The White Wolf immediately felt a sense of unease, instinctively driven to leap again, soaring high off the ground.
"Whoosh…!!!"
The dark shadow behind the White Wolf also darted out swiftly, its sharp claws scraping urgently across the ground, tearing open a deep claw mark.
Dust flew, the attack missed, and the stirred-up dust scattered onto the shadow, revealing the Invisible Bug, which had been in camouflage mode, due to the dust covering it.
This Invisible Bug had just tried to attack the White Wolf, but the White Wolf's instincts were too quick, allowing it to narrowly escape.
Instead, it was forced to reveal itself, which gave Javier an opportunity; he raised his M16 assault rifle and fired at the Invisible Bug.
"Da da da —!!!"
Muffled gunshots rang out.
Bullets quickly pierced the Invisible Bug's head, green liquid splattered, and the Invisible Bug immediately exited its camouflage state, falling stiffly to the ground, instantly losing all signs of life.
It seemed the M16 assault rifle was quite powerful; three rounds of 5.56 bullets were enough to kill most creatures, unlike its awkwardness in the game world, and most importantly, it was very stable.
"…"
"Close your eyes and cover your ears! I'm about to throw it—!!!"
At this moment,
The Merchant's voice immediately came through.
He had already pulled the pin of the flashbang, warned everyone around him, and then quickly threw the flashbang out.
He aimed it precisely at the seven or eight Invisible Bugs chasing them from behind, while everyone who heard the warning quickly covered their ears, closed their eyes, and hurried forward with their heads down.
"Bang…!"
"Puff—!!!"
A muffled explosion sound came.
Specks of fire splattered, rapidly spreading outwards, accompanied by a powerful sonic boom, and blinding white light swept through the area. The seven or eight Invisible Bugs, busy chasing, had no time to guard themselves.
They were instantly hit by the intense light, and their rapidly flying wings immediately stiffened, as if their entire bodies had been acupunctured. They violently plummeted from mid-air.
All seven or eight of them,
Like mosquitoes stunned by mosquito coils, they had no ability to resist. Their eyes went black, their necks twisted, and they swayed and fell from mid-air to the ground. At the same time, their camouflage invisibility instantly disappeared, revealing their original ugly, dark beetle bodies.
Seeing this, Javier and the others naturally showed no mercy. They raised their M16 assault rifles and unleashed a barrage of gunfire.
"Bang bang bang bang—!!!!"
Dense bullets, like raindrops, continuously blasted towards the heads of these Invisible Bugs. Immediately, large amounts of green blood splattered, and one after another, the Invisible Bugs were instantly headshot, completely dead!
Another troublesome matter was resolved.
This allowed everyone to slowly breathe a sigh of relief.
However, looking at the huge nest above their heads, no one dared to linger. They quickly ran into other caves, as the gunshots and flashbangs just now had caused a very loud commotion.
This was not good for the Invisible Bugs, which were very sensitive to sound. They might come out in full force to drive away intruders. If they didn't want to be chased by hundreds of Invisible Bugs, the best option was to escape quickly!
The caves here were like a giant ant nest, with every tunnel intricately intertwined, requiring great familiarity to find the correct path.
Fortunately, Luis, who knew his way around, was still reliable, always pointing out the correct direction. Even the Merchant couldn't help but admire Luis's memory. Perhaps this was the mark of a genius researcher—
Soon…
Led by Luis,
Everyone arrived at an elevator. After getting on the elevator, Luis pulled the lever.
The elevator slowly ascended. Taking advantage of this, Luis lit a cigarette for himself. After exhaling smoke, he calmly delivered some bad news to everyone:
"Although this sounds annoying…"
"Cough, cough… But unfortunately, at this moment, I have to tell you some bad news. That is, for the rest of the way, we cannot go directly to the operating room. We must first go to my Institute. The equipment for the ultraviolet laser surgery to remove the Plaga parasite was locked by me because I was afraid Sadler would destroy it, so I sealed it heavily."
"And to open the access to the operating room, we must first go to my Institute, because I left my identity ID card in there. With that item, we can open the access and enter the operating room."
The cigarette smoke in his lungs made Luis suddenly cough, and he reined in a hint of his cynical smile, explaining with a helpless, bitter smile to the people in front of him.
