"They even put up the studio's name... it seems Dream Inc. isn't against professional teams and pro-gamers joining," Feng Bujue said.

"This isn't good news for players like us who don't have an 'organization' backing us," Long Aomin replied, "If the game company doesn't restrict those studios, the game's upper structure might be controlled by a select few. For example... they could collude to control the market prices of top-tier equipment and monopolize high-level game resources or information."

"It's also possible... that Dream Inc. believes Thriller Paradise's balance is impeccable, that the studios' profit margins are already limited by the system, and that the situations you're hypothesizing are technically impossible," Feng Bujue added. "Of course, we don't need to worry about these things; we can't control them anyway." He paused, then asked, "By the way, Brother Long, I don't know if this is appropriate to ask... are you a pro-gamer?"

"Ah? Haha, what's inappropriate about that? Being a pro-gamer isn't some shameful profession," Long Aomin laughed. "I actually admire pro-gamers, but I'm not one." He replied, "I'm just a very enthusiastic game enthusiast."

Long Aomin was telling the truth. In reality, he was a police officer named Long Liwen. Although his name contained the character "Wen" (meaning cultured), he was fierce and decisive when carrying out missions, with the spirit of a desperate daredevil. Back then, he was only one step away from being transferred to the Special Police Unit, but unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. He suffered a minor injury during an operation to apprehend criminals. In short, ever since something happened to his knee... he could only sit at a desk in the bureau. Although it didn't affect his daily life, and he was even promoted in a sense, returning to the front lines was unrealistic.

"I see..." Feng Bujue said, "I thought you were one of those lone-wolf pro-gamers."

"Heh... actually, I don't have that much time to spend online. My wife went with her mother to sweep the tombs and visit relatives in another city these past two days, and I happen to be off work, so I've been online more. Tomorrow, I have to go..." He hesitated slightly, but still didn't say the words "to the bureau," "...to the unit for duty, so I probably won't be online."

"Then let's hurry up and queue for the scripts. Let's try to complete two or three Team Survival Modes tonight," Wang Tanzhi said eagerly.

"Then join the queue," Feng Bujue said.

"I'm ready too, queue up," Long Aomin added.

Xiao Tan said "oh," and the system notification sounded immediately.

This time, Feng Bujue wasn't the captain, so he didn't have the right to choose. Therefore, the notification he heard was slightly different, omitting the first part and directly saying:

[Your team is joining Team Survival Mode (Normal). The random team size has been generated: six players.]

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

[Match complete. Coordinating neural connections. Script generation in progress...]

[Loading begins. Please wait.]

"Welcome to Thriller Paradise." This time, the voice sounded like a multiple personality disorder patient speaking. Halfway through the sentence, the voice changed to another one, straining its vocal cords.

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

[This mode provides a script introduction and has a chance of appearing side hidden missions and special worldviews.]

[Script completion reward: Randomly draw a learnable Skill Card.]

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

This time, the opening CG began in a mountain forest. The scene moved slowly forward from a first-person perspective, and the narration stated: [One autumn night, you and several newly acquainted members of the tour group got lost in the mountains. Exhausted from hunger and cold, you stepped on the dense sweet flag, passed through withered bushes, and miraculously discovered a towering mansion.]

At this moment, an ancient mansion appeared in the picture. Dark clouds hung low over the earth, enveloping the gloomy mansion. Next to the mansion was a mountain pond, and there were two windows on the wall facing the water, just like the house had a pair of empty eyes, looking down at its disfigured reflection in the lake.

[An ominous aura emanated from the house, rising from the withered bushes, the gray walls, and the silent ponds, but you have no choice. The chilling air is seeping into your bones, and the feeling of hunger overwhelms your wariness. You decide to enter the mansion...]

The words stopped abruptly here. Feng Bujue's eyes lit up, and he found himself standing inside the mansion.

This should be the living room. It was tall and spacious, with wooden floors. The furniture and decorations seemed to be in the style of the 19th century. The chandelier on the ceiling and several sconces on the surrounding walls were clearly electric, but other than that, there were no other electrical appliances visible.

Opposite the living room was a staircase about two meters wide, leading to the second floor. There were three or four doors around it, and behind the staircase was a corridor, but the light there was not good, and the depths could not be seen, let alone where it led.

Feng Bujue spent a few seconds observing the surroundings and finally fixed his gaze on the three unfamiliar players in the living room.

The first was a male player, who was actually called "Yongzhe Wudi" (Invincible Warrior), only one character different from the first player to reach level 20, "Yongzhe Wuju" (Fearless Warrior), but this one was far from level 20, currently at level 15. His title was [Reckless Pugilist]. From his appearance, Yongzhe Wudi and Long Aomin both belonged to the tall and mighty type, but compared to Brother Long's Schwarzenegger-like physique, he was obviously inferior, whether in height, muscle, or aura...

