Vol 1: Chapter 2-2.
Kaplan turned on three computers. His computer skills were definitely first class in Zheng’s eyes. His hands were typing non-stop across three keyboards, yet several minutes passed and the door leading to the central computer was still closed.
Rain asked, “What’s taking so long?”
Kaplan replied without taking his eyes off the computer, “Red Queen’s defenses are in place. She’s making it difficult.”
Just as he finished talking, the door finally opened. One nodded, “Let’s pack it up.” Then he turned to Zheng’s group, “You stay here.”
Behind the door was a corridor about ten meters long, with walls made of glasses, different from the steel and metal walls on the outside.
One walked in first. He was moving very cautiously, being careful with every step. Even then, when he reached the center of the corridor, his whole body shivered. Because the glass walls suddenly lit up.
Kaplan’s voice came from the speakerphone, “The lights are automated. Nothing to worry about.”
‘It’s obviously the lasers from the self defense system. Automated lights and nothing to worry about?’, Zheng thought.
Then as he was about to say something, a hand pulled him. He turned around and saw Lan shaking her head.
One finished setting up the transmitter, it was a device similar to a cell phone. He put it on the sensor of the door. Kaplan started typing again. After a while, the door on the other side of the corridor finally opened.
One let out a deep breath and waved to the people outside, “Move up.”
Alice sudden asked, “What is that?”
Kaplan was nearest to her, “That’s what will shut the Queen down. Delivers a massive electrical charge. Scrambles the mainframe and forces it to reboot.”
As the mercenaries were about to enter the corridor, Zheng couldn’t help but shout, “Wait, wait. Don’t you feel strange? This computer seems too useless just letting you reboot it like this. I don’t think things are this simple, there’s probably something wrong with this corridor.”
The mercenaries stopped and looked at him. Lan let out a sigh and took off her hand. Then she moved over to where Alice was.
One came out from the corridor and silently stared at Zheng. “Okay. You, and you, will come with us.” He pointed to Zheng and Mou.
Their hands and feet suddenly got cold from hearing that. They knew this corridor was a death trap. Anyone that entered will die, even One, he was sliced into little pieces.[1]
Zheng finally knew why Jie looked at him like that back there. Yes, he couldn’t help but try to change the plot. Yet it’s difficult to sway the plot from its momentum. Even when it did change, God would increase its difficulty just like this.
Mou put his hands on his head and screamed, “No, I don’t want to, I don’t want to enter it!” As he screamed, he started running back from the way they came. Before Zheng’s group could react, the mercenaries took out their guns and shot him. By the time his body dropped to the ground, it became a corpse.
“Wahh!” Zheng and Xiaoyi started vomiting. A life was taken away in front of them. Zheng was feeling terrible inside, because he couldn’t mind his own business and caused Mou’s death.
One looked at him coldly, “I was suspicious of you from the beginning. Even though your identities were registered in the corporation, you don’t seem like a security operative. And now you’re trying to stop us from rebooting the Red Queen? Okay, Zheng, come with us.”
Zheng felt frozen. His stomach was still feeling uncomfortable from the vomiting. One didn’t give him a break, grabbed his hands and entered the corridor with the others.
Once everyone was inside, just like what happened in the movies, the doors to both sides of the corridor closed up. One and the mercenaries were holding on their guns cautiously, then talked to his speakerphone, “Kaplan?”
Kaplan panicked, “Some kind of dormant defense mechanism. Opening the door tripped it.”
“Put it back to sleep.”
Kaplan was sweating, “Working on it.”
“Hold your positions. Everyone stay calm.”
Zheng was terrified, he knew the plot had started moving and he became part of the plot. As anticipated, the glass walls dimmed, then a thin laser appeared between the walls. This laser started moving toward the mercenaries and Zheng.
One was the first to react. He brought down the two people beside him. Zheng was focused from the beginning. He threw himself on the ground when the laser appeared. The laser barely touched his shoulder. He could feel that sharpness and heat passing through his shoulder. Other than this, his mind was totally blank.
“Medic! Medic!”, One shouted.
This brought Zheng’s mind back to consciousness. He turned around and saw the medic’s head slowly falling down. Then it stood on the ground. It’s eyes staring at him like a curse.
“No, no! I don’t want to die!” Zheng screamed like a madman. As he screamed, his mind felt calmer than ever. He started recalling this scene in the movie.
