RE - Chapter 287: You’re Being Discharged! (Patreon)

“Discharged?”

“Yeah. I’ve already taken care of the paperwork.”

Leon walked over to Grace and looked down at her.

“Once you’re ready, we’ll leave… Grace Han.”

The familiar syllable stirred complicated feelings in Grace’s heart.

She knew that wasn’t the “Han” she wanted to hear.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Mia couldn’t help looking at Grace with concern.

As if sensing her gaze, Grace looked up and smiled.

“I’m heading out, Mia.”

“Ah, okay. Remember to call me if you need anything.”

Mia made a phone gesture with her hand. Grace smiled, nodded, then followed Leon out.

“Seriously. Is she trying not to make me worry?

Because now I’m even more worried.”

“…Mia, we’ve got a problem.”

Ethan held out his phone to Mia, looking somewhat anxious.

“Did he accidentally add an extra zero?”

Mia took the phone and looked at the screen.

She froze.

“How much? Four hundred thousand dollars?!”

The two exchanged a glance and immediately rushed out of the room.

But Grace and Leon were already long gone.

Mia stood there silently for a moment before giving a helpless smile.

Ethan looked down the hallway, then back at Mia.

“We…”

“Just accept it. It’s probably hush money too.”

“But we only paid forty thousand out of pocket. How did…”

Ethan scratched his head. Forty thousand dollars was no small amount even for him, but it was still something he could manage.

Yet Leon had transferred four hundred thousand without even blinking.

“That just proves they’re not ordinary people, doesn’t it?

…Good deeds have their rewards. Let’s not think too much about it. Even if we wanted to return the money, we wouldn’t know where to send it.”

Mia handed the phone back to Ethan and took one last look toward the end of the hallway before turning away.

She had a feeling they would meet those two again.

And probably in a way she would never expect.

...

The car door shut.

Grace sat in the back seat, staring blankly out the window.

She rested her head lightly against the glass, her eyes filled with gloom.

Leon fastened his seat belt and glanced at the lost-looking girl through the rearview mirror.

He started the car, rested both hands on the steering wheel, and rhythmically tapped one index finger against it.

“Were you crying?”

“…No.”

Leon sighed, lowered his seat all the way back in one motion, and lay flat until he could look directly at Grace.

She clearly hadn’t expected him to do that. She simply lowered her head and stared blankly at Leon, whose seat now extended over her legs.

“You really aren’t Alan. He never got depressed this easily.”

Grace immediately grabbed both of Leon’s cheeks and pinched them.

“Is that supposed to be comforting?!”

“Ow…”

Leon hurriedly raised his seat again, finally escaping her hands.

“I… It has to be the hormones messing with me!

Something like this isn’t that hard for me to accept. I’m actually kind of excited!”

“Excited?”

“Having a girl’s body and all…”

“Right. I almost forgot. Alan was single.”

Leon said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

The next second, Grace had him in a chokehold.

“You got a death wish?!”

“Cough… My bad, my bad.”

Leon lightly tapped her arm until she finally released him.

He glanced at her again through the rearview mirror.

The gloomy look was gone, replaced by a resentful expression that practically screamed, I didn’t even get to become a proper man before turning into a woman.

Alan’s method really does work.

Satisfied, Leon drove away from the hospital.

They made good time along the highway and soon left the city behind. Following Grace’s directions, Leon marked the relative locations of where she had collapsed and the landfill.

Once they were moving again, Leon watched a large enclosed cargo truck pass them and asked,

“You’re sure it was Simmons’ lab?”

“I saw both Carla and Simmons there. I even knocked Carla unconscious at one point and took her access card.”

Grace handed the access card toward the driver’s seat.

Leon examined it briefly, then put it away.

“I’m taking you somewhere now.”

“Don’t tell me it’s another research facility.”

“Smart.”

“I’m not going.”

Grace immediately refused.

“I was locked up for so long. I finally get out, and now you want to put me back inside another one?

No.”

“Don’t you want to find out whether you’re Alan?”

“…I do.

I was actually thinking, if I’m not Alan, maybe I could pull off something crazy.

Like dating myself.”

The corner of Leon’s mouth twitched.

There really was no competing with that thought process.

Then again, somehow it made sense.

“Kidding. Seriously, though, I’m in a terrible mood right now.

And I can’t control it.”

Grace clenched her hand and stared at her slender, fair fingers.

...

Don’t start drooling. This is my own body.

Leon kept his eyes on the road and increased his speed slightly.

“Once we get there, we should be able to clear everything up.

We can also figure out how to deal with your weakened immune system.

Otherwise, you’ll be spending every day in a sterile room.”

