They could suppress it using the Umbrella Corporation's power, then disguise it as a terrorist incident and cover it up, but the reports from within the S.T.A.R.S were highly credible and could easily draw significant attention from the United States Government.
Furthermore, William's G Virus experiment was nearing its end, and he didn't want to see his research results violently seized by the United States Government suddenly intervening at the last critical moment.
William himself couldn't accept that!
"No need..."
"You're worrying too much, William. Just let the zombies at the Cadre Training Institute eat their bodies. There's no need to go to too much trouble to dispose of them yourself. Just wait and see... see how these three rookies die at the Cadre Training Institute."
Seeing that William was still worried, Wesker stood up, grabbed William's shoulder, and explained earnestly.
The difference between William and him lay here: William was too cautious.
Of course, caution wasn't bad, but excessive caution turned into timidity.
This was also why he was never given significant responsibilities.
Just researching viruses—
Wesker had already shifted his focus to other things years ago, because he knew that even if a new type of virus was developed, he couldn't possess it alone without power.
Their mentor, Marcus, was the best example.
So Wesker no longer took virus research that seriously; instead, he began to expand various connections and forces to protect himself.
Only William, that fellow, was still foolishly researching the G Virus for Spencer, that old immortal.
Ten years ago, he could bribe them both to kill Marcus, and today, he could bribe others to kill William and seize his G Virus!
...
However,
On the other side—
While Wesker and William were discussing, Javier and his two companions successfully emerged from the underground tunnel, climbed a ladder, and arrived directly inside the Cadre Training Institute, instantly reaching the central hall of the massive Institute.
However,
Though called an Institute,
Mansion was a more fitting and appropriate term, as both the Cadre Training Institute and the affiliated Mansion Institute were essentially built to resemble a Middle Ages Mansion.
It seemed Spencer's taste always leaned towards a retro style.
Throughout the Institute,
There were countless marble floors and ornate stone pillars, with dark red carpets covering the ground.
The decor was incredibly luxurious, with many portraits and various intricately carved statues hanging on the walls.
On the central staircase corridor, a large portrait was also hung—a portrait of the first director, James Marcus.
However, because it had been abandoned for many years,
The pure white stone pillars and walls were covered in moss and dust, vaguely resembling a demonic Vampire castle, which was quite lamentable.
Unlike Leech Queen Marcus, who wore a white robe, had long hair, and possessed an effeminate, handsome face at the peak of the Akeley Mountains, the Marcus here had short, neat hair, an aged but robust face, and the undeniable air of a successful man.
The two could be said to be completely different people.
This was also why it was said that the real Marcus had died long ago; the one resurrected now was merely the Leech Queen who had inherited Marcus's memories.
Although his appearance and memories were identical to the real Marcus, his heart was completely different, and he no longer shared the same thoughts.
"Thump, thump, thump…"
"Thump, thump, thump…"
"Thump, thump, thump…"
The footsteps of Javier and his two companions slowly echoed in the center of the Institute Hall.
The three of them cautiously observed their surroundings and soon noticed the large portrait on the staircase corridor.
They immediately recognized the subject of the portrait as James Marcus, the Institute's first director!
"..."
"Is this Dr. James Marcus?!"
Looking at the portrait hanging on the wall, Rebecca couldn't help but exclaim, her small face filled with surprise and confusion as she gazed at the painting.
"Rebecca, do you know him?"
Seeing Rebecca's surprised expression, Javier asked, slightly puzzled.
Although he knew and had even thoroughly read the Resident Evil plot, he didn't remember any of these old founders of the Umbrella Corporation, as they were all too old.
Edward Ashford only had a portrait, and because of the Leech Queen, Javier only remembered the long-haired Marcus.
How could he recognize this middle-aged Marcus in front of him? Only Spencer lived a very long time; that old immortal could be easily recognized.
As for Rebecca,
Facing Javier's inquiry,
She nodded heavily.
As a pharmacology expert, Rebecca was very familiar with these industry giants.
