Chapter 15 The Dream Team

After storing the Hero ID Card, Feng Bujue returned to the elevator. He stood before the display screen and once again brought up the mode selection interface.

"Hmm… what mode should I queue up for next…" Brother Jue muttered, looking at the screen.

The previous Free Exploration Mode was relatively easy and pleasant overall, but the rewards were quite meager… therefore… Brother Jue was about to start feeling restless again.

"Hmph… might as well go for the most difficult one, to invigorate myself." Feng Bujue muttered as he clicked on a mode he had never cleared before.

[Feng Bujue, Level 43]

[Please select the game mode you wish to join.]

[You have selected Team Survival Mode (Nightmare), please confirm.]

[Confirmed, the random value for the team size has been generated: Five players.]

[You have entered the queue, searching for other ready individuals or teams.]

[Match complete, coordinating neural connection, scenario generating…]

[Loading begins, please wait.]

"Welcome to Thriller Paradise." A sweet, female voice announced.

Before the voice faded, Feng Bujue's surroundings turned pitch black, and he lost all sense of his body.

[Loading complete, you are currently in Team Survival Mode (Nightmare).]

[This mode provides a scenario introduction and has a chance of spawning side quests, hidden missions, and a special worldview.]

[Scenario Completion Reward: Puzzle Card*3.]

[Scenario introduction will begin shortly, the game will start immediately after the introduction is finished.]

The next second, an opening CG seamlessly began, a haze of pale purple entering view.

[Here, is the end of the world, the border of Hell.]

A voice sounded, and the haze dissipated…

Visible in the night sky was a blood-red moon hanging high; below the image was a dark and silent ocean.

Brother Jue, viewing the CG in first-person perspective, seemed to be floating high in the sky, overlooking this rather desolate scene.

[Here, is a land of exile.]

At this moment, a shadow faintly appeared on the distant horizon.

[The beings exiled here were once incredibly noble. They toiled under the banners of light and order, receiving respect and worship.]

[But, they fell.]

[Innate evil is the choice of the universe; while corruption… is their own choice.]

[This is intolerable to the deities who believe in order, so those fallen beings suffered the harshest punishments…]

As the narration continued, the picture moved forward, the outline of the distant shadow gradually becoming clearer… it was an enormous island. If the camera hadn't started its advance from a very distant location, viewers of the CG might easily have thought they were looking at a continent rather than an island.

[Chew Demon Island, filled with pain and absurdity, hatred and madness.]

"Hmm… the name of this island sounds familiar…" Feng Bujue was starting to feel uneasy, "If I remember correctly, Samodier was exiled here…"

[The only two ways to leave this place are…]

Suddenly, the scenario introduction was interrupted.

A familiar voice evilly continued, [Feng Bujue! I said… one day you will pay the price, that day… has finally come!]

"Huh?" Brother Jue was stunned, "Hey hey… I haven't even officially started the game and I'm already being targeted? And they even interrupted the crucial hints! What exactly are the ways to leave here?"

Although he really wanted to know the answer, the system voice would not sound again…

In fact, the "interruption of narration" was merely a dramatic effect created by the system… the hints had already ended there. Those two methods were something the players needed to find out for themselves.

"Sigh… this time, the prospects for clearing the game seem even more remote than before." Feng Bujue sighed.

At that moment, the scene before him changed abruptly, and his body regained the ability to move.

"Ah!"

"Ah?"

"Ah~"

"Ah…"

Four different voices uttered four different "Ahs," judging from the tones… these four cries contained surprise, doubt, displeasure, and exasperation…

On the beach, five players stood in a circle, looking at each other. Other than Feng Bujue, the other four let out an "Ah" when they saw the faces of the other players.

Feng Bujue's gaze swept over his four teammates, and an extremely ominous premonition instantly arose in his heart… because the roster for this scenario was actually: [Feng Bujue] [Honghu] [Tianma Xingkong] [Feichai Shu] [Atobe-shao ye].

"Hmm… discounting Jin Fugui, the strength of this lineup is actually quite strong…" Brother Jue steadied himself, thinking, "With this setup… it's not impossible to take down Samodier."

"Heh heh… this is going to be bad." Uncle Feichai chuckled first, taking out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and lighting one for himself, "According to the settings… the scenario difficulty is generated based on the players' strength. What does it mean that we're all together… you all know, right?"

