Chapter 122
Chapter 122
This scene was the final image that the scenario left for Feng Bu Jue. As soon as he finished watching it, he was teleported away. Back in the Login Space, a touchscreen interface appeared, displaying the completion summary.
[Scenario completed, calculating rewards.]
[Gained experience points: 5,000, game currency: 50,000]
[Gained item/equipment: None]
[Completed/Accepted tasks: 3/6]
[Special/hidden tasks completed: 0, Unlocked world view: None]
[Terror Value surge: 0 times, Maximum Terror Value: 0%, Average Terror Value: 0%]
[Your fear rating is Fearless. Eligible for an additional reward. Please select later.]
[Gained skill points: 500]
[Skill points bonus experience: 5,000, game currency: 50,000]
[Scenario clearance reward: puzzle piece card*2]
[Settlement completed. Proceed.]
"Hey! This isn't just screwing me over, right?" Feng Bu Jue wasn't particularly concerned about the settlement data on the screen after his teleportation. Instead, he couldn't help shouting, "This ending isn't even better than a subtitle saying 'Hirata Shuichi dies peacefully in prison'? That standard horror-movie ending with a shocking twist was way too depressing! If I think about it normally, didn't this ending basically turn into... college graduate Hirata and Mei Ka Zi returning to their hometown to get married, only to be killed by ghosts? Are you serious?!"
He exhaled sharply at the screen, blowing off steam. Even though he'd cleared the scenario, he felt no relief or sense of accomplishment for beating a Nightmare difficulty scenario—only a lingering depression.
But Feng Bu Jue was Feng Bu Jue. He quickly calmed himself. As a young man who'd weathered storms and setbacks before, he could definitely accept occasionally encountering a distressing game. He imagined himself as a speck of dust in the mundane world, inhaling deeply, then exhaling just as deeply...
"Ah... I guess I should still look on the bright side. For Nightmare difficulty Singleplayer Survival Mode (Common), the skill points bonus experience and game currency after clearing are on par with Team Survival Mode standards..." He mused. "And I can pull for Equipment again. Better to forget that ominous ending as soon as possible."
Truthfully, throughout the entire scenario, Feng Bu Jue's successful clearance was somewhat of a fluke. This scenario was littered with "Instant-Death Flags"—plot developments that immediately ended the game upon triggering. The early black-and-white world was already a severe test of the player's Terror Value. Even though Feng Bu Jue lacked fear, as someone who'd experienced normal fear responses for his past twenty-three years, he knew those events were genuinely terrifying—he just hadn't reacted the way he should have. If it were another player, they might've made wrong choices due to fear-induced panic.
Since the system generated scenarios based on player characteristics, excluding the tutorial, every time Feng Bu Jue entered Singleplayer Survival Mode (Common), he faced puzzle-solving scenarios. These came with tension and horror elements constantly interfering. Fair combat opportunities were practically nonexistent, while one-hit-kill flags were everywhere.
Soon, Feng Bu Jue realized belatedly that relying on his unique trait of not increasing Terror Value to farm experience in solo mode... might not be as simple as he'd thought. Earning experience required clearing the scenario in the first place. If he died in solo mode, he got zero experience. Conversely, spending the same amount of time in a Team Scenario meant even if he died mid-game, as long as his teammates cleared it, he'd still receive experience proportional to his contribution. Comparing the two, obviously playing in a team mode offered more stable rewards. Team mode had higher personal error tolerance—for example, in the Hunter's Island scenario, five players with one disconnecting and another throwing kills, they still managed to clear it.
...
Familiar white light coalesced. Two cards materialized inside the glass column. Puzzle piece cards only had names, with no detailed item descriptions. Feng Bu Jue picked up the two randomly obtained cards and glanced at them. They were [Puzzle Piece Card: Sunglasses] and [Puzzle Piece Card: Spinning]. They seemed completely unrelated. If he combined them with the original [Puzzle Piece Card] he already had...
The image that came to Feng Bu Jue's mind was that of a monkey wearing sunglasses, standing on one foot, spinning in place.
"Hmm... this probably won't work", he thought.
Still, since the deck-building system had already opened, he decided to try on a whim. He took out the [Puzzle Piece Card: Monkey] from his warehouse, held it together with the two new cards, opened the menu, and selected the "Combination" option.
The system prompt he received was: [No valid sequence detected]. In other words, no matter how he combined any two or all three of these cards, they couldn't be recognized as a set.
Feng Bu Jue then simply stored all three cards into his warehouse. After all, the ten storage slots in his warehouse were just sitting idle anyway.
"After all, building a deck can 100% exchange for Fine-Grade or higher Equipment. It's definitely not that easy to complete a set", Feng Bu Jue reasoned.
He'd previously searched for decks in the mall's auction house but hadn't found a single one. It might be because the Open Beta had just started, and puzzle piece cards were inherently rare, leaving no stock available. Alternatively, players might be keeping an eye out for these cards, considering them one of the effective ways to obtain Flawless-Grade or higher Equipment. Selling them would be a loss. Another possibility was... any puzzle piece card listed would instantly get snatched up at the asking price, which was why Feng Bu Jue hadn't seen any while browsing the auction house.
In any case, Feng Bu Jue himself wouldn't easily sell his puzzle piece cards. He mainly found the deck-building system interesting and wanted to create a set just to take a look.
"Alright, I refuse to believe I could be so unlucky to pull a child's baseball bat twice in a row!" With that bloodthirsty thought, he strode toward another glass column. Without even waiting for the system prompt, he readily selected the Equipment reward.
This time, the white light definitely didn't converge into a child's baseball bat, nor was it a stone. But from the outline of the Equipment, Feng Bu Jue already felt uneasy...
[Name: Eighteen Bronze Warriors' Foldable Stool (No.5)]
[Type: Weapon]
[Quality: Tattered]
[Attack Power: Weaker]
[Attribute: None]
[Special Effect: When attacking humanoid creatures, it will never break and has a certain chance to inflict the bleed effect on the target.]
[Background: Folding stools can be hidden in civilian homes, ready to be grabbed at any moment. They can also be sat on, concealing deadly intent. Since they aren't classified as weapons, even if caught by the police, they can't charge you. Revered as the number one weapon in urban combat arsenals.]
The stool's seat was round and black, with a ladder-shaped iron frame below. Its appearance definitely matched the game's description of the "Tattered" quality—old, flawed, but still better than nothing.
(End of Chapter)
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