The injuries to the physical body were, after all, just that—bodily harm. Compared to the others who required treatment for genetic flaws, such wounds were exceedingly minor.

Zheng Zha glared at Ba Wang’s infuriatingly cheerful face and genuinely smashed a fist into his shoulder, though he carefully controlled the force.

Otherwise, that single punch would have pulverized Ba Wang’s entire shoulder. He then grabbed Ba Wang’s shoulder and burst out laughing, “Damn it, you truly scared us half to death! Back then… you were even saying such heartbreaking things! Damn it…” For a moment, Zheng Zha couldn’t find the words, muttering a few broken phrases before clapping Ba Wang’s shoulder. “…Stop saying such sad things. Let’s all make it back to the real world alive, partner…” With that, he turned and walked toward Lori.

“Same routine: everyone meet at the plaza tomorrow at noon. We can discuss anything else then… Chu Xuan, stop staying up late reading. We’ll decide things after we talk tomorrow. Pulling an all-nighter won’t let you see much more, will it? Everyone’s tired, just get some proper sleep!” Zheng Zha called out without looking back, then looped an arm around Lori and headed toward their room.

Lori looked curiously at Zheng Zha’s expression, whispering, “Are you moved enough to cry?” Zheng Zha immediately shot her a glare. “Moved to cry about what? Do you think I’m that weak a man? Damn it… No one died… No one died!” Saying this, he actually rested his head on Lori’s shoulder, and a few tiny tears did indeed well up at the corner of his eye.

Lori paused for a beat, then gently embraced Zheng Zha’s head, walking with him into her room. Only after kicking the door shut with her heel did she finally cradle Zheng Zha’s head against her chest. The young girl murmured, “It’s okay… Men can cry sometimes, especially at times like this…” What could a man cry for… Ideals, perhaps. Hope, maybe.

Victory, possibly. Emotions, too… Like the bond between comrades in arms… Nothing more was said that night. The next day, Zheng Zha finally emerged from his room around noon, feeling refreshed. Only Chu Xuan, Ling Dian, and Wang Xia were currently under the ‘Main God.’ Besides them was that girl who looked like a delicate young boy; she was happily munching on a large red apple. Chu Xuan also held a red apple, but he was chewing while looking dispassionately at a stack of documents in his hand.

Zheng Zha walked out holding Lori’s hand. The little girl let out a joyful cry and immediately ran toward the pair. She skirted cautiously around Zheng Zha first, then threw herself into Lori’s embrace, laughing loudly as she pulled a large red apple from the pocket of her lower garment.

Lori smiled, accepting the apple, and then picked up the little girl to plant a kiss on her. Zheng Zha took the opportunity to approach Chu Xuan and the other two.

“Up so early… Don’t tell me Chu Xuan stayed up all night again?” Zheng Zha called out loudly as he drew near.

Chu Xuan looked up at him, pointed toward Wang Xia next to him, and then returned his gaze to the stack of documents without another word.

Wang Xia scratched his head. “That’s right, I woke up at nine-thirty this morning. He only came out of his room to the ‘Main God’ plaza at ten.”

Zheng Zha chuckled. “See? After surviving such a terrifying film world, anyone would feel exhausted. You need rest too… What is this?” “Complete blueprints for manufacturing a miniaturized nuclear bomb.”

Chu Xuan stated flatly, without lifting his head.

“Miniature nuclear bomb?” Zheng Zha exclaimed with pleasant surprise. “Did you manage to pull out those weapon schematics from Starship Troopers? That’s fantastic. The destructive power of that thing is truly… Wait, something doesn’t feel right. I don’t see the design schematics on you.”

Chu Xuan remained impassive. “The blueprints aren’t overly complex. If I commit them to memory, I could have them down in an hour. Then, back in the ‘Main God’ space, I could copy them down and analyze the details. The materials aren’t complicated either; it just requires creating a small detonation device and a miniature nuclear energy storage unit. Both items require matching equipment for construction. I calculated it would cost between seven to eight thousand Reward Points in total. And to assemble everything, plus deriving the designs and assembly methods for the requisite equipment… If I did it alone, it would take between fifty to sixty days. It’s far too inefficient.”

