The morning light filtering through the high industrial windows of the loft was warm and amber.
Alexandra opened her eyes, staring up at the exposed brick and wooden ceiling beams.
For five glorious seconds, her mind was a complete blank.
Then the memories of the previous day rushed back in a heavy, unrelenting wave: the laser hallway, the train, the floating sphere, the fangs in the mirror.
She sat up, rubbing her face.
Her body felt remarkably good—the deep, soul-crushing fatigue from the Hive was gone, replaced by the crisp, high-efficiency energy of the T-VPM.
Her gaze drifted toward the corner of the bedroom.
Sitting on a low wooden chest near the foot of the bed was her battered, black nylon backpack.
It was covered in dried mud, dark oil stains, and faint streaks of brown zombie blood from the platform fight.
Alexandra swung her legs over the side of the bed and stared at it.
When they had been trapped near the security hub, she had reached into the outer pocket of the bag to grab a roll of medical tape, and her fingers had brushed against a heavy, textured metal handle.
She had pulled out a matte-black butterfly knife, a tool she was completely certain she had never owned or packed.
At the time, she had been too busy worrying about T-virus infection to give it much thought.
Now, with the Hive behind her and the quiet of God’s Dimension around her, the memory had returned.
The knife hadn’t appeared out of nowhere.
It had been inside the backpack the entire time, tucked into a pocket where she hadn’t remembered putting it.
Whose bag is this?
she wondered, her brow furrowing.
She had been carrying it since waking up on the train, but she had never remembered packing it.
She had simply assumed it was hers because it had been with her when she arrived.
The knife had been the first thing that made her question that assumption.
That knife, and this backpack…
they came with this body, she realized, watching the sunlight hit the canvas.
Maybe there’s something else in here that can tell me where they came from.
Now she was going to find out what else was inside.
Alexandra picked up the battered black nylon backpack and carried it to the heavy oak dining table in the center of the room.
She unzipped the main compartment and turned the bag upside down.
A crumpled receipt, an empty plastic water bottle, a half-used pack of chewing gum, and three spare 9mm rounds rolled onto the wood.
That was it.
She set the bag upright and looked inside again.
The dark interior looked completely ordinary.
She reached down, expecting her fingers to meet the bottom seam.
They didn’t.
Her hand went farther into the bag than the physical dimensions allowed, disappearing past where the bottom should have been.
Her fingers moved through empty space beneath the lining, finding no fabric, padding, or solid surface.
Alexandra stopped and stared at her own arm.
She slowly withdrew it, looked inside the bag again, then reached down a second time.
Her hand passed through the same impossible space.
Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.
She had read enough webnovels to recognize the basic concept.
Somehow, the backpack contained a space that was far larger than its exterior dimensions suggested.
She leaned over the opening, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
There was no hidden compartment, no second zipper, no false bottom.
As far as she could tell, the ordinary backpack simply opened into empty space that shouldn’t have existed.
If this works like fantasy spatial storage…
focus on what’s inside.
She pictured the darkness inside the bag and thought firmly about seeing what was stored within it.
When she reached inside again, her fingers brushed against cold, heavy, finely checkered steel.
Alexandra gripped the solid handle and pulled her arm back out.
The weapon slid free of the narrow opening with a heavy mechanical click.
It was a massive, custom-built semi-automatic pistol.
The slide was forged from deep, light-absorbing matte-black steel, fitted with an extended compensator, wood-grain grip panels, and intricate, silver-inlaid scrollwork running along the frame.
Alexandra’s breath hitched.
She reached back into the bag without looking.
Her fingers wrapped around a second grip.
She pulled it out.
The twin weapon was a mirror image in bright, hand-polished silver, gleaming under the loft’s warm lights.
Alexandra set both heavy handguns down on the oak table side-by-side.
Ebony and Ivory.
Alexandra stared at the iconic weapons, her jaw slightly slack.
“Sweet Jesus,” she whispered.
She leaned back in her chair, staring at the polished silver slide of Ivory before glancing toward the open backpack.
“Thanks, I guess,” she muttered, then frowned at the empty room.
“…Who the hell am I even thanking?”
The question lingered in her mind as she looked between the pistols and the backpack.
God hadn’t given her these.
Alexandra knew enough about the system to understand that much.
God rewarded purchases, enhancements, scenario rewards, and other things that followed its established rules.
It didn’t casually reach into someone’s belongings and replace them with fictional weapons.
The butterfly knife had appeared in her backpack without her putting it there.
The backpack itself contained a space that shouldn’t exist.
Now it had produced two weapons that belonged to a fictional character from an entirely different setting.
Alexandra looked toward the bathroom, where the mirror waited just beyond the open bedroom door.
If my body was something an R.O.B did, then maybe these were as well.
The thought connected too many things to dismiss.
