Thinking of this, Rebecca, as if by some divine impulse, reached for the desk drawer again and pulled out a meticulously maintained silver Desert Eagle.
This was the only thing Javier gave her after they escaped from the Akeley Mountains in Raccoon City—a gun, no less! What was even more ridiculous was that it had an extremely strong recoil, completely unsuitable for a woman, but even so, Rebecca had kept it for a long time.
Even though she had transitioned from a military officer to a civilian position, she still carried it with her…
"Sigh…"
She let out a deep sigh.
The past memories and thrilling adventures were deeply etched in her mind, but what angered Rebecca even more was that four years had passed, and Javier still showed no intention of seeing her.
This made Rebecca, a pharmacology expert, develop a stubborn streak, and she threw herself wholeheartedly into academic research.
However, she never expected that four years would fly by in an instant, which surprised Rebecca herself.
She wondered if Javier had forgotten about her.
"Hey!"
"Our Dr. Rebecca, what are you sighing about again? Don't tell me you're thinking about your bad-boy police boyfriend!"
Just as Rebecca's thoughts were swirling, a playful laugh suddenly came from behind her, and a hand gently patted her shoulder in jest.
"Click—!"
However, the reaction ingrained in Rebecca's muscle memory was incredibly swift and intense.
The moment her shoulder was patted, she immediately reacted, turning, squatting, racking the slide, and disengaging the safety.
Before the person could react, the cold, dark muzzle of the meticulously maintained Desert Eagle was pressed against their head, nearly scaring them to death.
The person who had made the joke was Rebecca's research colleague, a trendy-looking guy also wearing black-rimmed glasses, but with a rather effeminate demeanor.
Seeing this person appear, Rebecca quickly retracted the Desert Eagle.
Being lost in thought for too long had made her overreact, even unconsciously using her long-untrained combat skills.
This made Rebecca realize something was amiss; it seemed her mental stress lately was too high, and she needed to relax a bit.
However, Rebecca didn't notice that a strangely familiar yet unfamiliar, long-uncontacted letter with a signature had mysteriously appeared in her computer's inbox.
Who was it…?
…
South America Tropical Rainforest —
(Amazon Rainforest)
Rainforest—most people, upon hearing these two words, probably just imagine a simple, wet forest.
But in reality… this place is known as the Green Hell.
As far as the eye can see, there are dense forests that block out the sun.
The morning mist envelops everything, making the environment extremely humid; everywhere is damp and sticky, with muddy ground, dew-covered leaves, and stifling high temperatures, making everything here so uncomfortable.
Although the rainforest resources are extremely abundant, there are endless trees, inexhaustible water resources, and even food everywhere—fruits, fish, birds, rodents, and countless other prey.
But even so, besides the indigenous people who cannot leave, no one wants to venture into this place.
Because the true dangers of the Amazon Rainforest are hidden in dark corners that are difficult for ordinary people to discover.
The hard-to-detect hot and humid environment feels like being inside a giant steamer, making people incredibly irritable.
Without careful attention, one might faint from dehydration and heatstroke in this dense rainforest.
The constantly rising river water due to weather and rainy seasons is also a very difficult problem.
Once the water level rises, the entire rainforest becomes a vast ocean, making every step difficult.
If one's feet remain in such a humid environment for a long time without drying, they can even contract the terrifying trench foot.
Rotten and foul-smelling toes are an unimaginable nightmare for countless people…
In addition, there are all kinds of venomous insects and snakes.
This rainforest alone is home to tens of thousands of species, and if bitten, given the medical conditions in the rainforest, there is undoubtedly no hope of survival.
Of course, there are also various fierce beasts.
Jaguars, crocodiles, piranhas, electric eels, anacondas, alligator snapping turtles—these fierce beasts will attack you from the shadows at any time.
Furthermore… some plants can also harm people; the sharp thorns protecting them contain various neurotoxins that can make those who accidentally touch them suffer excruciating pain.
Of course, because of this special environment, the Amazon Rainforest has also become one of the world's largest drug production and trafficking sites.
Due to its inaccessibility and primitive environment, this area is essentially a lawless zone with no semblance of order.
No drug enforcement police in the world dare to set foot on this land, and even outsiders who enter will be viewed with hostility and driven away by the local residents.
Colombia, Peru, including the famous football powerhouse Brazil, in addition to rampant illegal logging and private capture and sale of precious protected animals, are also world leaders in drug trafficking.
The world only knows the notoriety of Mexican drug lords, but they don't know that the drug traffickers around the Amazon are truly lawless.
On this land, taboo is the main theme.
