Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"First and foremost, what this team needs most is to address its weaknesses." He adjusted his glasses and said calmly, "The gap in combat strength between the senior and junior members is too large. Zheng Zha, Zhang Jie, Alice, Patchouli, the combat strength of you is far superior to that of the other newcomers. Zero is alright, but there is still a serious gap in professionalism. Therefore, I believe the theme of this enhancement should be to address the weaknesses of the senior members and improve the survivability and professional combat skills of the newcomers."

He glanced at the senior figures he had mentioned.

"As the core of the team and the only melee fighter, Zheng Zha, what you lack is the ability to sustain yourself. After experiencing the Anubis trial, you have mastered the power to control the gene lock. However, there is still a huge gap between your combat power when you have energy and when you don't."

"As far as I know, your current God-level enhancements are only a C-grade mutated bloodline and a C-grade intermediate internal skill. So I suggest you allocate your reward points to upgrade both of your enhancements to B-grade. Even if that stat boost is no longer significant to you, it can at least help improve your energy reserves."

Before Zheng Zha could speak, Zhang Jie nodded and said, "That's a good idea. The biggest improvement for Zheng Zha is simply increasing his continuous combat time. I'll cover the missing reward points. I currently have a bunch of mental skills that I haven't fully mastered, so I don't need any additional improvements for now."

“Zhang Jie…” Zheng Zha stopped himself from saying anything. He patted Zhang Jie’s shoulder forcefully. The two then smiled at each other.

“Very good, then Zhang Jie’s problem is solved. Now it’s the others.” Chu Xuan’s gaze swept over Zero. “Zero doesn’t need any improvements for now, just to enhance the sniper’s mobility and survivability. This is usually Alice’s responsibility, so I won’t interfere. I’ll skip over myself for now. The rest are Ba Wang and Ming Yanwei.”

"Our team already has strong enough melee fighters, mental abilities, ranged fighters, and support and auxiliary personnel. Considering that Zhao Yingkong will inevitably be resurrected in the future, detection and stealth are no longer a concern. Therefore, what we lack now are mid-to-close range combatants. I suggest that you, Overlord, split the B-level side quest into 3D2C, and then exchange it for an enhancement that can greatly improve your physique, such as a werewolf. Then use the remaining reward points to exchange for survival skills of that system. Unlike Zheng Zha, the vampire enhancement skills are almost irrelevant to him."

“I am indeed very interested in enhancing werewolves.” Overlord nodded.

“Then Mingyanwei—” he looked at Alice.

“Well, I’ll analyze Mingyanwei’s enhancement.” Alice nodded and said, “Mingyanwei’s benefits are C, B, and 8000 points. Without considering additional factors, the enhancement for the Elf Archer is the most suitable for you. But I think you might have other ideas.”

"No need to change it, this is fine." Ming Yanwei smiled faintly. "Isn't it just an overlap with Zhang Heng's enhancement exchange? There's no need to worry too much about this, because I'll surpass him soon."

“Very good.” Alice nodded, extending her hand. The little doll beside her picked up a white longbow and brought it to Ming Yanwei. “This is Zhang Heng’s trophy, obtained after defeating the White Knight. It’s a divine bow representing ‘holy rebellion.’ Although due to the different energy system, it only possesses the basic attributes of a war bow in the hands of beings other than angels, it can still support you using arrows with a maximum enchantment of +5. If you feel comfortable using it, you can temporarily use this bow until Zhang Heng is resurrected.”

Do you need to think about it again?

Ming Yanwei grabbed the white bow without hesitation. "No need. I won't need this bow when he's resurrected. I'll just pay him back with interest then."

Her tone was resolute and cold, yet filled with determination. It was clear that if Zhang Heng didn't revive soon, a less than pleasant future awaited him. But their affair… those who didn't know the details shouldn't interfere. Those who did know… should interfere even less.

Zheng Zha's lips twitched, and he was about to say something but then the words stuck in his throat. He really didn't know how to defend Zhang Heng, so what he was about to say turned into something else.

"Uh, so what about Chu Xuan himself? And what about Margot Lloyd and Norrell?"

“I need to exchange some research and development equipment and some knowledge. Those things are very specialized; explaining them will only make you dizzy.” Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses. “Don’t worry about my physical condition not keeping up. In the world of gods and demons, I gained Anubis’s recognition and borrowed a bit of His divine power. Alice helped me complete the Osiris ritual enhancement, and with the spell from the Book of the Dead, I don’t have any problems protecting myself. As for those two, I think they have their own ideas.”

