Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 4 James Schade and the Bug
Zhang Jie's gaze swept over the others: "You should have noticed... that you're wearing a strange watch, right?" As he spoke, he raised his left hand, on which was a simple and antique-style watch.

The watch is made of solid black metal, which adds a touch of technological sophistication. The two styles are strangely combined, which is indeed odd... or rather, peculiar.

[This watch seems to be worth at least a D-rank side quest and a lot of reward points on the market...]

Everyone looked at their left wrists, where various data were displayed on the watch screens, the most eye-catching being the countdown of two hours and forty-seven minutes.

However, Mu Xiang wore his watch on his right hand. Although he wasn't left-handed, he was used to wearing his watch on his right hand—he hadn't expected that the God of War would do the same for him.

It must be said that apart from being inhuman, the main god is quite humane in other aspects.

But what if I lost my own watch...?

"Killing ten zombies earns one reward point, one Licker earns one hundred reward points, and a newbie... well, one thousand reward points..." Zhang Jie finished speaking and looked at the newbies with ill intent. Mu Xiang, Zheng Zha, and the girl all looked at him calmly, and Mu Xiang even laughed out loud.

"Of course, it's negative..." Upon hearing this, Mu Xiang shrugged. Was this guy's twisted sense of humor, trying to embarrass the newcomer?

Zhang Jie sneered and said, "Alright, ask any other questions as soon as possible. This horror movie is about to officially begin."

The girl with glasses glanced at Zheng Zha and Mu Xiang—two people who appeared calm. Zheng Zha nodded slightly, and Mu Xiang indicated he had nothing more to say. She then continued, "I have two or three more questions. I've also seen the horror movie 'Resident Evil.' The ending is that the T-virus from the lab spreads throughout Raccoon City... But thinking about it the other way around, if we had escaped the lab by train before that, wouldn't we have been able to survive very easily?"

Zhang Jie nodded and said, "Look at your watch. Is there a name in the upper left corner? Say it out loud."

"James Sheldon!"

The others read it aloud at the same time, and then they were surprised to see a tall black man among the foreigners emitting a faint glow.

The light lasted only a moment, then the black man returned to normal, without any of the foreigners, including the black man himself, noticing. Mu Xiang wasn't surprised by this; with dimensional barriers in place, what was this kind of friendly marking?

But... there's a problem!

[There's one major plot hole in all the Resident Evil parts of the original comics! It's the name of the Umbrella Corporation special forces captain...]

Mu Xiang was quite interested in the Resident Evil IP, which was actually the root cause of his accidental reading of Infinite Terror and subsequent addiction. After all, the early cover of Infinite Terror was the same "looking back and smiling" cover of the old Resident Evil game discs. Therefore, he had long ago noticed that the original author, when writing the Resident Evil plot, mistakenly believed the name Matthew Addison on the fake policeman and environmentalist Matt Addison's forged ID to be the captain's name…

In fact, the character design book and cast list clearly state that the captain, played by Colin Salmon, is named James Schade, and his codename is "One." When the Red Queen scans the team members in the movie, everyone else is shown by name, but only the captain is shown by his codename, "One." Incidentally, Colin Salmon also appeared in *Alien vs. Predator*, was an interviewer on *The Final Interview* (this was covered in Chinese class, so it left a deep impression), played the stepfather of the protagonist in *Arrow*, and was General Zod in *Krypton*… So, when Mu Xiang was developing fanfiction, he thought that if the Middle Continent team entered the American TV series *Krypton*, they might meet that so-called "Matthew Addison"… Just thinking about it makes him laugh.

That's getting off-topic... Putting aside these overly extended thoughts, the current question is: after he entered the "Resident Evil" world of "Infinite Terror," this bug was actually fixed? The bug in the world setting is gone? So, did he really enter "Infinite Terror"? Or is he himself a person within this worldview, and the true state of the world differs from the novel's setting that reflects it? This is a very confusing and difficult-to-prove question. [This bug has ruined so many fanfiction authors... After all, not everyone will specifically rewatch a horror movie that's already incorporated into the original work.]

[Wait... fanfiction?]

Mu Xiang suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. If he hadn't transmigrated into the God Space, which shared the same worldview as his own, or into "Infinite Terror"... could it be a fan fiction? The author of the fan fiction had fixed the bugs in the original work, so when he transmigrated into the fan fiction, he wouldn't see those bugs?
No way... If that's really the case, it's the worst possible scenario...

But he doesn’t recall reading any fan fiction that fixed the bug, so that might not be the case.
[But just to be on the safe side, let's assume I might be in a fanfiction of "Infinite Terror"... If we follow this assumption, Li Xiaoyi's abnormality can be explained?]

[Li Xiaoyi transmigrated into "Infinite Terror," a fan fiction novel featuring him as the protagonist; while I transmigrated into his fan fiction, becoming a variable unknown to him as the transmigrator? Am I trapped in a nested doll?]

[While it's possible we both traveled into the world of "Infinite Terror," and this real world doesn't have a "Matthew Addison" bug... that idea is too simplistic, lacks any logical basis, and is less credible than the worst-case scenario.]

We need to observe further.

On the other side, Zhang Jie was still explaining: "He is the mercenary captain in the movie... This movie belongs to a specific region horror film, and the horror plot only takes place in this laboratory."

As he spoke, he glanced at James Sheldon, "To limit the difficulty, the main god doesn't allow us to stray too far from the plot area in horror movies like this. If we leave James Sheldon by a hundred meters, we'll... just disappear with a bang, understand?"

"What if he dies? Then we won't be able to follow him... or will we be free?" the girl asked, touching her forehead.

“When he dies in the story, this limitation will be applied to the other characters in the story, creating a chain reaction… Without this kind of loophole, we can only desperately try to survive in this horror movie.” Zhang Jie shook his head.

Zheng Zha suddenly asked, "What is that main god? You've been talking about this name."

"The Main God should be the thing that manages our entry into this horror movie loop. It gives us reward points, and all kinds of exchanges are done through it... The Main God looks like a big ball of light, but in fact, I have no idea what it is at all," Zhang Jie said, waving his hand.

The girl nodded to indicate that she understood, then pointed to the countdown on her watch: "...One last question, what does this number represent?"

"You have to stay in this horror movie for a certain amount of time. Once the time is up, if you're still alive, you'll return to the Supreme God... and then face the next horror movie," Zhang Jie said, taking a deep drag on his cigarette.

Just then, the train began to slowly slow down. Zhang Jie finished his cigarette in a few puffs, then pulled his Desert Eagle out of his pocket: "Alright, the plot begins. They can hear our conversation now. Remember, if our special topics are overheard, it will deduct ten reward points. Ten points for each sentence, and any negative points will be deducted from your next reward. Newbies... try to survive!"

Mu Xiang's thoughts returned to this point. Upon hearing this, he nodded, took a deep breath, and walked to Zhang Jie's side.

(End of this chapter)