Because the pace of development cannot be kept up with, the income of ordinary citizens is meager, and some families even struggle to afford three meals a day, basically living a life of hunger.
Such poverty naturally easily breeds a hotbed of crime.
In these countries, the easiest way to make money is not playing soccer, not doing business, not practicing MMA, and certainly not working diligently and honestly, but rather engaging in illegal drug trafficking, logging, and poaching animals.
This is the real reason for the rampant evil forces in Colombia, Peru, and Brazil.
And in this dense Amazon Rainforest, there exists a notorious drug lord named Javier—
Cough, of course, not the protagonist Javier, who is busy researching viruses in the rich district; although he researches viruses, he really doesn't produce drugs.
The true name of this drug lord is Havier Hidalgo, a true kingpin of drug trafficking in South America.
He commands thousands to tens of thousands of people and, relying on the treacherous terrain of the Amazon Rainforest, has established his massive drug manufacturing facility there and sells his products.
He is a guy whom Mr. The United States of America, the world's policeman, utterly despises, because Havier Hidalgo's drug trafficking methods are widespread, even reaching under his nose.
This is why Mr. The United States of America, the world's policeman, wants to arrest and bring him to justice.
Unfortunately, even Mr. The United States of America, the world's policeman, cannot rashly enter this Amazon Rainforest, which is known as a human forbidden zone.
This is also the real reason why the drug lord Havier Hidalgo is becoming increasingly rampant.
After all, this mysterious and awe-inspiring land has only ever been conquered by one person: the British Army Captain, wilderness survival expert, king of the food chain, the ultimate demon emperor who can go hungry for nine meals in three days and make "gei gei gei" sounds—Bear Grylls, Ed Stafford, the man who appears with his own mosaic filter.
And it took him a full two or three years to barely succeed in traversing the "Lungs of the Earth," the Amazon Rainforest.
Therefore, the drug lord Havier Hidalgo does not believe that every white-skinned monkey out there truly possesses such great courage to come to this hellish place and capture him.
But enough of the digression.
The drug lord Havier Hidalgo has recently become infatuated with a new type of drug that he acquired from the black market.
Unlike other drugs, it does not create so-called mental hallucinations; instead, it makes people feel incredibly painful.
But even so, Havier Hidalgo is still very obsessed with it, because this so-called new virus can save the lives of his wife and daughter, and the name of this new drug is T-Veronica Virus—!
Chapter 2: Manuela Hidalgo
Amazon Rainforest—
Near the Amazon River in the inland of Colombia, there existed a few indigenous villages, and upstream of the river, a gigantic dam was built, constructed from reinforced concrete.
Below it were four massive outlets, allowing for very easy drainage and water storage.
Although Colombia is rich in resources, abundant in flowers, fruits, and important resources like coal, oil, natural gas, and emeralds,
it has suffered from seasonal floods for many years, and its domestic flood control facilities are underdeveloped.
Once the rainy season arrives, sixty percent of the population will be affected.
Coupled with the uneven distribution of national wealth, significant disparity between rich and poor, inflation, and the rampant spread of cocaine, the majority of the common people in this country do not live affluently; relatively speaking, it remains an extremely poor country.
And this gigantic reinforced concrete dam was built to protect the downstream villages from flood damage during the rainy season.
Of course, it is worth mentioning that this was not the work of the Colombian government.
Because the villages are located near the Amazon River, where development is backward and the environment is primitive, very few people, apart from the indigenous inhabitants, venture into this area.
Even purchasing supplies requires ten days to half a month to return, which is extremely inconvenient.
It can almost be said to be isolated from the world.
It is hundreds of kilometers away from the city, and there are no roads leading into it, so the government would not be so kind and foolish as to build a large dam for a group of "primitives."
After all, it should be known that even large dams in urban areas of the country are rare, because without funding from the wealthy, it is difficult for the government alone to afford to build several large dams.
Therefore, this large dam in the rainforest village was actually built by another person.
Havier Hidalgo, the famous drug lord, whose prototype should be Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, Colombia's famous drug lord and one of the most arrogant drug lords in history, with many similar deeds.
He was stationed in this dangerous part of the primitive forest.
At the same time, he used the money he profited from drug trafficking and cocaine to build this large dam.
In addition to the basic drainage and water storage facilities, it also served as one of Havier Hidalgo's strongholds.
Downstream were large indigenous villages of the Amazon Rainforest.
Initially, these ignorant indigenous people thought Havier Hidalgo was a great philanthropist who helped them build a large dam to prevent flood damage.
