However, facing Leon's relentless questioning, Javier still didn't get angry. After all, the other party was the protagonist. Even if he was now subtly showing signs of becoming part of the villainous boss group, Javier still had no intention of opposing Leon.
After all, in Javier's heart, there were two ways to deal with protagonists: one was to win them over as much as possible, and the other was a cooperative relationship. He absolutely had no intention of becoming an enemy like Wesker.
Therefore, "Far away, yet close at hand…"
"The person I want to take is the young girl in this Water Church. If I'm not mistaken, Leon, you must have been sent by the United States Government to carry out a secret mission, right? It's to investigate the small-scale Resident Evil outbreak that suddenly occurred in the Amazon Rainforest, and at the same time, the government wants you to recover the latest virus here."
"Tsk, after all, the T-Virus and a small amount of G Virus obtained from Raccoon City can no longer satisfy the United States Government's appetite. Naturally, they need more Bio-weapon virus samples for research."
"Also, your target is the drug lord Javier Hidalgo here? The guy with the same name as me. The news of the new virus was accidentally purchased by him from the black market, right? So you need to find him. To be honest, the pure white young girl inside is the drug lord Javier Hidalgo's daughter, Manuela."
"Let's be frank, let's cooperate. I need to take that girl, as for why, you don't need to ask. And I can help you resolve the Resident Evil outbreak and recover the T-Veronica Virus from the drug lord Javier Hidalgo. How about it, are you interested?"
Straight to the point, Javier stretched out his hand and pointed at Manuela in the Water Church, explaining, and at the same time, sought a cooperative intention from Leon and Krauser.
However… Javier only then realized that Manuela had fainted again from exhaustion after three days and three nights of fleeing—
Javier: "Damn it… I almost forgot she was a sickly girl!"
Realizing this, Javier was too lazy to continue bragging to Leon and Krauser. He quickly leaned in, gently placing his finger near Manuela's breath to confirm that the girl still had vital signs, then quickly called Rebecca, the healer, to treat her.
Rebecca, looking at the exquisitely beautiful mixed-race girl in front of her, was momentarily taken aback. Was this the person Javier had traveled so far to rescue? It was actually a girl! And such a beautiful one at that.
Although a little unwilling, as a doctor, Rebecca could not abandon the dying girl in front of her. Therefore, Rebecca still opened the medical bag she was carrying and began to take out a stethoscope to examine Manuela's body.
But, this examination was not just important; it gave Rebecca a huge scare.
Because even with the stethoscope, Rebecca could only hear Manuela's extremely faint heartbeat, slow and weak. Without a doubt… this was a sign of heart failure. Her heart had already lost its vitality.
The young girl in front of her was in a precarious state and needed immediate rest and recuperation to recover. And rest would only provide temporary relief; such a weak heartbeat might require a heart organ transplant as soon as possible to be cured.
Although Rebecca had just completed her studies in human surgery, her opportunities to operate were very few, and she had no practical experience in organ transplant surgery. Also, there were no transplantable heart organs available here.
In such a situation, Rebecca guessed that the young girl might not live for more than a few days…
"No, Javier,"
"Her heart organ failure is too severe, and she is severely mentally exhausted, making effective treatment impossible. I can only formulate a potion to prolong her life as much as possible, but I don't know how many days it can last. She must undergo an organ transplant operation as soon as possible."
After just one examination, Rebecca issued a critical illness notice to Javier. Although Javier knew Manuela's physical condition was very fragile, he didn't expect it to be truly dangerous to this extent. He estimated that a light touch might even cause her death.
This instance of the dungeon mission was like giving him a piece of tofu and asking him to drive around Akina Mountain without breaking it. He wasn't Takumi Fujiwara. Manuela's physical condition made Javier a little flustered. Should he...
Thinking of this, Javier suddenly reached into the hidden compartment of his tactical backpack. Inside was a tube of G Virus sample (improved version). If injected into Manuela, it might bring her back from the dead.
After all, the G Virus's tenacious regenerative ability could easily fix mere heart failure at any time, but if something went wrong, Javier didn't want a Manuela who had turned into a G Virus monster!
But after thinking it over, Javier still gave up.
He would take it one step at a time. If there was truly no other way, then he would use this life-saving card. For now, he would see how Rebecca's treatment worked.
