Li Xiaoyi was all right, but Zhang Jie was looking thoroughly vicious.
The reason he had stepped in to help Zheng Zha last time had nothing to do with being a guide; he simply could not stand Xia Ren's behavior. Pulling someone else's wife into his schemes had crossed the line for Zhang Jie.
Glaring fiercely at Xia Ren, he said coldly, "You'd better actually have a reason for calling us out here, or else I... well, Zheng Zha will make you regret it!"
Xia Ren smiled, raised a single finger, and said, "I have a piece of intelligence worth one hundred million reward points."
Instantly, everyone's pupils dilated, followed immediately by skepticism.
Zhang Jie took the lead: "Kid, what kind of games are you trying to play again?!"
The clever Zhan Lan followed right behind: "Are you kidding me? A hundred million reward points? Do you take us for fools? You think you can fool anyone with such a clumsy trick?"
Zheng Zha, whose face had turned green, let out a cold snort. Only Li Xiaoyi showed a glimmer of anticipation in his eyes.
Xia Ren continued, "It's normal for you to doubt it, but this intelligence is entirely genuine. I've verified it myself. I'm only selling it to you for 100 reward points. Want to give it a try?"
"Damn you! Trying to scam our reward points again!"
"It's not a scam! I swear on my reputation as Xia Ren!"
"You don't have an ounce of reputation, how do you even have the nerve to say that?" Zheng Zha retorted angrily.
Xia Ren shook his head. "Look at you saying that. Sure, I made 500 points off you, but I didn't scam you—you even volunteered to give me those reward points yourself."
"Besides, we're all on the same team, seeing each other every day. Do you really think risking my reputation over 100 reward points is a smart business move?"
"This..."
That made sense.
Zhan Lan hesitated because Xia Ren did have a point. But why would intelligence worth 100 million only cost 100?
The next second, Xia Ren answered that doubt: "You might be wondering, since I'm so crafty, why am I only selling it for 100? The reason is simple: first, you're broke; second, this intelligence has an expiration date, and selling it now yields the highest return. You would have discovered this information yourselves eventually anyway."
Zheng Zha immediately chimed in, "Since we're going to figure it out sooner or later, why waste our money? We can just wait for it."
"Every extra day you wait means losing thousands or even tens of thousands of reward points~~~"
"I get it! I'll pay for this!"
Leave it to Zhan Lan; she had a very sharp mind.
"Straightforward!"
Having received the payment, Xia Ren didn't waste any time and directly dropped the intelligence worth 100 million reward points: "The Main God allows us to return to horror movies we've previously entered. Upon returning, we can trigger missions to earn reward points and side story plots."
"If you've got the skills, you can farm the first Resident Evil movie to death. A hundred million points will be a breeze."
The group was startled and immediately connected to the Main God.
"It's really there! Returning for a day costs 10 points!"
"I also see Final Destination, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream—these must be the horror movies Jie-ge experienced before."
Li Xiaoyi blurted out, "No wonder Jie-ge is such a coward! After surviving those three horror movies, being timid is totally normal!"
Zhang Jie glared at him coldly and said nothing.
Xia Ren clapped his hands to pull everyone's attention back, then said, "You saw it yourselves. Compared to Nightmare on Elm Street and the others, Resident Evil has a much lower difficulty. If we don't go farm points to get stronger now, are we just waiting to be slaughtered helplessly when we run into horror movies like The Grudge or The Ring?"
The expressions on everyone's faces shifted drastically.
I have to hand it to him—those 100 reward points were well spent.
Zhan Lan had a flash of insight. "You just said you've already verified this?"
Xia Ren nodded. "That's right. I went back to the Hive, killed all the Lickers, and two creatures that looked like Tyrants. I earned a grade C side story and three thousand reward points."
A massive fire had burned the Hive facility clean to the ground. Yet the Main God had only given a grade C side story, which showed that the fire had been set too late; the virus had already begun leaking outward. Otherwise, given the difficulty of Resident Evil 1, it should have been at least a B.
Zhan Lan instinctively rejected the idea of returning to a horror movie. She said, "My points are already spent, and even the last 100 points I had were scammed... I mean, earned by you."
