Down in the Secret Safe Space, the "Players" were now desperate for some sort of sign, they wanted to know how the situation was outside, they deeply regretted following Nick's advices, especialy George, since he knew from Novels that he was just a side character in someone else's story.

Unlike him however, Jason and his group were doing their best to use a screw driver and some tools Jonas had taken with him to do something about their situation or at least attempt.

"Do they see themselves as some sort of electronic Geniouses!"

Nick mocked their attempts, up until then he didn't even approach the traps once, in fear that they might spring to life and kill him, it wouldn't be an impossible outcome, in these worlds everything tries to kill you.

"You're one to talk, at least we're trying to make a difference"

Hera shouted in protest, staring at George and Xiao, whom didn't help at all and just stood there looking.

"Let me tell you a story noobs, I never lied about the first three missions in my time here, at the time I was as hopeful as you were, I saw the hope of returning back to a peaceful and cultural lifestyle, no danger of some monster killing you in your sleep, only worrying about mundane things like work and family, sitting at your TV and cursing politicians for all our troubles"

Nick's words echoed in the mostly empty secret corridor, but most importantly they hit the "players" right in their hearts and souls.

"After the huge mishap at the third mission, I tried to rebuild a team, by guiding noobs like yourselves through missions, I sincerely tried to return to our own world, do you know however what I found out after talking with loads of people?"

Nick asked, making even Jason and Jonas stop to listen, it was the climax of a huge discovery they wished to know about.

"All of us come from different realities, we come from different worlds that are mostly the same, but there are some minute changes, for example you might in the future like myself enounter your own doppelganger from a different parallel universe, I know because I did, even more so the other me was so complacent and idiotic that at first I thought it was just someone with the same name and surname, the more however we talked the more I understood that we were the same person, only he was more fortunate in life"

Nick's words caused everyone to falter, they hadn't even considered that possibility, meaning that even if they returned to the real world, the people around them might not even be from the same earth or even time.

Before that they thought that everything was fine, especialy since they had Mike and Chrysa whom used to be something to each other, but now they had to rethink their assumptions and ideas of personal relationships. Especily George and Xiao, because once they returned to the real world, they would be complete strangers once more.

"Don't bother even thinking about returning to the real world, because I lied, the ticket for a pernament return to your own world costs a million points 10 thousant points is just a small 1day vacation ticket to your world, but there's a catch, because there's a month long vacation ticket for just 50 thousand points and even worse there's a year long ticket for 100 thousand points, I've seen people escaping despair by buying those tickets, just to live a regular day in their own world again, just to feel the mundane reality, even those strong and powerful players decided to take month long vacations and year long ones instead of trying to gather points to escape this hell, do you know why?"

Nick's words caused Jonas to fall on his butt and lose all will to continue with what they were doing. A million points, that was a thousand of these missions, it was insane to even think about surviving for so long.

"Don't bother losing hope, there was non to begin with, there's only adaptation or death waiting for you and this is the point I'll be asking you to join my team and survive or try to become strong and solve the missions for us, either way I won't be hindering you if you decide to continue on that fruitless path, but know that all that followed that path eventualy died"

Nick said, his target being of course George, to survive one needed information about the next mission and George had that information, he was the best candidate to join his team and raise his own survival chances.

The first person to turn coat was Hera, she didn't even take time to think before shouting.

"I want to join! I want to survive!"

Her words were like a nail to everyone's self confidence, especialy Jason's, whom had done everything for her up until that point.

"Are the others of the same opinion? Do you wish to learn how to survive or how to accomplish missions, I can teach you both, but you should know that after today the teams will be formed and the chance will be lost forever"

Nick said, but his words hit hard, he gave them a choice of life and death, it was a no brainer that those that chose to learn how to be strong would probably be thrown out of the safe space.

"I want to learn how to accomplish missions!"

George stood up and said, causing everyone to stop and look at Nick's face, there was no shock on it, just disappointment.

"What are you looking at me, do you think I'm gonna shoot him or something, who else wants to learn how to accomplish missions?"

Nick asked, causing their faces to go pale, especialy Xiao's.

