Chapter 22: Final Reward Points

After that bone-deep, agonizing aftereffect finally vanished, having survived yet another ordeal, Li Xiao felt as if he had been reborn.

The soreness throughout his body had completely disappeared, replaced by a warm, soothing sensation, as if sunlight were bathing the earth.

From his soul to his flesh, he felt exceptionally refreshed and gratified, to the point where he couldn't help but let out an uncontrollable groan.

In this manner, the genetic repair for both Li Xiao and Zheng Zha continued for a full two hours.

Seeing that the two had finally pulled through, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Damn, we hit the jackpot this time! Same old rules: we rest today and discuss exchanges tomorrow!"

Zhang Jie’s voice was thunderous. He then scooped up Na'er and returned to his own room.

Watching Zhang Jie's retreating back—who seemed to have "worse injuries" than her yet had woken up much earlier—Zhan Lan fell into silence.

A moment later, the fully repaired Zheng Zha and Li Xiao both landed on the ground.

The little Loli, who had long since lost her patience, rushed straight at them, and the two collided in a full embrace.

Chu Xuan also checked his reward points from the "God" and asked slowly

"The points for body repair... can teammates pay on someone else's behalf?"

Standing nearby, Zhan Lan said in confusion

"It seemed like Zhang Jie paid for us just now. It looks like it's possible."

Hearing this, Li Xiao was stunned. If he remembered correctly, Zhang Jie wasn't the one who paid in the original story.

In the original timeline, because everyone was so heavily injured, repairing their bodies alone cost several hundred points—a significant sum.

But this time, Zhang Jie had actually paid for it himself?

Holding the Loli, Zheng Zha spoke to the newcomers, Chu Xuan and Zero, along with Li Xiao

"This is the God Space. Let's rest for today and start the exchanges tomorrow."

"By the way, everyone gets one free chance to create a human. Do as you wish!"

"Reward points... forget it, we'll talk about that tomorrow!"

Constantly witnessing the deaths of comrades-in-arms was too much for Zheng Zha and Zhan Lan, who still maintained the mindset of ordinary people.

The God could repair their bodies, but it could not mend their psychological exhaustion.

Zheng Zha sighed as he looked at the three survivors. He didn't even know if it was better to die or to live on and continue experiencing those horror movies.

The exhaustion hidden deep within his pupils was unmistakable.

With a helpless wave of his hand to the group, he picked up the Loli and returned to his room.

Watching Zheng Zha leave, Zhan Lan wore a bitter expression, muttering something under her breath as she slowly walked back to her room.

The silent Zero simply nodded to the two of them without a word.

He didn't seem to have any interest in creating a human either. He simply found a random door, followed the method the others had used, and walked inside.

He glanced at Chu Xuan, who had already closed his eyes.

Li Xiao also followed suit, closing his eyes and directing his consciousness to merge with the central white orb of light.

After all, this was the "God" he had been dreaming of.

The first thing he saw were his six basic physical attributes.

【Mental Strength: 156】 【Intelligence: 178】 【Neural Reaction Speed: 180】 【Cellular Vitality: 156】 【Muscle Strength: 156】 【Immunity: 156】

If an ordinary person's attributes were set at one hundred, opening the first stage of the Genetic Lock should have added fifty points to all attributes—essentially a 50% increase.

As for neural reaction and intelligence, Li Xiao felt it was likely due to his soul-transmigration into *Infinite Horror*, which had resulted in abnormally high mental strength.

After all, being a transmigrator usually comes with some sort of "buff," right?

Next, he looked at the reward points line.

【Fixed 1000 reward points per horror movie.】 【Mission completion reward: 1000 reward points and one D-rank side plot.】 【Killed Xenomorph species: 800 reward points and one D-rank side plot.】 【Killed Praetorian Xenomorph: 500 reward points.】 【Killed Facehuggers *36: 360 reward points.】 【Killed Xenomorph larvae *4: 400 reward points.】

The total came to 4,060 reward points and two D-rank side plots.

Looking at the meager total, Li Xiao felt a sense of frustration he couldn't even voice.

A wave of indignation surged within him!

*No, seriously, is there any other protagonist in an Infinite Horror fanfic as miserable as me?*

*The guy in the neighboring "Newbie World" has over ten thousand points, and he gets all kinds of A, B, C, and D-rank side plots!*

*Why is it that for me, after fighting for my life, this is all I get?*

*So exhausting...*

Li Xiao cursed inwardly for a full five minutes.

