Smith Lee always felt like he was dead in reality. Going to work, eating, excreting, sleeping, waking up - he didn't know the purpose of his existence. It certainly wasn't in the face of the director's fat, oily smile. It definitely wasn't in the body of some so-called white-collar woman he met at a bar. And it absolutely wasn't in this endless steel jungle - the modern city.
Smith Lee felt himself decaying, from twenty-four years old to old age, then turning into dirt and becoming a name, or rather, not even a name because nobody would remember him. No one would remember a small white-collar worker, whether he was truly refined or just pretending to be bourgeois. He was merely a speck of dust in this world.
He wanted to change something. He wanted to have his own purpose...
"Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to truly... live?"
When Smith Lee opened his computer at the company today, a message suddenly popped up on the screen. It was clearly a little trick from some immature hacker trying to grab attention. Whether he chose yes or no, it would result in downloading a virus. Smith Lee sneered and intended to close it, but when his finger touched the mouse, a strange palpitation made him pause.
"Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to truly... live?"
Smith Lee felt a moment of confusion, an indescribable attraction that made him place his finger on the left mouse button. Then, he lightly clicked on "YES." In an instant, he lost consciousness...
Coldness, trembling...
When he woke up, Smith Lee jumped up from the ground. He looked around in panic, his mental image of the office environment and the current surroundings became mixed, but within a few seconds, he regained clarity.
"Not bad, you're the most qualified among the people who have come this time..." a voice said.
Smith Lee turned his head and saw a black-haired young man staring at him with a cold smile. This young man was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, with a very ordinary appearance, but his face bore several scars, giving him a fearsome and terrifying look.
The black-haired young man held a cigarette in his hand, took a deep drag, and then shifted his gaze behind Smith Lee. It was then that Smith Lee noticed that there were five other people lying beside him, three men and two women. Apart from them, there were also several foreigners present in this enclosed environment.
This was a moving train carriage, and it was moving at a very fast speed. The sensations of coldness and trembling came from the carriage.
"What place is this? Who are you people? Why am I here?" Smith Lee asked these people repeatedly, and because there were foreigners present, he even used English intentionally.
The foreigners glanced at him and then turned their heads away, but the black-haired young man took a deep breath and said, "Think carefully. It has already implanted everything into your mind."
"Think carefully?" Smith Lee began to recall everything in his mind. He only remembered that when he saw the prompt "Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to truly... live?" and clicked the YES button on the computer screen, he lost consciousness...
Wait, Smith Lee suddenly felt that something had been added to his mind. Survival and life...
This was a game. It didn't matter who created this game anymore. Perhaps it was the gods, demons, aliens, or future humans. In any case, he was a participant in this game, or rather, he had already become a part of this game.
Placing a choice in the city made him feel confused, like he was decaying in front of corrupt people. Once they chose this game, they would be sent to various movie scenarios.
"This time, it's Resident Evil 1. Newbies, you're so lucky to encounter such an easy movie for your first time. Even if you die, you'll die easily..." The black-haired young man took one last deep breath of the cigarette and crushed the remaining butt in his hand.
"Are you saying that we have entered the computer as consciousness, like in fantasy novels? And as long as we complete this game, our consciousness will return to our bodies, and we will be revived?" a chubby guy sitting on the ground next to Smith Lee asked.
The black-haired young man took out a Desert Eagle handgun from his pocket and began adjusting it while saying, "I don't know if it's consciousness or not, but you will feel pain, get injured, and die. Also, you're wrong. After you complete this game, you will enter the next unknown movie. Maybe you've seen it before, or maybe you haven't. The 'Main God' brings in new members for every game to fill the vacancies left by the dead in the previous movie. The number of participants ranges from seven to twenty. In other words, Resident Evil 1 is a very low-risk movie, which is why we only have seven people here."
The chubby guy sneered, "How do you know that those who died haven't returned to their bodies? Maybe they chose to die themselves."
