Jill led Nemesis around in a half-circle, and Nemesis responded with another sweeping strike, smashing aside everything in front of it.
“That’s it!”
Keeping his eyes on Jill’s side of the battlefield the whole time, ready to interrupt any especially dangerous attack from Nemesis, Luo Guang suddenly spotted the chance to break the stalemate.
A tent was knocked over first, and then Nemesis’s immensely powerful bony tentacle directly flipped over a vehicle hidden behind it.
The vehicle rolled a few times, its roof turning toward the plaza and into Luo Guang’s view.
Luo Guang focused his eyes and saw clearly—it was a Humvee.
And mounted on top of it, in the middle, was a heavy machine gun.
The vehicle belonged to the National Guard.
The heavy gun on top was not some new model either, but an older M2 heavy machine gun.
“Jill, keep it busy!” Luo Guang shouted, then ran around behind Nemesis, hopping over the foul-smelling corrosive toxin on the ground as he made for the Humvee.
He checked the condition of the vehicle.
It was lying on its side.
After thinking for a second, Luo Guang simply grabbed the front bumper and pulled toward the underside.
His adaptation period to his skyrocketing strength had ended quite a while ago.
As he gradually put more force into it, he managed to right the Humvee surprisingly quickly.
Then he climbed up and checked the mounted M2.
Miraculously, the gun had not been damaged during the vehicle’s rollover.
The ammo box attached to it was still full, every single 12.7mm round ready and waiting for Commander Luo Guang to issue the order to attack.
Nemesis had not gone far, and more importantly, its back was completely exposed to Luo Guang.
Luo Guang racked the charging handle with a loud metallic clack, then shouted:
“Machine gun!”
Jill understood instantly and cut left, clearing Luo Guang’s line of fire.
With Jill no longer overlapping Nemesis in his sights, Luo Guang gripped the handles behind the gun with both hands and pulled the trigger.
BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG—
And alongside the machine gun’s roar came Luo Guang’s own wild laughter.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—”
All the frustration from being helpless against Nemesis moments before was swept away.
At that instant, the only word in Luo Guang’s mind was satisfying.
And because his evolved physical ability let him control the weapon perfectly, firing it felt less like work and more like pure enjoyment.
On the other side, Jill looked at the almost deranged Luo Guang with open disgust—but she still had no intention of letting such a perfect opportunity to kick Nemesis while it was down go to waste.
As Nemesis got its teeth blasted out by Luo Guang’s torrent of bullets, Jill followed up by showering it with grenades, one high-explosive round after another.
At last, Jill—who had started panting hard some time ago—finally got a chance to stop and catch her breath.
The M2 heavy machine gun had an average rate of fire as high as 500 rounds per minute, so Luo Guang did not get to enjoy it for very long before the gun ran dry and he had to stop firing in frustration.
The red-hot barrel hissed white steam in the rain, as though complaining about how roughly he had treated it.
Under that storm of bullets and Jill’s grenades, Nemesis had already collapsed into what looked like a heap of softened flesh, but Luo Guang still did not trust it.
He had Jill fetch the vodka “drinks” he had set aside earlier.
Hearing Luo Guang’s instruction, Jill shot him a glare.
She clearly had a mountain of things she wanted to ask him, but in the end she still did as he said and brought the vodka bottles over from where he had hidden them.
“How many incendiaries do you have left?” Luo Guang asked as he took the makeshift firebombs from her.
“…Two.
And the one in the launcher right now is a high-explosive round.” Jill raised the grenade launcher in her hands, gave it a little shake, and asked, “It’s still not dead?”
“On the surface, it looks dead enough.
No idea what’s going on inside, though.”
When Luo Guang had been using the machine gun just now, he had deliberately kept the sights trained around Nemesis’s giant maw and chest area—but he was still worried the thing had not truly died.
“In that case…
should I go first?” Jill ejected the high-explosive round from the launcher, put it away, and loaded an incendiary round in its place.
“Not yet.”