Zheng Zha then looked at the witches.

“The enhancement I plan to exchange for is the ‘Nanker Swarm,’ inspired by the day Earth stopped rotating. It’s an A-grade creation. While it can’t be used to unleash a planet-cleansing swarm without the energy and computing power of Noah’s Sphere from the original movie, it’s still very helpful for the expansion of the Great Library. At least I won’t have to start from scratch again, building robot assembly lines step by step,” Patchouli replied, looking around. “As for Alice…”

“I need to upgrade my energy supply and prepare some contingency plans to overturn the table in a critical moment. I have a few options in mind, but I can't make a decision until the next world's briefing.” The girl shrugged. “It has to be at least capable of dismantling a planet in a critical moment. I suspect we're not far from that level of battlefield.”

Her prediction was accurate, because just a few days later, the Supreme God sent the mission briefing to the reincarnators of the Central Continent Team.

The next world is a science fiction movie, Starship Troopers.

Section 2: Please, you're so weak!

Transmission begins, ends.

When everyone awoke from their half-awake, half-asleep state and their feet were firmly planted on the ground again, they found themselves standing in a bustling hall, surrounded by officers and soldiers in military or combat uniforms coming and going. The group of them was in a corner of the hall, with a large, naturally empty area around them.

Two newcomers lay on the ground; one looked like a soldier, and the other resembled a college student. As the veterans saw them, the quest notification from the Supreme God clearly appeared on their wristwatches.

—'The Nan Yan and Sen Zhou teams will enter the battlefield in three to seven days. Killing an enemy member whose gene lock hasn't been unlocked will reward you with a C-level side quest and 2000 reward points. Killing an enemy member whose gene lock has been unlocked will reward you with a B-level side quest and 7000 reward points. Killing an enemy Reincarnation Team member counts as one positive point, while the death of an ally Reincarnation Team member counts as one negative point. The final score will be multiplied by 2000 and distributed to each Reincarnation Team at the end of the world.'

—The main quest will be unlocked once all the reincarnation teams have assembled.

—Side quest: Participate in the first landing operation of the Kolenda expedition and survive until your return to the fleet. Success grants 1,500 reward points; failure incurs no penalty.

—'Side quests: 1 reward point for every 100 Warrior Insects killed, 1 reward point for every 10 Flying Insects killed, 10 reward points for every Laser Insect killed, 100 reward points for every Fire-breathing Insect killed, 3000 reward points for every Brain Insect killed, and one C-rank side quest. This list will change in real-time as the Insect unit types are updated. If the Reincarnator uses a weapon from the story world to achieve the kill, no reward will be given.'

"Heh, it seems we're being seen as the weak, or are the enemies really that strong?" Looking at the mission list, Zheng Zha couldn't help but chuckle softly. The Earl's bloodline and advanced internal energy that he had just enhanced before setting off surged with his emotions, transforming into a tangible blood-gold flame on his body.

The main god analyzed the effects of the enhanced demonic blood energy and innate true qi that Alice had prepared for him, and offered two options when exchanging for advanced enhancements: 'change the energy nature back to orthodox enhancement' and 'simply increase the total energy and carrying capacity'. When Zheng Zha chose the latter and paid some additional reward points, the energy reserves in his body suddenly increased by about five times, and his physical attributes also improved significantly.

Zheng Zha hadn't looked at his attribute list in a long time. Ever since unlocking his gene lock to the third stage and experiencing Alice's bunch of attribute enhancements, ritual boosts, and numerous auxiliary items, he hadn't paid much attention to those less important things. He only knew that his constitution, nerve response, cell activity, and other attributes were all around 700 or 800. His mental strength was also over 500, and as for intelligence... well, let's not dwell on that sad topic too much.

He took a deep breath, and the writhing flames around him quietly extinguished. He then shifted his gaze slightly, looking at the intelligent members of the team, hoping to glean some information.

The person who answered him was Zhang Jie.

"This is determined by the main god's evaluation mechanism." Zhang Jie shrugged, a somewhat embarrassed smile on his face. "The main god updates the evaluation of each team based on their performance in previous worlds. Then, it determines the difficulty of the subsequent storylines and the order of team battles. Previously, because I was hidden in the team as a semi-guide, the overall evaluation was slightly higher..."

