Since he did not use any consumables in the previous scenario, Feng Bujue did not visit the market to restock and joined the queue directly.
“Feng Bujue: Level 28.
“Please select the game mode you wish to join.
“You have chosen Killing Game (Battle Royale mode). Please confirm.
“Confirmed. Number of team members has been randomly generated: 6.”
After that, Feng Bujue experienced the longest waiting time he had experienced since he started the game. He waited for three minute, and the next notification had not shown up.
“What’s wrong? Since this is a Battle Royale mode, the system could have just pulled in six players at about the same level. Why the long wait?”
What he did not realize was… this was just the beginning. After twenty-five minutes of waiting, Feng Bujue still had not started the queue, and he could not exit the queue or do anything else.
“What’s going on? Is the server lagging?” Just as he was about to forcibly disconnect…
“Generating complete. Adjusting the nervous connectivity, generating the scenario.
“Download starting. Please wait a moment.
“Hue hue hue… Make your enemy cower in fear, let them experience the true meaning of horror!”
Feng Bujue was startled when he heard that. “Even though I’ve heard that many times… how come the tone of the voice this time and the deceiving snicker sound so recognizable?”
“Download complete. You are playing the Killing Game.
“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 victory: A random draw of usable, perfect-quality equipment.
“Playing the scenario introduction soon. The game will start right after.”
When Feng Bujue saw the victory reward, he was shocked. “There is something like that? A guaranteed perfect quality equipment, and it is something that is hundred percent useable? That is madness!”
But the madness was just beginning…
This time, he did not enter the passive mode of watching a cinematic; the introduction of the scenario began to roll up the screen, and the elevator that he was in started to move rapidly upward.
“Gotham City, 2009.
“After Bruce Wayne died in the battle with Darkseid[1], Gotham City’s security went seriously out of control. The gang activity came onto the surface. Supervillains like Two-face and Penguin fought for dominance of the whole city.
“Nightwing[2] and Batwoman formed the organization God Net, a team of reliable allies to try to control the situation. But the scope and length of this danger was far beyond their imagination. The city entered a dark and wicked circle. Once the villains realized that the bat was gone, they realized that this was the perfect opportunity to expand and realign the power struggle and map of underground Gotham.
“Everyone is involved in this maddening rave, not only those famed villains but also those newcomers with ambition and youths who had also made a name for themselves.
“The Gotham police force is on the verge of breakdown. The officers suffer dangerous and long hours of patrol while worrying about the safety of their own family. Many people realized… there was no other choice other than to hand in the badge.
“There was chaos and rupture everywhere. The mayor had already announced that the city was under high alert. The people of Gotham were waiting for a savior to arrive, someone who could reinstate the rules. They are waiting for… Batman.
“And the superheroes of the city, while they were fighting crimes, were also fighting among themselves to decide who had the qualification to take up the bat’s mantle.”
That was where the introductory words and the voiceover stopped. It was also where the elevator stopped moving. Feng Bujue had memorized the various explanation for the game mode of Killing Game in detail, especially the most crucial one.
“The Killing Game has its core in the battle between players. The element of horror within the scenario itself will be lowered, any world-building can occur, and the size and scale of the scenario are based on the number and abilities of the players.”
Therefore, it was normal, Feng Bujue realized, for this kind of worldbuilding to occur…
“Main quest triggered. Be the last surviving player of this scenario.”
After that, the door of the elevator opened, signaling that the scenario had officially started.
Once the door opened, Feng Bujue was greeted by the sound of machine guns, and the first reaction was to hug his head and search for cover.
“What the hell! Am I being ambushed right at the start of the scenario?” Feng Bujue gasped. “There’s no reason for that!”
Obviously, he was overthinking this. In this mode, the six players were naturally assigned different parts of the map, and the doors of the elevators were opened at the same time. The gunshots that Feng Bujue heard were from a masked criminal in the scenario shooting at the ceiling. Feng Bujue’s elevator opened to the lobby of a bank, and the moment he walked out was the beginning of a bank heist.
