Marvel's Death Merchant

Chapter 494 First Arrival

[Latest News] Tomorrow is May 515th, the anniversary celebration day with the most benefits! Besides gift packs and backpacks, you definitely don't want to miss the "515 Red Envelope Frenzy"—there's no reason not to grab a red envelope! Set your alarms!

The mornings in Russia are relatively cool, but it gets unbearably cold during the day or at midday. However, the locals are used to this cold climate, and there is a significant temperature difference between day and night.

Chris stood by his room window, gazing at the not-so-busy street, brushing his teeth with his toothbrush and toothbrush cup. The Louis Hotel was located in the suburbs, so it was far removed from the city's hustle and bustle.

There was a minor earthquake at the hotel last night. Luckily, Jill woke Alice in time, but it caused quite a bit of trouble for the hotel. Almost all the glass items in the room were damaged, and Chris ended up spending some of the money Wesker had given him for his trip.

Jill's sleeping habits are an occupational hazard; even while sleeping, she's always alert to potential dangers. Since she wasn't covered by a blanket, her trousers were unevenly wrinkled, so she had to take another pair from her travel bag to change.

Chris had all his questions directed at Wesker: What kind of friend was this?! Why didn't he come out to greet him personally? But Wesker seemed to have vanished; he didn't reply to any emails or answer international calls. It was as if he was leaving them to figure it out themselves—that was some very peculiar behavior.

"Beep...beep," the call and waiting sounded, leaving Jill somewhat bewildered.

"Hello? Who is this? Hello?..." A familiar voice came from the phone. Jill could no longer hold back. She hung up and leaned against the wall, crying. She probably didn't have enough courage to face Barry, who thought she was already dead. Jill felt wronged and her feelings were complicated. However, Alice was also happy to hear Barry's voice.

"Alright, alright, it's okay." Alice patted Jill's shoulder, and they cried even harder. Alice immediately raised her hands, "Oh! Oh! No, no. Don't do this. I... I'm not very good at comforting people, so is this not a good idea?" Alice still comforted Jill, looking at her crying face.

Yesterday, Chris still hadn't learned the person's identity from the owner of the Louis Hotel. The owner only said that the person who made the reservation should inform him that a car would be picking them up in the morning. Chris breathed a sigh of relief, finally he was going to see a living person.

However, the morning was almost over and there was still no movement. Chris was sleeping in again. No one wanted to disturb him, and he was snoring loudly on the sofa in the reception area. Several people stayed in the reception area, waiting for their pick-up person to arrive. Leon chatted with the boss, Alice continued reading the magazine she had brought from the plane, and Claire and Jill talked about trivial things from their past together.

The roar of car engines outside the hotel drew everyone's attention. Two large black SUVs pulled up outside, their suspension systems so high they resembled four-legged monsters. The doors opened, and three men in impeccably tailored black suits stepped out, their physiques resembling bodyguards, all wearing sunglasses. Two of them stood in front of the cars, hands at their sides, scanning their surroundings. The third, the smallest of the three, was as massive as a Red Tank, undoubtedly possessing immense strength, and walked into the hotel.

Chris looked at the burly man who entered. Bald, with a thick beard like Barry's, and a deep scar on his left cheek, he was a man of size who could easily win the All-American Wrestling Championship. He approached Chris, who was talking to the owner at the counter. "Mr. Charlie, we've come to pick you up." His tone was rather harsh and unfriendly, with a heavy Russian accent. The stranger then extended his right hand to Chris.

Chris, using the alias Charlie, said, "Yes, hello." Chris shook his hand. "You can call me Weaver. Hurry up and pack your things; my car and I don't want to wait too long." Weaver then asked the hotel owner to let him check out.

Everyone else was woken up, and seeing the SUV outside and the burly man opposite, they knew most of the situation. Their luggage was loaded into the trunks of both vehicles. The group climbed into the SUVs. Leon and Chris sat in Weaver's car, while the rest got into the other vehicle.

The car was cooler inside with the air conditioning on. "Where to?" Chris asked Weaver, who was sitting in the front seat. "The destination." Weaver answered curtly, without turning around. "Is that the friend Wesker mentioned you?" Chris continued. "Don't ask too many questions. That's not your concern." Weaver dismissed the question. "Hey, don't you have the right to tell us where we're going?" Chris began, somewhat disapproving.