Zheng Zha gestured for him to continue.

"The evaluation is divided into many parts, and the specific calculation functions and weighting modes are too complex to go into detail. But I can confirm that the two most important factors in the scoring are the enhanced attributes that the reincarnators exchange for and their performance in the previous world. The latter takes precedence over the former, and newcomers are not included in the calculation. In the previous world, our team faced an A-level main quest with a difficulty level of seventeen people, but only one and a half people died. This caused the God's evaluation of the entire team to drop significantly."

"The God will determine our abilities to be below A-level. Also, because the scores of resurrected team members are reset to zero, which is equivalent to newcomers not being included in the calculation, my AA-level enhancements, as well as the combat enhancements of Zero, Overlord, Chu Xuan, and Ming Yanwei, will not be taken into consideration by the God in this world. The only ones that will be included in the score are your double B-level enhancements, Captain, and the A-level creations that Alice and Patchouli exchanged... The enhancements they modified themselves will not be counted."

"Therefore, the difficulty that the main god has given our Central Continent team in this mission should be the same as that of three veterans with an average enhancement level of A, who are carrying five plus two, a total of seven newcomers. The difficulty level is relatively B or BB level. Our overall evaluation is definitely too low. This is a good opportunity."

"I see." Zheng Zha nodded.

Zhang Jie's words are actually quite easy to understand. Based on the task classifications issued by the Main God to the reincarnators, D-DD level tasks are very easy to complete; C-CC level tasks are of moderate difficulty, requiring some effort and risking injury; B-BB level tasks are extremely difficult, requiring the risk of minor or serious injury, or even death, to ensure completion; A-AA level tasks have a slim chance of survival; and S-SS level tasks are almost impossible.

Considering the current situation of the Zhongzhou team, the difficulty of this team battle for them should be 'a ten-person mission with a high probability of success if three veterans with average A-level enhancements and a group of newcomers risk their lives in a desperate battle.' The relative difficulty is even lower than the team battle in Legend of Gods and Demons.

Zheng Zha suddenly frowned again and asked, "Won't the degree to which the gene lock is activated be taken into account?"

“Yes, but not this scoring system. It’s something else, a different, more complex system that I don’t quite understand.” Zhang Jie looked puzzled. He then shook his head. “I don’t remember exactly what it is; the God of War may have blurred my memories of it. But I’m certain that the weighting attached to the gene lock has a relatively small impact on our team right now.”

"So that means the other reincarnation teams are weaker than us. Heh, I was quite surprised when I heard it was a team battle." Overlord suddenly chuckled. After enhancing his C-grade mutated werewolf bloodline, he had grown much taller and stronger, his two-meter-tall frame making him look like a brown bear standing upright. "This is a benefit given to us by the main god. We have to give them a good beating and reap a huge profit."

Zheng Zha nodded, neither confirming nor denying. After experiencing several horror movies and the reckless trials of death, the only thing he had learned was to let professionals do professional things. So he turned his gaze to Chu Xuan and asked.

"Let's analyze the situation, Chu Xuan. What stance and behavior should we maintain in this world? And how should we get along with the other two teams?"

So everyone turned to look at Chu Xuan. Chu Xuan, of course, didn't mince words; he adjusted his glasses and then answered.

"First of all, you should all have noticed the wording used by the Supreme God when issuing the mission list. It used the term 'Zerg faction,' not 'Arachian Zerg.' Do you know what that means?"

"No, I really didn't notice..." Zheng Zha said, embarrassed.

“It’s a faction war between humans and insects,” Alice said, pointing to the officer’s uniform she was wearing that had automatically replaced her usual blue and white outer garment after the teleportation. “The other reincarnation teams may be deployed to the insectoid faction and assigned corresponding insectoid identities, just like the military uniforms we’re wearing.”

“That’s right, but it’s not comprehensive enough.” Chu Xuan nodded and continued, “Based on the settings of the movies and novels, we can easily conclude that the strength of the two sides is not equal. Although one side is pursuing mechanical technology and the other is pursuing biological technology, the war potential of mankind is far greater than that of the swarm.”

