Leon was almost out of ammo.
He had only about ten pistol rounds left, and he had already thrown his High-explosive grenade when gathering the enemies in the tower, leaving only one flashbang.
As for the shotgun… while this old gun was powerful, he only had seven or eight shells left.
However, there were still over twenty Plaga Parasite Villagers in the village, cornering Leon against a tall fence and the valley rock wall.
He had no escape route; was he going to die here?
No…
Just as Leon was preparing for a suicidal last stand, the distant ringing of a bell caused a strange change in the Plaga Parasite Villagers.
Their raised farm tools and weapons were completely lowered, their eyes became vacant, and they began to turn and leave, muttering strange incantations as if in prayer.
Seeing this, a look of confusion appeared on Leon's face.
He couldn't understand why these once aggressive Plaga Parasite Villagers had suddenly turned and left, as if summoned by some mysterious force.
Axes and sickles dropped onto the muddy ground as the remaining two or three dozen villagers walked towards the small church entrance.
Once all the villagers had entered, the small church door slowly closed, and the Plaga parasite symbol was affixed to the outside of the door.
Undoubtedly, these villagers had all gone towards the cathedral, just because of the bell that Javier and Ada rang when they left…
"Damn it,"
"What… what exactly is going on?"
Watching the large village suddenly become empty in an instant, even the calm and collected Leon couldn't help but murmur in confusion.
But seeing the axes and sickles dropped on the ground, Leon wisely picked up one or two and tucked them into his waistband.
In the real world, a knife is not omnipotent, nor is there a parry-and-counter setting.
On the contrary, the wood-chopping axe and grass-cutting sickle in his hand could easily sever the heads of these Plaga Parasite Villagers, or at the very least, be used as throwing weapons.
At least… it was much better than him stabbing people with a wooden spear before.
After confirming there were no villagers left in the village, Leon began to scavenge, finding some crude explosives in some villagers' homes.
It was a small bundle of detonators that mountain villagers used for blasting rocks, and some crude shotgun ammunition, which slightly alleviated Leon's ammo crisis.
These were all good news.
Unfortunately, Leon did not find any 9mm ammunition compatible with his USP9 agent pistol.
Firstly, villagers didn't often use pistols, and secondly, modern weapons weren't compatible with crude bullets.
It seemed Leon could only rely on the shotgun going forward.
Of course, besides that, there was an unexpected bonus.
Leon found a small surprise in a cabinet in a villager's house: several shiny gold coins, cast from real gold.
They would fetch a good sum if sold outside.
After collecting these items, Leon, equipped, continued towards the back of the village.
He needed to follow the map to the lake, which might be where the President's daughter, Ashley, was kidnapped and hidden—
…
Meanwhile, at Village Chief Mendez's mansion—
Due to the church bell, many villagers had also disappeared from Village Chief Mendez's mansion.
Compared to the simple houses in the village, Village Chief Mendez's mansion was undoubtedly like a luxurious villa, exceptionally clean and tidy, with a strong medieval retro style.
The walls were adorned with many oil paintings and various carpets, without a trace of modern influence.
Javier and Ada brazenly entered Village Chief Mendez's mansion, quietly observing everything inside.
"…"
"Will Luis be here…?"
Seeing the large villa mansion empty, without even a hint of movement, and even the target, Village Chief Mendez, not at home, Ada frowned and turned to Javier, questioning him.
Undoubtedly, she had been deceived; this place in no way looked like Luis had ever been here, and Ada hadn't even detected the signal from the dropped tracker.
"Then perhaps we're unlucky,"
"Luis has already been moved.
He should be trapped in the lake house now.
Luis was once a child of Wolf's Valley Village, living with his hunter grandfather.
He only left the village after his grandfather died."
"He probably thought he was leaving and went back to see his old home, and then he was caught by Village Chief Mendez."
Seeing that Luis was not here, Javier was not surprised.
He came to the Village Chief's mansion just to try his luck.
Since he didn't find him, he would just change his approach.
