Chapter 36: The Tragic Architect's Family

After separating from Barry, Jill Valentine once again found herself exploring alone. The radio in her backpack lay quietly in the corner, and the image of Richard Aiken's weakened state lingered in her mind, causing her to quicken her pace.

She gripped her pistol tightly and retraced her steps along the familiar route to the west dining room. Kenneth's corpse still lay where it had fallen, and the pungent smell of blood refused to dissipate. Jill Valentine suppressed the bitterness in her heart and scanned the chaotic dining room, feeling that this area still held undiscovered clues.

She slowly searched along the dining room walls, her fingertips brushing against the mottled, moldy surface. In the corner behind the solid wood dining table, she felt a protruding secret compartment.

With a gentle push, a section of the wall slowly slid aside, revealing a narrow hidden compartment. There were no monsters inside, only a dust-covered leather diary lying quietly on the floor.

Jill Valentine bent down to pick up the diary, brushed the dust off the cover, and opened the yellowed pages. The owner of the diary was the architect of the Spencer Mansion—George Trevor.

The handwriting, initially neat and steady, gradually became messy and frantic, with despair filling every line.

The diary recorded that he had been hired to build the Spencer Mansion. After completion, he, his wife Jessica, and his daughter Lisa Trevor were not only denied their payment but were forcibly imprisoned there by people from the Umbrella Corporation, losing their freedom entirely.

He was forced to perfect the traps and secret passages of the Spencer Mansion, and his captors inadvertently revealed that his wife and daughter had long since been taken away, likely meeting a grim fate.

On the last page of the diary, only a single line soaked in tears remained: "This Spencer Mansion is the grave that buries our entire family; no one will ever leave here alive."

Closing the diary, a chill crept into Jill Valentine's heart. So, behind this gloomy Spencer Mansion lay such an inhumane tragedy; the sins of the Umbrella Corporation were far deeper than she had imagined.

She tucked Trevor's diary away safely; this record was yet another piece of evidence accusing the Umbrella Corporation. Her heart was now entirely focused on Richard Aiken's safety, so she dared not linger and immediately turned to head toward the room on the second floor where she had left him, intending to check on his condition and then find a way out together.

But when Jill Valentine hurriedly pushed open the door to the lounge, the room was empty. Richard, who had previously been leaning against the corner, was nowhere to be seen, leaving only faint bloodstains and signs of a struggle on the floor.

Jill Valentine quickly scanned the room; there were no signs of a fight or any indication of monsters. Considering Richard's previous state, she surmised that he must have regained some strength and, fearing he would be a burden, had left on his own.

"Richard, please don't let anything happen to you." Jill Valentine whispered, immediately following the faint bloodstains left on the floor, her steps hurried and her heart full of worry.

The blood trail extended all the way to a door completely blocked by thick spiderwebs. The sticky webs clung to the door frame, exuding an eerie aura, and from behind the door, a cold, chilling hissing sound could be faintly heard, making her skin crawl.

Jill Valentine's heart tightened. She slowly drew the pistol from her waist, carefully used the butt of the gun to push aside the spiderwebs, and shoved the door open.

The next second, a strong, fishy stench rushed toward her. A giant snake, far larger than any normal venomous snake, was coiled in the center of the room. Its body was covered in mottled patterns, its triangular head held high, and its scarlet tongue flicked in and out constantly. Its cold, vertical pupils locked onto Jill Valentine; it was the mutant giant snake that had bitten Richard!

The giant snake let out a piercing hiss, and its massive body swept toward her. Jill Valentine quickly rolled to the side, barely dodging the attack as the snake's tail slammed into the ground, kicking up dust.

She immediately raised her gun and fired. The bullets hit the giant snake's body one after another, but they only left shallow bloodstains and could not inflict fatal damage at all.

The giant snake was thoroughly enraged. It opened its bloody maw, lunging at Jill Valentine with a foul wind, its sharp fangs clearly visible. If she were bitten, she would surely die on the spot.

Jill Valentine dodged repeatedly, circling with the giant snake in the cramped room. Her heart was pounding uncontrollably, and her back was already soaked in cold sweat.

She knew well that her pistol could not subdue this giant snake, so she had to look for a chance to escape. Taking advantage of a gap when the giant snake lunged again, she suddenly ducked and slid beneath the snake's body, sprinting toward the door with all her might. She scrambled out of the room, quickly shut the door, and braced herself against it. Only when the sound of the giant snake's crashing subsided did she dare to gasp for air, having narrowly escaped with her life.

Daring not to linger, Jill Valentine calmed her emotions, turned, and walked toward the courtyard, intending to detour through it to continue searching for Richard and other clues.

Passing through the winding corridors and stepping back into the open-air courtyard, the rain was still pouring down. The puddles on the ground reflected the dim light. Jill Valentine followed an exit on the side of the courtyard, carefully stepped out of the Spencer Mansion, and entered the surrounding Arklay forest.