The black-haired young man suddenly raised his head, and a cold light flashed in his eyes. In that instant, he transformed into a black panther. Everyone saw him bend his legs and, in the next second, he was already pinning the chubby guy down. The Desert Eagle was pressed against the chubby guy's mouth.
"You want to try dying? Can you imagine the endless horror? I've experienced three movies. The first one was A Nightmare on Elm Street. There were fifteen newcomers in total, including two experienced survivors who had survived two movies. But do you know the outcome? They were all killed in their dreams. Only one other person and I survived. Do you want to know what it feels like to be absurdly killed in your dreams? Do you want to see everything around you turn into wriggling rotten flesh? Do you want to see your own body slowly crushed into pieces by scissors in a gloomy factory? Do you want that, you piece of shit? Do you want to die?"
The black-haired young man yelled frantically, and his murderous intent was so evident in his eyes. The chubby guy was already scared and powerless, with a gun barrel shoved into his mouth, making it impossible for him to even beg for mercy.
Smith Lee and the other two men and two women managed to separate them. The black-haired young man sneered and returned to his previous seat, continuing to fiddle with his handgun. He said, "In the movies, death is real death, and you will be tormented and killed by the demons in these movies. You will die in the most miserable way. So, if you don't have the determination to survive, I would suggest you commit suicide immediately."
A young woman wearing glasses next to Smith Lee asked, "So, is there no way for us to return to our bodies?"
The black-haired young man sneered and said, "I've been saying it all along. You are not consciousness entering the computer. Do you think this game is something that human technology can achieve? No, this is the work of gods. We are nothing but bugs in their eyes, struggling in these movies for their amusement. We entered this world with our bodies and spirits together, and we can't go back. At least, I believe we can't go back."
The girl with glasses, with a calm demeanor, pondered for a moment and said, "From your tone, it seems there is still hope of returning?"
The black-haired young man looked up at the young woman with glasses and said, "You're quite perceptive for a newcomer... Yes, there is indeed hope of returning."
Upon hearing this, Smith Lee and the other five people held their breaths and stared directly at the black-haired young man.
"After completing a mission, which means surviving this movie, you will receive one thousand reward points. These one thousand points can be exchanged for many things, such as the right to live in this movie world for a hundred days..." The black-haired young man said indifferently.
The man next to the girl with glasses said, "Nobody is crazy enough to want to live in such a terrifying world. That would be seeking death, wouldn't it?"
The black-haired young man sneered but remained silent. The girl with glasses touched her forehead and said, "No, I think I understand what he means. There are different types of movies. For example, movies like this Resident Evil are techno-horror films where everything can be explained scientifically, without any supernatural elements. In other words, apart from the location where the story is happening, the rest should be a normal world..."
The black-haired young man snapped his fingers. "Bingo! You got it right. Living an additional hundred days means living a normal life in other parts of this world. Just imagine, after going through several tests of survival and death, being able to calmly and freely live a normal life in a different area. What kind of happiness is that?"
Smith Lee felt a shiver run through his body. He seemed to understand the purpose of this world's existence. Yes, it was precisely because of the mundane existence that he felt himself decaying. But once he experienced countless horrors and deaths, he realized that ordinary life was the most desired form of happiness.
The black-haired young man continued, "Besides exchanging for additional days of life, you can also exchange for many things. For example, this Desert Eagle with infinite bullets only requires one hundred points, which equals ten days of living rights. Furthermore, a person's average qualities, including intelligence, mental strength, cellular vitality, neural reaction speed, muscle tissue strength, and immune system intensity, can be exchanged for one point per day of living rights. The average strength of an ordinary person in these six aspects is one hundred. In other words, if you survive this movie, you can double your power. And if you survive a hundred movies, you will become a superhero!"
The girl with glasses calmly asked, "So, to return to our own world, how many points of reward value do we need?"
