Familiar room, familiar computer, familiar night, and… familiar bed.
"Finally home!"
Although Aiden lay comfortably on the bed, his heart couldn't calm down for a long time. Those few months living in the Resident Evil World… seemed like a dream.
"Jill… Ada… Leon… Claire… and… Chris…"
Muttering these names from his mouth, Aiden dazedly lifted his hand and grasped into the air. A pistol appeared out of nowhere in his hand. It was something he brought back from the Resident Evil World. The Samurai Edge that Jill had given him.
"So it really wasn't a dream." The heavy weight of the gun made Aiden fully awake. With a twist of his wrist, he put the pistol back into the system's storage space, then got up and sat in front of the computer.
The computer screen still displayed the game screen from before he crossed over. The remake of Resident Evil 4.
And the character happened to be Ada, the one he said goodbye to last.
This gave him a strange feeling.
"Can't really tell… which world is the real one anymore."
Quickly exiting the game, he glanced at the time. Only a dozen minutes had passed in the real world, and that was after he had rested for a while before checking. It might've actually been even shorter.
"Looks like time was frozen after I crossed over." Aiden sighed, "As expected of the system, it really is powerful."
[This system is all-capable.]
The system's voice suddenly rang in his ear, sounding very cheerful. But Aiden could hear it carried no emotion at all, like a robot mimicking human speech.
This made him frown a bit. The system's tone was irritating. He'd rather hear a flat, emotionless synthetic voice.
Shaking his head slightly, Aiden began organizing his thoughts. He still had many questions to ask the system.
"You showed up just in time. I have a few questions to ask you," he said.
[Host, please ask. As long as it doesn't involve certain important information and rule-related matters, you may ask.]
"Alright." Aiden nodded.
"First question, who exactly are you?"
[This question was already answered before the host entered the first world. I am a system.]
"Fine. Second question, why did you choose me?"
[To fulfill the host's wish.]
"That simple?"
[Yes.]
"Er..." Aiden rubbed his head, then asked the third question.
[Who created you?]
[Involves important information. Cannot answer for now.]
"Alright then." Aiden scratched his forehead, then asked, "Will you harm me? Or in other words, control me?"
[Please rest assured, host. This system cannot use any methods or rules to harm the host, nor can it control the host. On the contrary, the purpose of this system's existence is to assist the host.] This part the system answered very quickly, as if it had been preset or anticipated long ago.
Hearing this answer, although Aiden still had some suspicion, he finally felt a bit relieved. After a brief silence, he asked, "How long until I enter the next world?"
[Fifteen standard Earth days.]
"Fifteen days, huh…" Aiden fell into thought.
After a while, the system, which hadn't heard Aiden ask anything for a long time, said, [If the host has no more questions, this system will enter temporary sleep mode. Of course, the host can wake me up at any time.]
"I have one more question." Aiden stopped the system.
"Which world am I going to next?"
[According to the host's inner desire, the next world also has female characters the host likes.]
Aiden looked awkward and said, "Ahem, I just want to experience the plot, that's all."
[Please follow your true feelings.]
"…"
"Alright, alright, go to sleep, I'm going to rest too." Aiden weakly waved his hand and lay back on the bed.
[Good night.] The system humanely gave a blessing, then fell silent.
"Good night!"
Turning off the lights, Aiden slowly closed his eyes.
———
A night passed…
At 8 a.m., Aiden was woken up by the alarm clock, waking up from his sleep.
Grabbing the phone from the bedside table, he turned off the still-ringing sound, and unwillingly moved towards the bathroom to wash up.
"What a blunder, I actually forgot to turn off the alarm. I really stayed too long in the Resident Evil world. Ieven forgot I still had a job."
Aiden retired from the military with the rank of sergeant. Because he had previously earned merit, even though his service time wasn't very long, he was still assigned a government job. The benefits and treatment were decent, and there wasn't much to worry about.
That's also why he had so much energy to play games and read novels and watch anime, he was just that free.
After a simple wash-up, Aiden opened the fridge, drank the milk he didn't finish "yesterday" in one go, then lazily left the house.
His workplace wasn't far from home, just a few bus stops away, only about a ten-minute walk, so on the way he stopped at a street stall and bought a hearty breakfast.
He almost cried from eating it. One could easily imagine how much "suffering" he endured in Raccoon City.
With his stomach full, Aiden felt his spirit improve significantly, and only then did he pick up the pace and head to work.
After entering the office, he greeted the director, then went to his own office, turned on the computer, and began his work for the day.
His job wasn't complicated, and he finished it quickly.
Then he took out his phone. While browsing a shopping website to buy useful things, he also checked the rewards the system had sent him…
He had been too tired last night and hadn't had a chance to look.
