In the ten minutes that Feng Bujue was absent, he had already completed everything he needed to do before queuing up for another game. He had gone to the market to purchase five Life Points Recovery Potions (M) and six assault rifle magazines, which had cost him around 40,000 Game Coins. Then, he had gone to Thriller Box to search for Contra Medals and the One-Shot-Kill Pistol that he encountered in the previous Nightmare scenario. To his surprise, they were really there…
Contra Medals in the Thriller Box were basically the same as the one exhausted when he used Wicked King Immolation Black Dragon Wave. But with a selling price of 20,000 Skill Points, at the current stage, only players at the front of the ranking would have a chance to buy one. Most players could only look at it from afar.
The One-Shot-Kill Pistol was heavily edited by the system. Even though the gun’s special effect was still intact, it lost its homing ability. The player had to do the aiming themselves, and it had been edited so that it had no effect on the scenario’s final boss and other players. The bullets were still unlimited, but the number of shots was limited. Only five bullets could be fired in one hour. Even so, the weapon was still priced at 50,000 Game Coins.
Even though these two were both legendary items, compared to the other legendary weapon, Tessaiga, that Feng Bujue had found earlier, they were lacking. In terms of price, these two combined were not as expensive as that one. From this, one could see that the pricing at Thriller Box was logical.
Feng Bujue did not want his members to wait for him too long, so he had quickly finished his purchases, satisfied his curiosity, and headed to the conference room. The conference room was opened by Passing Rain, and she was the team leader, but after Feng Bujue joined the team, she transferred the leadership to him.
In terms of the four’s statuses, other than Feng Bujue, the others did not have much changes.
Xiao Tan, Passing Rain, and Laughing Soul were all level seventeen. They had the same titles and weapons. In terms of Masteries, three of them had some slight increase. Xiao Tan had levelled up enough to reach the requirement to learn Shadow of the Evil Bat, so Feng Bujue took it out from the guild storage and had Xiao Tan learn it on the spot.
When they were exchanging information, Feng Bujue filled in the rest on Long Aomin’s situation. Other than that, he also brought up his transaction with Flashes of Sword regarding Hard Disc 2455-A-1. The few from Underworld Frontline easily understood that… Flashes of Sword had been swindled by Feng Bujue. Brother Jue was the real scammer here. He did not need to do anything, just wait for the other party to send them the items.
Even though it was regretful that Brother Long could not join them, it was no biggie. After all, Underworld Frontline was a small, casual guild. Feng Bujue did not plan to expand it beyond its current size. If he met suitable players in the future, he would send the invite. In terms of guild size, he did not care about it that much.
After they exchanged the information, they prepared to move. They returned to their respective log-in lobbies. After accepting Feng Bujue’s team request, they confirmed and entered the queue.
“Feng Bujue, Level 19
“Wang Tanzhi, Level 17
“Passing Rain, Level 17
“Laughing Soul, Level 17
“Please select the game mode that your team wants to join.
“You have selected the Team Survival Mode (Normal). Please confirm.
“Confirming. The team size has been randomized: A team of five.
“Your team has joined the team queue. Currently searching for other readied players or teams.
“Search completed. Team full.
“Adjusting nervous connectivity, generating the scenario…
“Please wait a moment. Downloading.”
“Welcome to Thriller Paradise.” This time the system sounded like an old witch. It was dark and creepy, almost like the welcome Feng Bujue had heard during his tutorial.
“Download complete. You are currently playing Team Survival Mode (Normal). A scenario introduction is provided in this mode, and there is a chance to trigger a side or hidden mission and special world-building.
“Reward for clearing the scenario: 100,000 Game Coins
“Playing the scenario introduction soon. The game will start right after.”
The introductory cinematic started…
Night, a bright moon hung in the sky. In a small alley, the sound of hooves neared. Soon, a horse galloped down their way.
The horse had a white coat, and the man on the white horse also had a white coat on. This man in white had the appearance of an ancient warrior. He was armed with blades. Why was he travelling so hurriedly in the night?
“Ten years ago, the fight at Zhi Yun Ruins between ’Nameless Blade’ Xie San and ’Blade God’ Ye Cheng lasted for two days and two nights without a clear victor.” The following was said accompanying a subtitle that appeared on screen.
“What in the world…” When Feng Bujue heard this opening that mimicked a wuxia novel, he had a feeling this scenario was about to have a crazy development again.
“Ten years later, the two could no longer find a match on Jiang Hu, and thus, a fight was unavoidable.
“This fight was to decide who was first and to prove the way of their blade.
“The location of the fight was decided at a barren land at the northern west side inside a village long abandoned.”
At this point, the man in white suddenly pulled on the reins and stared at the small path before him. His eyes scanned the trees on both sides. “I am the Jade Scholar, Bai Dian. Forgive my offense asking for your origin. Do you mind showing yourself?”