She had arrived in God’s Dimension with a face that belonged to Himiko Toga, a backpack that apparently contained impossible spatial storage, and a pair of weapons that should never have existed in her world.
If whatever had altered her before she arrived was responsible for all of them, then there was no telling what else might have been changed or added without her knowledge.
She picked up Ebony again, feeling the familiar weight settle naturally into her hand as her newly acquired Gun Combat Techniques knowledge supplied everything she needed to handle it.
She knew enough about Devil May Cry to remember what Ebony and Ivory were supposed to be.
They weren’t merely oversized custom pistols.
Their supernatural operation was tied to Dante’s demonic power, and the ammunition they fired wasn’t exactly ordinary.
That left Alexandra with another problem.
If these were genuine versions of Dante’s weapons, then whatever force had put them in her possession might have expected her to be capable of using them.
If they were only replicas, they could still be excellent firearms, but there was no reason to assume they would reproduce the originals’ supernatural properties.
She set Ebony down beside Ivory and looked at her own pale, slender hands.
They were still Alexandra’s hands, regardless of the unfamiliar face attached to them.
Her gaze drifted toward the bathroom again, catching the reflection of those bright yellow eyes and sharp canines in the mirror.
The guns, the body, the backpack, the knife.
None of it made sense yet.
Do these things need magic to work?
She wondered, her fingers resting lightly against the cold steel of Ebony’s slide.
And if they do, do I have magic?
For several seconds, Alexandra simply sat there with one hand resting on Ebony’s slide, letting the absurdity of it all wash over her.
Then the thought occurred to her that perhaps none of this was real.
It would certainly explain things.
Maybe she had gone to sleep after reading some ridiculous fanfic and dreamed that she had somehow transmigrated into The Infinite Terror, become a nineteen-year-old woman who looked like Himiko Toga, survived a horror movie, earned thousands of reward points, and created a beautiful synthetic woman to keep her company.
The last part of the dream was particularly suspicious.
Alexandra vaguely remembered waking up at some point during the night and spending an awful lot of time with Six, and if her sleeping brain had decided to fill in the blanks, there was no telling what it had come up with.
Yeah.
That’s probably it.
She set Ebony back on the table and got to her feet, only to realize a moment later that something was wrong.
She was naked.
Alexandra looked down at herself, blinked twice, and then glanced around the room as though the explanation might be sitting somewhere nearby.
I don’t sleep naked, she thought, her brain short-circuiting for a second.
“Okay,” she muttered, pulling the blanket back around herself.
“Still dreaming.”
The knock at the bedroom door came a few seconds later.
“Alexandra?”
Six’s calm voice drifted into the room, sounding so completely normal that it almost made the bizarre situation feel even more surreal.
“Yeah?”
“Lan asked me to let you know that everyone is gathering at the God Square to discuss the exchange options.”
Alexandra closed her eyes with a silent groan.
Of course she did.
She pushed the blanket aside and climbed out of bed, making a half-hearted attempt to cover herself while Six waited patiently near the doorway in her default synthetic state.
The initial embarrassment lasted about five seconds before a much more immediate problem took over: she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to wear.
Thankfully, that problem was far easier to solve than she expected.
The loft already had a fully furnished wardrobe—a detail Alexandra certainly hadn’t neglected when she created the place—stocked with enough choices to avoid having to overthink her morning routine.
Six helped her sort through the racks while Alexandra promptly vetoed anything that looked too restrictive, delicate, or impractical for another horror movie.
In the end, she settled on a simple T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.
“There,” Alexandra said, looking down at her reflection with a sense of relief.
“Perfectly functional.”
Six regarded the outfit with a tilt of her head.
“For combat, yes.”
“That’s all I care about.” She wasn’t about to go wandering into another nightmare wearing shorts and exposing half her legs to whatever biological monstrosity happened to be waiting for them.
Practical was good.
Alexandra reached down for her shoes, but stopped when she noticed Six watching her with mild amusement.
Before Alexandra could ask what was so funny, the surface of Six’s body began to shift.
The mimetic polyalloy flowed smoothly over her torso and legs, changing color and texture until it perfectly resembled fabric.
Seams, folds, and natural creases appeared in real time, making the imitation look remarkably convincing.
Alexandra stared, blinking in disbelief.
“Wait… your clothes.”
“The mimetic polyalloy can reproduce their appearance and texture,” Six explained smoothly.
Alexandra walked around her in a slow circle, inspecting the material from every angle.
She knew Six was a T-X, and she intellectually understood what liquid metal could do, but she hadn’t really considered what that meant for something as mundane as getting dressed.
“So you don’t actually need real clothes,” Alexandra noted.
“Not strictly.”
Looking at the artificial fabric again, Alexandra had to admit it was useful, but for some reason, it felt a hell of a lot less sexy.
