After their meeting with Chris and Jill ended, Li Yun and Natasha climbed straight into Mayor Warren’s car.
They returned to the hotel prepared for them with only two hours left before they were due to assemble and depart.
Li Yun was wide awake now.
Getting to meet future monsters like Jill and Chris had been more entertaining than anything else he could have asked for.
He wanted to return to his room, rest a little longer, then change and prepare to leave.
Before they split up, though, there were still a few things he wanted to tell Natasha.
Natasha opened her room with an icy expression and went straight inside.
Li Yun scratched his head but did not take her cold attitude too seriously.
She was a genius sniper, after all, and geniuses were always a little strange.
He put the matter out of his mind, returned to his own room, and began sorting through everything that had happened recently.
He could not have prevented what happened in the Lost City, but he had managed to rescue Soi, save Andrey and an entire advance force, and bring out the survivors they encountered.
David had been the one person he failed to save.
Then again, if David had survived, he probably would have followed his predestined path and joined the T faction anyway.
But the key figure behind the entire Lost City incident was Dr.
Rex.
Li Yun had failed to bring him back—although he also understood that bringing Rex back might not have been a good thing.
An incident on the scale of the Lost City needed someone to take the blame.
Whether Rex was alive or dead, he was destined to become the scapegoat.
Never mind that he was ultimately just a researcher and had not actually caused the virus leak himself.
He had also met Jill and Chris, which was certainly something to be happy about.
Unfortunately, he had failed to meet a certain unnamed officer with a famous center-parted hairstyle.
The guy was probably still in school or preparing for his police exam right now.
As for Raccoon City…
Li Yun sighed.
He could not stop that either.
It was Umbrella’s own internal power struggle.
What right did an outsider like him have to interfere?
The problem was that the citizens of Raccoon City would be the ones paying the bill.
Li Yun lay on the bed, feeling more than a little listless.
Life was unpredictable.
All he could do was whatever lay within his reach.
Even saving one extra person would be worth it.
With that thought, he got up and prepared to take a shower.
Once he changed back into his combat gear, it would be time to return to Zeta City.
Not a single zombie could be allowed to escape their containment perimeter.
Elsewhere, Natasha was already in the shower.
She combed her fingers through her hair and let the water stream over her body.
As far as figures went, even the stunning Jill could not quite match her.
That was hardly surprising. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
The young men in the unit who wanted to court her could probably form a line around the entire base three times over.
Everything that had happened recently had shaken her far more deeply than she wanted to admit.
Zombies.
Viruses.
Biological weapons.
Natasha was a veteran of plenty of battles, yet everything she had seen lately still sent a chill through her.
Her opinion of Li Yun had changed as well.
For the previous several months, she had thought of him mostly as a highly trained…
gorilla?
Or something along those lines.
In any case, her impression had been decidedly average.
After fighting their way out of Zeta City with him, however, Natasha had been completely won over.
While other people were trembling or barely keeping their legs steady, Li Yun had remained as calm as if he had gone out on a hunt.
He slaughtered zombies with the composure of someone hunting wild animals.
She could hardly detect any negative emotion from him at all.
She had asked Li Yun whether he was afraid.
His answer had simply been that he had not thought that much about it.
Was his mind really that simple, or did he genuinely see things that way?
Natasha did not know.
She only knew that he seemed almost impossibly heroic.
Yet judging from Li Yun’s assessment of the incident and everything that might follow, he was clearly not some muscle-brained brute.
On the contrary, his ability to leap from one line of reasoning to another was quick enough to surprise even Natasha.
She shut off the water, stepped out of the bathroom, and carefully dried herself.
Only half an hour remained before assembly.
Soon she would be going back to that city.
Back to those things.
Life was hard.
Natasha could only sigh.
After pain and a long, jolting journey, Dr.
Rex finally felt someone lower him into a genuine leather chair comfortable enough to provide at least a little relief.
Then his blindfold was removed.
After so long without seeing light, Rex found the illumination surprisingly ordinary.
It did not sting his eyes in the slightest.
The office around him felt remarkably similar to his old one, and that familiarity calmed him a little.
What he did not know was what fate awaited him now.
Did he still have any chance of escaping back to CT?
Rex did not turn around—not because he did not want to, but because he had absolutely no sensation below the waist.
Even his upper body, though still mobile, had lost much of its sense of touch.
“I’m very pleased to see you alive, Dr.
Rex.” The voice was so familiar that even in his current state, Rex’s eyes widened.
When the newcomer stepped into view, Rex’s suspicion was completely confirmed.
Douglas Jacob—the head of the Douglas Group and CT’s largest financial backer.
Yet now, as the real power behind the T faction—or more precisely, the Asia Red Army—he appeared openly before Rex without the slightest attempt to hide it.
“You don’t look surprised.” Douglas sat down and waved a hand.
Someone immediately stepped forward to pour coffee for both men.
“At this point, it’s difficult for me to be surprised.
I don’t mean psychologically.
I mean physically.
The explosion caused a viral leak, and I wasn’t spared.
An incomplete vaccine could only do this much.”
Rex lifted the coffee and took a sip.
A normal person who had gone more than ten hours without food would have felt miserable drinking coffee that strong on an empty stomach.
Rex felt nothing at all.
Douglas nodded.
“How unfortunate.
Please believe me, that was never my intention.”
He said the words, but his face remained so calm and undisturbed that it was difficult to believe he felt the slightest sorrow.
“Enough with the false concern, Mr.
Douglas.
Perhaps I still had some of a researcher’s naïveté before, but now I understand what you people really are.”
No one could be put through what Rex had endured and remain unchanged.
By now, he had seen Douglas playing both sides with his own eyes, making a fucking fortune no matter who won.
“You understand a little—but only a little.
I imagine some part of you is still waiting for CT to rescue you.
Though after seeing me here, you should already know that’s impossible.”
Douglas smiled and ruthlessly shattered the last scrap of hope Rex had been clinging to.
Rex’s expression did not change.
Douglas waved a hand, and someone immediately brought over a file.
“Take a look.
I’m only a sponsor, so I can’t personally participate in military operations.
But I do have the right to review the results afterward.
Once you’ve read this list, you’ll understand exactly what position you’re in.”
Rex slowly picked up the file and began reading it carefully.
Even with the nerves in his face nearly paralyzed, his brows began twitching uncontrollably.