But later they learned that Havier Hidalgo wanted to control the lifelines of these indigenous people.
Because once the river water accumulated, Havier Hidalgo could open the floodgates at any time, releasing a large amount of water into the villages, causing all the villagers' crops to drown and their villages to be instantly washed away and submerged.
And the power generation from the giant dam's water flow was the final straw for these indigenous people.
Remote villages could not get electricity, and Havier Hidalgo created this miracle using the large dam, making it impossible for the indigenous people of the villages to abandon this convenient energy.
But the true source of hydropower was still the large dam; if Havier Hidalgo chose to store water and close the gates, the electricity would also disappear.
Therefore, with almost no effort, with just a simple large dam, Havier Hidalgo controlled the large indigenous villages downstream.
These people, for their survival, began to conceal Havier Hidalgo's whereabouts from outsiders and strictly expel strangers.
They even began to cooperate with Havier Hidalgo for money, helping to produce cocaine in the villages and selling it through the means of purchasing supplies.
And this was Havier Hidalgo's way of life.
Over the years, he had become one of Colombia's famous drug lords, and the wealth he accumulated was unimaginable.
However, his good life abruptly ended after only a few years.
Perhaps it was due to his many misdeeds that he faced divine retribution.
At the peak of his career, he married a beautiful wife named Hilda.
She was not only beautiful but also virtuous, making Havier Hidalgo adore her and dote on her immensely.
Not long after, this virtuous wife bore him a lovely daughter.
This made Havier Hidalgo overjoyed.
Just as he thought his life was about to be complete, a sudden misfortune struck.
His wife, Hilda, unfortunately contracted an endemic disease of the Amazon Rainforest that was incurable, and she did not have long to live.
His daughter also became infected subsequently, which struck Havier Hidalgo like a lightning bolt.
While feeling extremely unfair about his fate, he also grew to despise the indigenous people of the rainforest villages.
Because his wife and daughter were infected with an endemic disease of the rainforest, he attributed his emotions to these lowly, ant-like rainforest indigenous people, leading to the killing of rainforest villagers whenever they made a mistake.
From an initial state of cooperation, it completely transformed into Havier Hidalgo's sole tyrannical rule.
And several years ago, due to an accident or perhaps a stroke of luck, Havier Hidalgo acquired a new type of biological weapon, a virus, on the black market, which was favored by mysterious organizations and terrorists.
As a famous drug lord, Havier Hidalgo had actually heard of bio-viruses, but he had not expected such things to have become rampant on the black market.
Therefore, Havier Hidalgo, this drug lord, purchased the two best-selling viruses on the black market, the T-Virus and the T-Veronica Virus, from a blond man wearing dark sunglasses.
Because he had heard that this virus could resurrect the dead, this miraculous effect piqued Havier Hidalgo's interest.
After all, his wife and daughter at home were already infected with an endemic disease and were close to dying, and the results from numerous doctors he sought were that there was no way to treat them.
This led Havier Hidalgo, this drug lord, to also start down the path of desperate measures, trying anything to save them.
He planned to try the T-Virus and the T-Veronica Virus to see if he could save his wife and daughter.
But what Havier Hidalgo himself did not expect was that this choice would bring him even greater disaster!
And the blond man wearing dark sunglasses who sold the bio-viruses to Havier Hidalgo was none other than Wesker.
As for why he appeared in South America, it is very simple: he was there to do business and conduct experiments.
Since their farewell at the Antarctica Research Institute four years ago, Wesker realized the strength and weakness of viruses.
His Progenitor Virus was still developing and was still somewhat too weak.
And Wesker successfully extracted the T-Veronica Virus from the ant-transformed corpse of Alfred, which he snatched from under Alexia's nose.
However, unfortunately, just as Javier had predicted, the virus had a high degree of inferiority and required repeated improvements to be used normally.
Therefore, Wesker was unable to obtain a perfect T-Veronica Virus for a long time.
In desperation, Wesker turned his attention to the black market, selling the T-Veronica Virus to those mysterious organizations and terrorists to experiment with.
While gaining a large sum of money, he could also obtain the assistance of these mysterious organizations and terrorists.
Because they could help with experiments, using more human bodies for virus experiments.
If a perfect infected body were to unexpectedly emerge, Wesker could then use intelligence to locate and capture the perfect infected body.
This was a strategy of killing two birds with one stone, a mantis stalking a cicada while an oriole waits behind.
This was also the real reason why Wesker appeared in South America.
After all, he not only appeared in South America but also in other continents, selling his bio-viruses, all for the purpose of expanding the scope of his experiments!