Thriller Paradise

Not a Scaredy Cat quickly jumped to hide behind One Blade and One Sword, acting pretty much like a spooked rabbit. Naturally, the two men unsheathed their weapons and moved to shield the vulnerable girl, helping her to face any sort of attack that might come from the large man.

"Let them in, Ivan." A man's voice came from the open door that was behind the large man. "They are my guests."

The voice was cultivated, marked by a slight accent that gave it added precision and deliberateness.

Hearing that, Ivan lowered the gun, walked back to the door, and used his wiry arms to open the door wider before turning to study the players silently.

"Main quest activated." When the system audio started, everyone could see the quest details via their menu. "Enter General Zaroff's Castle to hear his explanation of the game's rules."

When Feng Bujue saw the quest details, his expression shifted. He mumbled to himself under his breath, "General Zaroff… Ivan… Wait a minute… I am a hunter… I fell off a yacht. I am hungry…"

He suddenly raised his head, and there was severity in his eyes. "The most dangerous game… Richard Connell."

In the memory part of his mind, all the content related to this story immediately floated up to the surface.

When he was dry for inspiration, Feng Bujue would find relaxation in reading short stories. At the same time, he would use them to look for literary material, so he was familiar with these novellas' content. With a little jostling of his memory, the background of this story came to him.

If his memory served him right, this scenario should be based on a hunting game, and Feng Bujue knew fairly well that it was the players who would be assuming the roles of the hunted.

After some hesitation, One Blade and One Sword turned their heads around to ask for Feng Bujue and Passing Rain's opinion. After all… if this was a good thing, they would have charged ahead already. Such was human nature. Since this was something dangerous, it would best if other people went ahead first. If no one was that dumb, then one should always ask another for their opinion, that way, at least if the situation turned south, they would have someone else to blame, someone else to shoulder the responsibility.

Feng Bujue shrugged and sighed. He walked from the back of the group to the front. "We should just follow the instructions given by the quest."

Ivan stood at the door like a devilish statue of a giant. One's hand would subconsciously go to one's weapon in case the man decided to attack, but Feng Bujue did not even glance at the giant and walked past him like he was not even there.

Passing Rain moved to follow behind him. When Feng Bujue moved from the back of the group earlier, she had already made the preparation to trail behind him. Thus, she was the second guest to enter the castle.

The last three looked at each other. In the end, it was One Blade who recovered first. He cleared his throat and said, "Ah… er… Well… Let us go as well."

One Sword added rather shamelessly, "Yes, if anything happens to them, we should be there to provide them with the necessary support."

Not a Scaredy Cat nodded. Following behind the two guys, they also walked through the castle door one after another. Ivan, who stood at the door, used an inquisitive gaze to study every player that walked past him. Due to his immense size, he was looking down on them, giving the sense that he had condescension toward the players even though that might not be his intention. After all five players entered the castle, he silently closed the door.

Beyond the door was a large and spacious hall. It was incredibly well lit. The marble staircase that led to the second floor was wide, a muscular man in evening clothes stood there with a straight back, looking at his five 'guests'.

General Zaroff was a tall man past middle age, for his hair was a vivid white, but his thick eyebrows and pointed military mustache were black. The general was singularly handsome. He had a sharp cut nose, high cheekbones, a spare, dark face—the face of a man used to giving orders, the face of an aristocrat.

"I am both glad and honored that so many impressive hunters have decided to pay me a visit at my humble abode." He bent down in greeting slightly. "I am General Zaroff."

As he made the self-introduction, he turned to the giant to make a sign. When Ivan saw the sign from Zaroff, he put the gun away, saluted, and withdrew to the edge of the stairs.

"Please forgive the insolence of my people, my dear gentlemen… and of course, ladies." The tone that Zaroff adopted lent an air of caution to his speech, like every word had gone through his mind for careful processing before it was allowed to slip out from his lips. "Ivan is a simple man, if not a little barbaric in nature. He is unbelievably strong, but unfortunately, he was born mute. God has given plenty but has also taken away…"

When he said those words, a strange expression crawled onto his face.

