However, Ashley took it seriously. After all, from her perspective, giving her savior a raise wasn't difficult; it was definitely something that should be done. If possible, Ashley even wanted Leon to be her personal bodyguard. Such a reliable personal bodyguard would make her feel very secure.
"Hehe, of course, that's a given!"
"Speaking of which, Leon, how did you become my dad's personal bodyguard? Is the assessment for being the President's bodyguard very difficult? You're not the legendary genius agent, are you? Tell me quickly…"
Taking over the conversation,
Ashley, holding Leon's hand, suddenly asked with a very curious expression. Unintentionally… their relationship had already begun to slowly change.
Initially, it was a clear master-servant relationship. At first… although Ashley trusted Leon, she merely took him for granted as a bodyguard protecting her safety. Their relationship was completely hierarchical.
But now,
Through their recent mutual confessions,
Their relationship had clearly changed. Ashley no longer treated Leon as a bodyguard to be used as a matter of course, but as a comrade-in-arms sharing joys and sorrows, helping each other, a companion to escape this cursed castle and this hellish place, and even a good friend with whom she could talk about anything.
Perhaps Ashley herself hadn't even noticed this…
And facing Ashley's coquettishness,
Leon was quite helpless and could only haltingly tell Ashley his story, from being a rookie police officer in Raccoon City, to being noticed by the United States Government, and then constantly training to become a presidential agent.
Storytelling helps to ease a tense atmosphere, so Leon was very willing to help this underage girl, Ashley, relieve some of her tension.
Of course,
This also helped Leon relieve his inner pressure.
After all, this experience was an indelible shadow in Leon's heart. He had never shared it with anyone before, and speaking it out could release his suppressed emotions.
However, exchanging and confessing secrets also seems to be a way to increase affection, because it makes the other person feel that you shared your secret only with them, and that you are very special to them!
And as Ashley listened to Leon's legendary experiences, her beautiful eyes once again sparkled with starlight, and her inner longing and admiration deepened considerably. After all, the stories Leon told were truly amazing.
From an ordinary rookie police officer, he suddenly experienced Resident Evil in Raccoon City, overcame fear to deal with a large number of zombies, escaped from a city on the verge of nuclear explosion, and was then noticed by the United States Government, starting training to become an agent. During this time, he also carried out many Resident Evil missions.
Finally, because he shared the same ideals as her father, he began to serve as the President's bodyguard, vowing to serve the American people. This was a true legendary hero.
Underage girls and young ladies always love these legendary heroes, and Ashley was naturally no exception.
What's more, Leon's appearance was not bad.
Leon with his middle-parted flaxen hair was undoubtedly at the peak of his attractiveness. While the later version of stubble-bearded Leon also had a mature charm, the current ascetic, cool Leon was undoubtedly the favorite of all young girls and wealthy women.
Before, they were busy escaping,
And it was pitch black,
Ashley hardly had time to carefully observe Leon's face. Now, in the castle, with ample light, Ashley finally discovered Leon's breathtakingly handsome face.
Tall stature, well-proportioned and strong muscles, not the overly developed, greasy type of bodybuilder, but just the right amount of fullness, a male model's golden ratio body.
A face with contours like a sculpted blade, a gentle voice, yet not lacking in humor. His ascetic and cool demeanor, coupled with a strikingly different personality, created a strong sense of contrast. Did you think he was a cold-hearted killer? No... actually, he isn't. Leon is actually a warm-hearted man who cares deeply for others.
He just had a slight hint of a sharp tongue, but who could blame him when he possessed the aura of an ascetic, cool male god? Didn't this type always have a bit of a sharp tongue?
This, on the contrary, added a touch of playfulness and cuteness…
Finally, there were those dark eyes full of secrets. His heart seemed to hide countless past secrets, filled with sorrow, making women I couldn't help but dig it out and taste it carefully.,Feel this man's sad past.
Women are emotional creatures,
The more a (handsome) man has a painful past, the more empathy they can feel, leading to pity, and then activating their maternal aura, wanting to embrace and comfort him gently.
And Leon…
Was such an object.
At this moment, Ashley realized that the bodyguard beside her was actually such a handsome man; she had truly misjudged him.
