Rebecca breathed a huge sigh of relief as the Hunter disappeared before her eyes. The High-explosive grenade she had just used was found in Javier's tactical backpack, which he had left in the control room.
There were a total of 5 High-explosive grenades and 5 flashbangs. This grenade successfully eliminated the Hunter, adding a glorious mark to Rebecca's combat record.
Javier, lying on the ground in the distance, watched Rebecca, this girl, cleanly dispatch the Hunter. He shook his head helplessly and couldn't help but give her a standard thumbs-up in praise. Perhaps this was the true way to use a protagonist's halo!
As for himself just now… Haha, just clowning around!
Chapter 36: Tablet of Unity
"Thump, thump, thump…"
"How are you? Are you alright?!"
Having successfully dealt with the Hunter, Rebecca walked up to Javier, extended her hand, and slowly helped Javier up from the ground, asking with concern.
In response… Javier shook his head helplessly, indicating he was fine, and once again praised Rebecca, this little girl, for her heroic and decisive handling of the Hunter just now.
"You're really impressive, Rebecca,"
"Now that you've saved my life, you should be able to stand on your own, shouldn't you?"
Bracing his almost falling-apart body, Javier slowly stood up, forcing a strained smile onto his face, and continued to give Rebecca a thumbs-up. Facing the praise, Rebecca, this little girl, was not modest at all. She wiped the tip of her nose and replied proudly:
"Hmmph, hmmph, hmmph…"
"Of course! Javier, you don't even know who I am! I'm a member of S.T.A.R.S! Dealing with something like this is absolutely effortless. On the contrary, you… my partner, you're a little behind, you know. I'm looking forward to you catching up to me!"
She really wasn't modest at all.
This made Javier roll his eyes. This girl… a little praise and she gets carried away!
Actually, there was no helping it.
At this moment, Rebecca was incredibly excited. As a medic and an expert in pharmaceuticals, she usually practiced her shooting skills on targets. Let alone zombies, she had never even personally hunted and killed a wild boar.
Therefore, after successfully eliminating a Hunter that even Javier couldn't easily deal with, Rebecca naturally felt very proud.
It was like a bookworm who usually stayed at home all day studying, suddenly, with one casual move, could rival a top hunting expert. How could that not make one excited?
If it were Javier himself, this academic slacker… although he had great shooting talent, if he were asked to learn pharmaceutical technology, he would be completely clueless and utterly fool. But if Javier, this academic slacker, suddenly published a groundbreaking paper on pharmaceutics, transforming from a slacker into a Doctor of Pharmacy, then Javier would also get carried away with pride!
"Forget it…"
"Be as proud as you want for as long as you want. However, Rebecca, you and Billy will have to handle the remaining stages of the training ground. Let me rest for a bit. That monster's attack just now made me feel like my body is falling apart. You two go explore; give me some time to recover!"
Finally,
Feeling the soreness all over his body, Javier was too lazy to bicker with Rebecca, this little girl. He just leaned back against the wall with a pained expression and slumped down, taking off his gas mask and helmet, as well as his heavy bulletproof vest.
At this moment, Javier was sweating profusely, his flaxen-grey hair soaked with sweat. Javier lifted his shirt to reveal his muscular torso. Of course, this wasn't being a pervert… Javier was checking his injuries.
"Hiss…"
As expected,
After lifting his sweat-soaked clothing, his fair, muscular body revealed red skin and gradually forming bruises. The Hunter's attack just now had hit Javier hard. Although no bones were broken, the muscle pain made Javier very uncomfortable. A slight touch would send a stinging sensation.
"…"
"Muscle swelling and redness, blood accumulation. The internal muscles are injured, but fortunately, the impact is not significant. Just rest more, and you'll be fine. You're very lucky. If you had broken a rib, that would be real trouble. We're currently in the wilderness. Although the Institute also has medical equipment, I don't have surgical experience. I can only give you some painkillers to help you get through it as much as possible."
Seeing Javier's injuries,
Rebecca carefully examined him, then calmly explained. This was truly lucky; his internal organs were injured but not completely, and he would recover with some rest. If he had truly suffered a serious injury, that would be real trouble.
"Here, take some painkillers first. I'll also spray some disinfectant alcohol on you to minimize the heat and stinging sensation from the muscle swelling."
