Thriller Paradise

"Feng Bujue, Level 18.

"Please select the game mode that your team wants to join.

"You have selected the Solo Survival Mode (Nightmare). Please confirm.

"Confirming.

"Adjusting nervous connectivity. Generating the scenario…

"Please wait a moment. Downloading."

"Welcome to Thriller Paradise." This time, the greeting surprised Feng Bujue slightly because it was said using the replication of his own voice.

"Download complete. You are currently playing Solo Survival Mode (Normal). A scenario introduction is provided in this mode, and there is a chance to trigger a side or hidden mission and special world-building.

"Reward for clearing the scenario: During rating review, you will obtain a random usable excellent quality item.

"The scenario introduction will soon begin. The game will start right after."

The reward for clearing a Nightmare mode was lucrative. The reward from completing Hirata's scenario the chance to draw two random Puzzle Cards, and this time, it was a direct reward of an item. However, the main reason Feng Bujue queued for this scenario was to expand the awkward hours between 10.30 pm until midnight that he had in non-sleeping mode. With regards to the scenario itself, for the first time, Feng Bujue did not feel so positive.

"Overlapping space, the game of death, endless terror, and recurring nightmares. Ha ha ha ha ha…"

Even though the system mentioned an introduction, that was all Feng Bujue got. It was this strange line that was recited by the system's robotic voice. When the sound faded away, Feng Bujue found himself already standing inside a corridor, and he could move his body about freely.

The floor and walls of the corridor were made from wood, and it felt like the thick kind. Feng Bujue would have a hard time breaking through them without the aid of tools. The overall color scheme of the corridor was brown. It was wrong to call it spotless, but it was on the relatively clean side. There was no obvious signs of decrepitude like the smell of mold and pools of dirty sludge. The lighting system was installed into the ceiling, and there was a light shining down at regular intervals within the corridor. Looking ahead, there was no creepy wallpaper that might cause one's eyes to spin. There was no carpet or decoration of any kind. No doors even. This was merely a very simple and even uninteresting corridor.

"Ah… This kind of vague scenario description can mean almost anything…" After hearing the introductory sentence, Feng Bujue reached into his pocket to search for something. As he expected, his pocket that was supposed to be empty had a Walkman materialized in it. And inside it was a tape that had a message recorded. This explained many things.

"Hello, Feng Bujue, I want to play a game with you." Suddenly, the voice spoke, and it was the signature throaty and low voice from the Saw movies. Feng Bujue lifted his head to follow the source of the voice. He saw at the corner where the ceiling and wall connected, at around a height of about three meters, there was a camera and a rectangular broadcasting speaker.

"So, the thing from Saw has returned…" Feng Bujue looked at the camera, and the expression on his face seemed to say that he was under great pressure.

The voice paused for about a second before continuing. "All this while, you have been treating puzzle-solving as some kind of joy, and you have this twisted belief that every game will have its underlying rules and answers. Collecting information and coming up with hypotheses has become your habit and hobby. At least, that is what you think. Other than to avoid the unnecessary battle and conflict, as long as you move your brain, there is no problem in the world that you can't solve.

"But you will soon realize that you might not be completely right. At this moment, a kind of toxin had already been implanted inside your body. It is waiting…"

When he heard that, Feng Bujue immediately opened the game menu and confirmed that he was indeed under the status of 'poisoned'. This was similar to the condition that he had been in the last time he was placed inside the Saw-themed scenario.

"Once the toxin activates itself, you will have failed this scenario. And before you attempt it, even SCP-500 will be unable to neutralize this toxin."

The voice seemed to have added that last sentence as an afterthought. In any case, it vetoed the first solution that popped up in Feng Bujue's mind. It pushed away the thought that he had of swallowing the all-cure pill.

"You have ninety-two minutes to find four vials of unique and non-replicable chemical potions. You are required to mix these four vials together, and that will be your antidote." The voice started to rattle off the rules. "During this period, you might run into some people or witness some things. What you see and what you hear might affect your course of action and disturb your decision."

Feng Bujue had already activated A Strategic Victory. He wished to take a glimpse at the boss' data, but nothing showed up at all…

"As your old friend, I will give you a special bonus. It should be able to help you from being bogged down by the lethargy of combat and help you to focus on solving the puzzle."

Finally, the voice said, "Now, the game starts."

"You have obtained Special Item x2.

