"What's everyone talking about?" Marvel Makiya pulled out a chair and sat down, looking the newcomer's outfit up and down with intense curiosity.
The newcomer wore a white shirt and a well-tailored custom suit made of expensive fabric. A luxurious gold watch rested on his wrist, and his gold-rimmed glasses added a touch of sophistication to his overall temperament. He looked like the kind of academic scoundrel who would abuse his position to prey on female students.
That is, if the clothes on the newcomer's body were actually intact...
His white shirt was saturated with blood. Dense layers of crimson splatter covered the fabric, a sight that made it clear these stains hadn't been made all at once; there were clearly many brutal stories behind them.
The expensive suit jacket was a thing of the past. Only two sleeves still hung from his arms. The trousers were mostly preserved but had been shredded into a Syrian battlefield state, with a massive hole in the rear revealing blood-stained underwear underneath.
As for the newcomer Makiya himself, he was in even worse shape than his clothes—literally broken.
The skin on his head had long since rotted away, exposing a grayish-white skull. Two large holes gaped in his cheeks, allowing the others to see right through to his half-decayed gums.
His shirt collar was hanging wide open, revealing a grey, rotting chest. Two of his ribs were broken for some unknown reason, and the heart inside had stopped beating long ago.
Every time the newcomer moved, the tattered shreds of cloth on his body swayed. The belt at his waist hung loosely, and his completely rotted feet stepped onto the grayish-white floor of the mysterious space. His shoes were nowhere to be found.
This was a Zombie Makiya, but he wasn't from the Resident Evil movies or games, nor was he from works like Dawn of the Dead or Dying Light. The world he had crossed into was incredibly dangerous: The Cabin in the Woods!
The Makiyas who had arrived in the mysterious space had already finished merging their memories. Marvel Makiya leaned over and slapped the shoulder of the Soul Reaper Makiya beside him, instantly allowing a vast flood of memories to pour into his mind.
'Hiss, so big, so white...'
A barrage of NSFW images instantly flooded Marvel Makiya's brain. Shiranui Mizushiro's durability, Yukikaze Mizushiro's purity, Asagi Igawa's figure... numerous Taimanin appeared one after another, leaving Marvel Makiya dazzled and dazed.
The Erotica Boss truly lived up to his title. Marvel Makiya thought that after taking those vampire 'living tools' for himself, he would have lost fifty percent of his interest in the Erotica Boss's memories. Now he realized he was still too naive. A boss is a boss because they can play in ways an ordinary person couldn't even imagine. Not only did he dare to dream it, but he could actually pull it off.
"Hehe, sumo matches really are the best... wait, setting the body's sensitivity to a thousand times and stuffing little toys into the opponent? What kind of sumo is that? Coach, someone's throwing the match! What? I'm the coach, the contestant, and the referee? Oh, then it's fine..."
Marvel Makiya was nearly overwhelmed by the various censored playstyles. His eyes glazed over for a good while, and he replayed the memories twice before finally snapping out of it.
'Wait, no, what was I looking for? Oh right, the newcomer's memories?'
Marvel Makiya slapped his forehead, cursing himself for letting beauty distract him. He searched his memories carefully and finally found a short segment of the newcomer Makiya's life in a dusty corner.
The newcomer's background was decent. After transmigrating, he was born on a ranch in the American West, the son of the ranch owner.
His parents were descendants of the unlucky souls who had been shipped over as laborers by various compradors and unscrupulous merchants during the era of Western expansion. However, his ancestors had been good at managing and were intelligent, allowing them to gain a foothold in the West.
Through generations of careful management, by the time it reached Makiya's parents, they were able to lease a large farm for production. Though life was hard, it was full of hope.
The exceptionally bright Makiya brought immense joy to the young couple. Within their means, they sent him to the best school in the nearby city.
Makiya did not disappoint, using his past-life knowledge to dominate among the products of happy education. However, once he entered university, his academic journey was no longer smooth sailing. There were plenty of genuine high-achievers there, and some of them used pharmaceutical assistance to study. Makiya couldn't compete with that; he didn't dare touch weed or ice.
But the foresight of a transmigrator gave him an information advantage. The historical progression of this world was largely the same as his previous life. Seeing the Soviet Union's various self-destructive moves, Makiya decisively laid out his plans in advance, borrowed a large sum from his parents, and made a fortune during the collapse of the Siberian giant.
Once he was wealthy, Makiya wanted to move to the city, but his parents were long accustomed to the pastoral life on the farm and refused to leave. In the end, Makiya could only buy a villa in a nearby city, making it easy to commute back and forth.
Carpe diem. Influenced by the local culture and atmosphere, Makiya spent his days at bars picking up girls. One day, a girl invited him to go wild in the mountains.
She said the scenery in the mountains was particularly beautiful and that the quiet environment and unfamiliar location would provide more sensory stimulation. Makiya also felt that staying in the mountains sounded great, so he readily agreed.
Also in the group were two other men and a somewhat airheaded girl.
The five of them drove two cars, winding through the deep mountain forest until they finally reached the cabin built in the valley.