Feng Bujue continued, "Yeah… if it were a normal difficulty, it would be fine, but this is a Nightmare difficulty team scenario. At this stage, this is undoubtedly the game's most difficult mode. Running into you all here, the subsequent difficulty… I'm afraid it'll be at the nethack level."

(nethack is a single-player adventure exploration game that was initially released in 1987. It has simple graphics, a crude user interface, and no music; the levels of enemies encountered by players are completely random, and once the protagonist and his teammates die, it's permanent, and you can only choose to start over. And death doesn't just come from enemies, there are many deaths without hints or signs, for example, you drink a bottle of unknown potion, you die; you put on a cursed piece of equipment, you die; you bump into a cute kitten, you die… Many times, your death doesn't need a reason at all, but it's full of wonderful fun.)

"How about I just force quit now and you can pretend I wasn't here…" Atobe looked at his teammates' basic information in the team column, and said half-jokingly.

His words were directly ignored by everyone…

Honghu looked at Brother Jue and said, "Brother Feng, can you explain… what was going on with the scenario introduction just now?"

"Eh? You guys heard it too?" Feng Bujue asked, puzzled, "I thought I was the only one who encountered that situation." He rubbed his chin, thoughtfully, "Hmm… everyone's introduction was interrupted… so that means, no one knows how to leave…"

"You've been muttering to yourself, conveniently avoiding my question, haven't you!" Honghu shouted with a look on his face like someone owed him money.

But two seconds later, he quickly calmed down, adjusted his glasses and continued, "Hmph… never mind, you don't need to answer, according to my deduction… you must have made an enemy of the Boss here in a previous scenario…" He sighed, "Alas… why am I not even surprised… as expected of the man hunted by the Court of Truth… if possible, I really want to hand you over to the Boss to collect the reward… I'd definitely get a Legendary equipment as a reward."

"Heh… haven't seen you in a few days, your trash-talking skills have improved." Feng Bujue replied with a smile.

"Hahahaha!" At this moment, a hearty laugh rang out, Tianma Xingkong still had that passionate expression, looking at everyone and saying, "You all look very energetic! Let's all clear the game happily together!"

"Where do you see that I look energetic…" Atobe muttered, his mouth twitching.

Honghu rubbed his forehead and shook his head, "I almost forgot… there's still a clown here."

"Oh! Yulong, you're here too!" Tianma Xingkong turned to look at Honghu, "Didn't recognize you just now."

"Your reaction time is a bit long!" Honghu roared, "My appearance is exactly the same as it was during the Peak Conquest Tournament! What are you even looking at to recognize me!"

"Hahaha…" Uncle Feichai laughed, "Everyone's familiar with each other, that's great."

"Hey hey… Uncle, I'm really not familiar with you guys…" Atobe lamented in his heart, "I was just bored and wanted to play the Nightmare difficulty, but I didn't dare to queue up for solo, so I tried this mode with a try-it-and-see attitude… if I had known I would run into you bunch of weirdos, I would have preferred to queue up for solo!"

"Yo! Jin Fugui, you're quite ambitious, you've already reached level forty and queued up for the Nightmare level Team Survival." Brother Jue looked at the changes in Atobe's expression and couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic, deciding to encourage him a bit.

"Th… that's of course!" Atobe tried his best to put on a confident expression, "This young master is the boss of Hyotei, after all!"

"Oh? You're the guild leader of Hyotei?" Uncle Feichai's gaze under his sunglasses shifted over, "Long time no see." He thought to himself: The man who can make the Difficult to Name Trio submit is definitely no ordinary person… although he looks a bit effeminate and didn't make it into the Peak Conquest Tournament, it can't be ruled out that he's hiding his true strength… even Feng Bujue took the initiative to greet him, which says a lot.

Just as these five were mutually roasting and joking, a system notification arrived…

[Main Quest has been triggered]

The five responded, each opening the game menu and summoning the quest bar, a quest appearing before their eyes: [Search Chew Demon Island, enter the "Shrine of Faith" within three hours, players who fail to enter the shrine within the time limit will be obliterated.]

That wasn't all, about ten seconds later, another very nasty prompt came, this time with text and voice appearing together, indicating it was very important…

[Important reminder: On Chew Demon Island, many uncomfortable physical sensations will be highly restored, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, etc… please find ways to alleviate them yourself. Ignoring the impact of these sensations may cause a sharp decline in various stats.]