After listening to the countdown, Feng Bujue soon entered the game world. He was in an environment that was very similar to an elevator, but there was no floor button next to the door. On the wall on his right was a thirty-two-inch touchscreen. The wall facing the door was a mirror, and it could reflect the player from head to toe.
Feng Bujue looked at his reflection in the mirror. At that moment, he had become a high-resolution 3D CG character. The outfit that he was wearing changed into a black long-sleeved T-shirt and long pants. There was nothing special about it. The face of the in-game character was similar to his appearance in real life. He was less than 1.8 meters tall, had unkempt hair, and had feminine facial features.
With the support of the fourth-generation photon computer, the players in the game could experience the five senses that were realistic enough. However, the game was still limited to CG, and it could not allow the player to enter an environment that was similar to real life.
"Welcome to the game log-in lobby. The following are all the game options provided by the Dream Company. Please select the option to log in."
The system announcement appeared in his ears again, and the options for selection appeared on the touchscreen next to him.
"There is only one option, and they even created a log-in lobby … Is this a hint that the company will release more games in the future?" Feng Bujue thought as he clicked on the only option on the screen — Thriller Paradise.
"Players must be above the age of sixteen to log in to this game. The company does not recommend users who suffer from heart disease, mental illness, or related medical history to come into contact with this option."
This sentence was displayed on the screen, and the system voice repeated it again. Then, three icons appeared on the screen. One was "Confirm Login", and the other was "Cancel". Next to them was a very eye-catching link option, "Relevant Disclaimer".
"Mental illness, huh …" Feng Bujue mumbled to himself. "I should take a look." He selected the third option, and a long list of clauses appeared on the screen. Looking at the scrolling bar on the right, it was clear that this disclaimer was incredibly long.
When a normal person saw similar clauses or clauses in a game, eighty percent of them would close it or scroll through it and click 'Agree'.
But Feng Bujue was no ordinary person …
He was twenty-four years old this year, and he was a mystery novelist. His hobby was to shamelessly call himself an "artist" or a "great writer" when others asked him about his profession. However, these were not the main point. Let's talk about his abnormality first.
First of all, his original intention of playing this game was to "cure" his illness. Of course, this illness was definitely not internet addiction, but an actual illness.
About two months ago, Feng Bujue suddenly realized that something was wrong with his body. He spent about three days to confirm that he had lost the emotion of fear.
No matter how scary the sounds or images were, they could not stimulate him. He read horror movies and novels day and night and tried to use his imagination to scare himself, but it was useless. It was as if a door had been closed in his mind. He knew exactly what was scary and what was scary about a horror movie, but he did not feel afraid.
Thus, he went to a nearby hospital. It would have been fine if he didn't go, but once he did, he found a big problem. The MRI showed that there was a blurry shadow in his brain near the amygdala, and the possibility of a tumor could not be ruled out.
Later, Feng Bujue went to three or four of the top hospitals in the country, but none of them could confirm the diagnosis. Instead, they came up with a wide variety of treatment options. After many tests and many consultations with many famous doctors, Feng Bujue basically understood … this disease was probably going to be recorded in the history books. As a patient, there were only two things to consider. One, which doctor should he give the name of this disease to, and two, should he donate his brain to medical research after death, in a way, he would have contributed to the scientific field.
Two months later, the shadow in Feng Bujue's brain did not change. It did not worsen, shrink, or disappear. Other parts of his body were normal. In fact, he was healthy. After some consideration, he rejected treatment and was discharged from the hospital.
Since the loss of fear was the only symptom, and no one could tell when he would die or how long it would take for him to die, he decided to leave it to fate.
One day, Feng Bujue happened to see the closed beta advertisement for Thriller Paradise. At the time, the slogan was, 'Breaking through the traditional gaming model, immersing you in despair, shock, and fear that follows you like your shadow. Experience a gaming experience that you have never experienced before.' Then, he looked at the game's setting and saw a well-made promotional video that claimed to have scared children until they wet themselves. He also noticed the link that said, 'If you buy the new gaming hub, you'll be given a closed beta account.'
Therefore, even though it looked ridiculous, Feng Bujue's purpose of entering the game was not just to 'play' but to be 'scared'. He was trying his best. Perhaps in this kind of immersive baptism of fear, he would be able to regain his sense of fear.
