As if thinking of something, President Adam Benford gave a gentle smile and suddenly spoke to Leon.
Knowing he was short-staffed, President Adam Benford had personally selected several suitable agents to serve under him.
At the same time, to look out for his old comrade Leon, Adam Benford specifically transferred a female agent over, aiming to help Leon escape his bachelor status.
After all, having been with him for so long,
Adam Benford had never seen Leon with a close female friend; he was already 35, and it wouldn't be good to continue like this.
"..."
Hearing the President's words,
Leon's face showed a look of helplessness. What was all this? Compared to a female agent partner,
he felt that a male agent partner would be easier to get along with.
He really didn't have those thoughts at all. Besides... was there any female agent more captivating than that shade of red?
Unable to resist the President's kindness,
a helpless Leon had no choice but to go and greet his new partner. The President's personal bodyguards were actually stationed within the White House.
After waiting outside for a long time,
a black-and-white police car soon drove up slowly, and a tall, mature woman stepped out of the vehicle.
Long black bell-bottom pants accentuated her long legs perfectly. She wore a small black vest over a T-shirt, with holster straps buckled across both shoulders. With her fair neck, wavy auburn hair, and a cold, pretty face, she was undoubtedly another rose with thorns.
And she was the very cold and proud type.
Standing 170cm tall, she was very statuesque, nearly as tall as Leon in her leather shoes—a total 'royal sister' type.
But only Leon knew that this kind of woman was the hardest to get along with.
Strong women all shared a trait: pride. Often, it was hard to get them to listen to reason, which was the most frustrating part.
"Are you Leon Scott Kennedy...?"
"Hello, I am your new partner, Helena Harper. I've seen your photo."
The moment she saw Leon,
Helena walked up alone to introduce herself, extending a hand to Leon as a gesture of friendliness.
Leon, looking at the unconventional woman before him, shook his head helplessly before giving a bitter smile and reaching out to shake her hand.
"Just call me Leon."
"If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask. By the way, Mr. President is holding a speech at the University of Massachusetts next month. You might be responsible for his personal security then. I need to arrange the perimeter security. Your arrival happened to solve my urgent problem. I hope we can get along well."
Seeing that the beautiful, mature Helena's tone was relatively kind, Leon breathed a small sigh of relief.
While shaking hands, he explained calmly and informed Helena about the mission details for a month later.
However,
Leon didn't notice
that as he finished his sentence, a flicker of emotion trembled in Helena's eyes. Before she had arrived at the White House in Washington, she had encountered something unbelievable.
She had been coerced.
The other party's goal was to have her find an opportunity to help assassinate Adam Benford, the President of the United States, during the university speech a month later.
If Helena refused,
then her sister Deborah would be killed. Helena had no choice but to take the mission.
Although Helena was highly capable, she was often punished for being unable to control her emotions. Once, while cracking a serial murder case,
because the suspect arrogantly threatened her and her family, an enraged Helena gave the suspect a brutal beating. She was eventually suspended for a period on charges of excessive use of violence.
Later, because her beloved sister Deborah got into a physical altercation with her boyfriend, she even shot and wounded Deborah's boyfriend in a fit of anger. She would not allow her sister to be harmed.
Because of this excessive act of violence,
Helena was transferred to the Secret Service for reflection. Fortunately, she was later scouted by Hunnigan from the Intelligence Agency, who sent her file to the President.
Ultimately, President Adam Benford had Helena transferred to serve as his personal bodyguard and partnered her with Leon.
Although she sometimes struggled to control her emotions, this precisely proved her hatred for evil; she wasn't a pawn for other politicians and could therefore be trusted.
However,
President Adam Benford did not know
that this decision would cost him his life. Precisely because Helena couldn't control her emotions, this trait was noticed by Simmons, the leader of the Family Organization.
He sent men to secretly kidnap her sister Deborah from Helena's home and threatened Helena into cooperating with the assassination of the President.
Simmons was certain that Helena cared more about her family and wouldn't report him to the President, so the assassination plan began to unfold quietly.
And in fact, that was exactly the case.
Helena was more worried about her sister than the President. She didn't dare tell the President, nor did she dare tell the US Government, because she knew the person who kidnapped her sister was likely a high-ranking government official and an enemy of the President.
But unfortunately...
even after she actually cooperated with Simmons to assassinate the President,
her sister Deborah did not survive. Instead, she was injected with the c-virus and turned into a butterfly monster. Yet another pitiful girl!
But it had to be said,
Helena and Leon were actually quite a good match. Their hair colors were similar, both had middle parts—one short and one wavy. They had a real 'partner' vibe. It just remained to be seen if Leon could accept Helena.
As a mature beauty, Helena was lacking in neither looks nor temperament. Furthermore, she was a female agent in the same profession, so they had common ground and she wouldn't be a burden during operations.
They could even help each other. This was likely the real reason President Adam Benford paired Helena with Leon—they really were quite suitable!
...
On the other side, at the bay villa—
Three years passed quickly.
Exactly three years had passed since Sherry requested Javier to teach her marksmanship and close-quarters combat.
