Death Brushed Past Them (Part 1)

Zheng Zha and the others followed behind the main group in panic, not knowing what to do. Having only just come from the civilized real world, they were suddenly faced with this fantastical experience. At first, they had truly believed it was merely a dream, or something dreamlike. To be honest, Zheng Zha had even felt a burst of secret delight at the beginning.

He had long grown sick of that dull, waterlike life in reality. Aside from going to work and getting off work, eating and relieving himself, sleeping and waking up, he wanted enough excitement—sex, one-night stands, fighting, even smoking meth. But all of that was nothing special. It was all still reality. When you woke up after a night's sleep, it was still reality. He did not want a world like that! He wanted a more thrilling life, and now all of this seemed to have appeared before him.

So at first, he really had been delighted. Not only could he experience countless Horror Movies, but he could also use Reward Points to strengthen himself. Since he had watched countless Horror Movies, as long as the first few were among the films he had seen, he would only grow stronger and stronger. He definitely would not die. Once he became powerful enough, even the characters in the Horror Movies would be unable to do anything to him. Then he could stay in any world whenever he wished, live however he wished, enjoy thrills however he wished, and even keep becoming stronger. Even if he eventually grew tired of it all, he could return to reality. Yes! This was practically heaven.

That was indeed what Zheng Zha had thought at first, but when those two explosions rang out, it was as if a hammer had shattered his fantasies in a single blow. There was no heaven. This place was not heaven at all. It was clearly hell. He was nothing more than a tiny bug in the palm of the gods. A human life was worth no more than those explosions just now... He did not want to die! He did not want to die!

The mercenaries and the male and female leads seemed not to have heard the two explosions. They had not even noticed that two people were missing. As they drew closer and closer to the end of the stairs, one mercenary suddenly shouted, "Officer, Fire Queen has locked onto us. It knows we're here."

The female lead, Alice, asked strangely, "Who is Fire Queen?"

Matthew Addison glanced at her. "The best artificial intelligence system in the country. It controls the entire Hive. It's the central computer here."

The mercenaries had already descended the stairs. Zhang Jie turned back and sneered at the panting group, then shook his head. "Keep at it. If you survive, thank the heavens. Honestly, your luck is already good enough. This Horror Movie has an extremely low danger rating. In fact, it's one of the few Horror Movies where bullets can solve the problem. Hang in there. As long as you survive this Horror Movie, you'll get one thousand Reward Points to improve your physique."

As the group continued deeper inside, isolated research rooms gradually appeared on both sides of the corridor. Every one of them had been filled with water, and numerous researchers' corpses floated within. Their pale, ghastly forms looked terrifying. Zheng Zha and the others knew even better that they had been infected with the T-Virus and turned into Zombies. Once the central computer restarted, they would break free of their restraints and begin moving, eating people.

"That's bad."

One of the mercenaries said, "To reach Fire Queen, we have to pass through these laboratories. They're all flooded now. I don't think we can get through."

Matthew Addison nodded. "Rain, J.D., go see if the water can still be drained."

The long-haired female mercenary actually had the masculine name Rain. She and another mercenary, J.D., gripped their guns and headed deeper down the corridor.

Matthew Addison looked at the flooded research area. "Kaplan, Zhang Jie, find another route to Fire Queen."

Kaplan raised his gun and followed behind Rain and J.D. Zhang Jie merely waved at Zheng Zha and the others, then walked off in that direction as if completely at ease.

Once the four had gone far away, Ryan, one of the male leads, suddenly asked, "What exactly happened here? Why do these research rooms look like they were..."

"Like they were filled with water from the inside?"

Matthew Addison looked over the group before answering, "About five hours ago, Fire Queen sealed off the entire Hive. Then it began killing people using the internal defense systems—releasing poison gas, cutting off the elevators, sealing the research rooms, like these ones. It killed everyone in this experimental area."

He paused, then continued, "When the company realized something had happened here, our squad was sent in to shut it down. That's why we're here."

The protagonists were all filled with astonishment. Alice bit a finger and asked, "Why would it do that? Isn't it an intelligent computer system?"

Matthew Addison shook his head. "We don't know either. It may have been affected from the outside, such as by a computer virus... Or perhaps someone inside manipulated and sabotaged it. It could be any of—"

As Matthew Addison spoke, a human figure gradually appeared behind the glass wall Matt was leaning against. Matt looked closer and discovered it was a corpse floating in the water. He screamed in fright and jumped away.

Everyone was startled, and even Zheng Zha and the others jumped in alarm. All eyes turned in that direction. Inside the glass wall floated the pale corpse of a woman.

Although Matthew Addison and the others looked somewhat uneasy, they quickly calmed down. Only Zheng Zha's group of four were so frightened that their limbs went cold. Perhaps they had not felt much while sitting down to watch the movie, but being truly present in the scene—especially knowing that corpse was already a Zombie—the eerie terror was impossible to describe to outsiders.

Zheng Zha was staring blankly at the corpse when a small hand suddenly patted his shoulder. At a time like this, any movement was enough to scare someone to death. He leaped several meters away in terror, then turned around to see the bespectacled girl standing there, giggling.

"Hey, how about we introduce ourselves? After all, we're about to depend on each other for survival," the bespectacled girl said with a smile.

The three men did not seem to object, so the bespectacled girl said, "My name is Zhan Lan. Zhan as in Zhan Tianyou, Lan as in mountain mist. Hehe, it 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. Who would've thought I'd come to a world with endless inspiration? Hehe, I guess this is karma."

Zheng Zha smiled kindly. "Zheng Zha. Zheng as in Zheng Chenggong, Zha as in Nezha. I'm a company supervisor. Uh, before coming here, I really did complain that the real world was too boring, so dull that it felt like people were rotting away day after day. So I wanted some excitement... It's just that the excitement here is a little too intense."

