Chapter 21 Setting off

After agreeing, the two disbanded the team. Feng Bujue could still see Wang Tanzhi's current status on his friend list, which quickly changed from "Idle" to "In Game," but the specific mode was not displayed. This was intentionally done to ensure that players' information was not easily obtained by others.

Currently, Thriller Paradise's social options are limited to three categories: [Players You Recently Played With], [Friends], and [Blacklist]. You cannot submit friend requests or add people to the blacklist during a script; these operations can only be performed in the login space.

How to "politely" reject someone has always been a difficult problem on social networks, and Dream Inc. has put a lot of thought into it. Although current game pods offer virtual appearance modification (which can be used independently without logging into a specific game; Feng Bujue didn't bother because he didn't care about it, and he was already quite vain), even knowing that the "beautiful female players" encountered in the game are not necessarily actually beautiful, the probability of female players receiving friend requests is still likely to be high.

There's also the phenomenon of "clinging to strong players." Feng Bujue would often encounter this situation in later games, receiving many friend requests after a script ended. This is, of course, very normal. Compared to uncertain teammates, people naturally prefer to play with stronger players, which can greatly reduce the difficulty of the game.

Whether it's for romantic intentions, the desire to cling to a strong player, or simply to make friends, being rejected is always embarrassing. Dream Inc. came up with the current method, allowing players to submit friend requests only in the login space. If rejected, only you and the other person know about it, and the script has already ended, so players won't do anything that affects the playthrough due to emotional upset.

Only players who are friends can communicate directly through the screen in the login space like a phone call, but video communication is not provided, so others cannot see the expressions on your face. If two players are not friends, they can only communicate using the email function. Within twenty-four real-world hours, one party can send a maximum of three consecutive emails to the other party. If the other party does not reply, the fourth email cannot be sent. Each email cannot exceed one thousand words, and the content is also monitored by the system. Threatening letters and harassing emails will be directly intercepted by the system, and the system will write an email to the recipient, stating that a certain player sent you a threatening letter, or that a certain player wrote to harass you, and asking if you want to add them to the blacklist.

Once a player adds someone to the blacklist, it's equivalent to completely blocking that person. You will never encounter the other person in any mode and will not receive emails from them. If there is a player on your blacklist in a team that invites you to join, the system will also give you an extra warning before you accept the team invitation.

With these restrictions in place, players can avoid playing with people they absolutely do not want to be with to the greatest extent. Dream Inc. has done everything it can.

Of course, the real situation is relatively harmonious. Most players generally won't make any other attempts after a friend request is rejected, and they'll just move on to the next game. Writing an email to mock the other person for being aloof will only earn you a blacklist, and as the saying goes, *shan shui you xiang feng* (mountains and rivers will meet), playing games isn't about looking for trouble.

...

Feng Bujue was not in a hurry to start a new game. He first checked his status and noticed that his specialization level was still only "General," and the other five items in the menu were still shaded.

According to the game information, the six specializations are Combat, Shooting, Devices, Reconnaissance, Medical, and General. Specializations are the conditions for activating and learning skills and are also the core of a character's strength. Although Feng Bujue did not lean towards a combat-oriented player route, it would definitely not work to be completely ignorant of specializations. He planned to try to unlock a few more in the next script, preferably "Devices" or "Reconnaissance." In the closed beta period when players' combat power was generally low, avoiding direct combat was a more successful game method.

Another thing was to check the items in his bag. The stack of sketches could not be brought out of the script and had naturally disappeared. The syringe he had found earlier was still there, with the following attributes:

[Name: Disposable Syringe]

[Type: Consumable]

[Quality: Normal]

[Function: Draw or inject liquid]

[Note: Stay away from drugs, cherish life]

Feng Bujue's bag was very empty, and the login space could store thirty items. Currently, there was no pressure in terms of storage. He felt that this might be useful, so he took it with him. At worst, this thing was more reliable than a stone, right?

Looking at his current situation, he had no equipment and no skills. There were many things to do in this solo mode. If he didn't gain anything, it would probably be more and more difficult after level five. By then, the training mode would be closed, and the difficulty of solo scripts would increase with the level. Then he would really become a burden to his teammates.

Feng Bujue had high hopes for the next script. According to his idea, the more terrifying the scene, the better. As long as the rewards were proportional to the level of terror, he could fully accept it.

[Madness Isn't Justice, Level 4]

[Please select the game mode you want to join.]

[You have selected Solo Survival Mode (Normal), please confirm.]

[Confirmed, script is generating...]

[Loading start, please wait.]

After Feng Bujue selected the mode, he thought that the elevator would move first, and then the usual routine of opening the door and entering the script. Unexpectedly, this time he was teleported.

Everything in front of him turned pitch black, his feet left the ground, and he felt like he was floating in the air, with no place to borrow strength. The voice of "Welcome to Thriller Paradise" sounded again in his ear. This time the voice changed again, sounding like an ordinary middle-aged woman. It seemed that this line had nothing to do with the content of the script. Each time, a random human voice appeared, combined with a deliberate tone, to say the same sentence.

[Loading is complete, you are currently in Solo Survival Mode (Normal).]

[This mode provides a script introduction and has a chance to generate side hidden quests and special worldviews.]

[Script completion reward: Randomly draw a learnable skill card.]

[The script introduction will now be played. The game will start immediately after the playback is complete.]

The pitch-black background in front of Feng Bujue's eyes turned into a photo, which looked like a room or a corner of a warehouse. Due to the angle of the shot, he could only see one corner, making it difficult to determine how big the room was. The material of the walls should be metal, definitely not wood, and there was no wallpaper or paint, or the paint had faded. The ground was concrete. The photo did not show any furniture.

At this moment, subtitles rose from in front of him, and the familiar system voice began to explain.

[Your name is Arthur Siegel, a well-known photojournalist. You have a happy family, generous work benefits, and a satisfactory social status. Until one Christmas night, you wake up from a coma and find yourself in a strange warehouse. The last thing you can remember is going to the parking lot to get your car after work...]

This plot was not long and could only provide limited information. After reading it, a white light flashed in front of Feng Bujue's eyes, and he was teleported to the place in the photo.

He sat on the ground, leaning against the corner of the wall. Before he could see what the warehouse was like, he subconsciously lowered his head because he noticed that he was holding something in his left hand—a silver walkman.

This kind of portable cassette player was naturally an obsolete product in 2055. Feng Bujue had never seen a real one. He had only seen this thing in a movie, and the current situation happened to remind him of that movie.

Pressing the play button, a hoarse male voice sounded, speaking in English. His first sentence made Feng Bujue understand the basic setting of this script: "Hello, Arthur, I want to play a game with you..."