"Main quest triggered. Search for the chemical potions (0/4)"

Feng Bujue was still trying to process the meaning of the term 'old friend' when the system notifications popped up one after another.

"Old friend?" Feng Bujue grumbled to himself. "So, it really is that fella from the previous Saw-related scenario. That means that he is a boss that can transfer information and items between different scenarios."

Then a different thought occurred to him. "Tsk… this does not sound right at all. In that previous scenario, I was playing a reporter by the name of Ash, right? But this time, he has referred to me by my name directly… Even with the name change, we are still considered old friends? Is that how things work in this world?"

As Feng Bujue pondered over this problem, he opened his menu and clicked on this inventory. He wanted to see the special items that he had been given. And the result was… he saw something that he definitely should not.

———

Item: One-Shot-Kill Pistol

Item Type: Weapon

Quality: Legendary

Offense Points: ???

Element: None

Special Effect: One Shot Kill

Equip Requirement: Marksmanship F

Can be taken out of the scenario: No

Remark: This gun possesses endless bullets. None of its part can be taken down or modified. When you aim to kill, you only need one bullet. You only need to have a rough gauge of your target and pull on the trigger. Even with low accuracy, the bullet will make contact and ensure that your target dies with just one shot.

———

The first thought that entered Feng Bujue's mind when he saw this thing was… When this scenario is over, I must make a trip to Thriller Box to examine the change to this thing's properties and its selling price…

And the second additional item was also surprisingly powerful.

———

Item Name: Contra Medal x4

Item Type: Plot Item

Quality: Legendary

Effect: Can suffer death on the player's behalf (Cannot be traded, abandoned, or removed from the inventory)

Can be taken out of the scenario: No

Remark: Strange, why isn't it thirty extra lives? Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A…

———

"What the… what kind of situation is this?" After examining these two items, Feng Bujue's lips were twitching endlessly. "This is no longer an issue of old friends. This is more like stuff that you would have given to your biological son!"

After a pause, he said, "From the looks of things… this is a pure puzzle-solving scenario, and it will be as difficult as anything in the world…"

Feng Bujue processed all the words that he had heard earlier in his mind.

Currently, I do not have much information, and things are starting off weird. For example, the boss has technically given me four lives and a weapon that can kill thing with one shot, but did it not even cross his mind to give me something like a watch so that I can follow the time closely?

As he said, I only have ninety-two minutes in total, or does this man know that I can keep a perfect mental track of the time with my mind? Wait a minute… he seems to even know what kind of items I have in my inventory as well. Not only that, he is familiar with their effects. Why else would he explicitly mention that the effect of SCP-500 will not work on neutralizing the toxin?

Feng Bujue did not spend too much time thinking, he did not waste any more time dawdling and moved forward. From the moment he entered the scenario to listening to the rules, to observing the situation and the compiling of information in his head, it took him less than five minutes.

Initially… when Feng Bujue joined the Solo Nightmare Mode, he did not really plan on clearing the scenario; he had decided to just let things be. Now, however, the situation had changed. The voice in the broadcast had managed to seduce… No, wait, it had managed to pique his interest. If he was called a noob with five combat points, he would not get angry at all, but to say that he was weak at solving puzzles, provide him with such powerful items, and still show an attitude that seemed to say that he was not going to clear this scenario with all that help…

For someone like Feng Bujue who had a mania for puzzle-solving, when he came across a taunt like that, he naturally fell for it. He swore to solve all the puzzles and stand before the final boss, look down at him with a condescending gaze, and say, "On your knees please."

Then, he might be satisfied and call it a day.

…

Where Feng Bujue was initially standing, he had been facing away from the wall, so technically, there was only one way for him to move. He walked down the corridor for about another five to six minutes. The scene around him barely changed at all. The corridor seemed to meander on endlessly. Where he was, whether he looked forward or backward, it was like he was looking at the reflection of a mirror. If the player closed his eyes and spun around a few time, they would probably end up having trouble deciding which direction they had come from.

He walked for another stretch and the corridor finally opened to a slightly larger area. This was a fan-shaped space, and it was directly connected to the corridor. It was not cordoned off with a door. Walking through the mouth, the walls on the sides basically opened up, slanting to the sides.

Right opposite was a curved wall, and there was an exit at every few meters along the wall. There were four exits in total, and all of them had their respective door frames and doors. At that moment, all of them were left wide open. Beyond the four doors was a corridor that looked completely identical to the one that Feng Bujue had just walked out from.

