Rika and Rebecca sat on a tree branch, carefully observing the farm. The rest of the girls gathered around Saya, who was controlling the drone. She didn’t want to look at the gruesome scene in front of the farm any more than necessary, so she focused on scouting, directing the drone further to survey the area.

When the drone hovered directly over the farm, the tablet screen displayed an image of people going about their daily activities as if they were ordinary farmers. However, the strangest contrast was that, if one ignored the bodies impaled on stakes or nailed to the fence walls at the entrance, the farm looked peaceful.

“This is kind of weird,” Koko said, pointing at the screen. “It’s like there are two completely different worlds—outside and inside the farm.”

The girls nodded in agreement. They also felt that something about the situation didn’t make sense. Alex and Jonah stepped closer, peering at the tablet. Saya tilted it slightly to give everyone a better view.

Rika and Rebecca saw the same thing through the scope of the sniper rifle, but Alex noticed a strange detail. The farmers’ movements were unnatural—like puppets on strings.

“Pay attention to how they move,” he said, pointing at the tablet.

The girls focused and soon understood what he meant. The farmers’ motions were repetitive, cycling over and over, as if they were programmed to perform the same tasks.

“They’re acting like NPCs in a game,” Saya remarked, comparing them to pre-programmed characters.

Alex grimaced but didn’t argue—the analogy was quite accurate. He asked Saya to continue scouting and mark all the farmers using the drone.

“And don’t forget to highlight them with markers,” he added.

Saya nodded and began tagging the targets.

“And what’s the point of that? It’s not like this helps us,” Valmet asked, crossing her arms.

“It’s not for us—it’s for Rika,” Alex replied, nodding toward the sniper.

Hearing her name, Rika pulled away from her scope and looked down.

“What do you mean?”

Rebecca smirked and pressed a button on Rika’s rifle scope.

“Just look through your scope, and you’ll understand.”

Rika frowned but did as she was told. The moment she looked through the scope, her eyes widened—all the marked targets were now highlighted in her optics.

“Whoa…” was all she could say.

Rebecca grinned in satisfaction before turning to Alex with a playful look.

“Handsome, you’ll add the same feature to my scope when you make my rifle, right?” Rika teased, blowing him a kiss. “In exchange, you’ll get a nice bonus.”

Alex smirked and winked.

“Anything you want. Even if you want a railgun.”

Rika instantly lit up like a schoolgirl being asked to prom. The other girls stared at Alex in confusion.

“What feature is she talking about?” Koko asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

“It’s simple,” Alex replied calmly. “All my tech is linked into a single network, with GIR as its core.”

Ray tapped a finger against the tablet, then glanced at Rika and her rifle.

“So, because your technology is interconnected, her scope receives data from the drone?”

“Exactly,” Alex confirmed. “Not just that—our phones, tablets, computers—everything I create is linked together.”

The girls exchanged glances, once again realizing just how advanced Alex’s technology was.

They nodded, understanding that this was just typical of Alex. They were already used to his methods, so this no longer surprised them.

Saya finished marking the targets in the central part of the farm, and Alex asked her to search for other people who might have been captured or were being held prisoner. Then he turned to Jonah.

“Hey, kid, do you recognize anyone from these people?” Alex asked, taking the tablet from Saya and holding it up to him.

Jonah studied the screen and nodded.

“Yeah… That woman lived next door—she used to be an elementary school teacher. And that couple—they often visited our family restaurant…”

Alex nodded indifferently, not particularly surprised. Handing the tablet back to Saya, he asked her to continue searching for prisoners, especially the samurai girl, Beatrix.

Carefully watching the screen, Alex tried to find someone among the farmers who stood out from the rest. The cult leader, a priest—he wasn’t sure what to call them, but he was certain such people wouldn’t blend into the crowd.

After several minutes of searching, Saya found something resembling a prison. Lowering the drone to peek behind the bars, they spotted a girl with long blonde hair in a cage.

“Is that her?” Alex turned to Jonah for confirmation.

Jonah immediately recognized Beatrix and nodded, but before waiting for a command, he was already preparing to rush towards her.

“Calm down, kid, it’s not time yet,” Alex grabbed him by the collar, lifting him just enough to stop him from charging forward. “Do you even realize there’s a whole horde of infected there? Alone, you’re nothing but cannon fodder.”

Jonah gritted his teeth but remained still. His heart clenched at the thought of Beatrix being in danger, but he knew Alex was right. For him and the other children in his family, Beatrix had become something like a strange older sister obsessed with samurai.

