Chapter 1 When Worlds Collide

When Ruoyu and An Yueqin entered the conference room, Feng Bujue had already been waiting at the conference table for a while.

"Hi~ You two are pretty early today." Jue Ge waved his hand, greeting them.

"Sleeping early is good for the skin," An Yueqin replied.

"And logging off early is good for sleep quality," Ruoyu added.

"Okay..." Feng Bujue shrugged, not continuing the topic.

Two seconds later, Ruoyu spoke again, "Oh, right, Xiao Ling asked me to pass on a message... she and Xiao Tan probably won't be online tonight, so we don't have to wait for them."

"Oh? Is that so?" Feng Bujue's expression changed slightly, raising an eyebrow with a smile, "That kid Xiao Tan didn't even tell me... looks like... something's gonna happen..."

"The actual situation is clearly different from what you imagine." Ruoyu looked at Jue Ge's evil expression and said coldly, "...but I can't be bothered to explain it to you." She simply changed the subject, "Anyway, let's exchange character data and prepare to depart."

...

[Feng Bujue, Level 48]

[Si Yu Ruo Li, Level 46]

[Shi Shang Hua Jian, Level 39]

[Please select the game mode that the team will join.]

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

[Confirmed, the random value for the number of team members has been generated: five.]

[Your team has entered the queue, searching for other ready individuals or teams.]

[Match complete, coordinating neural connections, scenario generation in progress...]

The system prompts appeared one after another. When the word "generation" sounded, Feng Bujue's eyes flashed with white light, and his body was transformed into data and transmitted out.

"Welcome to, Thrill..."

An anomaly occurred at this moment...

For some reason, that classic opening line was interrupted, replaced by a noisy, strange sound.

"What's going on..." Feng Bujue thought, "Some kind of scare tactic?"

[Loading completed.] Immediately afterward, another system prompt sounded.

A mere five words, no mode description, no list of completion rewards, and no scenario introduction...

As soon as the words fell, Feng Bujue regained his ability to move.

"Ho... this is new." Feng Bujue observed the surrounding environment while muttering, "I can understand not having a scenario introduction, it's just to limit the amount of information players get at the start. But... not even writing out the completion rewards, what's that about..."

At this moment, Jue Ge was alone on a plain. The scorching sun was overhead, indicating it was noon.

Looking around, the scenery was similar in every direction—rolling mountains could be seen in the distant haze, but it was impossible to tell how far away they were by sight.

"Well... judging from the situation, I won't encounter any danger in the short term..." Feng Bujue glanced around, then opened the game menu, preparing to see who his two random teammates were.

He was stunned when he saw it...

"Hey hey... what exactly is going on..." Jue Ge couldn't help but say.

His surprise didn't come from the IDs in the team column; he was surprised that... the team column had turned into a shadow, and he couldn't see anything.

"Something's wrong..." Feng Bujue's expression gradually became serious, "Unclear introduction, unclear mission, unclear rewards... even the status of teammates is unclear..."

"There are many things you don't understand."

Suddenly, a woman's voice sounded from behind Jue Ge, picking up his words.

"Hmm?" Jue Ge was slightly startled, turning around at the sound.

He didn't ask questions like "Who is it?" because he knew very well that whoever came was definitely not an ordinary person.

A few dozen seconds ago, Feng Bujue had just scanned the surroundings. Not to mention people, there wasn't even a dog...

In this flat, open area, with no cover, under this scorching sun, with no place to hide, there was a sudden voice, so close at hand, that the person must be problematic... Initial judgment, this person can either be invisible, teleport, or fly and use the art of transmutation.

"Oh~ it's you." The moment he turned around and saw the "person," Feng Bujue suddenly relaxed, as if all the doubts that had been troubling him had disappeared in that second.

At this moment, standing behind Feng Bujue was a beauty dressed in ancient costume. Her beauty was flawless, both her face and figure gave a perfect feeling close to "unreal," like a beauty in a painting, untouchable.

"What? You don't need 'Data Vision' and you can still recognize me?" Seeing that Jue Ge recognized her at a glance, Ruth immediately showed a look of doubt.

"I've seen you in this form once before, remember?" Feng Bujue replied with a smile.

"But I was different then," Ruth replied.

"Right, more clothes," Feng Bujue answered, "Changed your hairstyle..." He shrugged, "Can we get to the point?"

"This is a sandbox." Ruth, as a Derivative, spoke so freely, getting straight to the point, "I built it temporarily." She paused, pointing in a direction, "We can save some time if we talk while walking."

"Okay." Feng Bujue responded and followed along.

"Not long after your last visit to the Inner World, something major happened here." Ruth said as she walked, "After this period of time, the impact of 'that event' has continued to expand, and it has reached the point where emergency measures must be taken."

"So..." Feng Bujue continued in a questioning tone, "You pulled me into this sandbox?"

"Yes." Ruth nodded, "I've been trying to contact you, but it's very difficult. Finally... I found an opportunity this time..." She explained, "The sandbox we are in at the moment is structurally unstable, and you should have noticed that even the 'system prompts' haven't been simulated."

"You copied it before the entire 'scenario generation' was completed, right?" Feng Bujue asked.

"No, my method is a bit more complicated than that," Ruth replied, "I won't explain the technical details to you, you just need to know that this sandbox won't exist for too long... Also, we don't need to stay here for too long." She turned to look at Jue Ge, "You can think of this place as a passage."

"Passage?" Feng Bujue repeated, then asked, "From where... to where?"

"From the data layer where the scenario is located, to a special place in the Inner World." Ruth's eyes changed slightly when she said this, "To be precise... to the Pi Maze."