One was holding onto a mercenary who lost his fingers. Then someone shouted, “It’s coming back!”
This time the laser will start from ankle height. Zheng recalled the details of this scene. He remembered it will move past the first mercenary and curved up when the second mercenary jumped, cutting him in half. He only had one chance, if he failed, the laser will kill him. He didn’t know if this part was changed due to his interference, but he could only trust on what he knew.
As that laser quickly moved towards them, the mercenary on the ground was killed. The remaining two started backing up. Zheng put his full concentration on the mercenary in the front. One second, two seconds, it’s as though time had slowed down in this life and death situation. He couldn’t hear anything, and his surrounding felt slowed down.
“Mental capacity limit broken! Rewarded 500 points, mental capacity increased by 20 points, reaction speed increased by 30 points!”
A rigid and dignified voice sounded by Zheng ears. But he couldn’t hear it. His whole attention was on that mercenary. At last, the moment he jumped, Zheng threw himself on the ground. The laser moved past him, that white light was like Death’s scythe. At that moment, Zheng believed Jie’s words. Their whole body was transported to this game, this work of the gods, or maybe devils. They… could die here!
The laser curved up as expected and cut the mercenary in half. After the laser passed, Zheng quickly got up. He looked behind and saw through the window on the door, that Lan was standing outside with tears in her eyes.
Zheng gave her a smile then he grabbed One and ran near the door. He could only hope that the plot didn’t change from this point on. This laser would stop when it almost reached the door. It was no use trying to dodge it as it will turn into the shape of a net. All he could do was stay near the door and pray. Please follow the plot and end everything!
One was struggling to get out of Zheng’s grip. “Let go of me! This place will get us cut in half! Let me go!”
Zheng grabbed his collar and said, “Trust me! There’s no way to dodge it this time. Stay close to the door and we can still try our luck! Trust me!”
The third laser had formed and started moving towards them. It’s path was going to cut them in half. One was struggling to get down but Zheng wouldn’t let go of him. He had his whole body clung to the door then closed his eyes.
“Live, I want to live, even if I am in a situation like this, I still want to live!”
Perhaps his praying reached the gods, the laser quickly opened up into the shape of a net as it approached them. One let out a scream. As he was in despair, the laser dimmed down and disappeared a few centimeters in front of him. He could feel a heat wave touched his face. For a moment, he couldn’t believe he was still alive.
Zheng opened his eyes. He didn’t see the laser disappear but he knew he succeeded. Knowing the details of the plot allowed him to stay alive from the edge of death. He was never this close to death in his twenty-some years of life. Death was so close it grazed his shoulders.
“What’s this?”
As Zheng was thinking about his luck, he found a little ball of light on One’s collar. He picked up the ball of light then it disappeared in his hand. A sense of warmth went from his hand to his body, an extraordinary comfortable sensation.
“Rank B side quest reward. Rewarded 5000 points.”
The same rigid and dignified voice appeared. Zheng then remembered he heard something before. It was 500 points and increased mental capacity by twenty points and reaction speed by thirty points. That was like a thousand points already if you were to enhance yourself; the same amount you would get for surviving a movie.
These 5000 points were like a gift from heaven. Zheng was pleasantly surprised. When the door opened and several people rushed towards him, he was still standing there in a daze.
Xiaoyi tapped his shoulder, “You’re amazing! You survived that!”
Zheng’s thoughts came back to reality. He shook his head with a bitter smile. He didn’t even know what to say. It was too much stimulation for a normal person from a peaceful world.
Lan came over also, “You deserved it. I was reminding you not to interfere all along but you didn’t listen. Jie was right. Our biggest defense here is not luck but knowing the plot. Your luck won’t always be there for you. Stop being so impulsive from now on. No one wants to die here.”
Zheng shook his head and didn’t reply. He didn’t know if he should tell them about the rewards. Rank B side quest reward? What did that mean? Did that mean you changed the plot or saved a cast member that was supposed to die? Or survived a dangerous scene?
He didn’t know. That was so dangerous just now, he almost died in there. And the middle age man died because of him. So he was too afraid to change anything from now on. Jie probably wouldn’t let him do anything again. Because no one knows what’s going to happen now. Maybe everyone will die here, including the players, the cast, and even the main characters.
That’s what a horror movie is. No one is absolutely safe. Everyone can die. They are merely struggling to survive.
1. That Resident Evil laser death trap scene can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8gfGhVL3qs