Chapter 1 Don“t Pretend to Be Friends

——

[Thank you for using our product. Scanning… please wait.]

[Scanning completed. ID SH13***313, certified.]

[Name: Feng Bujue.]

[Device: Standard single-player cabin, Model NL2055. No abnormal external hardware detected. Heart and lungs function normally. Nerves connection is ready. Please select connection mode.]

[Non-sleep mode selected.]

[Adjusting…]

[Adjusted. Please confirm to start the game right away or return to the previous menu.]

[Program started. Your game will start in ten seconds.]

After the countdown, Feng Bujue immediately entered the game. He stood at a place that seemed like an elevator booth, but no b.u.t.tons were to be seen. There was a thirty-two inch touchscreen on the right wall, and opposite to the doors was a full-length wall mirror attached on the wall, where players could see their entire bodies.

Feng Bujue eyed his image in the mirror. He was a high-pixel 3D computer graphics character now, wearing a black long-sleeve T-s.h.i.+rt and trousers, nothing fancy. The face of this character was almost identical to his real appearance. The height was less than 6 feet; bird-nest messy hair covered the soft, feminine contours of his face.

With the aid of the Fourth Generation Optical Computing Technique, the players’ nervous system would be connected to the game directly, which allowed them to realistically experience everything with their five senses. However, the graphics of the game were still in 3D. It still didn’t have a feel of reality.

"Welcome to the login s.p.a.ce. The following games are all Dream Inc.’s products. Please select."

When the voice of the system echoed in his ears, icons appeared on the touchscreen next to him. Players could then choose the games that they wanted from there.

"Geez, they’ve created the whole login thing for just one game. Did they imply that there will be more to expect?" Feng Bujue thought as he pressed the icon of the only game there: Thriller Paradise.

"Players have to be over sixteen years old to register. Players with heart diseases, mental disorders or related diseases are not recommended to play this game."

The system did not only display this paragraph on the screen, but instead said it out loud. Afterwards, three different b.u.t.tons appeared on the screen, including ‘Confirm Registration’, ‘Cancel’ and the last one, with an eye-catching link, was ‘General Disclaimer’.

"Mental disorders?" Feng Bujue thought, " I’d better take a look then."

He then selected the third icon, causing a maze of words to be displayed on the screen. From the tiny size of the scroll bar on the right, this General Disclaimer was really lengthy.

When normal people play games and they see something like terms and conditions or explanations, eighty percent of them would close the menu or skim over it, scrolling to the end and selecting the ‘Agree’ b.u.t.ton.

But Feng Bujue wasn’t a ‘normal’ person.

He was twenty-four years old this year. Writing was his profession, which was all about detective novels. He often told people that he was addressed as the ‘Artist’ or the ‘Great Author’ whenever asked what he did for a living, but this wasn’t his most important feature. And now, it’s time to talk about his abnormalities.

First, the reason why he played this game was to ‘treat his illness’. Of course, this wasn’t internet-addiction, but a real disorder.

Feng Bujue had found something was wrong with his body around two months ago, and three days after, he confirmed that he had lost his ‘fear’.

No matter how scary the footage or the sound was, it couldn’t stimulate him.

He had begun to watch horror/thriller movies and read novels non-stop in an attempt to use his own imagination to scare himself, yet it all turned out to be useless. It seemed like a gate in his brain was sealed. He understood the jump-scare or the thrilling details of the movies, but he didn’t feel any fear.

For such reason, he decided to pay a visit to a hospital nearby. Well, it would have been alright if he hadn’t gone there, but he had, and they eventually found big trouble. MRI scanning showed a blurred shadow in his brain, near the amygdala (1)—it could possibly be a tumor.

Later on, Feng Bujue had visited many famous hospitals in the country, but still, they couldn’t give him an exact diagnosis. However, there were various treatments.

After having undergone numerous tests and through an innumerable amount of excellent doctors, Feng Bujue understood one thing: his disorder would definitely be recorded in history. Being the first patient, he had two things to consider. The first one, whose name his disorder would be named after, and the second one, after he died, whether he should donate his brain for medical studies or not—it would be his contribution to science.

Two months had gone by and the blurred spot in his brain hadn’t changed a bit. No anomalies, no reduction or disappearance for his sake. The other parts of his body were normal, which even seemed to be much healthier. He had then weighed the pros and cons. After that, he decided to give up on the treatment and discharge himself from the hospital.

The loss of fear was the only symptom of this disease. Moreover, no one could be sure that he would die because of it or when would he die. Geez, just let the fate do its best.

One day, Feng Bujue randomly saw the advertis.e.m.e.nt of the Thriller Paradise- Closed Beta version. The advertis.e.m.e.nt read, "Break the traditional tactics. Bring up the feeling of fear and hopelessness. Fear is like your shadow, chasing after you. We promise to bring an extreme experience you have never had before."

He then studied the rules of the game and watched a detailed advertising video, which was labeled to scare the s.h.!.+t out of the kids. And, he found a link which said, "Selling game cabin, giving away Closed Beta’s account."

(Closed beta is a test version with a limited number of gamers. When the game producer completes this stage, they will release the Open Beta version, which is also the official release.)

