Chapter 18: What Are Your Tears Worth! Can You Even Protect Luo Li!

The next morning, inside Wu Xian’s private room.

As previously mentioned, the Main God grants every transmigrator a free opportunity to customize their own living space. In other words, as long as one is bold enough, creating a high-end villa, a grand imperial palace, or even a lunar base is a simple matter. Of course, attempting to create something the size of a planet would certainly not be free and would require additional payment.

As for Wu Xian, he created a massive, luxurious seaside mansion. A single floor spanned over 1,000 square meters, bearing a striking resemblance to Tony Stark’s cliffside residence in the Marvel Universe. Inside were various high-end facilities and smart furnishings that could only be seen in science fiction films, leaving the members of the Zhongzhou Team—living in 2007—wide-eyed and astonished, much like the country bumpkin Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden.

Beyond the mansion lay a vast stretch of beach and an endless ocean. One could easily imagine that living here would offer breathtaking views of every sunrise and sunset. If one were to add dozens or hundreds of beautiful women in bikinis, for any man, this place would be nothing short of paradise.

However, at this very moment, on this dreamlike beach, there came a series of thunderous roars followed by ear-piercing, desperate wails.

"Stay away from me! Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!"

Amidst the swirling sand, Zheng Zha’s figure darted out like a cheetah. His speed was so great that he left afterimages in the air; compared to him, any Olympic sprinter or hurdler would look like a complete amateur. Yet, even so, Zheng Zha continued to push his speed, as if something terrifying were chasing him.

And indeed, there was.

With a loud rumble, a black jeep surged forward. It was unclear how it had been modified, but it moved across the sand as if it were on a paved road. Accompanied by the constant roar of the engine, its speed soared, and it looked as though it was about to catch up to the fleeing Zheng Zha and send him flying with a brutal impact.

"Don't cry! Don't beg for mercy! Face reality!"

Wu Xian steered with his left hand while holding a loudspeaker in his right, his voice filled with undisguised amusement and joy.

"What do your tears amount to? Can that protect Luo Li? What are your screams worth? Will the villains in horror movies spare us because you’re screaming?!"

"Remember! This is what you must endure as a transmigrator! It has nothing to do with whether you have power or not; the cruel reality is always chasing at your heels! Since you lack the power to overcome it, you must run! Keep running until you have the strength to stand your ground!"

"I understand the logic!"

Zheng Zha, while running, had a face flushed red. Upon hearing the final remark, he couldn't help but roar at the sky.

"But what does that have to do with you hitting me with a jeep?! Just stop already, ahhhh!!!"

"Hm? You still have the energy to talk? It seems you haven't reached your limit yet... Get ready, I’m going to accelerate!"

Wu Xian narrowed his eyes and pressed his right foot harder onto the gas pedal.

"Noooooooo!!!!"

"Heh heh heh heh—"

...

"Tell me, are the Captain and Brother Zheng truly strangers from the real world? Why does it feel like they have some deep-seated grudge against each other?"

Inside the seaside mansion, the other three members of the Zhongzhou Team peered through the glass at Zheng Zha being chased by the jeep. Black lines of exasperation crawled across their foreheads. Li Xiaoyi couldn't help but voice his complaint, and the other two nodded in immediate agreement. There was no helping it; with the jeep charging at him with the intent to kill, they couldn't believe there wasn't some deep-seated hatred involved.

"Mr. Li, Mr. Mou, Miss Zhan Lan, your breakfast is ready. Please proceed to the dining hall."

Just then, a crisp, melodious, yet overly indifferent voice sounded in their ears. Turning their heads, they saw a semi-transparent, holographic girl standing gracefully not far away, nodding at them with a smile.

If Alice or Matt from *Resident Evil* were here, they would be shocked to find that, aside from the girl appearing slightly older, everything—from her facial features and tone of voice to her form of existence—was identical to the Red Queen, the super-artificial intelligence of the Umbrella Corporation.

It turned out that during the standoff in the laser corridor, Wu Xian had threatened to detonate explosives to force the Red Queen to obey his every command. One of those commands was to copy her core code for him. After returning to the Main God’s space, Wu Xian took the high-capacity USB drive containing the Red Queen’s code, spent reward points and side-quest rewards to perform minor upgrades and modifications, and purchased a special contract from the Main God to bind her to him, establishing a master-servant relationship.

Of course, such a contract certainly had loopholes, but since the Red Queen was a product of science, she was completely at a loss when it came to the supernatural elements of the "fantasy" side. Consequently, for a long time to come, the Red Queen would be unable to betray him. This allowed Wu Xian to safely upload her to his room's terminal, where she acted as an intelligent butler.

She was currently undergoing final testing. Once confirmed, Wu Xian could bring her into horror movie worlds to assist with plot missions. At the very least, she would make information gathering much easier and save a great deal of time.

Incidentally, Wu Xian had also whimsically renamed her "Friday," the name of the new AI developed by Iron Man in the film *Avengers: Age of Ultron*. If the Main God were to throw them into a world post-*Age of Ultron*, he might even be able to pit her against Iron Man to see whose AI was more advanced.

But back to the matter at hand!

Half an hour later, served by the attentive Friday, the three of them finished the delicious breakfast prepared by the smart home robot and sat in the living room, waiting with bated breath. Yesterday afternoon, for various reasons, Wu Xian had conducted individual training for Zheng Zha, but he hadn't forgotten to remind the three of them to undergo enhancements via the Main God.

With 1,000 base reward points, they had first allocated 600 points evenly across their six basic attributes, increasing each by 10 points, and then invested the remaining 400 points into muscle tissue density and neural reaction speed. Judging by the data, they had already far surpassed the average person, rivaling even Olympic champions.

Starting today, their real training was to begin. Originally, they had been nervous but eager to prove themselves, but after seeing the scene on the beach outside, their eagerness vanished, replaced by nervousness and a significant amount of fear.

They wanted to run, but didn't dare.

After enduring about two hours of agonizing wait, Wu Xian finally appeared before them, accompanied by a Zheng Zha who looked several sizes larger—though he was currently sprawled on the floor, his body twitching like a dying fish, gasping for air as if he might pass away at any moment.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Wu Xian looked at the three trembling individuals, his lips slowly curling into an incredibly sinister smile.

"Now, it’s time for your training. Don't worry, you are different from Zheng Zha. I will be very gentle..."

"Gulp—" (x3)