Beneath this seemingly flawless explanation, the logic was perfectly sound and reasonable, but Chris still felt a strange sensation—
"Shut up!"
"Wesker, you're slandering me! You prepared all these things in advance, didn't you? The so-called logistics personnel should be you yourself. You plan to pin the blame on me so you can rest easy, right?"
Watching Wesker continue to speak with sound reasoning, the nearby Enrico finally couldn't hold back. He immediately shouted indignantly. As a veteran police officer of twenty years, no matter how good his mental fortitude was, he couldn't remain absolutely calm in the face of such incriminating evidence.
After all,
Enrico knew that those pieces of evidence could very well seal his guilt, even if they were fake.
"Click—!!!"
Therefore,
Without any hesitation,
Enrico, one of the two parties in the confrontation, was the first to draw his weapon, aiming the dark muzzle at Wesker. There's a saying: in the game of negotiation, language determines the winner, and the one who draws their sword first is the loser, because it deviates from the rules of the game. Undoubtedly... Enrico lost this confrontation to the more cunning and better-prepared Wesker.
But there's another saying,
The outcome of a game is actually decided by the strong. In the game of negotiation, even if the disadvantaged party draws their sword, it doesn't mean they've truly lost. They've only lost within the rules of that negotiation game, not in the game of drawing swords.
Therefore,
Now is the time to test the strength of the one who overturns the table...
The game of negotiation only gave Wesker an advantage in terms of "action and reason."
"Click—!"
However,
Wesker didn't indulge Enrico at all. The moment he drew his gun, Wesker, with lightning speed, flung his dark sunglasses, smashing them onto Enrico's face.
"Splat—!"
Caught off guard, Enrico was hit in the eye by the sunglasses, and his eye socket immediately turned red. His vision was disturbed and affected.
"Hmph—!"
At the same time, with a low growl,
Wesker didn't miss this opportunity. His muscles tensed and bulged, and he shot forward. A series of punches and kicks rained down, then he cupped his hands, gathering strength, and unleashed a Pai Yun Palm aimed at Enrico's abdomen. The hidden internal force instantly penetrated Enrico's abdomen. Enrico felt as if he had been struck by a tremendous force, and the pain in his abdomen was unbearable, as if he had appendicitis. He immediately fell to the ground in agony.
Look closely,
This is Old K... bah! Wesker's ultimate move, Chain Drive—!
Using the sunglasses as the main body, he quickly throws them to hit the opponent's face to attract attention, while Wesker himself instantly flashes in front of the enemy for a high-speed combo attack, finally finishing with a Pai Yun Palm. It's a very cool... uh, and lightning-fast move.
After knocking Enrico to the ground with one blow,
Wesker slowly walked forward, gradually drawing the pistol from his waist and aiming it at Enrico on the ground. Looking at the dark, cold muzzle, Enrico finally understood that he had completely lost, thoroughly defeated in every aspect.
Wesker's expression, however, remained playful.
The feeling of tormenting pitiful ants seemed to be quite enjoyable, making him happy, especially the sight of these ants trying desperately to resist but failing, which Wesker thoroughly savored.
However,
Just at this moment,
"Don't move—!"
A shout,
The inexperienced Chris, seeing the situation was dire, also raised his weapon, aiming the dark, cold muzzle in Wesker's direction.
This action,
Left Wesker very confused, not understanding why Chris hadn't fallen for it yet, or... was he just pointing the gun at him simply because he didn't like him?
However,
The truth was indeed like this.
Although all the evidence pointed to Captain Enrico, with no room for defense, Chris still found it suspicious. Therefore, Chris believed... that convicting Enrico was fine, but immediately executing Captain Enrico was absolutely impossible, at least not yet.
"Captain Wesker,"
"I don't think it's necessary to kill Enrico immediately. Even if he's an Umbrella Corporation mole, wouldn't keeping him alive to help testify against the Umbrella Corporation be more useful than killing him? He's the most important witness. It's safest to tie him up!"
