Chapter 1 Welcome to Thriller Paradise

Darkness fell before his eyes. The game menu was temporarily inaccessible. After a brief moment of absent-mindedness, Feng Bujue realized that in this endless darkness, he had gone from standing to sitting, seemingly on some kind of hard chair with a backrest.

"Welcome to Thriller Paradise." This randomly appearing voice was quite ordinary, like that of a typical young man, but the tone in which he spoke these words was still rather eerie.

[Loading complete. You are currently participating in Team Survival Mode (Normal).]

[This mode provides a scenario introduction and has a chance to feature side hidden quests and a special worldview.]

[Scenario Completion Reward: Upon settlement, you will receive an 80% bonus to base experience.]

[The scenario introduction will now play. The game will begin immediately upon completion.]

A cutscene appeared directly before Feng Bujue's eyes, as if he were wearing a pair of sunglasses that could play movies. At the same time, corresponding narration echoed in his ears.

[This is a modern, bustling metropolis, just like all the world's leading cities. Skyscrapers rise high, traffic flows like a river, the population is overloaded, and the air quality is poor...]

As the voice narrated, the scene before his eyes played in fast forward, but it was just ordinary street scenes.

[Until one night, the sun set, but never rose again. The faint moonlight, intermittently visible behind the drifting clouds, reflects upon this desolate, silent city.]

The scene before Feng Bujue's eyes quickly darkened until it was completely black. After a few seconds, a little light returned, the appropriate brightness for the dark of the moon. There were still some light sources in the city, but not nearly as bright as a bustling metropolis should be at night. From a distant overhead view, many stationary vehicles could be seen on the city streets, but not a single pedestrian, nor any moving objects at all…

[You open your eyes and find yourself sitting on the last subway train you often take. You will soon realize that the few strangers around you, and yourself… are the only remaining survivors in this city.]

After these words entered his ears, Feng Bujue felt a burst of light before his eyes, and his normal senses returned. The game menu could also be opened, indicating that the scenario had begun.

He was indeed sitting on a moving subway train. The scenery outside the window flew by, turning into streaks of horizontal lines. He raised his head and saw Xiao Tan sitting not far from him. Unsurprisingly, there were three other passengers in this car.

To the left of Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi, separated by a distance, a young man and woman, both under the age of twenty, sat in another row of seats, looking like students. The boy's face was very pale, and his hair was quite long. To be honest… this style made him look almost like the girl next to him. Both were of average height, with slender builds and attractive features. Judging by their nicknames, they were undoubtedly a couple. The boy was called "Xiang Ni Shi Zui Gu Du" (Most Lonely When I Miss You), and the girl was called "Nian Ni Shi Zui Ji Mo" (Most Lonely When I Think of You).

In Team Survival Mode, this was the final adjustment period before the game officially started. It was also a chance for the system to provide conditions for players to communicate. In this environment, players' nicknames were displayed above their heads, visible to each other. Once they left this place, the names above their heads would disappear, and if they wanted to know their teammates' names again, they would need to open the menu and go to the team section.

The information visible in the team section was also limited. First of all, you couldn't see your teammates' appearances in the menu, only their names and levels. Secondly, the status next to their names only showed "Surviving" or "Deceased." As for their actual survival value or whether they had any abnormal status effects, nothing was known.

There were a total of five people in this car. There was one more left to introduce, and he was sitting in the row of seats opposite Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi.

Even sitting down, this guy's height should be over 1.9 meters, and his weight was definitely in the 100-kilogram range. Judging by his appearance, this big brother was certainly less than thirty years old. His face was stern, and the lines of his chin were very firm. His shoulders were broad, and his torso was V-shaped. Even through his long-sleeved T-shirt, the muscle lines on his arms were faintly visible.

With this kind of look, calling him "Sai Zhouzhang" (a Chinese transliteration of Schwarzenegger) would not be an exaggeration. Although neural connection games allowed players to modify their appearances in the virtual world, this function had limitations on the degree of change. You could "Photoshop" your face as you pleased, but the range of changes to your body shape could not exceed 8% at most. Any more than that, and problems would arise. For example, if you allowed someone who was two meters tall to use a body that was 1.5 meters tall, he would definitely not be comfortable.

Therefore, assuming a player was 180 cm tall, the upper limit for adjustment would be roughly 194.4 cm, and the lower limit would be 165.6 cm. A person weighing 60 kilograms could gain or lose about 4.8 kilograms. The correction of body proportions was a very vague concept. To give an example… a beer belly could be corrected into a flatter stomach, but it would never become abs.

So, setting aside the facial factors, this strong man in front of them was probably still a strong man in reality… It wasn't out of the question that this guy hadn't modified his appearance at all.

After the strong man's eyes met theirs, he took the initiative to speak, "Let me introduce myself…" He patted his chest, "Long Aotian, just reached level ten."

"I could tell… Pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you," Feng Bujue replied.

