Thriller Paradise

It was unclear whether this series of statement were a monologue from a NPC towards the player or the intro CG that had replaced the system audio. When the voice was speaking, various harrowing images appeared on the touch screen before Feng Bujue…

All the images were blurry and they were interspersed amidst the static and disappeared as soon as they appeared. Most of the images were confusing to say the least… strange shadows lying on the ground, dead bodies stuck to the walls, horrifying faces, palm prints, children's pictures taken from the back, pulsating organs, twines of long hair and so on…

When the 'intro' was over, a bright shade of red appeared on the black and white screen. A pair of blood-shot eyes suddenly appeared on screen and halted at that image…

"The atmosphere is quite well done…" Feng Bujue yawned and commented casually. If it was someone else, they would be scared witless by this intro already but Brother Jue could still make jokes….

"If these images are the working environment of this 'Leicester'…" Feng Bujue chuckled, "Then I can understand why he comes late to work and sleep while he should be patrolling…" Then the elevator stopped. The door… slowly opened.

A rather wide corridor led out from the elevator, the walls were hospital-white and the floor was tiled. Light came from above but it was dim and there appeared to be shadows flitting through the lights.

"Hmm… there won't be a danger waiting right outside the door, would it?" As this thought crossed his mind, Feng Bujue took a half step forward and placed his hand on the elevator door. Then slowly and carefully, he leaned his head out. The two sides of the corridor were empty and at every few metres, there were rows of plastic seats and next to each set of seats was a door. Every door had a horizontal plaque with clear handwriting hanging on them. Other than specifying the room number and floor number, the plaque also designated the rooms with names like 'general physician', 'paediatrician' and so on.

"Hmm… so I am at the hospital…" Feng Bujue said. From the 'nurses and doctors' mentioned in the intro, the place where Leicester worked was a hospital. When the elevator doors opened, that was further confirmed. The length of the corridor and the unmistakeable smell of disinfectant showed that he was at a hospital. But in the air, there was another smell underlining the smell of disinfectant. It was a very light smell and hard to discern.

"O well, guess it's time to get to work." Feng Bujue took one step forward out of the elevator. Tsk… Bang!

The moment he stepped out. The elevator doors moved and it closed in half a second. Feng Bujue turned back to look and the doors had already changed… It had grown taller and wider by quite a bit. Most of the elevators at the hospital looked like this. Considering they needed to move a hospital bed into the elevator during emergency so the elevators had the size and carry weight of a freight elevator.

"So… it has officially begun…" When Feng Bujue said that, he noticed something. When he saw his reflection on the elevator door, it was not his own reflection that looked back at him. It was a Caucasian male wearing a guard uniform. He was about as tall as Brother Jue and honestly quite handsome.

"This should be Leicester…" Feng Bujue mumbled to himself. "So… this is how I look to the other people in this scenario."

"Important notification: Your equipment effect has been suspended; your item and skill tab has been locked; the items inside your pockets have been sealed away and some new items have been inputted instead." The system chose this moment to announce.

"Ha… ha ha…" Feng Bujue laughed drily. "So… this again…" After so many nightmare mission, he had gotten used to this restriction already…

There were players on the forum who had made statistics and came to this conclusion: Nightmare Solo Survival Mode was undeniably the most common mode that might trigger some sort of 'limitation'. When players were in this scenario, there was a 50 percent chance… they would be limited in certain ways. In other words… no matter how good you were at fighting, the system would find a way for you to experience 'nightmare'.

"Fine… let me see… what I can use this time." Feng Bujue then reached into his shirt and pant pockets. After some search, he found these things: an unopened pack of gum (3 pieces left), a folding knife with plastic handle (used normally to peel apples), a pair of sunglasses, a small can of hairspray (mini size), a single white dirty sock (yes, only one), a small comb, half a pack of cigarette and a lighter.

"There is no phone…" Feng Bujue scratched his chin and said. "Is it a scenario limitation… or I am in a timeline where phone is not yet a common everyday object…" While he thought, the system returned with "Main quest triggered."

Feng Bujue opened the game menu out of instinct and opened the quest tab. It showed this malicious statement, "Stay at your guard post and survive until morning."

