Chapter 1 A New Instance

Since the end of the Summit Tournament, the levels of Hell Front's members (except for An Yueqin) have significantly improved. Ruoyu, Xiaotan, and Xiaoling have all reached Level 40. Compared to Feng Bujue's Level 43, the difference isn't that big anymore. So, during the daytime, Feng Bujue had already made plans with his friends... to meet in the sleep mode channel at 1:00 AM on the 13th, and then team up for an instance.

However, at this hour, Jue-Ge wasn't the only one online.

When Feng Bujue logged in, he noticed that Xiaotan and Xiaoling were also online, but both of them were "in game"; while Ruoyu and Miss An were offline.

Therefore... he still had to queue for an instance alone for now.

Some might wonder... Jue-Ge has quite a few friends, and most of them are very strong professional players, so why doesn't Jue-Ge hang out with them?

The reason is simple: because they are professionals... their online time is usually fully scheduled, and they are almost always busy. Besides, they have their own team and instance-running plans. Feng Bujue doesn't intend to join them, so there's no need to cause trouble. Of course... if someone takes the initiative to find him, that's another matter.

"Hmm... it's been a while since I queued for a Slaughter Game..." Feng Bujue pondered in front of the display screen for a while, muttering, "It's 7:20 now, playing a 1v1... the shortest would be fifteen minutes, and the longest would be an hour or two (both referring to real-world time), it definitely won't exceed my bedtime..."

As he thought this, he gradually operated, selecting the mode.

Before Jue-Ge officially enters the queue, let's take a look at his latest status:

Title: 【Hate Magnet】, Title Ability: 【Hate Furnace】

Experience Value: 2289414043000000, Skill Points: 8614, Game Currency: 843300.

Specializations: General A, Machinery C, Investigation D, Fighting A, Shooting C, Medical D, Spiritual Arts C, Summoning C.

Inventory (1315): ***-500(320), Composite Anti-Gravity Catapult, Miss Moxxi's Bad Touch, Vajra Bell, Survival Value Supplement (Medium)*5, Endless Grenade Magazine, WJq-308 Military Shovel (Indestructible Type), I Cleaned You Mushroom*1, Fraudulent Pocket Watch, Magic Ominous Spiritual Pivot, Must-Break Defense Blade, Chuck Norris's Razor, Oxygen Pipe.

Equipment: Death Poker (Psionic Weapon), Echo Armor, Embrace of Artemis, Implanted Alchemic Amplification Device, Treading Void, Phantom Lady's Caress.

Storage Room (815): Jazz Dance, Puzzle Card - Sheep*2, Puzzle Card - Ox, Puzzle Card - Scorpion, Puzzle Card - Crab, Puzzle Card - Fish, Puzzle Card - Lion, "Poker Hero" Hero ID Card.

Skill Bar (1212): 【Not So Hasty Repair】, 【Spirit Sense Gathering - Modified】, 【Tenacity of the Ice Alchemist】, 【Nanto Flying Dragon Fist】, 【Summoning Technique - Musashi Koganei】, 【Moon Step】, 【Rankyaku (Storm Leg)】, 【Flying Sand in the Wind】, 【Spirit Gun】, 【Summoning Technique - Mason】, 【Baseball Fist】, 【Bear Child's Leg Sweep】

Un-equipped Skill: 【Evil King's Flaming Murderous Inferno】

Although it's been almost a hundred chapters, Jue-Ge's attribute changes aren't very big. This is mainly because his level is now high, and his abilities in all aspects have become relatively stable. Take the shooting and medical specializations, for example... unless Jue-Ge gets suitable related skills in the future, he won't be able to train them even if he wants to. Just relying on regular shooting and drinking blood vials is difficult to cause a qualitative change in specialization.

However, this doesn't mean that he won't have much room for improvement in the future...

In this Thriller Paradise game, every ten levels marks a new beginning. It would be a big mistake to think that reaching the maximum level is the end.

No one knows yet that after reaching the level cap... there will be a "wider world" waiting for the players.

...

【Crazy Un觉, Level 43】

【Please select the game mode you wish to join.】

【You have selected Slaughter Game 1v1, please confirm.】

【Confirmed, generating scenario...】

【Loading starting, please wait.】

As the voice spoke, Jue-Ge lost control of his body. The light in front of him suddenly brightened, then turned pitch black.

This time, the loading time was slightly longer. Just as Feng Bujue began to feel suspicious, an additional system prompt sounded:

【Special Reminder: In the new version, the Slaughter Game 1v1 mode has removed the scare value rating mechanism.】

【The other multiplayer modes in Slaughter Game still retain this setting.】

【The above reminder will only be displayed once. More information can be found on the official website. We wish you a pleasant gaming experience.】

Feng Bujue wasn't surprised by the appearance of these lines, because he already knew about them. This content wasn't displayed on the v1.10 patch's introduction page; you had to go into the detailed page to read the specifics. And Jue-Ge... is the kind of person who would click in and read every single line.