Saying that,
Rebecca quickly took a bottle of military-grade painkillers from her waist medical kit, took out a few pills, and put them into Javier's mouth. They didn't have water with them, so he could only swallow them. Then Rebecca also pulled out an alcohol spray and evenly sprayed it on Javier's chest and abdomen, slowly massaging and smoothing it out…
This series of actions,
Made Javier involuntarily turn his head away. It would be too embarrassing for a grown man like him to be shy. Although Rebecca was a tomboy with short hair and only 18 years old, which to Javier should be like a younger sister or a little kid, Rebecca was still a female, and when it came to real intimate contact, Javier still felt uncomfortable.
After all,
He was a very typical smooth-talking playboy but a virgin in actual practice, so it was extremely awkward—
On the other hand, Rebecca didn't feel much.
As a pharmaceutical expert and a medic, she had already treated countless temporary casualties, so she was unfazed. She only felt that her scoundrel partner Javier's abs were indeed much harder, indicating he must have exercised a lot and was very disciplined!
Soon,
Under the cold sensation of the alcohol, the heat and stinging pain in Javier's swollen muscles slowly disappeared, and his complexion improved significantly. Alcohol actually doesn't have a detumescent effect, and medics don't carry things like safflower oil. Rebecca carried important medical supplies, such as antidotes, snake venom serum, various antibiotics, painkillers (including some controlled neuro-drugs), adrenaline, hemostatic agents, bandages, and so on.
There was simply no extra space to store safflower oil. After all, safflower oil is for bruises and sprains. Would there be such injuries during a mission?
Therefore,
Rebecca could only spray alcohol. Alcohol creates a cooling sensation when it comes into contact with the skin, which can temporarily relieve the muscle heating phenomenon. And once the painkillers inside took effect, he would feel much better.
"Thump, thump, thump…"
"Thump, thump, thump…"
After treating Javier's injuries,
Rebecca left him to rest temporarily. She and Billy then began searching the vicinity of the training ground. After passing through several rooms, Billy Coen successfully found a new Institute key in one of the rooms, identical to the previous one, just a different color.
As for Rebecca,
She found a special tablet under a fireplace. Similar to the previous black and white good and evil statues, her intuition told Rebecca that this tablet must be some kind of mechanism prop, otherwise it wouldn't be hidden inside a fireplace. So she brought it back—
…
The tablet was named the Tablet of Unity.
This was greatly related to the words spoken by Marcus, who was the Leech Queen at the beginning, because Marcus once said: "Obedience breeds discipline, discipline breeds unity, unity breeds strength, and strength is life!"
Combining this statement,
Since the tablet before them was the Tablet of Unity,
That meant there were also the Tablet of Obedience and the Tablet of Discipline that they needed to find. Collecting all three tablets would perhaps be like the previous black and white good and evil statues, leading them to a new path within the Institute…
And after resting for nearly several tens of minutes—
Javier recovered some of his strength. The painkillers took effect, and the soreness throughout his body almost disappeared. He quickly caught up with Rebecca and Billy Coen, and they began searching for a new exit in the training ground.
Unfortunately…
The remaining passage did not appear; instead, it seemed to be blocked, preventing the trio from moving forward. Feeling stuck, Javier recalled the Institute key Billy Coen had found earlier. The Institute key they had taken from the giant Mutated Centipede's mouth earlier was red-gold, opening a red door.
And the key Billy Coen had just found was blue-gold, which meant… it corresponded to a blue door that needed to be opened. Perhaps if they explored the blue door first, they might find new clues.
No sooner said than done—
Having made up his mind, Javier quickly racked his brain, frantically recalling his memories to see where there was a blue door in the rooms they had searched before. At the same time, Javier also told Rebecca and Billy about this, asking them to help recall, as more hands make light work.
"A blue door?" + 2
Hearing Javier's words,
Rebecca and Billy Coen both showed puzzled expressions almost simultaneously, because they couldn't believe this was truly one of the clues they needed.
"Yes,"
"A blue door. The key we took from the giant Mutated Centipede earlier was red, which could open most of the doors in the Institute, but it specifically opened a red door. This key, however, is blue, so I guess it can also open a blue door. Therefore… instead of us agonizing over how to find a new way out here, why don't we go to that blue door first to look for clues? It might be faster!"
In a few quick words,
Javier explained it to Rebecca and Billy Coen.
Upon hearing this, Billy Coen seemed to recall something and immediately clapped his hands, decisively remembering crucial information. He seemed to have seen a light blue stone door in an art room once, because the compass item was found by Billy Coen inside that room.
This was neither the library nor the art studio.
