By the time Li Yun reached Raccoon City, it was already three in the afternoon.
The moment he finally relaxed, exhaustion seemed to rise like a tide and swallow him whole.
The sustained high-intensity fighting had taken far more out of him than he had realized.
Natasha had not said a single word during the drive either.
She had simply fallen asleep leaning against him.
The two spent the entire ride that way until someone woke them after they reached their destination.
Raccoon City’s mayor wanted to personally receive the two battlefield heroes fresh from Zeta City, but the personnel traveling with Li Yun’s group stopped that idea with a phone call.
For now, the two needed rest.
There would be time for formalities later.
After entering the accommodations Victor had arranged, Li Yun took a lightning-fast shower, changed into clean clothes, collapsed onto the bed, and fell dead asleep.
It was a perfectly dreamless sleep, and he did not wake until Natasha knocked on his door and told him to get up for a meal.
The meal laid out for the two of them was quite lavish, in a distinctly American fashion.
Fully rested, Li Yun abandoned all restraint and started tearing through one finely prepared dish after another, eating so voraciously that even the nearby waiter stared.
Natasha was used to it.
After several months of spending nearly every day together, she already knew just how terrifying Li Yun’s appetite was.
Her own training meant she ate far more than the average person, yet Li Yun could put away three times as much without a problem.
Maybe that was the only way to fuel the amount of energy he burned.
Natasha certainly had not forgotten the explosive speed with which he had yanked Soi out of danger and kicked the Light Zombie flying.
At that moment, Li Yun had looked less like a man than a living weapon.
Once he was completely full, Li Yun let out a satisfied belch and leaned back to stare at the ceiling, letting his mind unwind.
He might have to return to Zeta City for garrison duty before long, but until then, at least he had been given enough time to recover.
“Well, well~ Look at our combat heroes, fresh out of Zeta City.
A handsome young man and a beautiful young woman together—enough to make a middle-aged man like me realize I’m getting old.”
Raccoon City’s current mayor, Michael Warren, pushed open the restaurant door and walked in.
Li Yun, Natasha, and the other soldiers who had evacuated from Zeta City immediately stood to greet the accomplished mayor.
Li Yun disliked this sort of official small talk, but there was no reason to slap away a smiling hand.
Naturally, he behaved himself and made an effort to stay on good terms with the mayor.
Even if Raccoon City probably would not exist much longer.
“You must be Li Yun.
“You’re too kind.
I’ve only done a few things hardly worth mentioning.” Warren’s praise barely moved Li Yun.
As far as he was concerned, there would probably be no end to anti-bioterror operations in the future.
Zeta City was a beginning, not an end.
Warren nodded.
“Young hero is exactly the phrase for someone like you.
I only hope the young men in the Raccoon City Police Department can learn from your example and become soldiers every bit as outstanding.”
Li Yun neither agreed nor disagreed.
Once the handful of monsters in the Raccoon City Police Department matured, they would probably become even more ridiculous than he was.
He was only a captain in the PLA Special Forces—and not even commander of the whole unit, merely one of its operational teams.
Those people simply had not reached their final forms yet.
Even so, there were several of them Li Yun badly wanted to meet right now.
Whatever memes people attached to them, they were soldiers on the front line against bioterrorism—heroes who spent their lives running from crisis to crisis for ordinary people.
Oh.
Wesker excluded.
That bastard was an animal.
“Since you’ve put it that way, Mayor, how about we use this break to meet some of the police department’s best officers?” Li Yun suggested with a smile.
Warren’s face brightened immediately.
He eagerly seized the opening.
“That would be wonderful.
If you’re willing, then let’s go together.
It’ll give those boys a chance to see what real soldiers fresh off a battlefield look like.”
“Everyone else stays here and rests.
Natasha, you’re coming with me.
Once our assigned rest period is over, everyone assembles and returns to Zeta City.” Li Yun issued the order on the spot.
Ordinarily, he would have had no authority over the attached task-force personnel.
But after he had saved their lives and distinguished himself in battle, the other operators’ personal respect for him was at an all-time high.
That was why they were willing to accept his orders without complaint.
Warren immediately had his secretary notify Police Chief Brian Irons that two outstanding soldiers from Zeta City’s first advance force would be visiting to exchange experience with the department’s elite officers, and that everything should be properly prepared.
“This way, please.” Once the secretary had notified Irons, a car was arranged as well.
The group climbed into the vehicle and headed straight for the Raccoon City Police Department.
When they arrived, Chief Irons was already waiting outside with every officer currently on duty except those assigned to routine patrols.
Honestly, even if Li Yun had known nothing about Irons’s filthy secrets, that potbellied, sleazy appearance alone would have made it difficult to feel any goodwill toward him.
“Mayor Warren.
The moment I received your instructions, I immediately summoned every officer on duty today apart from the regular patrols.
These two must be the members of the Zeta City advance force you mentioned.”
After shaking Warren’s hand, Irons turned to Li Yun and Natasha.
His gaze was normal enough when it landed on Li Yun, but the instant he looked at Natasha, his eyes filled with naked greed—only for it to vanish almost immediately.
Natasha failed to notice that fleeting greed.
Li Yun caught every bit of it.
He knew exactly what sick proclivities this bastard had, and his guard shot up at once.
After the brief pleasantries, Li Yun and Natasha exchanged greetings with the Raccoon City officers one by one.
When Irons finally introduced the department’s elite—S.T.A.R.S.—both of them immediately perked up.
Li Yun’s eyes lit up because he had spotted Chris, the future superhuman and anti-bioterror hero.
Natasha’s internal alarm bells started blaring because she had spotted Rebecca and Jill.
She involuntarily glanced at Li Yun, who had also suddenly become much more animated.
Don’t tell me this bastard knew there were two gorgeous women at the police station and came here just to take a look?
Just look at Rebecca—damn, that pretty little face was almost unfair.
And Jill Valentine?
She was absolutely gorgeous.
Chris quickly noticed Li Yun staring straight at him and could even see the enthusiasm in the man’s eyes.
What he could not understand was why Li Yun was looking at him like that.
They did not even know each other.
While Irons continued bragging about how outstanding S.T.A.R.S.
was and how formidable the Raccoon City Police Department’s manpower was, Li Yun finally stopped listening.
He raised a hand to cut off Irons’s endless spiel, then turned directly to Chris.
“Thank you for the introduction, Chief Irons.
As it happens, what you’ve said has made me curious about the department’s regular training.
How about letting Officer Chris Redfield show me around the station?
What do you think?”