"Tsk… that's all? And I thought there would be some kind of complicated maze or difficult puzzles to solve. These are just four routes leading to the locations of the four chemical potions, aren't they? At the end of each route, there will be a route designed for the player to mutilate themselves or to solve the puzzle. Humph… what is so unique about this?" Feng Bujue huffed with condescension. In a way, he was venting the annoyance that was mounting in his heart.

But right then, he heard someone running. As he paid more attention to it, other than the running footsteps, there was the sound of heavy breathing.

The sound came from the first door on the left. When the source was within a hearing range, the person running seemed to see that there was someone beyond the exit waiting, and he started to scream, "Wrong! You got it all wrong!"

Feng Bujue heard the screams clearly, and he was struck by a sense of familiarity like he had heard it somewhere before. But for the sake of security, he still took out the wrench and the pistol. He held the weapons in both hands. He could use the wrench to injure and the pistol to kill. Depending on the person that appeared, he would have the necessary preparation. At the very least, he made sure that he would not end up in mortal danger.

But several seconds later, when the escapee rushed out from the corridor behind the first door and entered this fan-shaped area, Feng Bujue was stunned. It was a man wearing a purple suit, covered in blood, and with wounds all over his body. The man looked… exactly like Feng Bujue.

The earlier sentence that he heard now echoed in his mind… During this period, you might run into some people or witness some things. What you see and what you hear might affect your course of action and disturb your decision.

"You…" Feng Bujue was still relatively calm. There had to be a rational explanation to the scenario that he was witnessing. This person that looked just like him could be an illusion, a robot, a clone, or even some kind of monster with a copy-cat ability. This was a Thriller Paradise scenario on nightmare mode; any kind of setting was possible. In fact, the world that he existed in could entirely be inside the head of a mental patient, so he saw no reason to panic just yet.

However, when the bloodied and wounded Feng Bujue saw this Feng Bujue, he did not show any trace of shock or surprise as if he had known that he would find another version of himself standing right there. It was why he had started to yell when he was approaching the door. At that moment, he instantly started to warn, "You need to stop…"

Bang!

A shot rang out, and the Feng Bujue that had escaped from the first door was hit by a bullet from behind. The bullet just so happened to shoot through Feng Bujue's neck. The words that he was supposed to say instead burst out in a spray of blood. Needless to say, the other Feng Bujue did not understand what he was trying to convey.

When Feng Bujue saw his other self being shot, he quickly rushed forward. His first thought was to combine the effect of both SCP-500 and the health potions. He wished to save the guy and hear him finish the sentence.

However, to his surprise, he only took the first step, and before he even had a chance to take the items out of his inventory, the shot Feng Bujue dissolved into a pool of white light and disappeared. The other him had just died, and the way he perished was similar to how a real player would be transported when a real player experienced a game over.

Is he just an illusion? But… Feng Bujue's brain was turning around like a whirlwind. Overlapping space, the game of death, endless terror, and recurring nightmares.

Could he be another me who has returned from another timeline?

His eyes gradually moved away from the floor that was now empty. He turned to look at the first door. At that moment, Feng Bujue kept the corridor behind the first door within his peripheral vision. His brain was still replaying the whole incident that had just happened.

Assuming it was really me who died earlier, then the Contra Medal should have come into play… Or does the effect of revival transport the player to a different location in a pool of white light? Or rather, has this 'me' already exhausted all four of the Contra Medals?

Feng Bujue held his breath and trained his focus toward the sound that might come out from the first corridor. He did not dare show himself recklessly. After all, the opponent was using a gun. Obviously, they were a very good shot. He was currently in a relatively safe corner, but once he poked his head out, perhaps…

Something is not right… If that was 'me', why would I die so easily? A bullet to the neck would kill me so easily? Does this mean that the other 'me' had already depleted the Life Points Recovery Potions he carried, and his Life Points reached rock bottom?

At this point, a name suddenly echoed in his mind.

The One-shot-kill Pistol!

Feng Bujue instinctively grabbed the gun that he was holding tighter. "Was it me who unloaded the bullet?"

He nudged several steps forward. He pressed his back against the wall next to the door of the first corridor and used it as cover.

"Hey, the one who shot, are you me‽" he yelled down the corridor, asking a question that sounded quite curious.

The echo effect of the corridor was rather strange. Even the smallest friction could travel for a long distance, but somehow, one's speech could only travel a short distance, and it would not cause any form of an echo.

