Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 11 further confirms

James walked over and glanced at the measuring instruments, nodded, and ordered, "Okay, there might still be survivors here. Search formation, keep tight."

The mercenaries all nodded, but Zhang Jie, who had been dragged along, sneered and pulled out a cigarette from his pocket. Anyone who had seen the movie should know that the Red Queen's blockade was not yet closed, and finding survivors now was impossible.

Zhan Lan suddenly walked up to Zhang Jie and whispered, "I want to know something here: can we change the plot of the movie?"

Zhang Jie nodded affirmatively and said, "Go on, is there anything else you want to ask?"

She laughed, a laugh that sounded like some kind of silver wind chime. She said, "So, can we use plastic bombs here? If we kill all the Lickers in this room, wouldn't we get thousands of reward points?"

Zhang Jie also laughed, letting out a malicious, booming laugh: "That's true, yes, blowing this up will get you thousands of reward points, but I have two questions for you. First, will they give us time to place the plastic bombs?" He pointed at the mercenaries.

"They don't know what any of this is, nor do they know the consequences of shutting down the main computer. If they see us doing things they can't understand, the most likely outcome is that they'll shoot at us first, potentially releasing the Lickers prematurely. The main god won't let you change the plot so successfully. Even if you do, it's likely to increase the difficulty and add more surprises, understand?"

[Whether it's several thousand reward points is somewhat questionable. Considering the Central Continent Team's later AOE monster-killing rewards and Chu Xuan's theory, in the God's calculations, the rewards for killing Lickers in face-to-face combat and destroying a large number of unawakened Lickers are likely different... Zhang Jie's so-called several thousand points may be distributed as rewards for completing side quests, rather than simply multiplying the quantity by the unit price of one hundred points.]

Watching the movie characters and newcomers' actions with a cold eye, Mu Xiang paced among the nearby containers, making sure he could hear their conversation.

Whether in the movies or now, almost everyone has noticed something strange inside those containers, yet they've all given up on even the slightest exploration or observation outside of the search and rescue mission… What did they think it was? Newly arrived cold-chain ingredients for Restaurant B?

After answering his own question, Zhang Jie immediately asked, "My second question is, what do you think is the biggest reason we can survive in horror movies?"

Zhan Lan paused for a moment, then touched her forehead and said, "Power? No, luck? No, it's too unpredictable, sometimes good, sometimes bad... It must be that you know the plot well, right?"

Zhang Jie laughed and said, "Bingo, you got it right. Knowing the plot is our greatest advantage, so I will never change the plot before I am absolutely sure! And if anyone tries to forcibly change the plot to get reward points, I don't mind sending him to hell."

A cold smile crept across Mu Xiang's face. It seemed Zhang Jie had just shared a lot of valuable information... and much more conservatively than Mu Xiang had told the newcomers. However, all the key points Mu Xiang had mentioned would prove useful in the subsequent actions! This sense of mutual support and cooperation was what truly cemented his image as a wise man.

And is what Zhang Jie said really correct? How many times have the films in the Reincarnation World truly followed the original movie plot? Treating the plot, which is at the mercy of the gods, as the greatest reliance will either lead to little benefit from following the rules, or to immediate death due to inability to adapt, or both... I wonder if Zhang Jie is deliberately misleading us? Mu Xiang thought about the plot and suddenly felt a pang of realization... His gaze drifted and met Zhang Jie's eyes.

At this moment, Zhang Jie's gaze kept sweeping back and forth between Mu Xiang and Zheng Zha's faces, but it was hard to tell whether it was concern or malice... However, just as the original novel said, this kind of gaze, mixed with mockery and pity, was too uncomfortable. Was it still that inexplicable sense of superiority that veterans had in front of novices? The wisdom of mortals... Mu Xiang sneered inwardly.

Just then, the search of Restaurant B was completed, and Captain James ordered them to move on, ending the conversation here.

Zhang Jie acted naturally, following the main group. He seemed to be constantly searching left and right, and the mercenaries didn't say anything. Only Zheng Zha and the others knew that Zhang Jie knew he couldn't stray more than a hundred meters from James, so he had to stay behind the main group instead of obediently staying in Restaurant B to watch Matt.

After passing through several steel gates, the group arrived outside the central computer control room. However, the central computer, Red Queen, was now out of their control, so they could no longer directly operate the entire Hive from here.

Kaplan, true to his reputation as an IT expert among mercenaries, immediately turned on the three computers outside the control room. To an outsider, his computer skills were undoubtedly top-notch. His hands flew across the three keyboards, but several minutes passed, and the door to the central computer remained tightly shut.

The medic couldn't help but ask, "Why did it take so long?"

Kaplan, without turning his head, said, "The Red Queen's defense system has been activated, and is even being strengthened..."

Finally, Kaplan confidently tossed his head and looked up. With a soft click, the tightly closed door slowly opened. James nodded and said, "Let's shut her off!"

[The original audio says "Let's pack it up..." which is probably colloquial, meaning to tell Red Queen to stop. The novel translates it directly as "pack it up," which made me laugh for a long time the first time I read it. Now James says "turn it off" directly... has that been corrected too?]

[Upon closer reflection, the original work seems to refer to her as the Flame Queen rather than the Red Queen. Are these translation issues based on my understanding, or is it due to differences in worldviews? Is it possible... that another author just happened to choose these translations?]

[Wait! I have some evidence... Zheng Zha also referred to her as the Red Queen, not the Flame Queen as he said in the original story! But there's absolutely no need for a translation mechanism between me and Zheng Zha!]

Thinking of this, Mu Xiang felt a jolt: it was increasingly pointing to him having transmigrated into the wrong book...

According to the infinite worldview, this world already has an author... I can't possibly confirm that all other settings exist except for the author, can I? Saying you've transmigrated into another world is essentially no different from transmigrating into another book; the only difference is how strong the author's influence is. Damn, I'm basically certain now...

Making bold assumptions and carefully verifying them is Mu Xiang's consistent style... Fortunately or unfortunately, Mu Xiang inadvertently discovered more and more corroborating evidence...

(End of this chapter)