Chapter 107: The Next Plot
"It's risky whether we're together or alone!"
Marcus sat on the sofa, reflecting on the mission, and shook his head slightly.
In the mission, he was constrained by the hidden hostile operatives, and even with teammates, he had to first eliminate threats before he could better manage them.
Otherwise, it wouldn't just be the opponents disrupting his plans, but also his own people.
The seventh person, whom he hadn't seen from beginning to end, had kept Marcus on edge, fearing a sudden attack. Now it seemed he was indeed just laying low, helpless.
After briefly reflecting on the details of this mission world, Marcus activated his system, checking his survival points:
System ID: SL914 Survival Points: 10125.
He had 7668 points when entering the mission world, plus the 6500 points gained in this mission world, minus the 4043 points from his carried items, leaving him with just over 10,000.
Marcus reached for the Soul Dagger and silently recited "Appraise."
[Appraisal consumed 132 survival points, confirm?]
"Confirm!"
[Survival points deducted successfully]
[Soul Dagger: A core item for spirit possession, possessing a trace of suppressive power against malevolent and supernatural entities, capable of transforming them into suitable ritual items.]
This dagger was hidden inside the cracked Soul Collector statue, seemingly an item used for rituals.
He wondered how strong the 'trace' of suppressive power the System mentioned was; the Soul Collector's strength wasn't low for Marcus at his current level.
Marcus once again took out the transparent holy water he obtained from Father Henderson and chose to appraise it.
[Appraisal consumed 21 survival points, confirm?]
"Confirm!"
[Survival points deducted successfully]
[Sanctified Water: A special liquid improved according to an old method of neutralizing evil, possessing the effects of purifying evil and exorcising spirits.]
This item came from another operative, so he needed to appraise it to confirm that no effects were missed, and to use it with peace of mind.
As for the remaining Holy Seal and Blessed Cross, Marcus already knew their effects and had no intention of selling them, so there was no need to appraise them.
He sorted out his gains.
First, his spiritual power doubled, extending to weapons within a foot of his palm, essentially enchanting his handheld weapons.
Then came the transplanted blessed knuckles and the Spectral Eyes, both acquired without costing survival points.
Next were the Holy Seal and the Blessed Cross, both with exorcising effects; extending spiritual power to them amplified their power.
The Blessed Cross, in particular, not only exorcised evil but also provided a degree of protection—unfortunately, active rather than passive.
Marcus tested it; at his current state, he needed about one-fifth of his spiritual power to trigger protection against dark energy even once.
After all, Kane, in the original events, only activated the barrier once after his near-death, sacrificing himself to help Jasmine; he had never used it while alive, nor had Master Alex.
Having assessed his items, Marcus checked the next mission world.
He communicated with his system mentally, and a message appeared.
[Next story world: Nosferatu, countdown 29 days 23:49 (refreshable)]
"Refresh!"
Another movie he didn't remember. Marcus was already mentally prepared for refreshes, even though he might have regretted wasting survival points before.
But after learning about the System's mechanics, unless it was his first time in a familiar story world, he preferred to refresh rather than deal with the added horror of the story world and the extra scheming against hostile operatives.
This time, the hostile operatives made him realize that those who survived in the System were either incredibly lucky or extremely intelligent; careless people simply couldn't survive.
However, none of those who survived were easy to deal with. He was still too weak at the moment and needed to be cautious.
With Marcus's silent command, 500 survival points were deducted, and a new System message appeared:
[Next story world: Incantation, countdown 29 days 23:59 (refreshable)]
Marcus frowned as he looked at the movie world name that appeared this time.
This movie had left a deep impression on him, not because of its eerie atmosphere or found-footage style filming, but because of the curse placed on the audience.
At the beginning of the movie, the audience was told step by step to chant something like "Hou-ho-xiu-yi, si-sei-wu-ma," supposedly a blessing or protection mantra. However, the mystery was later revealed to be something like "I am willing to help others share the curse."
Viewers who had subconsciously chanted the mantra felt a lump in their throat, a sense of being deceived.
However, since a world with a known plot had already appeared, Marcus didn't plan to refresh it anymore, lest he get too caught up in refreshing and miss out on familiar movie worlds.
He should prioritize worlds with known plots, like Father Henderson. With the other party's experience and insight, if everyone knew the plot, the outcome was uncertain.
Marcus's consciousness stirred, and he returned to the Shadow Hall. The hall was empty now; it seemed that few of the operatives had the leisure to relax and socialize.
He entered the trading room, opened the armorer's customization list, and sent a picture of what resembled full tactical body armor, but with religious iconography.
"Armorer, can this be custom-made?"
The armorer replied instantly, indicating yes, meet at the usual place.
Marcus then found Lin's contact information, customized some special ammunition, and then left the Shadow Base, walking along the dimly lit path towards the main Operations plaza.
On either side lay endless dark, mysterious realms. The light along the path's edges constantly expanded and contracted within a small space. Marcus could feel an immense terror lurking in the darkness, like walking on a suspension bridge over an abyss, one wrong step and he would fall into endless darkness.
He could only try to stay in the middle of the path, always prepared to enter a safe room.
If it weren't for something urgent, he really disliked walking this path, fearing some powerful operative might take a dislike to him and shove him into the darkness.
This also served as a reminder to Marcus that he had to become stronger quickly, otherwise he would have to live in constant fear, even just walking.
He made his way to the plaza.
Some ordinary, disguised operatives instinctively avoided him when they saw him; they knew that anyone who could emerge from such a narrow path was someone with powerful backing.
Marcus immediately spotted the armorer with the distinctive workshop sign and followed him into the shop.
"Are you sure you just need to add two pounds of crimson silver to make this thing?"
The armorer looked up from his workbench, half a head taller than Marcus, staring at him with sharp eyes in astonishment.
"Yes, I need this item. The proportions and patterns have to be one-to-one. Can you make it?"
"Of course I can make it, even if it's a hundred times harder. I'm just surprised. What kind of design choice is this? This aesthetic is... unique!"
"Approximately how long will it take?" Marcus didn't answer the armorer's question.
"Come back in half an hour to pick it up. Just bring the Crimson Silver with you then."
Seeing that Marcus seemed genuinely interested, the armorer picked up his tools and started working on the metal.
Marcus checked the time and decided to return to the safehouse in reality.
He checked the surveillance footage from the past few hours; he had already had the surrounding area monitored yesterday.
He found that apart from a deer running across the hillside and disturbing some brush, and a few elderly neighbors sitting on their porches, nothing else had happened, so he felt relieved.
He replied to his mother's message.
Then he checked the doors and windows again before returning to his room at the base.
This place had become his most secure location.
(End of Chapter)
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