Chapter 15

[Feng Bujue, Level 15]

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

[You have selected Survival Game 1v1, please confirm.]

[Confirmed, script is generating...]

[Loading begins, please wait.]

Next, darkness filled Feng Bujue's vision, and text appeared before his eyes, subtitles scrolling upwards in sync with voice prompts:

[Survival Game focuses on player-versus-player combat. This mode will weaken the horror elements of the script itself. Any worldview or mission may appear. The map size and layout will be generated based on the number of players and their respective abilities.]

[You can see your teammate's and opponent's nicknames, levels, and survival status in the team panel.]

[Player interaction guidelines A-e from the Team Survival Mode still apply in this mode. If you are unfamiliar with these guidelines, please click the following link to view them.]

[The above tips are provided upon first entering Survival Game. We wish you an enjoyable game.]

After reading the prompts, Feng Bujue did not hear the usual "Welcome to Thriller Paradise" announcement, but instead heard a male voice with a Minnan accent say, "Make your opponents tremble, let them experience true terror!"

So the opening dialogue for Survival Game scripts was different. After that sentence, the next prompt appeared:

[Loading complete. You are currently participating in a Survival Game.]

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

[Script victory reward: 50 Skill Points.]

[The script introduction will now play. The game will begin immediately after playback is complete.]

An opening CG immediately appeared before Feng Bujue's eyes. The scene was a vast and dark environment, with a large expanse of flat rock underfoot. To the right was a mountain wall, covered in desiccated corpses and skeletons. A hazy moon illuminated the desolate scene.

Then, he heard an unbelievable script introduction...

[Demon Realm legends stain Shenzhou, profound Taoists shake the world. Xuanyuan seeks a single defeat in this life, the ghost general remakes life with difficulty.]

"What... what is this... Pili Shenzhou..." An ominous premonition arose in Feng Bujue's heart.

[Night of the eclipsed moon, a sorrowful, boundless mist, dim starlight, reflecting the lowered lamps of fate! Ominous green light, illusory ghostly shadows, like the realm of Hell! Beneath the hanging corpse wall, a great wind arises, two from another world, one with a composed but uneasy face awaits, the other stands calmly, holding a sword.]

[Who wins? Who loses? Who dies? Who lives?]

"This is for real..." Feng Bujue thought, "Speaking of this style, does that mean it's an immediate encounter?"

Indeed, he guessed correctly.

The script introduction was only these few sentences. After it ended, Feng Bujue gained the ability to move. He immediately turned to observe his surroundings, and found a figure standing about a hundred meters behind him. Like himself, the other person had just turned around.

[Main Quest Triggered]

[Kill all members of the opposing team]

[Hidden Quest Triggered]

[Create a verse (shihao) that belongs to you, and obtain a corresponding exclusive spiritual energy weapon.]

System prompts rang out one after another. Feng Bujue was completely speechless at the script. The hidden mission just popped up like that, and judging from the content, he could get reward items within the script itself. What kind of situation was this?

Actually... this setting was the system leaving a way out for players like Feng Bujue.

Survival Game 1v1 matches were generally not too complicated, and encounters were common, sometimes ending in a few minutes. Therefore, the winner's reward was small, and the loser received nothing except for a few scattered Skill Points earned in battle. However, in some rare cases, there were 1v1 scripts that could last for hours or even a day or two, such as when two shooting specialization players were dropped on a large, isolated island, with the system populating it with dense forests, secret research labs, pirate bases, etc. In those cases, the side quests would be very rich, and the victory reward would definitely be higher.

In Survival Game 2v2, 3v3, or free-for-all matches, the scripts were usually more complex. The system might assign players to different factions, or simply drop them into a relatively independent but free environment and set some strange rules, like the Seven Unsolved Mysteries of the Campus, allowing players who were good at strategizing more room to maneuver.

However, in 1v1 situations, simple and direct scripts were more common, and martial arts-oriented players were undoubtedly the mainstream, holding a considerable advantage. As for puzzle-solving players... taking Feng Bujue's current situation as an example, if the system hadn't released this hidden mission, he really wouldn't have had a chance.

