Third: The Break! (Part Two)

At her words, Loli struggled to open her eyes. Her pale little face lit up with a brilliant smile. "Big pervert, hurry and run! Don't you want to carry me with you?"

Tears welled up in Zheng Zha's eyes. The little girl before him seemed to have returned to how she'd been ten years ago. Back then, though she'd lost all her hair and was so thin she looked like a skeleton, she'd still smiled just as brightly and called him a big pervert. And he... couldn't bear to lose her a second time.

Though his heart was breaking, Zheng Zha kept carrying Loli and ran frantically upstairs. As he ran, he said, "Loli, talk to me. Keep talking to me... Don't fall asleep, whatever you do. You promised we'd grow old together. I kept fighting to stay alive because I promised you I would, so don't break your promise a second time... Please, stay alive with me!"

Loli struggled to keep her eyes open and smiled at him. "But what should I say? I'm so sleepy, big pervert. I really want to go to sleep... How about I sing you a song?"

Tears streamed uncontrollably from Zheng Zha's eyes as he ran faster and faster. With a sharp crack, his left leg suddenly snapped at the gunshot wound. Caught off guard, he toppled backward down the stairs. To keep Loli from getting hurt, he could only hold her tightly in his arms.

He'd only climbed a few steps, so the fall wasn't too bad. As soon as he hit the floor, Zheng Zha got back up, wrapped Loli tightly to his back with his bulletproof vest, and began climbing with both hands and feet. His broken left leg was a serious hindrance, nearly halving his speed.

Zheng Zha gritted his teeth, raised his dagger, and hacked at his left leg. He was still in the gene lock state, and the wound only spurted blood a few times before his muscles squeezed it shut. Then he ignored everything else and crawled upstairs.

"By the banyan tree beside the pond The cicadas chirp and call out summer On the swings beside the playground Only a butterfly rests there The teacher's chalk on the blackboard Still scribbles away without a pause Waiting for class to end Waiting for school to let out Waiting for the games of childhood..."

Loli's singing rang out, but the song was the achingly sad "Childhood." Tears blurred Zheng Zha's vision. They said a real man didn't shed tears, but that was only because he hadn't reached the depths of sorrow. His fingernails weren't strong enough. At the speed he was crawling, all ten had soon peeled back, leaving his fingertips a gruesome, bloody mess.

"...No one knows why The sun always sets beyond the mountain No one can tell me Whether immortals live in the mountains So many days have passed With me alone, staring blankly at the sky So curious So full of dreams Such a lonely childhood Oh... day after day, year after year Longing to grow up, childhood Oh... day after day, year after year Longing to grow up, childhood..."

Loli's voice grew weaker and weaker. Zheng Zha began howling in desperation. He charged into the floor where he worked, then slammed into the office door. The office was blindingly bright, even though not a single light had been switched on. The glow came from the computer screen in front of the desk. Zheng Zha looked up and saw several helicopters hovering outside the office window. They'd probably been drawn by the light. The moment they saw him, the snipers aboard aimed their guns at him. Almost at the same time, their communicators crackled to life.

"...Yes, Captain. They... they've disappeared!"

After drifting through that half-asleep haze once more, Zheng Zha had no idea how much time had passed. When he came to, he saw several people facing him, all of them looking surprised. They were Zhang Jie, Zhan Lan, Zero Point, and... Chu Xuan!

Zheng Zha didn't have time to wonder why they were all in the plaza. Holding Loli, he turned toward the Main God behind him and shouted, "Main God, hurry and heal her injuries!"

Zhang Jie suddenly shouted, "Wait, hold on!"

The man rushed over, took Loli from him, and yelled, "Main God, heal her injuries! Deduct the Repair Points from me!"

Zheng Zha was still stunned when Zhang Jie hurriedly shouted, "Heal your own injuries! I know you don't have many Reward Points left. Once your points go negative, the Main God will erase you! Hurry and heal yourself!"

Zheng Zha stared blankly as a beam of white light shot from the Main God onto Loli. The little girl floated into the air, and gradually the pallor drained from her face. Only then did he say, "Main God, heal my injuries!"

After the healing was complete, Zheng Zha had spent over four hundred Reward Points. The leg he'd cut off had grown back, too. Loli was waiting on the ground, and the moment he landed, she threw herself into his arms.

"Loli... stand behind me."

Zheng Zha smiled faintly at Loli. Then he snapped open his dagger and charged at Chu Xuan, aiming its sharp tip at the bespectacled man's forehead. Given the distance, only Zero Point reacted in time. He tackled Chu Xuan to the ground, but the dagger still came down, slicing one of Zero Point's arms clean off.

Zhang Jie hurriedly grabbed Zheng Zha and shouted, "Zheng Zha! Have you gone crazy? Why are you attacking one of our own?"

Zheng Zha roared in fury. "One of our own? Damn it, one of our own! I spent Reward Points and a Side Story to get everyone back, but do you know what this bastard did? He put the tracking device from his watch on my dagger! Want to know why I came back in such a sorry state? I was hunted all the way here! The National Security Bureau arrested me and threw me in jail. I barely fought my way back at the last possible moment! Tell me, does a bastard like that still count as one of us?"

Everyone looked over at Chu Xuan. The bespectacled man sat up from the floor as if nothing had happened, brushed off his clothes, and said, "I see. Then my theory was correct..."

With a dull thud, Zheng Zha kicked Chu Xuan in the chest. The force sent the bespectacled man flying nearly ten meters, and he immediately spat out several mouthfuls of blood.

"Damn it!" Zheng Zha roared madly. "Is my life really worth so little to you? All this for one of your damn theories? We were allies, and I fought just as hard in the last Horror Movie! Is this how you repay people? I'm going to kill you!"