Luo Guang pressed the launcher down before Jill could raise it again, then lifted his M4A1 and emptied the remaining rounds in the current magazine, along with the rounds from the half-used magazine he had saved earlier, into Nemesis’s body.
Sure enough, Nemesis still reacted.
It tried to surge back up and kill them, but in the end it could only flop weakly on the ground, the mass of flesh rising and falling.
Then Luo Guang lit the cloth wick stuffed into the vodka bottle and hurled it onto Nemesis’s body.
He did not hold back.
He threw every single bottle, making sure Nemesis got to fully experience the warm hospitality of the great Bear Nation.
And just to really get the fire going, Jill added one incendiary round of her own.
This time Luo Guang did not stop her.
Nemesis really caught fire.
“Should I put the last one into it too?” Jill asked, looking sideways at Luo Guang.
“Mhm.” Luo Guang nodded, still not turning to look at her.
At first, when they had met, he had not felt anything.
But now, standing beside Jill and watching Nemesis burn, Luo Guang suddenly became aware of how awkward—and a little embarrassing—everything felt.
With a soft thump, Jill fired the last incendiary round into Nemesis as well.
Nemesis still did not move.
It simply burned there, silently giving off light and heat.
After loading the last grenade into the launcher, Jill slung it onto her back, turned around, and stared at Luo Guang without saying a word.
“Ahem.”
Naturally, Luo Guang felt her gaze.
It was obvious what she meant.
She wanted an explanation.
“Go on,” Jill urged, seeing him finally turn to face her.
“Let’s get away from here first.” Luo Guang laughed awkwardly.
“This place is too dangerous.”
“You’re dodging the question again.” Jill curled her lip, but she still followed him away from Nemesis’s burning remains.
“I’m an Umbrella intelligence agent.”
Luo Guang hesitated for a long time, but in the end, he chose to tell the truth. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“I know.” Jill looked a little surprised that he had admitted it so directly.
He had hidden it and concealed it all this time.
Had he suddenly changed overnight?
“So I got the T-Virus vaccine.
The zombie dog’s claws had blood on them carrying the T-Virus, but the viral concentration wasn’t very high anymore.
That’s why I survived.” Luo Guang explained first why he had lived after being clawed by the zombie dog.
Jill nodded to show she understood, then immediately asked, “Do you know the vaccine formula?”
If Luo Guang knew the T-Virus vaccine formula, he could save a great many people.
So compared to asking why he had played dead and deliberately broken away from her to act alone, Jill cared far more about the vaccine.
Besides, she had already guessed that whatever vaccine Luo Guang had received was not full immunity.
Luo Guang shook his head.
“I’m not a researcher.
How would I know the formula?
But I do know where there’s someone who does.”
“Who?” Jill asked at once.
“A senior researcher from Umbrella’s Raccoon City lab.
I don’t know the full details, but right now they seem to be waiting for rescue at Raccoon University.”
As he said it, Luo Guang could only pray that the story of the Raccoon City outbreak was still progressing along familiar lines.
“Oh?
So that’s how it is?”
Just as Jill was about to press for more details, a third voice—belonging to neither her nor Luo Guang—sounded from behind them.
Both Jill and Luo Guang were just about to turn and raise their guns when the man behind them spoke again:
“Relax.
Don’t move.
Put the guns down.”
With a gun pointed at his back, Luo Guang complied very directly.
He had no intention of gambling on which one of them the other man was actually aiming at.
He lowered the M4A1 and the Beretta M92F from his belt and placed them on the ground.
Seeing him give up resistance so readily, Jill froze for a split second.
But she and Luo Guang had both thought the same thing:
If they tried to move at the same time, they would just be gambling on who the man behind them was aiming at.
Since Luo Guang had chosen to give in, Jill naturally could not risk it either.
“Let’s talk like this.”
Even though he could not see the man, Luo Guang could clearly sense the smug sneer in his voice.
“Luo.
In this situation, you can finally tell me what your temporary mission really was, can’t you?”
