Chapter 17 Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow: Level 17

Feng Bujue, Level 16

[Your team is joining a 2v2 Killing Game.]

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

[Confirmed, script is generating…]

[Loading… Please wait.]

These were the system prompts from Feng Bujue's perspective, slightly different from when he was the captain.

This time, the voice he heard was in Mandarin, a husky male voice saying, "Make your opponents tremble, let them experience true terror!"

[Loading complete, you are currently participating in a Killing Game.]

[This mode provides a script introduction and has a chance of side hidden quests and a special worldview.]

[Script victory reward: 30% of current level experience points]

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

A cinematic began, showing a long-haired, shapely woman in a white coat walking down a dimly lit corridor.

[In 2000, at Crystal Lake Laboratory, the government was holding Jason, an unkillable murderer, as an experimental subject for necrotic tissue regeneration research.]

Accompanied by the narration, the female researcher walked into a door. The camera did not follow her inside, the image remained fixed on the corridor.

[But Jason is not so easily contained, any underestimation or laxity will lead to irreparable consequences.]

The cinematic skipped many scenes from the original movie, using only a few screams and a sudden darkness to jump over Jason losing control and being frozen by the female researcher.

[In 2455, mankind entered the interstellar colonization era, and Earth had become 'Old Earth,' a place full of storms, poisonous miasma, and polluted oceans.]

[A human expedition team returned to Earth for archaeological research, they discovered the bodies of Rowan and Jason and brought them back to the transport ship…]

The cinematic ended there, and Feng Bujue could move. He immediately heard a system prompt in his ear:

[Main quest triggered]

[Kill all members of the opposing team]

"So it's this trashy movie." Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow stood beside Feng Bujue. They were currently in the corridor from the opening cinematic. For some reason, the lights in the corridor were on, indicating that this place still had electricity.

"Something's not right…" Feng Bujue said, "Why are we in the lab, not on the spaceship?"

Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow heard this and said, "So what?"

"The story of *Friday the 13th Part X* basically all takes place on a spaceship, and the place we're in… cough… cough…" Feng Bujue suddenly coughed violently twice, "…is not suitable for human survival."

After breathing in the air here, Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow also felt a slight discomfort. He opened the game menu to check, there were no abnormal statuses, but his survival value decreased by 1%. It seemed the surrounding environment had some indiscriminate health-reducing effect.

"They discovered the bodies of Rowan and Jason and brought them back to the transport ship…" Feng Bujue said jokingly, "Then, after they've all left, we'll act out the movie's side story in this abandoned underground laboratory that's been around for hundreds of years?"

"In other words… this script is just borrowing the setting of that movie, and has no connection to Jason or the characters in the movie." Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow continued, "Heh… isn't that great, there aren't too many complicated entanglements with the plot, we just need to decide the winner in this closed environment."

"There are three things I hope you know." Feng Bujue raised his right hand and extended his index finger, "First, according to the setting in the movie, not to mention outside the lab, even the environment we're in right now will kill people. The reason you and I haven't died may just be because we're 'players,' or a deliberate arrangement by the system." He extended his second finger, "Second, I noticed when I watched this trashy movie, aside from the script itself being nonsense and the director's lack of ability, the setting of this film has quite a bit of science fiction, such as the repair devices on the spaceship, the androids, etc… In short, this is a world with a very high level of technology. If we can find a way to contact human civilization in this world, send out a distress signal, and then escape from this laboratory, we can obtain unimaginable benefits, far more profitable than killing the opponent to clear the level.

The opposing team will die in this lab sooner or later, even if they can last a little longer with survival value supplements, it's only a matter of time. And we can use this valuable time to acquire items, equipment, skills, and even use the technology of this world to strengthen our own attributes."