Six was still Six—they’d spent time together, and Alexandra had already stopped thinking of her as some machine bought from an exchange menu—yet seeing her body simply morph into clothing made the whole thing feel strangely artificial.
Then she remembered the Spirits from Date A Live, who could manifest their Astral Dresses directly through their powers without anyone treating them as less human.
Okay, that’s complete nonsense too, she thought, but for some reason, the realization helped.
If anime girls can manifest supernatural dresses onto themselves and still count as perfectly human, I can probably stop overthinking whether Six’s ability to imitate fabric makes her any less of a person.
With her mood improving, Alexandra looked back toward the wardrobe.
Then she remembered what else she’d put in there.
“Hold on.”
She crossed the room and opened one of the deeper wardrobe doors.
After pushing a few hangers aside, she found the red dress she’d specifically prepared for Six when she’d set up the loft.
Alice’s iconic dress from Resident Evil.
Alexandra pulled it free and held it up, examining it for a moment before looking at Six.
It was still a dress, but Alice had somehow made it look like perfectly reasonable zombie-apocalypse gear.
Alexandra had seen her fight in it, run in it, and generally make a mess of everything around her without the outfit getting in the way.
“If Alice can fight in this,” Alexandra said, holding it out, “I’m willing to call it combat clothing.”
Six took the dress and looked it over.
“This one?”
“Yep. This one’s yours.”
Six’s lips curved into a small, knowing smile.
“Understood.”
She shifted her exterior back to its natural form long enough to slip the dress on properly.
A moment later, Six stood before Alexandra in the deep red fabric, the dress hugging her figure so naturally that it looked as though it had been made specifically for her.
Alexandra stared for a beat before nodding approvingly.
“Okay. Yeah. That works.”
“I assume this is satisfactory.”
“Very.”
Alexandra grabbed her jacket and threw it on over her T-shirt.
Looking at the two of them in the mirror, she had to admit the contrast worked surprisingly well.
Her own jeans and sneakers made perfect sense for practical survival, while Six in Alice’s red dress looked like she belonged in an entirely different tier of trouble.
“Alright, I’m heading out. Are you coming?” Alexandra asked, checking her gear one last time.
Six fell into step behind her, the red fabric moving naturally with her stride.
“Nn, if you don’t mind.”
Alexandra glanced back at her one last time before they stepped out the front door.
God damn.
The dress really did suit her.
Six looked ridiculously sexy, and Alexandra had no problem admitting it.
She liked women; Six was gorgeous, and pretending otherwise would have been pointless.
Her attention lingered for another second before she finally looked away.
Then she pictured Zha and Jie seeing Six like this.
One of those guys is going to get a straight-up boner.
Alexandra bit back a laugh as they headed toward the God Square.
Jie and Lan were already standing near the center platform, but before anyone could say a word, Zha’s front door burst open.
Zha stumbled out into the open square wearing nothing but his boxer shorts, looking entirely disheveled.
He ran straight to the glowing light under God, stood there for a split second, yelled “wait for me,” and bolted straight back into his room, slamming the door behind him.
After a painfully awkward wait, the door opened again, and Zha stuck his head out to invite them inside.
When Alexandra and Six walked into his quarters, the sight was almost too much to process.
Zha was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking completely miserable and exhausted.
Next to him, a tiny lump of a girl was curled up under a thick quilt, pulled so far over her head that not a single strand of hair was visible.
Alexandra pulled a wooden chair away from the wall and sat down.
“If you’re gonna laugh, just laugh,” Zha grumbled, rubbing his neck.
“Don’t sit there pulling a face like you just took a punch.”
“Pfft—hahahaha!”
That was all the permission they needed.
The group broke out laughing.
Even Lan kept it somewhat reserved, while Six only had the corners of her mouth turned up just a little bit.
“I wouldn’t have guessed it in a million years,” Alexandra said through her laughter.
“Didn’t realize you were into cradle-snatching, Zha.”
Zha collapsed onto the sofa with a bitter smile and explained where the girl came from.
He let out a rough sigh.
“I didn’t expect this either. I just wanted to create a girl who looked and acted like her… who knew God would literally pull her straight out of my memories and clone her?”
“That’s wild,” Jie said, sounding genuinely surprised.
“God can actually clone real people directly out of your head? I’ve been through four horror movies and I had zero clue it could do that. Makes you realize how little we actually know about this place. We’re just scratching the surface.”
Cut it out, Alexandra thought to herself.
If you don’t know, who would?
You’re half a Guide, after all.
Zha nodded, his tone growing heavy.
“Seriously. A place like this… throwing us into horror movies, making us interact with the plot, change events, constantly risking death. And then all the stuff you can exchange for… normal guns are one thing, but all these supernatural power-ups? You think anything like this exists back in the real world?”
