"Seven to one thousand seven hundred and forty-one... another loss, seven to one thousand seven hundred and forty-two. Alas, why is his Demon Transformation so much stronger than my Submerging Dragon Transformation? Must I really abandon this Dragon Race gene and rely entirely on the ancient gene left within me?" Within the virtual illusion, perfectly recreated by Chu Xuan’s cultivation technology, the simulated Zheng Zha—replicating the terrifying power demonstrated by the clone in Resident Evil 2—allowed Zheng Zha to exert his full strength in this simulated combat. In this exchange, Zheng Zha was utterly defeated, with a record of seven wins to one thousand seven hundred and forty-two losses.

Though real combat involves numerous variables—the terrain, fatigue levels dictated by the layout, the morale and mood of both sides, and the influence of teammates—he was the only one in the Central Continent team capable of standing against the clone. Seven to one thousand seven hundred and forty-one was the result of his current strength pitted against the Resident Evil 2 clone. Even factoring in many variables, a statistical outcome like seven to one thousand seven hundred and forty-one suggested the hope of victory in actual combat was exceedingly slim.

"What exactly is going wrong?" Zheng Zha racked his brain but could find no answer after these thousand-plus battles.

In these fights, he and his clone were almost evenly matched; neither gained an easy advantage, and often when a battle concluded, the clone was near death. Otherwise, Zheng Zha wouldn't have secured those seven victories. Yet, in the remaining thousand-plus battles, the outcome was his own demise. One or two losses could perhaps be dismissed as chance or luck, but a continuous sequence of over a thousand matches ending with the clone narrowly winning was absolutely not coincidence.

"Why?

Why, why... why! My combat power is already on par with his, perhaps even slightly superior if I employ the Submerging Dragon Transformation and the 'Ruin' state. Although I can't sustain it, this advantage should allow me to suppress him slightly. So why have I lost over a thousand consecutive times?" Zheng Zha sat there, brooding for a long time.

It wasn't until his stomach growled that he realized it was approaching six in the evening.

Although time flowed a hundred times slower in the virtual illusion than in the real world, continuous immersion in the illusion to challenge the clone meant time vanished swiftly. A full day had slipped away without him noticing, including today.

Only two days remained until their entry into the next horror movie world.

"Awake?" As Zheng Zha sat staring blankly on the sofa, a gentle female voice sounded. Luo Li had entered unnoticed from the doorway. Seeing his sweaty brow, the little girl gently produced a handkerchief from her embrace and began wiping his face.

Luo Li’s inherent nature was sharp-tongued but soft-hearted. In the monotonous environment of the "Main God" space, unaffected by the corrupting influences of the outside world, and surrounded by many kind and virtuous girls, she had grown increasingly gentle under their influence. However, she still occasionally reverted to her habit of shouting loudly, especially when embarrassed...

"Is everyone ready for dinner? Whose place are we eating at today?" Zheng Zha asked, kissing Luo Li gently and watching her face flush bright red.

"Mm-hmm, we’re eating at Zhang Heng’s place today. The food is all ready; we were just waiting for the master to show up... Hehe. Oh, you don't know—since Zhang Heng didn't make anything special... Sister Ming Yanwei seemed quite happy. Even though she kept a straight face while cooking, she made several side dishes. Seeing Zhang Heng's surprised look, they seemed to be all his favorites," Luo Li said, looping her arm through Zheng Zha’s as they walked, sharing this little gossip. Zheng Zha gradually relaxed from the tension of the battles.

(I'll put the battle results aside for now. I doubt we'll face the Demonic Reincarnation Squad immediately; after all, I’ve died in a horror world, so our team rating must have dropped significantly, right?) Zheng Zha tucked away his worries and followed Luo Li to Zhang Heng's quarters. The moment he stepped inside, he heard Cheng Xiao's signature booming laughter. However, since his own woman was present today, he behaved himself and dared not tease the others, content to tell risqué jokes to the rest of the group.