"Fifty thousand points!" The black-haired young man took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag. "You don't need a single point of reward to survive fifty movies. That's how you can go back."
Suddenly, everyone fell silent. According to the black-haired young man, surviving fifty movies without using reward points to strengthen oneself was simply impossible.
"Of course, the basic reward is one thousand points per movie. You can also earn extra money within the movie. For example, just now when I explained everything to you, according to the rules of the Main God, as a reward for explaining the rules to newbies, I received one hundred points. And have you noticed the strange watch on your wrist?" The black-haired young man raised his left hand, revealing a black metallic watch with an ancient and pure design.
Everyone looked at their left wrists, where the watches displayed various data: a countdown of three hours and seven minutes and other information such as the number of zombies, crawlers, and newbies.
"Ten zombie kills earn one point, killing one crawler earns one hundred points, killing a newbie... earns one thousand points." The black-haired young man smirked and glanced at Smith Lee and the others. Among them, only Smith Lee and the girl with glasses calmly returned his gaze.
"Of course, negative points are deducted for killing a teammate..." The black-haired young man coldly laughed. "Alright, if you have any more questions, ask quickly. The movie is about to begin."
The train carriage gradually decelerated at that moment. After taking a few more drags from his cigarette, the black-haired young man took out his Desert Eagle from his pocket and said, "Alright, the story starts now. From now on, they can hear our conversations. Remember, if they overhear our topics, ten points will be deducted for each sentence. The negative points will be deducted from the rewards you receive next time. Newbies... strive to survive!"
The carriage slowly came to a stop. The foreign mercenaries cautiously pushed forward, guns in hand. The black-haired young man, leading the way, confidently stepped out. The girl with glasses looked at Smith Lee and the others, then followed suit. As they watched the black man named Matthew Addison move further away, Smith Lee and the others followed behind.
Outside the carriage was a platform at a train station. Smith Lee recalled the scene from the movie, where everyone had to enter the hive, the entrance to the underground laboratory.
They walked up the platform, following closely behind the mercenaries. Soon, at the junction between the platform and the entrance to the laboratory, a sealed steel door stood before them. On the door were a set of special symbols indicating the danger of the laboratory's company.
Smith Lee and the others closely followed the mercenaries. When they reached the door, a beautiful woman dressed in a red gown with a high slit suddenly approached Matthew Addison, the black man, and asked, "I want to know who you are and what is happening here."
Matthew Addison turned to look at her, waving his hand to the other mercenaries. They quickly took out some machinery from their bags and began to unlock the door. He continued to speak to the woman, "We are hired by Umbrella Corporation, and you... You are a security guard registered with the company, which is why we brought you along."
Smith Lee remembered this scene. This was the moment when the female protagonist, Alice, asked about the cause of the entire incident. Although he had seen the movie and knew the truth behind the events, seeing it unfold before his eyes brought a sense of confusion and dizziness.
Alice seemed confused and touched the wedding ring on her finger, murmuring, "Then, what is this?"
Matthew Addison nodded. "You are not married. It's just a cover-up and a symbol of your role as the protector of the hive."
"Then what is the hive?"
Suddenly, another man, not a mercenary, asked. It was Ryan, the commercial spy who attempted to steal the T-virus, the main character of Resident Evil.
Matthew Addison said to another mercenary, "Show them."
The person nodded and quickly typed on the computer keyboard. After a moment, his laptop displayed some images.
"This is the passage to the Hive... The Hive is deep underground in Raccoon City. It's the building where we found you. Here, we boarded a train to go underground, which brought us to the entrance of the Hive, where we are now standing."
The images on the screen kept changing, and finally, a hive-like building appeared on the computer screen.
"This is the Hive, a top-secret research facility hidden underground. It is owned and supervised by Umbrella. Inside the Hive, there are five hundred scientists and other staff members who conduct confidential research based on the company's needs. These secrets are crucial to the company, and even we don't know what they are. This is our current location, as displayed by the heat sensor."
