Thriller Paradise

The changes within those few seconds could be considered as the game's tutorial prepping the players. A normal person would be shocked when the lights in their surroundings suddenly went off and a creepy voice appeared in their ears. Their heart would race, and at that moment, if the elevator suddenly sank, even though it was just a temporary sinking feeling, it was enough to make the person's heart rate double.

However, Feng Bujue was calm and unfazed; he did not react in any way.

After the initial shake, the elevator started to descend at a normal speed. Suddenly, the game menu appeared before Feng Bujue's eyes. The game menu only appeared in the player's sight, and it was unable to shine light on the surroundings. Other than that, perusing the menu was not publicized. In other words, when you were searching through the menu, even if you had another player standing next to you, they would be unable to tell whether you were using the menu or just spacing out.

This time, there was no system audio, but Feng Bujue did see the written notification as he opened the menu. "Players can access the menu at any time to view your character attributes, status, equipment, and inventory."

Feng Bujue noticed that most of the area on the menu was covered by a black shadow. It was not until the notification disappeared that the area in the top left of the menu became visible, and three rectangular stripes that looked like HP bars appeared.

An arrow materialized, and it pointed at the first bar. It was a full, green bar. Instantly, a new notification appeared. "This shows your Life Points, and they are shown only as a percentage, not actual numeral points. When your Life Points reach zero percent, your character will be declared dead. Current Life Points: 100%. Unique Status: None."

The arrow moved to point at the second bar. It was also green, but it showed a number instead of a percentage. "These are your Stamina Points, and you can see the actual number of points. Running, jogging for a long time, carrying heavy objects, fighting, or using skills will lower your Stamina Points. Stamina Points can be regained through Rest or Items. Current Stamina Points: 100/100."

The third bar was empty, and this was also the one that caught Feng Bujue's attention the most. "These are your Terror Points, and they are shown as a percentage. When your Terror Points stay over 100% for more than three seconds, you will be forcibly logged out of the game, and your character will be declared dead. Current Terror Points: 0%"

Feng Bujue only scanned over those details because he had read up on the game's basic information online already. He thought the other areas of the menu would be unlocked, but the menu automatically closed after about ten seconds. When he accessed the menu again, the shaded areas were still locked.

Naturally, the tutorial was not only going to be reading words and familiarizing himself with the menu in the dark, or else the system would not have given the warning of ending the tutorial if the Terror Points went overboard.

As he suspected, the elevator soon stopped. The darkness remained, and Feng Bujue could only hear his breathing. Suddenly, the light came back on for one second, just for one second, before everything was submerged into darkness again.

However, in that one second, something that was enough to make people scream was registered in Feng Bujue's eyes. There was that mirror inside the elevator. When the light flashed, Feng Bujue saw two reflections in the mirror.

One was obviously his own reflection, and the other… even though he only got a glimpse of it, Feng Bujue could instinctively tell that it was a humanoid that was covered in blood.

In that case, he would have preferred to stay in darkness. That small glimpse was worse than being stranded in darkness. If this was another person, they would have been screaming as they retreated to the edge of the elevator or wailed continuously on the spot where they assumed the bloody shadow was standing.

However, Feng Bujue stood where he was expressionlessly, and he mumbled to himself, "Hmm… Since this is a tutorial, I doubt the game will drop the players into a certain death situation. At most, it'll decrease the Life Points to scare me. There should be something else that happens to keep the game moving."

As that thought entered his mind, there was a ray of light that shone into the elevator, and it quickly expanded. As it turned out, it was the elevator door opening. A heavy stench of decay rushed at him.

Outside the elevator was a straight corridor. The ceiling was made from wood, and wallpaper was pasted on the walls to the side. The pattern on the wallpaper was creepy; it looked like human eyes. A green carpet covered the floor, and there was not even a window or door on the walls. Instead, there was wall sconces that gave off weak light at fixed intervals.

The corridor looked like it stretched for quite a distance. From afar, the wall sconces looked like pinpoints of yellow light in the dark. The visible distance was no more than twenty meters. Anything beyond that was shrouded in darkness, and one had to move closer to expand their visibility.

A normal person would probably have rushed out before the elevator door completely opened, but Feng Bujue was not in a hurry. In his mind, this dark corridor might not be safer than the elevator. Since the darkness had dissipated slightly, he turned around to see what the shadow next to him really was.

As Feng Bujue turned around, he saw a bloody claw extend toward him like a hook. He pulled his neck back, and the claw missed. Half-squatting, he slithered out of the elevator. He turned back to look and finally saw the shadow in its full form.

It was a skinless zombie, not much different from a human muscle mannequin from health class. However, this one was alive, and it was leaking blood. The elevator door was slowly closing, and the zombie tilted his head to the side and opened his lips to reveal a faded smile. He kept his eyes on Feng Bujue. Before the door closed, an arm reached out to try to slip through.

Based on a normal progression, now is time for me to run, Feng Bujue thought. But this guy doesn't look that strong. Should I try to fight it?

By then, the zombie had escaped from the elevator. He roared like he was announcing his presence. He raised his arm to punch at the wall. The thick layer of wood behind the wallpaper cracked, and cockroaches practically leaked out from the hole like water.

"Fine, you win." Feng Bujue saw this and decided to turn and run.

Since this was a tutorial, naturally, it was made to keep the players' interest and keep them playing; killing the players was not its goal. The zombie's action was nothing more than a time waster; it obviously was designed so that the player would have more time to run. However, the system had considered other possibilities as well, like the player collapsing to the ground from fright and being unable to run, or some of the players might decide to fight it out with the zombie after the light came back on. Under those circumstances, the zombie's actions could make the player get up from the ground and attempt to escape or cancel the player's desire for a fight.