As if offering advice, the inexperienced Chris stared intently at Wesker, speaking word by word with the pistol in hand. If Wesker dared to lay a hand on Enrico, Chris would naturally fire at Wesker without hesitation.
"Heh heh..."
"Bah, that palm strike just now was really powerful. I didn't expect your close-quarters combat to be so formidable, besides your shooting skills. Wesker, I think Chris's suggestion is excellent. I confess... I am an Umbrella Corporation logistics personnel. I am willing to help you expose the Umbrella Corporation's crimes and be a witness. How about it? Just spare my life!"
And Enrico, lying on the ground, also seized the opportunity. Enduring the intense pain in his abdomen, he slowly propped himself up, spat out a mouthful of blood, and replied with a sneer.
Now Enrico could confirm,
Although all the evidence pointed to him, this kid Chris at least wasn't bad-hearted and wasn't blind. He still barely believed him. Since that was the case, Enrico could feel much more at ease.
He could continue to act recklessly. With this kid Chris holding Wesker back, Wesker wouldn't dare do anything to him for a while.
And so...
A bizarre, famous scene was born.
The three stood facing each other.
The injured Enrico stood up, pointing his gun at Wesker, Wesker also pointed his gun at Enrico, and Chris himself pointed his gun at both of them...
Well, well,
One of those famous Hong Kong movie gunfight scenes, isn't it?
And just like that,
Wesker was in a stalemate. He could have killed both of them in an instant, but then his scapegoat plan would fall through. Therefore, when faced with the threat... Wesker chose to snort coldly, and then unleashed another Pai Yun Palm, directly knocking the arrogant Enrico to the ground.
Regarding this,
Chris had no way to stop him. As long as Captain Enrico of Bravo Team's life could be saved, that was enough. The rest of the matters... could wait until everyone had gathered before slowly investigating whether Captain Enrico was an Umbrella Corporation mole.
If he was...
Then the inexperienced Chris would change his prejudice against Wesker. Although this captain had a bad personality and temper, he was at least a righteous person. He shouldn't resist Wesker because of his own prejudice, and he would even apologize.
As for Enrico,
If he really was a mole, Chris wouldn't consider their past friendship and would give Enrico, the Umbrella Corporation mole, a severe beating! This was Chris's simple and direct thought.
It's just that—
Time was running out for Chris.
Although Wesker didn't plan to kill the two of them himself, he had already found candidates for killing with a borrowed knife. Soon, they would face the Mansion Villa's boss, Tyrant T-002. Having the Tyrant kill Chris and Enrico would perfectly align with Wesker's intentions, keeping his hands clean and allowing him to easily fabricate death reports.
As long as he wasn't the one who killed them—!
...
Meanwhile—
While Wesker and the two others were enacting their 'Who's the Mole' drama, Javier and his group had already dealt with "Plant 42" and, following clues, found the last cursed mask. The final cursed mask came from a mechanism painting.
It was like a corridor exhibition of paintings, composed of four paintings in total, a very simple puzzle. The first three paintings depicted a saint wearing a crown, a sage wearing a necklace, and a sword saint wearing a bracelet. The first three paintings each had their own colors: yellow, green, purple, and orange.
One of the colors was incorrect and had to be corrected. The object of correction was the last painting in the gallery, a black and white female portrait without color. The female portrait was very beautiful, and with her smiling pose, it easily reminded one of the world-famous painting, the Mona Lisa.
And the young, beautiful female portrait above,
Was actually Lisa Trevor, the daughter of George Trevor, the designer of the Mansion Villa. When designing the Mansion Villa, George, who doted on his daughter, incorporated her portrait into the design.
And no one would have ever thought... that the monster who went around tearing off other people's faces and sticking them on herself was once such an innocent and beautiful girl...
The key to solving the mechanism was matching the colors.
Lisa's portrait had three accessories: a crown, a necklace, and a bracelet. Javier and his team needed to guess the colors of Lisa's accessories based on the colors of the first three frames. After repeated attempts, Javier and his team successfully solved the puzzle.