Zhan Lan grinned and shook Zheng Zha's hand. "A kindred spirit. That's exactly what I thought too."

The middle-aged man smiled honestly. "Mou Gang. Mou as in Mou, Gang as in steel. Sigh, I'm not as cultured as you people. That's just my name. I'm a long-haul freight driver. Before coming here, I did complain that my wife was too stingy and my son was no good. In short, I was pretty disappointed with reality. I clicked confirm while playing an online game with friends, and then I ended up here."

The last youth, who had seemed utterly ordinary, said, "Li Xiaoyi, a senior high school student. Before coming here, I'd complained about a lot of things. But this place is actually pretty good. As long as you don't die, you can become a superhuman. And from what Zhang Jie said, if we can go back, it seems these enhanced abilities will remain. I'm sick of being bullied at school. If I can go back, I'll definitely kill those bastards!"

A ferocious expression appeared on the youth's face. The other three exchanged looks. They all knew he must have been bullied constantly at school. His complaints must have come from utter disappointment in the real world. Looking at it this way, everyone who came here had one thing in common: complaints and disappointment with the real world.

At that moment, Zhang Jie and another mercenary returned. As he passed Zhan Lan, he deliberately gave the girl's butt a heavy slap. Caught off guard, Zhan Lan only had time to scream before Zhang Jie laughed loudly and walked toward Matthew Addison.

"Officer, we found another route, but it'll probably take more time. We need to go back this way, then pass through B Restaurant and head straight to the destination. This route may take twice as long," the mercenary beside Zhang Jie said.

At that moment, the other two scouts also returned. The long-haired female mercenary named Rain said, "Officer, there's no way through over there. That entire level has been completely flooded."

Matthew Addison nodded. "All right, we'll take the second route. There's not much time left. Move out."

With no other choice, Zheng Zha and the others followed the main group back along the return route. Fortunately, the mercenaries did not run this time. After walking who knew how far, they finally stopped outside an iron door. One of the mercenaries used a computer to unlock it, and the people in front cautiously entered with their guns raised.

It was a vast hall filled with countless small cargo containers. Each container was several cubic meters in size, and cold air constantly seeped from within. Anyone who had watched Resident Evil 1 knew this was the warehouse where Lickers were frozen. Once the central computer was shut down, these Lickers would become the most terrifying alien creatures, more than a hundred times deadlier than Zombies.

One mercenary looked at the computer. "This is B Restaurant... at least, that's what the map says."

Matthew Addison walked over to look at the computer, while Matt said from the side, "Maybe there are some secrets hidden here. Secrets the company doesn't want the outside world to know..."

Matthew Addison glanced at him without speaking, then said to the mercenaries beside him, "J.D., Rain, Zhang Jie, watch the prisoner here and guard the exit."

At that moment, another female mercenary suddenly said, "Officer, the poison gas reading here is zero. Maybe no poison gas was released here. Perhaps the defense system malfunctioned here."

Matthew Addison nodded. "All right. J.D., Rain, Zhang Jie, there may be survivors hiding here. Search the area, but don't go too far. You must keep watch over the prisoner and the exit first, understood?"

All three nodded. Only Zhang Jie gave a cold laugh and took a cigarette from his pocket. Anyone who had seen the movie should know that there were no survivors here. There were plenty of Zombies, though.

The bespectacled girl beside Zheng Zha suddenly walked over to Zhang Jie and quietly asked, "There's something I want to know. Can we change the plot of the movie here?"

Zhang Jie nodded. "Go on. What else do you want to ask?"

She smiled, her laughter like the chime of a silver wind bell. "Then can we use plastic explosives here? If we kill all the Lickers in this room, wouldn't we get several thousand Reward Points?"

Zhang Jie smiled as well. "That's true. Yes, blowing this place up would get us several thousand Reward Points. But I have two questions for you. First, do you think they'll give us time to set up plastic explosives?" He pointed at the mercenaries.

"They don't know what these things are, nor do they know what will happen if the central computer is shut down. If they see us doing something they can't understand, the most likely outcome is that they'll shoot us first. That could very well release the Lickers ahead of time. The Main God won't just let you alter the plot that easily. Even if you do change it, it'll likely raise the difficulty and create accidents along the way. Understand?"

After answering his own question, Zhang Jie immediately asked another. "Second question: what do you think is our greatest reliance for surviving in Horror Movies?"

The bespectacled girl froze for a moment and touched her forehead. "Strength? No. Luck? Not that either. It's too unpredictable, good one moment and bad the next... It should be knowing the plot, right?"

Zhang Jie smiled. "Bingo, correct. Knowing the plot is precisely our greatest reliance. So unless I'm absolutely certain, I will never change the plot. And if anyone tries to force a change in order to gain Reward Points, I don't mind sending them to hell."

Zheng Zha was standing beside the two of them, listening silently the entire time. Yet he discovered that Zhang Jie was watching him with a strange look, making him deeply uncomfortable. It was a gaze filled with pity and mockery, as if... as if he were looking at a dead man. It made Zheng Zha feel extremely uneasy.

Just then, the mercenary captain, Matthew Addison, said, "All right, begin the operation. The rest of you, come with me."

Zhang Jie behaved naturally as well. He stayed behind the main group, seeming to search constantly from side to side. The mercenaries noticed but said nothing. Only Zheng Zha and the others understood that Zhang Jie could not get more than a hundred meters away from Matthew Addison, so he had to remain with the group.

They passed through several more steel doors before arriving at a central computer control room. Of course, Fire Queen, the central computer, was now out of control, so this place could no longer directly control the entire laboratory.