellowish-green poisonous mist, accompanied by splatters of brain matter and scalp fragments, burst forth.
But what was astonishing was that Okoye and the members of the Dora Milaje, who were first exposed to the yellowish-green mist, transformed into mindless, bloodthirsty zombies within a few seconds, lunging at the tribal leaders who were still in a daze.
"Ugh ah…"
"Help… help me…"
A few tribal leaders, positioned slightly further back, scrambled to run down to the square, but before they could go a few steps, they were tackled to the ground by the zombies chasing from behind and gnawed into a bloody mess.
Not long after, the fragmented corpses on the ground seemed to come back to life, shakily rising from the pool of blood, then, like man-eating beasts, lunged at the nearest civilians.
Faced with this sudden drastic change, the Wakandan citizens who had been standing below the high platform had no time to react before they were tackled by zombies rushing at them or falling from the high platform like dumplings.
In an instant, wails and screams filled the air.
But their screams were drowned out by the louder cheers from behind.
What made the front-row citizens even more desperate was that when they tried to escape the zombie attack, they found there was nowhere to run.
Most of the citizens in the back were still immersed in the 'inspiring' speech, cheering and dancing along with the people in front, completely unaware that the crisis of death had already arrived.
It wasn't until the moment the people in front of them were tackled to the ground and gnawed by zombies that they realized what was happening…
But it was already too late.
…
Thus, in less than two days, the entire Wakanda completely became a city overrun by zombies!
Only a very small number of lucky individuals managed to escape, but their fate was predictable.
Who could have imagined that this 'World's leading technological power' with nearly a million citizens would fall from within in such an absurd and ironic manner?
And the energy barrier on the periphery, which had protected Wakanda for generations from any attacks and satellite detection with its background reflection camouflage function, now became the biggest obstacle preventing the survivors from escaping to safety.
How ironic was this?
How tragic was this?
But the truly tragic person was probably Erik Stevens.
He could never have imagined that he would die in this manner, at the proudest moment of his life.
However, he probably never knew, even until his death, that the one who truly ended his life was not Albert Wesker, who remotely detonated the parasite in his brain, but Tzeentch, far away in the Warp.
Because his 'fate' had been arranged from the very beginning.
Even his current death was merely a small part of Tzeentch's vast and perfect plan.
However, the fall of Wakanda was far from the end of this event; it was only the beginning of a new phase.
Next, the 'plague' initiated by Albert Wesker will sweep across the entire continent of Africa with overwhelming force in a very short time!!
…
Several weeks later.
Africa.
A secret underground Base of Trasel Pharmaceutical.
"Ah-ha…"
Ikosera Johnny yawned, pushed open the office door, and sleepily looked at Albert Wesker, who was busy packing things at the desk opposite her, as if he was about to move out.
She asked with some confusion, "What are you doing?"
Then she gently patted her plump cheek and grumbled with some displeasure, "It's not even 8 AM yet! Why did you wake me up so early? I was having my beauty sleep…"
"Things have changed; it seems the Ouroboros Project must proceed ahead of schedule!!" Albert Wesker said without turning his head.
"What? You're moving the plan forward?"
Hearing this, Ikosera Johnny's sleepiness immediately vanished, and she looked at him with a surprised expression.
After confirming that he wasn't joking, she asked with a mix of panic and confusion, "Wesker, what on earth are you up to?"
"Didn't you say before that the Ouroboros Virus hadn't entered its final development stage? Why are you suddenly rushing to execute the plan now?"
Albert Wesker's movements paused slightly, and he said coldly, "Didn't you see this morning's news? It seems the Trasel Group hasn't called you yet!"
"This morning's news?"
Ikosera Johnny was stunned, clearly not understanding what connection there could be between the news and the early execution of the Ouroboros Project.
These were completely unrelated matters, weren't they?
Seeing her reaction, Albert Wesker didn't bother to waste more words explaining to this busty, brainless woman. He simply picked up a tablet from the desk and handed it to her, saying coldly:
"Hurry up and take a look; we have very little preparation time left…"
Ikosera Johnny took the tablet blankly and found that a website was already open on it, which was none other than The Daily Bugle's exclusive subscription channel.
At this moment, the screen seemed to be looping a sensational revelation from John Jameson during the morning news segment.
Even without seeing the content of the video yet, Ikosera Johnny felt an inexplicable sense of dread, as if something bad was about to happen.
She raised her hand and pressed the play button.
"Good morning, dear viewers… But I believe what you want to hear is not this simple, unadorned daily greeting, but a sensational revelation that will make your adrenaline surge first thing in the morning!"