Her cheeks also flushed slightly as she began to daydream, not hearing a single word of any story Leon told afterward. Was this what a girl in love was like? So cute! But also so pitiful!
After all, given Leon's personality,
It would be very difficult for him to develop feelings for a girl so much younger than him, who was also an underage girl. What's more, the other party was his superior's daughter, so there was probably even less chance, unless Ashley became an adult—then there might be a tiny bit of opportunity.
And as they walked,
The two would soon reach the next castle hall. Leon's expression became slightly serious; his intuition told him that
Since no servants or cultists had captured them along the way, there must be very troublesome traps waiting for them at the entrance to such a huge hall.
And having also sensed the danger,
Ashley also reined in her previous wandering thoughts, her expression subtly changed, and while her left hand tightly gripped Leon's arm, her right hand also firmly held a pistol, a USP9 - Agent Pistol.
This was the weapon Leon gave Ashley for self-defense. He himself used the Colt M1911 large-caliber powerful pistol he had purchased from the Merchant earlier.
He hoped it would allow Ashley to protect herself in times of crisis. To prevent accidental discharge, the safety was currently engaged. As for how to disengage the safety and fire, Leon had done his best to teach her along the way. It was now up to the young girl's performance in the field.
Leon didn't expect Ashley to help him with firepower; he just hoped this girl wouldn't accidentally shoot herself with the pistol—!
"…"
"Ready? I'm opening the door!"
Turning his head, he said to Ashley beside him.
The next second, Leon decisively pushed open the door in front of him. As the creaking sound of the door slowly echoed, the spacious castle hall once again appeared before Leon and Ashley.
However… this time, the hall was not the red-carpet layout from when they confronted Ramon Salazar earlier. One can only say that this castle is truly massive, with several halls set up within it.
"Gurgle…"
"Splash…"
"Drip-drip…"
And at the same time,
The sound of fountain water surging immediately came to their ears.
There was actually an indoor fountain set up in the hall in front of them, which was incredibly rare. It's important to know that castles typically only have fountains built in their courtyards for viewing and aesthetics, but having a fountain inside the castle… is truly a bit strange.
The only thing one could guess,
Is that this place is likely a ballroom or party hall, as only such places would have a purpose for a fountain, serving as an attraction for guests and a backdrop for dance celebrations.
It's just—
The water spewing from here was not crystal clear, nor was it a colorful rainbow, but rather a pitch-black, slightly viscous black water with faint foam!
It was like disgusting sewage,
But it was incredibly black, not viscous like oil, but as black as oil, making one feel incredibly nauseous and sick just looking at it. Moreover, the air was filled with a strange odor emanating from the black water, like a stagnant pool used for mosquito breeding, with a faint smell of decay wafting over.
Almost all the fountain pools in the entire hall were filled with this black water, constantly spraying back and forth from the fountain statues, causing an immense sense of dread.
Leon and Ashley frowned slightly at the bizarre sight before them. They didn't know what was special about this black water, but they just felt extremely disgusted and repulsed by it…
And this—
Was the Black Water Hall,
A place of immense sanctity for the cultists within the castle.
These pitch-black, utterly disgusting, filthy, polluted black waters were actually a new type of oral experimental agent, "Black Water," discovered and refined from fossilized amber samples of Plaga parasite and the adult Plaga parasite itself!
And the person who discovered this miraculous research,
Was Ramon Salazar's loyal servant, Isidro Uriarte Talavera—
Also a mad scholar with some biological foundation. He didn't possess Luis's excellent biological knowledge, but he managed to research Black Water based on his wild ideas. In a sense, he was a madman, and also a genius.
And Black Water…
It should roughly be Plaga parasite corpse water, because Plaga parasite fossils and corpses were soaked in it for a long time, causing spores from the decomposed fossils to precipitate in the water, and the adult corpses also began to decompose. It was full of very rich Plaga parasite genes.
If given to people without Plaga parasite in their bodies, it would cause infection, mutation, and a berserk state. But if given to people who already had Plaga parasite, it would accelerate the development and growth of the Plaga parasite. Black Water… has a similar effect to plant fertilizer.
