Chapter 1 The Beginning

[Feng Bujue, Level 18]

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

[You have selected Single Survival Mode (Nightmare), please confirm.]

[Confirmed, scenario being generated...]

[Loading begins, please wait.]

"Welcome to Thriller Paradise." This time, the voice surprised Feng Bujue slightly because it was his own voice.

[Loading complete. You are currently playing Single Survival Mode (Nightmare).]

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

[Scenario completion reward: Randomly draw one usable, high-quality equipment item.]

[Scenario introduction will now play. The game will begin immediately after.]

The completion reward for Nightmare difficulty was indeed powerful. The last time, in the Hirata scenario, the reward was drawing two puzzle cards. This time, it was directly equipment. However, Feng Bujue queued for this scenario mainly to kill the awkward non-sleep gaming time from 10:30 PM to midnight. He wasn't too optimistic about clearing it himself...

[Overlapping time and space, a game of death, endless terror, a nightmare of reincarnation.]

There was no opening CG, and the system voice only gave this strange passage. When the voice finished, Feng Bujue was already standing in a corridor and could move freely.

The floor and walls of the corridor were made of wood, the kind that felt very solid, not easily broken through. The overall tone of the corridor was brown. It wasn't spotless, but it was relatively clean; at least there was no moldy smell or large puddles of dirt. The lighting was overhead, with ceiling lights embedded in the ceiling at intervals. Looking ahead, there were no dazzling, bizarre wallpapers, no carpets, and no decorations or doors. It was just a very monotonous corridor.

"Ah... this perfunctory scenario introduction..." After hearing that sentence, Feng Bujue reached into his pockets. If a Walkman magically appeared in his pocket at this moment, with a message left on a cassette tape, things would be easier to understand.

"Hello, Feng Bujue, I want to play a game with you."

Suddenly, a voice rang out. It was indeed that iconic, hoarse, and deep voice from Saw. Feng Bujue looked up, following the sound, and saw a camera probe and a square broadcast speaker in the corner where the ceiling and wall met, nearly three meters high.

"Is that Saw guy back again..." Feng Bujue looked at the camera, his face full of pressure.

The voice paused for a second and then continued, "All along, you have regarded solving mysteries as a pleasure, and you firmly believe that every game has rules and answers.

Collecting information and reasoning have become your habits and hobbies. You believe that, apart from unavoidable pure force conflicts, you can solve everything as long as you use your brain.

But you will soon realize that your ideas may not be correct.

At this moment, a toxin has already lurked in your body..."

Hearing this sentence, Feng Bujue immediately opened the game menu and saw that he indeed had the [Poisoned] status, the same situation as when he encountered the Saw scenario last time.

"Once the poison takes effect, you will be directly judged as a failure to clear the scenario, and even ***-500 cannot remove this toxin." The voice immediately said this, instantly negating the first countermeasure Feng Bujue thought of at this moment, dispelling his idea of eating a panacea.

"You have ninety-two minutes to find four unique chemical agents. Mixing these four agents will produce an antidote." The voice then began to announce the rules. "During this time, you will meet some people, witness some things. What you see and hear may change your actions and interfere with your judgment."

Feng Bujue had already used [Winning Strategy] at this point, wanting to check the Boss's information, but nothing was displayed...

"As your old friend, I will give you special treatment, sparing you the drag of combat factors so you can focus on solving puzzles." The voice finally said, "Now, the game begins."

[You have obtained special item*2]

[Main quest triggered]

[Find chemical agents (0/4)]

Feng Bujue was still pondering the meaning of "old friend" when system prompts appeared one after another.

"Old friend?" Feng Bujue muttered, "Is it really that guy from Saw before? That Boss who can transfer quest items between two scenarios?" He then thought, "Hiss... that's not right. In that scenario, I played a reporter named Arthur Sieg, right? But this time, he directly called me Feng (Mad) Bujue... The name has changed, and he's still calling me an old friend?"

While thinking, Feng Bujue opened the menu, checked his inventory, and wanted to see what the so-called "special treatment" would be.

As a result... he saw something incredible.

[Name: One-Hit Kill Pistol]

[Type: Weapon]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Attack Power: ???]

[Attribute: None]

[Effect: Instant Kill]

[Equipment Condition: Shooting Specialization F]

[Can this item be taken out of this scenario: No]

[Note: This gun has unlimited bullets, and none of its parts can be disassembled or reloaded. When shooting, only one bullet needs to be fired at the current target. As long as you roughly aim at the target and pull the trigger, the bullet will definitely hit and kill with one shot.]

