Chapter 1 Welcome to Thriller Paradise

Darkness fell before him, and the game menu was temporarily unavailable. After a brief moment of absentmindedness, Feng Bujue realized that in this endless darkness, he had gone from standing to sitting, seemingly on some kind of hard seat with a backrest.

“Welcome to Thriller Paradise.” This randomly appearing voice sounded very ordinary, like a typical young man, but the tone in which he said this line still sounded strange.

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

[This mode provides a script introduction and has a chance to generate side hidden quests and special worldviews.]

[Script Completion Reward: An 80% bonus to base experience gained upon completion.]

[The script introduction will now play. The game will begin immediately after the introduction.]

A cutscene appeared directly before Feng Bujue's eyes. It felt like wearing a pair of sunglasses that could play movies. At the same time, corresponding narration sounded in his ears.

[This is a modern, bustling metropolis, like all the world's leading cities. Skyscrapers stand tall, 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 views.

[Until one evening, the sun set, never to rise again. The faint moonlight, appearing intermittently behind drifting clouds, illuminated this desolate, isolated city.]

The scene before Feng Bujue's eyes quickly darkened until it was completely black. After a few seconds, a little light returned, the brightness one would expect on a moonless night. There were still some lights on in the city, but not the brightness a bustling metropolis should have at night. From a distant overview, many motionless vehicles could be seen on the city streets, but not a single pedestrian or any moving object...

[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 survivors left in this city.]

After this sentence entered his ears, Feng Bujue felt a light flash before his eyes, and his normal senses returned. The game menu could also be opened, so it seemed the script had begun.

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

To the left of Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi, at a distance, a young man and a young woman, both under twenty, sat in another row of seats, looking like students. The boy's face was very pale, and his hair was quite long. Honestly... his hairstyle made him look almost like the girl beside him. Both were of average height, with slender builds and attractive appearances. Judging by their nicknames, they were definitely a couple. The boy was called "Longing for You When Most Alone," and the girl was called "Missing You When Most Lonely."

In Team Survival Mode, this was the final adjustment time before the game started. It was also a condition provided by the system to allow players to communicate. In this environment, players' nicknames were displayed above their heads, visible to each other. When they left here, the names above their heads would disappear. To find out a teammate's name again, they would need to open the menu and look in the team section.

The information visible in the team section was also limited. First, the menu naturally did not show the appearance of teammates, only their names and levels. Second, the status next to it only displayed "Surviving" or "Deceased." As for their exact survival value or whether they had any abnormal conditions, nothing was known.

There were five people in total in this car. There was one more person who hadn't been introduced yet. He sat in the row of seats opposite Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi.

Even sitting down, it was estimated that 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 definitely under thirty. His face was stern, and the lines of his jaw were very firm. His shoulders were broad, his torso was V-shaped, and the muscle lines on his arms could be vaguely seen through his long-sleeved T-shirt.

With this kind of appearance, it would not be an exaggeration to call him "Sylvester Stallone." Although neural connection games allowed players to modify their appearance in the virtual world, there were limits to the extent of these changes. Faces could be "photoshopped" at will, but the extent of body modifications could not exceed 8% at most. Any more than that would cause problems. For example, if you let a person who was two meters tall use a body that was 1.5 meters tall, he would definitely not be able to adapt.

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. Modifications to body proportions were a very vague concept. To give an example... a beer belly could be modified into a flatter stomach, but it would never turn into abs.

So, setting aside the face factor, this strong man in front of him... was probably still a strong man in reality. It was possible 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 Aomin, just reached level ten."

"I can see that... Pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you," Feng Bujue replied.

Wang Tanzhi asked curiously, "Big brother, is that part before your nickname part of your name? Can you have such a long name?"

"Oh, this? This is a title. Everyone gets one at level ten. It's rated by the system," Long Aomin replied. Above his head was displayed [Valiant Charger · Long Aomin].

