This also allowed the survivors of Tall Oaks City to breathe a huge sigh of relief; after all, they didn't want to follow in the footsteps of Raccoon City and be leveled by a nuclear bomb.
In three or four days, even without food, as long as they drank water and gritted their teeth to hold on, they could wait for support from the Government Forces. This news provided great psychological comfort to these survivors.
But what Leon said was also the truth.
It wasn't a lie. Tall Oaks City was different from Raccoon City. Raccoon City was a mountain city and was built by the Umbrella Corporation, so any way they were handled was considered reasonable.
But Tall Oaks City was a wealthy city, located in the center of the state map, adjacent to other large cities on both sides.
Naturally, a nuclear bombing was out of the question. Therefore, it could only be left to the Government Forces to handle; simple and crude bombing methods could not be used.
"..."
"Helena, where is the evidence you spoke of?"
At this moment,
Leon, who had entered the cathedral, took a general look around the environment inside but didn't find anything suspicious.
He also didn't see any sign of her sister, Deborah, so he simply questioned Helena in a suddenly cold tone,
"This... I don't know either,"
"but Simmons said my sister is in the cathedral. Please, Leon, help me find my sister, Deborah."
"As long as my sister Deborah is found, it won't be a problem even if I really have to admit to the crime of murdering the President."
Seeing this,
Helena, who was nearby, also panicked. The space inside the cathedral wasn't large. At a glance, it seemed impossible for anyone to hide in any corner. There were rows of seats, a prayer altar in front, and a crucifix of Jesus on the wall.
There was also a confessional on the side, and there was no other place left to hide anyone.
Now that she couldn't find her sister, Deborah, Helena began to lose control of her emotions and could only hurriedly plead with Leon.
After all, her sister Deborah was her reason for living. She absolutely could not let anything happen to her. This was her only relative left in the world...!
Volume 9 Resident Evil 6: Chapter 19: The Great Human Disappearing Act
Hearing Helena's words,
Leon's face immediately darkened. Without a doubt, he felt extremely angry at Helena's act of deceiving him.
But this involved the safety of the other party's sister, Deborah,
which forced Leon to help Helena search for her sister, Deborah.
Because Deborah was the most innocent person in this entire matter. Even if Leon wanted to bring Helena to justice, he had to find Deborah first.
"Helena, you cannot leave my sight for the next 72 hours, and you are not allowed to make any sneaky little moves. Otherwise, I have the right to shoot you dead right here."
"Ashley, stay away from her. She might be the real killer of the President. I can help you find your sister Deborah, but I hope that once she's found, Helena, you will obediently put on handcuffs and be brought to justice. I hope you won't make things difficult for me."
After a moment of silence,
Leon agreed to Helena's request.
But his attitude was clearly much more distant than before. Facing such a dangerous woman, Leon's approach was obviously correct.
Because even he wasn't sure if what Helena said was true or false.
But for now,
Helena couldn't produce evidence of her innocence, so Leon could only treat her as a criminal suspect.
Meanwhile, Ashley watched this scene,
unsure of what had happened between Leon and his partner Helena for their attitude to change so drastically in just a few minutes.
Even if Ashley wanted to intervene, there was nothing she could do.
Because when Ashley saw the cold expression on Leon's face, the words of mediation she wanted to say died in her throat.
Because she knew Leon was truly angry.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have such a cold and angry expression. No one could reason with Leon when he was angry; since that was the case, Ashley didn't want to court disaster.
"Fine, as long as you can help me find my sister Deborah, Leon, I'll do whatever you want...!"
At this moment,
Helena was also in a state of panic and confusion.
She didn't care if she was the killer of the President; as long as Leon could help her find her sister Deborah, even if she really had to take the fall for the crime of killing the President,
Helena didn't care anymore. Because if her sister Deborah really died, then there would be no point in her living in this world.
Hearing Helena's promise,
Leon's angry and cold expression softened slightly, and he then began to wander around the cathedral with Ashley.
Meanwhile, Helena rushed toward the confessional on one side of the cathedral,
hoping to find her kidnapped sister Deborah inside. After all, the confessional was the only room in the entire cathedral.
Everywhere else was visible at a glance, with nowhere to hide anyone. Thus, Helena's only hope lay within the confessional.
As for the confessional,
it was actually just a small cubicle, usually a room provided for praying believers to privately confess their sins, with a priest nearby listening to the confession.
On behalf of God, he listened to the sins committed by the believers. Usually, priests could hear many gossipy secrets inside the confessional.
