Chapter 2

"Shit! I know, but isn't that just a novel?" The high school student jumped up as if electrocuted, his face pale as he shouted, "I often read novels with such content, where the Overlord gathers ordinary people and then teleports them into a certain world for survival challenges."

Others who had read similar novels couldn't help but change their expressions. Humans are always like this; when it doesn't concern them, they can be keyboard warriors or talk big, saying they would do this and that. But once they find themselves in the situation, they are like the man who claimed to love dragons but would be terrified if a real dragon appeared. Not collapsing immediately is already a sign of strong nerves.

Even the newly rich man, who had been boasting nonstop, lost his voice in the face of this unknown technology.

Chuci, who was rather bold, stared at the man's empty lower half, pondering the method used to create the projection—was it holographic 3D imaging or polarized complementary overlay?

Considering his estimated 500-degree myopia, Chuci felt it was probably the former.

"That's right, the situation is roughly like that. I am your guide, providing the simplest guidance. Next is your survival challenge." The half-man opened his mouth, and the cigarette, once it left his body, turned into fine light spots, which made Chuci smile awkwardly and shift his gaze from the man's lower half.

"You have five minutes to prepare. Not much time is left. Remember, don't look around, don't talk randomly, don't move around. If you want to survive, doing nothing is the simplest way."

Before he finished speaking, the half-man's projection disappeared. Suddenly, Chuci felt a cold draft from the window gap.

The challenge had begun!

Even if Chuci didn't understand anything, he could sense an unusual atmosphere.

"Shit, can't you explain more? You didn't clarify anything and now you want us to enter the cycle world." The high school student grumbled, resonating with the others.

Seeing that he had gained the attention of others, the high school student became very excited, chattering away about the novel experiences he had secretly read in class.

The laborer, who knew nothing, also joined in to understand the situation.

"The Overlord Space selects lucky ones from the real world... teleports them to a world... participates in the plot... challenges... changes... gains rewards... returns... exchanges items..." The high school student became more animated, and those who had read similar novels sneered, while those who hadn't listened intently, extracting useful information from the high school student's words.

Chuci, however, remained by the wall next to the window, his right hand unconsciously sliding along the window gap. He seemed to be in a daze but was actually using his ears to gather information from others' conversations.

From the high school student's words, Chuci angrily realized something. If the high school student's nonsense were true, he might not be able to return to his world, effectively becoming a missing person.

To calm his heart and adrenaline, Chuci was the first to stand up and walk towards the door.

"Where are you going?" The bikini girl called out.

"I want to check out this villa." Chuci placed his hand on the door lock.

"It won't open; I've already tried." The handsome man sneered, crossing his arms and leaning against the fireplace.

"Is that so?" Chuci had already deduced this. With a firm grip, he easily pushed open the door that the purple-haired girl and the handsome man couldn't budge.

"How did you open it?" The handsome man's face turned red, and to save face, he asked rudely.

"The five minutes are up." Chuci replied calmly, also reminding the others that the survival challenge had begun.

As soon as he stepped out of the room, Chuci judged from the 20-meter-long corridor and the spiral staircase at the end that this was a large mountain villa. He had no need for deduction, as the CEO of Jia Gu Wen had a similarly large, rustic villa, which Chuci had visited during his training in the U.S. headquarters.

"Come on, don't wait to die in the house." The newly rich man, true to his nature, jumped up and rushed out as soon as the door opened. The others followed, running out of the house in a panic, even pushing Chuci to the side and thudding down the stairs.

"Are you okay?" The bikini girl, walking slowly, caught up with Chuci. Her face was calm due to the coat.

"I'm fine, but I think we won't be able to leave." Chuci didn't rush to follow, instead opening each room clockwise, peeking inside, and occasionally flipping through drawers and cabinets before closing the doors.

"Why?" The bikini girl was puzzled.

At this moment, a series of curses came from downstairs, with the newly rich man's voice the loudest.

"Because I can't open the windows." After pushing open all the rooms on the second floor, Chuci circled back to the first room, pointing to the windowsill. "This window is clearly not locked, but I can't open it. If I can't even leave through the windows, let alone the doors."

Before he finished speaking, the sound of a chair being thrown came from downstairs, indicating that someone was trying to break the windows and doors with a chair.

"You're really impressive." The bikini girl showed admiration. If Chuci's coat had initially increased her goodwill by 10 points, his calm and rational behavior in this dangerous situation increased it by at least 20 points.