Feng Bujue obviously knew about this setting, which was why he said, "I can see that."

"Sounds very strong..." Wang Tanzhi said, his eyes shining.

Feng Bujue interrupted, "What do you mean 'sounds very strong'? How can you say that?" He said earnestly, "This *is* very strong."

"Hahaha, not at all, not at all. I just played a little more," Long Aomin said with a smile. Feng Bujue's words clearly pleased him very much.

"Brother Long is too modest. This one can tell at a glance that you are no ordinary person," Feng Bujue addressed him as "Brother Long" directly. He had sincere admiration for people who dared to use a name like "Long Aomin." Looking at this name, it felt as if an aura of kingly dominance was smeared on his bear-like face.

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

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

Over the next few minutes, Feng Bujue talked with Long Aomin about his game experience. Wang Tanzhi also chimed in with a sentence or two now and then. This was still the first day of the closed beta, so everyone was basically a newbie, and there were many things worth discussing.

Perhaps Long Aomin shouldn't be called Long Aomin. He should be called Guo Dalu. He was a very ordinary person, sincere and generous. You could hear, see, and feel his sincerity. His suggestions were very pertinent, and he didn't adopt a condescending attitude just because Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi were low level.

On the other side, the couple was being lovey-dovey, hugging and cuddling, acting very affectionate and whispering sweet nothings. Some might ask, wasn't it forbidden to make intimate gestures in this game? Please note that the previous text stated that acts of sexual harassment were prohibited. The current situation was consensual. Of course, they couldn't do anything too outrageous. At most, they could kiss and hug; they couldn't even get to second base. In a harmonious society, the game absolutely restricted further behavior.

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

The lights in the subway station outside were on normally, but no sound could be heard. Apart from the sound of the subway itself moving, there wasn't even an announcement that the train was arriving at the station.

The doors opened, and almost simultaneously, all the lights in the car went out.

The lonely girl was startled and cried out softly. The lonely guy beside her was also stunned, but he didn't shout. He just trembled.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

This ghostly wail came from Xiao Tan.

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

Although the lights in the subway car were out, it wasn't completely dark because the lights on the platform were all normal. Wang Tanzhi's shout was truly embarrassing. The lonely couple both cast looks of contempt from the bottom of their hearts. Long Aomin, on the other hand, forced a smile and followed Feng Bujue out of the car.

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

"It's better not to act alone. How about we all go together?" Long Aomin said.

"Ugh, why bother looking for a driver? Too much trouble, wastes everyone's time. Isn't there a level ten big brother here? We'll follow him to the surface. We'll just kill whatever we see. Anyway, we can clear the level by just killing to the end," the lonely guy said.

Feng Bujue could see from the team status that the lonely couple's levels were seven and six respectively. Anyway, they were higher than him and Xiao Tan, so they felt they had more say.

"Okay, then," Feng Bujue actually agreed. He then turned to Long Aomin and said, "Brother Long, what do you think?"

"No problem. You guys just follow behind me. If we encounter a situation where we need to fight, just lend a hand," Long Aomin replied readily. As he spoke, he stepped onto the escalator and took out a shield from his knapsack, equipping it on his right wrist.

"Brother Jue? What's going on?" Wang Tanzhi asked Feng Bujue in a low voice. He knew Feng Bujue very well. How could Brother Jue be the kind of person who would change his actions based on someone else's words? Moreover, the lonely guy's suggestion was not only not brilliant, but it was also questionable whether it was even 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 as a trial," Feng Bujue replied in a low voice. "Since someone objects... it doesn't hurt to compromise on such a trivial disagreement."

As they spoke, they had arrived with Long Aomin at the top of the escalator. However, the five of them were still in the subway station. They still needed to go up another level to return to the surface.

After getting off the escalator, there was a sign facing them, pointing in the direction of the various exits and which landmarks they led to on the surface. However, this was not 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 voice prompt sounded in everyone's ears simultaneously: [Main Quest Triggered]