Alex sighed, considering his options.

The first—try to get her out unnoticed. The second—create a distraction, drawing attention to himself while Jonah and the girls rescued Beatrix.

“Should’ve brought little GIR with us,” Rebecca mused with a smirk, hanging upside down from a tree branch. “He’d already be torching these cultists, screaming about heresy and cleansing sinful souls.”

“Who knew we’d run into an entire cult in the middle of nowhere,” Alex pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just don’t tell him about this, or he’ll be sulking all day.”

The girls grew curious about why GIR would get upset, but after Alex shared a few examples, they decided not to risk it.

While they were discussing their plan, no one noticed a group of farmers in cultist robes entering the prison, grabbing Beatrix, and dragging her somewhere.

“Looks like we don’t have time to think anymore,” Saeko reported, pointing at the tablet.

Quickly assessing the situation, Alex gave orders:

“Valmet, you’re with me. We’ll rescue the girl. Koko, take the wheel. Saya, you monitor the situation and report. Jonah, your job is to cover the girls. Saeko, Rei, stay on standby in case of surprises. Rika, cover us, but wait for the signal. Alright, move out.”

The girls nodded before Alex and Valmet headed towards the farm, while Koko, Saya, and Jonah rushed to the Humvee. Koko immediately started the engine as Saya inserted an earpiece to relay real-time updates.

Keeping a safe distance, Alex and Valmet stopped near the farm entrance, waiting for Saya to report Beatrix’s whereabouts. A few seconds later, Saya informed them that the infected in robes were taking the girl to the church.

Alex nodded and turned to Valmet. In the next moment, he grabbed her by the waist, and both of them disappeared—reappearing on the roof of one of the farm buildings.

Valmet barely had time to process what had happened before they disappeared again, reappearing on the church roof. She narrowed her eyes, casting Alex an evaluating glance, but decided to save her questions for later. Unlike Koko, who sometimes got dizzy after such jumps, Valmet handled the sudden movement with ease.

“Next time, give me a warning. Or just admit you want to touch me and wait until we’re alone,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“Noted. But how are you feeling? No nausea? Most people want to return their breakfast after the first time,” Alex asked with a smirk.

“I’m a former soldier. This kind of strain isn’t a problem. But I am curious—how do you do that? It looked like teleportation…” Valmet asked with genuine interest.

“It’s a ninja technique called ‘Body Flicker Technique.’ We’ll get to it in training. For now, let’s focus on the mission. I don’t even want to think about what these idiots plan to do with the samurai girl,” Alex replied seriously as he approached a hatch on the church roof.

Valmet nodded, intrigued by the new technique. The weights on her arms no longer caused as much discomfort as before, but she remembered Alex’s words—once she got used to them, he would add more weight.

Unaware of her thoughts, Alex opened the hatch, gesturing for Valmet to go first. She slipped inside soundlessly. Alex signaled to Rebecca and Rika that the operation was about to begin before following her, landing quietly beside her.

They were in the church attic. A dim light filtered up from below. Alex and Valmet carefully approached a gap between the wooden planks and peered down.

Farmers dressed in cultist robes stood in rows, chanting in unison. The sight was unsettling, to say the least. Alex observed the scene with distaste until Valmet nudged him, pointing in a particular direction.

Following her gaze, Alex saw Beatrix lying on an altar. Above her loomed a figure in a red robe with a bull skull on its head. Alex immediately recognized it as one of the cult leaders—a person capable of partially controlling Las Plagas.

“Looks like the one in red is in charge. But what are they planning to do with the girl?” Valmet whispered.

“Either a sacrifice or turning her into one of them. Neither option works for us, so it’s time to move,” Alex said firmly.

Valmet nodded silently. They teleported directly above the altar, glancing at each other. Alex gestured, asking if she was ready. Valmet simply smirked, waiting for his signal.

Meanwhile, Beatrix was barely holding onto consciousness. Her body ached with exhaustion, her eyelids felt like lead, but she fought with all her strength to stay awake. She knew that if she closed her eyes now, she might never wake up as herself again.

With great effort, Beatrix turned her head and looked at the cultists. Among them, she recognized many familiar faces—people she had often seen in town. Tears welled up in her eyes. She had nearly lost all hope. She only prayed that Jonah and the other children had managed to escape.

The priest finished his prayer and raised a strange black box above his head. Beatrix felt a cold dread creep over her as she stared at it.

And at that moment, the church ceiling exploded.

