Chapter 1 The Strange Space

The space before him was even narrower than a storage room, only slightly larger than an elevator. The ceiling was white, casting a soft, white light from above. The floor beneath his feet was a checkered pattern of black and white squares, resembling a chessboard. Most peculiar of all, except for the elevator door, all the surrounding walls were made of distorted mirrors like funhouse mirrors.

The numerous Feng Bujues reflected in the mirrors appeared bizarre and grotesque. Not only were their shapes distorted, but even the expressions on their faces and the auras around them seemed to be altered by these mirrors. Within these mirrors, one could see joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, greed, hatred, ignorance, and delusion... It was as if each distorted reflection in the mirrors represented a different emotion or desire.

"I thought it would be a large public space like the mall," Feng Bujue said to himself, his gaze already drawn to the only object in the room.

In the center of the room, on the floor, sat a large box—a large gift box, one meter square, with vibrant colors.

"So... if I open it, a clown with a spring for a lower body will suddenly jump out and startle me..." Feng Bujue shrugged and smiled as he walked closer.

Just then, a system prompt sounded: 【Before the Scare Box, you can open a specific menu to browse its merchandise.】

"Tch... so it's just for show." Feng Bujue opened the system menu, slightly disappointed.

The sheer number of items here was somewhat unexpected, totaling more than four thousand, and all of them were of Excellent quality or higher.

During the short two-day closed beta, with fifty hours of real time, the sleep mode server provided five hundred hours of game time, while the non-sleep mode provided one hundred hours, for a total virtual time of twenty-five days.

During this time, each randomly generated script contained one or two items that players could not take out, as well as countless pieces of Excellent-grade or higher equipment that existed within the scripts but were never discovered by players before the end.

These items, after certain attribute adjustments, could now all be found in the Scare Box.

The open beta had started at eight o'clock in the morning, and from that moment on, all the items in the Scare Box officially began their countdown to destruction. More than six hours had passed since then, and all items generated during the closed beta now displayed 【Remaining Time: 6 days, 17 hours, 38 minutes】. Many items generated after the open beta had also been added, counting down from the real-time node when the script ended.

Out of curiosity, Feng Bujue searched for the 【Blood Corpse Must Die】 he had used once before, and sure enough, he found the equipment, but its equipment requirements had obviously changed.

【Name: Blood Corpse Must Die】
【Type: Weapon】
【Quality: Excellent】
【Attack Power: Relatively Strong】
【Attribute: None】
【Special Effect: Can dissolve Blood Corpses when attacking】
【Equipment Requirements: Fighting Specialization D, Level 18】
【Remark: This sword is an early work of the legendary dwarven craftsman "Ol' All-Dead." A cunning goblin merchant bought the sword from Ol' for a few bottles of a beverage called "erguotou." Half a month later, Ol' created "Goblin Must Die."】

As a weapon with a strong, targeted special effect and relatively high attack power, these equipment requirements were quite reasonable. A level 18 player with a D in Fighting Specialization should be able to solo a Blood Corpse without too much trouble, regardless of their equipment. But with this sword, it becomes very simple, basically allowing for a damage-free kill.

The pricing of this weapon was very much in line with Feng Bujue's expectations for this type of low-level equipment, exactly 300 Skill Points. The slightly narcissistic guy couldn't help but indulge in a few seconds of self-admiration.

However, Feng Bujue wasn't planning on buying it. After all, it was a weapon specifically for countering a certain type of monster, and the odds of encountering a Blood Corpse in the various scripts were only one in ten at best. It would probably rot if he put it up for auction…

He adjusted the menu to sort by time and started browsing from the first page. Then… his bibliomania took over, making it impossible for him to tear himself away. The equipment here was of even higher quality than in the auction house, and you got what you paid for. He was afraid of missing something good.

