Long-term salvation

After knocking the stubborn Adler to the ground with a punch, Mary had lost her patience. She lifted the dazed man up and slammed his back against the corridor railing - she actually wanted to throw him onto her knees, but her petite figure made it difficult for him to perform such a Bane-style execution - with the horrible muffled sound of a broken spine and Adler's short scream of pain, the only person left in the corridor was the furious-eyed Woods.

Woods watched as the little nun dragged Adler to the ground and crushed the joints of his limbs one by one. Then she looked back and said calmly:

"I'm curious if the CIA would pay to replace the joints and spine of a disabled person - now, let this end and stay away from us, it's for your own good."

“You… who are you…”

"Whatever you think, sir," Mary replied politely. She fished a communicator out of Woods's pocket, opened it, and placed it next to his mouth, his hands unable to move. "He, you, you all deserved it. There's no need to worry about it. At least you have a whole year's vacation... That guy named Adler is another matter."

"..."

Ignoring the resentful yet helpless gaze, Mary left calmly. Only after turning the corner did she lean against the wall and breathe a sigh of relief. Beating someone into paralysis with her own hands was still quite shocking to her, and she was only now slowly recovering from her rage... Suppressing her rapidly beating heart, Mary ran towards Rhodes.

As soon as she ran out of the building, Mary saw the floors of residential buildings near the edge of the residential area explode. Orange flames flashed in the sudden burst of smoke, followed by a fierce gunfire like a rainstorm! The monster's low roar drowned out the gunfire at this moment, surging like waves and echoing throughout the building.

The distinctive, ferocious roar of the MG42 machine gun emanated from the rooftop. A golden line of fire connected the muzzle and the point of impact, smashing the brick fence into pieces. Amidst the rising dust, a tall, muscular, yet twisted and blasphemous figure shattered the dust and stood before Rhodes in a tattered straitjacket.

Rhodes frowned slightly and gripped the dagger at his waist.

Chapter 197: Blazing Flames and Demon Slayer (4K)

Therefore I will pour out my indignation on them, I will consume them with the fire of my wrath, I will repay their deeds on their own heads, says the Lord God. - Old Testament, Ezekiel 22:31

Brick and stone debris and dust flew down, covering Rhodes' silver hair like a layer of dirty gauze.

Rhodes stood in front of the pursuer, thinking quickly about countermeasures.

According to the fragmented memories in his mind, this thing called "Tracker" in front of him was not only able to mutate multiple times and had three forms in the game, but was ultimately killed by an experimental electromagnetic cannon... Where could he find an electromagnetic cannon here?!

Let Nyako or Abigail do it? The thought flashed through Rhode's mind, but he immediately rejected it. It would be best if these two descendants of the evil god stayed out of the public eye, now and in the future, to prevent them from being targeted by their "kind." They would be much more difficult to deal with then than these hostile forces in the real world. Furthermore, they needed to conserve their energy to clean up the inevitable biochemical contamination.

Given Umbrella's complete lack of moral bottom line, this was bound to happen.

After quickly instructing the two girls who were his backup, Rhodes dodged the pursuer's heavy blow. He grabbed the monster's swung arm, and with the force of its retraction, he swung his body behind him, and the dagger in his hand pierced straight into the monster's fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae!

Stepping on the handle of the dagger, Rhodes did a backflip and jumped away, avoiding the grasp of the pursuer. The fiber thread dragged from the back of the dagger handle flickered slightly in the dust and dim light, and continued to wrap around the pursuer's body as Rhodes moved. After just a few twists and turns, the fiber thread firmly bound the twisted body. The extremely high-strength silk thread was then tightened by the pursuer's struggle and cut deeply into the tendons!

Rhodes would never think that he could trap the pursuer so easily, but it was enough as a temporary restraining measure. He kicked the monster in the chest, causing it to pause and stagger backwards.

After buying some time, Rhodes retreated several meters and, regardless of the danger of shooting indoors, he took out an M72 rocket launcher and fired a shot at the pursuer's head!

The whistling sound of the rocket lingered in the air for only a moment, and then the rubble and gravel that exploded in the corridor spread out in all directions like a sandstorm, making the metal doors crackle and shrouding the gloomy night with a layer of gray-brown dust.

The dust and fog swirled like a tornado, revealing the monster's limbs waving.

The rocket missed its target. The moment Rhode pulled the trigger, the pursuer twisted its head, narrowly avoiding the rocket's direct hit! Gravel and sand rained down, and the pursuer's neck and profile, which had been left in half by the explosion, rapidly mutated and grew!

The fibers that had previously penetrated the muscles and entangled the bones had already broken, making a whip-like crisp sound in the air.