During these three years,
for the sake of Sherry's safety, Javier had provided almost hellish, demonic training. Whether it was firearms training or close-quarters combat, everything followed the strictest standards.
Fortunately,
relying on the G-Virus in her body, Sherry progressed rapidly. The G-Virus could enhance vision, hearing, and physical fitness, providing a massive boost to both marksmanship and combat.
With her excellent vision, she could easily capture target weaknesses and bullet trajectory traces. Even with a pistol target at the limit of fifty meters, Sherry could still hit it with ease.
This was the power brought by her superior vision.
As for close-quarters combat, since she couldn't be killed, he trained her mercilessly. After three years of taking beatings, Sherry's progress was lightning-fast. Although she still couldn't beat Javier, she could easily handle a few American GIs.
At the same time,
despite Javier's harsh training,
Sherry wasn't angry with Javier, her father figure, at all. Instead, their relationship became much closer.
In the past, Javier rarely spent time with her, even when they had just escaped Raccoon City.
Javier had asked the wealthy Catherine to help look after Sherry.
As a result, Javier hadn't fulfilled his duties as a father figure, nor had he given Sherry proper paternal love. These three years finally made up for some of that.
Bang, bang, bang, bang—!!!!
Bursts of gunfire echoed in the indoor shooting range. The dense piles of spent shell casings in the corner were proof of Sherry's hard work over the past three years.
With the proficiency gained from firing tens of thousands of rounds,
her current marksmanship was flawless.
She was already comparable to a soldier in the special forces. During this time, Javier also gave Sherry plenty of practical experience—not killing people, of course,
but having her go out at night to hunt wild boars and wolf packs. After seeing a bit of blood, Sherry's eyes had become much more resolute.
Though her former innocence was gone, she finally had the ability to protect herself. Besides, this was the path she chose, and Javier could do nothing about it.
However, the only thing worth noting was still that face.
Three years had passed, yet Sherry still had the youthful and beautiful appearance of an eighteen-year-old girl. This was the power of the G-Virus.
And during those three years,
Javier had also completely finished merging with the G-Virus. Now his body contained both the T-Virus and G-Virus, and he was currently gradually merging the new T-Veronica Virus, greatly enhancing his recovery abilities.
Even being shot in the head might not necessarily kill Javier,
but he might lose his sanity like William and eventually be taken over by the virus's will to survive. So, it was still best to avoid being shot in the head if possible.
Having merged with the G-Virus, Javier also gained the ability to strengthen his physical body. Like Lisa, he could undergo a certain degree of transformation,
such as hardening his arms or growing bone blades. Javier hadn't attempted any large-scale transformations because he was also afraid that once he became a monster, he wouldn't be able to return to human form.
In short, Javier's strength had completely turned around; he had thoroughly become a perfect virus fuser.
"Javier, we have a class reunion at school next week. How about you come with me?"
Putting down the pistol and earmuffs,
Sherry wiped the sweat from her face. Looking at the perfectly precise headshot holes on the target in front of her, a satisfied expression appeared on her face.
It was still the familiar Glock pistol,
but the fifteen rounds no longer missed the target. At a distance of fifty meters, all fifteen bullets hit a single point. Her accuracy was terrifying.
This was the result of her three years of training.
And as if thinking of something, by some whim, Sherry suddenly spoke to her supervising father figure, Javier.
Every year at the reunion, there was a shameless rich kid who pursued her. Sherry was annoyed and planned to have her 'old man' go and show some authority!
University of Massachusetts (Massachusetts)—
Because of President Adam Benford's prior announcement that he would hold a speech on campus, the University of Massachusetts was exceptionally lively at this moment.
Campaign speeches are the most common way for every President to win people's hearts. After all, every new President often relies on large-scale speeches to gain voting rights.
Offline speaking ability
is instead what the free people of America value most. President Adam Benford, who was preparing to announce the secrets of Resident Evil, was no exception.
He intended to use the public's emotions to help him implement this phase. As long as he had the people's support, it would be difficult for even high-ranking US Government officials to stop him.
After all, the power of the people cannot be ignored, as seen from the successive collapses of Umbrella Corporation and Tricell.
Teachers at the school directed students to help set up the speech venue.
The square at the University of Massachusetts could accommodate tens of thousands of onlookers. Combined with a full live broadcast, President Adam Benford's speech would be presented without reservation to the countless free people of America.
However,
the vast environment also brought significant pressure to the President's security detail.
After all, countless Presidents have been assassinated at speech venues. A speech is a double-edged sword; it can greatly win over people's hearts,
but it also exposes an important figure like the President to the public eye. If they wanted to... an assassination could be carried out at any time.
And this open-air plaza, which could hold tens of thousands,
gave the security detail a massive headache. They even suspected that every student passing by or helping to set up the venue was a terrorist in disguise.
As a personal bodyguard, Leon
was currently wandering around the university.
He was patrolling. The President was scheduled to begin the speech at four in the afternoon, and Leon intended to familiarize himself with the university environment first.
He was also scouting which locations would be suitable for assassinating the President.
The highest priority was the elevated classroom buildings. If it were a sniper, it would be easy to shoot from the roof of a classroom building.
But the retreat route would be very troublesome.