Chapter 1 When Rain and Quiet Moon Walked In

When Ruoyu and An Yueqin walked into the conference room, Feng Bujue had already been waiting by the conference table for some time.

"Hi~ you two are pretty early today." Jue-ge waved his hand, greeting them.

"Sleeping early is better for the skin," An Yueqin replied.

"And logging off early is better for sleep quality," Ruoyu added.

"Okay..." Feng Bujue shrugged, not continuing the topic.

Two seconds later, Ruoyu added, "Oh, right, Xiaoling asked me to pass on a message... she and Xiaotan probably won't be online tonight, so we don't have to wait for them."

"Oh? Is that so?" Feng Bujue's expression changed slightly, raising an eyebrow and smiling, "That kid Xiaotan didn't even say hello to me... it seems... something's about to happen..."

"The actual situation is clearly different from what you imagine." Ruoyu looked at Jue-ge's wicked expression, and said coldly, "...but I can't be bothered to explain it to you." She simply changed the subject, "Anyway, let's exchange character data and prepare to depart."

…………

[Feng Bujue, Level 48]

[Si Yu Ruo Li, Level 46]

[Shi Shang Hua Jian, Level 39]

[Please select the game mode for the team to join.]

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

[Confirmed. Team size random value generated: Five players.]

[Your team has entered the queue and is searching for other ready individuals or teams.]

[Match completed. Coordinating neural connections. Scenario generation in progress...]

The system prompts appeared in front of him in an orderly fashion. When the word "generation" sounded, a white light flashed before Feng Bujue's eyes, and his body was transformed into data and transmitted out.

"Welcome to, Surpri..."

An anomaly occurred at this moment...

For some reason, the classic opening line was interrupted by itself, replaced by a series of noisy, bizarre sounds.

"What's going on..." Feng Bujue thought, "Some kind of frightening gimmick..."

[Loading complete.] Immediately after, another system prompt sounded.

A mere five words, with no mode description, no list of clearance rewards, and no scenario synopsis...

As soon as the voice fell, Feng Bujue regained his ability to move.

"Ho... that's new." Feng Bujue observed his surroundings as he muttered, "I can understand not having a scenario synopsis; it's just trying to limit the amount of information players get at the start. But... not even writing out the clearance rewards, what's that all about..."

At this moment, Jue-ge was alone on a plain. The sun was blazing overhead, looking like it was noon.

Looking around, the scenery was similar no matter which direction he looked—in the distant haze, there were continuous mountains, but how far away those mountains were from him could not be discerned by sight.

"Well... judging from this situation, there won't be any danger in the short term..." Feng Bujue scanned his surroundings and then opened the game menu, preparing to see who his two random teammates were.

He didn't know until he looked, and he was stunned when he did...

"Hey, hey... what's going on..." Jue-ge couldn't help but say.

His surprise didn't come from the IDs in the team bar; he was surprised that... the team bar had become a shadow, and he couldn't see anything.

"Something's not right..." Feng Bujue's expression gradually became serious, "Unknown synopsis, unknown mission, unknown rewards... even the status of teammates is unknown..."

"There are many things you don't know."

Suddenly, a woman's voice sounded from behind Jue-ge, taking over his words.

"Hmm?" Jue-ge paused slightly, turning his head in response to the voice.

He didn't ask questions like "Who's there?" because he knew very well that whoever came was definitely not an ordinary person.

Just a few dozen seconds ago, Feng Bujue had just scanned his surroundings. Not to mention people, there wasn't even a dog...

In this flat terrain, with no cover, under the scorching sun, with no escape, a voice suddenly came from so close. The newcomer must have a problem... the initial judgment was that this person could either be invisible, or teleport, or fly, or use some kind of shape-shifting magic.

"Oh~ it's you." The moment he turned around and saw that "person," Feng Bujue suddenly relaxed, as if all the doubts that had been plaguing him had vanished in that second.

At this moment, standing behind Feng Bujue was a beautiful woman in ancient costume. Her beauty was flawless, and both her face and figure gave people a feeling of perfection that was close to "unreal," like a beauty in a painting, untouchable.

"What? You don't need 'Data Vision' to recognize me?" When Lute saw that Jue-ge recognized her at a glance, she immediately showed a suspicious look.

"I've seen you in this form once, remember?" Feng Bujue replied with a smile.

"But I was different then than I am now," Lute replied.

"Yes, more clothes." Feng Bujue answered, "Changed your hairstyle..." He shrugged, "Can we get to the point?"

"This is a sandbox." Lute, as expected of a Derivative, spoke so erratically, getting straight to the point, "I constructed it temporarily." She paused, and pointed in a direction, "Let's talk as we walk, it can save a little time."

"Okay." Feng Bujue responded, and followed along.

"Not long after your last visit to the Inner World, a major event occurred here." Lute said as she walked, "Over the past few days, the impact of 'that event' has continued to expand, and it has reached a point where emergency treatment must be done."

"So..." Feng Bujue asked, "You pulled me into this sandbox?"

"Yes." Lute nodded, "I have been trying to contact you, but the difficulty is very high. Finally... this time I found an opportunity..." She explained, "The sandbox we are in now is structurally unstable. You should have noticed that even the 'system prompts' have not been simulated."

"You copied it before the 'scenario generation' was fully completed, right?" Feng Bujue replied.

"No, my method is a little more complicated than that." Lute replied, "I won't explain the technical details to you. All you need to know is that this sandbox won't exist for too long... Also, we don't need to stay here for too long either." She turned her head and glanced at Jue-ge, "You can regard this place as a channel."

"Channel?" Feng Bujue repeated, and then asked, "From where... to where?"

"From the data layer where the scenario is, to a special location in the Inner World." Lute's eyes changed slightly as she said this, "To be precise... to the [Pi Maze]."