[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 737 - The Composed Alexia Ashford

Leon's words carried a naked threat.

He didn't believe for a second that Alexia wouldn't care about these brilliant minds. Otherwise, what was the point?

But the coldness in Alexia's eyes gradually receded, replaced by something far stranger, a pleased smile.

Her laugh came soft, carrying an edge he couldn't quite place.

"Naive."

Alexia's red lips parted, releasing the word like a judgment.

"Are you threatening me?"

She lifted her wine glass, swirling the deep crimson inside.

"I'll admit, your abilities are interesting, Leon."

"Like a primitive who just discovered fire and thinks he can burn down the world."

Her gaze drifted past him, sweeping over the scientists still deep in animated discussion.

"You think I can turn Arthur Graham into a decorative plant in my garden, but I'd have no way of dealing with this crowd of greedy, foolish mortals?"

Alexia took a step forward.

"Aren't you curious? Why they've been so cooperative with you. Why Arthur has looked so helpless. Why everything has gone so smoothly."

She extended one slender finger and tapped her temple.

"I found you in Arthur's communication logs. An interesting individual."

"So I built you a stage, Leon."

"I amplified the greed in these scientists' hearts. I had Arthur play the overwhelmed leader. I gave you a chance to show off your strength."

"And you took the bait."

Alexia wore the expression of a playwright watching her actors perform.

"All of this was to draw you out, so I could observe up close... those crude little tricks of yours. Like a child's scribbles."

"This dinner looks like something you asked Arthur to arrange, but that's precisely why I knew what it really was — a petty scheme to bring these scientists under your control."

"And I agreed anyway."

"You were always going to be nothing more than a clown performing to my script."

Leon listened in silence, watching this woman peel back every layer of the truth.

So from the moment he'd stepped into the Bunker, he'd already fallen into a meticulously woven web.

After she took control of Arthur, she discovered his existence. When he arrived and demonstrated his ability to control living people, it caught her interest.

This was a trap set specifically for him, designed purely to see what his abilities could do.

But where did she get the confidence to let him run free like this, to let his blood convert these scientists without interference?

Wasn't she afraid of losing control?

"Not a bad script," Leon said. "When does it end?"

"Since you're in such a hurry — right now."

Alexia let out a soft laugh, then raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

SNAP!

The sound wasn't loud.

But it was like a switch being thrown, instantly cutting off every trace of noise in the banquet hall.

The music stopped dead.

Chatter, debates, clinking glasses,

Every sound vanished in that single second.

Silence.

The kind that could drive a living person insane.

The physicist Cavendish, who'd been boasting about his achievements with a mouthful of lobster he hadn't swallowed yet, simply froze mid-motion.

Scientists raising glasses in mutual flattery still wore their smiles, bodies locked as if someone had hit pause.

The entire hall. 38 elites who had reached the pinnacle of their fields. 38 lifelike wax figures, frozen at the exact same moment.

Then.

Something grotesque happened.

Their heads began to turn, impossibly slow and deliberate.

No human being could move like that.

The angle at which their necks twisted exceeded every physiological limit, producing teeth-grinding cracks and pops.

Like cheap puppets being wound up by invisible hands.

Finally.

38 heads. 76 eyes. All turning in unison to stare at Leon in the corner.

Those eyes held no emotion. Not even the vitality living people should possess.

Only blankness.

Pure blankness filled entirely by an absolute will.

Leon could feel it.

The imprints he'd left in those scientists' blood were still there.

But the connection had grown faint, a candle flame in a raging storm, on the verge of being snuffed out.

A more domineering will had settled over his imprints like a thick sheet of ice.

T-Veronica.

Alexia's will.

"Looks like we're competing to see whose control is stronger," Leon finally said, breaking the suffocating silence.

The smile on Alexia's face grew radiant.

She enjoyed this game.

She loved watching prey struggle futilely in the palm of her hand.

She took an elegant step back and made a "please" gesture toward Leon.

Like someone inviting a master magician to take the stage.

"Then please — begin your performance."

"The very first time I venture out, and I encounter such an entertaining opponent."

"Don't disappoint me, Leon."

Alexia's ice-blue eyes filled with condescending mockery.

"I want to see exactly how you make them kill themselves while still under my control."

"I'll be watching."

➤ Next: A Difficult Opponent