The swelling muscles burst through the straitjacket, accompanied by the crazy growth of limbs and tentacles. The painful grunts of a drowned person echoed from the long-alienated chest and throat. The brain of the Connector, whose spirit was engulfed by rage and pollution, instantly exploded in the underground laboratory several kilometers away - sticky brain matter and tissue covered the surrounding observation windows, leaving the recorders recording the data looking at each other in bewilderment.

The mutated tracker let out a long roar and drifted away into the distance in the gloomy night where rain had already begun to fall. This caused a sense of inexplicable fear and uneasiness to arise in the hearts of the surrounding humans, whether they heard the sound or not.

A French Army SA330 Cougar helicopter flew over the residential building. The noise from the rotors made the mutant tracker even more furious. It forcibly ripped off the weapon on its back and threw it directly at the hovering helicopter:

Amid the helicopter pilot's screams, the night sky instantly turned a bright orange. The roaring heat wave blew the girl's hair on the roof, causing her silver hair to shimmer in the light and shadow. The helicopter plummeted, trailing a cloud of black smoke, and when it hit the ground, it exploded a second time!

The explosion threw metal fragments flying everywhere, hitting the road and piercing the walls, enveloping the entire residential area in a layer of flames that seemed like the end of the world.

The monster was not satisfied and rushed towards Rhodes with a howl. The latter shouted in the communication channel and then jumped out of the floor. Two rockets - fired from the left and right, from Bond and Price's positions - the impact of the two explosions pushed Rhodes further, allowing him to barely grab the railing on the lower floor opposite.

When he turned around, Rhodes saw that gunfire coming from different directions was completely covering the mutant tracker. In response, the monster suddenly jumped out of the smoke and dust and crashed directly into Price's position, forcing the latter to flee to other places in a rather embarrassed manner, and even the hat used for sun protection flew away.

"Mary!"

Rhodes saw the little nun jogging towards him. He jumped to the ground, raised his hand and exchanged it for a LAV-25 armored vehicle, then said to the girl:

"You operate the machine gun, and I'll drive!"

"understand!"

Amidst the hail of bullets and the cold drizzle, the distinctive muffled thud of the machine guns stood out. Even the mutated flesh and blood was no match for the high-explosive incendiary tracer bullets – dirty blood splattered everywhere, the virus spread through the air, but in the next second, it was thrown into the [door] by an invisible force, or swallowed up by the pure chaos, leaving no chance of committing any more crimes.

The mutant tracker wouldn't sit still and wait for death. It scurried to the side like a wild beast, its massive claws leaving ugly marks on the walls and ground. Flames exploded in the corridor, the shockwave shattering the corridor lights one by one and burying the monster in the darkness... It leaped out of the residential building! It leaped between floors like a monkey!

This place was far away from the original battlefield, only two buildings away from the street outside! Many Paris residents were already hiding under their windowsills, cautiously poking their heads out to observe the situation in the residential area across the street.

"Damn, this thing can run pretty fast," Rhodes gritted his teeth and drove the armored vehicle backwards. The tank's rangefinder wouldn't work here, so he could only use the armored vehicle's machine gun for now. "Mary, Hina, attract that thing's attention. Let's lure it to a wider area or to the ground!"

"Is there no need to cover up the facts?!"

"Let's deal with it first... We have a memory eraser, so it won't take much more effort! Let's go to the street first-"

"Sensei!"

The armored vehicle was instantly pierced by the monster that dropped from the sky! The 25mm cannon immediately returned fire, but the monster used its shoulder to press against the cannon barrel. With a sharp, piercing metallic scream, the entire cannon turret was pushed upward, completely useless!

Without any hesitation, Rhodes immediately ordered the system to retrieve the armored vehicle. Taking advantage of the moment when everyone was briefly suspended in the air and was stunned, he was the first to land, grabbed the monster's right hind leg, exerted force with both arms, and roared to push it against the wall!

Smoke and dust are everywhere!

Feeling a slight pain in his arm, Rhodes moved his fingers and wrist, walked over and stood in front of Mary. He looked at the monster in front of him and spoke calmly:

"Stay away from my students, trash."

"Sensei..."

"Stand back, this is my order," Rhode said to Mary without turning his head. "I can't take care of you for a while, don't get infected."

The girl looked at the figure in front of her, agreed softly, turned around and ran away with the sound of her heart beating wildly - she wanted to find a place to hide and quietly kill the deer in her chest.

The mutant tracker had barely risen when an M1A1 tank rammed him into a wall. Rhodes reversed the tank, exchanged for two white phosphorus mortar shells, and tossed them at the feet of the giant figure, who was slowly rising. He then threw two more grenades, then quickly retreated into the tank to avoid the encroaching flames and explosions.