Feng Bujue's first thought when he saw this thing was: after the scenario ends, he must go to the Shock Box to check the attribute changes and the selling price of this thing...

And the second extra item was equally shocking in its attributes:

[Name: Contra Medal*4]

[Type: Story-Related]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Function: Can withstand death for the player (cannot be traded, discarded, or taken out of the inventory)]

[Can this item be taken out of this scenario: No]

[Note: Strange, why not thirty? Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, B, A...]

"Hey... what's going on..." Feng Bujue said, his mouth twitching after reading these two items, "This isn't just an old friend thing, even a beloved son wouldn't get this!" He paused, "Looking at this... this level is purely puzzle-solving, and it's as difficult as a pile of shit, right..."

Feng Bujue sorted out what he had just heard in his mind: there wasn't much information at hand, and there were some inexplicable situations, such as: this Boss gave me four lives, plus a one-hit kill weapon, but didn't think to give me a watch or something to keep track of time? This is a full ninety-two minutes. Does this guy even know that I can mentally calculate time? Wait... he seems to know what's in my inventory and the effects of those things; otherwise, how would he declare in advance that ***-500 is ineffective?

Feng Bujue didn't think for too long and hurried forward. From entering the scenario to listening to the rules, to observing the items, thinking, and so on, it only took him less than five minutes.

Originally... when Feng Bujue entered this Nightmare difficulty single-player scenario, he didn't intend to clear it, but now, the situation was different. The voice in the broadcast successfully seduced... oh no, aroused his interest. You can say he is a scum with a combat strength of only five, and he won't be angry at all, but you can't say he's bad at solving puzzles, and then give him such powerful items, putting on an attitude of "I bet you can't clear it."

A reading addict and reasoning addict like Feng Bujue would definitely play with his life when faced with such provocation. He was determined to solve all the mysteries, rush all the way to the Boss, and say with a contemptuous look, "Hand over your kneecaps." Only then would he be satisfied, only then could he stop.

…………

Behind Feng Bujue's initial standing point was a wall, so he only had one path to take.

He continued forward for about five or six minutes, but the scenery in the corridor remained unchanged, repeating itself over and over again. At this time, whether looking forward or backward, everything was symmetrical like a mirror image. If a player closed their eyes and spun around a few times, they probably wouldn't be able to tell where they came from.

After walking for a while longer, a slightly more open space finally appeared in front of the corridor. This was a fan-shaped area, directly connected to the corridor without a door panel separating them. Passing through that opening, the walls on both sides extended diagonally forward.

Directly opposite was a curved wall. Every half meter or so on the wall, there was an entrance, four in total. These entrances all had door frames and door panels, and at the moment, they were all open. Behind the four doors were corridors identical to the one Feng Bujue had just walked through.

"Tch... what's this? I thought there would be a complex maze, some difficult puzzles. Isn't it just four paths leading to the locations of four bottles of medicine? And at the end of each path, there's a room, with a secret room self-mutilation game or something. Hmph... nothing special." Feng Bujue said disdainfully, venting his rather unhappy mood.

But at this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of someone running. Listening carefully, it was the sound of hurried footsteps and heavy breathing...

The sound came from the leftmost first door, from far to near. When it approached a certain distance, possibly the runner had seen someone standing outside the exit, so he began to shout, but what he shouted was: "You're all wrong! You're all wrong!"

Feng Bujue felt that the shouting sounded familiar. However, to be on the safe side, he pulled out a pipe wrench in one hand and a one-hit kill pistol in the other, ready to wound or kill. No matter who the person was or what they were planning to do, he wouldn't let himself lose his life.

But a few seconds later, when the fugitive rushed into the fan-shaped area from the corridor behind the first door, Feng Bujue was stunned.

It was a man wearing a purple long suit, covered in blood in many places, and already covered in wounds... and the man's appearance was the same as Feng Bujue's.

[You will meet some people, witness some things. What you see and hear may change your actions and interfere with your judgment.]

The sentence he heard earlier flashed in his mind...

"You..." Feng Bujue was still relatively calm at this moment. There must be a reasonable explanation for the scene before him. This guy who looked the same as himself was likely a phantom, a robot, a clone, or some kind of monster with the ability to imitate... This was a Nightmare-level scenario in Thriller Paradise; anything could happen. It was even possible that everything around him was the psychological world of some mental patient. There was no reason to panic.

The wounded Feng Bujue didn't show any surprise when he saw this Feng Bujue. It was as if he knew the other party was here, so he shouted out loud as he approached the door. At this moment, he immediately shouted, "You don't..."