"He looks like a Cossack," Feng Bujue commented even though he already knew that for a fact.

"Indeed, my friend," Zaroff responded with a smile. He forced from his sharp jaw and bright red lips, "So am I."

He made another sign, and Ivan reappeared to stand before the general. The general spoke to him with lips that moved but made no sound.

After getting his order, Ivan left the hall, going toward an unknown destination. Zaroff then turned to address the rest. "My esteemed guests, please come with me."

He took deliberate steps down the stairs and led the group down a corridor.

Several minutes later, they ended up in a large study with feudal-style decorations. A gray carpet covered the ground, and there was a heaviness to the furniture and bookshelves in the room. Other than the large number of books, there were many mounted heads of animals such as deer and zebra, and there was even a standing specimen of a large gray bear.

"You see, I read all books on hunting published in English, French, and Russian. I have but one passion in my life, and it is the hunt." Zaroff slowly walked past his collection as if making a point that he was not lying about what he was saying. "Have you seen the head of that mounted Cape Buffalo?"

"It is particularly wonderful," Feng Bujue replied.

"Yes, he was a monster. He charged me and hurled me against a tree. Fractured my skull, but I got the brute in the end." It felt as if the hunting scene had just happened yesterday considering how fresh it was in Zaroff's memory. Feng Bujue understood the meaning of these words perfectly. Based on the information provided by this piece of conversation, the player should be able to get a grasp the power level of the boss of the scenario.

"I've always thought that the Cape Buffalo is the most dangerous of all big game." Feng Bujue tried to remember the exact content of the short story to match Zaroff's words so that the latter would move to the real topic as soon as possible.

The general suddenly fell silent. Then, he tossed a meaningful gaze at Feng Bujue before slowly saying, "No, it is not the most dangerous."

He walked to the table in the study and took out a bottle of whiskey. He raised it up and turned to look at the rest of the group. "Would anyone like a sip?"

"No, thank you," Feng Bujue replied.

Zaroff poured a glass for himself. He took a sip of the alcohol and said, "Here in my reserve on this island, I hunt a more dangerous game."

"Some kind of new invention?" Feng Bujue asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Ha ha… Yes, an invention indeed." The general nodded with a smile. "You must be curious. How can a game be invented?

"Of course, I am not God, I could not have invented a dangerous game out of thin air, but I have discovered a type of game that has existed since time immemorial but has not been hunted by people before. They are not here naturally, of course. So, I have to stock the island…"

"What have you imported, general? Could it be tigers?" Feng Bujue was keeping up the charade with this boss.

Other than Passing Rain, the other three players thought that Feng Bujue was a bit strange. They mumbled inside their hearts, What is going on with this man? Why is he so into the character? Does he really think that he is the hunter in the script? Why is he wasting so much time and energy to converse with this NPC?

The general smiled. "No. Hunting tigers ceased to interest me some years ago. I exhausted their possibilities, you see. No thrill left in tigers, no real danger. I live for danger, ladies and gentlemen. These animals are unable to make my fingers shudder, even for a second."

The general took from his pocket a gold cigarette case and a long black cigarette with a silver tip; it was perfumed and gave off a smell like incense.

"I am the type of person who was placed in this world for the enjoyment of danger, but most animals have ceased to bring me that exhilarating thrill of the hunt." Zaroff puffed out the smoke. "God makes some men poets. Some He makes kings, some beggars. Me, He made a hunter, the best, the strongest. My hand was made for the trigger, my father said."

The general sighed with disappointment. "But eventually, the thrill passed. I was lying in my tent with a splitting headache one night when a terrible thought pushed its way into my mind. Hunting was beginning to bore me! You are a hunter yourself, so can you guess why that is?"

"Assuming that you see hunting as 'a sporting proposition', then could it be that it had become too easy? You know that you'll always win before the game even starts. There is no greater bore than perfection."