And one of the most miraculous instances,
Was when Isidro was conducting an oral Black Water agent experiment and accidentally allowed a pregnant woman to swallow the Black Water. When the Black Water entered the pregnant woman's body, the Plaga parasite genes in the Black Water would frantically modify the baby in the womb.
It was equivalent to a ready-made transformation sample,
Because the infant was in a growth period,
They didn't need to parasitize; they only needed their genes to integrate into the infant's body and grow together. Just like that… the pregnant woman who swallowed the Black Water soon discovered the anomaly in the child in her belly.
The human infant inside had completely turned into an insect. To obtain more nutrients, the insect was no longer satisfied with the mother's nourishment and directly killed its mother in the womb, then burst out, and finally began to devour the pregnant woman, who was human.
These insects grow very fast,
Young ones are only the size of a small dog, while adults are as large as a black bear, and with their huge wings spread, they are stronger than any bird on Earth.
At the same time, these insects also have the ability to mimic and become invisible, their eyes sparkling like gems. Ramon Salazar was very fond of these insects, believing them to be key to transforming humans into Plaga parasite, and named them U2—
Ramon Salazar's acknowledgment,
Made Isidro, as a servant, very excited. With the permission of Ramon, the castle lord, he began to impregnate a large number of women and force them to drink Black Water,
Thus began the breeding of Invisible Worm U2, until later, when Invisible Worm U2 gained autonomous reproductive capabilities, this inhumane and atrocious act slowly ceased.
Undoubtedly…
Although Isidro was a genius, he was also a devil in human skin, as was the castle lord, Ramon Salazar. They directly used the newborn human infants within pregnant women to absorb the Black Water Plaga parasite genes, then transformed the infants into insects alive.
This kind of morally bankrupt behavior,
Has no possibility of being whitewashed whatsoever—
P.S.: AG is awesome, we are the champions (don't mind me, just entertaining myself, don't ask, if you ask, I'm a farmer, awkward laugh)
Chapter 44: Shoot, Girl!
"Leon…"
"What exactly is this black water?"
Looking at the continuously surging black water in the fountain pool of the Holy Water Hall, Ashley frowned and murmured. She felt that the black water in the fountain pool was extremely disgusting and nauseating, and even had a faint putrid smell, somewhat like a stagnant puddle that had soaked various insect corpses.
But even so,
Ashley still had a strange feeling.
Her body seemed to somewhat crave this disgusting sewage. It was clearly black water, clearly smelled so strange, and her mind and body were even repulsed and rejecting it, yet despite all this, instinctively, she still craved it.
Ashley didn't understand where this strange feeling came from,
She could only try to shake her head, casting this terrifying thought out of her mind, but in fact, it was not so… Not only Ashley, but even Leon beside her also had this strange feeling, but Leon's willpower was firm, and he quickly discarded this peculiar thought.
And in reality—
This was actually the Plaga parasite inside Leon and Ashley acting up, because the Black Water in this fountain pool was simply a great delicacy for the Plaga parasite. The Plaga parasite parasitizing Leon and Ashley naturally craved it very much, and thus tried to urge Leon and Ashley to drink it.
However, their parasitic time was too short,
They simply couldn't directly control Leon and Ashley to drink this disgusting Black Water. This was a very difficult thing, after all, Black Water, in Leon and Ashley's eyes, was already a very disgusting thing. Controlling someone to drink normal water and food was fine, but to eat feces?
This was completely impossible,
Even hypnosis would find it very difficult to achieve,
After all, with such a disgusting substance, the human body's instincts would naturally resist. How could one forcibly swallow it by sheer hypnotic will?
And Black Water is a great tonic for the Plaga parasite. Once Black Water is consumed, the large amount of rich Plaga parasite genes contained within it will be absorbed and strengthened by the Plaga parasite in the body, allowing for rapid development in less than half a day.
And the current behavior…
It's exactly like a horsehair worm parasitizing a praying mantis, then manipulating the mantis to drink water near a water source. Once it gets close, the horsehair worm will emerge from the mantis's excretory opening.
"I don't know…"
"But my intuition tells me that this black water is definitely not a good thing, Ashley. Don't touch this water, and certainly don't let it get near your mouth. I feel like it's the evil source that leads to hell."
Shaking his head, Leon warned Ashley behind him. Whatever this stuff was, just don't touch it with your hands.