After that, Leon drove straight toward their destination without saying anything more.

...

Rebecca pointed toward the scanner beside her.

“Just lie down there. I’ll handle everything else.”

Grace obediently followed her instructions and lay down on the machine.

Meanwhile, Leon stood outside the observation window, watching her undergo the examination.

His phone vibrated in his pocket.

He took it out.

“…Leon, how’s it going?”

“She has Alan’s memories, but it isn’t his body.

Right now, our theory is that someone implanted his memories into her.”

Hunnigan sounded stunned.

“Memory implantation? Is that really possible?”

“I don’t want to believe it either, but the evidence is right in front of me.”

Leon looked through the observation window at Grace as Rebecca put her through a series of tests.

“This is unbelievable…”

“Has Simmons made any moves lately?”

“No. If anything, he’s been keeping an even lower profile than usual.”

“Heh. That’s exactly what makes it suspicious.”

Combining that with Grace’s account, Leon voiced his theory.

“She seems to have escaped from one of Simmons’ labs in Texas. There might be clues there. I want to check it out.”

“…I can’t find any records of such a facility. And Leon.

If Simmons goes after you again, then…”

“I’m not currently on duty, am I?

I just happened to get lost while out on a picnic.”

“Leon… Forget it. You wouldn’t give up even if I told you to.

…Just don’t get hurt. And preferably don’t get caught.”

Leon understood.

He glanced through the observation window. Grace’s examination was almost finished.

“Wish me a nice picnic.”

With that, he ended the call, stood up, and walked toward Rebecca and Grace as they came out.

“How did it go?”

“Don’t rush me. The report still needs to be printed.

You really don’t know anything, do you? Why don’t you take her somewhere to rest first?”

Rebecca shoved both hands into the pockets of her lab coat and walked away.

Leon and Grace stared at each other.

Grace was the first to break the silence.

“Pervert.”

“…?”

Grace looked as though she had just discovered an entirely new way to torment Leon.

Back when she had Alan’s male body, casual physical contact between them had been so normal that Leon barely reacted at all.

But with this soft, feminine body…

Oh, Ada, forgive me.

Ada: If you want to be whipped, just say so.

After teasing him for a while, Grace actually managed to make Leon nervous around her.

She was scarier than zombies.

Seriously.

Apparently satisfied after venting some of her emotions and tormenting Leon until he was nearly afraid of women, Grace finally stopped.

The clean hospital gown rested across her thighs, shifting gently whenever she moved.

Grace sat in a chair, idly playing with her fingers.

“Leon.”

“What?”

“You’re really worried about Alan, aren’t you?”

Grace studied Leon’s face. Compared with the Leon in her memories, he looked noticeably more exhausted.

Leon gave her the answer.

“…Yeah.”

“I have his memories. A lot of them are about you.”

Leon looked at Grace.

He could tell that she had already begun accepting the possibility that she wasn’t Alan, so he remained silent and let her continue.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? I haven’t actually done anything, yet I have all these experiences.

Gunfights, brushes with death. They play through my head like scenes from a movie.

It feels like I’m only watching from the outside. I experienced everything, but I don’t really understand what led to each decision.”

Grace lifted the hospital gown slightly and looked at her smooth abdomen.

“Those scars felt so real in my memories.

But for me, they were never real at all.”

She turned toward Leon.

She hesitated, but ultimately told him the truth.

“Ever since I realized I might not be Alan, there’s been this feeling hanging over me.”

“…Don’t worry. I’m right here with you.”

The certainty in Leon’s eyes finally eased Grace’s last bit of hesitation.

“To be honest… I’m a little jealous.”

Leon paused.

Then he understood what she meant.

After thinking for a moment, he placed a hand on Grace’s head and gently rubbed her hair.

“Don’t think your own existence matters any less.”

“I… I don’t!”

Grace grabbed Leon’s forearm with both hands, about to pull his hand away.

After hesitating, she decided not to.

She let his hand remain on her head and continued quietly,

“When I stopped treating those memories as my own, I felt completely lost for a while.

Because without those memories, I felt like I was nothing.

So I need to prove that I’m myself, not just some replacement for Alan!”

Leon withdrew his hand and corrected the girl in front of him.

“Alan is Alan, and you are you. You don’t need to prove anything.

Just stay alive and live your own life.”

“…That sounds familiar.”

Leon awkwardly scratched his head.

He had almost forgotten.

Alan had once said almost exactly the same thing.

Leon had unconsciously borrowed his words.

“What are you two talking about?”

Rebecca approached, looking between the two of them, both lost in their own thoughts.

“Come with me. There’s something I need to explain.

Grace’s body… is very likely a clone.”