When she had just graduated from university, she had desperately wanted to join the Umbrella Corporation, so she was well aware of Dr. James Marcus, the founder of the international pharmaceutical company Umbrella, who was highly skilled in the field of bioengineering.
It was just that…
Rebecca had never expected that...
Dr. Marcus's portrait would be hanging here, and that he was also the first director of this Institute.
It was truly a case of knowing a person's face but not their heart.
Were the company and the doctor she admired actually the true culprits who created those "demons" and "monsters"?
However,
Just at this moment,
As Javier and his two companions were about to continue their exploration,
A voice suddenly echoed throughout the central hall of the abandoned Cadre Training Institute.
It wasn't a human voice, but rather like a broadcast, resonating through the hall:
"Silence!"
"I am Dr. James Marcus.
Now, please reflect on our company's motto: Obedience breeds discipline, discipline breeds unity, unity breeds strength, and strength is life!"
A series of deep, aged voices echoed through the Institute, leaving Javier and his two companions bewildered and confused, unsure whose prank this was.
Even more shocked were William and Wesker, who were deep inside the secret surveillance room, because they discovered that the monitoring screens in front of them suddenly began to blur, gradually losing all signal, with only the central screen remaining.
However, the image in the center of that screen was suddenly occupied by a long-robed, long-haired, effeminate, and handsome figure—
Chapter 18: A Comeback
"..."
"Who is this guy?"
Evidently,
Not only Javier, but even Wesker and William, sitting in the secret surveillance room, were utterly bewildered as they looked at Leech Queen Marcus on the screen, muttering in confusion, because, like Javier, they didn't recognize the man in front of them at all.
After all, the change was too great.
Who could have imagined that the shrewd, cunning, and selfish Marcus would suddenly transform into a long-haired, effeminate, handsome, and much younger-looking individual?
No one would have guessed that the man before them was their mentor, Marcus, whom their two unfilial disciples had killed ten years ago.
However,
While Wesker and William didn't recognize Marcus,
Marcus, as the Leech Queen, did recognize Wesker and William.
He used his special power to control all the cameras in the Institute, and under the gaze of his two unfilial disciples, Wesker and William, he calmly admitted:
"I leaked the virus.
The frequent murders in the Akeley Mountains were my doing.
Even the train three miles from the Institute was infected by me.
All these incidents were caused by me.
How about that? Aren't you surprised!"
Marcus seemed to know that Wesker and William were watching him through the camera, so he admitted it without any hesitation, while slowly waving his hand.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss..."
The next second,
A series of strange noises came.
To William and Wesker's surprise, the room within the camera suddenly began to swarm with dense leeches, appearing in their sight with a large amount of mucus.
Guided by Leech Queen Marcus, countless Mutated Leeches began to gather frantically, gradually forming a human figure.
The outline of the figure slowly began to become clear, and a middle-aged, elite-looking man in a suit appeared before William and Wesker's cameras.
That… was none other than Dr. James Marcus himself?!
Damn it!
What's going on?
He's resurrected!
However,
Before William and Wesker could even begin to figure out what was happening, Marcus, as the Leech Queen, calmly began to ask:
"The assassination of Dr. Marcus ten years ago, you two were involved, weren't you?"
Upon hearing this,
William and Wesker were once again greatly alarmed.
Without a doubt,
They had vaguely guessed who the person in front of them was, as the countless dense Mutated Leeches in front of them made it highly probable.
Marcus… the man who had died ten years ago, had actually resurrected now?
"Damn it, Wesker, what do we do?"
"That old fox is alive again, and how has he stayed alive all this time? Through the T-Virus? When did he inject the T-Virus? Can the T-Virus really bring people back from the dead? That's too absurd!"
"And Wesker, if we can't deal with this old fox, Spencer will surely make us suffer if he finds out.
What should we do now?"
Seeing that Marcus was still alive, William, the unfilial disciple, immediately panicked, anxiously asking Wesker beside him for a solution.
