Claiming Rewards (Come guess the plot)

Huff... huff...

In the Real World, inside Xiao Hen's room at Mingyue Residential Area, heavy panting could be heard.

Xiao Hen wiped the sweat from his forehead, then glanced at the object in his hand—a long-horned golden mask.

Yes, before the Underground Palace collapsed, Xiao Hen had risked his life, charging toward the Goddess's corpse at the last moment to snatch the Golden Mask from her head.

Xiao Hen pressed his lips together, then set the mask aside and began undressing to take a shower. His whole body was covered in sweat, dirt, and stone dust—he had no choice but to wash.

After freshening up, he changed into shorts and walked out of the bathroom. Sitting on the sofa, he stared quietly at the Golden Mask on the coffee table. The most important thing from this trip into the story world was, of course, the main quest: repairing the Shuttle.

The Flower of the Other Shore had already been collected by the Shuttle. He wondered if it had been fully repaired.

"Shuttle, has the energy from the Flower of the Other Shore been fully absorbed?" Xiao Hen brewed himself a pot of strong tea, drinking as he asked.

"The energy from the Crystal of Illusion has been absorbed. Does the host wish to claim the main quest reward?" the Shuttle asked.

"Main quest reward?" Xiao Hen pulled up his character card.

Host: Xiao Hen Race: Human Combat Power: Fifty-seven Authority: Beginner Unclaimed Quest Rewards: One Shuttle Repair Progress: Forty-five percent.

"Forty-five percent?" Xiao Hen's heart leaped with joy. He quickly asked, "Shuttle, I want to know what the next story quest is."

"The next story quest is: Warcraft!"

Xiao Hen's face changed. "Warcraft?"

This was a large-scale Western fantasy film. The Orcs in it were no pushovers in terms of Combat Power. As for the humans, ordinary soldiers were nothing special—maybe a dozen or so Combat Power points at most. But those mages were terrifying, with Combat Power easily in the hundreds or thousands. Going in like this would definitely be dangerous.

"Shuttle, can you change the next quest world? Anything else would be fine!" Xiao Hen asked with a grim expression.

"Host, once the Shuttle is fully repaired, you will have the Highest Authority. At that point, you will have the choice of which world to enter. For now, you do not," the Shuttle said.

Xiao Hen fell silent.

"What's the main quest reward? I want to claim it now!"

"Confirm claim of main quest reward?"

"Confirmed!"

"Reward item: Magic Power Ring has been issued. Host, please check and receive!"

Magic Power Ring?

Xiao Hen took a small green ring from his Storage Space and looked at it curiously. When the Shuttle issued the reward, it had already informed him of the Magic Power Ring's abilities.

The Magic Power Ring was one of the lowest-tier items in the Shuttle's inventory, issued as a reward item for the host.

The Magic Power Ring possessed a powerful magic energy shield. It could be activated once per day, generating a shield that lasted ten minutes to protect the wearer, with an energy level of one hundred points.

This so-called energy level was proportional to Combat Power. A one-hundred-point shield from the Magic Power Ring could withstand a full-force attack from a strong opponent with Combat Power not exceeding one hundred points for ten seconds. For every ten points of Combat Power above that, the blocking time would decrease by one second.

"Not bad, not bad. Activation is simple too—just mental energy. When no one attacks, it lasts ten minutes. When under attack, it can last up to ten seconds. A lifesaver in critical moments." Xiao Hen had the G-Virus Enhancement, so he naturally possessed mental energy. However, his mental power was far from the terrifying level of Alice from Resident Evil—he could only use it to slightly move small objects like teacups. Still, it was proof that he had mental energy.

Xiao Hen smiled faintly and slipped the Magic Power Ring onto the middle finger of his left hand. Then he began to think about the next story quest. Warcraft—a film of such grand scale—could not be taken lightly.

"The usefulness of firearms diminishes again. In the Warcraft World, the only things that might be effective are those ten Rocket Projectiles. The Grenades will at most cause some fright. Submachine guns and pistols won't do much. On the other hand, the sword technique—the Spring Rain Swordplay I just acquired, combined with the Silver Light Sword—has pushed my Combat Power to a terrifying fifty-seven points."

Xiao Hen flipped his hand and drew the slender, elegant Silver Light Sword. He casually spun it into a silver sword flower, and the entire living room flashed with silver light as a sword hum rang out.

"Sword techniques will become my absolute advantage in the next film quest—for completing the main quest and even gaining benefits."

Xiao Hen's eyes flickered as he recalled the Spring Rain Swordplay in his mind.

Spring Rain Swordplay was a basic sword technique divided into three levels. Xiao Hen had only just entered the first level. Each time he advanced a level, the technique's boost to Combat Power increased by another tier. Even now, at just the entry level, it gave him a twenty-point Combat Power boost. If he reached the third level, wouldn't it add over a hundred Combat Power points?

Xiao Hen smiled faintly, put away the Silver Light Sword, and bent down to pick up the Golden Mask. If everything just now was a reward from the Shuttle for completing the main quest, then this Golden Mask was a benefit Xiao Hen had gained through his own efforts in the story world.

So far, Xiao Hen had been through three story worlds: the Resident Evil world, the Great Wall world, and the previous Xunlong Jue world. Of these three, only in the first world had he obtained the G-Virus through his own efforts. In the Great Wall world, he had only completed the main quest. He had also finished the side quest—helping the Shadowless Imperial Army eliminate the Taotie—but gained no tangible benefits from it.

As for the Xunlong Jue world, aside from the millions worth of hot weapons in his Storage Space, the biggest gain was this long-horned golden mask.

As a mask worn by the highest-ranking Khitan Princess Augu after her death over a thousand years ago, its value was certainly not low.

Xiao Hen still felt a lingering fear. At the last moment before the Underground Palace collapsed, when he took the Golden Mask, Princess Augu's corpse had moved...

Princess Augu's right hand had grabbed Xiao Hen's right hand, which held the Golden Mask. The face beneath the mask was not a rotting skull, but the cold visage of a beautiful woman.

Terrified, Xiao Hen had silently chanted "return" in his mind and fled back to the Real World in panic. That heavy panting wasn't from exhaustion—it was from fear.

"Damn it. Was Princess Augu never dead? How is that possible? Has she lived for over a thousand years? No, maybe it was just the illusion of the Flower of the Other Shore affecting me." Xiao Hen gritted his teeth, turned on his computer, and pulled up the Xunlong Jue film, skipping straight to the end.

"These Lakes... these three Lakes actually form the shape of a skull. There must be even more terrifying secrets hidden in this world..."

Xiao Hen shut down the computer and sat in silence.

You people... you can actually think of something like this?

Pfft! I wouldn't even lean on a wall—I'd bow to you all...