Chapter 1
The light inside the police station flickered on after only a minute of waiting.

The group exchanged confused glances. A few dozen seconds later, Feng Bujue emerged from the same spot as before. "I found the switch for the backup power. This police station seems to have its own independent power supply."

This was undoubtedly good news. The five of them immediately filed into the police station through the hole in the wall.

Fully illuminated, the scene inside was quite horrifying. Except for the ceiling, which hadn't suffered much damage, almost all movable objects—desks, chairs, benches, computers, files, water dispensers, and so on—were out of place. There were also many things that looked like door panel fragments and over a dozen broken door frames. The most debris was piled behind the main entrance of the police station, making it impossible to open from the outside, even with a key.

There were a total of three police corpses on the first floor. The first body that Feng Bujue found was closest to the entrance. Searching deeper, they found two more in uniform, both white men. The second corpse was obese, with a gaping wound on the side of his round belly… The third corpse was of average build, with a gash on his left shoulder that severed his collarbone and extended to his left chest. His heart was missing from the chest cavity…

The game's fidelity in reproducing these disgusting sights was extremely high, but the system suppressed the players' urge to vomit, mainly by making slight adjustments to the sense of smell and taste during neural connection transmission, preventing players' stomachs from feeling too uncomfortable.

Wang Tanzhi, on the other hand, didn't mind at all; he had dissected many corpses in real life. Of course, this had nothing to do with courage; he was simply used to it. As long as the corpse wasn't moving, it didn't matter if it was gutted or not; he wasn't afraid. But he was afraid of everything else—ghosts, spirits, demons, and even the dark. His reaction when watching horror movies or playing horror games was similar to that of a girl.

Speaking of which, a woman’s reaction when watching a horror movie may be huge, but that doesn't mean they are timid. It's a scam, maybe they are afraid sometimes in real life, but watching horror movies is another matter... For example, a young couple watching a horror movie together, the man often puts on an indifferent expression, while the woman looks timid, one occasionally makes fun of the other in a lighthearted manner, the other screams from time to time. This happens every day, and in most cases, the man is pretending to be brave, and the woman is pretending to be cute. In fact, the two are about equally scared of horror movies, there isn't that much of a difference.

But I have to say, a man who doesn't pretend to be brave is not cute, and a woman who doesn't pretend to be cute is too brave, the world needs to operate like this, please keep up the good work.

Getting back to the point, let's talk about those three corpses. The one Feng Bujue had already searched naturally had no more items to be found. The one with the opened belly had a police baton and a pair of handcuffs on him. Upon picking them up, it was discovered the handcuffs were broken, and no key for them could be found on his person.

Feng Bujue gave the baton to Lonely. Although it was a common-quality item, it had no equipment restrictions, and it was, after all, a dedicated weapon, which made the Lonely Brother, who had been empty-handed until now, very satisfied.

The third corpse was in a very small cubicle, a place seemingly for cleaning supplies. He had nothing on him, absolutely nothing. Just as Feng Bujue was trying to strip him naked to see if he had a tattoo or three moles on the soles of his feet, Wang Tanzhi finally found a piece of paper in his pocket.

This obvious puzzle element could not be missed, of course.

[Name: Note with Numbers]

[Type: Story Related]

[Quality: Common]

[Function: Unknown]

[Can be brought out of this script: No]

[Remarks: 69185]

There was nothing on the note except these five Arabic numerals. Feng Bujue looked at the item description for a few seconds and threw the paper away.

"Hey! Brother Jue, is it okay to throw it away like that?" Wang Tanzhi asked.

Feng Bujue took out the bunch of keys he had picked up earlier and examined them one by one. "69185...69185... Found it." He picked out the key with these five numbers engraved on the end, removed it from the bunch, and then threw the entire bunch of keys away, leaving only this one. "Hmm... that's right, this is it."

When the key was picked out and held separately in his hand, a new item prompt appeared in the menu:

[Name: Fire Key]

[Type: Story Related]

[Quality: Fine]

[Function: Used on the Fire Seal]

[Can be brought out of this script: No]

[Remarks: A key with magical energy, one of the five keys to the Demon Gate]

"This should be a story item required for the main quest," Feng Bujue said. "Even if we don't come into this police station now, we'll still have a follow-up quest that brings us here after we get to the Demon Gate."

"Great, doesn't that save us time?" Wang Tanzhi said.