He let out a deep sigh.
“Honestly, I don’t care if this is the realm of gods or some demon’s twisted game. I just want to live. I want to survive and farm enough points to take her back home. Nobody here wants to die in some horror movie, right? So I think the four of us need to form a proper team. A single person can only do so much, but if we stick together, we can pull each other through the worst of it. Anyone got a problem with that?”
Lan smiled, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Wow. Look at you, growing up after just one night.”
“They say a boy becomes a man real fast when he’s got something to protect,” Alexandra chimed in with a grin.
“Guess that’s what we’re looking at.”
Jie turned his head and looked at Zha, nodding in agreement.
“You’re spot on. We’re on our own out here. Until we buy enough enhancements to turn ourselves into supermen, none of us has the juice to solo a horror movie. I’ve survived three of these things, so take it from me—internal unity is everything. In these movies, the monsters aren’t the only thing that can kill you. The guy standing next to you can be just as deadly.”
Jie’s eyes narrowed, a ruthless edge creeping into his voice.
“So from here on out, we share information and cover each other’s backs. And if any new recruits come in trying to mess up the team’s dynamic, I say we drop them.”
Lan blinked, startled.
“Wait… didn’t you say killing a newcomer costs a thousand reward points?”
Jie grinned, showing his teeth.
“Yeah, if you kill them directly. But who said anything about doing it yourself? Break their arms and legs, or just kick them into a mob of monsters. As long as your hand isn’t the one dealing the killing blow, God doesn’t deduct a single point. You got a problem with doing it that way?”
Dude, you really are an asshole!
Alexandra thought to herself.
How can you say something like that out loud with a straight face?
Lan visibly shuddered, but Zha gave a firm nod.
“Works for me. I’m not gonna go out of my way to screw over a newcomer, but if somebody tries to drag the rest of us down to die with them, I won’t hesitate to clear out the dead weight. I’m surviving this place, no matter what it takes, and I’m going back to the real world. Which brings me to something I figured out…”
Zha looked around at them, his face turning serious.
“I think I figured out how side-quests actually get triggered and completed.”
“How?” Lan asked quickly.
“It comes down to altering the plot,” Zha explained.
“Things like saving characters who were supposed to die, hunting down extra monsters in the scenario, or completely derailing the story. That’s how you trigger the rewards.”
Lan asked cautiously, “So… how many points did you end up with?”
“6,502 points,” Zha replied, “plus one B-Rank side-quest.”
“I’ve got around four thousand, used some on her already,” Alexandra said casually, leaning back against her chair.
I never understood why Jie openly declared how many points he had.
Once people know you’ve got that much to spend, they start relying on you to protect them.
And if you can afford that many enhancements, suddenly you’re the one everyone expects to lead, making things more dangerous for you and everyone else.
Lan giggled, leaning back with a sigh of relief.
“Man, that’s awesome. At least we’re not flying blind anymore when it comes to side-quests. Sure, the risk is high, but it beats knowing nothing. Plus, side-quests give massive extra points. Trying to save up 50,000 points just by clearing movies normally would take forever. Now at least we actually have a realistic path forward, right?”
“Alright then,” Jie interrupted, leaning against the table.
“Let me walk you all through the physical enhancements and exchange categories. We’ve got nine days and nine nights to rest up here. Everyone should take their time and figure out their build direction for the next movie.”
Jie cleared his throat and continued: “First up is physical constitution. God splits human stats into six main categories: Intellect, Mental Power, Cellular Vitality, Neural Reflex Speed, Muscle Tissue Strength, and Immunity.”
“From my own testing, Intellect governs memory and how fast your brain processes information. Mental Power… honestly, I’m not super clear on that one because there’s no easy way to test it. Cellular Vitality is basically your body’s recovery rate; the higher it is, the faster you heal up after taking damage.”
“Neural Reflex Speed and Muscle Tissue Strength are the two most obvious ones when you upgrade them, and they’re the most useful for us in a fight. Higher Neural Reflexes let you react way faster, letting you track high-speed targets—if you bump it high enough, you can even see bullet trajectories in real time. But reflexes alone aren’t enough if your physical body can’t keep up, which is why Muscle Strength is just as critical. More muscle strength means more raw power and faster movement. Plus, it toughens up your muscle tissue so your own body doesn’t tear itself apart when you unleash full power.”
“The last one is Immunity. Don’t sleep on this one either—if your Immunity is high enough, it keeps you from getting wiped out by biological stuff like the T-virus in Resident Evil.”
Alexandra nodded along politely.
Info still tracks; hopefully there are no other surprises besides my new body and the mystery bag.
When Jie finally paused to let them absorb the information, she let out a silent breath.
Finally.
Done lecturing.
Now I can get back to what I meant to check in the exchange list.