"Clang…"
Rebecca took out a pile of bottled and jarred medicine tubes from her medical bag. They contained common medications like painkillers, antidotes, anesthetics, and stimulants, but none of these were suitable for Manuela's current condition, as they had no effect on heart failure.
In desperation, Rebecca could only feed Manuela a potion to replenish her physical strength. Although it couldn't alleviate heart failure, it could help her recover some bodily functions slightly, as she had been running around the Amazon Rainforest for three days and three nights without proper rest, and had eaten very little food. This potion could provide temporary relief.
At the same time, to the astonished gazes of Javier and the others, Rebecca once again pulled out a red "toolbox," but its casing was emblazoned with a white electrocardiogram pattern. Without a doubt… this was a genuine portable emergency cardiac defibrillator—!
This item was a genuine emergency device, so Rebecca would carry it in her medical bag. Although a defibrillator couldn't exaggerate like in some peaceful elite games where it could save a life, it could handle most emergency situations. Therefore, Rebecca carrying it was normal and not specifically for Manuela. One could only say it was a very fortunate coincidence.
"…"
"All of you, get out!"
Very skillfully, Rebecca took out the handheld cardiac defibrillator and prepared to begin the rescue. Seeing three big men still in the Water Church, Rebecca's small face hardened, and she shouted loudly at them.
Ahem… Seeing this, Javier and the others exchanged an awkward glance and all quickly ran outside. There was nothing they could do… they had been too focused and almost forgot about this.
A cardiac defibrillator generally requires removing close-fitting clothing and having the device contact the skin to deliver electricity for rescue. Manuela was a girl, and they, as big men, indeed had no reason to stay there.
"Thump-thump-thump…"
"Javier, right? How does the cooperation you just mentioned work? We can discuss it!"
As soon as they walked out of the Water Church door, Krauser drew the Viper Dagger from his waist and began to play with it casually, while asking Javier. If the other party wasn't there to steal the T-Veronica Virus, then it was fine. Since he wasn't an enemy, Krauser felt that cooperation was possible.
After all, Krauser could feel that Javier had far more information than he and Leon, those two naive young men. The stingy United States Government had only given them a photo of the drug lord Javier Hidalgo, and told them to investigate the Bio-weapon virus and recover it, with no additional information whatsoever.
If they could obtain the virus, they would receive air support; otherwise, everything was off the table. With these conditions combined, this mission was destined to be very difficult. Therefore, Krauser felt that having a few more cannon fodder to help scout and share information would indeed be better.
Facing Krauser's sudden question, Javier didn't beat around the bush and calmly replied:
"It's simple, just a normal cooperation. If you are willing to trust me, I can immediately take you to the target, the drug lord Javier Hidalgo. As for the reward, accordingly…"
"I want to take Javier Hidalgo's daughter away, and there will inevitably be a large number of pursuers. You just need to deal with them for me. We all help each other. When the mission is settled, I take the person, and you take the virus. Why not? How about it?"
Chapter Twelve: The Drug Lord
Inside the large dam stronghold— A middle-aged man with slicked black hair combed back, wearing dark sunglasses and a large gold chain, with a thick beard on his chin, looked extremely displeased at the empty ward in front of him, his expression lost in thought. The pure white, angelic girl had disappeared, the bedsheets were stained with blood and overturned medicines, and everything in sight was a mess.
These were the traces Manuela left when she escaped from the ward…
And this middle-aged man with slicked black hair, sunglasses, and a full beard was Manuela's father, the notorious Colombian drug lord Javier Hidalgo. He was staring blankly at the ward, lost in thought, not knowing what he was thinking.
Perhaps he was thinking of his pure and innocent beloved daughter, after all, she had been away from her father for three days and three nights, disappearing into the Amazon Rainforest, that dangerous jungle, where he had even released his Bio-weapon virus monsters.
No… She might even have been killed!
Thinking of this, Javier Hidalgo's heart couldn't help but twitch violently. His daughter's disappearance dealt the deepest blow to this father.
He was certain… it must have been those indigenous villagers from the downstream village who had bewitched his daughter. Otherwise, how could such a well-behaved Manuela leave his side? Javier Hidalgo didn't believe that Manuela had left on her own accord.
Yes, that's right, that's how it is!
Legend has it that the natives in this rainforest have a form of witchcraft, using strange sacrificial methods to summon their deities and bewitch the target they wish to curse. It must have been those hateful villagers who cursed his daughter.
