Chapter 1 The Beginning

The opening CG ended so abruptly, without even a single word of explanation.

Feng Bujue immediately gained the ability to move, and the first thing he did, naturally, was to observe his surroundings.

At this time, the other three players had appeared on either side of Feng Bujue (one on his left, two on his right, all four facing the same direction, standing in a row). The three of them were all male, and all in their twenties.

The distance between the four players was almost uniform, none of them touching each other, it seemed these four had all entered the game solo.

About ten meters in front of them was the building from the CG.

[Main Quest Triggered] The system prompt arrived as expected.

In the absence of any plot summary, the quest was updated immediately.

Feng Bujue opened the menu and saw in the quest log: [All surviving players must enter the "Reasoning Club."]

"Ha! I didn't expect that just randomly queuing up solo, I'd run into some celebrity players." The player standing on the far left of the four suddenly spoke.

Feng Bujue turned his gaze at the sound...

This fine fellow's ID was Qiufeng Se, level 28, title [Wise and Courageous]. He was a little over 1.7 meters tall, on the thin side, with short black hair, and fairly handsome features. He was wearing a dark black outfit, and the badge on his chest showed that his guild was called "Shanhe".

After Qiufeng Se said that, the player to Feng Bujue's right immediately followed up, "Heh heh... celebrity players, what a joke, just a false reputation. It's Shanhe's Qiufeng Se who is famous."

Feng Bujue turned his gaze to this person as well.

This person's ID was Honghu (the two-character nickname already spoke volumes), level 29, title [Master Strategist]. He was slightly taller than Qiufeng Se, also slender, with medium-length silver-white hair, and wearing glasses, looking like a refined scholar. He was wearing a white, magical-style outfit, like a medieval wizard, with no guild badge on his clothes, indicating that he was an independent player without a guild.

As soon as Honghu finished speaking, the one on the far right chimed in, "Brother Honghu, you're too modest... Who in the pro scene doesn't know the name of the 'Strategist' Honghu?"

Feng Bujue turned his head and looked at that person.

This fellow was called Yuzhong Jichang, level 28, title [Steady Tactician], half a head taller than Jue-ge, slightly stockier than the previous two, with a buzz cut, and the kind of face that would disappear in a crowd. As for clothing, he was wearing a dark blue custom military uniform, probably his guild's uniform, with the guild badge reading "Tiandi".

"Heh heh... when I said 'celebrity players,' I wasn't just referring to Honghu," Qiufeng Se interjected at this moment. "I've also heard of Brother Jichang's great name."

"Humph..." The three of them grinned knowingly, enjoying the pleasure of mutual flattery.

This was the feel of the world!

Feng Bujue listened to their conversation, looking left and right, feeling like a web novelist who had wandered into a writers' association seminar, not knowing how to even start a conversation...

Feng Bujue did have some impression of the names of the two guilds, "Shanhe" and "Tiandi", as they both hovered around the top ten in the overall strength rankings. But he had never actually seen the names of these three players before.

After all, Feng Bujue wasn't hanging around in professional gaming circles. Although he now knew the names of some big shots, his circle of acquaintances was still very limited. It was like those fake soccer fans: you mention Messi, Ronaldo, or Van Persie, and they know who you're talking about, but if you mention a name like "Alba," the first thing that pops into their heads is definitely a Hollywood actress, not a Spanish left back.

Getting back to the point, the three people Feng Bujue had encountered at this moment were, without exception, professional players, and indeed well-known figures, just not ones who had made it onto the level and combat power rankings in Thriller Paradise.

The most famous of them was Honghu, known as "Strategist". This nickname didn't come about after playing Thriller Paradise; Honghu had already established his "place in the martial world" several years ago. In many real-time strategy, turn-based strategy, and virtual epic strategy games, he was among the top players.

Moreover, Honghu was an independent professional player, without any studio sponsorship or resource sharing, relying entirely on his own abilities to make a living. It was said that his family's circumstances were quite ordinary when he was young, but by the time he was eighteen, he had lifted himself out of poverty with the money he earned from playing games.

Including Zhao Yingwang, almost every professional player who made their living independently knew Honghu's name, and many had even entered the industry because of his story.

Then there was Qiufeng Se, who could be considered the brains of "Shanhe," and also a friend of the studio owner. He also held other positions in the company, and generally didn't directly participate in games, but any game he had participated in had invariably achieved championship-level success.

Qiufeng Se's specialty was war-themed strategy games, especially modern warfare. He had even written a famous post on a Three Kingdoms-themed game forum: As modern people, when playing ancient war games, are we still supposed to use ancient strategic thinking?