Weaver didn't answer. Chris patted Leon on the shoulder, indicating that there was no need to make things difficult for him. Jill in the car behind asked the same question, but the driver also didn't intend to give her a clear answer.

The atmosphere in the car was rather oppressive throughout the journey; no one spoke. Both cars were silent, as the driver was not friendly. Highway signs flashed past the window; the destination was 354 kilometers away.

Chris was woken up again while he was sleeping. He stretched and wondered how long the car had been traveling. He found that the car was parked in a clean, large warehouse, without a speck of dust. The light coming through the sunroof was rather dim, and the cars behind him were also pulling in. Before he was fully awake, Chris pulled him out of the car, and there were more than a dozen heavily armed bodyguards surrounding the vehicle.

Just then, a man and a woman approached from the opposite direction. "Ladies and gentlemen, please cooperate with the security check," Weaver said to the group. It was clear that the man and woman were there to search them. After the search, the man and woman nodded to Weaver. "The gentleman wants to see you. Please follow me," Weaver said.

Following Weaver through a dimly lit passageway on one side of the warehouse, they went up the stairs to the second floor. This warehouse was much cleaner, and the iron stairs were spotless. There were just as many bodyguards as on the second floor, suggesting that the person who wanted to see their "gentleman" was up to no good and might have just walked into a trap. Chris didn't know the background of this group and didn't dare to draw any conclusions.

The second floor had only one wide corridor, with an armed bodyguard every five or six steps. The paint on the corridor walls was peeling, and the ceiling was crumbling, but it was still polished spotless. It seemed the warehouse was abandoned and had undergone some simple renovations.

Weaver gestured to the bodyguards on either side of the wooden door to open it. One of the bodyguards said something in Russian, and a response in an unintelligible local language came from inside. The wooden door opened from the inside.

The person who opened the door appeared to be a servant, dressed in a suit and tie. The room inside was large and spacious, with sunlight streaming in through the gaps in the closed blinds. A ceiling fan light, not very bright, illuminated the entire room, and a fur carpet covered the floor. In the center of the room was a conference table, and in the very center, in the chairman's seat, sat a man with his back to the others, surrounded by heavily armed guards who kept a close watch on the four people.

P.S. It's raining red envelopes on May 15th! A round of red envelopes will be given out every hour starting at noon. A huge wave of 5.15 red envelopes is up to luck! Go grab some, and if you win, please subscribe to my chapters!

Chapter 495 Initial Infection

[Latest News] Tomorrow is May 515th, the anniversary celebration day with the most benefits! Besides gift packs and backpacks, you definitely don't want to miss the "515 Red Envelope Frenzy"—there's no reason not to grab a red envelope! Set your alarms!

The person they met took them by surprise: it was Tang Tian from the Umbrella Corporation. Although they didn't know this wasn't the real Tang Tian, ​​but rather the T-1000 Terminator. Tang Tian's purpose in giving them this task was to investigate the area, as the biological crisis was escalating rapidly.

“Oh, ha…” Chris yawned widely, having waited in the car for nearly six hours until 2 a.m. Chris reminded Barry to stay alert; the mission was about to begin.

Alice began by holding a magnum shotgun in her left hand and peering through night-vision binoculars at the distant river entrance. She loaded her AK-47 with a hundred-round magazine, the click echoing crisply; she could finally have some fun. Jill had also prepared her two MP5KA4 submachine guns, one in each hand. Barry, who had arrived, strapped on a belt, picked up his M249 light machine gun, inserted the belt, and cocked it. The equally skilled Leon, however, opted for an AUG submachine gun.

The group was in the jeep in the parking lot, about 100 meters from the entrance, which allowed them to quickly reach the entrance. The parking lot was quite crowded, making the black jeep difficult to spot. It was almost shift change time; the ten people at the entrance would be reduced to four, waiting for the ten to take over.

Everyone else is safe in the Umbrella branch, which is also the core area of ​​Umbrella Russia. It was a difficult decision to persuade everyone to participate in this operation.

