"This place is indeed quite large,"
"But I don't know what the situation is above, but given our current circumstances, it seems we can only forge ahead,"
Javier looked at the dark ascending passage ahead and sighed helplessly. It would have been nice if there were some lights on the walls, but unfortunately… this Institute has been abandoned for ten years, let alone this tunnel. The light bulbs must have long rotted away, so there's no way they would light up.
"Click—!"
"Okay, although there's no light, the power here is still working normally. We should be able to take this lift up."
Meanwhile, on the other side,
While Javier was sighing, Rebecca found the circuit breaker and pushed it up with a wooden stick. After a burst of sparks, the circuit breaker, which had tried to trip, was forced back on. The lights on the lift platform slowly came on, indicating it was operational.
However,
Just as Javier and his two companions were about to take the lift to leave the underground Institute, a crisp sound of footsteps echoed behind them. In this silent, dark tunnel, an extra set of clear footsteps was undoubtedly an extremely chilling thing!
"Thump, thump, thump…"
"Thump, thump, thump…"
The footsteps grew closer.
Javier and his two companions quickly turned their heads, pointing their pistols at the source of the footsteps behind them. The blurry white figure became clearer and clearer. Long, beautiful flaxen hair draped over its shoulders, its face was pale and bloodless, its features handsome and effeminate, with sapphire blue eyes. It was neither male nor female, looking like a kept pretty boy.
It was clad in a white robe, with a blue gem pendant at its open chest, and special cyan patterns embroidered on its arms and shoulders.
A dense mass of dark Mutated Leeches followed closely behind it, like obedient pets. Some Mutated Leeches even climbed onto its fair neck to curry favor, letting their wet mucus cover its clothes.
This scene…
Made Javier and his two companions look utterly horrified—!
Because this was an extremely disgusting sight; they couldn't accept a Mutated Leech crawling freely on their necks, it was practically giving them goosebumps. But regarding the young figure in front of them, Javier and his two companions were also full of questions, as they seemingly didn't recognize who this young man in front of them was.
But the ability to control leeches…
No, no, absolutely impossible. Firstly, according to records, Dr. Marcus had been dead for nearly ten years, how could he still be alive? Furthermore… Javier and his two companions had seen a portrait of Marcus in the Institute's hall; he was clearly a shrewd old man with white hair, how could he be the handsome and effeminate young man in front of them!
But there was no other way.
After all, Javier and his two companions were not like Wesker and William, who had personally witnessed the Leech Queen's self-demonstration in the monitoring room. Naturally, they were unwilling to believe that the young man in front of them was Marcus. After all, it's true that viruses can make people immortal, but to make someone's appearance younger and even reverse aging, this was the first time!
In a way,
It indeed proved the success of Marcus's experiment. The virus was truly related to immortality, because it could not only greatly extend human lifespan, making it difficult to die and increasing survival rates, but also reverse aging. This already proved Marcus's success in T-Virus research—!
However,
At this moment, Leech Queen Marcus wasn't thinking about so many things. Her effeminate face looked at Javier and his two companions, and a smile suddenly appeared at the corner of her mouth. She spoke in a sinister voice:
"Hehehehe…"
"Three stinky rats from the sewers, you've been wandering around my territory for so long, where do you plan to go now? Are you planning to escape through the sewers again with my cheese? That's truly a wonderful thought—!"
Chapter 53: Leech Queen
Here it comes,
The standard big villain laugh.
Although he had seen the so-called "hehehehe" laugh more than once in various novels, Javier truly didn't know how it actually sounded. Now, he finally heard this familiar villain laugh from Marcus's mouth.
As for how the sound actually was…
This—
It was indeed chilling and eerie, but somehow inexplicably funny. He didn't know why.
And the Leech Queen Marcus in front of him,
At this moment, he was looking at Javier and his two companions with a gloomy and cold expression, his face filled with displeasure. After all, he couldn't allow these three stinky rats, Javier and his companions, to swagger into his territory, leave a pile of rat droppings to challenge his dignity, brazenly steal his cheese, and then try to escape into the sewers as if nothing happened.
This was something Leech Queen Marcus would absolutely not allow!
"…"
"This guy is Dr. Marcus? That's absolutely impossible!"
"What a joke, can someone from ten years ago be resurrected? And even reverse aging?"
"No, it's not impossible. Do you see those Mutated Leeches? Perhaps it's because of the virus and the Mutated Leeches that Dr. Marcus was resurrected. However… I feel like he's no longer Dr. Marcus. Instead… he's more like a Leech Man wearing Dr. Marcus's skin."
