Chapter 29: Elite Soldiers and Able Generals

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Newcomers?

Qian Gu raised his head. Arnold had already opened all the “cans” containing the newcomers.

There were only six of them.

An ordinary man wearing clear-lensed glasses; a tall, lean, cold East Asian man; a Russian bear of a man; a college student; a handsome young man who looked utterly unremarkable but secretly concealed lethal weapons—who was actually a woman; and one perfectly ordinary burly man.

What on earth was going on?

A sense of absurdity welled up within Qian Gu. He had already formed a rough impression of these newcomers, and had even guessed their identities.

Yet precisely because he had guessed who they were, the situation seemed all the more absurd.

Had the Main God finally struck gold?

Every single newcomer recruited this time possessed considerable overall ability. They were all talents!

“Damn it!” The burly man among the newcomers cursed as he held up the remains of a facehugger. “That prop looks pretty damn realistic. If you wanted to scare me, you should’ve at least used an American one. Instead, you brought out a Russian model. First time on the job, is it?”

He threw the remains onto the floor, then stamped down hard with his leather shoe and ground them underfoot before spitting beside them.

“Lan, explain things to them.”

Qian Gu shook loose a section of rope wrapped around his wrist. He reached inside it and pulled out his hand cannon, miming the act of cocking it.

Second Circle: Rope Trick.

The spell created a dimensional space connected to the end of the rope. It could accommodate eight Medium-sized creatures and lasted for one hour.

Qian Gu’s use of it had clearly departed from the spell’s intended description. He had turned it into a storage space.

That little feat of producing something from nothing drew the newcomers’ attention to him. In particular, the eyes of the ordinary man in clear-lensed glasses seemed to ignite. A fervent emotion known as fanaticism began to burn within them.

So I was right.

Taking in everyone’s reactions, Qian Gu once again confirmed his deduction.

Lan smiled brightly. “Then thank you very much.”

He proceeded to give the newcomers a brief explanation, mainly covering the essentials: that they would be trapped in an endless cycle of horror films, and that surviving each film would earn them one thousand reward points. Those points could be exchanged for weapons or used to strengthen their bodies.

“You newcomers are quite impressive. The overall quality is very high.”

Qian Gu snapped his fingers and pointed at the ordinary man in clear-lensed glasses. “You’ll start by introducing yourself. If you perform adequately during the coming horror-film scenario and earn our recognition, you’ll have the chance to join our team as well.”

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“Before then, we’ll provide you with only the minimum protection.”

A glint flashed across the ordinary-looking man’s glasses. He said calmly, “How do you intend to prove that what you’re saying is true?”

“Isn’t this enough?”

Qian Gu waved the rope around his wrist, then shook a gold bar out of it.

“There are no traces of magic.”

The man seemed to take a deep breath. “It appears to be a cultivation artifact after all. I never expected…”

A cultivation artifact?

Zheng Zha and the others were somewhat bewildered.

As Qian Gu’s teammates, they knew the true nature of his “magic rope” better than anyone. It was clearly a Dungeons & Dragons spell, so how could it possibly be connected to something called cultivation?

No…

Lan raised a hand to her forehead and noticed something wrong.

He’s far too calm. And judging from what this newcomer said, he isn’t unfamiliar with so-called cultivation artifacts…

He wasn’t an ordinary person.

And it wasn’t just him. Apart from the college student and the burly man who had been acting so aggressively, all the other newcomers were far too composed.

Qian Gu had been right. This batch of newcomers…

was exceptionally capable.

“Chu Xuan,” the man said calmly. “Rank of senior colonel. Before entering the Main God’s dimension, I was in a laboratory at the Hidden Dragon military base. The only explanation for how I could have been brought here without disturbing any of the base’s security systems is the one you’ve provided.”

Another soldier!

Zheng Zha and the others were startled. They had never expected the Main God to bring in someone like this among the newcomers.

“A soldier. Excellent.”

Qian Gu adjusted his glasses. Every distracting thought in his mind was forcibly suppressed. Each brain cell began operating at full capacity, forming a quasi-mechanical framework known as the human brain and raising his thinking efficiency by more than threefold.

“This is the Main God’s dimension. Your former identity, status, and experience amount to nothing more than a beautifully framed résumé. What matters here is your actual performance—your mentality and your abilities.”

Chu Xuan said nothing. He merely stared at Qian Gu’s magic rope.

The tall, lean East Asian man standing beside him said coldly, “You may call me Zero. I’m an assassin.”

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“Kanparovsky. International mercenary, heavy-weapons specialist. You may also call me by my nickname, the Overlord.”

The burly Russian man spoke in a loud, carefree manner. “To be honest, I’d rather you were lying. This is truly a hellish place!”

“Zhao Yingkong. Assassin.”

The college student scratched his head and shifted his feet almost imperceptibly, putting some distance between himself and the two assassins and the heavy-weapons specialist.

“Li Shuaixi. College student. Though I read quite a lot in my spare time!”

Excellent.

Every one of them was a familiar name.

Qian Gu’s gaze passed over the newcomers and settled on the burly man who had been shouting at the beginning. The chill in his eyes made the previously ferocious man completely lose his nerve.

“Kong Mingde. Construction foreman.”

An unfamiliar name, but the same old Z-style everyman character.

Qian Gu had not been mistaken. This batch of newcomers was exceptionally strong—and every one of them was a character who had appeared in the original story.

There was no need to elaborate on Chu Xuan, Zero, and the Overlord. All three had appeared in the second horror film. Li Shuaixi appeared in this one: the college student who “overpowered Zheng Zha and outwitted Chu Xuan,” and who could even understand part of Chu Xuan’s instructions for operating the spaceship…

All one could say was that all those miscellaneous books he had read in his spare time had not been for nothing. He had managed to learn something from them after all.

Zhao Yingkong appeared in the third horror film.

As for the construction foreman named Kong Mingde, he was most likely the “hidden powerhouse” from the third film.

The facts proved that the excellence of newcomers was connected, to some extent, with how well they integrated into the team.

Every newcomer present was above average. Under the obvious threat of firearms and supernatural force, they submitted with remarkable ease. Even Kong Mingde, the most unruly of them at the beginning, had become perfectly obedient and had completely abandoned his earlier arrogance.

After the brief introductions were over, Qian Gu surveyed the surroundings. None of the characters from the film had appeared. Apart from the glass pods used for implantation, the chamber contained almost no other equipment.

It was not empty. If anything, it was somewhat cramped.

There were rather a lot of glass pods. Besides the twelve belonging to their group—including Arnold’s—there were nine more, making twenty in total.

“The implantation and growth of the aliens has been accelerated considerably compared with the film.”

Chu Xuan placed a hand over his chest and said, “The heartbeat of the implanted organism is synchronizing with mine. It is expected to finish synchronizing in half an hour. At that point, the adult alien will burst through my chest.

“This should be the first challenge set by the ‘Main God’ you mentioned.”

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