Javier, who had been resting with his eyes closed in the driver's seat, glanced at Steve, who was secretly making small movements in the back.
Javier couldn't help but inwardly complain, 'Go on and kiss her, nothing will happen even if you do.
Except for the protagonist, anyone who gets close to the Cthulhu family doesn't end well, especially a naive young man like you trying to pursue true love.
You'll die a much more miserable death later on…'
As for Steve, Javier actually didn't care much for him.
Regarding the pairing of Claire and Steve designed by Capcom, Javier always felt it was a bit strange.
One was a 17-year-old boy, mischievous and immature, prone to tantrums, like a little brother.
Claire, on the other hand, was a college student approaching 20, with a clearly more intellectual and mature personality, considering things from multiple angles.
This was clearly more like an older sister and a younger brother, and a brother who often needed his sister's care.
He truly didn't understand how they were paired together.
Or perhaps Capcom suddenly developed a fondness for this kind of older-sister-younger-brother romance, but even if it was, the age gap seemed a little too wide, which Javier found very odd.
It seemed Capcom also realized this problem, as they later made Steve look a bit more mature through plastic surgery, making people overlook his 17-year-old age, which barely made it less awkward.
But a 20-year-old face with a true age of only 17 seemed even more jarring.
Back to the main topic—
After several hours of flight,
Claire and Steve slowly woke up from their sleep, but when they saw a vast expanse of white snow mist outside the plane window, they were instantly startled.
Weren't they supposed to be returning to the United States? How did they end up in such a desolate, icy place?
"Javier… Javier…!!!"
Claire quickly nudged the feigning-sleep Javier, pointing at the vast expanse of ice and snow outside and asking in confusion what was going on and how they had flown to this godforsaken place.
Javier looked at the endless ice and snow outside the window and knew that Alfred's navigation plan had succeeded.
He then pretended to be surprised as he operated the equipment, then pointed at the plane's navigation screen and said with a shocked expression:
"No, someone forcibly altered our navigation route, forcing us not to return to the United States as planned, but to be sent to… to be sent to… Antarctica—?!"
Chapter 13: Nosferatu
"Antarctica…?!!!"
Without a doubt,
Claire and Steve both froze instantly upon hearing this.
They hadn't expected to travel across the ocean from the United States to Antarctica.
Wasn't this just asking to die?
Moreover, this godforsaken place was so cold, how could there be any living people there?
Could it be that the Umbrella Corporation had even gone so far as to build an Institute in this extremely harsh environment?
If that were truly the case… Claire couldn't help but admire the vast reach of the Umbrella Corporation.
"Alright, you've done all your complaining, and what's done is done; there's no turning back.
The fuel is not enough to support this transport plane returning, so we can only make an emergency landing for now!"
Javier watched as the flight path grew closer, realizing they were nearing the Antarctica Research Institute.
He decisively cut off the automatic navigation control and began manual piloting.
There was no runway for an emergency landing on the ground; it was an endless expanse of white snow.
Javier only hoped that the freshly fallen snow hadn't completely frozen yet and could be as soft as possible, otherwise, if they plunged in, their transport plane would instantly be smashed to smithereens.
"Vroom—!!!"
Turning off the transport plane's throttle,
Javier slowly descended the transport plane horizontally until it reached a similar altitude to the ground, then he went all out, letting the transport plane plunge headfirst into the pristine white snow.
As the entire nose of the plane dug into the snow, the whole transport plane began to shake violently, but fortunately, the snow was very soft.
After sliding for several hundred meters on the ground, it came to a halt in front of a tall fortress-like building.
"Screech, screech, screech…!!!"
After an unknown amount of time,
Javier and the others finally climbed out of the transport plane.
To accommodate Claire and Steve's experience, Javier handed them the pre-prepared tight-fitting combat suits.
Without such warm clothing in Antarctica, one would turn into an ice pop within tens of minutes of going outside.
As for Claire asking Javier why he had prepared warm clothing in advance, Javier vaguely replied that it was already on the transport plane.
After all, their respective tight-fitting combat suits were of different grades, with Claire's being rougher.
Claire, whose cheeks were red from the cold, didn't dwell on it and immediately put on the suit.
The tight-fitting combat suit accentuated Claire's figure even more.
Steve, after accidentally glancing at her, quickly turned his head away and changed into his own suit.
At this point,
the four-person team was ready.
Javier and Lisa led the way, with Claire and Steve following closely behind.
Their eyes were all very curious as they looked around, especially with a tall fortress and a signal tower nearby, making it even harder to believe that someone would actually be willing to stay in this desolate place.
However, they soon understood; after all, it was the Umbrella Corporation.
The more secluded a place, the more they liked it, because such places were very safe and wouldn't be disturbed by anyone.