Zhang Jie clung tightly to Zheng Zha, but how could he possibly match Zheng Zha's strength? As Zheng Zha moved step by step toward Chu Xuan, Zhan Lan suddenly shouted in desperation, "Do you want to get Loli killed? Killing someone costs a thousand Reward Points. Do you have a thousand right now? If your points go negative, you'll be erased! If you want to die, go ahead, but why drag Loli into it?"

At her words, Zheng Zha slowly came to a stop. The wild fury on his face began to fade, but he still looked murderous as he said, "Chu Xuan, I don't know how long the National Security Bureau will keep my parents locked up. I won't kill you, but I'll cut off all four of your limbs. You can heal yourself, and I'll cut them off again! Then we'll see whether you starve to death or get erased by the Main God because you can't enter the light."

Chu Xuan sat up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Calmly, he asked, "What happened to the tracking device? Did you throw it away?"

Zheng Zha sneered. "Of course. Did you think I'd bring it back to return it to you?"

Chu Xuan nodded. "Then I guarantee your parents will be fine. In fact, the device could not only track a location, but also store a certain amount of information. I put information about this space into it, along with some of the high-tech blueprints available here. If you left the tracking device there, they'll definitely release your parents and may even make better arrangements for them. I can guarantee that."

Zheng Zha gradually calmed down and said coldly, "Why should I believe you? And why did you do this? Why risk driving a wedge between us when we'd made an alliance? If you don't give me a good reason, I'll cut off all four of your limbs!"

Chu Xuan smiled faintly. "Fine. Listen carefully, then. I had three reasons for doing this."

"First, I wanted to test whether the 'real world' you went to was truly the same real world we came from. Since the Main God can create Horror Movie worlds, the 'real world' you visited might also have been a virtual world created by it. The only way to prove otherwise was for something to happen that you knew nothing about. For example, I put the tracking device on your dagger without your knowledge, and only the base in my memories could receive its signal. So if you returned safely, that would prove the real world you went to was a 'real world' fabricated by the Main God. But if you really ran into the National Security Bureau, then that world would be the real world. Judging by the injuries you returned with, we must have entered the Main God's space physically. In other words, the things we exchange for and our physical strength can be taken back with us. That was my first reason for wanting to do this."

"Second, I wanted to know what restrictions the Main God placed on you when you returned to the real world."

Zheng Zha said coldly, "Yes. First, I couldn't tell anyone about the Main God's space in any way. Second, I had to return to the place I came from within the time limit. For example, I pressed YES on the computer in my office, so I had to return to that office within thirty days. Third, when I came back, I had to touch all my belongings, or they'd be left behind in the real world. If an item came from the Main God's space, it would be erased."

Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses. "Just as I thought. I was almost completely right. You absolutely couldn't reveal anything about the Main God's space to the outside world. But I wasn't erased, so my second reason was to prove that the Main God didn't actually have the ability to think. It was just a supercomputer that followed its programming!"

"Because I brought the tracking device into the real world without your knowledge, you didn't know it contained information. It also fully revealed the existence of the Main God's space. In fact, that meant all the information about this place had been exposed. According to the rules, anyone who revealed that information would be erased, but I wasn't. So the rule only applied to those who returned to the real world. I was still in the Main God's space, so revealing information didn't matter. Likewise, you didn't know I'd revealed anything, so you weren't erased either. That led me to conclude that the Main God didn't have the ability to think. It only followed the rules in its programming. In other words, the ban on revealing information only applied to people who returned to the real world. And if someone didn't remember revealing the information, then even if it was exposed, the Main God couldn't punish them. So, in reality, it was just a supercomputer with a program. It wasn't a living consciousness capable of thought!"

Zheng Zha bellowed, "And what does that prove? I don't care whether it's a computer or something else! Because of your schemes, Loli and I nearly lost our lives! All for your theory?"

Chu Xuan ignored him and continued speaking to himself. "Once we know it's governed by rules, we can find ways around its restrictions to get things done. The same applies in Horror Movies... There's no point explaining that to you. My third reason was that I wanted you to take some high-tech blueprints back with you. If my first two theories were correct, those blueprints should now be in the government's hands, and they should have received my message as well. In the message, I asked them to hypnotize some special forces soldiers into becoming disillusioned with the real world, then have them stay in front of a computer twenty-four hours a day. That way, we might get a few special forces soldiers as teammates, and our survival rate would improve..."

"I'm sorry for putting you in danger. Things didn't go as I expected. I thought they'd find you sooner, discover the tracking device on your dagger, and let you return here safely... That was my mistake. If you still want to cut off my limbs after hearing these three reasons, then go ahead. I won't fight back."

After saying all this, Chu Xuan stood there calmly. Zheng Zha hesitated, clutching his dagger, then finally threw it to the ground with a curse. "Damn it! If you'd told me all this earlier, it's not like I wouldn't have been willing to take the tracking device back to the real world. What I hate is that you scheme and plot even against your own allies. Is there not one normal thought or feeling in your mind?"

Chu Xuan said calmly, "I couldn't tell you in advance. If that detail had been in your memories, the Main God would have erased you based on those memories, because that would also have been a way for you to transmit information. All of this could only be accomplished without your knowledge. Otherwise, it would have been meaningless."

Zheng Zha took a deep breath. "I don't trust you anymore. No matter how dangerous the next Horror Movie is, our alliance is over! From now on, don't scheme against me again—not even once—or I'll kill you with my own hands! I swear!"

With that, Zheng Zha turned and walked toward Loli. He took her hand and silently led her back to his room. Zhang Jie and Zhan Lan both sighed and went back to their own rooms. Only Zero Point remained in the plaza, still being healed, along with Chu Xuan's somewhat lonely figure... He picked up the dagger from the ground, then silently walked back to his own room alone...