"Hey, attention, I see the guards are moving. 2:58, prepare to move out immediately." Chris raised his right hand. At that moment, the radio crackled to life. It was the sniper in the office building behind the parking lot: "Attention, attention, prepare to begin, repeat. I'm on the two guards on the left and right at a distance. Over."

Suddenly, a bright light appeared on one side of the city! It was clearly visible through the windshield, followed by a deafening bang! The ground trembled. The bomb on the other side had detonated, signaling the start of the operation.

Chris quickly opened the car door. Everyone rushed out, quickly circling the parking lot and running towards the entrance, hoping to blow open the gate in the limited time available. Two guards in the distance had already been taken down by snipers, while the two guards at the gate, bewildered by the explosion, saw a group of people rushing towards them, armed with heavy weapons. Terrified, they fled in panic and were also taken down by snipers.

"Looks like things are going well, aren't they?" Alice said. "Just wait, the real show is yet to come," Barry replied. The group arrived at the waterway entrance. It used to be a waterway, but now the river level had dropped below. The steel metal gate gleamed, covered with valves of various sizes. Barry and Chris stepped forward, took several magnetic bombs from their backpacks, and attached them to the area around the hatch. Everyone covered their ears and took cover.

After a series of muffled thuds, the metal jet from the explosion burned a large hole in the door, about a meter in length and width. "If I'd known it was going to blow up such a big door, I would have included Javelin missiles along with it," Leon said, carrying a small missile launcher on his back.

Everyone simultaneously turned on the flashlights on their guns and the lights on their combat vests. "Calling, calling. Soldiers are coming this way. Get into the waterway, repeat, get into the waterway. Good luck, over," the sniper said to Chris over the radio. Chris gestured, and the group squeezed into the large, red-hot hole and entered the city's waterway.

It was pitch black inside, but was somewhat brightly lit by a dozen or so lights. The city's inner walls, built of individual bricks, were damp with moss, and a cold wind blew in. It was definitely colder inside than outside. This indicated that the ventilation system was somewhat good.

The waterway was just wide enough to fit a car, and about three meters high. Rats would occasionally dart past underfoot. "Hey...!" Alice shouted at the top of her lungs, but there was no reply. It seemed that the waterway really did run through the entire city. The darkness felt very oppressive.

After walking about two hundred meters, Leon said, "Smell it, it's marsh gas. Don't rub it to create a spark." "We won't be firing guns here, and we certainly won't be lighting cigarettes," Barry replied. The sound of the crew's boots echoed through the waterway.

"What's that?" Alice seemed to have suddenly seen something and quickly ran forward. Before anyone could stop her, she disappeared into the darkness ahead. Chris followed her. "Why didn't everyone act together?" Leon said, watching the two run away.

The others rushed forward and saw Chris and Alice crouch down, and next to them was a corpse! Alice had just seen the corpse reflected light; it was wearing a bulletproof vest, a gas mask, and was covered in blood.

“He must have been a soldier who went into the city to scout,” Alice said, removing her gas mask. “He shouldn’t have been dead for more than twenty-four hours. He died from his injuries. He was scratched and stabbed by an unknown creature, which pierced his heart. This creature probably wasn’t interested in his corpse and didn’t eat him. Perhaps he tried to escape to the waterway exit but was caught and attacked by the monster. He was so close to surviving.” Chris examined the wounds on the body.

“So that means the reconnaissance team hasn’t been in this place for very long, and there might still be survivors inside,” Chris said. “If we rescue them and send them back to the surface, wouldn’t that reveal to Hydra that we’re still alive?”

“Our enemy is the Red Skull, not these scouts. We can’t just let them die…” Jill had barely finished speaking when the corpse’s eyes snapped open! Revealing whitish pupils, it sprang to its feet in a somersault! It pounced on Jill, pinning her to the ground! It opened its mouth and lunged for Jill’s throat. Clearly, it was a soldier infected with the T-virus.

This happened in a quarter of a second; everyone was focused on Jill speaking and didn't notice the body, assuming he was truly dead.

Jill braced her elbow against its throat, preventing it from attacking her neck. Alice raised her AK-47 to fire, but Chris immediately grabbed the barrel to stop her. Alice immediately realized there was deadly methane gas in the air.

