“Feng Bujue, Level 11
“Wang Tanzhi, Level 11
“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 six.
“Your team has joined the team queue. Currently searching for other readied players or teams.
“Search complete. Team full.
“Adjusting nerve connectivity. Generating the scenario.
“Please wait for a moment. Downloading.”
This time the voice that spoke sounded like a middle-aged man, and he was mumbling through the words.
“Welcome to Thriller Paradise.
“Download complete. You are currently playing Team Survival Mode (Normal). A scenario introduction is provided in this mode, and there is a chance for the trigger of side or hidden missions and special worldbuilding.
“Reward for clearing the scenario: Double the base EXP gained during rating review.
“Playing the scenario introduction soon. The game will start right after.”
Feng Bujue’s sight soon was replaced by a CG movie shot from a first-person perspective. The screen showed that he was ’falling’ through the sky, but he was not wearing any military equipment. He was still wearing the black, long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans provided by the system. Before his eyes was a blue sky with white clouds, a sunny day.
The angle moved downward, and he could discern it was a modern city with many skyscrapers that he was falling into.
The system audio arrived following the appearance of the subtitles. “You are a member of a rescue team, and you’re tasked to find the worker of the company Allerbmu—Professor Ashford. But due the plane crash, you and your other five teammates lost all heavy artillery and communication devices when you jumped off the plane and were separated in different parts of the city.”
What the hell is this Allerbmu? Is it just a reverse of Umbrella? Feng Bujue looked at the floating subtitle and thought to himself, Don’t tell me… the name of the city is a reverse of the term Raccoon City.
“An unknown virus is ravaging through this Nooccar City.”
What the f*ck… It really did happen!
“This type of extremely dangerous virus is coded as ’Z’, and it has four obvious symptoms: a 100% infection chance, 100% lethality, can be transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, cannot be transmitted through air and water.”
Wouldn’t it be a lot more timesaving to call it T-virus? Why the need to come up with a Z-virus? Who is the system trying to trick?
“All the infected organisms transform into… Vampiric Werewolf Zombies.”
Huh? Feng Bujue was shocked, and a strange amalgamation of different creatures appeared in his mind.
“This kind of monster’s basic abilities and habits are no different from a normal zombie, but at the same time, they possess the specific properties of both werewolf and vampire. To facilitate easier communication, they’re also simply known as… BW Zombies (Blood Wolf Zombies).”
What?
“Silver can cause a BW Zombie’s body to scorch while the smell of garlic mixed with saliva can ward them off to a certain degree. Their mobility and intelligence are both relatively low, and decapitation or having their brain smashed in will kill them.”
Doesn’t that mean they’re weaker than a normal zombie? What exactly is the purpose of such a setting then?
“BW Zombies are extremely averse to sunlight even though sunlight will not cause direct damage to them. They possess an extremely powerful sense of smell and can pick up sounds and light from a distance away. Their desire for meat has nothing to do with their digestive system. Even if they have lost their chin, intestine, stomach, and all related organs, they will continue to tear their victims into pieces and ingest them. All living organisms will become their target.”
The introductory CG and explanation this time was quite long. Perhaps they needed some additional time for players to fall through the sky. After the introduction was over, the last screen showed Feng Bujue landing on the roof of a shop right by the merchant street.
One second later, Feng Bujue’s sight overlapped with the character’s, and he was officially in the game. He was not wearing anything that resembled a parachute; it looked like it had been removed by the system already. That was fine because it saved him from having to look through it.
The “Main quest triggered” announcement came soon after. This time, all six players were placed at the different parts of the map before the game started. This was the first time that Feng Bujue had come into something like that. He opened the menu to glance at the content of the main quest. “Enter the Allerbmu company’s main building and find Professor Ashford.”
Then, he looked at the situation at the group tab. Five names were shown there, ’Wang Tanzhi’, ’Unparalleled General Pan Feng’, ’Thousand Kills Hwa Xiong’, ’So hard to find a name’, and ’Atobe-sama’.
Feng Bujue thought to himself, Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong should be from the same team since they’re both characters from Romance of Three Kingdoms. From the looks of it, the group is filled with all male players.
Suddenly, an incomprehensible groan came from behind Feng Bujue. Feng Bujue turned to look, and he saw a BW Zombie shuffling toward him.
His body was covered with tuffs of fur, except for the arms and face. They were not only furless but extremely pale. The face was that of a human except for the vampire-like fangs in the mouth. The rest was the features of a typical zombie like some gashing wounds and decaying body parts.
The monster moved glacially, or perhaps being exposed to the sunlight caused him to move slower. Plus, he was dumb enough to groan loudly enough to expose his location. Feng Bujue stared at the guy condescendingly and all the way around the monster…
The monster limped slowly to turn its body around. When it faced Feng Bujue once more, it groaned before starting to shuffle toward him.
“How are you so slow?” Feng Bujue did not grab the weapon from his backpack; he was too lazy to deal with this monster. Instead, he strode toward the door that exited the roof. The BW Zombie continued to follow him, but the monster’s speed was much slower than Feng Bujue’s normal walking speed.
Feng Bujue opened the door, and beyond it was a staircase that led downward. Even though he had some words about the strength of the monster in this scenario, he still checked out the situation behind the door first before entering it. Before leaving, Feng Bujue did not forget to help close the door.
He walked down the stairs, and the ground floor was a normal restaurant. The kitchen was across from the bar counter, and the window facing the street was arranged with a row of tables. There were some separate seats by the counter as well. A few tables had leftovers like sandwiches, fries, and eggs. By then, they had become feasts for the flies. Feng Bujue was looking around when he heard another groan.
There was a BW Zombie behind the counter. Its upper body was leaning against the oven, but its lower body was missing, and the intestines splashed out to the ground. When it saw Feng Bujue approach, it raised its arms toward him and groaned endlessly. To Feng Bujue, it sounded like it was saying, “Come, feed me.”
Of course, Feng Bujue ignored it. He looked out into the street through the window. There were a few BW Zombies wandering the area, but they were all hiding inside the shadow of the surrounding buildings, and they shuffled slowly.
Hmm… This doesn’t look dangerous. How about an experiment then?
He took out the wrench and broke into the storeroom. Two minutes later, he came out holding a basket of garlic. Feng Bujue placed the basket on the counter. He took out a clove of garlic, put away the wrench, and pulled out the kitchen knife. He peeled off the skin, picked out a segment, popped it into his mouth, and chewed.
Eating in Thriller Paradise mimicked the experience in real life. The taste bud would simulate how the food was supposed to taste, and one would feel full from food consumption. Naturally, though, there was no actual food entering the players’ stomach. Both the taste and the filling experience were simulated through the nervous system.
The spiciness bloomed on his tongue. Feng Bujue walked around the bar and leaned close to the BW Zombie on the ground. The latter quickly put down its arms like it had lost its appetite for Feng Bujue. It looked like the effect of garlic was quite strong.
Just for fun, Feng Bujue continued to move forward, stretching out his neck, and with a meter distance between them, he opened his mouth and breathed out toward the monster. The monster used his arms to crawl away, trying to move away from Feng Bujue.
“Well… Isn’t this amusing?” Feng Bujue looked strangely excited. He had decided to stay in this city until he had gotten his fill of fun.