The layout inside the cabin was very strange: wolf-head statues, an eerie basement, and a wide array of sacrificial items. This included one-way mirrors in the bedrooms and hidden doors throughout the house. The sight of these devices, filled with a sense of déjà vu, made Makiya's heart race.
His intuition told him that what he was seeing was very similar to a movie he had seen in his previous life. He had thought he had transmigrated to a version of Earth in a parallel world, but he hadn't expected this to be a supernatural universe—a horror movie crossover!
This was truly a nightmare!
Makiya immediately tried to persuade the others to leave, but as soon as they arrived at the cabin, the peepers behind the scenes released a chemical spray that amplified their emotions.
The Cabin in the Woods was essentially a massive sacrificial ritual, and the power ceiling of this world was very high.
Gods had existed on Earth since ancient times; they were currently slumbering deep within the planet. They woke up at certain intervals, and every time they did, the Ancient Gods had to witness a spectacular sacrifice. If the sacrifice failed, the gods would rise and destroy the Earth.
A mysterious organization called DAG was responsible for managing all sacrificial matters. Each sacrifice didn't just take place in one location; rituals were held simultaneously in multiple countries and locations around the world. As long as one was successful, the Earth could continue to exist.
The ignorant masses of the world hovered on the brink of death time and time again, completely unaware of the danger.
The various strange artifacts placed in the cabin were actually summoning buttons intentionally placed by DAG. Makiya and the other four were the sacrifices. Once they picked up an artifact, DAG would release the monster corresponding to it to hunt down the person who picked it up.
The order of death for the five was fixed. If the order was accidentally disrupted, it was also considered a failed sacrifice. But DAG's invisible hand controlled everything, and things did not change according to Makiya's will.
Even if he had risked everything to explain the cause and effect, those idiots would have just said, "Really? I don't believe it!" and left him fuming.
In the end, the sacrifice was successfully completed. Makiya accidentally touched a tattered lab coat and was tackled to the ground by a swarm of zombies that rushed out of a corner.
For some reason, Makiya was infected with the zombie virus after being sacrificed. His consciousness didn't immediately dissipate but instead stubbornly remained in his body. He was herded into the zombie horde by DAG's professional recovery team and confined in a transparent room made of an unknown material.
As the room sank underground, Makiya finally witnessed DAG's massive subterranean facility. Countless monsters were imprisoned in transparent rooms, each little room acting like a cube on a Rubik's Cube, constantly shifting positions as they were transported by conveyor belts.
From then on, Makiya began his life as a zombie, trapped forever with a group of hungry undead, waiting for the next unlucky person to trigger a summoning condition so he could go out for some fresh air.
A zombie's body wasn't strong. Makiya's muscles had all snapped through repeated actions. His pace was slow, his hands were weak, and most of his teeth had fallen out. He could no longer fulfill the duties of a monster.
Finally, he was shot in the head by a DAG recovery team member, and his consciousness faded into darkness.
Then, he arrived in the mysterious space.
"Ancient Gods, huh..." Marvel Makiya's expression turned grave. The monsters in The Cabin in the Woods were incredibly varied, and the glimpse of the Ancient Gods at the end of the movie was just a fleeting one—a giant hand reaching out from the ground.
The movie didn't describe the Ancient Gods' strength in detail, but the idea that they could destroy the world was likely accurate. Or at least, the Ancient Gods could wipe the surface of the planet clean and completely erase humanity.
"Unknown abilities, unknown strength, even their appearance is unknown. There's no way to deal with that." Ninja World Makiya shrugged. "My suggestion is to go back and keep a low profile as a zombie for now. See what changes your body undergoes. It would be best if you could return to being human. With your knowledge, you can ensure humans complete the sacrifice stably. Wait until we're truly powerful before we go after that Ancient God."
"That's what I was thinking too." Zombie Makiya nodded. Because of the large hole in his cheek, his speech whistled a bit.
"DAG has quite a bit of high technology. Especially those energy shields and the glass rooms for containing monsters. Those are good things!" Conan World Makiya was more concerned with the technology. After becoming the big boss of the Black Organization, he had used a secret identity to find Professor Agasa and used his massive wealth to obtain a bunch of gadgets.
"The most important thing is to get back first," NPC Makiya reminded him. "You were shot in the head before you came here. We don't know what that recovery team plans to do. If they cremate you right away, it's game over. Go back and see which world's abilities you can use, then we can discuss a strategy based on those attributes."
"True, you can't exactly make a comeback if you've been turned into ashes..." the others chimed in.
"Alright, I'm heading back then." Zombie Makiya nodded, turned around, and walked into the small path he had come from.
After sending off Zombie Makiya, Marvel Makiya became the subject of discussion. After everyone shared their memories, a heated discussion broke out once more.
"Holy crap, how did you think of that? Letting everyone help you cultivate and then sitting back to collect a massive amount of energy feedback!" Ninja World Makiya put his arm around Marvel Makiya's neck, looking proud. "As expected of me."
[Support the story with Reviews, Power Stones, and Comments—they mean a lot and keep me going! 30+ chapters waiting on patreon.com/elite_reads]