That question was enough for Luo Guang to start guessing who the man behind them was.
“Collect combat data on Nemesis.”
Luo Guang had already begun making things up.
“Mmm…
Working for who?”
“No idea.
I got the assignment notice while I was preparing to evacuate.
There was no signature, only a message saying they’d contact me again after the mission was done.” Luo Guang deliberately avoided giving any specific name, then added, “The signal source for the assignment wasn’t in Raccoon City.
Other than that, I’ve got nothing.”
After hearing that, the man behind them fell silent for a while.
Jill also said nothing, observing Luo Guang’s expression out of the corner of her eye while waiting for a chance.
After a while, the man behind them finally asked:
“If that’s the case, then why were you trying to kill Nemesis?”
Nemesis, of course, referring to the Tyrant.
“Because it put me on its list too.”
Luo Guang made his tone sound furious, though from Jill’s angle, there was not the slightest trace of anger on his face.
“Same as you.
I want to make big money, but I also want to stay alive long enough to enjoy it.
I’m fine with working for Umbrella.
I’m not fine with dying for them, Nikolai Zinoviev.” Luo Guang had already used the system’s matched voiceprint to identify the man behind them as none other than Nikolai Zinoviev.
“Hmph.”
Nikolai did not seem surprised that Luo Guang had recognized him, though he clearly was not pleased.
“Not bad.
Yes, it’s me.
Then what about this vaccine business?
How do you know that?”
“Do you have any idea how much a T-Virus vaccine would be worth?
For Umbrella, it’s one hand selling the virus, the other hand selling the cure—profit on both sides.” Luo Guang snorted too, keeping his head still while using only his eyes to judge the situation.
“Looks like your information network isn’t quite good enough yet, Nikolai.”
“Doesn’t matter.
I know about it now.
And you won’t be around to enjoy that knowledge.” Nikolai’s voice was cold.
“Really?
You’re going to butcher a hen that lays golden eggs that easily?” Luo Guang did not sound the least bit panicked.
He shifted his weight a little, as though tired from standing, carefully testing Nikolai’s bottom line.
When Luo Guang shifted, Nikolai did not fire.
Raising her gaze, she happened to see Luo Guang blink.
Jill immediately understood what he meant and decided to wait for his signal.
“Oh?
And what does this golden hen want?
What can it offer me?” Nikolai sneered.
“Or has this little hen not yet understood the situation it’s in?”
“I want to live.
In exchange, I’ll give you the names in my information network.
Not just Umbrella people—there’s blackmail material on higher-level people too.” Luo Guang dangled his bait.
Nikolai did not answer right away.
He seemed to be savoring Luo Guang’s supposed anxiety.
Only after seeing Luo Guang shift a little more unnaturally did Nikolai finally say, slowly:
“Heh.
Not a bad offer.
But I’ve been aiming at two people this whole time.
My arm’s getting tired.
“So how about this—you pick up the gun on the ground and send off this heroic S.T.A.R.S.
member, Jill Valentine.”
“All right.”
Luo Guang agreed without the slightest hesitation and bent down to pick up the gun.
As he bent, he tilted his head just a fraction, enough to confirm that Nikolai was indeed aiming at him while he picked it up.
Jill tensed to move, but Nikolai immediately warned her off, prompting her to curse both Luo Guang and Nikolai.
“Lady, if you want to blame someone, blame Luo Guang.
Just one second ago, he was still your comrade, fighting and nearly dying with you against Nemesis.
Now, for profit, he’s throwing you away.
“Oh, and by the way—Jill, from start to finish, you were nothing more than one of Umbrella’s chess pieces.
Hahahaha.”
Watching the crafty expression on Luo Guang’s face and the glimmer of relief at being able to live, Nikolai laughed inwardly.
Luo Guang had helped Jill escape danger several times, which had made Nikolai start doubting his true alignment.
As for Luo Guang’s “temporary mission,” while Luo Guang had not named who issued it, Nikolai already had his own guess: likely Umbrella’s Chicago branch.