His voice was not loud, but on this quiet night, it travelled far and wide.
“Return from whence you came.” An elder spoke. Even though the words entered Bai Dian’s ears, he could not pinpoint where the voice came from. It felt like it came from all corners.
“Humph… I believe you are here to witness the epic fight at the village in three days, right?” Bai Dian huffed coldly. “You wish for me to leave with just one… Ah!”
Before he finished, he fell from the horse and soon turned into a dead body.
The camera moved to give Bai Dian a close up. His face was frozen in surprise. Before death, he had only had enough time to pull out his special weapon, a strange-looking dart, but unfortunately, he did not even have chance to use it.
The camera moved again to a spot at the back of Bai Dian’s neck. Finally, the players could see clearly that there was a bamboo pick stuck there.
“Chang Lin Town was surrounded by mountains at three sides. According to rumors, there was an old temple at the village’s northern forest, but it had already been taken over by evil spirts. There was talk of ghosts coming down the mountain, causing strange deaths among the villagers. The local government couldn’t do anything about it. Years later, many local villagers moved away, and this town became an actual ghost town.
“August 15th, this year, two greatest swordsmen would meet to fight here.
“This news was leaked, and it caused a ripple across the martial world. Most experts journeyed to witness the match. The inn at this abandoned village somehow managed to reopen for business after years of abandonment, and more than one hundred known characters moved into it…
“What will the result of this match be? What is the truth of the ghost town? Is there a conspiracy lurking in the background?”
That was where the introductory cinematic ended. The four from Underworld Frontline and another player entered the scenario. They were teleported to the path where Bai Dian died, but they were about one kilometer away from the crime scene.
“Main quest triggered. Enter Chang Lin Town.”
Feng Bujue held his forehead and complained, “These days, experts don’t go to the Forbidden City to fight but purposely come to a haunted village… This is just…”
“Ah! You!” a familiar voice exclaimed.
Feng Bujue lifted his head to look and saw a face that he did not wish to see. Before he could stop himself, he said, “You must be kidding me…”
“That’s what I should say!” Atobe-sama roared.
“Where are your three friends?” Feng Bujue asked.
“Er…” Atobe replied, “They went for 3v3 Killing Game.”
“So, you’re dead weight,” Feng Bujue said clearly.
“What did you say‽” Atobe-sama grumbled with annoyance, but he could not provide any evidence to show that Feng Bujue was wrong.
Passing Rain looked at Feng Bujue and asked succinctly, “Your friend?”
Feng Bujue hesitated.
“Hmm… I suppose you can say that…” He turned to Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul. “Let me introduce you to the guild leader from Hyotei Host Club, Atobe. Xiao Tan, you remember him, right? He’s one of the two players killed in the BW Wolf scenario.”
“Oh… right, I think I remember now.” Xiao Tan had only seen the IDs of Atobe-sama and Ming Zi in that scenario and did not meet them in person.
“Who are you calling a host? Why don’t you take a look at yourself first, looking like a terrorist? Combine that with a Gothic guild name and you dare mock me?” Atobe-sama then noticed the two males, and the two females also had the Underworld Frontline badge, so he asked, “Eh? You’re all from the same guild?”
“Yes, I am now a guild leader as well… Even though it’s not a big guild, with you as a comparison, I suddenly don’t feel so bad anymore,” Feng Bujue said.
Atobe felt like he would only be dragged into a loop where he was endlessly mocked. In terms of sharp tongues, he was no match for Feng Bujue, so he could only swallow the insult silently. He pulled the topic away, “By the way… what is the buff for your guild?”
“Oh… that…” Feng Bujue felt that it did not matter sharing that with the ma. After all, the guild buff would change every week according to their weekly ranking. “The first is ’lowering of three percent Stamina Points exhaustion in all scenarios’, and the second is ’extend the limit for three seconds before the player is forced offline after reaching the maximum height of Terror Points’.”
Atobe-sama nodded to himself. “Hmm… It’s about the same as I thought. Our guild buff is a slight improvement to Life Point recovery and Game Coins reward during rating review. Looks like the buff for guilds past level one hundred on the ranking are these kinds of useless buffs.”
“You can easily find that out on the forum,” Feng Bujue said.
“Ah? Oh… is that so?” Atobe-sama looked visibly surprised.
“I mean… how long has it been since you last went offline?” Feng Bujue looked in the team tab and realized that Atobe-sama was level twenty, and his title was Obvious Ambush. “Have you been playing the game constantly other than going offline to eat and sleep?”
“I am a professional player!” Atobe claimed seriously.
“Sure, sure…” Feng Bujue shrugged.
Since there was only one outsider, the five did not spend too long on introductions. They chatted for a while, and Feng Bujue cleared his throat and started selling his first tactic…