One by one, Zombie Dogs with crimson, festering bodies snarled lowly as they suddenly lunged out from a nearby alley, sprinting rapidly toward Chris and the others, viscous fluid constantly dripping from their muzzles.
But that wasn't all.
Following behind them were several Compound Eye Demon mutants; they weren't using weapons, as they had already undergone complete mutations.
An arm would burst open, and sharp claws like scythes would violently shoot out, launching a fierce assault on the group.
"Stay calm, maintain formation!"
"Alternate fire from front to back, watch the rear to prevent ambushes!"
Seeing this,
Chris's expression showed no panic.
By now, he dealt with bio-organic monsters as if taking a stroll in a courtyard. Raising his hand, he shouted a command, immediately directing his squad members.
He had experienced such situations no less than hundreds of times, so he handled it with great skill, like a steady and calm general on the battlefield.
*Click...*
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!!!!*
As expected,
upon hearing Chris's orders,
the few rookies who had been slightly panicked immediately calmed down and began to organize their formation according to Chris's words.
*Step, step, step...*
Their footsteps shifted instantly into a basic inverted triangle formation.
The one at the protruding rear stood guard while the other six joined together in a row, with three opening fire.
Once their magazines were empty, the three who had been taking cover in the back stepped forward to fire, alternating in this way to provide time for reloading and avoid a lapse in firepower.
Under this simple tactical arrangement,
assault rifle bullets poured out in turns like raindrops, riddling the Compound Eye Demons and Zombie Dogs in front of them.
The firepower of assault rifles was more than enough to deal with these basic mobs; even the mutated Compound Eye Demons were quickly turned into sieves by the dense fire.
But to Chris's surprise,
these dead bio-monsters didn't leave behind a large pile of mangled corpses. Instead, their temperature suddenly rose, and they instantly turned to ash and dissipated. This made Chris frown deeply; was it another new type of virus?
After all,
this was the first time Chris had seen bio-monsters that would incinerate their own bodies upon death. And in fact, that was the case; the c-virus was a new type of virus formed by the fusion of the G-Virus and the T-Veronica Virus.
It inherited some characteristics of the T-Veronica Virus, so even the body temperature of basic mobs like the Compound Eye Demons would be very high.
Once they sustained fatal damage, they would lose control of the viral power within them, causing their temperature to spike and incinerate themselves, as if they had been consumed by the blood-fire of the T-Veronica Virus.
"A new virus strain..."
"This is going to be trouble."
Looking at the corpses that had already burned to nothing,
Chris frowned deeply. Investigating the source of a bio-virus was already extremely difficult, but now that this bio-virus was a new strain, the search would be even harder. After all, they didn't even know what strain it was yet.
*Bang, bang, bang—!!!!*
"Damn it... are these things crazy? They're all chasing me!"
At this moment,
just as Chris's squad thought the crisis had passed, another series of gunshots rang out from an alley not far away.
Turning their gaze,
they saw a young man with a buzz cut running for his life with an assault rifle on his back. While cursing, he was being pursued by dozens of Compound Eye Demons, looking extremely disheveled.
The newcomer was none other than Jake.
After being pursued by mercenaries who had been injected with the drug and mutated into Compound Eye Demons, Jake had stumbled into the war zone by mistake.
Although he relied on his firearms and powerful martial arts to take down many Compound Eye Demons, he ultimately couldn't withstand their sheer numbers.
Compound Eye Demons were present almost everywhere in the Revolutionary Rebel Army's positions. Facing these monsters, Jake eventually ran out of bullets.
With no other choice but to flee, he ended up running straight into the BSAA Squad led by Chris.
After all,
in the current timeline, that silly girl Sherry was not here.
Sherry was not currently a subordinate of that bastard Simmons, nor had she received any so-called orders to come and take Jake away.
Therefore, the two could not meet,
which resulted in Jake having to flee in a panic, eventually running into Chris and the others here. Encountering the man who killed his father as soon as he stepped out—it was hard to say if it was lucky or unlucky.
"..."
"Captain, there's someone... should we save him?"
Seeing this, Piers stepped up slightly and asked Chris with a frown. He couldn't distinguish the person's identity based on his clothing.
But in the eyes of the experienced Piers,
the person was likely a Mercenary; after all, only mercenaries would dress so simply, in a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants, looking nothing like a proper military soldier.
"Open fire, shoot—!!!"
To this,
Chris showed no hesitation.
With a wave of his hand, he immediately commanded the rest of the BSAA Squad to fire again. A dense hail of bullets whizzed past Jake, all of them pouring into the dozens of Compound Eye Demons behind him, causing blood to spray instantly.
Taking this opportunity, Jake also noticed Chris and the others in front of him. One look at their sophisticated equipment told him they were Government Forces.
But with his life on the line,
Jake didn't hesitate much. After raising his hand to shoot a few Compound Eye Demons, he immediately ran toward the BSAA Squad.
He didn't want to stay in this godforsaken place any longer; after all, this wasn't the kind of war Jake had imagined.
