As soon as she entered, Rebecca looked at the huge black and white chessboard on the floor, and the chess pieces, which were as large as humans, she couldn't help but murmur in confusion,
Although chess is indeed fun and intellectually stimulating, does anyone truly enjoy it to this extent? A small chessboard isn't enough; they have to make such an enlarged black and white chessboard. Rebecca had never seen a doctor so enthusiastic about an object.
When she was in college, the doctors who were her teachers at school didn't have much interest in these intellectual toys; most of them preferred various high-tech precision instruments and equipment.
"It's not about liking it..."
"But there's a mechanism here, it's too obvious... As soon as you enter, someone can probably guess it. Although I've never met Marcus, and I don't know this Doctor Marcus, just thinking about it makes it clear. How could a doctor who spends all his time researching viruses set up such a large chessboard, with pieces almost as big as people? How much effort would it take to move them when playing?"
"Are these giant chessboards perhaps used by Marcus for physical exercise in his free time? This isn't about balancing work and rest. A doctor obsessed with research would rather be in the Laboratory even when eating or going to the bathroom. Where would he get the energy to exercise, let alone play chess, and such a large game of chess at that?"
Waving his hand,
Javier pointed at the giant chessboard on the floor, explaining with a hint of helplessness. After speaking, Javier walked to the chessboard, wrapped his arms around a chess piece as heavy as a stone pillar, and pushed it with effort for a while before he could move it one step...
What a joke!
Even he, a well-trained police officer, had to exert so much effort. How could Marcus, with his frail and sickly body ten years ago, have the inclination to play with this thing?
"Indeed..."
"Researchers don't have the time or energy to play with these things..."
Not only Javier, but Billy Coen, who was standing by, also nodded in agreement after thinking for a moment.
No wonder.
Even he, a Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, understood the reasoning. After a day of training, these soldiers would be exhausted. If they had time, they would definitely be lying in bed sleeping soundly; where would they get the inclination to play chess?
Javier, meanwhile, rested his chin and pondered for a moment, then quickly reached out to touch the chessboard, as if attempting something.
He supported the chessboard with both hands... and exerted a slight force...
Hmm--?
He couldn't move it at all; the chessboard seemed to be glued to the surface with super glue. Looking at the five black and white chess pieces on the board, Javier seemed to have thought of something. At this moment, there were three white pieces on the board: two knights and a king. There were two black pieces: a queen and a pawn.
The white king was cornered by the black pawn, while the two white knights protected their king. The black queen, with the overall situation in her favor, watched from a distance. It was a game on the verge of a decisive outcome, but the winner was unknown.
"Billy, Rebecca, you two come here, stay at the desk, and tell me the direction of the pieces. I'll go down and move them. The mechanism here should be the arrangement of the pieces. The chessboard on the desk seems to be welded to the table; there should be some hidden mechanism inside."
Waving his hand,
Javier said to Rebecca and Billy.
Javier intended to solve the puzzle himself and keep Rebecca and Billy at a distance because the intention of this office puzzle was too simple, revealing its flaw at a glance. It was highly possible that there were still traps hidden. Therefore, Javier felt it was better for him to go.
Firstly, he himself was the Blue Butterfly; it was only natural for him to kick the bucket here. Secondly, Javier had the most complete equipment, and in case of danger, his reaction would make it easier for him to escape than Rebecca and Billy.
"Hmm...!"
"Shh...!"
With a surge of strength in his arms,
Javier laboriously pushed the chess pieces on the giant chessboard. Although he was indeed well-trained, carrying a stone pillar and running around was still very tiring. Soon... following the reminders from Rebecca and Billy, Javier had arranged the layout on the chessboard, with only one black pawn remaining. Originally, the black pawn didn't need to be moved, but Javier felt that the black pawn was obstructing his movement of the other pieces.
So he thought of temporarily moving it aside for a while and then restoring it later. But who would have thought... this impulsive act almost caused Javier to die here.
"Click!"
"Puff... Puff...!"
The moment Javier moved the black pawn, a mechanism sound rang out, but it wasn't from the desk. Instead, it was from the chessboard beneath the black pawn, where a black tube suddenly popped out, continuously spewing green mist. Instantly, Javier sensed something was wrong!
"Rebecca, Billy!"
"It's a trap, it's poison gas! Quickly cover your noses and mouths, don't breathe it in!"
Turning his head, Javier quickly shouted a warning to Rebecca and Billy Coen in the distance—
PS: The slow updates are unavoidable because I need to work on two projects simultaneously. This book has no income this month, so I don't have the energy to write that much. Next month, it will return to the normal 4000 words. That's it. Resident Evil 01 is basically centered around exploring the old castle, with not much room. The Raccoon City map in 2 and 3 is larger, so the plot is also directly copied from the original, making it seem a bit watered down, but there's no other way...
Chapter 29: Who Writes a Diary Seriously?