"Hina! Report the enemy's situation!"

"It's rising in flames!"

"Tsk..."

Rhodes drove the tank in reverse, and then heard some dull explosions - that was Bond using the M72 rocket launcher that Rhodes had given him earlier to attack the mutant tracker. Through the narrow observation window, Rhodes saw that the monster's body was still expanding rapidly. The flesh-colored body was constantly roasted by the flames and covered with an ugly and terrifying layer of charred black. The useless flesh and blood gradually fell off, and new flesh and blood grew out, but it could not escape the hellfire that penetrated deep into the bone marrow!

The monster roared in the flames and rushed towards the tank. Its mutated tentacles shot out in all directions, piercing through residential buildings with explosive sounds, destroying bricks and stones and the peaceful daily life, revealing a corner of this crazy world to the world.

Looking at the monster and the surrounding environment, Rhode had some more thoughts in his mind, and then he shouted loudly in the communication channel

"Hina, suppress that monster. Everyone, leave the residential area immediately. Now! Now!"

Driving the M1 tank again, he crashed into the building between the monsters. He then retracted the tank, fired several shots at the monster to attract its attention, and turned around and ran towards the residential building where Hina was. Hina, who was still standing on the roof, operated the machine gun, providing cover at just the right time. The fierce gunfire smashed the tentacles reaching out to Rhodes' back.

Rhodes ran upstairs quickly, stopped after his eyes swept across a suitable position, and turned to look at the mutant tracker who was slowly crawling out of the building. The latter had now completely lost its biological form and turned into a wriggling and growing tumor, which made people's scalps tingle!

"Hina," Rhodes took a deep breath and said to the girl, "Follow my command and prepare to jump outside."

"understand!"

In just two minutes, Rhode heard the breathless reports from others on the communication channel. He nodded slightly and then used 280 World Pollution Points to exchange for a fully fueled F15C carrying more than a dozen 250-pound Mark 81 bombs and several air-to-air missiles!

"Hina, jump outside!"

The fighter's fuselage was so wide and long that it almost filled the space between the buildings, squeezing the monster's body, causing it to roar in anger. Rhode expressionlessly fired a rocket at the fighter's fuel tank. The moment the rocket ejected, Rhode turned and fled.

For a moment, the whole world seemed to be reduced to black and white and a faint noise.

The next second, flames shot up into the sky, and the roar of the explosion completely shattered the windows within a two-kilometer radius. The blast illuminated the sky like daylight, and the shockwave, carrying gravel and rubble, struck the residential buildings before slowly sinking, flowing outward like some kind of illusory lava.

If anyone had been inside those two residential buildings, they would have likely perished from the impact, the flames, and the toxic gases—but death was inevitable from the start. Innocent lives would always be lost. Nyako and Abigail alone had already taken out over a hundred T-Virus victims during the intervals between battles! If so many hadn't already escaped during the initial firefight, the situation would have spiraled out of control.

Pushed out by the heat, Rhode flipped in mid-air, reaching out to catch the bat-like girl. He held her in his arms, cupping the back of her head with his palms, and then dropped her into the arms of Nayako, who had been prepared for a long time.

"Meow meow!"

"Hey...are you okay, Nayako, Hina?"

Rhode got up from the ground and looked at Nayako puffing up her cheeks and rubbing her forehead, saying apologetically:

"Feel sorry."

"Well...never mind, seeing how you look, I won't say anything more." Nayako turned her head and looked at the black smoke rising up. After feeling it for a few seconds, she said, "That thing is dead, there will be no pollution left."

"That's good……"

"Mr. Rhodes! I called you just now, but you didn't respond," Miss Laura Croft's terrified voice came over the communication channel. "The entrance to the catacombs is emitting a strange light... There's also a monster, over two meters tall! It's exchanging fire with several soldiers who appeared from nowhere—I'm going to lure it into the catacombs!"

"What?! Wait a minute!"

Rhode listened to the electrical noise coming from the communication channel and felt a headache coming on - more than one pursuer?! Umbrella Corporation had noticed the existence of a rift in the inner world of the catacombs, which was definitely not good news.

Was it the battle just now that activated the inner world crack? No, it wasn't just the battle just now. Ever since the manhunt at the hotel, emotions throughout the city had been aroused, and the continuous terror attacks had intensified them. Extreme emotions flowed into the faint crack and widened it... Rhode just hoped no more fools got in. Fortunately, they were all in District 14, not far away.