Nikolai himself had secretly been hired by Umbrella’s European branch to collect combat data on Nemesis.
So naturally, as a rival of the European branch, the Chicago branch would have sent their own people to gather data on Nemesis too.
And honestly speaking, Luo Guang was not combat personnel.
He was more suited to infiltration.
Being targeted by Nemesis was probably an accident.
At least, based on the Luo Guang Nikolai thought he understood—and from the few times they had worked together—Luo Guang was definitely not stupid enough to go looking for Nemesis on purpose.
Nikolai did not believe for a second that Luo Guang truly did not know who had assigned him the mission.
But since Luo Guang had still refused to name them even with his life at stake, that meant he did retain some degree of loyalty to Umbrella.
Of course, making Luo Guang kill Jill was also part of testing him.
Still, the sheer eagerness Luo Guang seemed to show made Nikolai sneer inwardly.
As for the vaccine, Nikolai actually did know something about that.
A high-level Umbrella researcher who knew how to manufacture a T-Virus vaccine really had defected, and Nikolai had been unable to locate the person’s exact whereabouts.
Compared to that, Luo Guang’s intelligence network really did seem impressive.
If Nikolai could get hold of it, he might have opportunities later to lie down and let the money roll in.
Though by then, of course, Luo Guang probably would not live to see those days.
While Nikolai was still thinking about how best to get rid of Luo Guang after obtaining his intelligence network—Luo Guang’s acting hit full power.
With a smug, punchable grin, he said:
“Goodbye, Jill.”
The instant the words left his mouth and his finger was just about to tighten on the trigger, Jill moved.
She had caught the signal in Luo Guang’s blink.
She lunged and slammed into him, knocking him down.
Nikolai had already anticipated that Jill, unwilling to die in humiliation, would try something like this.
He watched with satisfaction as Luo Guang and Jill struggled together on the ground, though his own gun remained trained on them.
Just as Nikolai expected, Luo Guang—as an intelligence operative—did not look suited for combat.
Whether it was his carelessness in not immediately widening the distance after bending down to pick up the gun, instead stepping one pace closer to Jill, or the way Jill now had him pinned under a flurry of heavy punches—all of it made Nikolai even more confident in his ability to control Luo Guang’s life afterward.
At the same time, his sense of total control over the situation filled him with pleasure.
Luo Guang fumbled, and the Beretta M92F in his hand got slapped away by Jill.
“That’s enough,” Nikolai thought, just as he was about to shoot Jill dead and preserve Luo Guang—but faster than Nikolai’s gun, Jill used Luo Guang’s body as cover, slipped a hand inside his black jacket, pulled out the Glock 17, and—relying on her long experience—did not bother raising it into a textbook sight picture at all.
Keeping the pistol low against her stomach, she fired rapidly toward Nikolai’s position.
As the selfish bastard he was, Nikolai naturally wore body armor.
But every bullet hitting it still hammered his torso like a series of fists.
Bang.
Nikolai endured the pain and fired back, but without any real aim, the shot only grazed past empty air—the bullet passed over Jill’s head.
During the struggle with Jill, Luo Guang had shifted position.
His left hand had also already found and grabbed Jill’s dropped G19.
Taking advantage of the moment Jill’s burst put Nikolai into hit-stun, Luo Guang switched the pistol into his right hand and fired carefully at Nikolai—specifically at the unarmored area between his legs.
Even if it did not kill him, it would hurt enough to make him black out.
Nikolai kept trying to aim at Jill, but then a bolt of indescribable, soul-rending agony exploded up from his crotch with the crack of a gunshot.
The pain was so unbearable that his body went rigid and he toppled backward.
But Luo Guang had no intention of letting him off that easily.
He immediately fired several more follow-up shots into Nikolai’s thighs while he fell, aiming to rupture the femoral artery and make him bleed out fast.
The counterattack from Luo Guang and Jill had happened in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, the positions of hunter and prey had completely reversed.
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.