After holding Brad Vickers’s funeral, everyone returned to the main hall, all looking weighed down by their thoughts.
Everyone except Luo Guang.
Marvin went back to trying to contact rescue, while Elliot asked Luo Guang about the MP5 in his hands, nodded after hearing the answer, and offered no objection before going off to rest.
As for David, he was still thinking about what had happened during the funeral.
David was also a police officer, but in truth, he was an office clerk.
His usual duties were handling emergency calls and paperwork.
To be honest, David’s performance had been completely understandable.
Elliot understood that too.
But this was no longer the early stage of the biohazard outbreak.
David still had not changed in the slightest, which was why his panicked flight had finally become the spark that set Elliot off.
As for the eulogies at the funeral, Marvin had spoken as a representative of the police, praising Brad for his hard work in the department.
Elliot had spoken as Brad’s friend, delivering his eulogy in the name of family and friends, recounting old good memories and expressing how much he would miss him.
And Luo Guang had spoken in the name of being one of the last people to see Brad while he was still human.
“I wasn’t familiar with Brad Vickers.
But just yesterday, when Jill and I were being hunted by an unbelievably powerful monster, Brad Vickers stepped forward and stood in front of us.
“Some people say Brad Vickers was a coward, someone who would abandon his comrades and run the moment danger appeared.
But to me, the final impression Brad Vickers left behind was one of courage—a hero willing to sacrifice himself for others.”
After finishing his eulogy, Luo Guang also temporarily played the role of priest.
Repeating what the system told him, he continued:
“Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.
May your body rest in peace in this mortal world, undisturbed forever.
May your soul find rest in Heaven.
Amen.”
After Luo Guang’s final Amen, Marvin and the other two—though not religious—still ended up saying it with one voice:
“Amen.”
Aside from digging the grave at the beginning, David had mostly stood there watching the funeral.
Even now, his thoughts were still occupied by the man called Brad Vickers.
He had heard that name before.
Thinking back on Luo Guang’s words, Brad had once abandoned his teammates—but now, in Luo Guang’s eyes, he had become a hero who sacrificed himself for others.
Do I want to become that kind of person?
Can I become that kind of person?
Even if only a little…
can I become brave too?
Sitting in a chair, bent over, covering his head, David quietly thought it over.
Meanwhile, Elliot had taken over trying to contact rescue, while Marvin was resting at Elliot’s insistence.
There had never been any stockpile of food or drinking water inside the police station to begin with.
Fortunately, there were still two vending machines in the reception room—one for drinks, one for snacks and cup noodles—and there was also a water dispenser at the front desk in the main hall that could heat water automatically.
On top of that, Luo Guang had shared some canned food with the others, allowing everyone to eat hot cup noodles and replenish at least a little energy and nutrition.
Some more time passed.
While Luo Guang was resting with his eyes closed, Marvin—now back at the radio after taking over from Elliot—finally established contact with Police Rescue Helicopter No.
76.
Since most of Raccoon City had already been overrun by zombies, Helicopter 76 had been forced to fly a long way to refuel at another unit’s location.
The round trip had taken quite a while, but when it was about an hour out from Raccoon City, Marvin finally got through.
“Received.
We’ll wait here at the station and move to the roof once you give the signal…
Received.
Over.”
After finishing the conversation with the pilot of Rescue Helicopter 76, Marvin put down the radio and told everyone, “The rescue helicopter will arrive in an hour.”
“That’s great.
We can finally get out of this city.”
That was David speaking.
It was also a test, feeling everyone out to see whether they were still angry with him.
Elliot answered him, “Yeah.
It really wasn’t easy getting this far.”
Marvin was happy too.
The pressure on him the whole way here had been immense.
Now that he had finally contacted the rescue helicopter, he could not help but breathe a little easier.
There was another waiting period now, a chance to rest.
But Luo Guang had already rested enough.
While listening to the system lecture him, he also took the chance to inspect his weapons and equipment again.
One MP5 submachine gun with only one magazine.
One Beretta M92F pistol with ten magazines.
One Glock 17 with only one magazine.
And one telescopic dagger.
That was every weapon Luo Guang had on him.
All of them were loaded: 30 + 150 + 17, for a total of 197 rounds of 9mm ammunition. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
Carrying that much on his body, Luo Guang could still feel a bit of the weight.
But for someone whose strength and endurance had both skyrocketed, it was nothing serious.
About half an hour later, Elliot, who had been checking the surrounding area through the surveillance monitors, suddenly called out:
“Someone’s here.”
“Huh?
The front gate wasn’t locked?” Just as Luo Guang and the others were about to gather around, Elliot said that with obvious shock.
“Sorry.
Brad probably opened it.