Looking at the suddenly appearing Leech Queen Marcus,
Rebecca and Billy Coen spoke in disbelief. Although they had often heard of resurrection and reversal of aging, encountering them in person was still incredibly shocking.
However,
Javier, on the other hand, focused his gaze on the dense swarm of leeches crawling at Marcus's feet. These might be the true reason for Marcus's resurrection and reversal of aging.
After all,
Although the virus had many flaws, its power was undeniable. Just like Wesker back then, he used the power of the Progenitor Virus to instantly become a land sword immortal, opening the gates of heaven with his sword, making the immortals in heaven dare not descend to the mortal world… Bah!
Got it wrong—
He instantly entered the realm of a superhuman.
Punching various Resident Evil protagonists, kicking Umbrella CEO Spencer, and attempting to transform all of humanity with the Uroboros virus to become the Kami of the new world!
With just a Progenitor Virus,
It could make Wesker so powerful, let alone a Leech Queen T-Virus. In Javier's opinion… this thing reversing aging was simply effortless, nothing impossible.
Of course,
This was not the crux of the problem.
The real crux of the problem was why Marcus appeared here at this time. If he had been lurking in the Cadre Training Institute all along, it would mean that… the frequent Resident Evil incidents that occurred in recent months,
Including virus leaks, the Zodiac Train derailment, BOW attacks on people, and various other incidents, were very likely unrelated to Umbrella Corporation, because Umbrella Corporation could not have done such insane things. They wished no one knew what they were doing, so how could they privately leak viruses?
This was completely self-sabotage, what foolish company would do such a thing? They still wanted to make money and dominate the world with Bio-weapons.
Therefore,
If Javier hadn't guessed wrong—
It's very likely that the culprit behind all recent incidents is Leech Queen Marcus himself, not Umbrella Corporation!
"Wait…"
"Don't call me a stinky rat. At most, you're just a Mutated Leech. What confidence do you have to discriminate against stinky rats? I ask you… you are the director of the Cadre Training Institute, James Marcus, right?"
"The recent frequent outbreaks of Bio-weapon virus leaks, and the derailment of the Zodiac Train, were they your doing?"
Looking at the Leech Queen Marcus in front of him,
Javier squinted slightly and asked. Marcus's appearance… seemed to explain everything that had happened recently more easily.
Of course,
As the legendary great villain,
Leech Queen Marcus showed no avoidance whatsoever regarding the series of incidents Javier accused her of. On the contrary, to a great villain, the series of crimes Javier mentioned actually became words of praise and pride for her.
Therefore,
Facing these accusations,
Leech Queen Marcus spread her arms in enjoyment, as if bathed in holy light, thoroughly relishing these words of praise. Her effeminate face suddenly revealed a faint, confident smile as she explained:
"Hehe…"
"You guessed correctly. It seems your tiny rat brains aren't as stupid as I imagined. At least you have a little bit of intelligence. Of course… you're still far inferior to a genius like me."
"As foolish individuals who managed to guess part of my plan, I can now grant you the honor of listening carefully. All the Resident Evil incidents that have occurred recently were indeed orchestrated by me, including the Zodiac Train, the virus leaks, and the beast attacks in the Akeley Mountains—all are my masterpieces."
"Ten years ago, through studying the Progenitor Virus, I successfully extracted a new strain from it. I named it the T-Virus. But the T-Virus was full of flaws. To perfectly optimize it, I discovered that leeches could fuse with the T-Virus. Therefore, I created the new Leech Queen T-Virus. This is the result of my painstaking research!"
"Just as I was about to announce this great masterpiece to the world, someone set their sights on my beloved treasure. This person was the selfish Umbrella CEO, Spencer, that disgusting old fox!"
Speaking of which,
It was clear that Leech Queen Marcus's emotions began to become frantic. Her whole body trembled uncontrollably, her expression was incredibly ferocious, and on her handsome, effeminate face, she looked as if she wanted to swallow Spencer whole, then chew and crush him completely.
No choice,
Initially, Marcus and Spencer were like-minded allies, jointly establishing Umbrella Corporation. However, in the end, they went their separate ways due to the virus. After all, everyone has selfish motives. Once two people have their own selfish motives, they can never uphold common beliefs.
Spencer was the discoverer of the virus.