Chris grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, gave it a jerk, and it rolled away. “I should have known the virus was still highly contagious. Forgive my carelessness, are you alright, honey?” Chris helped Jill up from the ground. “I’m fine, he didn’t bite me, and we have the Umbrella Corporation’s antidote. As long as it doesn’t exceed three hours, we’ll be fine.”

P.S. It's raining red envelopes on May 15th! A round of red envelopes will be given out every hour starting at noon. A huge wave of 5.15 red envelopes is up to luck! Go grab some, and if you win, please subscribe to my chapters!

Chapter 496 The Secret Underground

The zombie groaned a few times on the ground, then got up and continued to pounce on the group. "Crack!" A large amount of black pus and blood gushed from the zombie's head as a military knife was deeply embedded in its forehead. It collapsed to the ground, convulsing. The sheer force with which the knife was thrown and pierced its skull demonstrates terrifying power and accuracy.

"I really didn't know you had this trick up your sleeve, Chris." Barry exclaimed in surprise. Chris drew his knife, and the zombie became completely still. "Keep moving forward; we'll be at the core location soon." Chris wiped the pus and blood from the blade onto its clothes.

"Look! There are lots of crocodiles carved on the wall." Alice discovered something else. Originally, the wall only had stone bricks, but after walking some distance, crocodile reliefs began to appear. Some crocodiles were swimming in groups of three, some were resting in groups of four on the riverbank, and one was lying on its back. "Strange? Are there crocodiles in the waterway? What do they mean?" Barry asked. "It could be decoration, or artistic carving, or perhaps a creature infected by the T-virus," Chris told Barry not to worry about it.

The group continued forward, the same three reliefs repeatedly etched on the walls. "I regret not bringing night vision goggles." "It's okay, we have flashlights here," Chris replied to Barry. "But flashlights have limited battery life, so we won't be out of here anytime soon."

“The GPS seems to be useless now; we can’t be sure if we’ve reached the area below the city,” Yuri said, shaking the GPS which had no signal. “Well, these kinds of bad things usually happen unexpectedly,” Chris replied.

“Look at this! Maybe it can give us the answer.” Chris found some traces of scientific experiments on the wall.

“I’m starting to admire you more and more, Chris. And what does that mean?” Barry asked in surprise.

As Gan was saying this, he heard Jill speak, "This looks like a door, can it be opened?" Jill found a large door on the right wall, three meters wide and exactly three meters high, the same height as the waterway. In the center of the door was a turntable with three nested wheels of different sizes, like a shooting target. The wheels were covered with hieroglyphics, which seemed to be a combination lock for the door.

"That unidentified creature... did it get back through this door after attacking him?" Chris asked.

After Chris finished speaking, Leon walked to the door and tried turning the wheel. Just then, a huge tremor shook the ground. A rumbling sound came from the depths of the waterway. "I have a bad feeling, friends," Barry said, and everyone looked into the dark depths.

"Water! A flood! It's coming right up to us!" Chris heard the sound of water, his ear pressed against the wall. "It's too late to run back! What do we do?! Alice, it's all up to you!" Chris said. Alice suddenly felt immense pressure. He frantically turned the wheel, after all, several lives were in his hands.

"My God! How do I even spin this?!" Alice's mind was in a mess due to the pressure of time. Sweat was pouring down her forehead. "Let me try, let me give it a shot," Jill said, pushing Yuri aside.

“Crocodile, then this must be related to the crocodile murals. That is to say, the three wheels correspond to the three murals on the wall before, then…” Jill said calmly. “Water, the crocodile is swimming in the water.” Jill turned the water symbol on the wheel to the top. “Land, the crocodile is on the riverbank.” Jill turned the second wheel to the land symbol.

"The third one! The third one! The crocodile is lying on its back!? Is it dead? What is that!?" Jill was getting impatient. "Whoosh!" A surging wall of floodwater appeared in the darkness under the spotlight. "Oh my god! Hurry! I don't want to drown!" Barry shouted, looking at the churning floodwater.

