RE - Chapter 277: You Guys Seem a Little Amateurish (Patreon)

“Want me to pull you up?”

“No, I can manage.”

Alan slowly pushed himself to his feet.

The dizziness from earlier had gradually faded after the antibody injection.

“How’s everything going?”

“Just as you ordered. No large animals are getting anywhere near this place.”

Alan nodded at Parker.

“I’ll leave the decontamination work to you professionals. I’m heading out.”

“Hey, wait.”

Seeing that Alan was genuinely about to leave, Parker hurried over to stop him.

“What? Want an autograph?”

Alan stopped and turned to look at him.

“That researcher. He’s definitely dead?”

Alan glanced toward the ruined building nearby.

“He sealed the facility himself. There was no way he could’ve gotten out.

“When the place blew, he wasn’t far from me. I watched him get blown to pieces.”

“Damn it. We were hoping to get some information about Wesker out of him...

“Sorry. I’m not blaming you.”

Alan thought for a moment, then decided to make up a lead for him.

“If it’s a lead you want...”

“So you do know something?

“Can you tell me?”

Parker immediately perked up.

“Africa.”

“Africa?”

“That’s all I can give you. Wesker might be planning something in Africa.

“How you investigate it, and whether you believe me, is up to you.”

Alan waved casually and started toward his car in the distance.

“Of course I believe you. I just don’t get why you can’t be more specific.”

“Because it’s only a guess. I’m not taking the blame if I’m wrong.”

Parker was left speechless.

Why did this guy somehow seem even less reliable than he had back in Terragrigia?

Still, Africa...

It was certainly one of the regions hardest hit by outbreaks. Wesker operating there wasn’t impossible.

The roar of an engine interrupted Parker’s thoughts.

He looked up and watched Alan pull onto the highway, floor the accelerator without hesitation, and quickly disappear into the distance.

“Does that bastard not miss me at all?

“Seriously. What an asshole.”

Parker planted his hands on his hips and sighed, suddenly feeling as though he’d been completely ignored by an old friend.

“Captain, get dumped?”

“Fuck off! I’ve never even dated anyone! You really know where to hit a sore spot.”

Parker smacked the team member beside him hard on the shoulder.

The man just chuckled.

“Captain left?”

“What do you think? Guy acts like he’s always got somewhere more important to be.”

“Figures. He must have a pretty high position. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to steal our mission, fail it, and still walk away like nothing happened.”

“...Now that you mention it, I almost forgot.

“He stole our mission and failed. Why didn’t he even apologize?

“And that clue from earlier doesn’t count. What kind of clue is a guess?”

Alan: Fine. Guess you don’t want the answer.

Parker felt annoyed for a moment, then let it go.

“Enough about him. How does the facility look?”

“We’ve already sent people inside. It’s completely wrecked, and most of the data was destroyed.”

Parker nodded.

That was about what he’d expected.

Someone willing to blow himself up wasn’t likely to leave useful evidence behind.

“Keep sweeping the area. You’re in charge.

“I’m going to call this in.”

“Understood.”

...

Alan kept his eyes on the road as his phone began vibrating inside the glove compartment.

He glanced toward it, opened the compartment with one hand, and pulled the phone out.

“...What is it?”

“Hey, Alan.”

“Luis? What brings you calling?”

“Oh, just wanted to thank you for the job you sent my way. Everyone here’s surprisingly nice.

“More importantly, cigarettes are cheap.”

“Well, that’s something. Try not to smoke yourself into lung cancer.”

“If that’s my fate, I’ll accept it with grace. Besides, there’s no way I’m living like you and Leon, chewing gum all day.”

“All right. Get to the point.”

“Fine, fine. You really don’t appreciate the art of conversation.

“I’m calling to update you. I examined Jun See. He can be saved, but the most I can do is remove the virus from his body. I can’t reverse the damage that’s already been done.”

Alan kept his eyes on the road, mildly surprised.

“That’s already more than I expected.”

“Hey, don’t underestimate me. I did come out of Umbrella, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah. All thanks to Dr. Serra.”

“Keep it down, keep it down... There’s one more thing.

“I managed to produce an antibody for this modified strain of the T-Virus. What do you think I should do with it?”

Alan thought for a moment.

“I don’t know much about pharmaceutical companies over there, but you could try contacting some.

“You can also discuss it with Shen May’s grandfather.”

“No thanks. Just make the decision for me.

