Zhong Zha offered a wry smile and patted his shoulder, saying, "Until your strength surpasses a certain threshold, in the face of the horror film, you're always standing on the brink of death. Don't dwell on it too much. The dead cannot return. Just inscribe their names on this stone tablet instead."

This stone tablet was the Memorial Tablet the group had jointly redeemed, upon which were recorded the names of brothers-in-arms who had once shared life and death with them.

"Chu Xuan, Zero Point, Qi Tengyi, Zhang Jie, Wang Xia"—all those who had once fought side-by-side with the group could have their names inscribed here by themselves. When one looked upon this tablet, the names seemed to be etched directly into the mind, a legendary, magical effect.

"We fought side-by-side. By relying on the strength and sacrifice of our comrades, we survived. Therefore, we must continue to live, carrying their strength and sacrifice with us, and live on together!" This final inscription was something Zhong Zha had labored over for a long time before carving it. Similarly, when one looked at the tablet, this passage would deeply imprint itself upon the mind, as if physically pressed there, ensuring it would never be forgotten! With these matters settled, the most crucial agenda item upon returning to the 'Main God' space arrived: discussing their respective enhancement paths and weapon redemptions. Now that Zhong Zha had become the captain, this discussion had to wait until they first knew what the next horror film would be.

Only then could they redeem the necessary weapons or items based on the film's requirements.

"Didn't you and Zhao Yingkong each kill one Queen? The surplus D-rank sub-plot points can be used to redeem them both. Whew, that takes care of it. Bringing along unrelated people into the horror film world always imposes many restrictions on us; it even restrains our ability to fight all out. Oh, right, hand over your protective shields to me as well. After I recharge them, you can use them again in the next horror film." Xiao Honglv said to the others with a relaxed demeanor.

Zhang Heng and Zhao Yingkong both nodded silently. Two D-rank sub-plot points couldn't really yield significant attribute enhancements, and redeeming them for weapons felt somewhat wasteful. Thus, using them to redeem the two women felt more appropriate. In any case, they had both obtained a B-rank sub-plot point plus a large quantity of reward points, which was enough to compensate for this D-rank sub-plot point expenditure.

Zhong Zha had been meditating with his eyes closed, communicating with the 'Main God.' When he opened his eyes and focused, his expression was somewhat ashen. The others looked at him strangely until, after a long pause, Zhong Zha spoke with bitterness, "The next horror film is Resident Evil 2. But in this next film, our team will be fighting another team. The opposing team is chosen randomly; we won't know who it is until we arrive inside. Hah, this might be troublesome again."

The expressions of the others were far from cheerful. Except for Cheng Xiao, everyone else here had experienced a team vs. team battle before. That kind of life-or-death clash meant that once one side opened fire, the outcome with the other side was inevitably fatal. Losing one member could easily lead to total annihilation, and conversely, the opposing side feared losing one of their own. This applied not only to core members but also to greenhorns, as their elimination counted towards the score. Consequently, team battles represented a fifty percent chance of death for the entire group—total annihilation.

Xiao Honglv plucked a hair from his forehead and twirled it around his fingertip before speaking, "This should be normal, right? The previous horror film offered such generous reward points and sub-plot points; naturally, the subsequent challenge is a team battle so we can face it with composure. Isn't that precisely why we received such rich rewards? Actually, I've been pondering a question: What if an individual enhanced to a certain degree stopped further enhancement, saved up fifty thousand reward points, and then left the 'Main God' space? Would that cause a massive upheaval in humanity? Impossible."

"Human society is a vast system. Unless individual power grows strong enough to break free of that system, it cannot be changed—think of gods. Otherwise, an individual remains just an individual and cannot alter human society. To prevent such a scenario, the 'Main God' implements a measure: randomly increasing difficulty. Difficulty scaling with attribute enhancement is a possible measure. If you don't enhance, you're dead against another squad. If you do enhance, the horror films you face might become increasingly brutal, culminating in wars, disaster scenarios, or even bizarrely themed films. This prevents the accumulation of excessive reward points and sub-plot points, making it unlikely for anyone to leave."

Zhang Heng asked curiously, "If that's the case, are we doomed to stay here forever? Never able to return to the normal world outside?"