Having just escaped from a dangerous place, Rhodes was overwhelmed. He took a few deep breaths, exchanged for several memory erasing devices, and stuffed them into the girls who gradually gathered around him. He glanced at Bond and Price, who also had anxious expressions on their faces, and said seriously:

"You guys figure out how to deal with the memories of the unrelated people and the possible biochemical contamination. I'll go make sure Umbrella doesn't get that rift... Abigail, lend me Pickman for a moment."

Chapter 198: The Catacombs of Paris

Rhodes ran wildly in the chaotic neighborhood - the black cat Pickman squatted on his head like a black top hat, meowing from time to time, guiding the direction forward - this cat actually understood French!

Scattered and deliberately set on fire vehicles blocked the roads in and out of the 14th arrondissement of Paris. Citizens had heard news and notifications of terrorist attacks nearby early on, and now they knew the seriousness of the matter and stayed at home with doors and windows closed.

Rain finally began to fall on the gloomy Parisian night, a gentle drizzle drifting down, oblivious to the blazing flames and tormenting pedestrians. Streetlights flickered, gasping painfully from the damage to the surrounding cables, struggling on the brink of extinction.

At this moment, Rhodes actually had a strange sense of loneliness, as if he was just a passer-by, a stranger who escaped from this darkness.

This feeling grew stronger as Rhodes approached the entrance to the catacombs, until a man's shout drew his attention:

"Hey, here!"

Rhodes looked in the direction of the voice and saw a fully armed man in casual home clothes waving at him in a messy coffee shop. The information displayed on the All-Seeing Eye mask showed that there were two more people hiding in the deeper darkness.

"Send your two companions out as well," Rhodes said. He looked around and nodded. "Setting up a machine gun here can block the entire street. You've really chosen a good position."

"Soap, how did he..."

"Hurry up, I've checked, there are no enemies - it looks like they've found something more important to do than you."

Hearing this, Soap (John McTavish) had no choice but to wave his hand and ask the two men to come out - they were all members of Task Force 141 who followed Price and Bond to Paris. The one who spoke just now was Xiaoqiang (Gary Sanderson), who also came from SAS... He was also a good man who would be persecuted by Kotick, and the entire Task Force 141 was like this.

The ghost is more miserable, and there will be a busty girl in a black bikini wearing his mask to COS.

"...Your eyes are full of malice," Ghost (Simon Riley) gripped the rifle in his hand tightly and took a half step back, "but Captain Price said you can be trusted."

"And very capable," Xiao Qiang added, nodding at Rhodes. "We heard you killed that monster, and—"

Xiaoqiang looked towards the nearby residential area engulfed in flames and continued with lingering fear:

"I don't know how you did it, but come on, Captain Price said we should listen to you."

"For now," Soap added.

Rod looked at the three people in front of him, talking back and forth like they were performing a crosstalk, and found it a bit funny, and the tension in his heart eased a little.

Reaching out to take a few cups of cold coffee that Ghost had taken out from the cafe's kitchen, Rhodes thanked 141 and the other two for their hospitality while pouring several times more sugar into the coffee. He then drank the coffee in one gulp and stuffed some honey bread and dates from the cupboard into his mouth.

After finishing his meal, Rhode stretched his body slightly and asked seriously:

"What just happened?"

"Armed men from an unknown faction exchanged fire with us when we arrived here under Captain Price's orders. We simply didn't gain the upper hand, despite their sheer numbers. One of them was particularly formidable, but that was the only one, and she seemed to be a woman."

Soap said this, pointing across the street where there were several burning cars, a large truck with its trunk opened, and several bodies.

"They also attacked that guy... that Frenchman, the strange American, and our good girl from Great Britain!"

Director Plessy, Jason Bourne, and Laura... Rhodes covered his face with his hands.

It was not until now that Rhodes remembered that there was a director in the foundation - leaving aside Laura, where did Director Plessy and Bourne go?

"Go get some help," Xiao Qiang immediately told Rhode. He leaned against the café's load-bearing wall, gesturing as he spoke. "He said he has an incredibly awesome father-in-law, and he hopes he'll come over for his wife's sake. That guy will be his bodyguard... But it might be a little too late. You've already dealt with that monster over there—I really hope he remembers we still have one here."

"So, the 'Goddess of Nemesis' followed Laura into the catacombs?!"

"If you put aside what you called that monster, all I can say is, yes, that's it."

Taking a deep breath, Rhode didn't waste any more time and instructed the three members of Task Force 141:

"Leave here and reunite with Price. Remember to cover your faces and don't reveal your identities."

"We understand this."

After watching the three members of Task Force 141 disappear into the narrow streets, Rhodes took Pickman off his head. He stroked the cat's head and asked, "What's going on?"