The other two were female players, who seemed to have queued up as a team. Their starting positions were relatively close, and some clues could be seen from their names. One was called "Si Yu Ruo Li" (Seemingly Rain, Seemingly Separation), and the other was called "Bei Ling Xiao Gu" (Grief Spirit Smiling Bones). Both of them were level 13.

Si Yu Ruo Li looked to be in her early twenties, with short hair that covered the back of her neck. What was strange was that although her face was very beautiful, it didn't seem to attract much attention. Logically speaking... with the appearance modification function of game pods these days, everyone could be turned into a top-quality beauty, and even men's faces could be turned into traps. It was incomprehensible for female players to enter a neural connection game without modifying their appearance to the extreme, just like going out without makeup. Could it be that this sister's appearance in reality was so bizarre that this was already the limit of modification?

When Feng Bujue looked at her, her eyes happened to meet his. A large part of the impression one person leaves on another depends on their eyes. At this moment, if what could be seen from Feng Bujue's eyes was calmness, then what could be seen from Si Yu Ruo Li's eyes should be something like murderous intent, and a cold murderous intent. This was by no means a wide-eyed stare, nor was it pretending to be cold, but an unconscious expression revealed in a very ordinary state, which was the kind of eyes that people in the assassin industry in real life should have.

Moving his gaze upward, Feng Bujue saw Si Yu Ruo Li's title: [Ruthless Beheader]. At that time, he complained in his heart: "What the hell... what's going on, is the Security Bureau sending agents to the game to practice their courage..."

And "Bei Ling Xiao Gu" (Grief Spirit Smiling Bones) looked much more normal. She looked one or two years younger than Si Yu Ruo Li, with an oval face, a very delicate and cute appearance, long hair, no bangs on her forehead, and a faint smile on her lips from time to time, but... there was no hint of a smile in her eyes.

Bei Ling Xiao Gu's title was [Clever Gunner]. If there were no accidents, she should be a player who favored shooting specialization, and probably played it well.

"What?" Si Yu Ruo Li suddenly said.

Her gaze was fixed on Feng Bujue, her expression was cold, and her words were concise.

Feng Bujue knew that she was asking why he was staring at her. He squeezed out a smile and casually thought of a topic to greet her: "Well... what can I say, both of your nicknames have a bit of a 'Pili' (Taiwanese glove puppetry) feel to them."

Si Yu Ruo Li actually chose to respond with silence, as if she had heard a useless sentence that didn't need to be answered. Feng Bujue was instantly embarrassed.

Seeing this, Bei Ling couldn't help but smile, and then replied: "Likewise, likewise, your IDs are also quite interesting." She knew that her older cousin didn't like to talk, so she interjected to give Feng Bujue a way out.

To briefly explain the situation of these two, Si Yu Ruo Li's maternal grandfather's older sister was Bei Ling Xiao Gu's biological grandmother, basically that kind of relative relationship. They were actually the same age this year, both twenty-two. Si Yu Ruo Li had never liked to talk since she was a child, but she was actually very opinionated in her heart. She had never lost a fight, including when her opponent was a boy. She was just naturally cool.

Bei Ling Xiao Gu was like a child who never grew up, usually eccentric and loved to tease people. She was also very smart. If you wanted to talk about IQ, she was actually higher than Feng Bujue, but she didn't have any strange hobbies like reading addiction or reasoning addiction.

What? You're asking why I'm explaining this so clearly? Of course, it's because these two are main characters. How can I not let the female lead and the second female lead appear after thirty-odd chapters? Or are you secretly hoping for a plot development where the system gets personified as a cute girl and something happens with the protagonist? Go read light novels if you want to see that kind of setting, you bastard!

"Heh... you flatter me, you flatter me." Feng Bujue seized the opportunity to back down and immediately turned his head to Yongzhe Wudi, "This... Brother Wudi, may I ask if you have any connection with that 'Yongzhe Wuju'?"

"From the same studio." Yongzhe Wudi put on a look that he didn't want to bother with him. "Don't ask me anything else. I'm getting annoyed by you 'casual players'." He obviously spoke those four words with a sarcastic and disdainful tone.

"Oh~ so you're a pro-gamer god, nice to meet you, nice to meet you." Feng Bujue used an even more disdainful tone to say a complimentary sentence.

The other party responded with a cold snort, turned his face to the sky, and if the system hadn't stopped him, he might have already cursed.

At this time, a system voice broke the somewhat oppressive atmosphere: [Main Quest Triggered]