Of course, if the player was really made invalid or insisted on betting on their life, then it would probably lead to a game over, and the system would generate a new tutorial for them.

Firstly, there is an eighty percent chance of me failing to break down the walls. Secondly, even if I manage to break them down, I doubt there will be an exit behind them. Thirdly, fighting this monster means certain death. Wonderful… Feng Bujue silently analyzed all the confirmed situations. In this tutorial, he did not seem to have been given much choice.

After running for a long time, Feng Bujue saw a door at the end of the corridor. It looked like a very sturdy wooden door!

He grabbed the handle and turned. It opened! He did not have time to consider the possibility of danger on the other side because the zombie was hot on his heels. There was no time for him to waste. At that moment, Feng Bujue realized his mistake. When the elevator door opened earlier, he should have run out immediately; that was the normal reaction. Staying back meant that he was cutting it close time-wise.

He rushed into the room and slammed the door shut. He spotted a steel bar that could be used as a latch. Without hesitation, Feng Bujue used it. At almost the exact same time, the thing outside started to slam into the door.

Feng Bujue ignored him and turned to inspect his surroundings. This was a square room of about sixteen cubic meters. It was devoid of any furniture expect for a light on the wall and two doors. One was where he had come in, and the other was opposite the first door.

He walked to the door that might be the exit. He pulled and realized that the door was locked. He kicked at the lock, and it seemed to be working, but the force in his kick was not enough. He would have to repeat it several times before he could get it to work.

The next second, the game menu suddenly popped up before his eyes. Another area was unlocked, and it revealed a number that was currently 0. "This shows your Skill Points, represented in numbers. Skill Points can be used as currency and are collected through the character's actions. Any action that increases your efficiency in game will award Skill Points. Current Skill Points: 0."

"There has to be a reason it is giving an explanation on this at a time like this. Is this a hint?" Feng Bujue took this chance to glance at his Terror Points. They were still zero percent, completely unmoved.

Feng Bujue observed the room again, and he found the hint that he was looking for in this supposedly empty room. On the upper side of one of the walls, the wallpaper was peeling. It was conspicuous, but it would not have escaped a close inspection. Feng Bujue stood on his tiptoes, and he was just tall enough to reach the corner with his fingers. He gripped the edge of the wallpaper and pulled. On the wooden board behind it, someone had painted a symbol. The symbol was that of a key.

Right then, the sound of wood shattering echoed within the room. Feng Bujue turned his head to look, and he saw that one of the zombie's claws had broken through the door. Through the hole that was about the size of a bowl, a claw reached in and lashed about. He wondered if the zombie had the intelligence to remove the latch or not.

In any case, this symbolized that the zombie would soon enter. Whether it was to solve the puzzle or kick down the door, time was running out.

Feng Bujue quickly used his elbow to knock into the board with the painted symbol. The realistic sensation of pain stimulated his nerve receptors. Thankfully, this board was more brittle than the others, and it cracked from the one move. He expected bugs to fall out, but all that rained down on him was dust. Behind the board was a cramped space where a key quietly sat.

When Feng Bujue grabbed the key, the menu appeared once more, and another shaded area was unlocked. "You have gained a new item. Since you have not unlocked your backpack and inventory slot, your choice is to carry the item or leave it."

Then he saw the item attributes on the section of the menu that had just been unlocked.

———

Item Name: Rusty Iron Key

Item Type: Consumable

Quality: Normal

Function: Open lock

Can be taken out of the scenario: No

Extra Remark: I think you know what to do.

———

Feng Bujue felt the sarcasm from the menu, but he did not have time to dwell on it. He scanned the item attributes and closed the menu to rush to the locked door. After the door opened, the key disappeared. At the same time, the system audio that he did not think he would miss began again. "You've acquired thirty Skill Points. This is a one-time notification. In the future, you'll need to access the menu to see the change in Skill Points."

Feng Bujue ignored the stuff that he had no use for at the moment and powered forward. Behind the door was a stone staircase. It was bookended by stone walls, and there was no ceiling, meaning the staircase was open to the night sky. Moonlight showered down on the staircase until it looked practically glowing. He was unable to escape from the rooftop because the walls were very high, and there were no gouges in the walls for him to use as footholds. It was clear that the game was telling him that there was no climbing.

He dashed up the stairs and took a glance at his Stamina Points between leaps. He realized that they had dropped down to 24/100. He made some mental calculations. After he left the elevator, he had run for several hundred meters, then there was the door kicking, wall cracking, and stair-climbing. That series of actions had exhausted three quarters of his Stamina Points; the degree of exhaustion was much higher than he had thought. Other than that, his Life Points had also dropped down to ninety-eight percent. It looked like the elbow hit had also done some damage to him.

The zombie crashed through the door about five seconds after Feng Bujue unlocked the door. He then gave chase immediately. He started laughing and chuckling, and those sounds seemed to appear beside Feng Bujue's ears. The sounds were scary, but Feng Bujue was completely unfazed.

There was a hill at the end of the steps. There was a large sword stuck on the crest of the hill. Under the moonlight, the blade radiated a cold, razor-sharp gleam. When the blade entered their view, the zombie seemed to sense it. It went berserk, and the dozens of meters between them closed instantly.

Feng Bujue abandoned his poise and lunged forward. He did not want to be killed. He rolled and landed next to the sword. With both of his hands grasping the hilt, he pulled the blade out. The ground gave away easily. He lifted up the weapon and realized that it was not as heavy as he had expected.

With a turn, the zombie was already right behind him. The desperate wails echoed in his ears, and the bloody claws swiped at him.