Actually, Luis hadn't expected this. An identity ID card was originally something he could do without, as Luis had only wanted to escape Wolf's Valley at first, so he hadn't carried his identity ID card with him at all.
But he hadn't expected to encounter Leon and Javier and the others later, and to have to reactivate his sealed operating room.
So there was no choice…
Everything had to start over.
But his Institute, that seemed to be a place Luis really didn't want to return to, because it was too easy for Luis to recall the sins he had once committed.
It was very painful; terrifying things were hidden in there, and they were also products of Luis's insane obsession.
That was his proudest creation…
The Regenerator—
A very terrifying monster, a product accidentally created by Luis when he was once mad with research. Luis deeply regretted this creation.
Even now, Luis understood how much of a scoundrel he had been back then! He was simply a complete degenerate…!
"Is there a problem?"
"It's just returning to the Institute for a trip, but you look very unwilling, Luis. Is there something wrong inside the Institute? Or… some kind of troublesome monster?"
Inside the elevator,
Leon listened to Luis's words and saw Luis's very grim expression, and couldn't help but frown slightly. Returning to the Institute for a trip seemed like a very simple matter.
But for Luis to have such a difficult expression, there must be some problem hidden inside. So Leon simply opened his mouth and asked in return,
"Bingo!"
"You got it right, Leon. In my Institute, there's a monster I personally created, and it's also a sin I once committed. That monster is called a Regenerator. It's a product of a special fusion between the Plaga parasite and humans."
"Unlike other Plaga parasite mutations, it possesses extremely strong regenerative abilities. Because ordinary infected only have one Plaga parasite parasitizing them, a Regenerator, however, has about five to three inside its body, which gives it powerful regenerative abilities that ordinary Plaga parasite infected don't have!"
"Any injury it sustains will rapidly heal, unless it's a heavy weapon that can instantly turn its body to ash. Otherwise, its body will continue to regenerate, just like its name, Regenerator."
"Of course, the last method is to simultaneously kill the four or five Plaga parasites within its body. As long as you simultaneously kill the five Plaga parasites inside it, then it will be unable to regenerate and will quickly enter a state of death."
"But the only problem is, trying to simultaneously kill Plaga parasites at different locations within a monster's body is a very difficult task. This requires a thermal imager to accomplish, but we still don't have such advanced equipment."
"There are almost six or seven of these monsters in the Institute. Although they have all been sealed away, there's no guarantee they haven't been released now. Therefore, it's fraught with danger and very troublesome!"
Facing Leon's inquiry,
Luis spread his hands helplessly and smiled bitterly, only able to slowly begin explaining. He had made his bed and now had to lie in it, having to swallow his own bitter medicine.
They say what goes around comes around. Luis, who used to believe in science, didn't believe in such superstitions before, but now Luis had to consider whether he should become a believer to atone for his sins.
Of course, as long as they weren't cultists of The Illuminados, Christianity and Buddhism still interested Luis.
And upon hearing Luis's words,
Leon and the others' expressions subtly changed, unsure of what to say. They had thought victory was within reach, but they hadn't expected such a huge hurdle awaiting them.
The Regenerator… almost didn't need Luis to introduce it; just by its name, they knew it was a very difficult opponent, just like the previous boss monsters.
However,
Compared to everyone else's astonishment,
Javier, on the other hand, recalled that there indeed was the terrifying elite monster, the Regenerator, which surpassed other boss monsters.
But because it was mass-produced and numerous, it was unfortunately relegated to an elite monster, yet its terrifying level was among the top contenders in the Biohazard 4 series!
Chapter 85: Territorial Awareness
And besides the ordinary Regenerator, there was also a new type of mutant, considered the ultimate elite among elite monsters, whose entire body was covered in sharp spines, just like a porcupine.
These Regenerators mutated due to an excessive number of Plaga parasites in their bodies, possessing at least five or more Plaga parasites.
Moreover, once provoked,
These Regenerators' spines would also bristle rapidly like an enraged hedgehog. Although they couldn't shoot their spines out, they could significantly extend their attack range.
Once hit by a Regenerator's 'hug of love,' it was inevitable to have hundreds of holes all over one's body.
And because of this unique attack method and appearance,
These mutated Regenerators were affectionately called "Iron Maiden" by Luis, referring to a cruel torture device invented in medieval Europe.
