"Bang—!"
"Pfft…"
A crisp piercing sound echoed.
The terrifying power of a 0.50-inch caliber bullet could easily penetrate thin steel plates. Therefore, the giant mutated centipede's armored shell, in the face of the hand cannon, was like paper, making no difference. The moment the bullet hit the giant mutated centipede's brain, a powerful cavitation effect immediately expanded, and strong air currents scattered in all directions, as if a terrifying hole had been dug out of thin air inside the giant mutated centipede's brain.
A fist-sized bullet hole appeared on its entire brain.
Foul-smelling green liquid immediately splattered out, continuously flowing onto the ground. The giant mutated centipede, which had been strutting around, instantly lost its ability to move after being hit by the hand cannon's Magnum bullet. Its eyes rolled, its hundreds of legs flipped over, and it quickly collapsed heavily onto the ground. The leg tip that had been tightly gripping Rebecca also lost its strength and instantly loosened.
Seeing this,
Feeling the iron-clamp-like giant leg that had been gripping her lose its strength,
Rebecca didn't hesitate. She quickly twisted her arm to break free, rolled over, picked up the dropped shotgun from the wastewater pit, and then quickly climbed up the steps above the wastewater pit.
"Hiss…"
At this moment,
The giant mutated centipede let out whimpering hisses from its mouth, not as sharp as before, but rather sounding like it was on its last breath. Its eyes were wide open in death, and its train-like body twitched continuously on the ground. This wasn't because it was still alive, but because the commands transmitted from its brain to its body hadn't ended, causing it to instinctively continue twitching…
And on the other side—
Following the gunshots,
A sturdy silver revolver was held steadily high in the air.
With a rubber grip, a full silver metal body, a total length of over forty centimeters, and a barrel alone over twenty centimeters, its front end was designed with a rare muzzle brake to reduce recoil. After all, this was common on rifles and machine guns, but for handguns… they were few and far between. No handgun would specifically have a muzzle brake, which showed the powerful kinetic energy of the M500 Revolver.
And at this moment,
The M500 Revolver, which had just fired a bullet, still had white smoke rising from its muzzle. The person holding this hand cannon and firing it was Javier, wearing a gas mask and looking cool.
Chapter 25: Item Collection
"Justice may be late, but it will never be absent…"
"How about it? Wasn't my timing just right? That shot just now was pretty cool, right? I rehearsed for a long time in the back before coming out to rescue you. My arm is a bit sore though; the recoil of this hand cannon is no joke."
"Of course, beautiful and dear lady, I know you admire me greatly because of my heroic posture just now, but please don't ask my name, for I am merely a hero by interest. Helping others is my most ordinary daily activity."
Seeing the crisis resolved,
Javier quickly ran to Rebecca and Billy Coen, stylishly twirled the gun, and put the long, thick M500 Revolver into his pocket. He then struck a flamboyant pose and said,
However,
What Javier didn't expect was that,
When the little girl Rebecca looked at the twitching giant mutated centipede in the wastewater pit and then at the flamboyant Javier, her eyes instantly turned red, mist welled up, and a surge of anger rose on her small face. She immediately swung the barrel of the shotgun at Javier's stomach!
"Bang—!"
With a dull thud,
Javier was caught off guard and couldn't dodge in time. He was soon hit in the abdomen by Rebecca's shotgun barrel
a powerful blow. A sharp pain immediately spread, and Javier almost thought his liver had burst. He knelt on the ground, twisting and rolling like a small shrimp.
"Bang bang bang…!!!"
"Rehearsing, huh? Admiring, huh? Hero, huh!"
"Huh? Go to hell, you hateful guy! Why did you watch me get caught by that ugly centipede for so long before coming to save me, you damned bastard!"
Without hesitation,
After knocking Javier to the ground with a shotgun barrel blow,
The girl Rebecca immediately began stomping on Javier. Her small feet, wearing tactical leather boots, gave Javier a refreshing full-body massage, making his bones creak and causing him immense pain. This little devil was truly difficult to deal with when she went mad.
"Hey, hey…!"
"I warn you, Rebecca, we are partners, and I just arrived and was busy loading bullets. How could I have rescued you so quickly? If you continue to treat your savior like this, I'm really going to die here now."