"A simple night guard post at a hospital can land oneself in mortal danger… it's getting harder and harder to earn a living in this world." Feng Bujue mocked as he turned to head down the left corridor. "First… I should look for something like a map to confirm this place's layout." His eyes moved alertly around, not leaving behind the smallest crack on the wall, afraid that he might lose any clue. "All the room doors are closed and there are no light coming through the gap… this should be outpatient clinic. Since there is no doctor on duty at night so all the rooms are locked." When Feng Bujue passed these doors, he didn't forget to make his analysis.

"By the way, this corridor is quite long…" He walked for some time and still found no map and he couldn't resist the urge to turn around. And thus he saw something strange…

Just as he turned around, the lights of the whole corridor flickered twice. And during the short moment when the lights were off, in the dark corridor, a glowing, white human shadow appeared. 'it' appeared quite far from Feng Bujue. It looked the size of a thumb, it was hard to tell it was a light spots left on the cornea or it was real. In any case… when the lights came back on, the shadow disappeared. When a normal person saw that, their Terror Points would rise and they would turn and run but Feng Bujue narrowed his eyes and as if he was told to give an eye sight test, he stared down the corridor….

"Qie… want to scare me?" He said gloatingly as he removed the sunglasses from his pocket and put it on. It was unsure whether one should celebrate or lament… Brother Jue's action was very effective. Once he put on the sunglasses, that 'white shadow' appeared again and this time, it was just one metre away from Feng Bujue. It was a person covered in bandage. From the body frame, he looked to be male. Other than the eyes and nose, the rest of the body was tightly wrapped. Upon closer inspection, fresh blood could be seen leaking out through the gaps between the bandage…

"Huo…" Feng Bujue stared at the man for a few seconds before lifting up the sunglasses. Then the bandage man disappeared again. Then brother Jue put the sunglasses back on and poof, he reappeared…

"Huo~ huo huo huo~" He kept repeating the 'huo' sound as he moved the sunglasses up and down like this was some kind of carnival game for him. The bandage man stood before him and did not appear to be hostile, but… from the eyes, he was rather surprised by Brother Jue's reaction… and that surprise soon turned into confusion.

"Erm…" The bandage man finally lost his patience. Seeing how unfazed the guard was, it hurt his honor as a ghost too much so he raised both of his arms, groaned and slowly walked towards Brother Jue.

"Hmm? Want to attack me?" Feng Bujue pushed the sunglasses up his nose and fixed it there. Then he took one big step backwards and assumed the pose of Wang Feihong like he was ready to fight this thing.

"You… are not afraid of me?" The bandage man stopped moving and the mouth wrapped under the gauze mumbled.

"Afraid of you?" Feng Bujue scanned the man with a derisive look. "You have already beaten until this state, why should I be afraid of y ou?"

"I am a ghost… do you know what that mean?" The bandage man lowered his voice and said in the scariest tone he could manage.

"I don't." Feng Bujue was telling the trust. The design concept of 'ghost' in every scenario was different so how could he tell…"Then do you know…" Feng Bujue tossed the question back, "What is huo huo huo huo huo?"

"Erm…" The bandage man was stumped.

"Huo huo huo huo is…" Feng Bujue suddenly sang in a shrill voice, "In a small town, the years of one's life flows by with clear valor… through washed out memories, I remember you proudly living on [From Jay Chou's Fearless]…"

"Ah!" The bandage man ran away screaming… unsure whether it was from shock or fear…

"Qie… how weak can you get…" Feng Bujue groused. He picked off the sunglasses and shrugged before turning to keep walking. "Looks like the ghosts in this scenario can only use teleportation and disruption of lights to scare people. As long as they do no possess the power of telekinesis and ability to cross into the physical realm… they are no threat to me at all."

After walking for 10 seconds, he reached a cross section. On the wall, finally he saw a map for the hospital.

"But I can't let my guard down…" Feng Bujue reminded himself as he continued to move. "A nightmare mission shan't be so easy. A scenario that limits your ability, other than challenges to your Terror Points… it will also be filled with horrendous puzzles…"