Chapter 30: The Vanishing Wesker

The gunshots from the west room echoed through the empty hall of the Spencer Mansion. Decaying dust floated in the dim light, and the heavy wooden doors blocked out the torrential rain outside, yet they also firmly locked the unknown terror within the building.

Jill and Barry still gripped their firearms, their nerves strained to the limit. Having just encountered Zombie Dogs in the dense forest and been separated from Chris, their already anxious hearts were now in their throats.

Wesker slowly lowered the gun in his hand. His eyes, hidden behind sunglasses, swept across the darkness of the west corridor. His tone remained as steady and calm as a captain's should be as he commanded the two beside him in a low voice, "Jill, go check the situation and confirm the source of the sound. Stay alert and do not go in recklessly."

"I'll go with her." Barry immediately took a step forward, shielding Jill's side. His rough fingers tightened around his revolver, his tone firm.

He had always been steady and reliable. He knew that although Jill was an excellent teammate, it was always safer to have cover when facing such unknown and eerie scenes. Moreover, this Spencer Mansion was strange in every way; acting alone was no different from putting oneself in danger.

Wesker nodded slightly without any resistance, making a deployment accordingly. "Fine. You two go to the west area to investigate. I'll stay behind in the hall to keep watch on the surroundings and wait for news from Chris. If he returns, I can provide immediate backup."

He paused deliberately, then instructed again in a low voice, "The situation inside is unclear. No matter what you encounter, do not be careless. If you face danger, fire your gun immediately to call for help."

His arrangements seemed thorough and appropriate, entirely for the safety of his team members. In reality, he was deliberately sending Jill and Barry away to gain time for his own plans, leading them step by step deeper into the traps of the Spencer Mansion.

Jill and Barry exchanged a look and both nodded. Gripping their weapons, they slowly approached the wooden door on the west side of the hall. The cold metal door handle felt chilly. Jill gently turned the handle, and the heavy wooden door let out a dull creak as it was slowly pushed open.

Behind the door was a spacious Western-style dining room. A long solid wood dining table ran across the entire room. The tables and chairs were in disarray, and many utensils were scattered across the floor, covered in dust and cobwebs, clearly abandoned for years.

The air was thick with a heavy smell of blood and rot, mixed with the scent of decaying wood. It was pungent and unpleasant. Dim light filtered through the broken windows, illuminating the mottled bloodstains on the floor, making one's skin crawl.

Barry was the first to step into the dining room. His sharp eyes scanned the floor, and he soon noticed a glaring bloodstain near the dining table. He raised his hand to signal Jill to stop and whispered, "Jill, look over here. There's fresh blood, likely left not long ago. Come and take a look."

The two walked slowly to the bloodstain. Barry knelt down to examine it closely, his fingertips lightly touching the dried blood. His brow furrowed deeply; the state of this bloodstain was definitely not caused by an ordinary wild beast.

"Go to the other side of the dining room and look for other clues, see if there are any passages or traces left by our teammates. I'll check more here," Barry said to Jill, looking up. He wanted to confirm the source of the blood himself while having Jill branch out to improve efficiency.

Jill gave an affirmative response and, without thinking much, walked across the long dining room with her gun raised, heading toward the inner corner.

The dining room was silent, with only her footsteps echoing in the empty space. With every step, the unease in her heart grew.

As she passed the corner, she instinctively looked up. The scene before her caused her to freeze instantly, her blood seemingly turning to ice.

Not far away in the corridor, a person lay flat on their back, their body stiff, while another figure knelt before them, head lowered, seemingly devouring the person on the ground in a frenzy.

That figure wore tattered clothes, its body was hunched, and it emitted a nauseating stench of rot, devoid of any signs of life.

Hearing Jill's footsteps, the hunched figure slowly stopped its movements and stiffly turned its head.

It was a face long since twisted and deformed, with skin that was ulcerated and blackened. Its eyes were cloudy and bulging, and the corners of its mouth were stained with blood. Upon seeing Jill, it actually revealed an incredibly eerie and terrifying smile, its throat emitting a low, guttural growl.

Jill shivered all over as fear instantly seized her heart. Her mind went blank, and she didn't even have time to think. She instinctively turned and ran desperately back the way she came, her heart pounding wildly and her back already drenched in cold sweat.

"Barry! Watch out! There's a monster!" Jill rushed to Barry's side, her voice trembling slightly with extreme fear, her breathing rapid, and her fingertips feeling weak.

Barry immediately stood up, raised his revolver toward the direction Jill had run from, and said in a low voice, "Don't be afraid. Get behind me. Leave it to me!"