"But speaking of which,"
"even though there's a research base here, are there really still people alive? It looks like it's been abandoned for a long time."
Claire looked at the surrounding Antarctica Research Institute.
These buildings seemed old, probably from thirty or forty years ago.
Maintaining energy for such a large-scale base in such an extremely harsh weather environment was no small feat.
Claire suspected these were merely remnants of the exterior.
However,
what was ahead soon disproved Claire's statement.
Because a fighter jet was parked right at the entrance of the Antarctica Research Institute base.
Although the fighter jet was already shattered, with its wings and turbine engines still burning fiercely, there was no doubt… someone had indeed just been here.
Moreover, remnants resembling a parachute were found not far away, indicating that the fighter pilot had likely chosen to parachute to safety.
Upon seeing this,
Javier and the others quickly rushed to check and indeed found very clear footprints.
Following the footprints, Javier and the others quickly found the entrance to the Antarctica Research Institute.
Without hesitation… the group decisively walked inside.
"Thump, thump, thump…"
"Thump, thump, thump…"
"Thump, thump, thump…"
Soon,
the group entered the vast Institute base.
The interior layout was not much different from other branch research bases: an endless expanse, labyrinthine corridors.
However, due to years of disrepair, it had become much more dilapidated.
Most of the corridor lights were incredibly dim, with only a few still flickering and barely providing light.
It seemed that to maintain the daily operations of the entire Institute base, they had economized energy to the extreme, with all unnecessary things having been shut down.
Additionally,
what surprised Javier and Claire was that
there wasn't a single zombie inside the Institute base; to be precise, there truly wasn't a single zombie at the moment.
No grotesque zombies suddenly sprang out in the dark corridors, no Lickers half-hanging and lurking on the ceiling, ready to ambush, and no Tyrants confined anywhere.
This meant that
Alexia had only researched one type of T-Veronica Virus, and after planning to fuse with it herself, she had thoroughly disposed of all other viruses within the Institute base.
This resulted in her being the only owner of the T-Veronica Virus in the world.
However,
the lack of zombies allowed the group to advance more boldly.
But very soon,
the group discovered a person… or a zombie… in a cell not far ahead?!
Its hands were tightly bound by leather straps, unable to move at all, and its entire body was pressed onto a stone chair.
Its bald head and body were a ghastly pale green, its eyes were sewn shut and bound with dark red cloth strips, with faint blood vessels visible around them, and incredibly sharp limb-scythes grew from its shoulders.
This was undoubtedly a humanoid monster, no mistake about it.
But at this very moment, it still sat motionless, completely devoid of life, as if it were dead.
Claire wasn't sure what that thing was; after all, it was a new species she hadn't seen in Raccoon City or Rockfort Island Prison.
However, Javier knew exactly what it was.
Nosferatu—an adult male imprisoned in the underground cell of the Antarctica Research Institute, but whose true identity was Alexander, the sixth-generation head of the Ashford family, and the biological father of Alfred and Alexia.
After being injected with the virus by his two rebellious children, the virus's high activation level caused rapid changes in his cells, leading to the destruction of his brain cells and body tissues.
Due to its terrifying screams, it was named "Nosferatu" by the staff of the Antarctica Research Institute.
Its back grew huge tentacles, which could not only be used for attack but also replace its legs, which were inconvenient to move due to being restrained, to allow it to move.
A special kind of venom was produced within its body, which would turn into a diffuse poisonous mist upon contact with air.
This highly toxic substance could only be neutralized with an antidote specially formulated by Alexia.
However, its weakness was similar to that of the Tyrant: its heart was exposed, and once hit, it would die immediately, as it didn't have the Tyrant's three hearts.
But more than all of this, Javier was more curious about something else.
Alexander Ashford, also known as Nosferatu, had been alive for nearly twenty years since he was betrayed and injected with the virus by his two rebellious children, especially during the more than ten years when Alexia chose to go into seclusion and freeze herself to fuse with the T-Veronica Virus, effectively sealing off the Institute.
Is the T-Veronica Virus's survival ability really that tenacious?
After all, zombies truly cannot live forever without eating; if they cannot obtain energy, they will gradually starve themselves to death, becoming skin and bones until they lose the ability to move…
"What kind of monster is that?"
"Is it dead or alive? Why isn't it moving?"
Steve, who was curious about everything, pointed at Nosferatu, who was imprisoned below, and asked in confusion.
Javier quickly raised a finger to his lips, signaling Steve to shut up immediately and not disturb this guy.
Although Nosferatu was not extremely difficult to deal with, it was, after all, the first human to be injected with the T-Veronica Virus.
It possessed the effect of its venom turning into a highly potent poison upon contact with air, which later common small monsters did not have.