"If it weren't for the fact that the Human Federation in this world has enjoyed a long period of peace and has no other alien enemies, resulting in extremely low quality of soldiers and officers in the early stages of the war, the Arach insectoids might have even lost the important ecological planet of Kolendadu to the expeditionary force in the first battle. With the reincarnators pushing things along, this possibility is very likely to become a reality. Therefore, joining the faction that enters the swarm is actually a form of weakening in this kind of faction war."

"You mean Nan Yan and Sen Zhou are likely to be stronger?" Zheng Zha asked.

“It’s not just very likely, it’s certain,” Chu Xuan replied. “In the original work, there are only two factions, humans and insects, and there is no third faction. Therefore, the three Reincarnation Teams cannot form a three-way balance of power. The only possibility is that the two weaker teams will unite to resist the stronger enemy. Since we have been identified as the weakest, the Nan Yan Team, which is slightly stronger than us in the scoring, will become our natural ally.”

"They should descend directly into the fleet, and according to the mission given by the main god, we should participate in the first landing operation before they arrive, and gain merit in it to make the weak balance the power of the strong. From then until the arrival of the Senzhou team, the main god gives our two teams time to play a game of balance, and then finally a decisive battle."

“Of course, there’s another possibility.” Chu Xuan paused for a moment, then continued, “That would be if the second squad were deployed to the Zerg swarm. Then the third squad, without needing any ‘power’, could become a third force capable of contending with our two squads plus the human and Zerg races based solely on its own strength. And if that’s the case… that would be very troublesome.”

“The possibility is very low,” Alice said.

"It is indeed very low, but not nonexistent." Chu Xuan took out an apple from somewhere and took a bite. "Moreover, even if such an overly powerful third-party force doesn't exist, the Reincarnation Squad that descended on the Zerg swarm's side would inevitably have a lower God rating than their actual strength, just like us. Because the Reincarnation Squad are all human, killing each other is normal in war, and it's easy to overcome psychological barriers. But if they can stand on the Zerg side and kill humans without being bothered, then their style of doing things must lean towards evil, and they are very likely to be a breeding team."

"A breeding team?" Ming Yanwei had never heard of this concept. She looked at Chu Xuan with a puzzled expression, as did Ba Wang and Zheng Zha standing beside her.

"Let me explain," Zhang Jie sighed, lighting a cigarette for himself.

He took a deep breath before revealing the information he knew through the white mist.

"The so-called 'breeding team' is a team that uses newcomers to extract profits and deliberately suppresses their strength." He glanced at the two newcomers still lying on the floor, seemingly unaware of what was happening. "The veterans in the breeding team will try their best to save the newcomers in the horror movie, and then after returning to the main god space, they will extract all the reward points from them and kill them all in the next or several missions."

"In this way, the evaluation of the Reincarnation Team will remain very low. The veterans can then use these surplus reward points to exchange for powerful items and attributes to complete those ridiculously difficult side quests and strengthen themselves. This cycle continues until only one or a few extremely capable veterans and a large group of 'pigs' that are kept in captivity and ready to be slaughtered at any time remain in the breeding team. This will result in their strength being far higher than their evaluation. Although internal unity cannot be relied upon, in chaotic battles where the situation is difficult to control... they will be even stronger without the need for teamwork."

Obviously, it's difficult to avoid chaos during a battle between humans and insects.

“The breeding team…” Zheng Zha clenched his fist, then suddenly smiled. “I’d really like to know how strong they can become through exploitation and oppression. Can they even last fifteen seconds under my thumb?”

"Don't worry, there will be plenty of opportunities," Chu Xuan said calmly. His gaze then shifted to the still bustling hall outside the protective shield. "But before that, we must gather a sufficiently large 'momentum.' The Main God should have prepared corresponding identities and ranks for us, and the possibility of us being just common soldiers is very low. Therefore, we must use this identity to gain enough merit in the first landing operation, preserve the Federation's forces, and even try to turn the tide of the battle and control this fleet. Then, when the second reincarnation squad arrives, we will overwhelm them with our momentum, forcing them to surrender or even annihilating them outright. Then we will deal with the last squad."

“Understood.” Zheng Zha nodded, glancing at his unmarked military uniform. “Then, once the protective shield is removed, we must establish our merits according to the identities assigned by the God. And…” He lightly stomped on the ground, and a shockwave suddenly shot out, instantly lifting the two newcomers who were pretending to be asleep.