Being furiously kicked by Rebecca's small feet,
Javier didn't feel any sense of reward or pleasure; he only felt like his old bones were about to be crushed. He quickly covered his head and began to explain,
Unfortunately,
Facing an enraged Rebecca, Javier's explanation was completely useless, because in Rebecca's eyes… all men were big liars, and everything they said was just to fool others, not a single word could be believed. Only when she was exhausted did she plan to let go of that annoying bastard Javier.
Even Billy Coen, who was nearby,
Looking at the two in front of him, he held his forehead, feeling quite helpless and headache-ridden.
These two were like children throwing tantrums; it seemed they had never gotten along. Rebecca had gone a bit too far, and of course, Javier's jokes had also gone a bit too far. He could have had a better approach and explanation, but he insisted on striking a pose. Alas… A straight-laced Lieutenant Marine was utterly speechless regarding the situation of these two!
…
After about ten minutes of noisy de-escalation,
Their partnership finally barely reconciled.
Afterward, Rebecca also realized that her behavior just now was extremely fierce and impolite, completely unladylike. So, she blushed with shame, but it was impossible for this stubborn little girl to apologize. Rebecca, as a young girl, was extremely tsundere and cared a lot about her image. Unless something very significant changed her personality, or time made her more mature, it would be very difficult for this little girl to apologize.
Her stubbornness was basically the kind that nine oxen couldn't pull back, but she would express her apology in other ways. It had to be said… in some aspects, the little girl Rebecca was quite cute.
As expected—
"Here…"
"A potion. Drink it. It's not poison; it's a potion to replenish energy and refresh your mind. Of course, it won't cause any side effects to your body."
Taking out a bottle of red potion, Rebecca handed it to Javier and said indifferently, but her head was turned away, raised high at a forty-five-degree angle, revealing her proud chin, perfectly embodying the posture of a white swan, looking very tsundere.
She even opened her beautiful eyes from time to time, blinking her eyelashes to observe Javier's expression, for fear that Javier would refuse her good intentions!
This appearance,
Made Javier almost burst out laughing.
He then shook his head, took the potion from Rebecca, and drank it. He considered it him being the bigger person. Besides, Javier was indeed at fault earlier. In such a dangerous situation, he really shouldn't have joked around. After all, the girl Rebecca had been quite scared.
And Rebecca, seeing Javier accept her "apology," also breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"Alright… Where's the Institute key?"
Seeing the farce handled, Javier quickly brought up the main topic. After all, they were still trapped in the Institute, and finding a way to escape was the real priority, not continuing to flirt.
However,
Upon hearing Javier's question, Rebecca's face also became serious. She took out the Institute key she had just picked up. It was a metal key, gold on the outside and red on the inside. It looked very precious and rare and should be able to open most of the doors in the Institute. This way… their progress would be much faster.
"…"
"Now that we have the key, let's quickly leave here. I came up using the elevator device. When I was sweeping the Institute Hall on the first floor, I found some overlooked items, such as this microfilm A. It should be a recording of some important events in the Institute. Now that we have the key, we can explore more rooms and try to leave this ghost place quickly!"
Seeing the Institute key in Rebecca's hand,
Javier thought for a while and quickly knew what to do. Undoubtedly, Javier and his two companions were currently still trapped in the outermost facilities of the Institute. If they continued to wander here, it would be like headless flies circling aimlessly without any clue. They had to go deeper.
Therefore—
In order to find more hidden items within the Institute,
Javier decided that the three of them would split up. Although this method was dangerous, it was the most efficient. After all, three people searching for items separately would save a lot more time than three people searching together.
However, due to the sparse numbers, the danger would also greatly increase when encountering zombies. But this didn't seem to matter much to Javier, because Rebecca and Billy were protagonists, and generally, as long as there was no butterfly effect, these two would not be in danger. On the contrary, Javier himself, as a cannon fodder sidekick, his personal safety should be even more precarious.
However,
To be safe, Javier still sought the opinions of Rebecca and Billy, but very quickly… the two of them agreed to this action request with almost no hesitation. Javier then realized that these two seemed to have more guts than him, and his fear that they wouldn't agree was completely overthinking it.
And so,
The task of splitting up quickly began—
After using the Institute key to open most of the room doors, Javier and his two companions quickly began their respective explorations. This method of operation was very efficient. Soon, Javier, who was leading the way, solved a puzzle. Next to a room door, there hung a picture frame with a painting of an old man holding an oil lamp, and next to it was a riddle:
"In the darkness, the light will guide your way forward…"
A short sentence,
But on the door frame hung a real oil lamp. Javier quickly realized that this was a primary school riddle. He picked up a lighter and lit the oil lamp on the door frame. Through the temperature control system, the door leading to the library opened.