Bang—

A gunshot rang out. The Feng Bujue who escaped from the first door was hit by a bullet fired from behind, and the bullet hit his neck, piercing through it. The shot through the neck prevented him from saying the content after "You don't..." before he died.

Feng Bujue watched another version of himself being shot down and rushed forward. His first reaction was to use ***-500 and a survival value replenishment agent to see if he could save the other person and have him finish what he was saying.

But unexpectedly, as soon as he took his first step, before he could take the items out of his inventory, the shot Feng Bujue turned into white light and dissipated. The scene of this other version of himself dying was the same as when a real player was over...

"Is he just an illusion? Or..." Feng Bujue's thoughts spun like a storm. [Overlapping time and space, a game of death, endless terror, a nightmare of reincarnation] flashed through his mind, "... or me returning from another timeline?"

He moved his gaze away from the now empty floor and looked at the first door. At this moment, Feng Bujue's line of sight and the corridor behind the door formed an obtuse angle of about one hundred and twenty degrees. He was still thinking about what was going on with this chase in his mind: "If the one who died was me, the [Contra Medal] should have worked... Perhaps the medal's revival is to turn the player into white light and transport them to another place? Or, this 'me' has already used up all four medals?"

Feng Bujue held his breath and listened to the sounds in the corridor. He didn't dare to rashly show his head, because the other party's weapon was a gun, and his marksmanship was obviously divine. At this angle, he was considered safe, but if he stuck his head out, he might...

"That's not right... If that was 'me', why would he die? Could a bullet hitting the neck finish me off? Did that 'me' run out of replenishment agents? And was his survival value already bottoming out?" He said in surprise, "[One-Hit Kill Pistol]!"

Feng Bujue instinctively tightened his grip on the gun in his hand: "Could the one who fired the shot also be me?" He moved a few steps forward, leaning his back against the wall next to the first door, hiding at the edge of the door. "Hey! The one who fired the shot! Is that you, me?!" He simply shouted loudly, asking a seemingly nonsensical question.

The sound transmission effect of these corridors was a bit strange. Even very subtle sounds could be transmitted quite far, but speaking could only travel a short to medium distance, and there was no echo.

Feng Bujue shouted again: "Even if you're not me, how about answering?"

No one responded to him...

Listening carefully, from the gunshot to now, no sound had been made in that corridor, including the sound of the shooter leaving. So there was a high possibility that at this moment, someone was standing, squatting, or lying in that corridor, holding a gun, aiming at the entrance of the first door as steady as a rock, just waiting for the person outside to get impatient and stick their head out, then take them down with one shot.

Feng Bujue himself understood that the person he saw just now might not be himself from a different timeline; it was likely just him overthinking. Perhaps it was really just an illusion to confuse him, and the shooter was just a remote elite-level monster. It was even possible... that there was no shooter in that corridor at all. The gunshot and the death of another version of himself were just an illusion, a scene. Anyway, the corpse was gone now, and there were no bullet holes to be seen around. How could he prove that these things really happened?

"Hmm... should I take a look and confirm it..." Feng Bujue thought, but he also thought... what if my guess is correct? If the one in that corridor right now is the future self, then... what will happen?

"If that's also me, and it's me from not long from now, he knows the decisions I'm about to make and the process of my thinking. Whether I think positively, think negatively, or even don't think, he knows what I'll ultimately do." Feng Bujue's mind was getting more and more confused. "Hmm... but why doesn't he communicate with me? Why kill another me? What did he experience, or what will I experience later, that leads to me chasing myself?"

"What does 'You're all wrong' really mean... 'Don't' do what?" Feng Bujue was sweating coldly. "Which of these handsome guys, the one who was killed and the one who killed him, is from a later timeline? Which one is doing the right thing?" From the time he started playing games until now, this was the first time he had encountered such a predicament. It seemed like no matter how he thought about it, it wasn't right.

"Heh... hehe..." After a dozen seconds, Feng Bujue laughed coldly, "The only one who can stump me is myself." He made a very narcissistic statement, and at the same time made up his mind, put away his weapons, and shouted, "Regardless of whether there's someone there or not, whether it's me or not, I'm surrendering to you now. I'll walk out slowly. If you want to communicate with me, we'll talk. If you think you have to kill me, then do it!"

As Feng Bujue spoke, he moved toward the first entrance. At this moment, he chose to believe in himself. He believed in the speculation he was making now, and he also believed in the decisions the future self was making.

Of course, most importantly, he had the [Contra Medal] to protect him.

At this point, Feng Bujue seemed to understand a bit why he got four medals and a pistol. Probably these were just the basic conditions for clearing this scenario...