It was an iron casing shaped like a woman, filled with nails inside. A young girl would be placed inside, and when it was closed, the nails would pierce through her body, eventually leading to death from excessive blood loss during a painful process…
Legend has it that it was invented by the Vampire Countess Elizabeth Báthory in the 15th century, specifically as a torture device to torment young girls.
Because legend says that the Bloody Countess needed to bathe in the virgin blood of young girls to maintain her eternal youth,
Therefore, the cruel female appearance of the Iron Maiden, and the image of the young girl trapped inside, bleeding from constantly piercing nails, closely resembled the blood of a girl who had just lost her virginity, hence it was named Iron Maiden.
However, legends are just legends after all.
In reality, this was merely a torture device accidentally invented by Europeans, without so much legendary color. Furthermore, due to the nails being designed too short at the time,
The person being tortured inside had to endure five or six days of blood loss before slowly going into shock and dying, making it a very inefficient execution tool.
It was not as clean and swift as Louis XVI's guillotine, and before beheading, it would inflict immense fear on the condemned. Many prisoners would basically go weak in the knees and tremble all over as soon as they stepped onto the platform.
But to get back to the topic,
The Regenerator was one of the monsters Javier and the others had to face; naturally, there was no escaping it. According to memory, there were at least a dozen Regenerators in the Institute, not even counting the others that were still wrapped in body bags and not yet released.
So, the idea of quickly avoiding them could be temporarily dismissed. But when it came to a counter-weapon for the Regenerator, the thermal imager, they weren't without this item.
One Thermal imaging scope was in Luis's Institute safe. He had naturally prepared it for his research on the Plaga parasite within the Regenerator.
But besides the Thermal imaging scope in the Institute, there was another way to obtain one, and that method was on Javier himself.
Before arriving in Spain, Javier had already prepared items he might need, and a thermal imager was one of them.
After all, he couldn't possibly not guard against the Regenerator monster. Therefore, he had a thermal imager device in his storage ring. Without a sound, Javier transferred this high-tech item into his hand.
"thermal imager…?"
"Is this what you're talking about? Unfortunately, no… very fortunately, I happen to carry this item with me."
Just as everyone was troubled,
Javier slowly broke the silence and took out the thermal imager in his hand, asking everyone calmly,
The thermal imager in Javier's hand was not the scope found in Luis's Institute, but rather designed like a monocular eyepiece, typically installed on a soldier's helmet.
It could be pulled down when needed. This was basically standard equipment for many conventional special forces units. In addition to thermal imaging, helmets would also be equipped with night vision devices and so on.
So this wasn't considered Javier being overly prepared.
After all…
At the beginning of Biohazard 0, because he was afraid of dying… Javier basically always went in fully armed, and would also carry night vision and thermal imaging devices on his helmet. So this was just a good habit he had developed over time.
"No way?"
"Does this count as a blessing in disguise, or good fortune after surviving a great calamity? It seems I really should consider believing in Buddhism. Karma is so peculiar; it's simply inexplicable by science, and probability theory can't fully explain it either."
Upon hearing Javier's words and seeing the black lens device in his hand, Luis's expression changed. He immediately snatched the thermal imager from Javier's hand.
After carefully examining it and confirming it was indeed a thermal imager, a complex expression appeared on his face. He muttered to himself, sometimes excited and thrilled, other times puzzled.
Alright,
After all, the events unfolding before them were too sci-fi; one challenge after another kept coming, but the crucial tools needed also appeared one by one.
This kind of inexplicable coincidence indeed made Luis suspicious, but it didn't matter; as long as the outcome was good, it was fine. As a scientist, he only cared about the results—
"…"
"How do you carry so many things with you?"
And beside him,
Even Ada, who had long guessed Javier's secret, couldn't help but frown and ask in confusion. First, it was a Barrett, then a thermal imager.
Ada felt like Javier had every tool imaginable on him, just like a certain blue robot cat, able to pull anything out of its pocket.
"That's called being prepared for anything…"
"Besides, thermal imaging and night vision are just basic equipment for conventional special forces. The gear of American soldiers stealing oil in the Middle East and Africa seems to be much more advanced than ours, so a thermal imager is nothing rare. If I could, I'd even want to move the entire armory."