Beatrix squeezed her eyes shut as shards of wood rained down on her. In the next instant, she opened them to see a young man with old-fashioned Japanese earrings in his ears. He held a revolver, its barrel aimed directly at the priest’s head.

“Smile for the camera—you’re being filmed,” Alex grinned and pulled the trigger.

A gunshot rang out—The priest’s head exploded in a shower of blood. Alex instantly pivoted toward the other cultists and opened fire. Every shot found its mark, turning heads into a gruesome crimson spray.

Beatrix’s eyes were fixed on Alex—she didn’t even notice Valmet, who, like an enraged beast, lunged at the nearest cultist and drove her knife straight into his skull. Without wasting a moment, she darted at the next one, who had already reached for his weapon. This was the first time Valmet used the knife Alex had given her, and she was amazed by its sharpness. The cultist’s weapon shattered like butter under the hot blade, and then the knife plunged directly into the enemy’s eye socket.

When the last cultist fell, Alex jumped down from the altar to which Beatrix had been tied.

“Valmet, close the doors. The whole farm will be here in no time,” he said, giving her a quick glance.

“Got it,” she replied, pulling the knife from the dead man’s head.

Quickly approaching the door, Valmet locked it as securely as she could to buy them some time. Meanwhile, Alex turned toward Beatrix, trying to remember where he had seen this girl before. Within moments, memories flashed in his mind—Beatrix was a character from an anime about zombies.

However, the plot of that story was quite different from the usual genre tropes, and the anime itself seemed to Alex like a family-oriented cartoon where the main character tried to fulfill his wishes before dying.

Beatrix, not taking her eyes off Alex, suddenly felt a strange sensation—in her imagination, he appeared as a noble samurai come to rescue her. The earrings in the man’s ears only intensified this image.

“Beatrix, are you okay? Does anything hurt? Did they inject you with something? Are you feeling any strange sensations?” Alex asked, carefully inspecting her for signs of Plaga infection.

“Mr. Samurai, do we know each other?” she asked with mild curiosity.

“We saved Jonah and the other kids. They said you were captured. Now answer my questions,” Alex said, removing her shackles.

“Oh, Jonah and the kids… I’m glad they’re alright. And no, they didn’t do anything to me after they captured me. They kept me in a cell, then dragged me here… until you showed up, my dear samurai,” she answered, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

For a moment, Alex was at a loss for words. Why did she see him as a samurai? He didn’t even have a katana! The only thing even remotely suggesting Japanese aesthetics were his pair of Yoruichi-style earrings. Sighing, he decided not to argue with her and checked her condition again. There were no signs of parasites in her body, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. Though he could have dealt with the Plaga, the mere fact of infection would have caused a lot of problems.

“Enough flirting, we’ve drawn the attention of the entire farm,” Valmet snapped.

Alex raised an eyebrow in surprise, then walked over to her and looked through the cloudy window. A crowd of infected farmers was moving toward them down the street, muttering to themselves. They were all armed with whatever they could find.

Beatrix stepped closer and, leaning on Alex’s shoulder, peered outside. Her face twisted in horror—she recognized many of these people. They were her neighbors… friends… and now they looked like someone had erased their personalities, leaving only shells behind.

Alex turned on the communicator.

“Rika, are you there? Do you see our position?”

“I see you, handsome. Looks like you’ve gained some new fans. How are you planning to get out of there?” Rika replied with a light smirk.

“We’ll figure it out as we go. We saved a girl. You’ll cover for Valmet, and I’ll draw attention to myself. Tell Koko that as soon as Valmet and Beatrix reach you, leave. I’ll catch up.”

“Got it, sweetie. I’ll wait for your signal,” Rika smirked.

Alex finished speaking and quickly pulled Valmet and Beatrix away from the window. He scanned the church, trying to find an alternate exit for the girls to escape. Valmet immediately understood his intention and began searching as well.

Meanwhile, the infected villagers outside were banging against the doors and windows with fury, their screams echoing throughout the temple.

Finally, Alex discovered a hidden passage behind a massive cabinet. Without hesitation, he kicked it, pushing it out of the way.

“Valmet, can you get Beatrix out of here while I distract this crowd?” he asked, glancing at her.

“No problem. I’ve had to carry Koko during work before, so I’ll handle her,” Valmet nodded with a slight smirk.

Alex looked at Beatrix. The girl was gazing at him with a light smile, as if the chaos around her didn’t bother her at all. He couldn’t understand how she had so quickly regained her cheerfulness but decided not to dwell on it.

