After the two came to an agreement, they separated from each other. Feng Bujue could still see Wang Tanzhi's current status in his friend list. It soon changed from 'free' to 'in-game', but the specific mode was not shown. This was to ensure that the player's information would not be leaked.
Currently, there were only three social options in Thriller Paradise, which were [Recent Players], [Friends], and [Blacklist]. In the scenario, one could not submit friend requests or blacklist people; that could only be done in the log-in lobby.
How to 'politely' reject others had always been a problem in social media, and the Dream Company had spent a lot of effort on this problem. Even though most gaming hubs had the ability to modify one's appearance (one did not need to log into a specific game to use this function. Feng Bujue did not use it because he did not care about that, and the man was quite vain to begin with), even though he knew that the 'beautiful players' in the game might not be real beauties, the chance of female players receiving friend requests was still quite high.
There was also the phenomenon of 'boot-licking'. In the future, Feng Bujue would often encounter this situation. After the scenario ended, he would receive many friend requests. Of course, this was to be expected. Compared to meeting uncertain teammates, people would naturally prefer to play with stronger players because it would greatly reduce the difficulty of the game.
Regardless of whether it was the desire to hunt for women, the attempt to hug her thigh, or simply to make friends, being rejected was always an embarrassing thing. The Dream Company came up with this solution. The players could only submit friend requests in the log-in lobby. If they were rejected, only the two of them would know. Furthermore, by then, the scenario would have ended, and the players would not do anything that would affect the clearing of the scenario due to emotional dissatisfaction.
Only players who were friends could communicate through the log-in lobby like a phone call. However, video communication was not provided, so others would not be able to see the expression on one's face. If two players were not friends, they could only communicate through the mail function. Within twenty-four hours in real life, one party could only send three consecutive mail messages to the other party. If the other party did not reply, the fourth mail would not be sent. Each mail could have no more than one thousand words, and the content was monitored by the system. Threatening and harassing mail would be intercepted by the system, and the system would write an email to the recipient, saying that a player had sent you a threatening letter or a player had sent you a letter to harass you. Would you like to add the player to the blacklist?
Once a player added a player to the blacklist, it meant that the player had been completely blocked. In the future, no matter what mode they queued in, they would not meet the player, and they would not receive any mail from the player. If a party invited a player who was on the blacklist, the system would give them an additional notification before they accepted the party.
With this series of restrictions, to prevent the players from interacting with people they really did not want to interact with, Dream Inc. had done everything they could.
Of course, the situation in reality was relatively peaceful. Most players wouldn't try anything else after their friend requests were rejected. They would just move on to the next round of the game. If he wrote an email mocking the other party for being too high to reach, he would only be blacklisted. As the saying goes, mountains and rivers will meet again. Playing games was not for the sake of looking for trouble.
…
Feng Bujue was not in a hurry to start a new game. He first checked his status and noticed that his mastery level was still 'General Ability'. The other five options were still shadowed.
According to the game's information, the six masteries were Fighting, Shooting, Workmanship, Sleuthing, Medic, and General Ability. Mastery was the requirement to activate and learn a skill, and it was the core of a character's power. Even though Feng Bujue was not leaning toward the martial arts path, it was impossible for him to not know anything about masteries. He planned to unlock as many masteries as he could in the upcoming scenarios, preferably 'Workmanship' or 'Sleuthing'. During the closed beta, when the players' combat ability was low, avoiding direct combat was the best way to clear the game.
The other thing was to check the items in his inventory. The stack of sketches could not be taken out of the scenario, so naturally, they had disappeared. The syringe that he had found earlier was still there.
Item Name: Disposable Syringe
Item Type: Consumable
Quality: Normal
Function: Extract or inject liquid
Remark: Stay away from drugs and cherish your life.
Feng Bujue's inventory was empty, and the log-in lobby could store thirty items. Currently, there was no problem with storage. He thought that this might be useful, so he took it with him. At the very least, this thing was more reliable than a rock.
Looking at his current situation, he had neither equipment nor skills. There were many things that he needed to do in this Solo Mode. If he did not gain anything, it would be harder after level five. By then, the Training Mode would be closed, and the difficulty of the Solo Mode would increase as his level increased. Then, he would really become a burden to his teammates.
Feng Bujue had high hopes for the upcoming scenario. Based on his thinking, the scarier the scenario, the better. As long as the reward was proportional to the difficulty, he would accept it.
"Feng Bujue, Level 4
"Please select the game mode that you wish to join.
"You have selected Solo Survival Mode (Normal). Please confirm.
"Confirmed, generating scenario …"
"Downloading, please wait."
After Feng Bujue selected the mode, he thought that the elevator would move first, and he would enter the scenario as soon as he opened the door, but this time, he was transported.
His vision turned dark, and his feet left the ground. He felt like he was floating in the air, and there was no support. "Welcome to Thriller Paradise" appeared in his ears again. This time, the voice changed again. It sounded like a normal middle-aged woman. It looked like this line had nothing to do with the content of the script. Every time, a random human voice would appear, and with a deliberate tone, they would say the same thing.
[Download complete. You are currently in Solo Survival Mode (Normal).]
"A scenario introduction is provided in this mode, and there is a chance to trigger hidden side missions and special world-building.
"Reward for clearing the scenario: Randomly draw a learnable skill card.
"Playing the scenario introduction soon. The game will start after that."
The dark background before Feng Bujue turned into a picture. It looked like a room or the corner of a warehouse. Due to the angle of the picture, he could only see a corner, and it was hard to tell how big the room was. The wall should be made of metal, not wood. There was no paint or wallpaper, or perhaps the paint had faded. The floor was cement, and there was no furniture in the picture.
Then, the caption appeared before his eyes, and the familiar system voice started to explain.
"Your name is Arthur Siegel, a famous photographer. You have a happy family, a good job, and a satisfactory social status. Until one Christmas night, you woke up from your coma and found yourself in an unfamiliar warehouse. The last thing you remembered was going to the parking lot to get your car after work … "
The plot was not long, and the information provided was limited. After reading it, Feng Bujue was transported to the location in the picture with a flash of white light.
He sat on the ground with his back leaning against the wall. Before he could get a good look at the warehouse, he lowered his head subconsciously because he noticed that he was holding something in his left hand — a silver Walkman.
This kind of portable cassette player was already obsolete in 2055. Feng Bujue had not seen the real thing before. He had only seen it in a movie, and the current situation reminded him of that movie.
He pressed the play button, and a hoarse male voice spoke. It was in English, and the first sentence was enough for Feng Bujue to understand the basic setting of the scenario. "Hello, Arthur. I wish to play a game with you …"
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