They were a green crown, a purple necklace, and an orange bracelet. When the three matched correctly, Lisa's portrait, which was originally only black and white, gained a few more shades, as if dotting the eyes of a dragon, making Lisa in the frame even more beautiful.
"Click—!"
And as the mechanism opened,
Javier and his team successfully obtained the last cursed mask. Now... they could finally reveal the true identity of the person in the coffin—!
Chapter 22: George Trevor
All four cursed masks were obtained.
Without any hesitation, Javier and his team immediately headed to the previous basement. When Jill and Barry saw the huge coffin suspended by chains from the ceiling, their expressions couldn't help but freeze.
Because they themselves hadn't expected that there would actually be a sealed coffin here. What was even more unbelievable was... that the creature inside this coffin was still alive. However, they could currently confirm that
The guy in the coffin should not be a member of S.T.A.R.S.
Because that would be too absurd. The coffin's seal was very tight, and air could hardly circulate. If someone stayed inside for even a few hours, let alone a whole day, they would immediately suffocate to death. Also, the tight space would make it difficult to turn over, likely leading to immediate shock and death.
Therefore, it was highly unlikely that the person inside was the S.T.A.R.S survivor they were looking for.
But that didn't matter,
Because it didn't hinder Javier and his team's curiosity about the person in the coffin. After all, someone whose seal could only be broken by using four cursed masks as keys in the Mansion Villa must have a very unusual identity, likely with significant and close ties to the Umbrella Corporation and the bio-virus.
Saying that...
Javier and his team immediately began to act.
"How about it...?"
"Are you ready? If you are, then I'll put all the masks on. Remember not to accidentally shoot me. I don't want to be riddled with holes by you guys!"
Holding four cursed masks in his hand,
Javier, wearing a gas mask, looking like a red-eyed green-headed fly, asked Jill and the others behind him. Although he wasn't sure about Jill's marksmanship, Javier knew that Rebecca's marksmanship alone was enough.
Wielding a shotgun, she could transform into Zhao Zilong of Changshan, charging in and out seven times, her gun like a dragon, a hundred birds facing the phoenix, and could casually blast a target to death with her eyes closed. Therefore, Javier was very afraid of a repeat of the previous situation, where he was accidentally sprayed to death by Rebecca's large shotgun.
However,
Jill and the others didn't care.
After all, compared to Javier's life or death, they were more concerned about who was inside the coffin... Helplessly, Javier could only obediently press all four cursed masks he held onto the faces of the nearby stone statues.
Each stone statue's face needed to be fitted with its corresponding mask: the mask that cannot speak of the devil, the mask that cannot speak or smell the devil, the mask that cannot see the devil, and the mask that cannot speak, smell, or see the devil.
Following the order of the Book of Curses...
Javier placed them all one by one onto the faces of the stone statues.
And the next second—!
"Bang!"
"Rumble...!"
At this moment,
The entire dim basement suddenly echoed with a violent tremor. The mechanism was triggered and activated, and dust scattered.
The sturdy chains that had been firmly suspended from the ceiling seemed to have been unlocked, instantly sliding down. And the heavy steel coffin slammed heavily onto the ground, stirring up another cloud of dust.
Seeing such a huge commotion,
Javier and the others' expressions changed slightly, and they quickly retreated a few steps, not wanting to be suddenly attacked by whatever was in the coffin because of the dust obstructing their vision. Facing such an unknown creature, they had to be careful and cautious.
"Bang...!"
"Clang—!"
A loud bang,
The steel coffin, which had fallen to the ground, remained silent for a moment before suddenly bursting open. The two coffin lids were instantly blown off, smashing heavily against the basement walls on either side. And amidst the rolling smoke and dust, a tall, dark figure gradually emerged, standing nearly two meters tall.
"Hiss..."
"Ho ho..."
A low hissing sound gradually approached,