The further down he scrolled, the more excited and surprised Feng Bujue became. Although 【Legendary】 grade equipment was temporarily nowhere to be found, there were a few pieces of equipment with 【Perfect】 quality. Of course, the price of several thousand Skill Points meant he could only feast his eyes. These items might only appear in cutscenes within the scripts, or even be held by the Bosses. At most, they would be like the 【Blood Corpse Must Die】, handed to the player and used only once before completing the level. But in the end, they would all come to the Scare Box, this "recycling station," awaiting their fate to be destroyed.

Therefore, it was possible that items like the Xuanyuan Sword or the Blades of Azzinoth could appear in the Scare Box. As long as players had enough Skill Points, they could buy them. As for whether they could equip them... that was another matter. Anyway, Skill Points couldn't be bought with money. The only way to get them was to earn them in the scripts using your combat skills or wits. Presumably, players who could possess a massive amount of Skill Points wouldn't be weaklings.

Feng Bujue stood there for a full hour, completely dispelling the idea of buying equipment here to sell for money. He thought to himself: Is the function of exchanging Skill Points for money in the Scare Box madness? The exchange rate given by the system is only 1:10, and it's a one-way exchange. What a rip-off! 1000 Skill Points can only be exchanged for 10,000 Game Coins, which is only five yuan in RMB. But can five yuan buy 1000 Skill Points? Even players who are level 50 with all skills above perfect and have Skill Points to spare wouldn't exchange for this money. They could completely use the extra Skill Points to buy equipment and put it up for auction. Who would use precious Skill Points to directly exchange for Game Coins?

Not only Feng Bujue, but many people had already complained about this setting on the forums that morning. Of course, this wasn't a big deal. The system didn't force players to make this exchange. If they thought it wasn't worth it, they didn't have to.

Dream Inc. had not yet responded, adopting an attitude of ignoring it. It wasn't until the second Monday of May, after more than a month and several exchange rate changes, that the mainstream player base was more familiar with market conditions and the prices in the auction house had basically stabilized. Only then did Dream Inc. change the Skill Points to money exchange rate.

At that time, the Thriller Paradise player base was roughly divided into three tiers: the upper echelon of strong players, the large middle-tier group, and the bottom tier, mainly composed of newbies and casual players.

The upper-tier players had generally reached level thirty or so, and their specialization orientations were very clear. Their equipment and skill combinations were already at an advanced level. They had their own set of strategies for the game and held titles corresponding to their strength. With their experience and ability, they could lead any mid-tier player team. Having such a player on the team, even if they didn't offer advice and only did their job, could have a huge impact.

Then there were the mid-tier players, the mainstream group in the game, ranging from blue-collar professional players to casual players with stable online times. Among them were some who had the potential to break into the upper tier, but their understanding of the game was a notch below the upper tier, so their character's strength, script completion rate, and so on were affected. These people were the "players" in the general sense. They could be amazing at times, and make mistakes at others. They complained about their teammates, and were complained about by their teammates. Most of them felt that they were pretty good, but couldn't figure out the difference between themselves and the top players. Over time, ordinary players would develop a mindset: the strongest people in the game are stronger because they have more money, or they just have more game time than me.

This idea does have some truth to it, but it's only part of the reason.

Feng Bujue had once analyzed what conditions the top players in a game with considerable skill requirements needed to possess, and finally listed seven:

Knowledge, strategy, luck, fighting spirit, willpower, courage, talent.

Although some of these are innate conditions and uncontrollable factors, that's reality. Games and sports are the same in many ways. Only talented people who work hard can become legends.

Finally, let's talk about the bottom-tier players. Three sentences can summarize them: One, newbies who haven't been in the game for long; two, casual players with unstable online times; three, people whose combat skills are only five.

This is the bottom tier, and their strength speaks for itself. The first two types of people may leave this tier after a period of time, but the third type is more helpless... Everyone has areas they're good at and areas they're not good at, and this principle naturally applies to games.

A month later, the structure of Thriller Paradise was roughly like this. I'm saying this in advance because there are two things I want to announce.