"I'm sorry but I don't think I'm made for these dangerous missions, but I'll be waiting and praying for you to return safely"

Her words were like a knife to his heart, especialy after seeing what was going on in Nick's safe space.

"Don't be like that, I'm sure that we can all promise not to touch your woman"

Nick tried to either cheer him up or make him change his mind, problem was that everyone else was on Nick's side on this one and George was the only one who thought he could accomplish these sort of missions, thinking that he could still become the protagonist of this novel experience.

"What are you waiting for, sit down, now I'll teach you how these games really work and how the strongest team I knew was formed"

Nick told George, as for the rest, there was nothing really to teach, all they had to do was follow his lead and learn from example.

At that time at the train station, there was a huge uproar, the insurgents had been silent for far too long, the troops were getting uneasy and the high command was questioning the commander's incompetence, there was only one way to solve the situation and that would be by barging in guns blazing and supress them with numbers.

The commander knew the costs in human lives, but he needed results and he needed them right now, his fat paycheck was on the line.

"What's the status of the people that entered?"

The commander asked from the safety of his tent, the outside was literaly a military camp right now, there was even an infirmary where the injured were being threated.

"The team has entered successfuly, the enemy seems to have retreated some time ago, this time there was no ambush, but they might be anywhere inside the facility, there's a high chance they have taken control of the facility's A.I."

The officer reported, but the commander didn't care one bit, because he at last had the results he wanted so much.

"Sweep every room, let nothing unchecked! call for backup if we don't have enough men"

The commander's orders were insane, the facility was huge, they would require an army to sweep the whole facility.

-Commander, we've found a pulley at the elevator shaft, there's a high chance that they're at the lowest floor

-Do you have proof of your claims?

-No, but the chances

-I'm not here because I believe in chances, call for backup and begin sweeping the facility clean, break every door, destroy every camera and device that could help them locate our movements

-But...

-No butts!

The officer left disatisfied, if they could just capture the Red Queen, it would be really easy to find those insurgents, but his commander was too irational to even listen to him.

Non the less he smiled as he thought of something that he could do to earn the higher ups favour, the other officers hadn't even spoken during the meeting and didn't understand why he would even bother, they've been working with that asshole for years, one would say that by now he would have already figured him out. The commander never cared about the costs, he only cared about results and that's what the umbrella corporation liked about him.

Deep in the Secret Hidding spot Nick was giving George some lessons.

"So basicaly to become stronger there are three conditions you have to fullfill..."

Nick started, but was interupted midsentence.

"If there are conditions, why even bother asking a question if we want to become strong or just survive?"

Hera said irritated, since she now felt safe as part of his group, she begun returning to her past antiques.

"Well the first condition is willingness to risk your life, because the system awards you for doing so, every time a bullet flies at you or a monster tries to kill you, you earn points, unless of course you die from the experience, the more life threatening the experience the more points you will earn, don't think it's an easy task, because the points it gives you are all in the decimals, 1-100 points at most with each experience, meaning that you might experience 100 threats of death and yet only earn 100 points, do you believe it's worth it?"

Nick's words caused them to be silent, Hera's previous words were forgotten as if she never said anything.

"Second condition is willingness to threat NPCs as humans, I don't know why, but they sort of sense it when you threat them as less than a human, of course you all fullfill that condition at first, but eventualy not many of you will think of them as people for some it will be fast, mostly around 3 missions in, if they survive, for others like myself it will be a bit longer, you will learn to lie to deceive them and to kill them for their stuff, wapons, money, papers and as you get stronger you might even have other uses for them..."

Everyone's minds went to gorgeous females or handsome men, but Nick's next words caused them to want to puke.

"...Like using them as monster bait or hostages, once I saw my team mates cut a man's limbs off and used them as shark food, before throwing his headless corpse out of his own boat"

"Wait, how did you survive for so long?"

Jason asked, after all they had all seen him surrender to the mercs and he couldn't even rescue himself. It was rather strange as he didn't look that strong, but when it came to escape he was rather agile.