"Indeed, I am surprised that you share the same sentiment as I do," the pleasantly-surprised Zaroff said with a smile. "I always got my quarry, always. No animal had a chance against me. That is no boast; it is a mathematical certainty. The animal had nothing but its legs and its instincts. Instincts are no match for reason. When I thought of this, it was a tragic moment for me, I can tell you.

"Then one day, inspiration struck me. I realized that there was a type of game that I had not hunted before. They are the perfect game because, unlike the animals, they know how to think."

At this juncture, the four players other than Feng Bujue had finally caught up to the scenario's setting. The General Zaroff before them was a crazed anti-human self-proclaimed hunter. He hunted down human beings for the sake of the thrill of the hunt. The 'listen to the general explain the game rules' in the quest details was referring to the rules of the imminent 'hunt'.

"I can't believe you are serious, General Zaroff. This is a grisly joke," Feng Bujue remarked in a serious tone. Of course, he had confirmed way before this that it was definitely not a jest.

"Why should I not be serious? I never joke about hunting," Zaroff replied. "I bought this island, built this house, and have lived my life here for the sake of the hunt. This island is an unrivalled hunting ground. The jungle is complicated like a maze, filled with swamps, turns, and cliffs, and most importantly, the island is surrounded on all sides by the sea. On this island, I've spent almost every day hunting, and until now, I've not had a boring moment."

"General, I have a question," Feng Bujue uttered. "There are five of us here. Couldn't we have ended everything right in this study to stop your crazed homicidal spree?"

"Ha ha ha ha ha…" General Zaroff laughed. "Homicidal spree? No, no, no… My boy, this is a battle of the wits, a fight between the hunter and their prey."

His eyes scanned the five players before him. "And about the possibility that you've mentioned…"

He raised his arm to make a signal.

Ivan seemed to materialize from thin air with a tray in his hands. He offered a cup of fragrant Turkish coffee to the general. He placed the coffee on the table and stood behind the general like a tower, his eyes burning into the players standing before him.

"Once, a group of Spanish sailors landed on this island. I invited them to join the hunt with me, but they sadly rejected my offer, and to make matters worse, they expressed open hostility toward me," Zaroff said blandly. "It only took Ivan one afternoon to single-handedly tear them into pieces to feed the animals roaming the island."

Hearing that, Feng Bujue's expression shifted. He did not remember reading about the description of other wild animals on the island in the short story. "I'm sorry, but what kind animals are these?"

"He he… Zaroff revealed a chilling laugh. There are too many to list… Anacondas, hyenas, Bengal Tigers… I wished for there to be more life in the jungle, so I brought in some stock. Of course, humans are not their favored feed. Normally, they prefer to feed on mountain boar. Of course, these are living boars as well. And the beasts need to fight for their meal. It is the only way for them to maintain their bestial nature."

Zaroff told Feng Bujue, "Your face is getting a bit pale there, my friend."

"Ah… It is because I was hoping to hear that you'd brought in animals like parrots or parakeets… not various types of wild beasts," Feng Bujue answered.

"Ha ha ha ha… You sure are an interesting man." Zaroff was tickled. "Alright, now, let me tell you some things that you should know for this particular hunt."

The general steered them to a window, and as the general pressed a button, he exclaimed, "Watch! Out there!"

The general pointed at the horizon of the sea, and the players saw flashes of light, but they disappeared quickly.

"The lighthouse seems to indicate a channel where there is none; instead, giant rocks with razor edges crouch like a sea monster with wide-open jaws. They can crush a ship as easily as I crush this nut." He dropped a walnut on the hardwood floor and brought his heel grinding down on it. "The boat that you took to here, I believe, was sunk around there as well. So, I hope you do not have any hope of attempting to find help from across the ocean."

After showing off this literal Ship Trap, Zaroff walked to the window on the other side. He opened a mechanism, and the lights came on in the cellar right underneath the window. The space down there could only be described as strange. The players could see a dozen or so huge black shapes moving about there; as they turned toward him, their eyes glittered greenly.

"As prey, standing on one spot, completely immobile, is a very ill-conceived plan," Zaroff said. "My dogs are very well-trained, and in my collection room…"

His eyes scanned the animal specimens around them, and he grinned wickedly.

