Chapter Nine: Hope in the Real World (Three)

Zhang Jie seemed to hate Chu Xuan's arrogant tone. He said coldly, "So what if we're just using ordinary people's intelligence? So what if I damn well created a woman? I'm still alive and kicking, and I'm going to live better and better! You damn..."

Zheng Zha stepped in front of Zhang Jie to stop him. "You're not so bored that you're just making fun of us, are you? Maybe you're right. The slot 'Main God' gave us was meant for creating a strong bodyguard. But that's just your guess. What if the bodyguard can't enter the Horror Movies with you? Even if he can, can you guarantee he'll become a vital force in helping you survive? Besides, when we enter a Horror Movie, we have to stand in a slanted beam of light just over a meter in diameter. How many people do you think can fit inside it?"

Chu Xuan snapped his fingers and said calmly, "Your ability to reason is improving. You're clearly at the same level as Zhan Lan now. I wasn't making fun of you. But have you considered why this Horror Movie gave us twenty slots? Because a team needs people with different kinds of talent. If everyone focuses on improving their physical attributes, that might indeed increase their chances of surviving Horror Movies, but it would also leave the team with only one kind of ability. If we faced a special situation, the whole team might die together!"

As he spoke, Chu Xuan took a cloth-wrapped bundle from inside his clothes. He opened it to reveal an assortment of parts and small tools, then pointed to them. "Besides finished products, 'Main God' also lets us exchange for the materials and equipment needed to make things. In other words, if you have the relevant knowledge and skills, you can make expensive items at a very low cost—even bypass the Side Story restrictions. But do you have that knowledge and those skills? Definitely not!"

"People who do have that knowledge and those skills tend to be physically weak and lack combat ability. So how do they survive in the early stages? The only answer is a bodyguard. And based on the size of the beam you mentioned, it's just big enough for two people to stand in. In other words, why does 'Main God' only give us one chance to create a bodyguard? Because we can only bring one bodyguard into a Horror Movie. That's the unspoken hint 'Main God' is giving us! The lives of people with special talents can still be protected. That's probably what 'Main God' meant."

Incredible! He'd deduced so many possibilities from so little information. That kind of reasoning ability... It could only be described as inhuman.

Zheng Zha and the others stared at Chu Xuan in shock as he continued. "So these twenty people should be all kinds of talented individuals. I've been wondering how 'Main God' chooses people to bring here. Besides being disappointed with their lives in the real world, 'Main God' also seems to be selecting people with different kinds of talent. For example, it brought people of all ages, from genuinely capable people to housewives. 'Main God' itself probably doesn't know who's best suited to Horror Movie Reincarnation, so it brought in people from all walks of life and let natural selection weed them out. Perhaps that's why new people keep joining. And to keep the ones with special skills alive, the first creation of a living being absolutely can't be wasted. A special-forces bodyguard twice as strong as an ordinary person would be incredibly useful in a sci-fi Horror Movie. I don't think I need to say more."

Chu Xuan paused, then put the bundle of parts away. "That's the first thing I wanted to say. If I die in the next Horror Movie, then when new people join in the future, if they're engineers or other kinds of noncombat specialists, you can tell them the proper way to use their first living-being creation—not to make a beautiful woman for people to have sex with."

Zhang Jie was about to lose his temper again, but Zheng Zha grabbed him and said, "You might be right, but I don't believe creating the woman I love is useless in a Horror Movie. Emotional support can often keep people alive better than practical support. Besides, 'Main God' never explained what the first living-being creation was for. In other words, the choice has infinite possibilities, and no one can say for certain that their own idea is absolutely right. Still, I'll tell the newcomers what you said... What's the second thing?"

Chu Xuan actually smiled faintly. He took five printed documents from inside his clothes and handed them out to the other four. "These are my notes on what we can probably exchange for from 'Main God.' They're divided into four categories, with practical items we might use, from low to high level. I've also written down their descriptions and functions. Of course, some of those functions are just my own guesses. That's the second thing: standardizing the exchange system, so we know what we can get and can prepare for whatever we might have to face."