"Overlord, the task of explaining to the new recruits is entrusted to you. Within two minutes, make them understand what reality is."

....................................

The script for the Witch Wars is a bit of a headache...

Chapter 3: You think you can just run away after offending Boss Chu?!

Alice recognized the two newcomers at first glance. She had seen them in the prediction records.

One is Cheng Xiao, a special forces soldier skilled in internal energy cultivation and witchcraft. He entered the cycle of reincarnation through Chu Xuan's instigation of the main god's invasion plan. His defining characteristic is his smooth talk, but he's actually cowardly and simply wants to court death.

The other is Luo Gandao, an ordinary college student, but with extremely high intuition, survival instinct, and talent for mechanical driving. As a clone, he even reached the limit of the fourth stage of the gene lock, and after some fortuitous encounters that enhanced him, he even possessed the formidable strength to fight Zheng Zha, who was at the fourth stage, before being defeated.

Alice wasn't particularly interested in Cheng Xiao. Internal energy and witchcraft were things she was tired of playing with, so there was no need to pay him any attention. If he dared to act recklessly or try to take advantage of her, she'd paralyze him. If he dared to make a move on Patchi, she'd send him straight to reincarnation.

Luo Gandao, however, is someone worth nurturing. Even if he's a piece of pure gold that shines without needing to be polished, it would be good to manage his relationships within the team properly to ensure sufficient combat strength. But before that, there are some other things to do.

Her gaze swept over Cheng Xiao, who had been thrown back by Zheng Zha's kick but had regained his footing, and immediately bowed to Chu Xuan to report, hoping to secure a powerful backer for himself; and Luo Gandao, who stood pale-faced to the side, meekly listening to Ba Wang's explanation. She quickly turned her gaze to Patchouli beside her.

Then, the conversation began when their eyes met.

Alice: [Something's not right. The Morizu team's strength might be beyond our expectations.]

Patchouli: [Yes, that's right. According to the records, the Senzhou team was a breeding team. They possessed overwhelming combat power compared to the Nanyan team, but due to their suppressed ratings, they entered the Star River Team world before the internally divided Nanyan team. However, now, they are considered the strongest team by the Main God.]

Alice: [We must adopt a slightly more cautious strategy now, and try our best to keep the Alliance fleet intact. I will pass this information on to Chu Xuan, and then we will make calculations based on the strength of the Nan Yan team in three days. If the Nan Yan team becomes weaker than recorded, that's fine, but if it matches the records, or even becomes stronger...]

Patchouli: [That means a huge change has occurred within the Senzhou team. Even though they suppressed the God's evaluation as a breeding team, the God still considers them the strongest team. Therefore, it's highly likely that a true fourth-tier powerhouse has emerged within the Senzhou team.]

Alice: [What happened to the claim that the breeding team lacked the spirit of a warrior?]

Patchouli: [Stop joking, Alice. You and I both know that the Supreme God can pull people from parallel worlds. If a world's society has been based on slavery and the survival of the fittest from the beginning, then the so-called "heart of the strong" and the "farming team" won't conflict. For people from that worldview, the weak offering their souls and flesh to the strong is simply a matter of course.]

Alice: [That's really bad. Anyway, let Chu Xuan handle the troublesome matters, and we'll just have to be as careful as possible.]

Patchouli: [Understood.]

Their eyes met briefly before their conversation ended. While the newcomers were listening to the lecture, Alice seized the opportunity to secretly pass on the information she had gathered to Chu Xuan. Soon after, the Overlord's explanation to the newcomers and the God's teleportation shield also came to a close.

The protective shield has been removed.

The next moment, the throng of people surged towards them—Zheng Zha then looked at Zhang Jie, who immediately understood, snapped his fingers, and the throng of people quietly dispersed as before. He then reached out and randomly grabbed a man in military uniform from the crowd, and just as the man was about to express his dissatisfaction, he silently silenced him with a mental manipulation.

"Hello, friend. We need a quiet meeting room that won't be occupied for a while. Could you please help us?" Zhang Jie said with a smile.

He was not rejected.

....................................

Half an hour later, in a secluded conference room on the HMS Ude Croy.

“It’s done.” Alice nodded to the others. “The cybersecurity in this world isn’t as strong as I expected. Although I can’t take control of the warship yet, hacking into the surveillance system and creating blind spots shouldn’t be a problem.”