Zheng Zha was in the same boat, still owing 500 points in hush money. He said, "Zhan Lan is right. If we want to go back and farm points, we need to exchange for at least 10 days or more, otherwise it won't be enough to trigger the missions."
"Besides, we aren't strong enough yet. Once we get properly prepared, we can go back to Resident Evil 1 to farm points later. Sharpening the axe doesn't delay the work of woodcutting, right?"
Xia Ren smiled and said, "Suit yourselves."
Since they didn't plan on making money, there was no need for him to waste his breath. He turned to leave.
Zhan Lan called out to him, "Wait!"
Xia Ren looked back.
Zhan Lan cautiously glanced at Zheng Zha, seeing that although his face was still green, he didn't seem intent on flying into a rage and killing anyone. Besides, Xia Ren had let him enjoy two lolis, so 500 points was hardly a loss anyway.
Zhan Lan said, "Even though you and Zheng Zha had a little unpleasantness, I think the world of horror movies is so dangerous—teamwork is the only way we can survive better, right?"
When she finished speaking, she sneaked another peek at Zheng Zha's expression, considering he was the victim here.
Li Xiaoyi summoned the rare courage to chime in, "Zhan Lan-jie is right. Everyone knows how hard the horror movies are; we're already struggling just to deal with those monsters. If we aren't of one mind, we'll only die faster."
Although Zheng Zha was furious out of his mind, he felt there was some truth to this logic. He said coldly, "Xia Ren, since you also got a side story and upgraded your abilities, do you dare to fight me?"
Xia Ren smiled, a sudden spark of inspiration flashing through his mind.
He said, "Sounds like you're pretty confident. Must have found a good upgrade?"
Zheng Zha let out a cold snort. "No need to fish for information. I upgraded to a grade C Vampire bloodline and grade C internal energy. Come on, let's spar. Upgraded abilities need to be tested through combat anyway."
As a company supervisor, he thought in broader terms. If he wanted to cooperate with a troublemaker like Xia Ren, he had to find a way to suppress him and put the fear of god into him, otherwise there would be endless trouble down the line.
Xia Ren nodded. "Fine by me. Let me see what you're really made of."
Under the expectant gazes of the other team members, the two stood a distance apart.
Xia Ren made a quick mental calculation. Since they were both grade C vampires, he had the Uchiha constitution on top of that, giving him a slight edge in physical strength. Coupled with the high mental fortitude and nervous reflex speed brought by the Mangekyou, he should be able to easily crush him.
However, he had no intention of exposing his abilities in this PK—he didn't even plan to reveal his Vampire Viscount status.
Feeling the abundant power surging within his body, Zheng Zha was filled with heroic spirit and generously declared, "I'll let you have three moves!"
Xia Ren said indifferently, "I upgraded my Uchiha constitution, trying to awaken the Sharingan, but I failed. Still, my stats are twice that of a normal person. You better watch out."
A smile crept up the corner of Zheng Zha's mouth. Twice the stats? Hahahaha! That's no match for me! Having upgraded to a grade C vampire, I have over three hundred points in muscle strength!
With the amplification of internal energy, let's see me smash you into two little pancakes later!
Filled with confidence, a victorious smile naturally bloomed on his face.
Xia Ren bent his legs, front and back, and placed his right hand on the hilt of his Asauchi, adopting a-draw-and-slash stance.
Zheng Zha fell for it completely, his eyes locked onto Xia Ren, preparing to counter the slash.
Then he heard Xia Ren say, "To make the most of my stats, I exchanged for a swordsmanship called Quick-Draw. It's very fast, so be careful."
Zheng Zha thought to himself: *Heh, my nervous reflex speed is even higher than my strength—over three hundred points. No matter how fast your little trick is, how fast can it be? Watch me grab your blade directly and teach you a lesson about how high the sky and how deep the earth are!*
He focused his mind to the maximum, staring fixedly at Xia Ren with blazing eyes.
Xia Ren bent his body, blocking Zheng Zha's line of sight so he couldn't see his right hand.
"Quick-Draw!"
Bang—
A gunshot rang out.