Now the opportunity was there, whether he could seize it depended on himself.

Of course, both sides had this mission, it was fair. If Feng Bujue's opponent was both intelligent and brave, then there was nothing to say, they deserved to win. A player with both intellect and martial prowess queueing for 1v1 and being able to defeat pure puzzle-solving or pure martial arts-oriented players was also reasonable.

Feng Bujue was really unlucky. He happened to encounter an opponent who could be called both scholarly and martial. This person was named Kuangzong Jianying, from the guild--Jianghu. He was one of Jianghu Studio's flagship players, known as one of the Three Great Masters of Daoxuexiao (刀剑笑, "Knife, Sword, Laughter") alongside their guild leader Xiaowen Cangtian and another star-level professional player Wudao Ke.

Mentioning "Sword Lad," "Laughter Master," and "No Knife," even the Zhushen Studio, which always valued combat ability, had to admit their strength. In fact, Zhushen and Zhixu, the two leading companies in the industry, had both tried to woo the three of them, but were repeatedly rejected. Zhixu had even formulated a merger and acquisition plan, wanting to swallow the entire Jianghu Studio, but the plan was ultimately not implemented. After all, this was business. To buy a company for three players, the higher-ups would obviously not agree. If the three of them quit Zhixu after the merger and established their own company, then Zhixu would be giving money away to help others succeed.

With Kuangzong Jianying's strength, there was no problem for him to enter the top twenty of the combat power rankings, but he was not currently on the list. Because during the closed beta, he had not logged in again after creating his character, and only started leveling up after the open beta began. Like Feng Bujue, he had just reached level fifteen and was entering the Survival Game for the first time.

However, Kuangzong Jianying was different from those top experts from Zhixu who were late to the game. The reason he entered the game late was not because he didn't want to play the closed beta, but because he really couldn't spare the time.

Jianghu Studio was a grassroots company in reality, and its initial scale was similar to the Hyotei four-man team led by Atobe. Xiaowen Cangtian, Wudao Ke, and Kuangzong Jianying were the original full manpower of the studio. The three of them did not have the rich second-generation background of Atobe. If Atobe didn't make a name for himself, he would at most waste some of his family's money, but the three of them owed money to banks and relatives and friends. If the studio failed, then... the worst, and also the most likely outcome, was that their parents would accompany them to live on the streets, dodging debts everywhere.

Fortunately, they succeeded. Relying on their strength and operation, the three of them developed the studio all the way to its current scale, and Jianghu Studio has already been ranked among the upper echelons of the industry. After paying off their debts, the company moved into a dedicated office building, and now has more than a hundred employees. They can be considered to have transformed from professional players into young entrepreneurs.

But in the world of professional players, the time of retirement is often not decided by oneself. This world is indeed like a "jianghu" (martial world), how can masters retire whenever they want? Moreover, how many masters in this world are willing to retire in their prime?

Therefore, the three leaders of Daoxuexiao still have to personally go into battle. They not only have to manage things outside the game, but also manage the guild in the game. During the closed beta, they simply didn't have time to play the game. There were too many things to do when the studio expanded into new game projects. In fact, they still haven't finished yet. Before everything gets on the right track, they can only log in for a while at night when they go to sleep.

Back to the current Survival Game match.

The fact that Feng Bujue and Kuangzong Jianying were arranged to fight each other also illustrates a problem. Obviously, the system believes that their strengths are similar...

The maximum level difference between players in Survival Game is five levels. In a script, whether it is the team or the enemy, there will never be two players with a level difference of six levels. If two players with a level difference of more than five levels team up, they cannot enter the queue.

In multiplayer battles, the system will try to arrange two teams with similar strengths to meet. In 1v1 battles, the system will not let two people with vastly different strengths fight each other.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, in every Survival Game, either side has a chance to win, including this one.