The debate and flame wars sparked by that post had yet to cease, but what Qiufeng Se wanted to convey was actually a very simple principle: warfare concepts are constantly evolving with the times. Some people claimed that generals from World War I, or even the Liberation War, were worse at commanding than military advisors from the late Eastern Han Dynasty, which was complete nonsense.

The third, Yuzhong Jichang, was also quite the figure. He was a rare highly educated individual among professional players (as the professional system became more and more mature, players became a profession similar to athletes, and due to the industry's particularities, the age of entrants was generally quite young, usually between 14 and 18 years old, with the youngest being 12 years old, so professional players were generally of junior high or high school education). He was an overseas student at a prestigious university in Europe, and during his time studying abroad, he had even won the intercontinental Magic: The Gathering tournament.

Age-wise, Yuzhong Jichang was twenty-five years old this year, a few years older than the other two, but in terms of experience as a professional player, he was still a newcomer who had only been in the industry for two years. However, this newcomer quickly made a name for himself in the circle with several high-profile game "championships", becoming a well-known tactical player.

In short, these were all... experts.

After the three of them exchanged greetings with mutual appreciation, there was a brief silence. Then, they all turned their gazes to Feng Bujue in unison.

"Well... I'm just a loser, nobody, don't pay too much attention to me." Feng Bujue said with a squint, although he didn't know who these three guys were at all, listening to their conversation, they seemed pretty awesome...

Thus, another silence began...

After a few seconds, Yuzhong Jichang spoke first, "Uh... this... Brother Feng, you don't need to be so self-deprecating. Since we're a team, everyone can play a role."

Honghu pushed up his glasses and interjected, "Brother Feng, can I ask, are you the kind of player who uses force, or do you lean towards puzzle-solving?" He paused. "Because your title is a bit ambiguous, so I wanted to confirm."

"I'm a casual player," Feng Bujue replied, "the kind who's weak at fighting and pretty average at puzzle-solving."

That was obviously bullshit...

Of course, Feng Bujue had no grudges or conflicts of interest with these guys, so he wasn't saying this to "play dumb to catch the tiger." In fact, after learning the names of these guys, he was overjoyed.

In the past, the teams he encountered basically relied on Feng Bujue for strategy and planning. This time, he had finally encountered three tactical players (the kind you could tell from their titles), and they all seemed to be proud and enjoying it. This "nobody" Jue-ge could just go along with it, letting others take the lead for once, while he relaxed and just played a supporting role.

"Is that so... that's strange..." Honghu said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Oh? Is there a problem?" Qiufeng Se asked, while also pondering what the "strange" he was referring to was.

"This scenario has no introduction, it just throws a quest at us directly," Honghu replied. "It has a sense of... 'we're leaving everything for you to solve yourselves.'" At this point, the focus of his gaze changed slightly, he must be looking at the game menu, "And the 'Reasoning Club' that the quest refers to seems to imply something as well."

"I see..." Yuzhong Jichang continued, "Qiufeng, Honghu, and I are all players who lean more towards tactics. If the setting of this scenario is 'purely relying on puzzle-solving ability to clear the level,' then all four of us should logically be tactical players..."

At this point, the three of them all looked at Feng Bujue again.

"Okay, if I have to choose one side... compared to combat, I lean more towards puzzle-solving." Feng Bujue said a little awkwardly. Actually, he didn't have to admit it, but he was worried that incorrect information would affect his teammates' judgment of the entire scenario, so he still admitted it. But he didn't forget to add at the end, "But don't have too high expectations of me... I'm at most just an average person. For real problems, we'll still have to rely on you three experts."

"Heh heh... Brother Feng is too kind," Qiufeng Se said. "For puzzle-solving, one more person can't hurt, it's all about brainstorming, you know?"

Although he said that, none of the three of them really took Feng Bujue seriously. The three of them were all thinking in their hearts: If it's a pure puzzle scenario, I can handle it myself, you just watch me perform.

It couldn't be said that this mentality of theirs was arrogance... because the "strategist" group had always been like this. As smart people, and the kind of smart people who could get things right nine times out of ten, at crucial moments, the only people they trusted deep down were themselves.

Oh, right, it should be noted here that Feng Bujue couldn't be counted in that group. He was just purely arrogant and narcissistic, and beyond saving.

"Hmm... a scenario set up for four puzzle-solving players..." Honghu said, the corners of his mouth curving slightly, "Interesting..."

"From the moment we entered the scenario, the amount of information we could obtain was minimized," Jichang followed up. "What kind of challenges will we experience next..."

Qiufeng Se also smiled in a similar serious, chuuni tone, "I'll use my military strategies to resolve them all!"

Finally, Feng Bujue said weakly after them, "I support you spiritually..."