Chapter 2: Abyss Paradise, Activated!

Su Qi returned home and cooked a bowl of noodles.

He didn't like soup noodles; the essence of noodles lay in dry mixing, where each strand could be coated with the sauce, blending into a rich flavor.

He carried the bowl to his computer screen.

He began browsing the official forum of "Abyss Paradise."

It had to be said that the game was incredibly popular, with over three million followers even before the public beta test.

Some posts complained about the Magic Cube Company's greed, bundling the game pod and the game for sale, and only allowing the playing of "Abyss Paradise," which was quite expensive.

But others quickly came to its defense.

"Where is it expensive? Don't make things up, sometimes you should look at your own reasons."

"Play it or don't, but those who don't play Abyss are destined to have a failed life."

"The game hasn't even been released, yet there are so many suck-ups." Su Qi directly skipped over the useless and chaotic posts.

He read some valuable content, which was roughly as follows.

"Abyss Paradise" had undergone a six-month closed beta test, and many beta testers posted on the forum, seemingly forming factions and gathering new players who knew nothing.

Additionally,

The game's structure was extremely vast. According to insiders at Magic Cube Company, the game offered an unlimited number of副本 worlds for players to explore, with infinite possibilities, and the hated cheats in other games would absolutely not appear in "Abyss Paradise."

"Is that so, 0 cheats, then I guess I have to play it. I hate cheaters the most."

---

On the day of the public beta test, in the morning.

Su Qi got up early to run, took a shower, and had breakfast.

Then he lay down in the game pod, feeling refreshed, and prepared to enter the game.

He knocked on the narrow pod wall and, watching the automatically closing door, said, "The person who designed the game pod must have worked in a funeral home before. This feels no different from lying in a coffin in a haunted house."

[Neural connection in progress]

[Connection successful]

[Welcome, Player 985211, to our product]

[Please note, during the game, you may experience nausea, dizziness, or other discomforts, and your emotions may be negatively affected. Please bear the consequences yourself. If you experience any discomfort, stop the game immediately and seek medical help]

[Enjoy your game]

After a brief moment of disorientation,

Su Qi appeared in a dark room. Apart from the system messages, everything else was pitch black.

Strange and chaotic sounds came from outside the room, with monsters roaring and eerie laughter.

He listened to the continuous eerie sounds: "Is this personal login space designed to make players feel like they're in the scene, or to create a scary atmosphere?"

Ordinary people might indeed feel panicked and stay still in the light.

Su Qi, however, walked over in the dark, trying to open the door to investigate, but the doorknob wouldn't turn.

A message popped up in front of him.

[This area is not open]

He could only knock on the door: "The effect is enough, it's too noisy."

Whether it was because the game heard Su Qi or due to its design,

The sounds outside the room soon faded away.

[Please enter your game nickname]

Su Qi hadn't considered using his real name. After a moment of thought, he made a decision.

[Nickname confirmed: Su Buxian]

[Confirmation successful]

[Player Su Buxian, do you want to immediately enter the solo instance? Entering the instance will unlock the character panel]

"Yes."

The next moment,

The system light disappeared, and the entire room fell into complete darkness.

A faint sobbing sound came from the darkness.

It seemed far away but suddenly approached his ear, like a hoarse voice from a burned throat:

"Welcome, to the Abyss."

After a brief wait, the darkness receded like a tide.

Su Qi, with a dark face, touched his ear: "Scaring me is one thing, but why so close? And why does it feel like I was licked?"

He looked up.

The original login space had turned into a wooden house.

The wooden house was quite dark, with a few rays of sunset shining through the gaps in the wooden door, illuminating the dirty floor.

Dirty?

Su Qi looked down. There seemed to be dried liquid on the floor, flies buzzing around, and a hard-to-describe smell quickly reached his nose.

Before he could see the full picture of the wooden house,

His vision suddenly blurred, and the introduction CG of the instance slowly appeared, with a cold voice in his ear.

[Your car broke down due to a flat tire, stranded on a desolate roadside. With no other options, you were invited by a passerby to his home]

[His home is in a remote town nearby. The town has few residents, but everyone you meet is very friendly. You decide to stay overnight and deal with your car the next day]

[However, subtle clues make you uneasy]

The CG showed the scenes along the way: thorny bushes, a church for prayer, and the friendly smiles on everyone's faces.

The next moment, the mission prompt appeared.

[Mission: Escape the town or survive for three hours]

Su Qi watched as the scene slowly disappeared, and he finally had the chance to look around the wooden house.

The wooden house had only a bed, with not much else.

It seemed to be a temporary accommodation for visitors, but it was clear he wasn't the only outsider to come here.

Su Qi touched the dried liquid on the floor and sniffed it.

"Disinfectant, but not just that."

There was a faint, unmasked stench of decay, though he didn't see anything.

Su Qi's gaze suddenly paused.

A small question mark was quietly sitting in the corner by the bed.

"Sure enough, it's here in the game too."

He walked over and saw the message.

[This plank is loose]

Su Qi lifted the plank, his eyebrows raised, and saw a shocking sight.

There was a hidden compartment below, filled with skulls, some of which were not fully decomposed, with more flesh on them than the pork ribs at the neighborhood butcher's.

He pinched his nose, almost overwhelmed by the stench.

"In other words, all the outsiders invited here were killed here."

Su Qi's eyes were sharp, and he noticed a plastic bag in one of the chests. He reached out and pulled it out.

The plastic bag was covered in blood.

When he opened it, he found a small voice recorder and a work badge inside.

"Looks like a journalist, who also stumbled upon this place."

Su Qi skipped the earlier recordings and went straight to the last day.

The voice recorder soon played a man's voice.

[6:26 PM, really bad luck, my car broke down, and I had no choice but to stay in this remote town. The townspeople are very friendly and even brought me dinner, which was delicious]

[7:00 PM, when I was about to go out, the friendly neighbor, Mary, seemed to be waiting for me and took me on a tour. I found that a town with less than fifty people actually has a church, and the patterns on it gave me a familiar feeling, but I can't quite remember]

[7:40 PM, the sun has set, and the townspeople seem to go to the church for prayer at this time. It's a bit strange, but it's their custom]

[7:47 PM, I can't stand the smell of dead rats in the wooden house anymore. Don't they notice? I wanted to mention it, but seeing their hospitality, I couldn't bring myself to say it. I'll clean it up myself]

The recording didn't end, and it was clear he had discovered the source of the stench, creaking the floor.

Su Qi already knew what would happen next.

After opening it,

"Snap!"

The voice recorder dropped with a clear sound, followed by his terrified, trembling voice: [Oh my God, what the hell is this!?!]

The recording ended there.

Clearly, he had discovered the hidden skull cache.

Su Qi moved to the last recording, which was at 8:00 PM.

The voice recorder played a trembling, clearly desperate and terrified voice, very different from the beginning.

[Why are there so many bodies here? They are... I remember now, the pattern! Damn, damn! Everyone here is an evil cultist, and every outsider is sacrificed to the devil]

This person tried to escape, with hurried footsteps, but suddenly stopped, as if seeing something terrifying outside the window.

[They... have finished praying, all holding torches, standing outside the wooden house]

The voice became weaker and weaker, trembling and emitting a final, desperate sound.

[I can't escape]

[Click!]

The sound of the wooden house door opening came from the voice recorder.

At the same time,

Su Qi heard the same sound from the door behind him.

"Click."

(End of Chapter)