"Hmm... that guy on the opposite side looks like he specializes in combat, the situation is not good..." Feng Bujue muttered in a low voice. He looked at Kuangzong Jianying from afar. The other person was wearing a black silk brocade robe, his long hair tied up with a ponytail. The long sword in his hand had already been drawn, its cold light chilling. Combining this brother's ID and the sentence "the other stands calmly, holding a sword" in the opening CG, Feng Bujue understood many things.

When Kuangzong Jianying looked at Feng Bujue, it was difficult to guess his style. The man in the distance was wearing a purple long suit, seemingly cosplaying the Joker from Batman. The weapon in his hand seemed to be a pistol and... a pipe wrench.

Kuangzong Jianying couldn't help but wonder: What is this guy? His clothes don't look like a player who focuses on martial arts, the melee weapon in his hand is a tool, and he's holding a ranged weapon in the other hand. Could it be that he practices machinery specialization and shooting on the side? The system prompt just now said "one with a composed but uneasy face awaits," that must be him... In other words, this guy seems calm, but he's actually unsure?

The confrontation between the two did not last long. Kuangzong Jianying moved first. He was quite confident in his own strength, so he would attack and test the waters first. Anyway, trying doesn't cost money. If this opponent is vulnerable, then it's just his good luck.

[Ha... A surge of powerful energy enveloped Kuangzong Jianying as he pressed forward. The murderous aura soared into the clouds, the sky changed suddenly, and dark clouds covered the night sky.] That voice with a Minnan accent sounded in their ears again.

"Huh?" Feng Bujue and Kuangzong Jianying had the same reaction. They could hear commentary during the fight in this script?

Following the description of the commentary, the sky really did become darker, the wind was stronger than before, and the dark clouds obscured the moonlight.

"You're ruthless!" Feng Bujue turned around and ran. After hearing the sharp commentary, he completely lost the desire to confront the other party head-on, and decided to run away first.

Seeing that he was about to run, Kuangzong Jianying felt even more confident. He was also entering the Survival Game for the first time, and it was his first time fighting against other players in Thriller Paradise. He was originally a little apprehensive about his opponent's strength. But Feng Bujue's running away was undoubtedly showing weakness. Seeing this, Kuangzong Jianying let go and pursued with strength and aggression.

[Body like a swimming dragon, flying like wings, seeking gaps to escape, moving quickly to get away. Hurry hurry hurry! Seeing that he could not withstand the attack, Feng Bujue spun around and ran.]

[Sword like the sea, qi like the waves, the swung sword like a howling wave! Kuangzong Jianying pursues with his sword, his killing intent growing stronger, vast like surging clouds, powerful like the majesty of heaven!]

"Are you kidding me! I'm obviously running away, but you can still make it sound so awesome!" Feng Bujue shouted as he ran.

Kuangzong Jianying was running ten meters behind him, and smiled: "Friend, once you accept this setting, it's actually quite interesting."

Bang--

Feng Bujue did not answer, but turned around and fired a cold shot, using up the last bullet in his m1911A1. Then he removed the magazine and, while running forward at full speed, took out a full magazine from the inside pocket of his suit and replaced it.

"Looks like your marksmanship is average." Kuangzong Jianying sneered, the bullet did not even graze him, and he was still chasing behind.

Even if Feng Bujue was standing still and aiming, it would be very difficult to hit a moving target, let alone in a situation where he himself was also running. In fact, the main purpose of this shot was not to hit, but to see the other party's reaction.

As a result, Kuangzong Jianying's reaction was... very bad, very annoying... for Feng Bujue.

Kuangzong Jianying did not make any evasive maneuvers after hearing the gunshot, nor did he slow down his forward speed. This showed two points: first, his mental fortitude was absolutely strong, at least in the game, he could overcome some human instincts; second, which was also one of the conditions for being able to do the first, he must have some way to defend against bullets.

What was even more troublesome was that he later commented on Feng Bujue's marksmanship with a hint of sarcasm. Being able to catch up to Feng Bujue, who had the Jazz Dance skill, while running and still having the energy to speak, his physical strength was self-evident.

"Shihao, shihao, shihao..." Feng Bujue chanted like he was urging his own life, urging his brain to turn faster, "I have to think of one quickly... otherwise I'm dead."