Including the previous endemic disease too… These indigenous villagers were jealous because he controlled the large dam, so they cursed his wife and daughter in an attempt to retaliate! That's right…!
With his thoughts clear, the drug lord Javier Hidalgo's face gradually became ferocious. As for these damned natives, Javier Hidalgo must execute all of them.
At this moment, a hurried footsteps came from outside. It was the drug dealers Javier Hidalgo had sent to search for his daughter. There were about a few hundred drug dealers in the dam, all his subordinates.
The original number was even larger, but some had been used as Bio-weapon virus test subjects, and another part was stationed in the city, managing a portion of his business.
"Thump-thump-thump…"
"Boss, we haven't found the young lady. Miss Manuela is very familiar with the rainforest environment, we can't catch up, but we've been chasing her for three days and three nights. She most likely escaped to the downstream village, after all, that's the only place with food. Of course, it's also possible…"
At this point, the drug dealer subordinate who had just burst into the ward dared not continue speaking, because the latter part of the sentence was a genuine taboo, and once spoken, it would lead to immediate beheading.
However, it was clear that this drug dealer underestimated Javier Hidalgo's current level of rage. Just that one sentence made Javier Hidalgo narrow his eyes slightly, his dark sunglasses flashing with a hint of coldness, as he spoke to him coldly:
"…"
"Understood. Go feed the piranhas yourself!"
Saying that, Javier Hidalgo slowly raised the large-caliber revolver in his hand, the cold muzzle aimed at the drug dealer subordinate in front of him. Before he could react, Javier quickly pulled the trigger.
With a loud "bang," a finger-sized bullet flew out, piercing the drug dealer's head. His head exploded like watermelon juice, and blood splattered everywhere.
Just for one sentence, this drug dealer died on the spot.
Seeing this, the other drug dealer subordinates guarding the door were also as silent as cicadas, trembling all over. It seemed they were so terrified by Javier Hidalgo's capricious nature and brutal methods that they had psychological shadows. Any of them… could become the next corpse at any moment.
But the tragic thing was, none of them dared to resist, because Javier Hidalgo was indeed the god who controlled everything for them. Without him, they would return to their former impoverished and difficult lives. Therefore, compared to death, they seemed to fear poverty even more.
They were also more afraid that if Javier Hidalgo died, their lives would fall back into the old quagmire. Therefore, not a single person dared to resist—
"Damn it, all of you are useless!"
"How could a little girl outrun you drug dealers? Go find her, quickly go find her! No matter which village she's in, you must bring my daughter back, or else you'll be eaten as food by those monsters in the Laboratory!"
Walking out of the ward, the drug lord Javier Hidalgo immediately cursed the drug dealers guarding the door. These drug dealers, who were usually vicious outside, dared not resist at all at this moment, and could only obediently endure the scolding.
Having vented, Javier Hidalgo waved his hand and continued to send more men to search for Manuela's whereabouts.
Javier Hidalgo only hoped that his daughter, Manuela, was still alive at this moment. If these damned drug dealers dared to tell him that his daughter's body had been left in the wilderness, then with Javier Hidalgo's thunderous rage, he would probably bathe all living people and creatures near the Amazon Rainforest in blood.
And very quickly, after doing all this, Javier Hidalgo arrived at the back of the dam, where a castle-like private building was constructed. Inside, he kept his carefully cultivated pets, in an environment resembling a plant greenhouse.
A gigantic flower bud plant was growing there. It was one of the Bio-weapons BOW Javier Hidalgo had purchased from Wesker, and also Plant 42, which he had seen in the Mansion Villa—a plant that had mutated after absorbing too much T-Virus wastewater.
This aggressive plant, resembling a Venus flytrap or a man-eating flower, had been thoroughly researched by the Umbrella Corporation, and even various models had been developed. Although plant-type BOWs were generally weak to fire and slow-moving, their powerful vitality was something conventional BOWs lacked. Therefore, plant-type BOWs were still worth researching.
Therefore, from the large package purchased from Wesker, Javier Hidalgo unexpectedly discovered that plant-type BOWs had a very high affinity for the T-Veronica Virus. Thus, he cultivated this giant plant.
Javier Hidalgo called it the V-Complex, the most satisfying type among the Bio-weapon BOWs he had independently researched.
His ambition… was to use this most perfect creation to control the entire Colombia Government, then whitewash his identity, gain official power, and then step by step ascend to the position of Colombia's President!