Chapter 28: The Set Hasn’t Changed, but the Scene Has

"One final confirmation."

On the God platform, in front of the twenty pillars of light that pierced the sky and earth, Qian Gu, draped in a moon-white robe with gold embroidery, adjusted his glasses. "Firearms?"

"Equipped." Zhang Jie patted the Desert Eagle at his waist and the submachine gun on his back.

"Medicine?"

"Equipped."

"Grenades?"

"Equipped." Zheng Zha shook his spatial pouch; the ammunition and medicine were all stored with him.

"Trump card?"

"Equipped." Zhan Lan touched her forehead and displayed her wrist.

It was a silver disc attached by a watch strap, densely engraved with runes that interconnected to form a spell model.

"Excellent." Qian Gu clapped his hands, his demeanor appearing somewhat cold.

Behind him stood a two-meter-tall, burly man. Every inch of his flesh was composed of explosive muscle, far surpassing those of any bodybuilding champion. Although he wore tactical body armor, one could see from his exposed skin that every inch beneath the clothing was covered in tattoos.

This was Qian Gu’s created being, currently named Arnold.

"Hahaha!" Zhang Jie laughed heartily. "With this much preparation, unless the God has gone insane and thrown us into some cultivation film like Shushan, there's absolutely nothing to worry about!"

Zheng Zha also laughed in agreement.

In ten days, everyone had been reborn! They were no longer the ordinary people they once were, but individuals possessing extraordinary powers, with physical fitness at least three times that of a normal person. Returning to reality, they would at least be minor superhumans. Most horror films were no longer a challenge for them.

"Enter the light pillars within thirty seconds. Transfer target locked. Alien 4: Resurrection transfer initiated..."

...

A feeling between dreaming and waking.

It felt like an instant, yet also like an eternity. Once one had experienced that contradictory sensation, they would never want to go through it a second time.

Unfortunately, as reincarnators, as long as the eternal cycle of horror did not end, they would always have to endure it.

When Qian Gu opened his eyes, the glaring light made it difficult to see his surroundings. After a few seconds of adjustment, he was able to observe his environment. He discovered he was locked in a glass pod, tightly bound by an unknown alloy frame, unable to move; his head could only stare straight ahead.

It made him feel like a patient in a straitjacket.

No. Even a mental patient would not receive such treatment; this was something only a dangerous creature used for experiments would experience.

And directly in front of him, occupying his entire field of vision, was an oval-shaped cocoon.

Qian Gu’s brain had recovered its function, and the memories in his mind began to flow. The final prompt from the God made it clear what kind of environment he was in.

'Alien 4? The set hasn't changed, but the scenario has.'

In the original story, the Central Team’s second horror film was Alien 1, where the mission was to kill all the aliens. Through the terrifying power and astounding intelligence of the Alien Queen, they managed a pyrrhic victory and returned to the God space.

The second time was before the first battle against the Devil Team—a "farming" scenario, which was this current Alien 4.

'If it's just Alien 4, it shouldn't be much of a problem.'

The plot of Alien 4 involved the protagonist from Alien 1 being parasitized in Alien 3. After the battle, she finally learned of her condition and heroically sacrificed herself by jumping into a furnace, taking the alien inside her to its end. Years later, a military organization learned of the aliens and, having obtained her DNA—a hybrid version containing alien genes—finally succeeded in cloning her after many failures.

Hmm... and then there were the aliens.

Thus, a standard space coliseum was born, where the gladiators were humans and the beasts were aliens.

The recollection ended.

The alien cocoon in front of Qian Gu blossomed like a flower of flesh, and the facehugger inside lunged out, attempting to clamp onto his face and plant an alien seed within him.

Unfortunately, an invisible layer of armor separated Qian Gu from the facehugger.

Mage Armor!

As a first-level spell with a duration of eight hours, Qian Gu always cast it in advance, and the God’s teleportation had not disrupted the spell's effect.

The facehugger was not an adult alien; it lacked the creature's hard shell, terrifying strength, and agility. It could not tear through the thin layer of Mage Armor and was blocked outside, unable to parasitize Qian Gu.

*Hiss—*

The glass pod to Qian Gu's left suddenly expanded, and crimson, dim flames surged, burning through and melting the entire glass pod and the alloy frame.

"I f*** your mother, God!" Zheng Zha’s cursing voice rang out from within the flames.

Further away, an iron fist punched out from a pod. Qian Gu’s creation, Arnold, tore the alloy frame and glass pod apart, crushed a facehugger with his massive hand, and with a cold expression, began "opening cans," tearing apart all the glass pods.

Qian Gu exerted force, his arms—though devoid of obviously bulging muscles—pushing outward to forcibly stretch and crack the entire alloy frame.

He raised his hands and hammered the glass pod several times until it shattered completely, then stepped out.

The four veterans, including Zhang Jie, had gathered around with grim expressions. "Damn the God! It started with a parasitization scene! If it weren't for Qian Gu casting Mage Armor in advance, everyone except Zheng Zha would have been compromised."

"This reveals our shortcomings," Qian Gu said calmly. "Full-coverage helmets. We need to prepare those when we go back. Since the God can drop us directly into a parasitization scene, it could just as easily drop us into a toxic gas environment. We must minimize the impact of extreme conditions."

"Agreed." Zhan Lan touched her head and raised her hand to look at her watch. "The mission this time is..."

[After six hours, the escape pod doors will open. Those who reach the escape pod will complete their individual horror film mission and return to the God space.]

That was the main mission.

In addition to the main task, there was a reward description for kills:

Kill one alien: 100 reward points.
Kill one Alien Queen: 1,000 reward points and one D-rank horror side quest.
Kill one Alien Evolution: 5,000 reward points and one B-rank horror side quest.

"Brothers! Let's do it!" Zhang Jie slapped his thigh and shouted, "Killing one Alien Evolution gets us 5,000 points and a B-rank side quest—it's worth risking our lives for! Besides, we've got this kid Qian Gu here!"

"Heh." Qian Gu sneered, lowering his head to carefully review the mission details. "Six hours later, the escape pod doors open. In other words, we have to stay in this space coliseum for a full six hours."

"It really has..." changed.

If he remembered correctly, in the original story, the mission for Zheng Zha and the others in Alien 4 was generally the same, but the only change was the time.

In the original, it was one hour. Now, it was six.

Is a shorter time better, or a longer one?

Qian Gu wasn't sure, but he felt a deep sense of suspicion regarding this six-hour retention period.

The God would never be that kind!

Zheng Zha poked Qian Gu and whispered, "Qian Gu, what about these newcomers?"