"You'll probably learn about it once the mission finishes, other than the ticket to go home, the system's store has many great things that you can buy with points, because I decided on buying upgrades I ended up lacking a decent weapon, before I had the team buy weapons since it's the simplest way to survive and become stronger fast, buying a weapon, but once the mission begins I can just take their weapon for myself, of course it doesn't matter since we have a big enough group to handle the mundane stuff"

Nick said, but his words fell like a stone in the people's hearts, it's as if they had just signed to become his slaves.

"Listen George, if you want to become strong you will need a group of people to protect, they will be the ones to provide you with weapons and item you need, while you will only care to raise your physical attributes, the cheapest being Looks, because looks are always useful in these missions, believe me it's the No 1 priority if you wish to stay alive longer"

Nick said, while showing off, the others felt strange, it felt like he was boasting of having cosmetic surgery. Non the less it was a huge thing, everyone in the group agreed that his looks were part of the reason people didn't assossiate him with the kidnappers when they first met.

"What's the third condition?"

George asked really seriously, after all he already had the two others more or less under his belt.

"It's a strong will to survive, you must be determined to do despicable or insane things in order to survive, because the longer you survive, the stronger you will become"

Nick explained, but it felt as if he was bullshiting them, was there a person among them that didn't want to live?

"Are you serious, that's bullshit!"

Jason shouted, he just couldn't take all the shit Nick was saying, all the conditions were but sophistry, non of them were conditions Jason thought important.

"Then would you kill her to survive? Would you throw her to the monsters just to earn yourself some time to escape?"

Nick's words caused Jason to sit back down, if he said "yes", everyone would think less of him, but if he said "no" he would prove Nick Right, that he wasn't able to survive those missions and become stronger.

"Don't get me wrong, every single one of you can become strong, it's only a matter of time before you're ready, those that are faster will survive longer, but there are also people like me, I call myself a survivor, I'm like a leech that doesn't care about the mission, I only care about survival, 1000p from each mission is enough for my tastes, I've come to terms with my new reality"

Nick explained and then went on to explain to them his rules, because they would have to decide whether they wanted to be survivors or providers, it was a simple rule, the survivors would just do anything to survive, while the providers would clear missions and make sure that the survivors had an easier way of surviving the mission.

His explainations birthed a lot of questions, the most important being why he didn't tell them of this originaly, during the 8 hours they spent together. The answer was easy, it was pointless to do so, at the time they weren't any people amongst them he considered able to clear the mission, thus he did what he had to survive, he tried to clear the missions himself, while rating their performance, at the time there was no person that caught his eye as the sort that would be able to clear the mission, until Chris appeared, a daredevil that was willing to risk his life, although he couldn't say for what exactly.

At this point the facility was swarming with people, checking every room, making sure no corner is left unchecked. It was at this point that two soldiers were walking towards the exit, everything seemed fine, their IDs were alright, but nobody knew why they were coming out, probably just to rest after all the search has been going for hour and nothing noteworthy to report, only a few zombies here and there.

The two soldiers then entered the train that was parked at the railway, nobody asked them a thing, it was weird for them to start the train, but it wouldn't be the first time it happened, everybody was already used to it by now, something about orders from the higher ups and stuff that soldiers didn't need to know or question.

The two soldiers that took the train were rather tense, they were the last to go outside, the others should be waiting for them out of that hellhole. Those two soldiers the Old man and Kaplan whom were the last two to leave, before them left Alice and Chris, Olga and Mike, Rain and Chrysa, leaving only Kaplan and the old man behind as the last group to go, it was so that at least one group would make it through.

The first group was the most important, since Chris and the Red Empress would be essential to the bigger picture and they were most probably already out there. Kaplan looked at the old man and said to himself "We've done it", we're almost out of here, then he cursed under his breath as he saw the old man taking off his helm.

"Put the helm back, you crazy old man!"

Kaplan shouted and attempt to show him to put it back on, but the old man wasn't stupid he was simply asphyxiating and needed some air.

Before they knew it they were up, the Old man in a hurry put back his helmet, but before they could get out from the train two soldiers asked them to stand where they were. The old man didn't know english well and didn't listen, Kaplan cursed inside and held him back, but the damage had been done.

"Private Isaak and Private Dove, please take your helms off to finish the identification"

Kaplan cursed inside, it was impossible for the old man to pass for a soldier, he was too old.

"Might I ask by who's order?"