Feng Bujue yelled again. "Even if you are not me, how about you give me some sort of a reply?"

Naturally, there was no reply…

He listened closer. Since the gunshot, there had not been a second sound coming from the corridor, and that included the shuffling footsteps of the shooter as he walked away. So, there was a high possibility that there was someone currently standing or squatting inside the corridor. They were holding a pistol in their arms and had it aimed rightly at the door of the first corridor. The moment the person behind the door lost their patience and poked their head out, they would be taken down almost instantly.

Of course, it did cross Feng Bujue's mind that the person that he saw earlier might not really be himself from another timeline, and he could merely be making this a lot more complicated than it needed to be. Perhaps that was merely an illusion that was aimed to confuse him, and the shooter could be a monster with a very high marksmanship mastery. Perhaps there was no shooter in the corridor in the first place. The gunshot and the death of the other self was merely a show, a mirage. After all, there was no dead body, and there was not even a bullet hole in sight. What exactly proved that what he had witnessed earlier really did happen?

Hmm… How about I take a glance to confirm my suspicion? Feng Bujue thought to himself, but at the same time, he worried. But what if my suspicion is correct? What if that is really me from the future currently waiting inside the corridor, then… what should I do?

If that is also me, a me from the near future, then he would also know the decision that I am going to make and the thought process that is currently going through my mind. No matter how I figure this out, the angle that I am using to dissect the situation, or even if I decide to just leave it all to fate, he knows what I'll end up doing.

Feng Bujue's mind was getting more and more blurry.

Hmm… but why won't he communicate with me, and why did he kill the other me? What has the other me experienced, or what will I experience later that will cause me to chase after and then kill me?

And what did he mean by 'you got it all wrong'… and what did he need me to stop doing?

Without realizing it, Feng Bujue was breaking out in cold sweat.

This handsome man who was just killed and the handsome man who killed him, who is on the later part of the timeline, and who is doing the correct thing?

This was the first time that he had encountered something like this in Thriller Paradise. No matter the decision that he made, it appeared like the wrong on.

"Ha ha ha…" Ten seconds later, Feng Bujue started to chuckle. "Of course, the only person who can give me a challenge is myself."

He uttered this extremely conceited statement and came to a decision. He put his weapon away and yelled, "Whether there is someone there or not, whether you are me or not, I will surrender to you now. I will walk out from behind the door slowly. If you wish to talk with me, then we will talk, but if you feel like you need to kill me, give me a quick death!"

As Feng Bujue said that, he nudged toward the entrance of the first corridor. At that moment, he chose to place his trust in himself. He trusted the decision that he was currently making, and he also trusted the decision made by his future self.

Of course, most importantly, he still had the Contra Medals as a lifeline.

At that moment, Feng Bujue got a vague idea why he had been given the four medals and such a powerful pistol. Unfortunately, these things were probably just the basics that he needed to clear this convoluted and mystifying scenario.

...

Feng Bujue was not worried about being killed in one shot since he still possessed four Contra Medals. The first four deaths were nothing more than a process. From the looks of things, other than being forced to abandon the game or being disconnected, in this Solo Nightmare Mode, there were only two possibilities of failure. He could be killed a fifth time after using all the Contra Medals, or as mentioned by the boss earlier, the toxin would activate. In other words, he would fail the scenario once the ninety-two minutes time limit was up.

In any case, no matter what was waiting for Feng Bujue inside the first corridor, the worst-case scenario was experiencing his first death. There was no possibility that might cause him to fail the scenario directly. Of course, if there was one, it would be one that he had no idea about, but the chance of this was minute and very unreasonable. It would be like playing Super Mario Bros, and the game rules stated very clearly that you would only die if you fell into the hole or the time ran out, but just as you started the game, you hit the first question block, and it exploded, killing you… Obviously, you would be playing a different game then.

Feng Bujue raised his arms in surrender and stepped out with firm, determined steps. He turned his body to face down the corridor and stood at the first corridor's entrance. Since he still did not hear a reply after yelling earlier, he was mentally prepared to face a bullet rushing at his face, but to his surprise, there was no one in the corridor at all.

There was no shooter or gun; the corridor was empty.

Perhaps the shooter made the shot from an impossible distance? The sound of the gunshot travelled over the distance and reached my ears?

That was what Feng Bujue thought.