With the flood imminent, the crowd, knowing their fate was sealed, became somewhat calmer. They had weathered countless storms, yet this unexpected punishment seemed more deserving of their end. The Hydra organization was still not eradicated. "That's it! That's it! The sunlight! It's shining! Land, water, and sunlight! It must be!" At the last moment, Jill turned the innermost wheel to the sunlight position…

"Boom!..." A loud noise came from inside the waterway, followed by a tremor in the ground. "What's going on?" a guard at the waterway entrance asked. "I don't know. What's causing this commotion inside?" Soldiers had rushed to reinforce the area after the waterway entrance was attacked. It was understandable that the area had been sealed off due to an unexpected biological crisis; after all, no place wants a scene like Tokyo's.

The breach in the sluice gate caused by the explosion was temporarily welded shut with steel plates. The soldiers facing the waterway entrance all turned to look at the sluice gate, a sense of foreboding washing over them. The sound grew louder, and the ground trembled more violently. However, without orders to remain at their posts, and unsure of what was happening inside, none dared to make a move.

"Bang!" The sluice gate was suddenly flung far away! Water gushed out! Soldiers who hadn't had time to dodge were swept away and scattered, lying face up in the air, looking utterly disheveled. The water flowed for a full two minutes before stopping, and the surrounding area was now experiencing a torrential downpour.

"What happened? Call headquarters immediately!" the officer at the scene said. "Look! There's a body! It was brought out of the water, it looks like a scout!" a soldier shouted, and everyone quickly saw the scout's狰狞 (zhengning - ferocious/hideous) face. The scene was immediately cordoned off, and a police tape was put up.

A medic in a biohazard suit arrived and analyzed the lacerations on the body, including the wound on the forehead. The entire incident became more complex, and it was temporarily impossible to determine whether he was murdered or killed by an unknown creature.

"Phew! Phew! That's great, Jill." Chris panted, wringing out his soaked clothes. "Yeah, you saved everyone's lives," Alice said, wringing out her hair. "It's nothing, I just thought a little too much," Jill said modestly.

Jill finished at the last minute. As everyone entered the gate, water rushed in from the outside, soaking everyone. In the end, the gate was quickly closed to prevent more water from flowing into the pyramid.

“This place is terrifying. They’ve even brought water here,” Chris said. “You mean they’ve brought water here? Why?” “There’s an underground tributary nearby. Triggering the mechanism might open the sluice gates of the river. That should be it,” Leon answered Chris’s question. “Okay, now can anyone tell me what kind of place this is?” Barry turned on his flashlight and shone it around.

“We’d better not split up. The radio signal is very weak here, so let’s take this route. At least we’ve learned a little about Hydra’s hidden tactics,” Chris said. The group chose the left-hand passage.

Chapter 497 Fierce Battle Against Mutant Creatures

"Listen!" Chris seemed to hear something. "What's wrong?" Leon asked, and everyone immediately fell silent. A few low, animalistic growls came from below the stone steps... the sound was very faint. Jill turned around, quickly pulled out her MP5KA4, facing behind and above, and activated the tactical laser. "Looks like we're surrounded..." Jill whispered, having also heard the unusual noises behind them.

Chris sensed they were almost at the bottom of the stone steps and was the first to throw his torch down. Below them were two monsters that looked like skinned dogs, eyeless with their brains sticking out. They stood at the exit of the passage, staring at the crowd.

Seeing that they had been spotted by the torchlight, the two monsters quickly fled the passage. "******, they ran really fast," Chris said, having not yet had a chance to fire. The group quickly ran down the stone steps, with Jill and Chris firing back to suppress the enemy.

It seemed the monsters behind them weren't going to continue the chase, and everyone ran out of the passage.

“Barry, don’t get distracted, they’re watching us from the shadows…” Chris whispered. “One, two, three… at least seven, they’re going to surround us,” Leon said. “Not only that, I think we’re in the open, we should throw torches to distract them,” Jill said.

“They’ve become smarter…they’ve learned to cooperate as a team,” Jill said. “But they’re still just lowly animals,” Barry added. Chris was deeply impressed by the team’s composure in the face of danger. It seemed they all knew a lot about the terrifying monster they were seeing for the first time. Did they hunt bio-monsters often before?