The forest was dense with vegetation, dark and damp. The muddy path was difficult to traverse, and the low growls of unknown beasts could be heard from time to time, adding a sense of unknown terror even greater than that inside the Spencer Mansion.

Jill Valentine gripped her weapon and proceeded cautiously. Just then, the radio in her backpack suddenly emitted a crackling static noise. Immediately after, Barry's anxious and panicked voice came through, intermittent and with very poor signal:

"...If you can hear me, please respond... The monster... wearing shackles... guns... are ineffective against it... Do not approach... the forest outside the Spencer Mansion..."

It was Barry!

Jill Valentine was shocked, but what puzzled her even more was how Barry knew she had obtained this radio. However, with the crisis at hand, she had no time to think it over. She firmly kept Barry's warning in mind and continued to explore deeper into the forest.

She didn't know how long she had been walking when a dilapidated cabin appeared in her field of vision. The cabin's walls were mottled, the roof had collapsed, and the doors and windows were broken, exuding an eerie stillness.

Jill Valentine approached slowly and pushed the door open to enter. The air was filled with the smell of decay and dust. On the living room table lay a torn family photo. The family of three in the photo had warm smiles; it was the Trevor family, and the little girl in the photo was Lisa Trevor.

Beside the photo lay a diary written in a child's handwriting. The content was extremely bizarre, with every word revealing a hair-raising obsession:

"First stick on Mommy, then stick on Daddy, but she is not the real Mommy. Where is Daddy? Found Mommy again. When I stick on Mommy, she stops moving. She screams. Why? I just want to be with her. Where is Mommy? I miss you."

The more Jill Valentine read, the more horrified she became. Combining this with Trevor's diary, she roughly guessed what had happened to Lisa Trevor. The Umbrella Corporation must have performed inhumane experiments on this innocent child, which was what turned her into this state.

Just as she was immersed in the diary's content, the sound of heavy shackles being dragged suddenly came from deep within the cabin—clank, clank—the sound was exceptionally clear in the silent cabin.

Jill Valentine instantly tensed her body and aimed her gun at the source of the sound. A hunched figure slowly walked out. Her clothes were tattered, she wore heavy, rusted shackles on her hands and feet, her skin was twisted, her expression was frantic, and she exuded a violent aura.

It was Lisa Trevor! George Trevor's daughter!

Jill Valentine realized instantly that this was the monster in shackles that Barry had mentioned. Lisa Trevor let out a hoarse roar and lunged at Jill Valentine regardless of the danger. Jill Valentine did not hesitate to pull the trigger, the bullets hitting Lisa Trevor's body one after another, yet she was completely unaffected and continued to lunge frantically.

Guns were ineffective against her! Exactly as Barry had said!

Jill Valentine's heart sank. Daring not to stay and fight, she turned and ran desperately toward the outside of the cabin. Lisa Trevor's roars pursued her relentlessly. She ran wildly all the way, finally escaping back to the Spencer Mansion courtyard and completely shaking off the monster.

Knowing that standard firearms could not deal with Lisa Trevor, Jill Valentine immediately returned to the room where she kept her grenade launcher. She strapped on the heavy weapon, checked her grenade ammunition, took a deep breath, and set off toward the forest cabin once again.

She had to uncover the secret of the cabin, and she had to seek justice for the Trevor family and her teammates who had died miserably.

On the way to the cabin, the radio crackled with static again, and a strange yet familiar voice came through: "This is Brad. If you can hear me, make any sound you can."

It was Brad, who had run away!

Jill Valentine became excited instantly and shouted into the radio: "Jill Valentine calling Brad, can you hear me?!"

But the only response she received was endless static; the other party did not transmit any more sounds. She slapped her forehead in frustration, assuming the radio had malfunctioned, and helplessly put it back into her backpack.

Arriving at the forest cabin again, the interior was quiet, and there was no sign of Lisa Trevor. Jill Valentine gripped the grenade launcher and searched the room cautiously, but found no trace of the monster, nor any further clues about the Trevor family.

She walked down through the damaged floor in the back of the cabin. A flight of moss-covered stone stairs appeared before her eyes, extending into the deep darkness. A cold, chilling air rushed toward her; clearly, this place connected to a hidden underground facility.

Jill Valentine stood at the entrance of the stone stairs, gazing into the endless darkness below, and tightened her grip on the grenade launcher. The Trevor diary, Lisa Trevor's mutation, the Umbrella Corporation's conspiracy—all the mysteries seemed to be hidden within this underground facility.

She took a deep breath, hesitated no longer, and stepped into the darkness. She walked slowly down the stone stairs toward the unknown depths underground, prepared to uncover the final secrets of the Spencer Mansion and the Umbrella Corporation.