The quality of the mercenaries goes without saying. The female protagonist has an evolved T-virus in her body, so her physical abilities far surpass those of ordinary people. The other two male protagonists, Ryan and Matt, are also quite capable. As for Michael Bolton, he has already survived three horror movies; even if he only used a small portion of his rewards to strengthen himself, his physical strength would definitely exceed that of a normal person.

Of the remaining six, Brian Carter is an office worker, but he has always enjoyed working out, spending at least a whole day each week at the gym. In his own words, that's the only way to handle the wild energy of those office ladies, so his physical strength is a bit above average.

The girl with glasses looks delicate and frail, and she doesn't have any advantage in terms of physical strength. Plus, as a woman, her stamina is even less than a man's. However, she's very smart. When they started running down the stairs, she grabbed onto Michael Bolton's sleeve, letting him bear part of her weight. Michael Bolton just glanced at her and, without saying much, led her as they ran at the front.

The chubby guy with a big belly looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, covered in fat, his whole body jiggling as he ran. After a short while, he was already gasping for breath, his speed getting slower and slower.

There were three others: one was a middle-aged man who seemed to do manual labor. Although he wasn't fast, he kept up with the main group and never fell behind.

Another was a middle-aged woman, even slower than the chubby guy. By the end, she could only move down step by step.

The last was a teenager in his teens, extremely ordinary in appearance, and his physical strength didn't seem remarkable either. He was the type who would disappear in a crowd. His speed was the same as the middle-aged man's—not fast, not slow—just closely following behind the main group.

After running for a short while, the chubby guy and the middle-aged woman were already out of sight. Brian Carter kept running beside Michael Bolton, when he suddenly heard Michael Bolton say, "Two are out..."

Brian Carter asked in confusion, "What do you mean, two are out?"

Michael Bolton sneered and said, "Them! Don't take my words lightly. This is the real world. We can die here. Maybe you haven't realized it yet and still think this is just a movie? If you get more than a hundred meters away from him, you'll explode. That's one of the rules. They... are doomed!"

"Boom!"

As soon as Michael Bolton finished speaking, two loud explosions came from above the stairs. Brian Carter and the others immediately looked up in shock, but they couldn't see anything—other than the stairs above their heads, there was nothing to see.

Two are out!

Chapter Two: A Brush with Death

Brian Carter and the others, panicked and at a loss, followed behind the main group. They no longer knew what to do. Having just come from the civilized real world, they were suddenly faced with this fantastical experience. At first, they really thought it was just a dream, or an experience like a dream. To be honest, at the very beginning, Brian Carter even felt a bit of secret delight.

He was already tired of that bland, uneventful real life—nothing but going to work and coming home, eating, using the bathroom, sleeping, and waking up. He wanted more excitement: sex, one-night stands, fights, even using meth. But all of that was still just reality. No matter what, when you woke up, it was still reality. He didn't want that kind of world! He wanted a more thrilling life, and now it seemed all of this was right in front of him.

So at first, he really did feel secretly delighted. Not only could he experience countless horror movies, but he could also use reward points to strengthen himself. Since he had watched countless horror movies, as long as the first few were ones he had seen, he would get stronger and stronger, and definitely wouldn't die. Once he was strong enough, even the characters in the horror movies wouldn't be able to do anything to him. Then he could stay in any world he wanted, live however he liked, enjoy all the thrills, and keep getting stronger. Even if he got bored of it all, he could return to reality. Yes! This was simply paradise.

At first, Brian Carter really thought this way. But when those two explosions sounded, it was as if a hammer had shattered his fantasy. There was no paradise. This was clearly not paradise—this was hell. He was nothing more than a tiny bug in the palm of the gods. A human life was worth no more than that explosion just now... He didn't want to die! He didn't want to die!

The mercenaries and the male and female protagonists seemed not to have heard the two explosions. They didn't even notice that two people were missing. As the end of the stairs drew closer, a mercenary suddenly shouted, "Sir, the Red Queen has locked onto us. She knows we're here."

The female protagonist, Alice, asked in confusion, "Who is the Red Queen?"

Matthew Addison glanced at her and said, "It's the best artificial intelligence system in the country. It controls the entire Hive and is the central mainframe here."