The entire battlefield was filled with a massive number of bio-monsters.
Jake was already starting to doubt the Revolutionary Rebel Army's purpose in hiring them. They wouldn't really just use them as cannon fodder to turn into things exactly like these monsters, would they!
*Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang—!!!!*
Accompanied by bursts of intense gunfire,
the Compound Eye Demons chasing Jake were finally driven back. Sensing the powerful firepower Chris and his team possessed,
these intelligent Compound Eye Demons decided to avoid the brunt of the attack. After leaving behind the corpses of a few companions as the price, they quickly fled into the narrow alleyway.
"Hey, who are you?"
"Have we met somewhere before?"
After dealing with the pursuit of the Compound Eye Demon swarm,
Chris finally turned his gaze toward Jake, who was sitting on the ground panting and resting. Looking at Jake's appearance,
Chris frowned slightly.
He felt that the young man with the buzz cut looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't recall where he had seen him, so he asked plainly.
At the same time,
Piers also approached, looking at Jake with a slightly wary gaze. The two were about the same age,
but the fierce expression on Jake's face was clearly more intense than Piers's. This was a savage Mercenary who had fought his way up since childhood.
He surely had many lives on his hands,
Piers could almost judge as much. Therefore, to guard against any sudden violent action from Jake, Piers immediately stood to Jake's side to prevent the fellow from suddenly fleeing.
"Met before?"
"No, I don't know you GIs. My name is Jack Muller, I'm a Mercenary. Since you just saved me, I don't see any need to lie. What do you want with me?"
Hearing Chris's question,
Jake, who was resting on the ground, slowly raised his head.
Looking at Chris's unfamiliar face, Jake was certain he had never seen this middle-aged man before, so he shook his head in denial and stated his name and identity.
However, Jake's hand was resting restlessly on his thigh. If these GIs wanted to kill him,
then Jake would immediately pull out the pistol on his thigh to counterattack; after all, he wasn't about to just sit there and wait for death.
Even if they had him surrounded, it was the same. As a Mercenary, this was something he would have to face sooner or later. If you live that life, you have to pay the price one day!
"Don't move...!"
"Put your hands up, let me see your hands—!"
However,
Jake's small movement was noticed by Piers. His heart sank, and without any hesitation, Piers immediately aimed his assault rifle at Jake and shouted a stern warning.
The hands and feet of these dirty mercenaries were never clean; you absolutely couldn't trust a single word they said.
Faced with Piers's threat, Jake also raised his fierce eyes, and the two squared off, a major fight ready to break out at any moment!
"Piers, it's fine. Put your gun down, let me talk to him!"
"Don't worry, as long as you don't resist, we won't shoot you here. Also, we aren't Government Forces; we are the North American branch operations team of the global anti-bioterrorism organization, the BSAA."
"We arrived in the Republic of Edonia to investigate the source of bio-weapons. Can you tell us why those monsters with many eyes were chasing you? And what you know about these bio-weapons,"
Seeing the sudden tension between the two,
Chris, as the captain, decisively reached out and pushed down Piers's gun barrel, asking Jake in a slightly softened tone.
Their purpose was to find the source of the bio-weapons. If possible, Chris hoped their enemies would be bio-monsters, not humans.
Volume 9 Resident Evil 6: Chapter 8 Cooperation
"Monsters...?"
"bio-virus, bio-weapons? I'm not sure what you're talking about, but those things chasing me are the Mercenary groups that were hired along with me by the Revolutionary Rebel Army."
"They mutated after accepting equipment provided by the Revolutionary Rebel Army and being injected with a white needle syringe called a stimulant. Everyone was injected with that stuff, and after a while, they started to mutate and then chased after me."
"But the strange thing is, I was also injected with that stuff, but I didn't undergo any changes. It might be because of my special constitution."
"Since I was born, I've had immunity to some drugs; even regular stimulants have a hard time getting me addicted. That's all I know."
Looking at Chris's attitude,
Jake slightly lowered his inner guard. After all, the man had just saved his life. If he returned kindness with enmity, Jake's inner conscience would feel a bit uneasy.
Moreover, Chris was much easier to talk to than the GI Piers next to him, so Jake was willing to give Chris some face and honestly explained the sequence of events.
Upon hearing Jake's explanation,
Chris immediately frowned.
He hadn't expected that the ones who purchased the bio-virus were the Revolutionary Rebel Army themselves. But where did they buy the virus from?
"Wait..."
"You just said you were also injected with that drug, but you didn't mutate? And your body has had high drug resistance since you were young?"
But soon,
Chris caught the key to the problem.
At this moment, he finally realized that Jake had also been injected with the bio-virus but hadn't mutated... what did that mean?
It was very likely that the blood in his body was immune to this virus, acting as a natural serum vaccine. Having encountered so many bio-virus incidents,
Chris had gradually become aware of the existence of serum vaccines; some people's immune systems were extremely strong and had powerful resistance to certain viruses.
For example, with the original T-Virus, many people were fine after being injected.