Kaplan said causing the two guards to falter for a second, truth was they had no authority to ask for them to take off their helmets, but they were rather suspicious of those people coming up, they tried the same with the people before Kaplan and the old man, but they couldn't find anything suspicious, just some unknown faces, probably from another company like the ID implied.

Dove however they all knew, because of his name, he was infamous and poked fun of in their company, Isaak on the other side they weren't really familiar with, they only knew what he approximately looked like.

One could say it was bad luck that led them to encounter acquaintances of the guys they had murdred for the clothes and the IDs, the question was what to do next.

Suddenly the two guard's radio sounded, it sounded important.

-Raven to Star, have Isaak and Dove arrived yet?

-Raven this is Star, they have just, we were about to check their identities

-No need, just send them to the Commander's quarters this instance, we're in grave need of them here! Over!

-Alright Raven, you heard the guy, go your way, we'll see you later at the camp our little white Dove, hahaha

Kaplan was reliefed, but before he could drag the old man away, he saw him raising his gun and shooting the two guys. It would be a miracle if they weren't shot on the spot, the very next minutes, reinforcements came from the door and begun to shoot at the two whom hopped into the train.

"You Motherfucker! Why did you shoot!"

Kaplan shouted and then did something the old man hadn't expected, he took out his gun and blew his brains out.

"Don't shoot! I've neutralized the threat! There was an imposter posing as one of ours!"

Kaplan shouted and threw the old man's corpse out of the train. Kaplan had taken out his helmet and everyone could see that it was an old man wearing their uniform. Kaplan came out with his helmet off and his hands up, he looked legid, no different than any typical soldier.

Suddenly the radio sounded again.

"This is Raven, what's the situation?"

"Raven this is Fog, we've captured a person whom identifies himself as Isaak, we have two wonded and one dead, the dead person was no doubt an imposter, please send us a footage of what happened"

The troops that barged in asked for proof, but what they got was beyond a simple scolding.

"Bring the Two here this instance! Both the corpse and the captured person! tend to the wounded! leave the cleaning up to us! move it!"

The voice was rather angry and sounded as if they would get prison time if they disagreed or did something more than asked.

Raven was the HQ's passcode and the one speaking was a voice they had heard multiple times before, it was their commanding officer.

Kaplan was bound and brought to the Commander's quarters, probably for futher questioning, it was the most luxurious room in the mansion, which the Commanding officers had taken for their own. Kaplan was relieved as he was thrown into a room, around him he could see people whom by now he could call friends, made in life and death crisis.

"What happened?"

Alice asked rather concerned about him, they passed through much and they had almost reached the finish line, It was a good thing that the Red Empress intervened otherwise there would be hell to pay.

The commanding officer and the scribes were held at gun point and didn't dare to talk back, after all all the equipment had been highjacked, they couldn't even send a message with any of their electronic devices, they had tried multiple times.

"That crazy trigger happy old man, he almost got me killed, what came to him, he shot without even thinking!"

Kaplan said, still cursing his luck to be put in a pair with an idiot.

"I believe it was a misunderstanding"

The Red Empress stated, showing them on the screen the exact time the old man went "crazy".

They saw Kaplan lift his weapon first, as if he was going to shoot, at the time he was just trying to salute as he was going to leave, his hand just brushed the weapon and it seemed as if he was aiming at them, since however he was wearing his helm he hadn't noticed how it looked from the side. The trigger happy old man, whom didn't understand a word they had just said acted accordingly and died without even knowing what he had done wrong.

It was sad, but Kaplan wasn't to be blamed, it was the Old man that had misunderstood his intentions, trying to play the commando, thinking that they were going to pull some rambo shit.

To begin with the reason why each of them was given a single civilian to babysit was because they couldn't trust them to pass as soldiers of the corporation like themselves, they didn't understand the way the umbrella corps worked and most of them had a funny accent that wouldn't pass the test, only Chris was okay, since he had experience talking with people from abroad during online gaming and had experiences with people from other countries, although one couldn't say he's a fluent speaker, but he didn't have an accent when speaking.

He however was too important to be left to luck, because he had the Red Empress, whom was their trump card, their ace in the hole.