"Time..." Feng Bujue said, "Hmph... never mind. The item's remarks say that there are five keys in total. According to this Zelda-style,坑爹 (kēng diē,坑parent) routine... I estimate that after we get to the Demon Gate, the follow-up quest will be to find all five keys, and then open or close the gate."

Long Aomin walked over from the other end of the corridor at this time and said, "The stairs to the second floor are completely destroyed. It looks like we can't go up."

"As expected..." Feng Bujue handed him the key and let him look at the stats. "The thing we're looking for is on the first floor."

Lonely and Silence seemed to have found something at this time. They found a first-aid kit in a pile of junk in a certain room and brought it over.

When opened, it contained a roll of bandages and two bottles of transparent liquid. These were naturally consumables. The bandage's effect was to stop bleeding, and the two bottles of liquid were the standard survival value recovery potions provided by Thriller Paradise.

[Name: Survival Value Supplement (Large) *2]

[Type: Consumable]

[Quality: Common]

[Function: Restores 100% of the player's survival value]

[Can be brought out of this script: Yes]

[Remarks: The maximum stack size is 5. Continuous use of this item will gradually weaken the effect]

Feng Bujue understood as soon as he saw this remark. The maximum stack size was obviously to limit the number of items players could carry, because there were only ten slots in the knapsack, and even if there were more in the future, there would still need to be room for equipment and other items. The setting of diminishing effects with continuous use was to prevent players from over-relying on this supplement during combat.

"Very good... if one bottle is 100%..." Feng Bujue took out his [Disposable Syringe], handed it to Wang Tanzhi, and said, "Doctor, I'll leave this to you."

Wang Tanzhi was also a smart person and immediately understood Feng Bujue's meaning. He picked up a bottle of supplement and extracted about four-fifths of it, then motioned for Long Aomin to roll up his sleeves.

While Doctor Wang was giving him the injection, Long Aomin handed the key back to Feng Bujue and said, "What does 69185 on this mean?"

Feng Bujue replied, "A simple puzzle, just the order of the alphabet: 6f, 9i, 18r, 5e, fire."

Although it sounded simple when explained, Long Aomin felt that he might not have thought of it himself.

Wang Tanzhi completed the injection cleanly. The amount he extracted was quite accurate. This injection restored 83% of Long Aomin's survival value, bringing it back to 95%.

Wang Tanzhi first asked Lonely and Silence if they had lost any survival value, and when both said they were at full health, Wang Tanzhi unceremoniously picked up the bottle and drank it in one gulp, restoring his survival value to 100%.

Perhaps some would ask, why didn't the two of them just drink it, taking a sip each? The reason is... as long as the player makes the "drink" action, the item instantly disappears.

As the most common "health potion," supplements will be one of the main items sold in the game store in the future. Unlike the realistic-style items in the script, this is completely a system prop setting. As long as the player makes the "drinking" action, even if they just raise it to their mouth and pour it in randomly, it will be considered completely drunk. There won't even be the sensation of liquid flowing through the throat, and even the bottle will immediately disappear. This thing was originally designed for "use," not for quenching thirst or creating a feeling of fullness, so it had to be set up this way.

That disposable syringe could be said to have exploited a loophole, and only Feng Bujue, who had thoroughly read the game instructions, could have thought of it. Wang Tanzhi and Long Aomin hadn't fully grasped the concept yet. They were just doing what Feng Bujue said without thinking, and it wasn't until after this script ended that they understood the reason when they looked at the supplement's related instructions.

From the system's perspective, not only was this not considered a bug, but Wang Tanzhi should also be rewarded with some skill points. Because that [Disposable Syringe] would disappear after one use, the player split another item indirectly by consuming one item. There was give and take, gains and losses, so nothing was created from nothing.

"One baton, one pistol, one story item for the main quest, and two bottles of blood and an item to remove the 'bleeding' status..." Feng Bujue did the math. "After completing the main quest and killing the blood corpse, you might indeed have 'bleeding' wounds, and the survival value supplement is also necessary. Not to mention the story item... Killing such a monster and only getting two weapons seems like too little..."

Feng Bujue lowered his head, crossed his arms, propped his right elbow on his left hand, and tapped his forehead with two fingers. "I was really hoping to find a room like an armory or a pile of confiscated marijuana..."

"Hey! What are you holding back for? Virtual drug experiences are strictly prohibited!" Wang Tanzhi said.

"That's right!" Feng Bujue's eyes lit up. "That fat guy's intestines were spilling out, how is his stomach still so big? There's something inside!"