However… since he had come all this way, he certainly couldn't leave empty-handed, right?
Thinking this, Javier began ransacking Village Chief Mendez's mansion.
Village Chief Bitores Mendez was originally the next village chief candidate appointed by the previous village chief.
At that time, Mendez was just an ordinary, rough farmer; apart from being tall, he had no special qualities.
But the former village chief still entrusted the position to him.
To fulfill his role as village chief well, Mendez began to learn to write.
Despite being a burly man, his handwriting was extremely delicate and beautiful.
And to improve the village's development, Mendez began to advocate for transforming the village's environment, building various suspension bridges, and developing lake fisheries.
Due to the influx of some outsiders and the development of fishing, the villagers earned a lot of money, and everyone grew to love Mendez as their village chief more and more.
But later, the lord of Wolf's Valley, the current Salazar family head, Ramon Salazar, began to extensively hire villagers to mine in the castle and on the island.
Initially, Village Chief Mendez refused, but the mining rewards were simply too high, and many villagers couldn't resist the temptation and went.
The wheat in the fields withered with no one to harvest it, rotten vegetables were left unattended, and even the lake's fishing industry was completely abandoned, as everyone turned to the quick money of the mining industry.
Although the situation was quite strange, Village Chief Mendez thought that being a miner earned money, and farming and fishing also earned money, so he didn't intervene much.
It wasn't until later… when the returning miners in the village gradually began to show signs of the legendary 'madman's disease' that Village Chief Mendez realized something was wrong.
It wasn't just a legend.
Over ten years ago, the old hunter in the lake house also experienced this condition.
According to him, it was a disease contracted after a vicious wolf bit him, but he remembered clearly killing the wolf, only for it to suddenly come back to life and bite him.
The infected old hunter's body would often become uncontrollable, and strange voices echoed in his mind.
Once, the old hunter almost killed his own grandson.
Unable to bear the torment, the old hunter set himself on fire in a small boat on the lake.
After the old hunter died, his grandson also disappeared from the village.
His name was Louis Sera, a very intelligent child.
Village Chief Mendez often looked after him and gave him books to read.
Such a smart child, Village Chief Mendez had originally wanted to train him to be the next village chief candidate, but he disappeared.
It was truly a pity…
And then—
More and more villagers in the village contracted the madman's disease.
A group of new converts in black robes suddenly arrived in the village.
They claimed to be followers of God, specifically coming to exorcise the madman's disease.
With no cure, Village Chief Mendez had no other choice but to trust these black-robed figures.
He then took the lead in personally experimenting with the so-called "blood purification."
As something strange entered his body, Village Chief Mendez felt his body was excellent, completely without any painful symptoms.
He began to vigorously encourage the villagers to undergo blood purification!
Little did he know…
In his frenzy, he had already been controlled by the Plaga parasite.
Finally, Village Chief Mendez not only served as the village chief but also built a small church and became a priest, guiding the villagers to pray in the church every day and worship Sadler, the leader of The Illuminados.
From then on, the entire village completely fell…
And inside Village Chief Mendez's villa mansion, Javier found many good things.
Several jewelry boxes containing gold earrings, necklace pendants, and other items, as well as a few bags of small gold coins.
Although not as exaggerated as in the game, these items were indeed very valuable and could be sold for a good amount of money.
Ada, watching Javier mess up someone else's villa mansion, with fallen cabinets and clothes everywhere, couldn't help but sigh, holding her forehead in disdain.
He was truly desperate.
Although Ada also loved treasures, she would never steal someone else's treasures like this; it was too undignified and didn't fit her status as a top secret agent.
However, Javier felt no psychological burden about this whatsoever.
Firstly, these villagers were already completely parasitized by the Plaga parasite and could never be restored.
In a sense, they were all dead.
Since that was the case, rather than letting these treasures remain buried, Javier might as well pocket them himself…
Besides, these were not truly jewelry.
They were treasures, antiques passed down from the last century.