I completely forgot to go back and check after that.”
Marvin knew Luo Guang had climbed over the wall to get into the station.
At first, he had assumed Brad had done the same.
But seeing the current situation, Marvin thought it through for a moment and realized he had probably been wrong.
Brad had likely forced himself all the way to the station, made it inside, and then transformed not long after.
Then Luo Guang had happened to be returning from the east wing, followed by the rescue of Elliot and David.
One thing after another had piled up, and that was what made Marvin forget to double-check the front entrance.
“It’s fine as long as nothing’s wrong.
Judging by the clothes, probably a civilian,” Elliot judged.
Marvin took one look, then walked toward the main doors of the hall together with Luo Guang.
“R.P.D.!”
Marvin made his identity known before even opening the door.
“Whew, thank God.”
The person who came in was a handsome young guy wearing jeans and a black leather jacket, holding a VP70 Matilda, one of the basic sidearms used by the R.P.D.
It was usually issued to patrol officers and could switch into a three-round burst mode, allowing ordinary patrol cops to stand a fighting chance even against criminals armed with submachine guns in certain emergencies.
“Leon?” Marvin had seen his photo before and looked surprised.
He had originally assumed this rookie had missed his official reporting date because of some unrelated reason, and by pure luck had avoided the disaster in Raccoon City.
So why was he suddenly standing here now?
After hearing Marvin’s questioning tone and seeing the police uniform on him, the young man paused a moment before replying:
“Yes, sir.
Rookie officer Leon S.
Kennedy, reporting for duty.”
Marvin waved him off, telling him not to bother with formalities at a time like this, and said directly, “You’ve got good timing.
We’re preparing to evacuate.”
“Yes, sir.
May I ask what exactly happened in Raccoon City?” At this point Leon still looked like a rookie cop with no experience whatsoever dealing with a biohazard incident.
“You probably saw it yourself on the way here.
Those monsters that don’t stop no matter where you shoot them—unless you blow their heads apart.
For now, we’re calling them zombies.”
Marvin then briefly explained the current state of Raccoon City.
As for whether Umbrella Corporation was the mastermind behind the outbreak, Marvin still had no hard evidence, so he did not mention it.
“So, what you’re saying is that these zombies suddenly appeared all over Raccoon City, and ordinary people who get bitten are also very likely to turn into the same kind of zombies.
“And the police and military both failed to stop them, so Raccoon City has basically already fallen?”
Leon summarized the situation in his own words, then gave a bitter smile.
“So on my very first day reporting for duty, I’m already facing unemployment?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Marvin tried to comfort him.
“Even if you did report late, at least it means you missed the massive chaos in the early phase of the outbreak.”
In this version of the world, Marvin had not been successfully bitten by zombie-Brad.
Elliot had not been surrounded and killed by zombies while searching for information on how to escape the station.
Then there was a high probability that David—who in the games kept hiding and fleeing all over Raccoon City after separating from Elliot—would also not end up panicking and unloading a burst into the rescue helicopter pilot on the rooftop when the helicopter arrived.
Because Luo Guang had originally been injured by a zombie dog’s claw, the butterfly effect he had planned for the subway group had instead shifted toward Marvin and the others.
And rather than forcing change directly, he had simply let things unfold naturally.
The reason Luo Guang did this was to determine whether this world—which resembled the Resident Evil games so closely—was being controlled by some higher-dimensional force that was forcing everything to develop exactly like the games.
Whether in the original or the remake, Marvin was an important figure to Leon.
He was the one who taught Leon not to hesitate when facing zombies—especially zombies made from people he knew.
On the other hand, Luo Guang had taken David’s MP5 specifically to prevent the rescue helicopter pilot from being accidentally shot and causing the chopper to crash into the rooftop.
It was absolutely not because Luo Guang himself wanted the submachine gun.
If the helicopter did not crash, then it meant there was a real possibility that it could successfully get people out of Raccoon City.
That was why Luo Guang had remained so calm, resting and waiting for rescue at the police station.
There was no longer any need for him to insist on escaping together with the protagonists.
As for whether the protagonists’ plot armor existed or not, Luo Guang personally felt that—judging from Jill surviving Nemesis’s pursuit so many times, and from him just happening to arrive when she was surrounded by zombie dogs—it definitely did.
And it also seemed to get teammates killed.
While Luo Guang was thinking all that over, Marvin was introducing everyone to Leon.
“These two are officers Elliot and David.
And this one is a civilian—his name’s Luo Guang.”
“Nice to meet you.” Leon still had some youthful awkwardness to him.
Luo Guang felt that the current Leon was actually pretty cute.
It was hard to imagine him becoming that cold, handsome action hero type later on.