"What kind of monsters are they? They seem to be evolving and becoming more and more powerful," Chris asked. "Early T-virus experimental variants of Hydra, ****ers. They have long tongues and are swift hunters. Once they entangle you, you're basically not far from death." Barry answered Chris's question in a low voice, "I'm more used to calling them 'long-tongued monsters.' These idiots have actually evolved to be able to gang up on each other. That's impressive."

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Barry spotted the shadows cast by the torches in the firelight and fired his machine gun in the direction the torches had been thrown, providing cover. However, the torchbearers were too fast and he missed completely. The group then ran in the dark towards a stone pillar.

Shouts from the rioters immediately erupted around them. "Don't split up! They're trying to break us up!" Chris shouted. "Fire! Don't let them surround us!" Jill added.

“But you can’t see anything in the dark,” Leon asked. “You have to rely on your ears; there’s no other way.” Chris replied. “They’re all watching our every move. We’re their prey,” Barry said.

"Here it comes! Watch out!" Suddenly, Chris felt a gust of wind coming from the opposite direction, showing just how fast it was! In an instant, Chris leaned back ninety degrees. Everyone else dodged to the side. Barry's tactical spotlight turned on, and a muscular operative appeared in the light, lunging over Chris. If Chris hadn't leaned back, he would have been slammed into a stone pillar.

As Chris leaned back, he pulled back the bolt and fired. "Two massive barrels spewed forth a furious inferno! The burning gunpowder propelled the steel pellets from the bullets, striking the attacker squarely in the waist, instantly cleaving him in two. Blood and internal organs turned into a 'tomato paste' of blood. The entire process took less than half a second. The attacker collapsed, dead."

Before Chris could even appreciate the weapon's power, danger struck. Because Chris, Leon, and Barry on the left had moved too far, three assassins scurried down the pillar and positioned themselves between them and the group. Time flew by; an assassin on the right lunged at Sheva, and Chris turned and performed a tactical roll to dodge.

Now they had no choice but to scatter. Faced with an unknown number of attackers rushing towards them, the group had no way to regroup. Barry killed one with a light machine gun, but several more rushed up afterward, forcing Barry and the others to retreat.

Chris waved, indicating they'd meet again later; since they were separated, they should go their separate ways. Chris understood and ran in the opposite direction with Jill, Alice, and Claire. Chris only felt relieved after watching them leave, as things had been rather dangerous.

Chris was firing at the attacker, seemingly unaware of the commotion around him. "Watch out! My God!" Chris shouted, when a long, sticky tentacle shot out from the shadows and wrapped around Chris's M4 rifle. It was the attacker's tongue! Before Chris could react, his weapon was taken from him. Suddenly, another tongue wrapped around Chris's right ankle, pulling him forcefully to the ground and dragging him into the darkness.

Barry was terrified! He was afraid of accidentally hitting Chris if he opened fire in that direction. It was all over; even Chris, no matter how skilled, couldn't withstand the onslaught of the zombies. And then Leon disappeared. Barry's heart sank. He had already killed several zombies, but he had run out of ammunition. Reloading the light machine gun required cover from his comrades. However, with seven or eight monsters surrounding him, he didn't have time to reload. Barry straddled the light machine gun and pulled out his beloved M29 revolver…

Chris was dragged for an unknown number of meters until the beams of Barry's lights completely disappeared, and he was surrounded by darkness, as if he had left the main hall and entered another dimension. His own light had also fallen off. Chris pulled out his Glock pistol and fired in the direction where his feet were wrapped around him, disregarding the danger of hitting his own feet.

Chris appeared to have been hit; a scream echoed from the darkness ahead. The assailant finally released Chris and disappeared into the shadows. Chris struggled to his feet; his arms were abraded from dragging himself for so long, and his joints ached all over. Chris gripped his pistol tightly—his only weapon for survival—then pulled out a flare, grabbed it, and tossed it into the distance.

The fireworks didn't illuminate the attackers; the surroundings were truly silent, not a sound could be heard. Chris could sense the impending danger, the several eyes watching him from the shadows. The attackers had become clever; they weren't attracted to light, they only cared about things that moved.