Xiao Honglv chuckled, "That's precisely why we need to unlock the Gene Lock. That's something that doesn't require reward points for redemption, and the higher one unlocks it, the more terrifying their strength becomes compared to attribute enhancements or high-level weaponry. I can never fathom the extent of the fifth tier of the Gene Lock. If it truly means controlling energy, as the description suggests, that is undoubtedly the domain of gods."

Zhong Zha nodded and then addressed the others, "Let's discuss everyone's required attribute enhancements now. Aside from Zhan Lan, who has already enhanced her Psychic Chain skill, let's start with you, Xiao Honglv. Since you are younger and your body isn't suited for melee or ranged weapon combat, I suggest you learn magic. There's a D-rank enhancement called Initial Mana Web Contact Constitution. It allows you to interface with the magic network levels 0 to 3. A C-rank sub-plot point can upgrade it to Intermediate Mana Web Contact Constitution, allowing interface with levels 4 to 5. Subsequent upgrades are: B-rank for High Constitution up to level 7, A-rank for Super Constitution at levels 8 to 9, and S-rank for Mana Conductor Constitution at levels 10 to 11. This enhancement is perfectly suited for you."

Xiao Honglv's eyes lit up, and he asked excitedly, "This is clearly a magic attribute from the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset! Does such an enhancement truly exist?" He paused, then his excitement dimmed slightly.

"This enhancement requires a massive amount of magic to sustain, and skills are the most expensive. This means there's no guarantee of combat effectiveness, and the rules for magic usage are restricted—the daily usage count is quite low. I worry it might not be very effective in the horror films."

Seeing his crestfallen expression, Zhong Zha could only laugh heartily and ruffle his hair. No matter how smart this child was, he often displayed childish tendencies. He smiled and said, "It's still better than having no combat power right now, isn't it? Don't worry, we can all get stronger slowly, and eventually, we'll leave this horror film cycle together. Haha, don't you think this is a good start?"

Xiao Honglv nodded, finally agreeing to choose this enhancement. He split one B-rank sub-plot point into three C-rank points, then used one C-rank point to upgrade the Initial Mana Web Contact Constitution to the Intermediate Mana Web Contact Constitution. This allowed him to cast magic spells from levels 0 to 5. He still had two D-rank sub-plot points and one C-rank sub-plot point remaining, but he only had 2,500 reward points left, as the previous two enhancements consumed 2,500 points. Thus, he could only redeem one level-0 spell and one level-1 spell, exactly consuming his two D-rank sub-plot points. These two spells were Ray of Frost and Summon Monster I. He could now cast Ray of Frost 7 times and Summon Monster I 5 times daily.

Everyone quietly watched Xiao Honglv complete his enhancements. The child's face flushed with excitement. He stood motionless with his eyes closed, seemingly not communicating with the Main God. Then, everyone saw him suddenly open his eyes and point at an empty patch of ground. A flicker of light shot from his finger, and the ground instantly turned white. An area of about one square meter was covered in frost, though the depth of the freezing wasn't significant—it was even less severe than something taken from a refrigerator.

Xiao Honglv exclaimed excitedly, "Haha, this is actually fantastic! Do you know? In the rules, this level-0 spell is called a Cantrip—something trivial. As the level increases, the damage output will rise proportionally. Now, let's see just how powerful Summon Monster I is."

With that, he closed his eyes again and raised one hand, chanting strange syllables under his breath.

Gradually, a six-pointed star magic circle appeared before Xiao Honglv. Strange magical light emanated from the star formation. Then, a canine head emerged from the center of the circle. After about several seconds, a large wolf-like dog, nearly one meter seventy or eighty tall, materialized there. Naturally, this wolf-dog possessed a strange little horn on its head, but based on its overall appearance, it was definitely a formidable creature.

Xiao Honglv opened his eyes and examined the wolf-dog closely, even walking in a circle around it twice before grinning, "Hahahaha, this is the Summon Monster I from level-1 magic! What do you all think? Doesn't it look incredibly cool?" Following an impulse from Xiao Honglv, the wolf-dog immediately crouched before him. Xiao Honglv actually mounted it and let it run around. At once, the 'Main God' space filled with the laughter of a young boy, the sound echoing far across the plaza.