Chapter 1 The Players Emerge

"Greetings, viewers, thank you for tuning into the game. I am commentator Hua Xiong."

"I am commentator Pan Feng."

Tonight, these two have made a rare appearance...

At twelve fifty-eight (converted into game time in sleep mode, there were only twenty minutes until the match), these two GMs' faces appeared on the main screen of the Mall. They sat side-by-side behind a table like news anchors, making statements.

Their image was quite different from what Feng Bujue had seen in the script. They had changed into serious-looking Western suits. If they had chosen the ancient military general appearance from the script to appear on camera, the scene would probably have become quite comical...

"Unknowingly, half a month has passed," Hua Xiong said.

"Yes, it feels like we just got used to the commentary work, and now it's about to end," Pan Feng replied.

They both smiled. Hua Xiong then said, "Heh... getting back to the topic, today's final will be a free-for-all, so the broadcasting method will also be different."

Pan Feng said, "Today, the two of us are very relaxed. After the match starts, you won't hear our voices anymore." He said mysteriously, "The specific reason... is temporarily confidential, you'll all know soon."

Hua Xiong said, "To prevent you viewers from missing the content you want to see, let's briefly explain the broadcasting method for this time..." As he spoke, the picture on the main screen had already switched to an image similar to a PPT slide, "The final's broadcast format focuses on the battles. In other words, we won't be able to see what the players are doing in places where no battles are taking place.

So, after the match starts, the main screen will first broadcast the basic situation in various parts of the script, and use subtitles to display information such as the script's world view... the screen will switch over once a player enters combat somewhere."

Pan Feng took over, "Next is the key point, which is 'the broadcasting rules when multiple battles occur simultaneously'." He paused, and the slide on the screen also turned a page, "You should all know that the Game Mall is a multi-phase space containing several areas. Today, starting from one o'clock in the morning, we will adjust the names of the phase areas. At that time, when you return to the login space and open the Mall area selection menu, you will no longer see options like 'Area 1', 'Area 2', but options like 'Player A Broadcast Area 1', 'Player A Broadcast Area 2', or 'Player B Broadcast Area 1'."

Hua Xiong continued, "If you want to watch a specific player's match, please choose to enter their exclusive broadcast area. If you want to join an area with multiple people, please discuss the number beforehand."

Pan Feng said, "Each player enjoys 'priority broadcasting rights' in their broadcast area. When they are not in combat, the main screen in that area will play other duels in the script; and once they enter combat, the screen will immediately switch to them."

"If you don't have a particular player you're following," Hua Xiong added, "you can also choose 'Random Broadcast Area 1, 2, 3... etc.' in the login space. The broadcast footage there is allocated by the system in chronological order and will play relatively complete battles. That is, after one battle ends, it will randomly switch to another place where fighting is taking place, until that one ends before switching again."

Pan Feng concluded, "Of course, you can still watch the match on the screens in the login space or meeting rooms. In private spaces, you can freely switch the broadcast priority, just like changing channels on TV. And... the commentary for this final will not be affected by these factors, the commentary audio and video are played synchronously. So, watching outside the Mall, the difference is just that the screen is a little smaller and the surroundings are relatively deserted."

Before these two finished their introduction, the players in the Mall were already rushing towards the elevator entrances. Whether they wanted to watch the match in the broadcast area or in the meeting room, they had to go to the login space to switch over.

In fact, the players didn't need to rush. The script map for this final was relatively large, and it was unlikely that battles would break out from the start. Even if they went early, they would just be standing in front of the screen watching the scenery...

…………

One o'clock in the morning.

Fifty top experts from *Thriller Paradise* had already stood in the login space, ready to go.

At this moment, no one dared to say they weren't nervous. Even Jue-ge couldn't help pacing back and forth in the elevator, humming "Heroes' Song" and matching the beat of the song with his footsteps... to relieve his nervousness.

The players' excitement was beyond words...

【The Apex Contenders' War is about to begin. Your data will be loaded in thirty seconds. Please do not leave the login space.】

【Ten seconds countdown before loading, nine, eight, seven... two, one.】

After this countdown, there was no opening statement, and no teleportation occurred, but the elevator started moving.

