RE - Chapter 373: Four Candies (Patreon)

“What’s the situation with Adam?”

“Nothing unusual. He hasn’t contacted anyone. He moved straight into the White House, and his only trip outside was to attend the press conference we arranged.”

A faint smile finally appeared on Simmons’s face. “I was right about him. Adam knows when to keep his head down, unlike Graham... Speaking of which, have you found Graham?”

“We found him, but investigating any further will be difficult,” Mills replied. “He’s in China.”

“Hmph... He thought that through. I assume Ashley is there too?” Simmons toyed with his pen and looked up at Mills.

“Yes. There have been sightings of Ashley, and we’ve found indications that someone is protecting her in secret.”

Simmons snorted and put down his pen. “Is China not afraid we’ll hold them accountable?”

Mills nodded without hesitation. “They aren’t.”

Simmons’s mouth twitched. Had spending so long undercover made this man stupid? Didn’t he know he was supposed to flatter his boss?

“Never mind... Graham’s no use to us anymore. We’ve frozen all his assets. If he wants to go begging in China, let him.” Simmons waved dismissively. “Return to your post, and keep a close eye on Adam.”

“Understood.” Mills gave a small bow and left the office.

Outside, Carla straightened up as soon as Mills opened the door and greeted him with an innocent-looking smile. “Hi~”

“Good morning. Simmons is inside.” Mills observed her expression, smiled politely, stepped aside, and headed toward the base entrance.

His intelligence network had detailed files on Dr. Carla, so he knew who she was. She had recently fallen out of favor, grown emotionally unstable, and become the subject of plenty of criticism. Best to be polite.

“...Mills?” Carla made a mental note of the name, then took a deep breath and entered through the half-open door.

Just before she went in, she remembered the pity in his eyes. The corner of her eye twitched.

Simmons heard someone enter and looked up. At the sight of Carla, he felt an inexplicable stab of guilt.

It was hardly surprising. He wasn’t blind... Ever since Annette had managed to push the long-stalled experiment forward, he had gotten a little carried away.

They were still a long way from success, but a little hope was enough to set his imagination running. He had eagerly shared his ideas for the next stage of research with Annette, only for her to tear them apart.

He lacked foresight, she said. If he didn’t understand the science, he should stop interfering and sit in his executive chair until the results were ready.

It infuriated him, of course. He had obediently sat there without daring to argue... Mostly because he needed her help. Ha.

Once the experiments began progressing smoothly, Simmons had privately revealed his final plan to Annette, hoping to prevent her from focusing on developing antibodies instead.

He intended to use advanced cloning technology to replace anyone he considered insufficiently obedient with a clone.

Annette had listened without comment, then asked, “If you’re going to do that, who’s the first target?”

Without hesitation, he had answered, “Ada.”

That was his mistake. He might have fooled Carla, but Annette?

Noticing how readily he had answered, Annette had asked, “That’s what you really want, isn’t it?”

What was Simmons supposed to say? Trying to explain himself would only make him look worse, so he had claimed he simply admired Ada.

The memory still embarrassed him. Hiring subordinates who were too clever really was a double-edged sword.

Simmons pushed the memory aside and smiled at Carla. “Carla? Now this is a surprise. You haven’t come to see me in months.”

“Sorry to disturb you. I’d like to request some time off.” Carla stood before his desk without sitting down.

“...All right. How many days? Would three be enough?” Simmons took a leave form from his desk drawer. He caught sight of a candy Sherry had accidentally left behind on her last visit, then shut the drawer and began filling out the form. “You can take a few more if you need them. You’ve looked exhausted lately.”

“You just don’t want me around, do you?”

“...Hahaha. What are you talking about?” Simmons bent over the form again, feeling guilty without quite knowing why.

Once he had filled in every field, he put down his pen and handed it to her.

Carla studied the form in silence for a moment. “Why did you fill in my part as well?”

“Ah, I thought I’d save you the trouble and fill it all out.” Simmons offered what he hoped was a natural smile. Carla appeared calm, so just as she turned to leave, he ventured, “Are you... still angry with me?”

“No. Why would I be angry?” Carla turned back with smiling eyes. “I’m not angry at all. You only told me I was the one person you admired, then turned around and called Ada Wong the agent you admired most.”

She ground out each word through clenched teeth, yet the smile in her eyes never wavered. Simmons felt a chill run down his spine.

Seeing Carla about to leave, Simmons hurriedly called out to her, “Wait!!”