After all, ten years ago, it was they who had betrayed Marcus and led the team to kill him.
And now Marcus was alive again.
From his posture, there was no doubt he wanted revenge on them, and he even possessed the powerful strength of the Leech Queen.
As an ordinary person, William certainly didn't want to die at Marcus's hands!
However,
Compared to William's panic,
Wesker remained calm.
It was just the Leech Queen's virus; he possessed the power of the Progenitor Virus and was not afraid of the so-called Leech Queen at all.
Furthermore, Marcus's memory seemed to have a slight problem, because the old fox didn't remember what happened ten years ago at all; otherwise, he wouldn't have personally created his own replica to interrogate them about the assassination ten years ago.
There were two reasons for this situation:
One was that Marcus himself had injected the T-Virus, causing his memory to become confused.
The second was that the person in front of him was not Marcus at all; although he had resurrected, his effeminate appearance suggested he had been replaced by something else.
So Wesker wasn't panicking at all.
He had been able to kill Marcus ten years ago, and he could kill this old fox again today!
"..."
"Don't be nervous, William.
I'll deal with him.
He won't leave here alive.
Now I need to return to the Raccoon City Police Department to personally lead the S.T.A.R.S Alpha Team to intercept him.
You stay here and, if necessary, you can activate the Institute's self-destruct device, but just remember not to blow yourself up."
His large hand tightly gripped William's shoulder.
Wesker, behind his sunglasses, gave Marcus in the surveillance screen a deep look and spoke in a profound tone.
Then, without any hesitation, he turned and left the secret surveillance room, leaving William shivering alone inside.
Looking at Marcus on the screen,
William swallowed nervously, genuinely terrified of Marcus's retaliation.
After all, it was he and Wesker who had betrayed Marcus and sided with Spencer ten years ago.
Now that Marcus had returned as the Leech Queen, William's nerves were on edge, and he even felt a chill down his spine.
He even vaguely felt that...
The secret surveillance room could at any moment be swarmed by countless Mutated Leeches, terrifyingly ready to gnaw and envelop his body.
"Damn it!"
"I can't stay here anymore..."
Thinking of this, William angrily slammed the table and quickly got up, leaving the monitoring room and heading towards the Institute's self-destruct control room.
He wanted to quickly blow this place up, not wanting that bastard Marcus to continue living—
...
On the other side—
Javier and his two companions, in the center of the Institute Hall, discovered many secrets within this peculiar Mansion Institute.
They found that this place was entirely a labyrinth, not just a simple Institute.
Many of the facilities inside, such as the portraits and statues in the corridors, all concealed large and small mechanisms.
Especially the statue of the goddess holding scales on the wall with Marcus's portrait; it actually required two good and evil statues to be placed on the scales to find a new door to leave, which was simply baffling.
Even Javier couldn't help but comment that while it was very safe... wouldn't it be incredibly troublesome for the researchers to go in and out of this dilapidated Mansion Institute?
And many special keys were very far from the hall!
No wonder no one could escape once the virus broke out; everyone died here.
It turned out it was all due to these secret mechanisms and keys!
PS: The slow updates are because I need to work on two projects simultaneously (awkward).
Maybe next month it will be back to normal.
That's all for now... Today is the Water Splashing Festival, and the author is in Yunnan, off to play in the water.
Chapter 19: Plague Crawler
"..."
"Hey, Javier, there's a door here that can be opened without a key.
I think we should go inside and take a look."
After searching the central hall of the Institute for a long time, the quick-witted Rebecca quickly found a door that could be opened freely.
However, due to the unknown danger level inside the Institute, Rebecca dared not enter to investigate casually and could only call Javier for help.
As for Javier and Billy Coen—
The two men found clues to different things in the lower part of the Institute.
For example, Javier found many piles of damaged documents on a table.
Because the Institute had been abandoned for a long time, the handwriting on these documents was either unclear or they were corroded and holed.
He could only vaguely make out some of the text.
However, for a horror game, damaged clues... were perfectly normal for Javier.
"Wait,"