"Make your opponents tremble, let them experience true terror." A soft, charming female voice spoke the opening lines of this scenario.

【Loading complete. You are currently participating in a Slaughter Game.】

【This mode provides a scenario introduction and has a chance to trigger side hidden quests and special worldviews.】

【Scenario victory reward: 3000 game currency.】

"Hmm... this kind of reward..." Feng Bujue looked at the window in front of him, thinking, "I thought they'd at least give a puzzle card or something, but it's just this..."

However, Jue-Ge was somewhat mentally prepared for this situation. He had long anticipated that weakening the victory rewards for the 1v1 mode was inevitable.

...

This story goes back to early May. As early as that time, many players were complaining on the forums that the current 1v1s were becoming increasingly difficult to play.

And the reason behind this was... at the end of April, someone wrote a technical post on the forums called "1v1 is the Best Way to Level Up".

Since then, many "braindead 1v1 players" have emerged in the game. Most of them aren't top players, but they just copied the strategies written by others, trained the machinery and shooting specializations a little higher, then put together a set of equipment and skills specifically for duels, and bought a lot of special consumables. After fully arming themselves like this, they just queued for that mode...

In a one-on-one match, the variables are naturally fewer. When the skill gap between players isn't too large, using this strategy can indeed greatly increase the chances of winning.

So, during this period... Thriller Paradise's 1v1 Slaughter Game queue became a paradise for braindead players. This made the gaming experience of those casual players very bad, because as long as they queued for 1v1, there was a high chance that they would encounter this kind of opponent. Players who were leveling up normally were often beaten to tears by the bombardment of special ammunition and targeted skills. To win against those braindead guys, they had to rack their brains and not allow the slightest mistake, and sometimes they needed a little luck. But when those guys fought them... it was easy, a one-wave wipe, even if they lost... they could just queue for the next game mindlessly.

Many people were frustrated and simply stopped queuing for 1v1, and the remaining ordinary players had to choose between continuing to be abused and joining the ranks... Over time, more and more people engaged in braindead 1v1 tactics...

A good virtual reality massively multiplayer online game should have a great 1v1 PK experience, but it was forced into feeling like climbing the ladder in a pay-to-win game...

Because May was the month of the Summit Tournament, all the denunciations of this phenomenon were drowned out by the tide of other topics. But... that doesn't mean Dream Inc. didn't hear those voices. So... as soon as the new version was released, the rewards for the 1v1 mode were slashed; even the scare value rating was directly removed, and the victory rewards became very low. You want to continue being braindead? Fine, but even if you win this way, the rewards you get won't be enough to buy supplies for the next game. And the person who lost might even get more skill points than you.

With these new rules, the 1v1 environment improved a lot in just two days. Most of the people who are still playing this mode now are here to hone their skills and earn skill points; situations like two people colluding to farm each other have also been completely eliminated; both sides in the battle can get a relatively reasonable reward.

The forum was filled with praise for this change, of course... there were also those who cursed it. Most of those who cursed were the group of people who had quickly leveled up to the thirties using the braindead method. Because after losing the means to level up quickly with 1v1, they soon discovered... that their game skills were all garbage. Except for machinery and shooting being at C, the levels of the other specializations were as if they didn't exist. They often became a burden in team scenarios and were despised by others...

But... there was no way around it. In Woody's original words: "'Braindead phenomena' are easy to solve. Starting from 'motivation' and 'cost', some simple adjustments can stifle them. But people who are 'shortsighted' and 'don't know how to reflect' are difficult to solve. It's not the kind of era where I can arbitrarily slice people up and flush them down the toilet anymore."

...

【Scenario introduction will now play. The game will start immediately after the introduction is finished.】

After reading the prompt, the subtitles for the scenario introduction gradually appeared.

All that could be heard... was a strong and forceful male voice, reciting along with the subtitles.

【Night, cold night, icy night.】

【People, two people, silent two people.】

【Flowers before the moon, beautiful scenery and good times...】

【Yet, this place, is a scene of murderous intent.】

At this point, the scene in front of Feng Bujue suddenly lit up. He immediately realized... that he was standing on top of a rather large ancient building, to be exact, standing on the "roof ridge".

【His eyes, seem to be able to see through everything in the world.】

【Her blade, seems to be able to cleave everything in the world.】

【Under the moon, only these two people are left.】

【Between heaven and earth, it seems that only these two people are left.】