Carla felt her heart skip a beat. She turned back, her expression carefully blank, to see what he wanted.

He took the form from her hand and changed her leave to five days.

“Consider it my apology. Take a couple of extra days off, all right?” Simmons looked concerned and apologetic. That only made Carla’s heart turn cold, extinguishing what little affection remained.

“...All right. If you say so.”

Carla quietly took the form. Without showing another flicker of emotion, she turned and left without looking back.

Simmons watched her go and breathed a sigh of relief.

Damn it. He was never using his feelings to manipulate someone again.

He gave Carla one last look as if he had seen a ghost, forced the usual coldness back into his gaze, and turned toward his office.

Carla walked alone down the corridor, her flats tapping against the floor. Her grip on the leave form tightened until her knuckles whitened, then suddenly went slack.

Everything around her seemed to recede, as though something were pulling her into darkness. She could see the light at the end of the corridor, but no matter how far she walked, it felt impossibly far away.

“Carla… Carla?…”

Sherry’s voice pulled her back to reality. Carla was leaning against the wall without remembering how she got there, her face deathly pale, the leave form lying at her feet. Her hands shook uncontrollably. Then she pitched forward toward the floor.

Sherry caught her in time and helped her sit against the wall. “Are you okay?” Her pulse was unusually slow, and her lips had lost all color. “Is your blood sugar low? Stay right here!”

Carla heard hurried footsteps fading away, but she had no strength to open her eyes. All she could do was listen to passersby whispering about her.

Then the hurried footsteps returned. “If you’re not going to help, stop standing around gawking! Got a death wish?!” Sherry drove away the onlookers, crouched beside Carla, unwrapped a piece of candy, and slipped it into her mouth.

“Keep it in your mouth. Under your tongue. You’ll feel better,” Sherry said gently. She picked up the fallen leave form and studied the handwriting, piecing together roughly what had happened.

Sherry opened her mouth, but in the end she said nothing and simply waited for Carla to come around.

“……”

“Feeling any better?” Sherry watched some color return to Carla’s face as her eyes slowly opened.

“Mm… Help me up.”

“Stay seated and rest a while.” When Carla tried to get up, Sherry pressed a hand to her shoulder to stop her.

Carla gave a bitter laugh and nodded. Looking up at the people passing by, she could hear what they were saying.

So… that’s how everyone sees me.

Sherry glared at the passersby. Unable to silence them all, she covered Carla’s eyes with her palm and whispered, “Not listening, not listening. Just a bunch of idiots yapping. Not listening, not listening. Just a bunch of idiots yapping.”

“...Pfft. What kind of ridiculous saying is that?” Carla burst out laughing, gently pushed Sherry’s hand away, and gave her an exasperated look.

“Hehe. Alan taught me that.” Seeing that Carla had recovered a little, Sherry helped her stand. “Come sit at my desk for a while. It’s close.”

“Uh… thanks.”

“Well, I’ll happily accept your thanks.” Sherry helped Carla over to her workstation, took another candy from her drawer, and handed it to her.

“Have another. I’ll put one in your pocket too.” Sherry poured a cup of warm water from the dispenser, pulled up an empty chair, and sat across from Carla.

“Drink this first!”

Carla held the candy in her left hand and the cup in her right. She rested both hands on her thighs, looking dazed for a moment.

“What’s wrong? Are you still not feeling well?”

“I’m fine now... I’m just a little...”

“Touched, right?” Sherry smiled, her eyes crinkling. “If I ever end up like this, you can return the favor.”

“What are you talking about?” Carla muttered, raising the glass and drinking half the water.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get through this. When the time comes, I’ll convince those two to let you vent your anger first!”

Sherry didn’t need to spell it out. Carla understood perfectly and finally managed a small smile. “All right, it’s a deal... Actually, Annette gave me this mission.”

“Oh! That’s a good idea. Getting away will do you good. Here, take this.” Sherry tucked a slip of paper covered in seemingly random symbols into a compartment inside a pen and slipped it into her pocket. “There’s a Raccoon City guidebook in my room. The answer’s in there.”

“...Sounds like quite the puzzle.”

“It’s not that hard. Want a hint?”

Carla set down her water and held the edges of the candy wrapper between both hands, gazing quietly at the cheerful little figure printed on it. Some of the tension eased from her eyes. “Sure.”

Sherry took Carla’s hand and traced several numbers onto her palm.

“Did you remember them?”

“…I didn’t.”

“You really are hopeless. Remember them this time!”

“Mm-hmm.”