Green mist continuously sprayed onto Javier's face from beneath the black chess piece, but due to his gas mask, it couldn't harm Javier in the slightest. Unfortunately, Javier was the only one in the room wearing a gas mask.
Rebecca and Billy Coen, on the other hand, had no protective gear at all. Therefore, Javier was more concerned about Rebecca and Billy's situation than his own, which is why he shouted the warning so loudly.
"Get off me!"
"Click—!"
Seeing that the poison gas showed no signs of stopping, and was even continuously spewing out, Javier noticed the gap at the bottom of the black chess piece, which perfectly aligned with the poison gas pipe on the chessboard floor. Without hesitation, Javier lifted the black pawn piece again and pressed it down!
And this time, his judgment was correct.
As Javier returned the black chess piece to its original position, the green poison gas instantly stopped spewing.
As for Rebecca and Billy Coen,
They quickly grabbed the edges of their T-shirts and tightly covered their mouths, also closing their eyes. This method was very correct, because the harm of poison gas is not only the irreversible damage to the body after being inhaled into the lungs, but the gas itself is also an irritant. Once it comes into contact with exposed organs like the eyeballs, it can easily cause injury.
Mild cases would cause redness of the eyeball surface, abnormal tear secretion, and intense bitterness; severe cases could lead to ulceration of the eyeball, temporary blindness, or permanent damage. Therefore, when facing poison gas, burying one's entire face in the ground is the most correct approach—
During World War I and II, to combat inhumane weapons like biochemical poison gas, before soldiers from various countries developed the Warthog gas mask, they would imitate the way wild boars rooted in the ground, burying their faces in the dirt.
This could greatly reduce the harm of poison gas entering the body.
Because the human body has its own filtration system, if the amount of poison gas is minuscule, the body's filtration system can perfectly process various poisonous gases and toxins. After all, the human body occasionally needs to take various trace elements to maintain nutritional balance—
However,
That being said,
But truly facing these poison gases is not pleasant at all!
"Cough cough..."
"Ugh... Ugh...!"
When the poison gas was completely diluted in the air,
Rebecca and Billy Coen, with yellowed faces, abruptly removed the clothing covering their mouths and noses, gasping for air. But soon their expressions changed, and they suddenly knelt down, dry heaving. Unfortunately, nothing came out, it just made their brains feel very nauseous.
"Rebecca, Billy! How are you two?"
"Do you feel anything wrong with your bodies, any organs hurting?"
Seeing this,
Javier quickly ran forward, supporting Rebecca and Billy Coen, asking anxiously with concern. Javier didn't want these two protagonists to die due to his oversight, because then... he would have to brave the old castle alone. Although he would lose his passive skill of being a bane to others, losing the protection of the protagonist's halo would also make Javier very uncomfortable.
"Cough cough..."
"We're fine. Luckily, you warned us in time; otherwise, Billy and I would have inhaled a large amount of poison gas. Now we've only inhaled a trace amount, just a little that permeated through our clothes. It only made us dry heave and feel nauseous, so we're quite lucky."
"I didn't expect this room to hide such dangerous mechanisms. Was Dr. Marcus trying to kill anyone who tried to snoop into his secrets?"
"Oh, Javier, help me get those two green vials from the fanny pack behind me. They're the ones I gave you before. I prepared a lot, there should be a few more. Give one to Billy. After drinking it, your brain will feel much better, not as nauseous as this."
Facing Javier's eager concern,
Rebecca shook her head, indicating that she was fine, and at the same time pointed to the fanny pack behind her. Rebecca wanted Javier to help her get the medicine and feed it to her, as she felt completely weak and too lazy to move, not out of being overly delicate.
And Javier did not refuse.
He quickly found several vials from Rebecca's fanny pack: red, green, and yellow ones. Rebecca, this little girl, truly lived up to her reputation as a potions expert; she was very well-prepared. Although her healing output was insufficient, a meager healer could still solve urgent problems at critical moments.
Soon,
Javier personally helped Rebecca drink the green antidote, and also handed a vial to Billy Coen. After drinking the antidote and resting for a while, their condition indeed improved significantly. Their yellowish complexions faded, and their spirits recovered.
It proved that,
It doesn't matter if a healer's output in a team is sufficient; what matters is whether they are specialized. Fortunately, Rebecca was a potions expert. If she were just an ordinary, high-output medic, she might have only been able to rely on her body's filtration system to get through it.
While Rebecca and Billy were temporarily resting,
Javier solved the puzzle alone this time. He didn't carelessly touch the black chess pieces again; he only moved the white chess pieces back to their original positions on the board. With a crisp sound, Javier discovered that the mechanism on Marcus's desk, the black and white chessboard, had opened. Slowly, he pushed open the black and white chessboard,
And there was indeed a secret compartment inside...
Inside the secret compartment was a black book, very similar to the previous Book of Good. This one should be the other half, the Book of Evil. Opening the book, it contained the black statue wings of evil that Javier and the two others had been longing for.