As she stepped closer, he explained the plan and what she needed to do. Beatrix initially tried to refuse, saying it was too dangerous, but Alex stopped her objections.

“This is my responsibility. It’s better for you to leave.”

She didn’t want to leave him alone, but their argument was interrupted by the sharp sound of a chainsaw revving outside the door. Alex turned around and saw a bloody blade emerge through the massive doors.

Valmet immediately assessed the situation and, without wasting any time, threw Beatrix over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Alex kicked open the back door, clearing the path for their escape.

“Be careful,” Valmet said before leaving.

Alex only smirked in response, lighting a cigarette. He watched as the chainsaw blade cut deeper into the door, tearing through the wood. Then, he contacted Rika.

“Valmet and Beatrix are on their way.”

“I see them, handsome. Hurry up, you’ve got company,” Rika replied, watching them through the scope.

“You don’t have to wait, I’ll catch up.”

Turning off the communicator, Alex pocketed it and mentally called upon the Valkyries, asking who wanted to help him create a bloody massacre.

This time, Geirölul volunteered, transforming into a knife in his hand. Alex tossed the blade a few times, checking its balance, then turned his attention to the door where a giant man with a chainsaw had already broken through.

His face was obscured by a filthy sack with eye holes, his clothes soaked in blood, and he gripped an old but deadly chainsaw in his hands.

“Well, well, local Dr. Salvador,” Alex smirked, recognizing the familiar figure.

In Resident Evil 4, a character like that had always raised questions for him — why was he called “Doctor” when he was probably never a doctor before being infected? But now was not the time to ponder such trivial details.

Doctor Salvador jerked the chainsaw sharply, and it howled ominously. Then, he lunged at Alex.

But Alex was faster.

His knife plunged forcefully into the monster’s chest. In an instant, he was beside him, grabbed the handle, and, with all his strength, dragged the blade upward.

The infected’s body split in two — along with his head and the parasite inside.

Alex pulled the bloodied blade free and glanced at the remaining infected farmers.

“The most unpleasant of you is dead. Now it’s your turn,” he smirked, pointing the blade at them.

Meanwhile, Valmet was carrying Beatrix on her shoulder, who wouldn’t stop insisting on returning to help Alex. Valmet had grown tired of her protests and simply quickened her pace.

Turning a corner near a house, she barely had time to react when an infected farmer appeared, brandishing rusty pitchforks. Without hesitation, Valmet drew a knife, intending to deal with the enemy, but before she could make a move, the infected’s head exploded in a shower of blood.

Valmet quickly glanced to the side and noticed a hole in the wall where a bullet had just passed through. She immediately understood who was behind it. At the same moment, a satisfied chuckle came from the communicator.

“Don’t thank me, Valmet,” Rika said with a smirk.

“I wasn’t planning to,” Valmet replied briefly, then continued on her way.

After running a little further and turning another corner, she briefly glanced back. Bodies of infected were flying out of the church’s windows and broken doors one after another. Valmet didn’t even need to guess what was happening inside. However, the number of enemies made her feel slightly uneasy.

Seeing this, Beatrix tensed even more and began pleading with Valmet to turn around. But Valmet wasn’t about to stop — ahead, the Humvee was in sight, where the others were waiting.

Meanwhile, Rika decided to make Alex’s task easier and began methodically shooting the infected who hadn’t yet entered the church. Each of her bullets killed several enemies at once, but the others, like mindless puppets, continued advancing toward the church, ignoring their fallen kin.

At the same time, Alex, surrounded by piles of slashed bodies, grabbed another infected and threw him into the crowd. The ground was soaked with blood, and the air reeked of death. Throwing the knife into the air, Alex made a series of hand seals.

“Fire Element: Great Fireball!”

He pressed his hands together in a sign, then took a deep breath and exhaled a stream of flame. The fire roared as it erupted outward, transforming into a massive fireball that charged toward the center of the crowd.

The infected farmers ignited, but as if feeling no pain, they continued moving forward. Their bodies flared up, their skin blackened and flaked off, yet even in such a state, they crawled toward Alex.

“Of course… Simple fire isn’t enough,” Alex muttered, catching his knife and considering how else to entertain himself.

A sharp sound came from the communicator.

“Alex, we’re leaving, hurry up!” came Koko’s voice.

Alex took the device out of his pocket and put it in his ear.

“Go ahead, I’ll catch up soon. You don’t need to wait for me.”

“Then hurry up!” Koko replied briefly and hung up.

Alex put the communicator back in his pocket and looked at the still-burning infected. They kept crawling toward him, even losing limbs. But suddenly, their bodies began convulsing, which caught Alex’s attention.