This library also had several zombies lurking inside. After Javier dealt with them cleanly, he found a white Book of Goodness inside a bookshelf mechanism in the library. Upon opening it, besides obscure text, it also contained a white winged statue, somewhat resembling the missing part of the previous black Statue of Evil.
However,
The colors of the two were different.
Javier guessed that there should be two different black and white good and evil statues. Both the Statue of Goodness and the previous Statue of Evil were missing a part on their backs, like wings. For completeness, perhaps he still needed to find more items…
After all,
These two statues,
Were items needed by the Goddess of Justice statue in the center of the Institute Hall. Only by placing these two items would the hidden Institute door truly open.
And on the other side—
Rebecca and Billy Coen, busy exploring rooms, also made considerable gains. Rebecca, after clearing zombies in a painting room, found a white Statue of Goodness in the last corner.
This way,
Both the black and white statues of good and evil were complete, and the white Statue of Goodness had its wing part replenished. All that was missing was a wing for the black Statue of Evil, and they could solve the Goddess of Justice statue's mechanism puzzle. It could be said that their harvest was very significant.
Billy Coen, on the other hand, found several barrels of gasoline in a kitchen and used kitchen bottles to make Molotov cocktails. At the same time, in several rooms, by playing a box-pushing game, he found a clock hour hand part on a fireplace deer head ornament. Based on the remaining damaged document clues, Billy Coen set the clock back to 8:15, successfully triggered a hidden mechanism, and found Javier's last remaining microfilm B in the new room…
If so,
With most of the items collected, they only needed to re-gather and solve the puzzle to leave the Institute Hall—
Chapter 26: Conference Room Projector
Without hesitation,
After collecting all the necessary items, Javier used his walkie-talkie to communicate with Rebecca and Billy Coen, requesting a meetup. Next, they needed to discuss strategies and plans.
As for the walkie-talkie on his shoulder,
Javier was also very helpless, because he wasn't the only one in the S.T.A.R.S with a walkie-talkie; other Beta Team members also had them. Javier tried to contact all other members, including Beta Team Captain Enrico, but unfortunately, there was no response. The complex terrain of the Akeley Mountains must have greatly weakened the signal.
Unless they were very close,
Like Javier and Rebecca, only operating within the confines of one Institute, the walkie-talkie signal could barely be used. Javier guessed… perhaps at this moment, most of the Beta Team members had probably died, with only one or two surviving.
After all, acting with protagonists came at this cost—
Before the mission began, most of the Beta Team members' luck had already been taken by Rebecca. After all, historically, spear users have low luck, and among all spear users, Zhao Zilong alone accounted for one-tenth, while the rest were in debt by two-tenths. Perhaps the passive ability of protagonists like Rebecca was like this: they immediately applied a debuff to everyone else from the start.
Not to mention…
Edward Dewey, that strong man, was also a pilot. Haha… In Resident Evil, which profession was the most dangerous? Undoubtedly, it was the pilot. They would crash and explode at any moment. Unless it was the very last moment, once a pilot's identity was revealed prematurely, they would most likely kick the bucket instantly.
Therefore,
Javier really couldn't imagine,
How the Beta Team members could escape. Relying on his own butterfly effect? Unfortunately, the effect was minimal…
Cadre Training Institute—
"How is it?"
"What items have you all collected, and are you two injured?"
The three of them re-converged in the center of the Institute Hall on the first floor.
Javier looked at Rebecca and Billy Coen, who were covered in quite a bit of blood, and asked with some concern.
Of course,
All of these were zombie bloodstains. Rebecca and Billy Coen had not sustained any injuries. After all, as the saying goes, the T-Virus effect was not strong at this moment. Even if it infected humans and turned them into zombies, the zombies' combat power was not as abnormal as in the later stages. The current T-Virus zombies were still the slow-moving type. With a pistol, they could still be easily cleared, as long as one didn't get scared into a brain freeze.
Soon,
Facing Javier's concern, Rebecca and Billy Coen shook their heads, indicating they were fine, and then took out the items they had found: Rebecca's white Statue of Goodness, and Billy Coen's microfilm B.
"…"