Wang Tanzhi asked curiously, "Big brother, is that part in front of your nickname part of your name? I didn't know you could have such a long name."

"Oh, this? This is a title. You get it when you reach level ten. The system gives it to you," Long Aotian replied. Above his head was displayed [Valiant Charger · Long Aotian].

Feng Bujue obviously knew about this setting, which was why he said "I could tell."

"Sounds really strong…" Wang Tanzhi said, his eyes shining.

Feng Bujue interjected, "What do you mean 'sounds really strong'? What kind of way is that to talk?" He said with a straight face, "He *is* very strong."

"Hahaha, not at all, not at all. I just played a little more," Long Aotian laughed. Feng Bujue's words clearly pleased him.

"Brother Long is too modest. I can tell at a glance that you are no ordinary person," Feng Bujue addressed him as "Brother Long" directly. He sincerely admired people who dared to use names like "Long Aotian." Looking at that name gave him the feeling that a wave of kingly aura was smeared all over his bear-like face.

Feng Bujue then turned his head to the two students and said, "Hello there, students."

"Ah, hello, hello," the two replied casually, seeming not very interested in talking to the three of them.

Over the next few minutes, Feng Bujue chatted with Long Aotian about his game experience. Wang Tanzhi also chimed in with a word or two. This was only the first day of the closed beta, so everyone was actually a newbie, and there were many things worth discussing.

Long Aotian shouldn't be called Long Aotian. He should be called Guo Dalu. He was a very down-to-earth person, very sincere and forthright. You could hear his sincerity, see it, and even feel it. His suggestions were very pertinent, and he didn't adopt a condescending attitude just because Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi were of a lower level.

On the other side, the couple was already being lovey-dovey, hugging and embracing, acting very intimate and whispering sweet nothings. Some might ask, aren't intimate actions prohibited in this game? Please note that the previous text mentioned prohibited sexual harassment. The two of them were doing this willingly. Of course, they couldn't do anything too outrageous. At most, they could only kiss and hug. They couldn't even get to second base. In a harmonious society, the game absolutely restricted further actions.

Before long, the subway gradually slowed down until it came to a complete stop.

The lights in the subway station outside were on as normal, but there was no sound. Apart from the sound of the subway itself moving, there wasn't even an announcement for the station.

The doors opened, and almost at the same time, all the lights in the car went out.

The lonely girl was startled and let out a soft cry. The lonely boy next to her was also taken aback, but he didn't shout. He only trembled.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

This bloodcurdling scream came from Xiao Tan.

After he finished shouting, Feng Bujue sighed. "If the system wasn't stopping me, I'd really like to stick a pipe wrench down your throat." He shook his head as he walked out of the subway.

Although the lights in the subway car had gone out, it wasn't pitch black, because the lights on the platform were still normal. Wang Tanzhi's shout was truly embarrassing. The lonely couple both cast disapproving glances, while Long Aotian suppressed his laughter, forcing a smile as he followed Feng Bujue out of the car.

A few dozen seconds later, all five of them arrived on the platform. Feng Bujue looked around and said, "I'll go check the front of the train. Maybe there's a driver there."

"Maybe we shouldn't act alone. Why don't we all go together?" Long Aotian suggested.

"Ugh, why bother looking for a driver? It's so troublesome and wastes everyone's time. Isn't there a level ten big brother here? We can just follow him and go all the way to the surface. We can just kill anything we see. Anyway, we can clear the game by just killing our way through," the lonely boy said.

Feng Bujue could see from the team status that the lonely couple were level seven and six respectively, which was higher than him and Xiao Tan. They seemed to have more say.

"Alright then," Feng Bujue actually agreed. He immediately turned to Long Aotian and said, "What do you think, Brother Long?"

"No problem. You guys just follow behind me. If we encounter a situation that requires fighting, just lend a hand," Long Aotian replied readily. As he spoke, he started walking up the escalator, pulling a shield out of his bag and equipping it on his right wrist as he stepped on the escalator. "Follow me."

"Brother Jue? What's going on?" Wang Tanzhi lowered his voice and asked Feng Bujue. He knew Feng Bujue very well. How could Brother Jue be someone who would change his actions based on someone else's words? Moreover, not only was the lonely boy's suggestion not particularly brilliant, but it was also questionable whether it was correct.

"It's nothing. I didn't think there was a high probability of finding a driver on this subway in the first place. I just wanted to check and confirm, just in case," Feng Bujue replied softly. "Since someone objects… there's no harm in yielding on a trivial disagreement like this."

As they spoke, they had followed Long Aotian to the top of the escalator. However, all five of them were still inside the subway station. They still needed to go up another level to return to the surface.

After coming up the escalator, there was a sign facing them, pointing towards the various exits and the landmarks on the surface. However, that wasn't important to them. They just needed to find the nearest exit and go outside to see what the city was like.

Just then, the system's voice prompt sounded in everyone's ears at the same time: [Main quest has been triggered]