"Feng Bujue, Level 27.
"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." The familiar greeting began again.
"Download complete. You are currently playing Solo Survival Mode (Nightmare). A scenario introduction is provided in this mode, and there is a chance of triggering a side or hidden mission and special world-building.
"Reward for clearing the scenario: A draw of random puzzle card.
"Playing the scenario introduction soon. The game will start right after."
Tzk! Tzk!
When the cinematic began, it was accompanied by this sound. It sounded like something rubbing against the ground. Feng Bujue was first greeted with darkness, and several seconds later, a gap opened in the middle like he was opening his eyes. It expanded until he could see things clearer; however, the scene was still blurry.
A small, slender figure appeared in his sight. The person was turned away from him. From his frame, it looked like a man. He wore a shirt and suspenders dirtied by blood as he walked to Feng Bujue, and Feng Bujue, or rather the character that Feng Bujue was playing, was lying on the ground. The figure was dragging him down a corridor by his leg.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine… Something must be wrong… but I will figure out a way…" the person before him said as if to himself. Feng Bujue had no control over his body and could not turn the scene around. Since this was just the introductory cinematic, he was watching something someone else had experienced from a first-person perspective. About thirty seconds later, the person stopped before a steel door at the end of the corridor. The scene shook twice before focusing on the ceiling. Then the sound of the small person leaving the room and the door being locked came. The man was repeating the same thing as he left the room.
"Important hint: you are unable to use consumables in this scenario. In other words, tools and equipment that use consumables like batteries and ammo are also not usable."
What the f*ck? Feng Bujue cursed internally. You haven't told me anything, and you've already slapped me with such a harsh limitation!
It was too early for him to curse because, the next second, the scenario officially started. There was no introduction at all.
Feng Bujue's perspective continued from where the cinematic ended. He was lying on the ground, facing the ceiling. The moment he regained his mobility, a gut-wrenching pain seared through all parts of his body. The pain was hard to describe, like every bone in his body was broken. There were patches of burnt skin, and there were worms crawling in the wounds.
Of course, the sensation of pain was weakened by the system. As mentioned earlier, the player would not feel pain greater than a hammer accidentally banging on one's thumb to prevent the possibility of fainting. However, even though the intensity of pain was limited, the form of pain varied. For example, Feng Bujue had not experienced anything like this pain in real life. Even though he was one with a great pain tolerance, he felt like surrendering at that moment.
"Main quest activated. Find a way to stop the Life Points from depleting."
When Feng Bujue heard the message, he instantly opened the menu to study it closer. At the same time, he saw that his Life Points were decreasing by one percent every second.
What kind of f*cking scenario is this‽
Feng Bujue sat up while gritting his teeth. Just that movement caused a searing pain to come down his spine. A dull pain spread through his back and the muscles in his arms. He quickly looked around. He tried to ignore the pain and focus to ensure that his brain was turning. He could not use consumables in this scenario, so it meant that he could not use potions to recover. It wasted the five Life Points Recovery Potions that he had bought at the market before entering the scenario. Theoretically speaking, Feng Bujue only had one minute and forty seconds to complete this quest.
"Way to stop the bleeding… way to stop the bleeding…" Feng Bujue repeated this. It helped him focus better. He looked around the cell. There were no windows, only a door. The door was made from steel, and there was a small window on top. The light from the corridor shone in from there, casting the cell in a blurry state. There was a rectangular opening at the bottom of the door where food could be pushed in. The walls of the cell were made from bricks, and they looked sturdy. The ceiling and floor were covered in cement. There was a simple bed next to the wall. The bedsheet had lost its original color due to the blood stains. There was no pillow on the bed. The four posts were too high off the ground, and it was barely large enough to fit one person. The frame was made from iron, and it was welded to the wall, so it could not be moved.
In the furthest corner from the door was a blue plastic pail. From the smell that came from it, it was probably the toilet. In another corner of the room was a wooden cupboard about one meter tall. From top to bottom, there were three drawers. Once he saw the cupboard, Feng Bujue rushed toward it. No matter what, in those circumstances, what the player had to do was open the drawers. The top drawer had a dirty bar of soap. Even though it was dirty, the soap looked complete. It had a perfectly rectangular shape like it had just been cut out from the mold.
The purpose of this item was unknown. There was no water in the room. Refuse was collected in the pail, so naturally, there was no water faucet. What was the purpose of a bar of soap then? For the prisoner to wash their hands? Feng Bujue did not have time to study the item. He placed the soap on the top of the cupboard and opened the second drawer. The second drawer was more interesting. A candle sat inside it. It was white, about fifty centimeters long, and wider than a person's finger.
"What's this? There's soap but no water. There's a candle but no match… Even Saw is more relaxed than this," Feng Bujue said as he placed the candle at the top of the cupboard before moving to the third drawer. The last drawer had something surprising. It was a small, wooden comb.
"Ha… hahaha…" Feng Bujue laughed drily. He had forgotten, or rather he had gotten used to, the pain. Compared to the discomfort, these three things made him more annoyed. "Fine… there's no hint at all, what should I do then?"
One minute had passed by then. Feng Bujue had about thirty-nine percent of Life Points left, so he had thirty-eight seconds to figure something out.
"A player can't remove their clothes in-game, so the solution of shoving the candle up one's backside might not be feasible…" Feng Bujue scratched his chin. "Eat the soap? Eat the candle?"
His eyes moved to the pail.
"Or eat sh*t?"
He shook his head. "None of these seem to have anything to do with Life Points."
With that in mind, his eyes moved back to the small comb he was holding.
"Even though I can't see the logic in this, the only thing I can do is use the items one by one… starting with the simplest."
He used the comb to comb his hair twice. Before he finished the second comb, the system rang. "Current quest completed. Main quest updated."
The Life Points stopped dropping. Feng Bujue had twenty-six percent of his Life Points left; that was the third time he had started a scenario with only one-third of his Life Points.
There was a tick next to the earlier quest, and the new quest read, "Escape the room."
"Huh?" Feng Bujue looked at the comb he was holding. "Even though this precludes me from trying weird stuff, that is too…"
He suddenly noticed something as he pulled the comb closer to his eyes. Upon closer inspection, he saw two small letters carved into the comb, A.A.
"Hmm… this looks like limited edition," Feng Bujue commented half-jokingly. He took the three items and sat down by the bed. He placed them all on the bed and picked up each one to study them closer.
Following the completion of the earlier quest, Feng Bujue's pain lessened slightly. Even though there was still pain, it was much better than before. If there was a comparison, it was the difference between hanging and wearing a choker…
He studied the items for six minutes. There was nothing special about the soap; it was plain and did not smell that fancy. It felt like the most primitive kind of soap. The candle was normal top; neither of them were carved.
"Hmm… it seems the only special thing is the comb." He picked up the comb again and looked at it from all angles. Other than the A.A, he noticed something else. There was hair left on the comb. It was blond, short hair.
"The man that dragged me here had brown hair…" Feng Bujue combed his memory. "This has been used by other prisoners in this room…"
His eyes moved around. When his gaze fell on the wall next to the bed, he noticed something else…
"Hmm, looks like this place has kept plenty of people in the past…"