Years ago, during one of his lost wanderings, he met the woman who would change his life, Mother Miranda. After being rescued by Mother Miranda, Spencer was hired as her assistant. At that time… Spencer first encountered a Bio-weapon even older than the virus, the Mold—!
But unfortunately,
At that time, the Mold had extremely low transmission and infection rates, coupled with an exceptionally high mortality rate. Furthermore, his mentor and friend, Mother Miranda, only used the Mold to resurrect her daughter. Upon learning of this, Spencer abandoned the idea of researching the Mold.
A few years later,
Spencer led a team to Africa and found the Sun Ladder Flower, which was similar to the Mold legend. From it, he extracted the Progenitor Virus, thus making Spencer the discoverer.
But unfortunately,
Compared to other brilliant and intelligent biologists, Spencer did not possess the ability to research viruses. Therefore… he could only summon his university friend, Edward Ashford, a wealthy aristocrat, to join. Of course, there was also Marcus, the genius biologist.
The three were responsible for their respective positions: one provided data and the virus original, one provided funding, and one was responsible for research results. The three combined forces to create Umbrella Corporation—!
This should have been a great legendary feat,
But when Edward Ashford, one of the three, unfortunately died from a leaked virus infection, the triangular balance was completely altered. Spencer, holding great power, rose higher and higher in status, even becoming the president of Umbrella Corporation. However, with the passage of time, Spencer became increasingly desirous of the virus's power.
Because he had seen the power of the Mold,
He knew that the virus could delay aging and even achieve immortality. Therefore, Spencer's ambition was to have Marcus develop a perfect virus, and from beginning to end, Spencer only regarded the virus as a tool for immortality and making money.
This made Marcus, a genius biologist, scoff. He was deeply immersed in virus research and had long regarded the virus as a treasure. He naturally despised Spencer's vulgar ideas, and thus their philosophies gradually diverged.
One revered the virus, treating its power as divine.
One was selfish, only wanting to use the virus to achieve immortality and make enough money to last several lifetimes.
The two went further and further down their respective paths. When Marcus developed the Leech Queen T-Virus, a nearly pseudo-perfect virus, Spencer naturally became impatient and wanted to forcibly seize Marcus's research results. But how could Marcus easily agree?
Both were dissatisfied with each other,
Preparing to take down the other, but unfortunately… Marcus, who was engrossed in virus research, could never outwit Spencer, who was adept at manipulating people's hearts and power—
"Hehe…"
"Spencer wanted to forcibly seize my painstaking research results and my beloved leeches, how could I agree! But… what I never expected was that my two hateful students, Wesker and William, those two bastards actually dared to betray me and assassinated me in the Institute with a large army, which made me furious beyond measure!"
"However, none of that matters, because at this very moment, I have returned… They will never know that although I was shot multiple times and on the verge of death, by a stroke of luck, a falling Leech Queen sample entered my dying body. The powerful virus repaired my rapidly failing body,"
"For nearly ten years, I have strengthened myself and achieved perfect evolution! And now… I am the new Marcus. I will now seek revenge on Umbrella Corporation, let the world know Umbrella Corporation's ugly crimes, let Spencer fall completely into the abyss, watching him suffer and die little by little. And those two traitorous students, I will personally dismember them!"
Looking at Javier and his two companions,
The Marcus in front of them spoke loudly without any reservations, his face filled with pride and madness. His emotions were incredibly agitated now, as if he was expressing and releasing the secrets and anger that had been hidden in his heart for many years, feeling incredibly relieved.
Of course,
His expression towards Javier and his two companions gradually turned into one of mockery:
"Hehe…"
"As for you, you will also die here, three stinky rats. I will not let you leave alive, nor will I let you expose my secret. Now… you only have one path: death! Ho ho ho…!!!"
As he spoke,
Marcus's voice gradually became hoarse.
And the next second,
Marcus's entire appearance suddenly underwent a drastic change. The white robe on the outside disappeared instantly like a wriggling living substance, and his handsome, effeminate face suddenly became incredibly hideous.
"Gurgle… Gurgle…"
Countless disgusting tumors began to writhe.
His human-like face instantly transformed into a Leech Man's face. Writhing tentacles grew on his forehead, like snails or a crown, while his mouth was terrifying like a suction cup, filled with dense, disgusting fangs.
Even his whole body, the white robe also disappeared, replaced by twisted Leech flesh. His arms elongated, and Marcus completely transformed into an incredibly hideous Leech Man. Perhaps now… he was truly in his Leech Queen form!