Matthew Addison continued explaining, and the computer screen indeed showed the location of everyone. They were standing on the vehicle platform at the top of the Hive. Smith Lee knew that this place was absolutely safe for now, but in a moment, it would become a forbidden zone of death.
"What about them?" Alice suddenly pointed at Smith Lee and the others.
Smith Lee and the others were shocked. They had always thought of themselves as people wandering outside reality. In other words, they believed that the movie belonged to the movie, and the characters in the plot would not intersect with them. They only needed to avoid the terrifying monsters. Who would have expected that the female protagonist of Biohazard 1 would actually point at them and speak?
Matthew Addison said, "They are also the security here. The company has their information registered... But I doubt if there was an error in the instructions from the upper management of the company. Except for that Asian guy, who is a qualified warrior, the rest of them are just ordinary civilians. This should be the identity assigned to them by the 'Master God.' Smith Lee and the others suddenly realized this.
Ryan asked, "Why did I lose my memory? I can't remember anything now."
Matthew Addison said, "The Hive has its own defense system controlled by the central computer, the Flame Queen. When the Hive is deemed under attack, the central computer releases a neurotoxic gas that renders people unconscious for about four hours. After waking up, a series of side effects occur, and one of them is memory loss."
Ryan asked, "Memory loss? How long does this state last?"
Matthew Addison shook his head and said, "It depends on individual constitution. It could be one hour, one day, or even one week."
Another young non-mercenary suddenly asked, "Are you saying that the Hive has been attacked? Are there terrorists inside?"
Matthew Addison looked at him and said, "... It may be worse than that."
Smith Lee knew that this young man was Matt, a non-company employee who came to find his sister. His sister was a senior researcher inside the Hive. After learning that the company was researching the T-virus and understanding the horror of the virus, she tried to inform the government about the situation. The external contact she established happened to be the female protagonist. Before she could steal the virus, Ryan had already stolen and leaked it. Afterwards, his sister also turned into a zombie after inhaling the virus.
Smith Lee felt grateful. Due to his boredom, he had watched many movies, and among them, he particularly liked science fiction and horror. He was familiar with the plot development, knew who the main characters were, and believed that his chances of survival would increase by several times. The survival of the main character was common knowledge in novels and movies.
At this moment, a voice came from the door above the platform. A female mercenary with long hair said, "Sir, the main gate has been opened. We can enter now."
Matthew Addison nodded to the people and sighed as he looked at Smith Lee and the others. Then he led the mercenaries toward the gate.
Under the control of the computer, the main gate gradually opened. Looking inside from the gate, it was pitch black, and they couldn't see anything except darkness. Matthew Addison said to a mercenary next to him, "J.D.!"
The person nodded and put on night vision goggles. Matthew Addison hesitated for a moment, then turned to the black-haired young man and said, "Bill White!"
Bill White didn't say much. He picked up a Desert Eagle and walked boldly inside. Smith Lee thought that this black-haired young man should also be familiar with the plot. In Resident Evil 1, as long as the main computer was not shut down, they would be safe here. At least for more than three hours, they would be safe. However, once the main computer was shut down, this place would become a world of zombies and lickers.
Soon, Bill White turned on the light switch inside, and gradually, the room became brighter. Especially the windows on the wall revealed the view of the city between the tall buildings. The outside was filled with sunlight, and the sky was blue. It was the scenery that Smith Lee had become numb to in his daily life.
The mercenaries and the others entered the room. A female mercenary held a detector and looked at it for a while, saying, "The gas has been dispersed. It's safe here now."
Smith Lee knew the entire plot. This underground laboratory was researching a bio-weapon called the T-virus. It could infect and activate human bodies, turning them into zombies. The entire personnel inside the facility were infected, but they were unaware of it. When the central computer of the Hive detected the situation, it cut off all communication with the outside world and released the gas inside the Hive. Until the mercenaries and the female protagonist arrived, the entire laboratory, except for them, was left with zombies... and lickers.
