The standard villain's laugh.
Javier had seen the "Heh heh heh" in various novels more than once, but he didn't know what it truly sounded like. Now, he was finally hearing this familiar villainous laugh from the mouth of Marcus.
And as for what the voice actually sounded like...
It was indeed chilling and hair-raising, but inexplicably, it was a little funny. He didn't know why.
And the Leech Queen, Marcus, at this very moment, was looking at the three of them with a cold, grim expression, his face filled with displeasure. He couldn't allow these three smelly rats to swagger into his territory, leave a pile of rat droppings to challenge his dignity, brazenly steal his cheese, and then try to escape through the sewers as if nothing happened. This was something the Leech Queen, Marcus, would absolutely not allow!
"..."
"Is this guy Dr. Marcus? That's impossible!"
"Are you kidding? Can a person who died ten years ago be resurrected? And even become young again?"
"No, it's not impossible. Do you see those mutated leeches? Maybe it's because of the virus and the mutated leeches that Dr. Marcus was revived. But... I feel like he's not Dr. Marcus anymore. On the contrary... he's more like a leechman wearing Dr. Marcus's skin."
Looking at the Leech Queen, Marcus, who had suddenly appeared in front of them, Rebecca and Billy said in disbelief. Although they had often heard of resurrection and becoming young again, they were still very shocked when they actually encountered it.
However, Javier's gaze was on the swarm of leeches crawling at Marcus's feet. This might be the truth behind Marcus's resurrection and his return to youth.
After all, while the virus had many flaws, its power was undeniable. Just like Wesker, who used the power of the Progenitor Virus to become a superhuman, punching his way through various Resident Evil protagonists, and kicking the Umbrella CEO, Spencer, with the ambition of transforming all of humanity with the Ouroboros virus to become the god of the new world! Just one Progenitor Virus was enough to make Wesker so powerful, so it was no surprise that the Leech Queen's T-virus could do the same. In Javier's opinion... becoming young again with this thing was a piece of cake; nothing was impossible.
Of course, that wasn't the key issue.
The real question was why Marcus was here now. If he had been lurking in the executive training facility all this time, it meant that... the frequent Resident Evil incidents that had happened in the past few months, including the virus leaks, the derailment of the Ecliptic Express, and BOW attacks on people, might have nothing to do with the Umbrella Corporation. It was impossible for the Umbrella Corporation to do something so insane. They wanted everyone to be unaware of their actions, so why would they leak the virus themselves?
This was a complete act of self-sabotage. What foolish company would do that? They wanted to make money and dominate the world with biological weapons.
Therefore, if Javier hadn't guessed wrong, the mastermind behind everything that had happened recently was likely the Leech Queen, Marcus himself, and not the Umbrella Corporation!
"Wait a minute..."
"Don't call us dirty rats. You're just a mutated leech at best. What gives you the right to look down on dirty rats? Tell me... you're the director of the executive training facility, James Marcus, right?"
"Was it you who caused the recent frequent viral leaks and the derailment of the Ecliptic Express?"
Javier narrowed his eyes and asked the Leech Queen, Marcus. The appearance of Marcus seemed to make it easier to explain everything that had happened recently.
Of course, as a legendary villain, the Leech Queen, Marcus, had no qualms about the series of events Javier was accusing him of. On the contrary, to a true villain, the crimes Javier was listing off were praises for his greatness.
So, in the face of these accusations, the Leech Queen, Marcus, spread his arms wide as if basking in holy light, thoroughly enjoying the praise of these words. A faint, confident smile suddenly appeared on his gentle face as he explained:
"Heh heh..."
"You guessed correctly. It seems your little mouse brains, like rat droppings, aren't as stupid as I thought. At least you have a little bit of intelligence. Of course... you're still far inferior to a genius like me,"
"As fools who could guess part of my plan, I'll give you the honor of listening. Everything that has happened recently, including the Ecliptic Express, the virus leak, and the animal attacks in the Arklay Mountains, are indeed my masterpieces,"
"Ten years ago, through my research of the Progenitor Virus, I successfully extracted a new strain, which I named the T-virus. But the T-virus had many flaws. In order to perfect it, I discovered that leeches could merge with the T-virus, so I created a new type of Leech Queen T-virus. This is the result of my painstaking research!"
"Just as I was about to announce this great masterpiece to the world, someone set their sights on my lovely treasure. That person was the selfish Umbrella CEO, Spencer, that disgusting old fox!"
At this point, it was obvious that the Leech Queen, Marcus's emotions were becoming frantic. His body trembled non-stop, and his expression was extremely ferocious. He wished he could swallow Spencer whole, then chew and crush him completely.
There was no helping it. In the beginning, Marcus and Spencer were allies who shared the same ambition and established the Umbrella Corporation together. But in the end, they went their separate ways because of the virus. After all, everyone was selfish, and once two people had their own selfish desires, they could never maintain a common goal.
Spencer was the discoverer of the virus. Years ago, when he was lost, he met the woman who changed his life, Mother Miranda. After being saved by her, Spencer was hired as her assistant. It was then that Spencer first encountered a biological weapon even older than the virus—the Mold! But unfortunately, the Mold at the time had a very low transmission rate and an extremely high fatality rate. Also, his mentor and friend, Mother Miranda, only used the Mold to resurrect her daughter. Knowing this, Spencer abandoned the idea of researching the Mold.