But if that was the case, the shooter was definitely not using the One-Shot-Kill Pistol because the effect of the pistol would have been nullified after the target went beyond the shooter's range of sight. Otherwise, the shooter could have aimed the gun at the sky or the open space of the corridor and made as many shots as he wanted. Who knew how many people at the edge of the world would be shot dead?

So, what kind of weapon was used by the shooter earlier? Based on the distance, the chance of it being a sniper rifle was very higher. But if a person's neck was shot through by that kind of high-caliber sniper rifle, it would not have caused a penetrative effect. Instead, the other Feng Bujue's head should have exploded like a watermelon being smashed.

But how could a normal gun achieve such accuracy at such a distance? Had the shooter attached some kind of scope to the One-Shot-Kill Pistol? Did the shooter possess some kind of ability like Eagle Eyes that allowed them to look down a very long distance?

The other question was, if the shooter really attempted the shot at a really long distance, then Feng Bujue's scream earlier would have eluded them. They probably did not even hear him. Then… what would they be doing now? Had the shooter stayed where they were and already seen Feng Bujue, who had moved into the doorway? Or had they already put down the pistol and moved away after taking down the target? If the shooter had moved away, then would they be coming toward Feng Bujue, or had they already left from the other end of the corridor?

If the shooter can see me and is me, then he should know that the current me and the Feng Bujue from earlier are not one and the same. After all, if he cannot make that distinction, he might have been given the impression that his first shot didn't make the kill and would have fired off a second shot already. But he did not… Could it be that his marksmanship skill or the weapon that he used is on cooldown?

No… that shouldn't be the case.

He lowered his arms and walked through the first door calmly and unhurriedly. As he moved forward, he carefully observed the floor, ceiling, and walls of the first corridor, trying to find some clues that he might use.

Feng Bujue denied the possibility of it being a super-long-distance shot. Even though that hypothesis would have explained why he had only heard the sound of one person running earlier and why there were no other sounds after the gunshot rang out in the corridor, but… the corridor itself was empty. Obviously, there was an alternative explanation, one that was much simpler and made more sense in the current situation.

"So, they are really just an illusion," Feng Bujue said. "The 'me' from before and that gunshot were merely stimuli that I obtained visually and auditorily. Without a dead body and shell casing, even the blood stain on the ground has dissolved into white light and disappeared…"

He turned around to glance at that fan-shaped area.

"That warning of 'you got it all wrong' and 'you need to stop…' should be telling me that this route is the wrong one and that I should not move forward anymore."

He scratched his chin.

"Then, to look at it from another perspective, should I ignore that warning and continue down this corridor?"

He really could not find any other hints. This corridor looked the same as the one that he had walked through earlier. There was nothing that stood out; every stretch was the same. Footprints would not be left on the ground. He rushed back to the fan-shaped area and waited for ten seconds, but there was no sign that any event had been triggered.

Looking at the four different doors and four different paths before him, Feng Bujue grumbled, "Normally, this kind of setup means that each of the path will lead to one of the quest items, but what if it is a different set up? Assuming that there is only one path that is correct and will lead me to all the chemical potions, and the other three paths are all dead ends…"

He scratched his head.

"Or perhaps… two of them lead to the potions, and the other two are dead ends. Or perhaps three of them are correct, and one is wrong." He moved his gaze back to the first door. "The thing from before, is a real hint or a disturbance? Or am I overthinking the meaning of the phrase overlapping of space or…"

"Huh…" Feng Bujue lifted his head to look at the ceiling. "What do you want from me in a scenario with such monotonous design and so few hints…"

Even though from the start of the chapter, Brother Jue's actions and thoughts had filled up more than one thousand words. In reality, he only had used about two minutes. To summarize, he had moved to stand in the doorway, think about it, walk forward a few steps, think about it, go back to the fan-shaped area, and think about it.

From the end of the introduction to the scenario and the second Feng Bujue gained control of his body, it had been seventeen minutes. In other words, since he heard about the ninety-two-minute time limit from the broadcast, sixteen minutes had passed. The difference between the two was not big, and no matter which one was used as the standard, the time difference of one minute was so small that it could easily be ignored.

Assuming that Brother Jue would exhaust about the same time to find each of the chemical potions, he would need to spend twenty-three minutes searching for each potion. In other words, Feng Bujue would find a potion every twenty-three minutes, and that would guarantee that he found the antidote before the toxin activated.

But now, he had not even gotten a glimpse of the first potion, and it would not work for him to continue wasting time like this. Therefore, he turned around… and headed down the third corridor.