"I'm not impressive; I just don't waste effort." Chuci didn't find anything in the rooms that could help him escape, but he filled his pockets with small items.

Back in the original room, Chuci picked up the newspaper and scanned it.

"23/7/1998

According to the police investigation report, the bus attack at the Raccoon City Highway 7 toll station was carried out by a fugitive government terrorist. No survivors were found. STARS officials stated that they would intensify efforts to quickly eliminate the terrorist group, and citizens can rest assured."

1998, huh?

Chuci narrowed his eyes slightly, and the thick TV in the room confirmed this.

The bikini girl's English was long forgotten, and she couldn't read the newspaper. Bored, she went to other rooms and found a women's wardrobe, changing into a cool red dress.

Chuci's coat was still on her, and with the new outfit, she became more talkative. "Hey, my name is Zhong Ziyuan, the purple swallow. What about you? What's your name?"

"Chuci, the Chuci who fears the beauty's decline." Chuci nodded slightly, put down the newspaper, and walked downstairs.

Zhong Ziyuan's name was apt; she could chatter like a swallow.

"Fear the beauty's decline? What does that mean? How is it related to your name?"

Chuci didn't respond, but the career woman, who had shown rare deductive skills, saw Chuci downstairs and brightened up. "The path is dark and dangerous. I doubt any parents would name their son 'Lisao.' So you must be Chuci. I'm Shang Manxue."

Chuci didn't intend to continue the conversation and lightly replied, "I'm an orphan," leaving Shang Manxue embarrassed.

"What attitude is this? The situation is unclear; are you going to cause internal strife?" The handsome man, seeing Shang Manxue flustered, immediately stepped in as a protector, pointing rudely at Chuci's head.

Chuci ignored him and, after scanning the hall, walked down the corridor, looking at the brass sculpture. He paused for a moment and asked, "Does anyone know what this is?"

After the initial fear, Chuci adjusted his mindset, treating the current situation as a room escape game. Therefore, when he noticed something strange, he immediately asked.

The plastic-covered sculpture, swaying in the draft, looked eerie and terrifying. At first, it scared people, but once they saw it clearly, they paid little attention.

Seeing the others' lack of interest, Chuci didn't say more and continued his search, like an RPG game, not missing a single room or cabinet.

When his finger touched the door of the master bedroom at the end of the corridor, Chuci keenly noticed the sound of running water inside.

Oh!

A lead!

According to normal thinking, one would be curious and open the door, forgetting to inform others and taking the risk alone.

But Chuci didn't have that much courage. Hearing the sound, he decisively turned back and walked to the hall, determined not to act rashly without a few unlucky companions to share the burden.

After Chuci left, the other eight people in the hall began to chat with each other.

"Hey, why don't we introduce ourselves? After all, there are only a few of us here." The laborer had been calm from the start, never sitting still for a moment, even in the hall, finding something to talk about, as if that gave him a sense of security.

"Since that's the case, I'll go first. My name is Hao..." The handsome man, eager to show off, was about to give a speech.

"Ah!!!" The high school student let out a hysterical scream, interrupting the handsome man's speech, alarming Chuci, and waking someone from a coma somewhere.

Chuci quickly returned to the hall and saw the high school student sitting in front of the brass sculpture, his limbs trembling as if he had been greatly frightened.

"What happened? What's going on?" Chuci asked two questions in a row.

Of course, this was under safe conditions. If it had been a series of screams, Chuci would have retreated to the tool room and grabbed the large梅花扳手 (梅花扳手 is a type of wrench, but it's not commonly used in English, so I'll translate it as "梅花 wrench" or "梅花 spanner" for context) that looked quite lethal.

"This is... this is..." The high school student was almost incoherent, but Chuci's questions made him look again, and he recognized the scene. He pointed at the sculpture, then at the villa, and finally at the floor, swallowing hard and trembling, "This is... Resident Evil!"

As these four words were spoken, a cold wind seemed to sweep through the hall, taking away everyone's body heat and leaving them cold.

"Resident Evil? What is it? A movie?" Chuci asked again, unashamed.

The high school student and the others were speechless, even the laborer gave a sidelong glance.

Chuci didn't blush at all and asked again.

Don't ask why Chuci hadn't seen it. A boring and uninteresting man, he only watched scientific movies; horror or martial arts movies were not in his interest.

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