Of course, with this kind of mental abnormality, it could only mean that Feng Bujue was a patient. He was not a 'normal person' because of his brain tumor. Before he got the disease, he was already different from the rest. To use the local dialect, he was a weirdo.
There were many strange things about Feng Bujue. Even though they were not at the level of obsessive-compulsive disorder, most of them were hard to understand. Here was one of them: reading addiction.
His desire to read was incomprehensible to ordinary people. For example, he would read the words on the packaging of shampoo. Another example was that he could read the instructions of household appliances from the beginning to the end without missing a single word. What was even more shocking was that he could even read the labels on new clothes.
As long as something or someone was related to Feng Bujue, he would instinctively collect all the information related to it. Furthermore, he did not just read through it without thinking; he had amazing reading and memory. Even though he was not as good as Zhang Song, who had a photographic memory, as long as he had seen something before, he could remember at least sixty percent of it.
"Hmm … It's not that different from other games." Feng Bujue used two minutes to finish reading the clause that was several thousand words long. "The only thing that stands out is the clause in the sixth paragraph …" He lowered his head slightly and used his left hand to hold the elbow of his right hand. He placed his right index and middle finger on his forehead and then slid them down the bridge of his nose. This was his habit when he was deep in thought. "In other words … the death of the player due to a heart attack or mental illness has nothing to do with their company," he said as if he was giving a conclusion.
Feng Bujue believed that he could not rule out the possibility that this clause was purposely made up by the Dream Company. He had read about the game on the official website, and the biggest selling point of the game was the concept of 'Terror Points'. Through the photon computer and gaming hub, it could monitor the player's heartbeat, pulse, blood pressure, and neurological response in real time to gauge the level of fear. If the player's Terror Points in the game exceeded the threshold, the connection would be forcibly cut off, and they would go offline immediately. If the player's physical condition was seriously abnormal, like their heartbeat stopping or suffocating after going offline, the gaming hub would inform the ambulance immediately. After all, all the neural networks were connected to the police and emergency department. Based on this design, the chance of scaring someone to death should not be high.
After clicking continue, Feng Bujue heard the system say, "This is your first time logging into the game. Please enter your in-game ID."
An input field appeared on screen, and next to it, there were some restrictions. For example, the ID had to be more than four characters long, and no vulgarities or sensitive words were allowed. In the age of photon computers, such restrictions were even more thorough. The system's intelligence and calculation ability were so high that it made one's hair stand on end. 'It' only needed a word or even a general category, and it would be able to make use of its own reasoning ability to limit any borderline behavior. For example, a name like 'Big Penis Deep' or some symbol after 'FUC' or adding a 'K', these anti-harmony measures were useless against the fourth-generation photon computers. More than a decade ago, there were people who worried that the AI of this type of computer might turn around to attack and enslave human beings, but until now, there was no reliable evidence to support such a theory.
In conclusion, the photon computer's intelligence was very high, and as for how high it was, the system would provide further information.
"Verification complete. ID is Feng Bujue. You can use it. Please confirm."
Feng Bujue's real name was not that popular, so he should be able to use it as well. However, he used 'Feng' instead of 'Feng' because he did not want to use his real name and also because it was self-deprecating.
After clicking confirm, the system said, "Next, we will begin the beginner's tutorial. The tutorial can only be completed once, and the scenario is randomly generated. After completing it, you will receive the corresponding initial reward. Please note that the result of the tutorial will not affect your character's initial stats, only the reward will be different. If you interrupt the tutorial due to high Terror Points, voluntarily disconnect, or leave the gaming hub, you will not be able to continue the original scenario when you enter the game next time, and the system will generate a new tutorial for you. "
After hearing the system's announcement, Feng Bujue reached out to confirm. However, when his finger touched the icon on the screen, the elevator suddenly turned dark.
The next second, a voice spoke. It was completely different from the mechanical system. This time, it sounded like an old witch. "Welcome to Thriller Paradise …"
Just as the voice finished, the elevator shook without warning. Then, the black box, which was so dark that one couldn't even see one's own fingers, started to move and slowly sank down.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