“Leon, your first assignment was supposed to be solving the little puzzle we left for you, but that area’s already fallen now, so there’s no point going there anymore.”
Marvin and the others had originally prepared an onboarding ceremony for Leon, but unfortunately it had never been used.
Raccoon City had turned into a hellscape before they could.
“Thanks.
By the way, have any of you seen a girl named Claire?” Using himself as a reference, Leon gestured roughly at Claire’s height and described her appearance.
“She came to Raccoon City looking for her missing brother—Chris Redfield of the R.P.D.’s S.T.A.R.S.”
“Chris’s sister?” Marvin knew Chris, and looked surprised.
“Chris already left Raccoon City.
He was gone a week ago.
As for where he went exactly, I don’t know.”
After saying that, Marvin glanced at Elliot and David.
Both men shook their heads, indicating that they had neither seen Claire nor knew where Chris had gone.
“I see.” Leon lowered his head.
“About how long until the helicopter gets here?
We agreed to meet up at the Raccoon Police Department.
Then we could leave this damned place together.”
“Not long now.” Luo Guang glanced at his digital watch.
If nothing unexpected happened, the rescue helicopter would arrive in around fifteen minutes.
“In that case, could I go out and look for her?
Can the helicopter wait?” Leon sounded anxious after hearing Luo Guang’s answer.
“The helicopter’s too loud,” Elliot said, though he did not spell out the rest.
David thought the same and nodded.
Leon understood that his request was unreasonable, so he did not insist.
Instead, he asked, “Will the helicopter come back?”
“Yes.”
After saying that, Marvin did not even really stop to think.
He hesitated only briefly before continuing, “Then I’ll stay behind and wait for the next one too.
I can’t very well leave Leon here alone.
“Elliot, after that, you’ll be responsible for taking David and Luo Guang out of Raccoon City.”
“Marvin!” Elliot objected at once.
“Why don’t we just leave a message for Claire here?
Since the helicopter can come back anyway, there’s no reason for us to stay here waiting.
“To put it bluntly—what if she never shows up?”
Leon naturally understood Marvin’s good intentions.
He also understood that Elliot was worried about Marvin, because none of the people here actually needed to take that kind of risk.
Leon himself also felt too guilty to let Marvin stay behind just to indulge his own stubbornness, so he said, “It’s okay, Officer Marvin.”
Both Leon and Elliot tried to persuade Marvin not to stay.
David followed Elliot’s lead.
Meanwhile, Luo Guang stood at the side watching the camera feed, making it clear that he was not participating in the discussion.
“…Sigh.” After thinking it over for a while, Marvin finally agreed not to stay behind.
Still, he decided he would do everything possible to help Leon.
So he took Leon to change into an R.P.D.
uniform.
Leon’s set was different from the others’.
He was given the uniform of the R.P.D.
Select Police Force, a temporary unit established to fill the gap left by S.T.A.R.S.’s dissolution.
Compared to the normal uniforms the others wore, Leon’s outfit also included an outer ballistic vest—lightweight, detachable, and effective against 9mm rounds—as well as more tactical attachment points.
Marvin and the others had not worn that set themselves.
Marvin and Elliot simply were not used to it, and while the vest could stop bites to some extent, it also hindered their movement.
David had wanted to wear one, but it did not fit him properly, and wearing it only made him uncomfortable all over.
So in the end, the set went to Leon.
Besides giving Leon a more suitable uniform, Marvin also handed him his short knife and passed on the survival knowledge he had accumulated over the past few days.
The remaining time passed quickly.
Just after Marvin finished teaching Leon how to work the monitors and the fire doors, the helicopter had already reached the police station and was beginning its descent.
Elliot and David had already gone ahead to the rooftop to prepare.
Luo Guang, meanwhile, was in charge of making sure Marvin actually left.
Once Elliot reported over the radio that it was clear to come up, Luo Guang went forward and reminded Marvin, “Marvin, the helicopter’s almost here.”
“Right.
Leon, one last thing—when you face those monsters, don’t hesitate.”
After saying that, Marvin shoved his short knife and both walkie-talkies into Leon’s hands.
He forced himself not to look back and ran toward the rooftop ahead of Luo Guang.
“Leon, these are for you.”
Luo Guang handed over the Heart Key and Brad’s notebook—the one he had found on the ground—then added, “Watch out for the police chief.
Bye.”
After saying that, Luo Guang did not wait for Leon’s reply.
Without looking back, weapon in hand, he passed through the half-open fire door, caught up with Marvin, and headed to the rooftop.
It’s not really mandatory—I’ll eventually upload all the chapters here—but it helps a lot in supporting me and allows me to dedicate more time to it.