"I mean… in my real collection room, there are many heads of prominent figures. They were very good at the game, but ultimately, they fell prey to my dogs."

Zaroff closed the door and stood to face the group again. "Alright, the rules are very simple. There are still around five hours until sunrise. You can leave the castle as soon as you want, and I will depart to find all of you an hour from now."

He put down the cigar and wine. He placed his hands behind him and stood in a military posture. "I do not wish for you to think of me as a braggart, but… the number of the game I've hunted is far beyond your imagination. Caucasian, Indians, Mongolians… There were few good sports. They were cunning, strong, patient, and highly adaptive to their new roles, but… I have to say, so far, I have not lost once."

"What if you lose?" Feng Bujue asked. "I mean, as long as we manage to survive until sunrise, it is counted as your loss, right?"

"Ha ha…" The general echoed a confident laugh and answered in a friendly and kindly tone, "Then your effort will be doubly rewarded. I will prepare a single-way boat for you and give you the perfect direction on how to get to the city of the closest land."

Zaroff picked up the wine glass from the table again. "You can have faith in my promise, I guarantee it with my identity as a gentleman, a military man, and of course, a sportsman. Naturally, you must promise not to breathe a word about the events that transpired here to anyone.

"That is assuming you are able to leave this place…"

"Current quest completed. Main quest updated," the system said. The original quest that was in the menu had a tick next to it, and a new quest objective appeared.

"Leave the castle, evade General Zaroff's hunting, and survive until sunrise.

"Time until General Zaroff departs: 59 minutes.

"Time until sunrise: 299 minutes."

Other than the quest description, one could also check the countdown for the timer of the two important events in the scenario, but unfortunately, the timer was not as exact as detailing it to the seconds.

The general took slow sips of his wine, and before the players left, he even kindly and generously gave them a few tips. "By the way, I would hope that you will try to avoid leaving footsteps when you are leaving the castle because that would be the simplest and most fatal mistake you could make. I suggest you wear moccasins; they leave a poorer trail. I suggest, too, that you avoid the big swamp in the southeast corner of the island. We call it Death Swamp. There's quicksand there. One foolish fellow tried it. The deplorable part of it was that Lazarus followed him. You can imagine my feelings. I loved Lazarus; he was the finest hound in my pack."

Feng Bujue was already shaking his head, preparing to turn and leave. He did not expect that, after Zaroff had dropped so many conspicuous hints, there was someone in his group who was still brewing an idiotic urge to do something dumb.

The man moved as fast as the words were about to describe it. Conquering the Castle with One Blade lunged forward, and the blade that he unsheathed was as sharp as his murderous intent. The blade slashed sideways, and the man burst forward with the force of a thousand bulls.

There was less than five meters between him and Zaroff. When they passed Ivan at the entrance, he had already removed his blade from his inventory and held it in his hand, so his attack came out of nowhere and surprised the four remaining players in the room.

One Blade had his own understanding of the scenario. It was his belief that now was the best time to deal with this boss. There was no need to humor him with the whole hunting charade if they were able to kill Zaroff there and then. If they returned to the jungle, they would have to face various types of wild beasts. That would take a toll on their energy reserves. Only then would they come to face the general that unleashed a group of hounds on them. That was a waste of time and energy. After all, why take such a roundabout way when things could be settled easily and directly?

Since the start of the scenario, only those two humanoid mobs had appeared inside the castle, and they looked just like normal humans, so how strong could they really be? Their size was within the range of a normal human, and they were only armed with a normal pistol. From their surroundings, this scenario was probably based in the real world about two centuries before their time. Therefore, it was preposterous to assume that these two characters would have something like supernatural power. Even though their setting might place them at the peak of the human physique, that would not have mattered because the power standard of the players was much higher than the standard of a normal human beings.

And most importantly, One Blade had complete confidence that he could take down this boss monster because his confidence came from the skill that he had. It was the skill granted him by his title, First-time Blade Wielder—Decapitating Slash.