A few years later, Spencer led a team to Africa and found the Stairway of the Sun flower, which was similar to the legend of the Mold. From it, he extracted the Progenitor Virus, so Spencer was the discoverer. But unfortunately, compared to other intelligent and talented biologists, Spencer didn't have the ability to research viruses. So... he had no choice but to gather his college friend, Edward Ashford, a wealthy aristocrat, and of course, Marcus, a genius biologist.
The three of them were in charge of their respective roles: one provided the information and the virus, one provided the funds, and one was responsible for the research. The three of them worked together to create the Umbrella Corporation!
This was supposed to be a great legend, but when Edward Ashford was unfortunately infected and killed by a leaked virus, the triangular balance was completely changed. Spencer, who held a lot of power, rose in rank and even became the CEO of the Umbrella Corporation. But as time went on, Spencer became more and more greedy for the power of the virus. Because he had seen the power of the Mold, he knew that the virus could slow down aging and even achieve immortality. So Spencer's ambition was for Marcus to create the perfect virus, and from the beginning, Spencer only saw the virus as a tool for immortality and making money.
This was something that Marcus, a genius biologist, scoffed at. He was deeply obsessed with the research of the virus and had long regarded the virus as a treasure. He naturally looked down on Spencer's vulgar ideas, and their philosophies gradually became incompatible.
One worshipped the virus and regarded its power as divine.
The other was selfish and only wanted to use the virus to achieve immortality and earn money that he could never spend in a lifetime.
The two of them went further and further down their own paths. When Marcus created the Leech Queen T-virus, a virus that was close to being perfect, Spencer naturally became impatient and wanted to seize Marcus's research. But how could Marcus agree so easily?
Both were dissatisfied with each other and planned to take down the other. But unfortunately... Marcus, who was obsessed with virus research, could never outwit Spencer, who was an expert at manipulating people's hearts and power.
"Heh heh..."
"Spencer wanted to seize my painstaking research and my leech treasures, how could I agree! But... what I never expected was that my two hateful students, Wesker and William, those two bastards, would betray me and bring a large army to assassinate me in the facility. This made me furious!"
"However, it doesn't matter, because at this moment, I have returned... They would never have guessed that although I was shot several times and was on the verge of death, the Leech Queen sample that had been dropped by chance entered my dying body. The powerful virus repaired my dying body,"
"For nearly ten years, I have grown stronger and have achieved perfect evolution! And now... I am the new Marcus. I will now take revenge on the Umbrella Corporation, let the world know about the ugly crimes of the Umbrella Corporation, and let Spencer fall into the abyss. I'll watch him suffer and die little by little, and as for those two traitor students, I will personally tear them to pieces!"
Looking at Javier and his companions, Marcus spoke loudly without any hesitation. His face was filled with pride and a maniacal expression. His emotions were incredibly agitated, as if he was venting his secrets and anger that had been hidden in his heart for many years, feeling completely relieved.
Of course, his expression towards Javier and his companions gradually became playful:
"Heh heh..."
"As for you, you will also die here. You three dirty rats, I will not let you leave here alive, and I will not let you expose my secret. Now... you only have one way out: death! Heh heh heh...!!!"
As he spoke, Marcus's voice gradually became hoarse. In the next second, Marcus's entire body suddenly underwent a huge change. His white robe seemed to be a mass of squirming living matter, disappearing in an instant. And his handsome, gentle face instantly became incredibly hideous.
"Gurgle... gurgle, gurgle..."
Countless disgusting tumors began to squirm. His human-like face instantly became a leechman's face. Squirming tentacles grew on his forehead, looking like snails or a crown, and his mouth was a terrifying suction cup filled with disgusting, dense fangs.
Even his entire body's white robe disappeared, replaced by twisted leech flesh. His arms elongated, and Marcus had completely become a hideous leechman. Perhaps he was now in his true Leech Queen form!
"Hiss..."
"ROAR, ROAR, ROAR—!!!"
The Leech Queen, who had entered its battle state, completely lost its last bit of human speech and became a complete monster. This startled Javier and his companions, as they never expected... a living person could transform into a monster in an instant. This was too bizarre. Was this Kamen Rider or Ultraman?
"Hiss...!"
"Hiss... hiss, hiss... hiss...!!!"
However, the Leech Queen had no intention of giving Javier and his companions any time to react. With just a wave of its hand, it immediately commanded the surrounding mutated leeches to attack. The densely packed mutated leeches around them also let out a hiss, arching their bodies and contracting their muscles, ready to launch themselves out!
After all, this was their most common tactic.
The launching leeches, along with their sharp mouthparts that would never let go once they latched on, and this massive group attack, would be a very troublesome monster to deal with if they got tangled up. Although the previous Tyrant and Hunters were very powerful, in terms of sheer disgustingness, they were definitely no match for these mutated leeches!
However, what the Leech Queen certainly didn't expect was that Javier had his own secret to dealing with these leeches. Without a moment of hesitation, Javier quickly opened his tactical backpack, pulled out a green, long, tubular throwable, and quickly pulled the pin and threw it.
"Flash... huh?!"
And what Javier didn't expect at all was that just as he threw the throwable, before he could even shout a warning, Rebecca and Billy had already covered their ears and ran away from the kill zone. Facing this familiar flashbang, Rebecca and Billy had already achieved the ability to anticipate it!
This showed just how dirty and disgusting Javier had been before...