"This is another one of my guesses. Perhaps we aren't meant to keep appearing in Horror Movies. Maybe 'Main God' wants us to go through dangerous situations and keep breaking through and evolving. Horror Movies are simply the most dangerous, so that's why we mostly end up in them. If that's the case, then some extremely dangerous sci-fi movies might appear too..."

Zheng Zha perked up with interest. "Like what? What kinds of sci-fi movies might show up?"

Chu Xuan pushed up his glasses. "For example, Starship Troopers. If 'Main God' dropped us onto a planet full of bugs, with all kinds of insectoids surrounding us, and we had no heavy weapons, I don't think we'd survive. Of course, in some sense, 'Main God' probably wouldn't put us in a completely hopeless situation. But to prepare for the possibility, I recommend that we each have three kinds of weapons: melee weapons, rapid-fire weapons, and heavy weapons."

"For melee weapons, I recommend spiritual weapons and legendary weapons. I don't like supernatural Horror Movies, because they have no scientific logic. I won't waste my brain on things that can't be explained by facts. But the problem is, we might have to face just such Horror Movies. To survive them, I recommend choosing spiritual or legendary weapons for close combat. They can handle ordinary living beings as well as supernatural entities. Zheng Zha, you've done very well in that regard. Your Storage Ring practically covers both logistics and spiritual attacks. Given your physical abilities, it's almost a perfect choice."

"Rapid-fire weapons are for dealing with large groups of enemies, like hordes of zombies. There's not much to say about those. As for heavy weapons, I recommend that Zero Point choose the Gauss Ion Sniper Rifle. It fires bullets as ion-accelerated projectiles, and their immense kinetic energy can destroy almost anything in their path. I didn't expect 'Main God Space' to have a finished version of this long-range heavy weapon, which is still in the experimental stage in the real world... As for the rest of you, I don't recommend buying one. Your weapon-handling skills are simply atrocious. You'd be better off using rapid-fire weapons, such as Submachine guns, and focusing on the ammunition. If you load your Submachine guns with new depleted-uranium rounds, they'll have impressive penetration and stopping power."

"That's basically everything about choosing weapons. I should add one last thing: these weapons can also be used against supernatural monsters, as long as you use spiritual bullets. They might just be a little more expensive."

Zheng Zha was impressed. This was what a true professional looked like. He hadn't even thought about any of this the last time he'd been in Main God Space. Chu Xuan's advice would raise their chances of survival by several dozen percent. Although Zheng Zha was resentful and disapproved of some of Chu Xuan's methods, Chu Xuan's value was undeniable. He was a genius at analysis.

Zheng Zha looked at some of the notes. "But these guns with unlimited ammunition are really expensive. We don't have enough Reward Points to exchange for them yet. And that Gauss Ion Sniper Rifle with unlimited ammunition costs a D-Class Side Story and five thousand Reward Points. That's just too many Reward Points..."

Chu Xuan smiled faintly. "When did I say we should exchange for weapons with unlimited ammunition? Remember what I said about the first thing? Besides bodyguards, we can also exchange for parts and equipment from 'Main God.' Gunpowder is incredibly cheap: one Reward Point can get us a ton of high-quality yellow gunpowder. Copper and other metals are just as cheap. I can exchange for ordinary parts and build a bullet-production workshop, which would let us mass-produce the ammunition we need. We wouldn't be able to carry unlimited ammunition, but unless things got really bad, the amount we carried should be enough for a sci-fi Horror Movie. Legendary weapons are indeed extremely expensive, and we can't make them ourselves, but we can exchange for some spiritual bullets to handle those situations. That's what I wanted to say about the second thing: our standard equipment!"

Zheng Zha and the others exchanged glances. They could see the joy in one another's eyes. As long as they could survive, even if it was only a possibility, that was enough to make them happy. Zheng Zha smiled at Chu Xuan. "Then go on. You really are amazing, Chu Xuan. Without you, we probably never would've thought of doing things this way... Keep the surprises coming. What's the third thing?"

Chu Xuan bit his finger and said, "I found an option to return to the real world... We can only go back temporarily, and it costs a lot of Reward Points, but it should be a good way to verify whether only our minds entered this world while our bodies stayed behind. We can also test whether we can take things from here with us, and whether we can bring our enhanced physical abilities back... Yes, I found a way to return to the real world!"