"That's right, you're very lucky; today I happen to have a fresh, hot piece of insider information…"
John Jameson showed a mysterious smile on his face and continued speaking to the camera:
"According to an insider who wishes to remain anonymous and not reveal their name, a horrifying biological terrorist attack occurred several weeks ago in a place called the Kijuju Autonomous Region in western Africa. Although its scale was far less than that of Raccoon City a few years ago, its brutality was even greater…"
"As of now, the direct death toll caused by the biochemical virus in the Kijuju Autonomous Region has reached several thousand, with the vast majority of victims being local residents and a small number of foreign settlers."
"But this time, the virus that caused significant casualties… ah, to be precise, it should be a parasite. What appeared in the Kijuju Autonomous Region this time was not the T-Virus or the G-Virus, but a special biochemical weapon called the Plaga Parasite."
"Compared to the former two more primitive viruses, the Plaga Parasite can give infected individuals speed and destructive power far exceeding that of zombies. Most terrifyingly, it can also allow infected individuals to retain their original consciousness and intelligence to a certain extent…"
"That's my brief Popular Science before officially delving into this incident. Now, everyone, please grip your steering wheels, fasten your seatbelts, and let's thoroughly explore the hidden secrets behind this biochemical terrorist attack in the Kijuju Autonomous Region…"
The video suddenly paused here, and a prompt to purchase and watch the subsequent content popped up from below the video.
Seeing this, Ikosera Johnny's mouth twitched slightly, feeling a surge of speechlessness.
Goodness, this truly was a case of not showing the rabbit until you have the snare, wasn't it?
When it came to verbose prose and manipulating audience expectations to encourage further subscriptions, John Jameson was definitely a standout among news media professionals.
In fact, Ikosera Johnny was no stranger to John Jameson.
There was no way around it; this 'sharp-tongued' old man had been too prominent lately.
Many previously unknown major secret events, their inside stories, were almost entirely revealed by him personally.
Sometimes, even news that the involved officials didn't know, The Daily Bugle could fully expose it at the first opportunity.
Because of this, there had always been a bold speculation in the outside World that John Jameson was actually the true mastermind behind all the events.
Otherwise, it simply couldn't be explained how he, merely a newspaper editor-in-chief, could consistently obtain so much top-secret, first-hand insider information?
Currently, the New York press had dubbed John Jameson 'the number one intelligence provider in the news industry, the king of scoops in the intelligence community'!!
And because The Daily Bugle's accuracy and timeliness of revelations far surpassed most intelligence organizations,
Therefore, whether it was the intelligence organizations of various countries, or major news media counterparts, and tens of thousands of ordinary citizens… especially the millions of people living in the 'City of Disaster,' New York, almost all of them spent their days glued to The Daily Bugle's live stream, hoping to get first-hand insider information on major events through its revelations.
And in this process, The Daily Bugle naturally helped Karl make a huge profit.
Putting everything else aside, the subscription fees for the special column channel alone had already reached an astonishing astronomical figure.
Getting back to the main topic.
Albert Wesker had evidently already subscribed to the following content, so when Ikosera Johnny raised her hand and pressed the play button, the video continued to play.
However, just the first sentence sent shivers down Ikosera Johnny's spine.
"First, let's state the conclusion… According to an insider, the culprit directly responsible for the biochemical terrorist attacks that broke out in the Kijuju Autonomous Region… ah, no, not just in the Kijuju Autonomous Region, but in multiple locations across Africa, is none other than – Albert Wesker! – who previously served as a senior executive in Umbrella Corporation's virus research and development department, and was directly involved in the Raccoon City tragedy, as well as several other biochemical terrorist attacks!"
"Please don't be surprised, and don't panic… Yes, contrary to the information previously announced by the BSAA Organization, this heinous biochemical terrorist not only did not die, but has escaped the BSAA Organization's pursuit multiple times… and remains at large to this day."
"Speaking of this, I can't help but ask… The BSAA Organization, as an alliance organization under the UN specifically dealing with biochemical terrorist attacks worldwide, receives hundreds of billions of specialized funding annually, has branches worldwide, and is fully equipped with personnel and weapons. So why can't it still capture Albert Wesker?"
"To the high-ranking officials of the BSAA Organization, I want to ask you, what exactly are you doing? And where exactly is the money of taxpayers from various countries being spent?"
"In fact, in my opinion, the reason Albert Wesker was able to commit such heinous acts on the African continent this time is entirely due to your indirect connivance over the years…
Otherwise, why is it that even I, a mere newspaper editor-in-chief, can get information about him, while you professionals are always kept in the dark?"
"Or perhaps, you truly don't know, or are you deliberately allowing threats to persist to maintain your own importance, rather than wanting to capture him…?"
Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that John Jameson's recent statements were highly pointed.
It was practically equivalent to directly firing at the faces of the BSAA Organization's high-ranking officials.
And given The Daily Bugle's current size and influence, it was foreseeable that if the BSAA Organization's high-ranking officials couldn't provide convincing evidence, they would instantly become targets of public condemnation.
Furthermore, if handled improperly, even the UN could very likely be implicated and receive widespread criticism.