Holding his head, he said helplessly

"Luckily, I managed to take out those four things in the newbies' stomachs before the Xenomorph Queen showed up, otherwise I'd be even more broke!"

"They say a skilled cook can make a meal without rice, but even a landlord runs out of grain."

"And this was even with Chu Xuan around. Zhang Jie... oh, Zhang Jie, he really is a headache of an existence."

That final boss, whose strength clearly exceeded their team, was almost certainly prepared by the God specifically for Zhang Jie, the "Double-A" powerhouse.

While a Xenomorph Queen certainly wouldn't be a match for Zhang Jie, Li Xiao suspected it was likely a warning intended for him as the "Guide."

Yet, even when "on the brink of death," Zhang Jie showed no intention of actually intervening.

He was the textbook definition of someone doing the bare minimum while slacking off on the job.

As for Zhang Jie paying his "medical bills," Li Xiao had already pushed that thought to the back of his mind.

What Li Xiao truly regretted was that the first blood on the Xenomorph Queen was taken by Zheng Zha, the protagonist who had gone into a berserk state.

But it was fine; knowing the "plot" was one of his advantages as a transmigrator.

If he had suddenly snatched the kill from the Queen, it might have altered Zheng Zha's future exchanges.

Li Xiao knew that changing the plot was inevitable, but if possible, he wanted to avoid altering the early horror movies as much as he could.

Only by sticking to the known plot could he plan for even greater benefits later.

Moving from thought to action, he stopped hesitating and began searching for his targets.

With a thought, he opened the auxiliary type list, and all the options regarding physical enhancement appeared before him.

Looking at the B and C-rank side plots and the massive amounts of reward points required, he practically drooled from poverty.

In the end, he forced himself to close the list.

The reason Li Xiao decided not to exchange for a bloodline right now was simple.

First.

He was poor. There was nothing to say there; he couldn't afford what he wanted, and he couldn't afford what he could afford.

Second.

The team already had Zhang Jie, a seasoned veteran.

Plus Zheng Zha, who had already unlocked the Genetic Lock and exchanged for Vampire blood and authentic Qigong.

Then there were Chu Xuan and Zero, and the upcoming exchanges and enhancements.

If Li Xiao also exchanged for a powerful bloodline, the difficulty of the next horror movie might change, the number of newbies might change, or they might even be switched to a completely different movie.

Whether it was a change in plot or the disappearance of key characters, none of those were outcomes Li Xiao wanted to see.

To ensure this, his current exchanges had to take the final team rating into account.

At the very least, that was his current priority.

After all, "score control" was an essential skill for every "newbie" in the Infinite Space.

"Sigh, what a bother."

Third.

Having understood the "Box Theory" and the nature of the Genetic Lock, Li Xiao's need for a bloodline wasn't absolute (at least for now).

Throwing a stone with your hand or firing a bullet with a gun could both kill; to Li Xiao, there was no fundamental difference.

Based on his memory of *Infinite Horror* and the setting by the author, Z-Da

In the God Space, exchanging for bloodlines, high-powered technology, or legendary magic weapons would passively increase the team's hidden rating.

This was done to match the difficulty of different horror movies.

Therefore, Li Xiao immediately set his sights on auxiliary types or one-time-use items.

At least for now, because even if such things increased the team rating, they did so minimally.

They wouldn't affect the overall scale.

Moreover, these temporary abilities were what Li Xiao believed were most suitable for his path ahead.

Of course, if an accident caused the plot to spiral out of control, that would be another story; Li Xiao wouldn't just sit there and wait to die.

With a thought, he expanded the Magic and Sci-Fi categories.

After browsing, he selected items that required D-rank side plots.

Even so, there were still over a hundred items left on the list.

For a moment, Li Xiao's eyes went blank.

Faced with the countless, headache-inducing options, he had no choice but to begin the slow process of searching.

Half an hour later.

Li Xiao desperately wanted to call Zhang Jie out to help him look.

After all, as the man who held half the responsibilities of a team leader, he should have the ability to search for enhancement items.

Carrying his inner complaints, Li Xiao continued his search in silence.

Once he finished filtering by his needs, the options became much more organized, and every single one was something he was intimately familiar with.

Looking at the dazzling array of items from Eastern mythology, Western fantasy, movies, anime, and legends...

"Uh, a Armor Hero belt?"

"And what on earth is this Ultraman transformation device???"

*(Wait, don't these require a bloodline? How can you just buy them directly?)*

*(Uh, okay, fine. It's the Daigo model.)*