Therefore, in the Middle Ages, priests were also objects of flattery and respect for many believers.
After all, they came to confess only to vent their inner evil desires and make themselves feel better, not because they truly wanted the priest to reveal their secrets.
"Clang—!"
But soon,
after pushing open the door,
a scene that disappointed Helena occurred.
There wasn't a soul inside the confessional, and not even anyone in the priest's listening room next door.
There was no sign of her sister Deborah in the entire cathedral at all.
This caused Helena to instantly fall into a daze. Her soul seemed to have been hollowed out, and she could only stand there blankly.
On the other side,
Leon and Ashley had searched every corner of the entire cathedral but still found no trace of Helena's sister, Deborah.
After all, the cathedral was only so big,
with chairs all around and not many places to hide anyone.
At the same time, Leon and Ashley also questioned the surrounding survivors, asking if they had seen a kidnapped, unconscious woman, about twenty years old, when they entered the cathedral for refuge.
But unfortunately,
the survivors taking refuge nearby shook their heads one after another, stating that they had never seen a kidnapped, unconscious woman in the cathedral.
And if it weren't for Leon's status as a High-ranking Federal Government Agent, these survivors wouldn't have even wanted to answer any of his questioning.
This made both Leon and Ashley frown.
How could a living person not be found? Could it be that Helena's sister, Deborah, had never been in the cathedral at all?
"Wait..."
"Could there be some hidden mechanism in this cathedral?"
Leon, who had originally wanted to give up, suddenly looked at the prayer altar in front of him and the crucifix of Jesus behind it,
and a flash of inspiration struck him.
He thought of a possibility. After all, back in the Spanish village, there was a cathedral there. To rescue Ashley,
Leon had cracked many mechanisms in that cathedral before successfully rescuing Ashley. Therefore, Leon suspected that this cathedral might also have some hidden mechanisms or secret passages.
Thinking of this,
Leon did not hesitate.
He hurried to the prayer altar and began to feel around the entire thing, but he didn't find any special mechanisms.
But on second thought, it made sense.
After all, people passed by the prayer altar all the time. If the mechanism were that easy to trigger, it would be a disaster. Then, Leon turned his gaze to the crucifix of Jesus behind it.
No Christian believer would dare to touch a statue of Jesus casually. Considering this possibility,
Leon decisively began to inspect the massive crucifix of Jesus.
Sure enough, he soon felt a recessed mechanism button behind it. After finding the mechanism, Leon didn't even think before immediately pressing it.
"Click...!"
"Rumble...!!!!"
In the next second,
with a loud crash,
the entire cathedral began to shake, emitting a series of violent sounds. The survivors taking refuge in the cathedral
all turned their gazes over.
Even Helena was drawn by the massive commotion. She hurriedly came to her senses and watched, soon noticing the strange movement at the prayer altar.
The massive crucifix of Jesus was pushed aside,
the floor of the prayer altar beneath it sank, and a pitch-black basement passage opened out of thin air in the wall hidden behind the cathedral.
Seeing this scene,
everyone present was astonished. Obviously, no one had expected that a basement passage was hidden in this cathedral.
Leon, seeing this, nodded.
His guess was correct. Deborah, Helena's sister, should be hidden inside. But if Helena's kidnapped sister Deborah really was in there,
it would mean that what Helena had said before was true. At the thought of this, Leon felt a headache. Who exactly was lying?
"..."
"Hiss...!!!!!"
However,
a sharp hissing sound coming from the basement immediately interrupted Leon's thoughts. This was clearly not a sound a human could make.
Was there some kind of monster hidden in this basement?
Thinking of this, Leon hurriedly told Ashley behind him to quickly step back; they absolutely could not enter the basement rashly.
"Wait, Ashley, Helena, get back! Something in the basement is about to come out. Back up first...!"
Without hesitation,
Leon pulled Ashley back.
And Helena, desperate to save her sister, also couldn't help but temporarily suppress her impulsive heart after hearing Leon's warning and the strange cry from the basement, hurriedly hiding in a confessional cubicle nearby.
Meanwhile, the dozens of survivors taking refuge in the cathedral
completely failed to hear Leon's warning. Instead, they curiously crowded forward, wanting to see what exactly was hidden in the basement.
But soon,
they would pay the price for their reckless behavior...
"Hiss...!!!!"
"Roar—!!!!"
As the sound became clearer,
only then did the survivors crowded around the prayer altar realize something was wrong. That didn't seem to be the cry of a living person.
They immediately tried to retreat.