“Get down on the floor now!” one of the criminals ordered.
Before Feng Bujue got the order, he was already lying on the ground. As he lifted his head, he understood what was happening immediately.
One, two, three…
Feng Bujue collected all the information that he could in his sight out of instinct, and he made a lot of speculations.
Two of them appear to handle the heavy duty lifting. One of them has the tattoo of a sailor on their left arm, but the posture and the way he held the gun doesn’t seem professional, so I can rule out military background…
His eyes went to the bank entrance.
There is a car right opposite the street, and the person sitting in the driver’s seat should be their partner…
“Don’t move! Don’t understand that? B*stard! Let me see your hand!” The criminals were trying to control the situation, and they were successful at it. Feng Bujue was close to the counter, and next to him was a pillar. As long as he lay on the ground and did not do anything too obvious, the criminals would not notice him.
Jacket, jeans, sport shirts, sneakers… they are all dressed casually, and they are wearing ski masks that you can buy anywhere.
Feng Bujue was as calm as he could be, and the analysis of these criminals was running through his mind.
The one guarding the door and the one collecting the money have a gun each. The one with the tattoo should be the leader. He has a pistol and a machine gun… From this information, it seems like none of them are professionals. They are merely normal citizens with guns. The driver in the car is probably weaker than them…
“Hey! What are you doing‽” the criminal with the machine gun yelled at the partner who was stuffing bags with money. “Do you think I’m blind? Take out the money you stuffed in your pocket. Don’t do anything stupid! Understood?”
After seeing that, Feng Bujue had completed his basic observation of this group of people. Hmm… there goes any chance of them being a crime syndicate… Humph… bunch of idiots, they don’t have a good plan. From the way the man at the door is looking about, he has no idea where the police will come from, and the one stuffing the money has no idea how much to take to be the most effecient. The one leading doesn’t know the location of the camera and does not how long until the police arrive following the alarm. If the driver hears the police sirens and drives away, they will have no back up plan to escape.
Feng Bujue would bid goodbye to these people soon. He hugged his head with both hands and buried his face between his arms.
I’d better keep myself out of this. The more amateur the criminal, the more likely they are to do something unpredictable. If I resist, god knows what they will do. If I push these idiots further, it will make the situation even more dangerous for me.
However, about five minutes later, Feng Bujue raised his head again.
Should I remind them that it’s about time to retreat? Then something else came to him. It’s not that I look down on them… The three did not even calculate how much time they have before the police arrive, and they have been grabbing the money greedily. This will take them too long. Once the police arrive and they hear the siren, they will definitely panic, and the retreat will fail. It will turn into a hostage situation instead…
“Damn it! The police are here! We need to go!” As he expected, the criminal at the door heard the sirens and screamed the warning. The criminal stuffing the money quickly zipped up the two bulging bags. The leader grabbed one, and the two lugged the bags as they rushed to the door. The two bags were filled with cash, and because of that, the criminals missed out on the perfect chance to escape.
“Hey! Damn it!” The criminal at the door yelled across the street. He turned around to look at his two other partners. He pointed at the street. “That b*stard left us and ran!”
“F*ck!”
“Damn!”
Actually, even if the partner did not run, the three did not have time to cross the street.
Soon, the bank’s entrance was surrounded by police cars. The officers rushed out from the cars and aimed their guns at the door.
An officer with a loudspeaker yelled out the classic at the bank. “Those inside, listen up. This is the Gotham Police. You have been surrounded. Put down your weapon and come out to surrender!”
The leading criminal hid behind the door and turned his head to shout out the door, “Back away, you b*stards! We have hostages!”
Then he lowered his voice to tell his partner, “What are you doing, spacing out? Go and see if there’s another exit!”
Seeing the reaction of these three and the development of events, Feng Bujue sighed helplessly and lowered his head again. “Sigh… bunch of idiots…”
[1] Darkseid is a fictional supervillain appearing in DC comics. The strongest of the new gods, the ruler of Apokolips.
[2] Nightwing’s name is Dick Grayson. He was the first Robin.