【Loading complete. You are currently participating in the Apex Contenders' War.】

【This mode provides a script introduction, with no side hidden missions or special worldviews.】

【Script Victory Reward: ???】

【The script introduction will now be played. The game will start immediately after the playback.】

The elevator under his feet was still moving, and the script introduction was inserted just like that:

【Spiritual clouds gather, nine fiends descend, a bloody rain pours as the demon lord arrives.】

【The threads of time and karma in his palm, who judges good and evil in all realms?】

"Hey, hey, hey... are they starting with a poem... putting aside the level of skill, why do these few lines make me think of bad things..."

【This place was originally a modern, bustling metropolis, just like all the world's top-tier cities today, with towering buildings, heavy traffic, overloaded population, and polluted air quality...】

【Until one night, the sun went down, but never rose again. The hazy moonlight, appearing and disappearing behind wandering clouds, illuminated this desolate, dead city.】

"Hey! These two sentences sound familiar! I feel like I've heard them somewhere!"

【A fallen one named Samodiel invaded this city, slaughtering all the humans within. It erased this place from the river of time, making it a sub-dimensional space adrift from the fixed space.】

【The Lord of Time discovered Samodiel's actions and immediately imprisoned him.】

【But... this land can no longer be restored to its original state.】

【The twisted space-time constantly releases enormous energy. The restless spirits wander everywhere in the city, and the land polluted by curses has spawned countless sinful creatures... They devour each other, kill each other, regenerate... over and over again, without end.】

【Many years later... the Lord of the Chaotic Wasteland glimpsed this land he had not yet touched through a crack in a demon gate.】

【The King of the Necropolis discovered his subjects here.】

【And the Lord of Time, as the master of the River of Order and Samodiel's former master, has long regarded this place as his jurisdiction.】

【The Court of Truth, as the adjudicator of all things... is also observing in the shadows, ready to make its move.】

This script introduction ended here.

The next second, the elevator stopped. Whether Feng Bujue wanted to or not, the door opened on its own...

Jue-ge's current location appeared to be inside a large building. A long, long time ago, this place's decor might have been considered pretty good. But now, the four walls and the floor no longer showed their original colors and materials. Everything was covered in a layer of gray grime, mixed with a bit of brown...

The floor tiles and walls were also covered in many fine cracks. Looking closely, one could see substances that looked like blood vessels in these cracks... and these substances were clearly wriggling.

Piles of black corpses could be seen everywhere on the floor and in the corners of the walls. Most of them were just skeletons, with only a few remaining with things resembling internal organs. No matter how you looked at them... these didn't look like human bones. Not to mention the color, the key was that the number and structure of the bones were wrong... The skulls of these corpses were quite similar to those of humans, except that some had horns on their heads, some had no nostrils, and some had fangs...

In short, the map environment of this script was enough to make most people shudder. Of course, Feng Bujue wouldn't have that feeling, he would at most feel a little nauseous.

Speaking of nausea... another thing had to be mentioned. When the elevator door opened, a disgusting smell wafted over.

Even though Jue-ge quickly covered his nose, it was a bit too late, "Holy crap... this is too much... is this the stench of a civet that grew up eating durian committing suicide after swallowing feces?"

He complained as he walked out of the elevator.

The moment he stepped out the door, a system prompt sounded: 【Main Quest Triggered】

Feng Bujue opened the game menu to observe. He had originally thought he would see the task [Become the only surviving player in the script]. Because the rules of this match were basically the same as the free-for-all in the Cloak Contest. The only difference was that the number of people had changed from six to fifty...

However, to Jue-ge's surprise, this time the mission was actually: 【Kill other players to earn points】

The word "points" was also highlighted. When he moved his attention there, an annotation window popped up in the menu, containing the details of the mission: 【For each other player you kill, you will receive two points; killing a seed player will earn you three points; the points for kills completed by multiple players working together (the killed can be one or more) will be allocated by the system at its discretion; kills completed with the help of forces in this world will earn one point. When only the last two players remain in the script, killing the opponent by any means will earn five points.】

And below this annotation, there was another, simpler rule: 【When only one player remains in the script, the Apex Contenders' War will end, and the system will announce the scores, resulting in the final rankings.】