First, in late May, there will be a competition in the game. Because there are so many players, the qualification to participate in the preliminaries will require certain conditions, and the players in that last tier probably won't have a chance...

Second, after hearing this, you would naturally think that Feng Bujue must be in the top tier of players. But… no.

He belongs to the fourth type of player. The number of people in this category isn't enough to be called a "group." In a game with millions of registered users, there are only a few dozen such players. Their levels may not be the highest, but they are frequent visitors to the combat power rankings.

In that later competition... Dream Inc. simply canceled the qualification round for these people, directly assigning them to the finals, and they could also get a bye in the first few rounds. Although this was called a behind-the-scenes deal or unfair competition by many people who were emotionally unbalanced, Dream Inc. was actually protecting the majority of players in every sense of the word… It would be unfair competition if you were matched against them in the preliminary rounds or early stages of the finals.

…………

Back to the story, Feng Bujue finally finished looking at the equipment after more than an hour.

In the Scare Box menu, one page displays one hundred items, with only the name, type, and price for each item. You have to click on it to see the detailed information.

Feng Bujue naturally couldn't click on every item to view it. He only looked closely at some items he was interested in, and glanced over the rest. Some pages he skipped in ten seconds. Even so, it took him so long, which shows that there were indeed many interesting pieces of equipment inside.

After seeing everything, he sighed deeply, closed his eyes, sorted out his thoughts, and then used the search function to find a piece of equipment he had specifically remembered:

【Name: Casey Jones's Mask】
【Type: Armor】
【Quality: Excellent】
【Defense: Medium】
【Attribute: None】
【Special Effect: When equipped, the player's Fighting Specialization is considered to be one level higher than their actual level, but not exceeding C grade】
【Equipment Requirements: Male player, Level 15, Bound after equipping】
【Remark: The owner of this mask spends all day with four pizza-loving, sewer-dwelling mutant turtles. As a young man without any superpowers, he is still very enthusiastic about fighting street crime, and this mask has gradually become his symbol.】

The mask was priced at 500 Skill Points, and its value was mainly reflected in its extremely low equipment requirements and powerful special effects that applied to all players.

Before level 20, it was almost impossible for a player's Specialization level to reach C. The effect of this mask might allow players to break through that bottleneck. From the perspective of transitional equipment, the benefits of using this mask between levels 15-20 would undoubtedly be huge. Even after level 20, the equipment would still be effective until the player's actual Fighting Specialization level reached C.

Feng Bujue's current Specialization stats were: General e, Device e, Investigation e, Fighting e, Shooting d, Medical f. In addition, after the open beta started, the Specialization column in the menu changed slightly. The original font was slightly smaller, and a new shaded area appeared, indicating that two new Specializations had been added and were currently in an unlocked state.

In any case, there were great benefits to be gained from acquiring this highly cost-effective mask, so he bought it almost without hesitation. Although he was currently level thirteen, leveling up to fifteen wouldn't be difficult for him. In theory, he could get it done by clearing a maximum of four scripts.

After decisively buying the mask, Feng Bujue took it back to the storage room and stored it. Then he went to the mall again and listed the 【Kenny's Hooded Top】 for 110,000 Game Coins, with a buyout price set at 140,000. When listing it, he paid a 4,000 Game Coin handling fee. The amount of this "handling fee" was determined by the system and varied from item to item. The pricing basis was based on the non-explicit attributes of the item, so this price basically hinted at the system's evaluation of the item's value.

If no one bid within 24 hours of real time, the item would be removed from the listing, and it would be returned to the player in the form of data via mail. And if it was sold, the system would send the money.

After Feng Bujue finished all this and returned to the login space, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon in real time. There was still half a day left, plus an all-nighter. He set himself a very short-term goal – to level up to fifteen and raise his Device Specialization to d by tomorrow morning. In this way, he could successfully equip 【Casey Jones's Mask】 and 【Echo Armor】, and then experience the "Killing Game"...