Zheng Zha laughed heartily. “We can help, too! This is a team effort, not just your solo job. Heh, wouldn’t that save a lot of time?” Zheng Zha, however, shot him a disdainful glance. “…With your intellects, I suspect you would only end up being a hindrance. So, my proposal is this: we prepare for a while, and then we return to Starship Troopers once more. I have two areas I need to test. First, who is considered the ‘home turf’ owner for a horror film? Is it the first people to enter that film? Or does every team have an equal home advantage? Or perhaps, when we enter, the inhabitants there won’t recognize us at all? In any case, that’s the first thing I need to verify. The second thing is to acquire some items there. For instance, I’m very interested in their small-scale starships. If possible, we could take massive amounts of gold or rare, high-grade metals, or even weapon blueprints, into that world. Procuring these ready-made weapons wouldn’t be a bad approach either.”

Suddenly, Zheng Zha felt a pang of headache. He quickly interjected, “Wait, wait a minute! Even the smallest starship is probably enormous, right? What are we going to use to bring it back into the ‘Main God’ space? Besides, if we lack any identity in that world, wouldn’t it be difficult to acquire military assets?”

Chu Xuan dismissed the concern. “That’s not true. Everything has its price. The only reason something hasn't been obtained or completed is usually because the price hasn’t been met… Take the Resident Evil world we are about to enter, for example—stealing the T-cell stock solution from the Umbrella Corporation is incredibly dangerous, isn't it? So, all that’s needed is a detailed plan. I have at least a seventy percent certainty of acquiring a large quantity of satellite nuclear missiles, plus one small starship. However, the apparatus required to house a small starship would require a Double B-Rank Subplot. We might need to save up a while longer for more Reward Points and Subplot rewards…”

Zheng Zha and the other two were sweating profusely, yet for the moment, they didn't know how to bring this up with Chu Xuan. Chu Xuan, however, suddenly asked, “Zheng Zha, how many Reward Points and Subplots did you acquire? Also, tell me how many people you killed, how many bugs, and what Reward Points you received previously.”

Zheng Zha froze, then walked excitedly toward the ‘Main God,’ connecting his consciousness to it. After a careful check, his heart leaped violently. This time, the rewards were huge. He had obtained one D-Rank, one C-Rank, and one B-Rank Subplot each, plus over 12,000 Reward Points. To achieve this in a single horror film world felt like a massive harvest on top of a great harvest.

He immediately announced excitedly to the others, “I have one D, one C, and one B Subplot, plus 12,000 Reward Points. Damn, we struck it rich! What about you guys? How many Reward Points did you get?” As soon as he finished speaking, Zheng Zha noticed Wang Xia and Ling Dian wearing expressions of wry bitterness, which confused him. “What happened? Why do you look like that? Did I say something wrong?”

Chu Xuan shook his head. “No, you didn't say anything wrong; I miscalculated something… Do you remember the arrangement you told us about killing those two people? When we killed one of them, the others didn’t receive the notification for +1 integral score. And shortly after killing him, that person’s body vanished before our eyes. The same thing happened with the one Luo Gandao killed… Both of them had a Resurrection Cross hidden away. This way, after they died, they could choose to return to the ‘Main God’ space, and we only received the Reward Points and Subplots for killing them. Conversely, the accumulated integral score was not awarded to the team. Do you see? Each of us is short about 4,000 Reward Points.”

Zheng Zha quickly said, “Wait a minute, let me calculate my Reward Point situation. First, I killed one member of the Southern Continent team. Since they hadn't unlocked their gene lock, I only received 2,000 Reward Points and one C-Rank Subplot. Plus one Tank Bug, 1,000 Reward Points and one D-Rank Subplot. For the Brain Bug, I got one B-Rank Subplot. That clears the Subplots. After that, there are the 3,000 Reward Points for the starship. Regarding the base, we abandoned six bases and preserved one, resulting in a deduction of 5,000 Reward Points. So, if we don't count the two integral points from the Central Continent team members, we only gained 000 Reward Points overall. Adding and subtracting… The bugs I killed accounted for about 4,000 Reward Points. Indeed, the two members of the Central Continent team were not counted in the score!”

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