Zheng Zha and the others were panic-stricken, following the main team behind them. They didn't know what to do anymore. Having just come from the real world, they were suddenly confronted with this fantastical experience. At first, they truly thought it was just a dream or a dream-like experience. Honestly, in the beginning, Zheng Zha even felt a bit of joy.
Tired of the mundane, monotonous life in the real world, which consisted of nothing but work, meals, sleep, and waking up again, he craved excitement—sex, one-night stands, fights, even using drugs. But all of that still felt like reality. When you woke up after a night's sleep, it was still reality. He didn't want that kind of world! He wanted something more thrilling, and now, it seemed like all of that was right in front of him.
So, at the start, he felt a sense of glee. Not only could he experience the scenarios from countless horror films, but he could also use reward points to enhance himself. Because he had seen so many horror films, as long as the first few were films he had watched, he would only grow stronger and never die. Once he became strong enough, even the characters in the horror films wouldn't be able to touch him. At that point, he could stay in any world at will, live however he wanted, enjoy the thrills, and even get stronger. Even if he eventually got bored, he could return to the real world. Yes, this was heaven.
At first, Zheng Zha indeed thought this way, but when the two explosions rang out, it was as if a hammer shattered his fantasy. There was no heaven here. This wasn't heaven. This was clearly hell. He was just a tiny insect in the hands of the gods. A human life was worth nothing more than the sound of those explosions. He didn't want to die! He didn't want to die!
The mercenaries and the main characters didn't seem to hear the explosions, and they hadn't noticed that two people were missing. As they neared the end of the stairs, one mercenary suddenly shouted,"Commander, the Fire Queen has locked onto us. It knows we're here."
The female protagonist, Alice, asked curiously,"Who is the Fire Queen?"
Matthew Edison glanced at her and replied,"It's the best AI system in the country. It controls the entire hive. It's the central computer here."
The mercenaries continued to descend the stairs, and Zhang Jie turned around, sneering as he looked at the out-of-breath group. He shook his head and said,"Keep going. If you survive, thank your lucky stars. Honestly, your luck's been pretty good. This horror movie has a very low danger level. In fact, it's one of the few where bullets can solve the problem. Just hold on, and if you survive this horror movie, you'll get a thousand reward points to improve your physical abilities."
As the team moved forward, some research labs appeared along the corridor, each filled with water, and many researchers' bodies floated within, their pale corpses making the scene even more chilling. Zheng Zha and the others knew that they had already been infected by the T-virus and turned into zombies. Once the central computer was restarted, they would break free of their constraints and start moving to feed on people.
"This is bad," one of the mercenaries said."To reach the Fire Queen, we have to pass through these labs, but they're all flooded now. I don't think we can get in."
Matthew Edison nodded."Rayne, JD, go check if there's a way to drain the water."
Rayne, a female mercenary with a rather masculine name, and JD both nodded and grabbed their guns, heading deeper into the corridor.
Matthew Edison looked at the flooded research labs and said,"Kaplan, Zhang Jie, you two find another route to the Fire Queen."
Kaplan raised his gun and followed Rayne and JD, while Zhang Jie waved his hand at Zheng Zha and the others, seemingly relaxed, and walked toward the other route.
Once the four had gone further, one of the male protagonists, Ryan, suddenly asked,"What exactly happened here? Why do these research labs look like…"
"Like they were filled with water from the inside?" Matthew Edison finished the sentence.
He looked at the others before answering,"About five hours ago, the Fire Queen locked down the entire hive and then used the internal defense system to start killing people—releasing poison gas, cutting the elevators, and locking down the research labs, like these. It killed everyone in this research area."
He paused and continued,"When the company realized something went wrong, they sent our team here to shut it down. That's why we're here."
The main characters were all shocked, and Alice bit her finger."Why would it do that? Isn't it an intelligent computer system?"
Matthew Edison shook his head."We don't know. It could have been influenced by something external, like a computer virus… or maybe someone inside sabotaged it. We can't be sure…"
Just as Matthew Edison was speaking, a figure gradually appeared on the glass wall that Matt was leaning against. Matt looked closely and realized it was a floating body in the water. He screamed and jumped back.
Everyone was startled, even Zheng Zha and the others, who leapt up in fear. They all looked toward the glass wall where the pale female corpse was drifting.
Matthew Edison and the others, although slightly unnerved, quickly regained their composure. However, Zheng Zha and the others were frozen in fear, their hands and feet going cold. Maybe when watching a movie, it wasn't so terrifying, but being in the midst of it, especially knowing that the body had turned into a zombie, the eerie, terrifying atmosphere was beyond anything they could describe.
Zheng Zha was staring at the body in a daze when suddenly a small hand tapped his shoulder. At this point, any noise would have been enough to scare them half to death. He jumped several meters in shock and turned around to see the girl with glasses standing there, giggling.
"Hey, how about we introduce ourselves? After all, we'll probably have to rely on each other soon," the girl with glasses said with a smile.
The three men didn't seem to mind, and the girl continued,"My name is Zhan Lan. Zhan as in Zhan Tianyou, and Lan as in the mountain wind. Hehe, sounds like a boy's name, doesn't it? I'm a writer. Before coming here, I kept complaining that I had no desire or inspiration to write. I didn't expect to end up in this world of infinite inspiration. Haha, I guess this is karma."
Zheng Zha smiled warmly and said,"Zheng Zha, as in Zheng Chenggong and Nezha. I'm a company manager. Before coming here, I also complained about how boring the real world was. It felt so monotonous, like people were rotting away day by day. I wanted something exciting... but this excitement is a bit too intense."