For The United States of America, which has less than two hundred years of history, these treasures are very valuable.
They are not as simple as gold jewelry in a jewelry store; the historical value bestowed upon them can double their price—
"Hey, Ada,"
"This is for you!"
Saying this, Javier took out a small jewelry box and threw it to Ada.
Javier had found it in a hidden crevice.
The old village chief might not have been a great person, but he certainly had a knack for hiding treasures.
Inside was an earring, a golden coiled snake earring, not just a simple pendant, but an ear ornament that could be clipped onto the entire ear.
The eyes were adorned with green gemstones, and the scales on its body were made of crushed diamonds.
It was a very shiny and beautiful piece of jewelry, and Javier thought it suited Ada well.
After all, it was a snake, and although Ada's true nature was that of a proud little wildcat, a snake also had a very good affinity with her—cold and ruthless.
And the moment she opened it, Ada was indeed amazed.
It was hundreds of times more beautiful than the jewelry in New York's largest luxury stores.
The so-called master fashion designs were worthless in the face of historical significance.
But even so, Ada still felt a bit disgusted, after all, in a sense, these were things from dead people, and they were brazenly stealing things from someone else's house; this was simply…
Forget it, Ada just felt very strange!
"…"
"Antiques are always dead people's things, aren't they? Have you ever seen something belonging to a living person that could be called an antique?
How about this as my apology gift?
Didn't I cause you to permanently lose 100,000 US dollars?
How about compensating you with this? Although it's even more expensive than 100,000 US dollars."
Apparently seeing the concern in Ada's eyes, Javier said indifferently.
If it's an apology gift, you'll surely accept it, won't you!
Only, an apology gift?
For some reason, hearing that phrase, Ada just felt like laughing.
You ransack someone else's house, steal things, and then give the stolen goods to me as an apology gift?
And so brazenly at that.
In short, Ada no longer knew how to describe the thickness of Javier's skin, but even so, Ada still accepted the jewelry box.
Firstly, she really liked the coiled snake ear ornament.
Secondly, Javier really did owe her 100,000 US dollars.
Finally, after making a mess of the old village chief's villa mansion, Javier patted his money pouch with satisfaction and left the worthless house with Ada.
Javier had probably scavenged all the valuable items inside.
Originally, Javier had wanted to take the oil paintings and vases from the walls, but he reconsidered, realizing that even if they were old, without the endorsement of historical figures, their value wouldn't be much higher, so he gave up.
Along the way, Javier also encountered a parasitic villager who ran out of the toilet, likely a servant hired by the village chief's mansion.
Seeing Javier make a mess of the mansion, this enraged villager rushed forward, attempting to strangle Javier.
But unfortunately, Javier was more skilled.
As an outsider, Javier not only plundered treasures but also wantonly bullied the natives, pushing the servant who had just finished using the toilet back into the outhouse.
Witnessing this scene, Ada once again helplessly held her forehead.
This man… was becoming more and more like a bully.
She had never seen a man with such a vile personality.
Even someone as strong as Wesker didn't have such low-class bad taste.
Having done all that, Javier and Ada finally headed towards the lake house.
This time, there should be no surprises.
They would most likely encounter Luis, a hundred percent.
Of course… they might also encounter Village Chief Mendez, though it's unclear what the old village chief would think after Javier stole his life savings…
As stated, today, December 3rd, is a holiday and I don't have to work, so the novel will also take a break today.
I'll update properly tomorrow.
That's it, bye-bye.
Don't scold me, I'm just lazy.
I'll update more later, OK?
See ya…
Chapter Twelve: One-Punch Man
The Lake House—
Behind the village, there was a small house by the lake.
This was originally the old hunter's home, and also Luis's former home.
The house had been renovated over the decades, so it wasn't as dilapidated as Luis remembered.
Of course, the owner of the house had also changed, but the furniture inside hadn't changed much.
On a worn-out table, there was an inverted photo frame, containing a black and white photo of an old man and his grandson.