There was something weird there, but Feng Bujue just wanted to play "to take a look", mostly to try to get "scared". He just hoped that fortune would s.h.i.+ne on him. By putting himself in a horror environment, perhaps it could stir him up to find his ‘fear’ again.

Of course, this rare symptom of mental disorder had proven that Feng Bujue was a patient, but it wasn’t only the tumor that made him not a ‘normal person’. In fact, before he even got sick, he wasn’t an ordinary person either.

He could even be described as a ‘freak’.

Feng Bujue had many strange features. They were not sort of OCDs (2), but they were weird and unfathomable. First, it was his reading addiction.

Other people would find it weird to explain his thirst of reading. For example, he could read all words that was written on a shampoo bottle, or the manuals of the household electrical devices. In fact, he didn’t even spare the labels of his clothes.

If there were anybody or anything that had formed a relations.h.i.+p of pros and cons with Feng Bujue, they would automatically collect all information related to that person or that object instinctively. Furthermore, besides his reading skill, he had a brilliant memory. It wasn’t as extreme as Zhang Song (3), but what he had seen, no matter how long after that, he could remember at least sixty percent.

"Oh… this clause isn’t much different to that of the other games." Feng Bujue had just spent two minutes to finish the clause of hundreds of thousands of words. "Those lines of the sixth paragraph are somehow special…"

He c.o.c.ked his head as his left palm held his right elbow. The index and middle fingers of his right hand which were placed on his forehead slightly slid along his nose bridge—his familiar gesture when he was thinking. "It means, if the players die because of a heart attack or mental disorder, the company will not take any responsibilities."

He mumbled to himself, as if he had jumped to a conclusion.

Feng Bujue didn’t spare the case that this was a trick of the Dream Inc. He had read about the design of this game on the home page, and the most attractive feature of the game was the "Fear Value".

The Optical Computing program and the game cabin would depend on the stats of heartbeats, pulses and neurons reactions of the player to calculate the degrees of fear. During the game, if the player’s Fear Value had exceeded the limit, the nervous connection would be forced to quit, immediately ending the game. In case that player had a serious health problem such as breathing problem, or the heart stops beating, the cabin would instantly notify the emergency unit.

Anyway, all the connections with the players’ nervous systems were designed to be linked with the police and emergency units. The chances that some players would be scared to death wasn’t big.

After he had selected to continue, Feng Bujue heard another notification from the system. "You have logged in for the first time. Please enter the name of your character."

A blank s.p.a.ce appeared on the screen, where he was supposed to enter his name. Also, there were some restriction terms. For example, the name should have more than four characters, and no vulgar words were allowed.

In the age of the Optical Computing Generation, this restriction had become more accurate. The system intelligence and calculations had reached the peak that gave people gooseb.u.mps. ‘It’ just needed a glossary, even with a common term to allow for its calculation and prevent any violations. Such names like Bo Da Jing Shen (4), or FUC followed by some symbols and then the letter K, etc., those tricks were useless to the Fourth Generation Optical Computer.

Dozens of years ago, people had been worrying that Artificial Intelligence would strike back and enslave human beings, however, up to now, there were no trustworthy information supporting this theory.

In conclusion, Optical Computer was pretty smart. How smart it was, the later parts of this novel would mention.

"Verified. ‘Feng Bujue’ is available. Please confirm."

Feng Bujue’s given name was rare. Of course, it would be available to use. However, he had replaced ‘Feng’ (封) by ‘Feng’ (瘋). On one hand, he didn’t want to use his real name. On the other hand, it was sarcasm that he gave himself. (5)

After he had confirmed, the system notified, "Tutorial for new players will start soon. Players can only play the tutorial once. Scenario will be randomly chosen. When you finish the tutorial, you will receive corresponding rewards. Please be guided that the results of the new player tutorial will not affect the original attributes of your character, only the rewards will differ . If you skip the tutorial because of the high Fear Value, actively disconnect or leave the cabin. The next time you login, you cannot continue the previous scenario. The system will provide you with a new one."

After having listened to the reminder, Feng Bujue touched the confirm b.u.t.ton. Unexpectedly, when his finger just touched the screen, the entire elevator suddenly became pitch black.

In the next second, a voice arose, but it wasn’t the robotic one as that of the system. At this moment, the voice sounded more like an old witch. "Welcome to Thriller Paradise."

As the sound reverberated, the elevator suddenly shook without any prior signs or indications. The interior of the box was so dark that one couldn’t even see their own fingers. It started to move, then it gradually descended.

--------------------------------------------

(1) Amygdala: Part of Limbic System responsible for the response and memory of emotions, especially fear

(2) Obsessive Compulsive Disorders

(2) Zhang Song: Zhang Song (died 213) was an advisor to the warlord Liu Zhang during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He was famous for his excellent memory as he could remember everything he had placed his eyes on.

(3) Bo Da Jing Shen: (lit.) big phallus, deep cave. It is a way of puns using similar sounds. The original phrase is actually a locution, which means wide-ranging and profound knowledge.

(4) Feng (封), the MC’s name, means seal or close off; while the other Feng (瘋) means crazy. Feng Bujue, his nickname in the game means ‘unidentified mental disorder’.