Feng Bujue extended his third finger, "Third…" He coughed twice again, "Third, this is the most important thing, you better pay attention… I seriously suspect that there is more than just Jason in this laboratory." As he spoke, he drew his steel knife, "It's normal to imprison a dozen monsters of the same level as Jason in a laboratory of this scale. If I were the screenwriter, I would definitely start from this aspect to expand the plot…" He smiled wryly, "Although 455 years have passed, if the system wants to add some fun to this 2v2, letting some living monsters in to stir things up is an excellent choice."

After hearing him, Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow was shocked and thought, "I think you're the monster…" He asked with a look of reverence, "Brother Feng, you thought of so much just from watching a cinematic?"

"I've only thought of that much for now, I'll tell you if I need to add anything later." Feng Bujue replied.

"Worthy of being a [Plot Explorer], admirable, admirable!" Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow said this from the bottom of his heart.

"Right… let's take a look at the opponent's situation first." Feng Bujue said.

They opened the game menu to observe. From their nicknames, they knew that the two opponents were also on the same team. One was called [Doomsday Assault], level nineteen; the other was called [Final Assault], also level nineteen. Besides their nicknames and levels, the only information they could see was "Surviving."

"Assault, huh…" Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow frowned.

Feng Bujue keenly captured something from his teammate's expression, "You know them?"

"I wouldn't say I know them, but I know similar IDs." Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow said, "They should all be from the 'Corpse Blade' studio… Corpse Blade's people basically all have 'Assault' and 'King' in their names."

"Oh? I remember that studio is currently ranked fifth on the combat power list." Feng Bujue said, "Higher than your Jianghu."

"Hmph… that's the most annoying thing…" Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow's tone seemed to carry some helplessness, "Actually, these guys aren't strong, but they have a way to get to the top."

"Oh? You mean…" With Feng Bujue's intelligence, he naturally understood the implication in his words instantly, so he went along with it and let the other party continue.

"It may not be appropriate for me to say this, you can choose to believe it or not." Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow said, "Most studios in the industry have a consensus that the people from Corpse Blade studio cheat."

"Cheat? You mean, all the players in the entire studio…"

"They have many tricks, they will do anything you can think of." Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow said, "For example, they independently develop some illegal external auxiliary equipment, and in terms of software, they use some plug-ins with cheat-like properties… Outsiders don't know about these things, and among ordinary players, they can only be said to be rumors, but we professional players will more or less notice some things after fighting them a few times."

"Doesn't the game operator care?" Feng Bujue asked.

"It's difficult to manage, not worth it." Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow said, "The operators just want to make money from the game. For many gray areas, as long as they don't violate their interests, and it doesn't become a widespread scandal, they won't care." He shook his head and sighed, "Managing these things also requires investing various resources, manpower, time, technology… In my opinion, unless you put the evidence in front of those operators, they won't bother to care." He seemed to suddenly remember something and added, "Oh, and one more thing, I said that the Corpse Blade guys have many tricks, it may not be cheating on the game level. Sometimes they also hire some mercenaries to do some small things, such as posting fake news on forums to smear players from other guilds, or posting malicious reviews on the official websites of some studios that directly compete with them, in short, they ruin other people's business.

The most memorable time was in a previous game, the operator held a public election for all players, to select the strongest 'gang,' and Corpse Blade secretly spent money to buy votes, actually taking down Order and the Gods. But no matter the result, the game company still makes money, do you think they would care?"

"I see… it seems your resentment is deep." Feng Bujue continued.

Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow waved his hand and just smiled bitterly, "You don't understand, only those in our line of work will understand that feeling. Many times, even if you think you are stronger, you will still lose in the end. Losing like that is frustrating and disheartening, but that's reality." He paused, looked up at Feng Bujue, "Sorry, you might think I'm just saying sour grapes…"

"No, I believe you." Feng Bujue said, "I also believe that your Jianghu would not collude with them."

"That's for sure." Mad Tracker, Sword Shadow said this in his arrogant tone.

"And my philosophy is…" Feng Bujue said, "Either collude with them, or stand up and fight." He paused, "So… let's be a little more serious and take these two guys down, let them see what true strength is."