Just as he finished speaking, the zombie had already slowly turned the corner, walking toward them with stiff steps. Barry's gaze was sharp, and he pulled the trigger without hesitation. The bullets accurately hit the zombie's head. Accompanied by three dull gunshots, the hunched figure crashed to the ground, completely motionless.

"What on earth is this thing?" Barry lowered his gun and looked at the corpse on the ground, his face full of gravity and confusion, his tone shocked.

He had served for many years and seen countless dangerous creatures, but he had never seen such an eerie and terrifying existence—neither human nor beast, moving stiffly yet possessing extreme aggression, completely beyond his understanding.

Jill's gaze, however, was fixed on the person lying behind the zombie. She stumbled forward, and when she saw the person's face clearly, her own face turned deathly pale, and her eyes reddened slightly.

It was Kenneth from Bravo Team!

The observer who was good at scouting and always had a steady expression now lay on the ground, covered in bite marks, long since stopped breathing, having become that monster's prey.

"It's Kenneth... Bravo Team's Kenneth..." Jill's voice carried an irrepressible sob and grief. Having found Kevin's body in the forest earlier and now seeing Kenneth murdered, the blow of losing teammates in succession left her heart filled with pain and panic.

Barry also saw the identity of the deceased clearly, and his expression suddenly became grim. He patted Jill's shoulder and said solemnly, "Let's go back first and report the situation here to Captain Wesker immediately. This place is too dangerous; we must discuss a strategy as soon as possible."

Jill suppressed the grief in her heart and nodded. The two did not linger and returned to the Spencer Mansion hall the way they came.

But when they returned to the hall, they were completely stunned.

The hall was empty; Wesker was nowhere to be seen!

The mansion's main door, which had been open before, was now actually locked tight. The heavy wooden door had no gaps and could not be easily opened from the inside.

The entire hall was silent, with only the sound of the wind blowing through the gaps in the windows. Wesker seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace, not even a word of explanation.

"Captain Wesker?" Jill called out tentatively, but only endless echoes responded to her.

Barry's brow was furrowed as he walked quickly to the main door and pulled hard on the handle. The door didn't budge, obviously locked from the outside or by some internal mechanism.

"Something's not right; he wouldn't just leave for no reason and lock the door," Barry said solemnly, his tone full of doubt as he also sensed something eerie.

"Let's split up and search!" Barry made a quick decision and looked at Jill. "Search around the hall. I'll check upstairs and the rooms on the east side. Whether we find him or not, meet back in the hall in twenty minutes!"

Jill nodded. At this moment, she had no better option. Chris was missing, Wesker had disappeared, the door was locked, and they had encountered a monster never seen before. Everything was a mess; they had to find Wesker as soon as possible to figure out the situation.

The two immediately split up. Jill searched the hall, the entrance, and the nearby small rooms carefully. Every step was cautious, as she remained alert for any lurking monsters. But after searching the surrounding areas, she found no sign of Wesker, as if he had never been there.

Barry also searched everywhere upstairs and downstairs that he could, but still found nothing. He could only return to the hall to meet Jill as agreed.

"Did you find him?" Barry asked first when he saw Jill, his tone carrying a hint of disappointment.

Jill shook her head, her face pale and her eyes full of unease and confusion. "No, I've looked everywhere. There's no sign of him at all."

A series of accidents made Jill gradually realize that something was wrong. First, they were separated from Chris after entering the forest, followed by Wesker's inexplicable disappearance and the locking of the only exit.

Combined with the Zombie Dogs encountered earlier, the man-eating monster, and the tragic deaths of the Bravo Team members, none of this seemed like a coincidence. It was as if an invisible hand was manipulating everything from the shadows.

"First Chris, and now Wesker, both have mysteriously vanished. This Spencer Mansion is too eerie; we can't keep searching blindly like this," Jill said solemnly to Barry, the unease in her heart growing stronger.

Barry felt the same way. He gripped the gun in his hand and quickly made a deployment: "I'll go back to the dining room and search again to see if there are any other passages and to check if Kenneth left any clues.

You start searching the rooms on the right side of the hall. Keep an eye on every corner. If you encounter danger, fire your gun immediately. Don't try to be a hero."

"Okay, let's stay alert and keep an eye out for each other," Jill nodded in agreement, raised her firearm, and turned to walk toward the rooms on the right.

The two separated again, each stepping into the unknown darkness. The shadows within the Spencer Mansion grew deeper, and the lurking dangers were quietly approaching, while they still didn't know that they had already fallen into a meticulously planned death trap.