The white statue of good resembled an angel, and its wings were feathered. The black statue of evil, however, was a demon, with bat-like wings.
At the same time,
Not only that,
Next to the Book of Evil in the secret compartment, there was another book with Marcus's signature on it. Upon opening it, the beginning showed a date, month and day. Without a doubt... this was a diary, and it was Marcus's diary.
This made Javier feel particularly helpless.
Who writes a diary if they're a normal person? Don't they know that diaries can easily expose one's dark history and weaknesses?
But after thinking about it,
Javier quickly understood. After all, Marcus was a Doctor of Biology, and one with extremely high achievements in his field. He was even one of the founders of the Umbrella Corporation, the creator of the T-Virus, and a top biologist in the world. Such geniuses... are usually very narcissistic and arrogant, looking down on others as if they were ants.
Therefore—
Geniuses are often very reclusive because they find they have no one to confide in. Whenever they achieve a success, they have nowhere to share their joy, but they are unwilling to bury and hide it. So they write these things in their diaries to satisfy themselves, and at the same time, they want to be discovered and admired. This kind of repeatedly pulling, reserved personality is usually the common problem of "average" geniuses!
This was probably true for Marcus as well—
Chapter 30: A True Man
"December 4th, we finally succeeded. We successfully extracted a new type of virus. Because it is unique enough, we call it the 'Progenitor Virus'. I want to bring it back and immediately investigate and research it..."
"August 23rd, the research on the virus is still ongoing, but Spencer said he wants to establish a company, probably to have a better environment for these studies. But I don't care, as long as I can continue researching the Progenitor Virus... He can do whatever he wants..."
"Spencer has always wanted me to be the Director of the Institute, but I'm busy researching the virus and really don't have time to manage other personnel. But for the sake of the cause, I still agreed. However... he seems to be getting more and more assertive."
"However, I might be able to use this point, under Spencer's name, to obtain some special equipment and locations to explore the secrets of the Progenitor Virus—"
"October 30th, Spencer came to complain to me again. He thinks the virus is just a tool for making money. Haha... simply idiotic. But his influence is growing, which is becoming increasingly unfavorable for my virus research. To continue researching the virus, I need to consolidate my position."
"September 19th, finally... I've finally found a way to construct a new virus based on the Progenitor Virus. I will mix the Progenitor Virus with leech DNA, which will create a new virus. This will be a huge breakthrough. I will name it the T (Tyrant) Virus..."
"October 28th, no, experiments on rodents alone are not making any progress. I need to conduct virus experiments on humans themselves to break through, as the human body is the best mammalian experimental subject. Perhaps I can secretly ask Laboratory personnel for help..."
"November 15th, it seems someone has discovered my experiment, but it's probably just my suspicion. But it doesn't matter, if they stumble upon my experiment, I will very kindly let them help me with the experiment, as I happen to lack experimental material."
"January 13th, finally finished. My wonderful leeches, those incompetent people, cannot possibly comprehend my joy and satisfaction at this moment. I can finally oppose Spencer. I will soon control everything."
"January 30th, the device for my virus research was tampered with. It seems someone tried to find T-Virus and leech samples. What foolish people. No need to guess, it must be Spencer. He has been jealous of my talent and experimental results for a long time."
"February 11th, there are traces of someone tampering with the things at the door again. If they are truly after my research results, then it seems I need to prepare defensive measures. A bunch of greedy people, doing nothing, yet wanting to seize the experimental results I painstakingly achieved. Absolutely disgusting!"
"It seems I need to call my two students, William and Wesker, to help me. I only trust these two, and of course, my beloved leeches! But... things shouldn't end here, right? Spencer... I will present the T-Virus at the next company board meeting to shock you old-fashioned fools, and then claim the rights and status I deserve—!"
The ink gradually faded,
Until the next page of the diary was blank.
The ink of the last line of text was much darker, enough to show Marcus's excitement. A person who had been engrossed in research for a long time finally achieved success and was eager to share his research results with the world.
Without a doubt...
This was exactly as Javier had guessed.
Marcus, as a Doctor of Biology and a brilliant genius in the field of biology, was usually very reclusive. He couldn't express his inner thoughts to outsiders, so he could only use his diary to describe everything and vent his emotions.
But unfortunately,
Those consumed by madness will eventually be devoured by it.
For the sake of virus research, Marcus unilaterally initiated the forbidden practice of human experimentation, which had already violated the sins of human morality. Although he successfully researched the T-Virus, he was also terminated by his beloved disciples, William and Wesker.
After reading the entire diary,
Javier, who had come back to his senses, let out a deep sigh of relief.
This was the story of a respected doctor gradually turning into a cultured beast and finally degenerating into a madman—
"Javier, what are you looking at? You're so engrossed..."
At this moment,
Rebecca and Billy Coen, who had rested for a while, finally regained their spirits. Seeing Javier so absorbed in a book, a curious Rebecca couldn't help but lean closer and ask with a puzzled expression.