Moreover, the three of them had investigated separately at that time. Javier and Rebecca had searched the library and the art studio, so Javier and Rebecca had no impression of the light blue stone door. Only Billy Coen himself had this memory…
"Let's go back the way we came—!"
"I remember where that blue door is, on the side of the art room. When I got the compass item, I saw the blue stone door in there. This key is very likely to open that place."
Without hesitation,
Billy Coen explained directly to Javier and Rebecca. Javier and Rebecca exchanged glances, then nodded. They trusted Billy Coen's judgment, so they didn't linger, and the three quickly returned the way they came…
"Thump, thump, thump…"
"Thump, thump, thump…"
"Thump, thump, thump…"
A few more minutes later—
The trio returned to the Institute's main hall and successfully reached the art room. Billy Coen had indeed not lied; a light blue door was indeed blocked in the corner here. Seeing this… Javier quickly took out the key and inserted it into the light blue stone door. The key fit perfectly and turned slightly.
"Click!"
It opened very smoothly.
The door opened.
Just as Javier and the other two were cautiously wondering what was inside the door, what greeted their eyes was a pitch-black image storage room. It was dim and covered in dust, with several shelves lining both sides. On the shelves were stacks of old projector film reels, piled high. They should contain records of various experiments conducted in the Institute.
Perhaps they could find numerous experimental records and data inside, and even records of inhumane virus injections and infections. These were all very important pieces of evidence. Any one of them alone could prove the Umbrella Corporation's atrocious conduct.
However,
It was very unfortunate that,
These film reels had already undergone more than ten years of time, and coupled with no maintenance, all the film reels recorded on them were already damaged. Either they were broken and shattered, or the recorded images were blurry and diffused. Even if they could be played, it would be unclear what use they would be.
Therefore, they could only reluctantly abandon these important film reels.
However,
Just as Javier and the other two arrived at this film reel storage room, they didn't notice a figure slowly rising in the corner.
Trembling,
The dark figure slowly stood up from the corner, twisting incessantly, like a mummy whose entire body was bound so tightly it couldn't breathe.
Is it a zombie?
No,
That was something even more terrifying than a zombie, and it was a new creation born after the T-Virus Leech Queen infection.
Leech Man (Mimicry Marcus)—
A humanoid monster mimicked by Mutated Leeches inheriting the memories of the infected body before death. In short, it's an enhanced version of a zombie, a zombie that ate Luffy… Bah! A zombie that ate the Paramecia-type Gum-Gum Fruit.
The size of this Leech Man was roughly no different from a zombie,
But its attack range and defense were very strong. Firstly, its defense: its exterior was no longer decaying skin, but twisted muscles, like beef jerky that had been frantically twisted and dried. The muscles were twisted together like hemp ropes, and its entire body had no facial features due to the twisted muscles. But this twisted musculature gave the Leech Man extremely strong defense.
Imagine this:
Between a loose rope and a twisted hemp rope, which has stronger toughness? Undoubtedly, the twisted hemp rope is tougher. And the Leech Man is the same. Its twisted muscles can resist most firearm damage. Ordinary pistol weapons can hardly cause any damage. Only fire attacks can cause additional damage, so the Leech Man's weakness is fire.
In addition, the Leech Man's attack range is also outrageous. It can basically attack enemies seven or eight meters away. Its arms are like extended rubber, hooking people back to bite them. In short, it is very troublesome—
Chapter 37: Leech Man Luffy
Leech Man—
Also known as Zhou Shuren… *cough, cough*, bah! Also known as Leech Luffy, a Paramecia-type Gum-Gum Fruit user, nicknamed Straw Hat Leech. His most skilled move is Gum-Gum Gatling. He is one of the most powerful Supernova characters in the early stages of Resident Evil 0. With his ugly appearance and disgusting body, he made countless young ladies avoid him like the plague.
Led by Marcus, one of the Four Emperors in Resident Evil 0, the Leech Queen Marcus sacrificed more than a dozen leeches on her arm to awaken the Leech Man's fighting spirit, saving the Leech Man's life from the vicious humans.
Whenever someone asked Marcus where the leeches on her arm had gone, Marcus would beam with a proud smile and confidently reply, "I gambled the leeches on my arm inside the Institute. I believe the Leech Man can become a King!"
Just like that,
The legend of the Leech Man gradually spread.
As a Supernova character in the early stages of Resident Evil 0, the Leech Man's strength was very troublesome. Even when facing the difficult enemy that was the Leech Man, Javier and his two companions, the "Clean Sweep" pirate crew, had to be on high alert—
"…"
"What kind of monster is this now?"