Once inhaled, it was very likely to cause immediate infection, assimilation, and mutation into the same type of monster.
And to neutralize this poisonous mist, only the higher-level "Emperor," Alexia, could do so, as there were significant differences between the original strains.
After warning Steve, Javier and the others planned to continue forward, while the reprimanded Steve made a face behind Javier's back.
He hated this guy who wasn't much older than him but acted so mature, looking only around twenty-one, yet speaking with the tone of an elder.
However, just as Javier and the others were truly planning to retreat, an extremely piercing and terrifying scream suddenly rang out:
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh—!!!!"
The sound was so sharp it almost pierced their eardrums.
Everyone turned back and realized that Nosferatu, who had been imprisoned on the stone chair, had somehow broken free from the restraints and was slowly reawakening.
It seemed the monster had woken up because it sensed the intrusion of invaders!
After all, he was originally the true master of the Antarctica Research Institute, only to be outmaneuvered by his two rebellious children.
"Screech—!!!!"
Behind him, four folded segmented blades instantly sprang open, like the large scythes of a praying mantis or the flexible four legs of a spider, easily cutting through the sturdy iron bars and then slowly crawling out.
"Bang…"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh—!!!!"
As soon as it landed, the Nosferatu in front of them roared frantically at Javier and the others.
This roar, neither human nor beast, was very strange; it was more like the screeching of an insect.
Perhaps this was the T-Veronica Virus, which incorporated the DNA of an ancient queen ant, causing almost all mutated monsters to be insect-like.
"Run—!"
Seeing this, Steve shouted to run.
This monster was clearly much more terrifying than the previous ones, and the Institute was so large; leaving it to wander around by itself seemed like no problem.
However, despite saying so, Javier raised his hand to stop this action:
"We can't run."
"If it releases a large amount of toxic gas, it will be very troublesome.
We must kill it completely here to reduce the spread of the toxic gas; otherwise, when we return, if we are surrounded by the toxic gas, we will all be done for."
Yes, this was the key.
The venom inside Nosferatu would turn into a poisonous mist upon contact with air.
A little bit would be fine, but if they ignored it, and it released poisonous mist as it moved, the entire Institute base would become a poisonous mist base, and then they would truly be in trouble.
Therefore, dealing with it now was the best approach.
Thinking of this, Lisa, who was nearby, instinctively drew the thin blade from her waist.
With her abilities… it should be no problem to instantly kill this monster in a few seconds.
However, Javier saw through Lisa's thoughts and decisively stopped her.
He was unsure if the poisonous mist produced by the T-Veronica Virus would affect Lisa, who was a G-Virus host, so to be safe, it was better for Javier to go himself.
Taking out the inseparable green-headed fly gas mask from his tactical backpack and putting it on his head, Javier decisively unslung the M82A1 sniper rifle from his back and charged forward.
He had many things he hadn't used yet, so he would practice on Nosferatu this time!
"Whoosh…!"
"Thump-thump-thump—!!!!"
Javier relaxed his mind and took a deep breath; a large amount of oxygen began to flow into his lungs and all the organs and limbs of his body.
Javier felt all the muscles in his body bulge, and his blood flow accelerated.
The next second, he burst out with incredible speed, even more absurd than if he had taken stimulants or adrenaline.
Watching Javier's speed, Lisa, who was observing from a distance, raised her eyebrows slightly.
She wondered when Javier had become so strong.
However, this was the power of the Breathing Technique.
Javier learned it through a secret manual; it couldn't release various cool flames through a Nichirin Blade, but it could simply enhance the user's physical abilities, making it not an overly overpowered skill.
"Hmph—!"
With a low growl, seeing that he was about to approach Nosferatu, Javier first drew the Dog Leg Knife from his waist and charged forward.
Nosferatu, seeing this, showed no weakness either, furiously swinging its jet-black segmented scythes.
If hit, he would be cut into four pieces of flesh.
But Javier felt this was exactly what he wanted, because the small Dog Leg Knife in his hand also had its own passive ability: when striking a joint area, it would have additional damage penetration bonus when cutting bone.
The segmented scythes in front of him were indeed joint areas—!
P.S.: It seems I don't have COVID; I think I have dengue fever.
It's killing me.
Today is the fifth day, much better, but I'm still weak.
I'm forcing myself to write every day, so I can only apologize for the poor quality and typos, because I really can't bear it.
Chapter Fourteen: A Small Test of Skill
"Hehehe…!!"
Javier, behind the green eye-sockets of his gas mask, revealed a smile of satisfaction.
He suddenly used all his strength to leap forward, aiming the Dog Leg Knife at Nosferatu's huge black segmented scythe and slashing down fiercely.
His speed was incredibly fast.