As soon as he opened the system space, the rewards interface popped up.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Host completed the main task of Resident Evil: Escaped from Raccoon City]
[Host's involvement in the Raccoon City incident was high, rating: Excellent]
[Rewards are as follows]
[Reward 1: All physical attributes of the host increased by 1 point]
[Reward 2: Host obtains passive ability – Near-Death Counterattack]
[When suffering fatal damage, immediately restore all injuries and fully replenish stamina]
[Hint: This passive ability can only be activated once per standard Earth day]
[Reward 3: Gain active ability – Adrenaline]
[After use, can experience part of the abilities from the first-stage Gene Lock]
[Reward 4: Assistance Token – can summon characters from worlds the host has experienced to assist; each use lasts 30 minutes]
[Reward 5: Host receives a set of special single-soldier tactical gear, which can resist direct fire from 12.7mm caliber machine gun rounds]
[Hint: Don't place too much faith in the protective gear. If the same spot gets hit repeatedly, it will still be penetrated]
[Reward 6: Fusion of host's specialty skills with a certain game character's skills; host gains new specialty skill – Fancy Gun Techniques]
[Greatly increases host's gun proficiency, and activates skills like Step Shooting and Wild Firing]
[Reward 7: System Shop unlocked – host can use points to purchase items unavailable in the real world]
[Hint: Points are claimed daily. At the current stage, host can claim 10 points per day. Points can accumulate, and the claim limit increases based on the number of storyline worlds experienced]
———
At 5 p.m., Aiden got off work on time.
He didn't go straight home. After eating something casually at a nearby restaurant, he took a ride to the outskirts of the city.
He remembered there was a shooting club in the suburbs. The owner was also a retired soldier and, like Aiden, came from a recon unit.
But that owner had retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel, while Aiden had some issues when getting promoted and left the army as a sergeant.
Not long after Aiden retired, someone had introduced him to a part-time job at that shooting club. They said the club was well-connected, had many retired special forces as instructors, and a wide variety of foreign guns. The pay was also high.
But he found it troublesome and didn't go, so he wasn't even very clear on the exact location of the club.
Of course, Aiden wasn't going for that part-time job this time. He didn't lack money. Besides, the system shop allowed him to exchange points for gold. The gold from daily points was more than he could spend.
This time, he went mainly for two reasons. One, to practice shooting; and two, to communicate with the instructors there.
Although the system had rewarded him with some abilities, he firmly believed that only through hard learning could one truly master them.
With the help of the map and asking people along the way, Aiden found the club. Once inside, he directly signed up for a membership, then plunged into the shooting range.
He didn't leave the club until 10 p.m., and jogged home on foot.
The journey of seven to eight kilometers only took him just over twenty minutes, slightly faster than the best mid- to long-distance runners in the world.
Of course, this wasn't his physical limit. He still had a lot of strength left unused. He did this just to gradually adapt to his enhanced physical condition.
Around 10:30 p.m., Aiden got home, spent some time making a late-night snack, then watched anime and played games at the same time. He multi-tasked like that until around midnight before washing up and going to bed.
Over the next few days, Aiden kept this routine. He even spent a lot of money hiring several martial arts instructors to help him develop a comprehensive combat training plan.
Although he already had solid close-combat skills, most of them came from the army, very standard and by-the-book, focused on brute force overwhelming skill. Practical, but lacking flexibility.
More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye. The day before entering the next world arrived.
Aiden stood in the living room, holding a notebook, checking off the supplies he had bought over the past few days.
Some of these supplies had been specially ordered from overseas at high prices. They were all proper military-grade goods, including even some currently used by certain countries' forces.
Of course, these were just auxiliary tools. After all, this wasn't the U.S., and he couldn't buy the gear he wanted most.
"Five sets of genuine military-grade communication devices, ten of the best domestic walkie-talkies, twenty compasses, ten military-grade medical kits, five boxes of ready-to-eat self-heating meals… Huh, I actually bought a box of MREs from the U.S.—can people even eat this stuff?"
Seeing this, Aiden frowned and muttered, then continued looking down the list.
"One hundred sets of mainstream camouflage uniforms from various countries, ten military knives and bayonets each, three boxes of various medicines, binoculars, night vision devices, etc… Mm, should be enough for now."
After putting the list away, Aiden began stuffing items into his storage space. But right now his storage space was only two cubic meters, which wasn't much, so he had to allocate it based on frequency of use and value.
———
Another day passed.
It was the day to enter the next world.
That night, Aiden sat in front of his computer, watching video commentaries while waiting for the system to appear.
He waited until exactly midnight, when the system's mechanical voice finally rang out.
[Host, thank you for waiting.]
"Do you have to be this punctual?" Aiden said irritably. He was nearly falling asleep from waiting.
[Apologies, it's the rule. In fact, the last time the host was transported, it was also at midnight.] The system explained seriously.
"Alright, alright." Aiden waved his hand. "Let's start already. I can't wait."
[Okay, host. Please relax your body to cope with the discomfort of teleportation.]
Aiden nodded and followed the system's advice to relax. As the system's transmission sound played in his ears, a white light appeared in front of his eyes, something he hadn't noticed last time.
When the white light faded, Aiden found himself in a small room. There was a small window in the room. Through the window, he saw an endless ocean.
"The ocean, huh? Looks like I'm on a ship. So, which world am I going to experience this time?" Retracting his gaze, Aiden muttered to himself while opening the system space to check which world he was in.
[Story World: Black Lagoon (?)]
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