“Every time I sit down with that old man to talk, we end up spending the whole day in the tea room. I’m going to get tea-polyphenol poisoning at this rate.”

“You should really ask someone who knows what they’re doing about this...

“But send me a few doses of the antibody privately. Just in case.”

Luis toyed with the antibody vial in his hand and raised an eyebrow.

“So I’m giving you free samples too?”

“Are you sending them or not?”

“Of course I am. You’re my matchmaker, after all.”

“...Who the hell taught you to use ‘matchmaker’ like that?

“I’m driving. We’re done here.

“Email me if anything else comes up.”

Luis stared at the disconnected call and shrugged helplessly.

“Hey... He actually hung up. I still had something to tell him.

“Whatever. It wasn’t that important.”

Luis looked at the email on his screen and leaned heavily back in his chair.

“No idea how this guy even found my email address, but there’s no chance I’m getting involved in this stuff again.”

“...Luis!”

“Oh! What is it?”

“Something’s wrong with the experiment. The lab rat’s vital signs are acting strange.”

“All right, I’m coming.”

Luis stood up, grabbed the lab coat beside him, put it on, and followed the other researcher out with steady steps.

Then he quickly came back.

“Almost forgot. Better delete this thing and be done with it.”

The email on the screen was just about to be deleted.

At the bottom, the sender’s name was clearly displayed:

Victor Gideon.

...

Police sirens echoed through the streets.

Several officers stood together with a plainclothes man.

That man was Leon.

He was crouched beside a corpse, examining it carefully.

“I’m sure this is an infection.”

“How is that possible...? Doesn’t that mean there’s an infection source somewhere in our jurisdiction?!”

“I’m afraid so.”

Leon rose to his feet, his expression grim.

First the slums, and now another inexplicable death caused by infection.

And judging from what he could see, this wasn’t the T-Virus.

It was some kind of modified Plaga parasite.

The corpse at his feet was one of the more intact ones.

Several others had already dissolved into pools of blood, with even their DNA destroyed.

“...Leon, it’s been a full day. How are things on your end?”

“Terrible. I still can’t figure out who’s behind this.”

“I had a feeling it wouldn’t end that easily either.”

Hunnigan rubbed between her brows.

Over the past few days, these unexplained infections had been appearing without warning.

Worse, they were occurring across completely different regions.

There was no pattern at all. It was almost like someone was picking locations at random.

What they didn’t know was that this was simply Wesker’s strategy for lowering governments’ sensitivity to outbreaks.

If incidents involving this virus became common enough, and manageable enough, people would gradually grow numb to them.

They would start treating the outbreaks as unavoidable but relatively insignificant.

“By the way, Alan ran into some trouble a few days ago.”

“I know. That guy can’t sit still. What did he get himself into this time?”

“He went after a researcher alone, got trapped inside the facility, inhaled some toxic gas, and survived the place self-destructing.”

“I’m so mad I could laugh.”

“He said you don’t need to nag him this time. He’s going back to the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center on his own.”

“Really? That’s unusual.”

“Apparently he’s been having the same dream again and again lately. This time he thinks there might actually be something wrong.”

Leon’s joking mood disappeared.

“A dream?”

“A dream about being captured and experimented on.

“Maybe he’s just under too much stress.”

“...Maybe.”

Leon was worried, but he wasn’t desperate enough to immediately abandon everything and go find Alan.

After several rounds of treatment, Alan had improved quite a bit.

He had even started regularly telling Leon where he was going and what he was doing.

And when something was bothering him, he actually talked about it.

Alan: Or maybe I just want you to stop worrying about everything. What are you, my mom?

So Leon had developed quite a bit of faith in the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center.

“If he’s going there, then I don’t need to worry too much.

“By the way, I’m probably going to be busy for a while. I want to keep investigating and see if I can find any leads.

“Help arrange my assignments involving the President.”

“No problem. The runoff election is coming up soon, so the President’s security has been tightened considerably.”

“I think he’s already desperate to retire.”

“Maybe.”

After ending the call, Leon turned his attention back to the nearby police officers.

He walked over.

“Take me to the victim’s residence. We might find something there.”

“Understood... You guys, search him for identification. See if there’s anything that can confirm who he is.”

Wait...

You didn’t search him already?

Leon suddenly found himself seriously worried about these officers.

At this rate, were they going to get themselves killed if they kept investigating?

Maybe he should just handle it alone.

He really didn’t feel like attending their funerals.