RE - Chapter 301: My Career as a Reporter Ended Before It Even Began (Patreon)

In the hospital room, Alan watched as the girl in front of him proudly announced her new surname.

“From now on, I’m Grace Rowan!”

Alan looked at Leon. The two exchanged a glance, then nodded one after the other.

“Oh, not bad.”

“Sounds pretty good. Does it mean anything?”

Alan looked at her curiously.

Grace scratched her head.

“Mia... ahem. She helped me come up with it. Rowan is the name of a tree that’s associated with protection and resilience.

“I liked the meaning, so I went with it.”

She pulled over a stool, sat beside Alan, and handed him a pear that hadn’t been bitten into.

“Thanks... Protection and resilience, huh? Nice meaning.

“I’m surprised you actually came up with that.”

“Do you want the pear or not?”

“Hehe. Our little Grace is so clever.”

Seeing that the surname issue had finally been settled, Leon breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, Rebecca walked in carrying several reports.

“Hmm, everyone’s here. Good.

“These are Alan’s results... the Han file.”

“I changed my surname. I’m Grace Rowan now.”

Rebecca raised an eyebrow. After handing out the reports, she casually ruffled Grace’s hair.

“Even better. Now you’ve got a surname of your own.”

“The results came back this quickly?”

Leon looked over the few pages in his hands, then glanced up at her.

“Don’t underestimate the equipment here. It’s some of the best available.

“And you brought him in quickly enough that plenty of viral fragments were still circulating in his blood.

“That let us skip the genetic sequencing step, which made things a little easier.”

Rebecca finished explaining, only to find everyone staring back at her and nodding as if they understood.

She sighed helplessly.

Pointing at the report, she tried again.

“To put it in terms you can understand, the virus Alan was injected with is made up of three components.”

“How many?”

Alan looked down at his body, which was still human, at least for now.

“Three different viruses, and I can still look like this?”

“The samples are only in the initial stage of cultivation, so we’ll need more time before we can confirm exactly what they are.

“But for now, we can tentatively identify one of them as the T-Virus we’ve encountered before, though it appears to be a variant.”

When none of the three said anything, Rebecca continued.

“The other two look very similar to the T-Virus externally, but their internal structures are completely different. There’s a good chance they were developed from it.”

“So after all that, what you’re telling me is that I’ve got three unknown viruses inside me, all based on the T-Virus?”

Alan took another bite of his pear. The pressure was getting a little ridiculous.

Leon frowned as well. Unknown variables were always the most dangerous.

Grace was worried too. After thinking for a moment, she said, “If it comes down to it, should we call Luis over?”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

Rebecca folded her arms. Since there were still too few clues to work with, she let them talk and said nothing more. For now, they could only make rough guesses.

Then she suddenly remembered something and patted Grace on the shoulder.

“Grace, come with me in a bit.”

“Okay. Why?”

“I need to check whether your body can produce antibodies consistently. If you don’t want to spend the rest of your life sickly and weak, you can’t keep relying on the inhibitor forever.

“Once your condition stabilizes, you’ll need to stop using it and let yourself get sick a few times so your body can produce its own antibodies.”

“Why does that sound like I’m about to suffer?”

Grace got up with a helpless sigh.

Rebecca turned back and gave Alan a warning as well.

“The same goes for you. The inhibitor will become less and less effective over time.

“The viruses inside you are much more aggressive than Grace’s. Once your condition stabilizes, we may need to draw blood regularly and adjust the formula based on the results to make stronger inhibitors.”

Alan immediately complained.

“Seriously? More blood draws?!”

But Rebecca was already walking away and didn’t hear him.

Leon gave a wry smile, already worried about what his old friend’s hospital stay was going to look like.

“Want me to buy you a few bags of red dates?”

“Forget it. That virus makes blood for me every day anyway... Just keep an eye out for anyone whose bone marrow matches mine.

“I’m worried we’ll cure the virus and then I’ll end up with leukemia.”

...

“Excuse me, Father. Could I ask you a few questions?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“Huh? I haven’t even asked anything yet! Hey!”

In the middle of the noisy crowd, Ashley stood holding a microphone and dressed like a reporter.

When the priest slipped through the crowd and hurried away, she stamped her foot in disappointment.

“What am I supposed to do now...? It’s my first interview and I didn’t get anything.”

“Want me to drag him back for you?”

Krauser stood behind Ashley with a camera on his shoulder, scanning their surroundings as he spoke.

The people nearest him immediately stiffened.

After sneaking a glance at his build, they quickly moved farther away.

“No, no. We’re not criminals.”

Ashley sighed and let Krauser escort her out of the crowd.

Looking back at the noisy scene in the distance, she raised the camera hanging from her chest and casually snapped a couple of pictures.

“Whatever. I’ll just take it easy for now. If this doesn’t work out, I can always apply somewhere else.”

Krauser’s expression softened slightly.

“Not many people have that luxury.”

“Alan said I’d be an idiot not to use the connections I already have.”

“...He’s right.”

Krauser didn’t entirely agree with the sentiment, but he knew that for Ashley, it was probably the best kind of support she could have.

Ashley looked around and picked a relatively quiet spot near the cemetery.

“Let’s go sit over there.”

“We’re not heading straight back?”

Ashley clasped her hands behind her back and gently shook her head.

“Even if the assignment is a bust, I still want to see if I can figure out what really happened.

“A huge explosion goes off in the middle of the night with absolutely no warning? My gut tells me there’s no way this was just a gas explosion.”

Walking beside her, Krauser gave an unexpected answer.

“You’re right.”

“...Huh?”

“A gas explosion wouldn’t leave the smell of explosives behind.”

“You can actually tell?!”

Seeing the admiration in Ashley’s eyes, the corner of Krauser’s mouth twitched slightly.

“There are plenty of things that don’t add up, but it’s none of our business.”

“...No wonder the priest was too scared to talk. So it was some kind of gang war.”

“No. It’s more serious than that.”

Krauser gave her the conclusion but didn’t explain any further.

A message had just come through his earpiece.

After listening to it, he didn’t hesitate.

“We’re leaving.”

Ashley immediately realized something had happened. She hurried alongside Krauser toward the parking lot, and the two got into the car and drove away.

Meanwhile, inside the U.S. President’s office, Graham broke out in a cold sweat.

He never would have expected his daughter’s very first assignment as a reporter to land directly on something this sensitive.

According to the report, the explosion at Tall Oaks Cathedral had absolutely nothing to do with a gas leak.

Not even remotely.

Someone had blown up the cemetery.

That alone wasn’t all that bizarre. Strange, sure, but still something he could accept.

The real problem was that Simmons had personally contacted him and told him not to investigate the incident.

Graham wasn’t an idiot.

After watching Leon’s actions over the past few months, Graham had continued to publicly express distrust toward Leon and speak in Simmons’s favor. Privately, however, Simmons had already been placed firmly on his mental blacklist.

Now Graham could be certain.

This was a signal.

A painfully obvious one.

Especially with Graham nearing the end of his term, Simmons had suddenly abandoned the subtle approach he had always used before.

...Someone must have interfered with his plans.

Sorry, sweetheart.

Looks like your first job is already over.