It seemed that Resident Evil 1 was indeed a popular movie. Smith Lee and the people around him had watched it. So, including Smith Lee and the girl with glasses, the others also leaned against the window and looked outside. The sunlight was brilliant, and it looked so real. They were not worried about being attacked at the moment because they knew this place was very safe.
Matt, the young man who came to find his sister, suddenly said, "This device is used to improve the working environment underground. No one wants to see dull steel walls all day long. If they can see the sunlight, they might think they are living on the surface."
Smith Lee hesitated for a moment and reached out his hand, saying, "Smith Lee... Well, I might be the security here."
As Matt didn't have any company records, he was immediately locked up by the mercenaries upon his arrival. He smiled bitterly and turned around, saying, "Locked up, so I can't shake your hand... and I've forgotten my name too."
Smith Lee smiled friendly. This Matt was a good person in the movie. He was actually the most innocent one. He was only here to find his sister. Even at the end of the story, he protected the female protagonist and survived. Until Biohazard 2, he fought for the female protagonist.
On the other side, Matthew Addison and several members of the mercenaries opened the elevator door, but it was pitch black inside. Helplessly, a mercenary member turned on a flare and threw it under the elevator. As the light gradually moved away, everyone finally saw where the elevator was... It had already fallen off its wires and crashed at the deepest point. Needless to say, the people inside were definitely dead.
The mercenary member turned around and said, "Sir, it seems we'll have to take the stairs."
Matthew Addison's face turned pale. He turned to the people and said, "We're taking the stairs. We must reach the bottom floor within ten minutes. Everyone, keep up!"
The mercenaries were naturally well-trained, and the female protagonist had an evolved T-virus in her body, which greatly enhanced her physical abilities. The other two male protagonists, Ryan and Matt, were also in good shape. Bill White had experienced three horror movies, and even if he only used a small portion of the rewards to strengthen himself, his physical strength surpassed that of ordinary people.
The remaining six people, although Smith Lee was an office worker, he enjoyed exercising. He spent at least a whole day in the gym every week. In his words, that was the only way to deal with the ambition of those office ladies. So, his physical strength was slightly stronger than that of an average person.
The girl with glasses appeared fragile and had no advantage in physical strength. Moreover, she was a girl, so her physical strength was even worse than that of a man. However, she was smart. When she started running up the stairs, she held onto Bill White's clothes, and Bill White immediately took on some of the burden. With just a glance, Bill White didn't say much and led her to run ahead.
The obese young man in his late twenties had a big belly and seemed to tremble all over. After running for a while, he started panting heavily, and his speed became slower and slower.
There were three other people, a middle-aged man who seemed to do physical labor. Although he didn't run fast, he always followed behind the main group and never fell behind.
A middle-aged woman, her speed was even worse than the obese man's, and she could only move forward step by step.
The last person was a teenager in his early teens. He had an ordinary appearance and didn't seem to stand out in terms of physical strength. In short, he was the type of person who would disappear in a crowd. His speed was the same as the middle-aged man, neither fast nor slow. He just closely followed the main group.
After running for a while, the obese man and the middle-aged woman were no longer visible. Smith Lee had been running alongside Bill White. He suddenly heard Bill White say, "Two out..."
Smith Lee asked in confusion, "What do you mean by two out?"
Bill White sneered and said, "They! Don't ignore my words. This is the real world. We will die here. Maybe you don't have any self-awareness yet and think this is just a movie, right? If they leave a hundred meters away from him, they will explode. This is one of the rules. They... are doomed!"
"Boom!"
As Bill White's words fell, two loud explosions came from above the staircase. Smith Lee and the others looked up in astonishment, but they couldn't see anything except the stairs above their heads. They couldn't see anything.
Two people eliminated!