RE - Chapter 299: I’ll Give You That (Patreon)

“You don’t have a Stage Two, do you? Hmm?”

Leon sidestepped Alan’s swinging arms, swiftly locked him around the neck, and ignored his struggles as he injected two doses of the inhibitor into his neck.

“Hh... cough.”

Leon immediately released Alan and backed away several steps.

Alan crouched on the ground, clutching his throat as he coughed uncontrollably, at one point coughing nine times in a row.

A trace of awareness had only just returned to Alan’s eyes when he felt as though his lungs were about to burst.

Then the capillaries throughout his body began burning hot, and his heart rate shot up.

The next moment, a steady stream of pus-laced blood poured from Alan’s mouth.

“Cough... ah!”

A large pool of dark red blood splattered across the ground. Its color gradually turned green before changing back to bright red.

Throughout the entire process, Leon stood with his claw knife raised, his expression tense and worried.

But he still had to be on guard in case Alan underwent a second mutation, so all he could do was stay where he was and watch.

Grace remained on the upper level, lying at the edge of the rubble with half her face peeking over as she watched what was happening below.

Despite her persistent high fever and the weakness throughout her body, she still happily watched the drama unfold.

“It’s over. Leon beat Alan so badly he can’t stop coughing up blood.”

The moment she finished speaking, Alan stopped vomiting blood. He collapsed onto his side instead, curled into a ball, and began coughing violently.

“Alan!”

Leon could no longer wait. He rushed to Alan’s side and dropped to one knee in the pool of blood without hesitation, checking his condition.

Half of Alan’s face was covered in blood. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a dazzling head of blond hair.

Once his eyes came into focus, he noticed the bloodstains in Leon’s hair as well.

“...Leon?”

“Thank God. You’re finally awake.”

Joy spread across Leon’s face. He bent down, wrapped an arm around Alan’s waist, and helped him sit up so he could lean against him.

Alan looked down at his completely naked body and instinctively tried to raise a hand to cover himself, only to find his arm strangely limp.

He gave up.

They were brothers anyway. As long as no woman had seen him, it was fine.

“You have no idea what’s happened these past few months.”

Alan tilted his head and looked at Leon’s stubble-covered face and tearful eyes.

“Don’t even get me started. I slept great...

In my dream... cough, cough... I think I turned into a girl, haha.

And I think I was helping you save me.”

As he spoke, Alan frowned slightly from a headache, but still tried to act casual, only coughing a few times.

Leon stared at him blankly and blinked.

“That dream of yours...”

“...Pretty weird, right?”

“It was practically a prophecy.”

“...?”

Leon motioned for Alan to look up.

Alan slowly raised his head and saw half the face of a white-haired girl peeking over the edge of the rubble.

Her face was flushed red as an apple, but her eyes were still full of life.

When Grace saw him, she weakly greeted him.

“Hi, original body. I’m your clone.”

Alan simply closed his eyes.

Leon immediately asked, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”

“No... I just think I might still be asleep. I’m going back to sleep for a while.

...Also, cover me up, please. Thanks.”

Leon gave a wry smile.

He gently laid Alan back down, took off his combat jacket, and covered his lower body with it.

“Come on, what are you embarrassed about? I’ve seen plenty of it in my memories.”

Grace pouted.

Leon looked up at her helplessly.

“Quit messing around. Do you still have enough strength to get down? I’ll catch you.”

“Mm.”

Grace shifted herself along the ground, then summoned her strength, rolled over, and dropped straight off the rubble.

Leon caught her securely below, then knelt down and laid her flat on the ground.

He took out the single dose of inhibitor he had deliberately saved earlier and injected it into her arm.

Seeing blood continue to seep from the needle hole in Grace’s arm, he pulled several cotton swabs from his waist pouch.

“Hold these against it yourself.”

“Okay.”

Once the inhibitor entered her system, a chill swept through Grace’s entire body. After a while, her energy returned, though the aching in her muscles from moving around had barely improved.

She sat halfway up and pressed the cotton swabs against the wound to stop the bleeding.

“We’ve already lost some time. We need to get moving.

God knows what Simmons might do.”

After confirming that the virus inside Alan had been temporarily suppressed, Leon carried Alan on his back and brought Grace back up to the upper level to retrieve their equipment.

Once they had their gear back in order, Leon unceremoniously put a gas mask on Alan before hoisting him onto his back again.

“Afraid I’ll bite you?”

“I don’t want another rabies shot.”

“...Fine.”

Alan lay across Leon’s back and let him do whatever he wanted.

With his handgun in hand, Leon checked that a round was properly chambered.

“Grace, ready?”

“What are you calling me for?”

“Ready.”

Leon ignored the two of them staring at each other over the name and studied the route they had originally taken toward the cemetery.

“...Good. There’s still a way through.”

Once he confirmed the route, Leon immediately set off.

Before long, the three of them were back in the secret passage beneath the burial chamber.

When they climbed the ladder, they discovered that things outside had become rather lively.

Countless flashlight beams swept wildly across the cemetery, while fully armed soldiers swarmed through every corner like locusts.

They apparently had great confidence in how well-hidden the secret chamber entrance was, because no one had come to search this area yet.

“Getting out won’t be easy.”

“Don’t we have a backup plan?”

Leon carried Alan up, then hid in a pitch-black corner between two burial chambers.

By the time Grace had joined them, Leon had already contacted Hunnigan.

“Hunnigan, I might have to make some noise so we can slip out in the chaos.

What’s the worst that could happen?”

“...Have you been spotted?”

“Oh, not officially.

But Simmons definitely knows it was me.”

“As long as he doesn’t have concrete evidence, you should be fine.”

Leon thought over everything that had happened.

Then he smiled.

“All right. Never thought politics would end up saving our lives.

Grace, trigger the backup plan.”

Grace nodded and pulled the detonator from her waist pouch. After exchanging a glance with Alan on Leon’s back, she pressed it without hesitation.

The next instant, countless explosions erupted throughout the cathedral and the surrounding cemetery.

Scores of soldiers were blasted through the air. Several gravestones were blown sky-high before crashing back down and killing a few unlucky men.

Inside the cathedral, Simmons was directing the operation when he heard the explosions and immediately ducked behind a pew for cover.

Bits of debris pattered down from the cathedral ceiling, showing just how powerful the explosions outside had been.

“Fuck! Go see what the hell is happening!”

At Simmons’s command, the security captain could only brush off the dust covering his head, raise his rifle, and move to the doorway to check outside.

Through the gap in the door, he could clearly see thick black smoke filling the cemetery and hear screams everywhere. Severed limbs had even been blown all the way to the cathedral entrance, along with a broken section of gravestone.

Now that was thorough service.

“Sir, it looks like something exploded outside!”

“No fucking shit!?”

Simmons glared at him in exasperation. Once he confirmed there was no obvious threat, he also walked to the cathedral entrance and looked outside.

The sight made him grit his teeth, but he knew he had thoroughly lost this round.

“Tell everyone outside who’s still alive and able to move that the mission objective has changed!

Lock down the area around the cathedral! Don’t let so much as a fly get in!”

“...Yes, sir!”

His blood boiling, Simmons planted his hands on his hips and paced back and forth through the center of the cathedral.

“Leon, I’ll give you that... Just you wait. Maybe I can’t do anything to you now, but don’t think you’ll have an easy time later!”