Hope in the Real World (1)

The five of them underwent physical restoration for over two hours. In fact, the others had finished after a little more than an hour; only Zheng Zha's restoration took the longest. When his body had finally been completely repaired, the light shining down on him suddenly changed from sunlight-like radiance to green light. Zheng Zha alone seemed to understand: this was probably the Main God repairing his genes, which were on the verge of collapse.

What exactly did it feel like to unlock the Gene lock? Even now, Zheng Zha could not explain it clearly. In that state, vast amounts of information instinctively flooded into his mind. Although he could only enter the Gene lock-unlocked state during battle so far, that was already incredible enough. At the very least, he had survived after unlocking it. If he could use that state under any circumstances—for instance, while planning strategies, or while reasoning and analyzing... In short, once he could use the Gene lock-unlocked state at will, he would practically become an omnipotent superhuman.

From midair, Zheng Zha looked down at the others. Zhang Jie laughed the loudest, wrapping an arm around the flushed classical Beauty as he roared, "Damn it, we escaped death by a hair! But we struck it rich this time. A fixed thousand Reward Points for every Horror Movie, five hundred Reward Points for killing an Alien, plus a thousand Reward Points and one D-Class Side Story for completing the mission. Damn! Fortune really does come from danger. I'd accept this kind of desperate situation anytime, hahaha!"

Chu Xuan seemed to have checked his Reward Points with the Main God as well. After a moment of silence, he said, "My physical restoration cost 107 points. Does it usually cost that much?"

Zhang Jie shook his head. "Mending injuries is actually cheap. Restoration is what costs a lot. Say you lose an arm or a leg—patching that up is cheap. But if your life is in danger and it doesn't even know what parts need repairing, then you have to use the restoration function. It completely restores your body, but it costs a lot more Reward Points. You got off easy with just over a hundred points. I spent more than two hundred Reward Points before I was fully restored."

Zhan Lan stood to one side with a miserable expression. "Mine cost more than four hundred Reward Points. I only have a little over sixteen hundred left now, and that includes the hundred Reward Points for explaining things to the newcomers. Ugh, restoring my body cost way too many Reward Points... The only consolation is that I still have one D-Class Side Story."

Zhang Jie laughed loudly. "Be satisfied. Horror Movies that change the plot like this usually wipe out the entire group. Five of us actually survived, so we should be grateful. Did you think Side Stories were so easy to get? We have Zheng Zha to thank. Otherwise, we'd all be inside the Alien Queen's belly by now."

At the mention of the words "Alien Queen," all four of their expressions changed. They looked like people who had been chased through several streets by a vicious dog, only to get bitten on the ass in the end. In Zheng Zha's words, they felt chilled to the bone.

Still, they had survived, and that was more important than anything. Only now did Zheng Zha have the chance to close his eyes and connect with the Main God. The moment he did, a long string of reward figures flooded into his mind: the fixed thousand Reward Points for each Horror Movie, a thousand Reward Points for killing two Aliens, three thousand Reward Points for killing the Alien Queen, plus another thousand Reward Points and one D-Class Side Story for completing the mission. That alone came to six thousand Reward Points. There was also a line reading "Breaking Through the Genetic Threshold..." Yet apart from those words, there was not even a single word of explanation. Zheng Zha found that deeply puzzling.

Six thousand bucks—no, six thousand Reward Points! And that D-Class Side Story was good stuff too. Zheng Zha immediately grew excited, but when he saw his remaining Reward Points, he froze. Only 4,170 remained. He remembered having 276 points left after his last exchange, and he had gained another 6,000 this time. In other words, his complete physical restoration had somehow cost over 2,000 Reward Points. The number made him smile bitterly at once. It was easy to imagine how severe his injuries had been. The fact that the Main God had managed to save him made him shudder when he thought about how lucky he had been.

No matter what, he was still alive, and he even had four thousand extra Reward Points. That sense of fullness and security was beyond words. Zheng Zha could not be bothered to remain connected to the Main God any longer. He relaxed and withdrew from that state, then lay quietly in the green light to recover his strength. Only more than an hour later did he descend from the air to the ground.

The instant he landed, Zhang Jie burst out laughing and gave him a bear hug. The moment Zhang Jie released him, Loli rushed over with sobs. As soon as she threw herself into his arms, the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl immediately bit down on his shoulder, while tears streamed endlessly from her face onto it.

When someone cared too deeply about the person they truly loved, such overwhelming swings between joy and grief were only natural. That was exactly what Loli was going through. Besides, she really was only a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl. A high school girl facing life, death, and separation could not possibly take it as calmly as an adult.

Zhan Lan had spread her arms too, and from the look of it, she had intended to rush over and have a good cry as well. But when she saw Zheng Zha's and Loli's expressions, the young woman slowly lowered her arms and merely stood to one side with a silent smile.

Zhang Jie suddenly laughed. "All right, all right, even if you two want to get intimate, shouldn't you at least consider where you are? Hahaha! Everyone, I'll excuse myself. Whatever you want to say can wait until I wake up tomorrow. This experience was far too dangerous. Tomorrow, I'll have your sister-in-law make a huge table of delicious food to calm your nerves..." With that, he scooped the classical Beauty up around the waist. Ignoring the astonished looks around him and her bashful protests, he laughed as he ran toward his room.

Zheng Zha shook his head helplessly. "You know how to open your own rooms now, right? You decide their size and layout with your imagination. No one can enter your room without your permission. Oh, and about using Reward Points... tomorrow. Tomorrow, we'll discuss how to use them. If we'd had heavy weapons in Alien One this time, perhaps we wouldn't have suffered such heavy casualties. Chu Xuan definitely knows more about that than I do. Tomorrow, let's discuss how we should face future Horror Movies."

After saying that, he imitated Zhang Jie and scooped Loli into his arms. The little girl immediately let out a cry, then wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and refused to let go. He laughed loudly as he headed toward his room, but Chu Xuan's voice unexpectedly came from behind him.

"Thank you... for this time."

"No need to thank me. If you hadn't saved me with your pistol at the end, we might all have died... So we're still allies, right? Hahaha..."

Zheng Zha said it without turning around, then laughed as he entered his room. Only three silent people remained in the square: Chu Xuan, Zero Point, and Zhan Lan, who had been gazing intently at Zheng Zha's retreating back...