As the system's prompt ended, Shen Ye faintly heard countless chilling whispers and a bell toll, as if welcoming him to hell.
The Mansion Incident had officially begun.
Shen Ye took a deep breath to relieve the pressure in his heart; no matter what, reality was ultimately different from a game. He only had one life, couldn't reload a save, and couldn't just turtle up.
After a few deep breaths, Shen Ye's stress significantly decreased. He then checked his firearm one last time, confirmed it was fine, and slowly approached the mansion door. He used the gun barrel to gently push the door open a crack and peered inside.
Hmm, no one, no zombies in sight.
Only then did he confidently push the door open and stride inside.
However, as soon as he entered, Shen Ye realized he hadn't observed carefully enough, because on the floor of the mansion's main hall lay the corpse of a zombie.
"If I remember correctly, this zombie corpse should be the 'back-gazing smile' zombie that Jill Valentine encountered. It seems the plot has already started."
This was good news for Shen Ye. He could follow the traces left by the Alpha Team members, and he wouldn't have to worry about encountering a large number of zombies.
The downside was that the early experience would be a bit less intense.
Of course, once he encountered any member of the Alpha Team, he would have to worry about the experience being too intense and whether he could handle it.
But before that, he had to come up with a reason to explain how he ended up here.
"A bit difficult! Who would believe a tourist showing up here with an AR15 and a large bag full of ammunition, unless he's an idiot."
Feeling that no explanation would suffice, Shen Ye felt a headache coming on. Finally, he decided not to think about it for now and to first catch up with the Alpha Team members. Improvisation was his strong suit.
With a slight sigh, Shen Ye began to examine the muddy footprints around him. Don't forget, the Alpha Team members came from the jungle, and the weather in Raccoon City hadn't been good these past few days, so the mud traces were very clear.
After checking around, Shen Ye reluctantly found that he couldn't use the footprints to tell who left them.
S.T.A.R.S, as the city's elite unit, always operated under semi-military management. Members wore standard issue equipment, and their boots were naturally thick-soled combat boots, with identical anti-slip patterns on the bottom and similar sizes, as combat boots don't come in small sizes.
After some thought, Shen Ye could only pick a random footprint to follow.
...
As stated at the beginning, the plot had been ongoing for some time. Shen Ye saw many zombie corpses along the way and killed many zombies himself, even encountering a few green-skinned monsters.
Shen Ye recognized those monsters as Hunters, but he didn't know which model they were. Regardless of the type, he didn't want to disturb them.
So Shen Ye hid in a room for a while, and only after the monsters left did he continue forward.
After tracking for a while, the footprints gradually became blurred, and by the time he reached the depths of the mansion, they were no longer visible.
And the depths of the mansion were sprawling and vast. If it weren't for the occasional zombie corpses and scattered pistol casings in the corridors, Shen Ye would have suspected he was lost.
As Shen Ye passed through another corridor, the lucky goddess who favored him must have woken up, as he actually heard the footsteps of human activity.
Yes, it was definitely the sound of human footsteps. Zombies certainly couldn't walk with such steady steps.
The source of the sound wasn't far, probably in one of the few rooms ahead of him. Shen Ye suppressed the joy in his heart and slowly moved forward.
Then, he found that the sound was coming from the third room in the corridor.
The room's door wasn't fully closed; it was ajar, so Shen Ye could clearly see the scene inside.
A tall young woman with short dark brown hair was rummaging through something in the room.
Without even needing to think, Shen Ye knew who this woman was.
One of the most popular female protagonists in the entire Biohazard series, not much less popular than Ada Wong, Jill Valentine.
Just as he was about to go in and say hello, this alert policewoman had already sensed movement outside the door. She decisively turned around and raised her hand, firing a shot.
"I'm human, don't... Holy crap."
The moment he saw Jill Valentine turn and raise her hand, Shen Ye knew what she intended to do. His explanation was cut short and turned into an expletive.
Fortunately, the shot only hit the doorframe beside Shen Ye, but the wood splinters that flew from the bullet-stricken wooden doorframe still left a shallow cut on his face.
"Damn it, he's a human."
But the command to shoot had already been sent from her brain to her body; it was an instinctive drive, and she couldn't stop herself.
However, Shen Ye was lucky. This shot from Jill Valentine was instinctive, so it wasn't particularly accurate. Otherwise, Shen Ye might have been rated the unluckiest transmigrator in history.
"Madam, please don't shoot, I'm human."
Shen Ye, who had retreated outside the door, shouted. Facing a gun barrel required a lot of courage, especially when the owner of that gun had just proven she was not soft-handed.
"Alright, I apologize for my decisiveness, but you should understand that in a place like this, no one wants a stranger standing behind them, especially a stranger holding a rifle." Jill Valentine apologized without much sincerity, explaining that her actions were perfectly reasonable.
"Of course, I understand your actions. If I were you, I'd do the same." Shen Ye said, going along with Jill Valentine's words, while muttering to himself, "I almost forgot this is the beautiful country, where police really do shoot."
The comfortable times had eroded too much of his vigilance; it was too fatal.
Even though he had killed many zombies on his way here, it still hadn't brought him back to his previous combat state. This would require a sufficiently profound process.
Taking a few deep breaths, Shen Ye suppressed his pounding heart. Seeing that the policewoman hadn't responded, he said, "Can I come in? Staying outside puts a lot of pressure on me, you know, there are monsters everywhere here, it's very unsafe."
"The rifle in your hand is what's truly unsafe." Jill Valentine immediately said, "But you're right, there are monsters everywhere here, and compared to them, at least you're still human. Come in."
Then she thoughtfully added, "Don't worry, I definitely won't shoot again this time."
"Thank you very much, madam." Shen Ye breathed a sigh of relief, quickly entered the room, and closed the door behind him.