Chapter 22

Li Yexing's head played memories like a slideshow. One moment he was sitting in a classroom wearing his school uniform, the next moment he was standing on a ship with a knife, maniacally laughing as he peeled off someone's skin. One moment he was busy working at a barbecue restaurant, the next moment he was sitting on sandy ground, staring blankly at a corpse with half its head missing. One moment he was daydreaming about a girl's back, the next he was galloping on a woman's body.

Memories rushed into Li Yexing's brain, and finally, all the images suddenly disappeared. In that small room, Li Yexing stood in the shadow, watching the afternoon sun shining on the girl in front of him through the window. Through the light, the silver-haired girl with her back to him slowly turned around and a warm smile bloomed on her indifferent face. "Welcome back," the girl said softly.

Li Yexing slowly opened his eyes, hearing the sound of "beep beep" in his ears. Ah... a strange ceiling... don't tell me, this cliche has been overused. He vaguely remembered what had happened before. Li Yexing reached out and gently pressed his abdomen, feeling a clear pain. He looked around in the bed and saw the clean and tidy white walls, the sunshine outside the window shining on him, feeling warm.

There were flowers on the windowsill, but Li Yexing couldn't see clearly whether they were real or not. He was covered with a clean white blanket, and a silver-haired girl was sleeping in the sun on the bed, snoring loudly. Li Yexing smiled and reached out to touch the silver-haired girl. The sleeping girl rubbed against his blanket and then opened her sleepy eyes, staring at Li Yexing who had already woken up.

"…Yexing?" Li Yexing just smiled at the girl. The girl quickly got up, and it was then that Li Yexing noticed that her leg was in a cast. The girl propped up her crutches, limping to the door. She shouted outside, "Yexing is awake."

Soon after, a muscular man wearing a thick coat walked in. He looked at Li Yexing and asked, "How do you feel?"

"It's Okay, I won't die that easily." Li Yexing replied, then asked, "Where am I?"

"In the hospital, not far from Roples. Our logistics personnel believe that the medical conditions in Roples cannot treat injuries like yours and Lilith's. So they sent a helicopter to bring you and Lilith here." Chris replied calmly.

"How long have I been asleep?" Li Yexing asked.

"Three full days. Your injury missed vital organs, but you lost a lot of blood."

"What happened to Lilith's leg?"

"She broke it, and it's likely she'll need a long time to heal."

"After I passed out, what happened?"

"Nothing happened," Chris said. "After the backup troops arrived, they took you and Lilith away, and the technical department took samples of Nemesis. They also disinfected the areas where Nemesis had been. They've confirmed that there is no risk of a bio-crisis outbreak in Roples, and they withdrew yesterday."

Li Yexing looked at Chris and asked nervously, "So what about Lilith? What should we do?"

"What do you mean with what should we do? She's your girl, why are you asking me?" Chris replied.

Li Yexing was stunned.

"The goal of this mission was to capture the dangerous B.O.W. sample in Roples. However, the local bio-terrorist group attacked and released the B.O.W., resulting in significant casualties among the local armed forces. In order to prevent the disaster from spreading further, I hired mercenaries Li Yexing and Lilith to help, and after a difficult battle, we finally killed the B.O.W. and stopped the crisis," Chris shrugged. "That's how I reported it to our superiors."

"What about Kelly? Didn't she the one who sold me and the girl out before? How can your story pass in BSAA?" Li Yexing asked in surprise,

"Kelly said her intelligence was wrong. She said she was misled by the organization's internal propaganda. Now she's under BSAA protection and has left Edonia for England," Chris replied.

Li Yexing looked at Chris with a complex expression. This upright man had lied to his superiors for him.

"Don't look at me like that," Chris said. "I'm not planning to let that kid go. I'll be monitoring the situation here in real time. If you or the kid have any trouble, I won't hesitate to take action."

"No problem. To be honest, I'm really grateful that you're willing to go this far for me," Li Yexing hesitated, looking into Chris's eyes sincerely.

"Save it. By the way, I should mention that BSAA has already covered your medical expenses. Before leaving, Kelly left you five million US dollars and asked me to remind you to take good care of the kid," Chris said.

"I will. She doesn't need to worry," Li Yexing replied.

So, what was this? Getting the mother-in-law's approval?

"Well then, that's settled. I'll stay here for a few more days and then leave Edonia. We've received some very important intelligence," Chris paused and asked, "Do you know Oswell E. Spencer?"

Li Yexing did not respond, but Chris had already read the answer from Li Yexing's serious expression.

"We may have found Spencer's hiding place," Chris said.

"Let's take it one step at a time," Li Yexing could only say that words. He knew what would happen next. In the DLC "Lost in Nightmares" of "Resident Evil 5", Chris and his partner Jill entered Spencer's mansion, where they encountered one of the biggest villains in the Resident Evil series, Wesker. After a fierce battle, Jill jumped off a cliff with Wesker in order to save Chris.

"So, after all of that talk earlier, can we get back to the topic we were discussing before?" Chris asked. "How much do you know about Wesker?"

Li Yexing, who had already survived the crisis, did not plan to give too much info away. After some consideration, he said, "Do you remember the battle at the Umbrella Caucasus Research Facility?"

"Of course, that was one of the most dangerous battles of my anti-bio-terrorism career. It was a situation fraught with danger," Chris replied. "What does that have to do with Wesker?"

"It has everything to do with him," Li Yexing said. "Wesker was actually there when you attacked the Caucasus Research Facility."

"What? He was also in the Caucasus at that time?"

Li Yexing didn't reply, but Chris had already read the answer from Li Yexing's solemn expression.

"That's right. Your mission was to break through Umbrella's final fortress, and his goal was to obtain information about Spencer. To that end, he also released the T-virus in the Caucasus Research Facility. While you were fighting T-A.L.O.S, he was also fighting Sergei Vladimir." Li Yexing recited the plot from "Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles" to Chris, but he reminded him, "Maybe Wesker has already learned about Spencer's location from Sergei."

This sentence was a lie. Sergei was a loyalist and would never betray Spencer. But in order to imply that Chris might encounter Wesker in his next move, Li Yexing had to use this method.

"How do you know so much about the details of that battle? Never mind, even if I ask, you won't answer, and even if you answer, it won't be the truth..." Chris shrugged helplessly.

A few days later, Chris left. Before leaving, Li Yexing said to him, "Remember, all goodbyes are for better reunions."

However, Li Yexing felt that he probably wouldn't understand the deeper meaning of this sentence.

Then, after a while, Li Yexing was finally discharged from the hospital.