Chapter 1 Should We Check Out the Town First?

"Should we check out the town first?" Ye Zhi said after reading the task details. "So far, there haven't been any restrictions on players' freedom of movement, nor have there been any time constraints. Theoretically... we could find a place away from this mountain to hide until dawn, and then find some heavy machinery or explosives to go back up the mountain and physically destroy the well."

Ye Zhi was assigned to practice her medical specialization by the studio not because she was a female player and her superiors had stereotypes, but because she, like Feng Bujue, was also a gamer who took the puzzle-solving route.

Among the three members of Order, Ye Zhi was responsible for devising strategies and providing combat support, Yongzhe Wudi was mainly responsible for the combat portion, and Meng Jingchan, as one of the studio's top players, could be regarded as the captain of this small team; his orders were crucial in critical moments.

It can be said that this combination of three people, even if they encounter the worst teammates, can still clear a four- or five-person scenario with their own strength. The so-called experts and top guilds must have this kind of strength and confidence.

"We're in a non-sleep mode scenario, so that kind of strategy of dragging it out until dawn, if really implemented... might be judged by the system as the entire team being passively engaged in the game." Feng Bujue said after a moment of thought, offering a correction. "However, I think it would be beneficial to go take a look at the town first. One, we can gather information, and two, we can search for items."

Ye Zhi glanced at him, thinking, "Passive gameplay, huh... I overlooked that factor." She then said, "In any case... let's scout the town first. Does anyone have any objections?"

"I agree," Feng Bujue replied.

Yongzhe Wudi nodded. Meng Jingchan, standing to the side, was smoking and drinking, so he probably didn't have any objections.

Copernicus and Galileo exchanged glances before saying, "Okay, let's go check out the town first. But I don't think we should linger for too long, since that would be going against the main quest." What he meant was, since the majority of you have reached an agreement, we don't need to object, but we still think we should go up the mountain sooner and follow the quest.

Feng Bujue quietly observed Copernicus and Galileo's every word and action, trying to find something out. Until he figured out whether these two guys were GMs or not, Feng Bujue would definitely continue to feel uncomfortable. What he couldn't stand the most was a puzzle placed right in front of him that he couldn't solve. But he couldn't directly ask, "Hey, are you two game administrators? Are there derivatives in this scenario?" Even if they were really GMs, they wouldn't admit it if he asked them that way. If they weren't, it could cause a lot of unnecessary trouble.

After the six people discussed it, they changed direction and headed towards the town along the road. But after walking for less than ten minutes, they realized the problem... the distance between the town and the mountain was much farther than they had imagined.

The edge of the town was a large expanse of fields, with only scattered houses. It was night, and the moon was in the sky, but the moonlight wasn't very bright. The road the players were walking on had utility poles and streetlights, although there weren't many streetlights, at least there was a little light every so often. The fields on both sides of the road were dark. There was even a bus stop on this road, but the sign showed that only two buses a day passed by.

In the far distance at the end of the road, they could see the lights of the city, which was Cherry Fruit Town.

Although the distant view in the opening CG showed that the mountain was next to Cherry Fruit Town, after actually walking for a while, the players gradually adapted to the sense of distance in the darkness. They quickly realized that the road was probably around ten kilometers, or even more. To actually enter the urban area of Cherry Fruit Town, even at a steady, brisk pace, it would take at least an hour, unless they ran to shorten the time.

"Well... it seems our strategy was a miscalculation," Feng Bujue said, stopping his steps. The others knew what he was referring to and also stopped. "I'm afraid that if we continue walking like this, before we even get close to the edge of town, we'll be judged as being far from the mission objective and passively engaged in the game. Heh... then we'd have to turn back towards the mountain to解除消极游戏状态 (jiechu xiaoji youxi zhuangtai, lift the passive game state), so this round trip would be equivalent to wasting stamina."

"Ah... as expected, it's useless to try to be clever at the beginning of the scenario," Meng Jingchan always spoke in a tone of感慨 (gan kai, lament), while blowing smoke rings...

"Sorry, this is all my fault," Ye Zhi admitted frankly. "I made everyone run for nothing. Let's go back while we haven't gone too far."

"No, it's not running for nothing," Feng Bujue denied. "If heading in this direction was completely futile and going in the opposite direction, the system should have already given a warning about passive gameplay." He paused for a moment, his tone even more firm as he said, "There's only one road at the starting point of this scenario. We have two choices: first, enter the mountain; second, follow the road towards the town. Judging from the distance, the system doesn't intend for us to reach Cherry Fruit Town, but this route obviously has something to do with the plot, so we haven't been judged as passively engaged in the game yet."

At this moment, Galileo looked at Feng Bujue with an unusual expression. He didn't make any big movements, nor did he turn his head, he just cast his gaze over. Feng Bujue had been paying attention to him and his companion, so Galileo's action was completely seen by Feng Bujue.

At this moment, Feng Bujue was absolutely calm and extremely cautious. He wouldn't make accidental eye contact with the other party. He only used the corner of his eye to observe the two suspected GMs, while still talking, his gaze unfocused, as if thinking absentmindedly.

At this moment, within this team of six, an 暗战 (an zhan, undeclared war) beyond the scenario's content had already begun. For Feng Bujue, the most direct way to confirm whether there were derivatives in this scenario as quickly as possible was to first figure out whether the two teammates beside him were GMs. Only when he was 100% sure that the other party was an administrator would it be convenient to say a lot of things.

A few seconds later, Galileo said something in a low voice to Copernicus. Then, Copernicus suddenly spoke to the crowd, "Little Feng is right, I've already seen it." He raised his arm and pointed to the front of the road. "There's definitely a large building outline less than a kilometer ahead."

Yongzhe Wudi replied, "Oh? How come I can't see it?" He squinted his eyes, as if this would allow him to see farther.

"I'm a scouting specialist, so in the absence of obstacles, as long as there's a little bit of light, I can see farther than the average person," Copernicus explained.

Feng Bujue snapped his fingers. "Very good, that place you saw probably has some fLAgs that can be triggered." He said in an excited tone, "It's like those very cunning horizontal-scrolling games, where you always rush to the right, but there's a reward hidden in a section to the left of the starting point of a certain level."

"I hope so..." Copernicus replied, but his tone sounded weak for some reason.