What followed was simple: everyone ate and drank together. This was a Chinese custom—fostering camaraderie over the dinner table, a practice that applied even to those already close. But what surprised everyone was Chu Xuan’s presence at the table. Although he was only consuming some brightly colored fruit, his appearance was highly unusual, as he typically remained unseen until entering a horror world. His presence today suggested he was about to stir up something new.

"...The food is delicious, but for some reason, seeing you sitting there so quietly eating fruit makes it hard for me to eat. I keep worrying you're plotting something again, hahaha... I'm so paranoid," Zheng Zha chuckled, sipping his tea after finishing his meal.

Chu Xuan nodded nonchalantly beside him. "Indeed, I am planning something..."

"...Hey, I was just kidding!" Zheng Zha exclaimed, startled, nearly spitting out his tea, and quickly protested.

Chu Xuan let out a cold snort. "I wasn't joking with you; I do have something for you all... The Yellow Turban Warrior Prototype Model One has been successfully trial-produced. Take it with you during the next battle."

"Yellow Turban Warrior Prototype? Little Dīngdāng, when did you make this?" Zheng Zha, Da Xia, and Cheng Xiao all asked in unison.

Chu Xuan didn't reply. He drew a complete strip of yellow cloth from his embrace. Countless runes were densely inscribed on the yellow cloth, with a single, complete Taiji symbol etched precisely at its center.

"Uh, the virtual illusion can absorb the user's intent power, also known as the Light of the Mind, brought into it. Based on partially decoded information, the Light of the Mind resides in the Sea of Consciousness of all living beings, though ordinary creatures don't know how to utilize it. Cultivators regard the Sea of Consciousness as an Inner Universe, and like the spatial energy of the Outer Universe, this Light of the Mind can be transformed into True Essence Power and Demonic Power. The Yellow Turban Warrior is a runic mecha, or perhaps a manufactured combat entity, created based on this concept. In short, the Yellow Turban Warrior can absorb the Light of the Mind as energy and continuously improve. The stronger an enemy's Light of the Mind, the stronger the Yellow Turban Warrior becomes upon revival. Of course, this growth has limits, determined by how much Light of the Mind the runic cloth can contain..." As Chu Xuan explained while holding the cloth, Zheng Zha excitedly interjected, "Damn, in other words, we have a cheat device that gets continuously stronger? If we just throw out dozens of these Yellow Turban Warriors at the start of a horror movie, and we hide in a safe zone, won't we easily farm reward points and subplots in the horror world?"

Chu Xuan cut off his fantasy directly. "Unfortunately, the manufacturing technology for the Yellow Turban Warrior is a higher tier than the virtual illusion technology, and its core runic technology cannot be exchanged via the 'Main God.' Producing one Yellow Turban Warrior takes about five to six days, and that's only a semi-finished product—it cannot absorb the enemy's Light of the Mind. It can only evolve and strengthen by receiving our Light of the Mind. Since our accumulated Light of the Mind is finite, the Yellow Turban Warrior becomes completely useless once its energy is depleted, hence why it's called the Prototype Model."

"Is that so? What a shame... But speaking of which, did you decide to create the Yellow Turban Warrior when you were first developing the virtual illusion? So that while we used it, you could calmly absorb and store our Light of the Mind? No wonder I always felt exhausted after entering the illusion every time... In other words, the reason I lost wasn't a gap in strength? It was because you absorbed my Light of the Mind?" Zheng Zha pondered, suddenly realizing, his face filled with relief.

Chu Xuan sneered. "Save it. The glasses I gave you only absorb your outwardly radiating intent energy; they have nothing to do with the intent power within your body. And the illusion processor in my room, acting as the terminal, merely integrates this intent power. The reason for your failure was indeed not a disparity in strength... but a disparity in intent. You lacked the definitive will to kill the clone. I reviewed your thousand-plus battle scenes at the terminal; every single loss stemmed from that gap... You didn't truly want to kill the clone, did you?"

Zheng Zha froze, then roared in denial. "What kind of joke is that? How could I... How could I not want to kill him? He killed my comrades! And his ideology has already descended into madness. Me, facing such a clone... How could I not want to kill him?"

(...But his suffering, the deep sorrow in his eyes... Do I truly not wish him dead?)