Zhan Lan giggled and shook Zheng Zha's hand, saying,"A fellow soul! Actually, I thought the same way."
The middle-aged man chuckled good-naturedly and said,"Mou Gang, Mou as in the character for 'strength,' Gang as in 'steel.' Well, I'm not as educated as you, cultural types, but that's my name. My profession is a long-distance truck driver. Before I came here, I'd been complaining about how my wife was too frugal and how my son wasn't living up to expectations. Overall, I was pretty disappointed with real life. I was playing games with some friends online when I clicked the confirmation, and next thing I knew, I ended up here."
The last, rather indifferent young man spoke up,"Li Xiao Yi, a senior high school student. Before coming here, I'd complained about a lot of things, but honestly, this place isn't so bad. As long as I don't die, I can become a superhero. And according to Zhang Jie, even if we manage to go back, these enhanced abilities seem to stay with us. I can't stand being bullied at school anymore. If I get back, I'll make sure to kill those bastards!"
A grim look appeared on the young man's face, and the other three exchanged glances. They all knew that this young man had probably been a target of bullying in school, and his frustration with the real world was evident. It seemed that everyone who had ended up here shared one thing in common: disappointment and frustration with the real world.
At that moment, Zhang Jie and another mercenary returned. As Zhang Jie passed by Zhan Lan, he deliberately slapped her on the backside. Caught off guard, Zhan Lan let out a sharp scream, and Zhang Jie laughed heartily as he walked toward Matthew Edison.
"Commander, we found another route, but it'll take longer. We'll head back here first, then go through the B cafeteria. This route might take twice as long," said the mercenary beside Zhang Jie.
Just then, the other two scouts returned. The long-haired female mercenary, Rayne, said,"Commander, we can't go that way. The floor above is completely flooded."
Matthew Edison nodded."Alright, we'll take the second route. Time is running out, so everyone, hurry up."
Reluctantly, Zheng Zha and the others followed the main team back. Fortunately, this time, the mercenaries didn't run, and after walking for what seemed like a long time, they finally stopped in front of an iron gate. One of the mercenaries used a computer to open the gate, and then a few of the front-line people cautiously entered.
They entered a large hall filled with numerous small containers, each a few cubic meters in size. A chilling atmosphere emanated from the containers. Anyone who had seen the first "Resident Evil" movie would recognize this as the storage area for the frozen crawlers. Once the main computer was shut down, these crawlers would turn into the most terrifying alien creatures, far more deadly than zombies.
One mercenary looked at the computer and said,"This is the B cafeteria... that's what the map says."
Matthew Edison walked over to him and looked at the screen, but Matt, standing beside him, spoke up,"Maybe there are some secrets hidden here, secrets that the company doesn't want the outside world to know about..."
Matthew Edison glanced at him but didn't say anything. He turned to the mercenaries next to him and said,"JD, Rayne, Zhang Jie, keep an eye on the prisoners here and guard the exit."
At that moment, another female mercenary spoke up,"Commander, the gas levels here show zero. It seems no poison gas has been released. Maybe the defense system here has malfunctioned."
Matthew Edison nodded."Alright, JD, Rayne, Zhang Jie, there might still be some survivors hiding here. Search around, but don't go too far. You have to keep an eye on the prisoners and the exit. Understand?"
The three mercenaries nodded, but Zhang Jie sneered and pulled out a cigarette from his pocket. Anyone who had watched the movie would know: survivors? No, there were no survivors—only plenty of zombies.
The girl with glasses next to Zheng Zha suddenly walked up to Zhang Jie and whispered,"I want to ask something. Can we change the plot of the movie here?"
Zhang Jie nodded."Go ahead. What else do you want to know?"
She laughed, her voice sounding like silver wind chimes."Well, can we use plastic explosives here? If we kill all the crawlers in this room, wouldn't we get thousands of reward points?"
Zhang Jie laughed as well."That's true. Blowing this place up would indeed get us thousands of reward points, but I have two questions for you. First, do you think they'll give us time to set up the explosives?" He gestured to the mercenaries.
"They don't know what these things are, and they don't understand the consequences of shutting down the main computer. If they see us doing something they can't comprehend, the most likely outcome is that they'll shoot us first. The crawlers will be released ahead of time. The'Master' won't let you change the plot so easily. Even if you manage to change it, the difficulty and risks will probably increase, understand?"
Zhang Jie answered his own question before continuing,"Second question: What do you think is the greatest thing we can rely on to survive in a horror movie?"
The girl with glasses hesitated for a moment, then touched her forehead."Strength? No, luck? Not really, that's too unpredictable... maybe it's knowing the plot?"
Zhang Jie smiled."Bingo, you got it right. Knowing the plot is our greatest reliance. So, unless I'm absolutely sure, I won't change the plot. And if anyone tries to forcibly change it to gain reward points, I don't mind sending them straight to hell."
At that moment, Zheng Zha was standing nearby, quietly listening. He noticed Zhang Jie was giving him a strange look, one filled with both pity and mockery, as if… as if he were looking at a dead person. It made Zheng Zha feel extremely uncomfortable.
Just then, the mercenary captain, Matthew Edison, spoke up,"Alright, let's move out. The rest of you, stay with me."
Zhang Jie acted naturally, following the main group, his eyes constantly scanning the area as if searching for something. The mercenaries saw this but didn't say anything, only Zheng Zha and the others understood: Zhang Jie couldn't stray more than 100 meters away from Matthew Edison, so he had to stick with the main team.
They passed through several more steel gates, and eventually, they arrived at the central computer control room. Of course, now that the main computer, the Fire Queen, was out of control, it couldn't directly control the entire laboratory anymore.