He squinted slightly, watching what was happening. He didn’t even pay attention to the church, which was burning behind him — he was more interested in what was going on with the infected.

“Is the Plaga parasite trying to leave their bodies?”

His guess was soon confirmed. The infected’s heads started bursting one by one, and grotesque creatures shot out from their necks. Some resembled tentacles with mouths, while others looked like mutated, hideous heads with mandibles.

Alex watched the disgusting spectacle with interest.

“What a monstrosity,” said Geirölul’s voice, floating behind him in her spiritual form.

“Well, parasites… What can you expect?” Alex smirked.

Geirölul was left speechless by Alex’s words, then, filled with indignation, grabbed him by the hair, showing her anger. However, Alex seemed completely unfazed by her displeasure — he was too engrossed in finding similarities between the Plaga parasites and the Necromorphs. The only thing he could note was that both types of creatures were equally disgusting.

Recalling that in Resident Evil 4, the Las Plagas parasites could be destroyed by flashbang grenades, Alex decided to check if this method would work in this world. Reaching into his inventory, he quickly began searching for the necessary item, but alas, he found nothing. Sighing, he concluded that either he didn’t have any of those grenades, or he simply hadn’t searched thoroughly enough.

“Wind Element: Wind Cutter!” Alex said, making hand seals and swinging his arm.

A blast of compressed air, like an invisible blade, sliced through the parasites protruding from the infected farmers’ necks. Their bodies collapsed to the ground, completely drained of life. However, as soon as Alex glanced at the deafening rumble outside the church, he saw dozens more infected, with the same hideous creatures beginning to emerge from their necks.

Not wanting to waste time, Alex surged forward, but instead of using the door like a normal person, he simply leaped through the nearest window. Performing a somersault and pushing off the ground with his hand, he was instantly back on his feet.

The infected farmers, like puppets, immediately turned their heads toward him and, swaying unnaturally, began moving toward him. Alex lightly shook the knife in his hands, and Geirölul understood his intentions without a word — the weapon in his hands quickly transformed into gauntlets with sharp spikes.

“Taijutsu technique: Morning Peacock!” Alex announced loudly and instantly launched into the attack.

His strikes were so fast that the air around him ignited, enveloping his fists in flames. Each hit tore the infected bodies apart, scattering chunks of flesh in all directions. One after another, the infected fell dead until the last one was destroyed.

When the battlefield, littered with disfigured bodies, finally quieted, the gauntlets on Alex’s hands began to glow faintly before slowly dissolving into particles of light, returning Geirölul to his spiritual space.

Looking around, Alex quickly realized that someone had intentionally provoked the Plaga parasites to leave their hosts’ bodies. But speculating on who was behind it was pointless — the answer was obvious. Osmund Saddler, the leader of the Los Iluminados cult, was the core of this system, and most likely, he had given the order for the parasites to leave the hosts’ bodies.

But this only confirmed Alex’s theory: Saddler could control the Plaga from any distance. However, the question remained — could he see through the eyes of the infected, or did he simply sense their presence through the Plaga parasite?

“So many questions, so few answers…” Alex muttered, watching as the fire from the church spread to nearby houses. “Oh well, I think we’ll meet this half-baked villain again… if he doesn’t die first or get cleaned up.”

Pushing aside unnecessary thoughts, Alex ran off from the cultist farm. His main task now was to catch up with the Hummer, if the group hadn’t already reached the ferry.

Turning off the road, he headed through the forest, nimbly jumping over roots and dodging low-hanging branches. While running, he pulled out his phone to check the distance to the Hummer. Confirming that the vehicle hadn’t gone too far yet, he sped up.

When Alex caught up with the moving Hummer, he suddenly veered off and ran toward it. Then, using the nearest tree as a springboard, he jumped out of the forest and landed directly on the car’s roof.

Koko, who was driving, almost lost control in surprise.

“Miss me?” Alex asked with a smirk, peering through the window on Koko’s side.

“Are you crazy?!” she squealed, gripping the wheel with one hand and pushing his face away with the other. “I almost went off the road because of your stunts! Get off already!”

Laughing, Alex waved at the other girls, then returned to the roof and casually stretched out, resting his hands behind his head.

As Koko drove the car toward the port, Alex lazily gazed at the clouds, taking a drag from his cigarette. Deep down, he wondered if the other groups had encountered the infected farmers… or if they were lucky enough to avoid this mess.

But he’d find that out later.

To be continued…

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep