Chapter 1

【Welcome to our company's product. The scan has started, please wait.】

【The scan is complete. Confirmed citizen ID: SH13***313, name: Feng Jue; connected device: NL2055 standard single-player game pod; no abnormal external hardware detected; cardiovascular and pulmonary functions are within normal range; neural connection program is ready. Please select the connection type.】

【The connection type is non-sleep mode, adjusting... adjustment complete. Please confirm to load the game or return to the previous menu.】

【Program starting, loading game in ten seconds...】

After the countdown, Feng Jue quickly entered the game world. He found himself in an environment that resembled an elevator, but there were no floor buttons next to the door. On the right wall was a 32-inch touchscreen. The entire wall opposite the door was a full-length mirror, reflecting the player from head to toe.

Feng Jue looked at his reflection in the mirror. He was now a high-pixel 3D CG character. His clothing had changed to a black long-sleeved T-shirt and long pants, nothing special. The game character's face was almost identical to his real-life appearance—just under 1.8 meters tall, with messy hair and slightly feminine facial features.

With the support of fourth-generation optical brain technology, players in neural connection games can experience a realistic five-sense experience, but the game visuals are still limited to CG imagery and cannot simulate real-life environments.

【Welcome to the game login space. Please select from the following game projects provided by Dream Company.】

The system prompt sounded again, and the touchscreen beside him displayed the available options.

"There's only one option, yet they've created this login space... Is this company hinting that they'll release many more games in the future..." Feng Jue thought to himself as he tapped the only game project on the screen—Horror Park.

【Players logging into this game must be 16 years or older. Our company does not recommend this project for users with heart or mental health issues, or those with a history of such conditions.】

This message appeared on the screen, and the system voice repeated it. Then, three icons appeared on the screen: one for "Confirm Login," another for "Cancel," and a third, prominently displayed, for "Related Disclaimer."

"Mental health issues..." Feng Jue muttered to himself. "I should probably take a look." He selected the third option, and a dense wall of text immediately appeared on the screen. A quick glance at the scrollbar revealed that the disclaimer was extremely long.

Most people, when playing games, would either close such agreements or skim through them, scroll to the bottom, and click "Agree."

But Feng Jue was not an ordinary person...

He was 24 years old, a mystery novelist, and his hobby was to shamelessly call himself an "artist" or a "great writer" when asked about his profession. However, these were not the main points; let's first discuss his unusual traits.

First, his initial reason for playing this game was to "treat" a condition. Of course, this condition was not internet addiction but a real illness.

About two months ago, Feng Jue suddenly noticed something abnormal about himself. After about three days of observation, he confirmed that he had lost the ability to feel fear.

No matter how terrifying the sounds or images, they could not affect him. He watched horror movies and read horror novels day and night, trying to scare himself with his imagination, but it was all in vain. It was as if a door in his brain had closed. He knew exactly what elements were scary and understood the points where horror movies were meant to scare, but he simply could not feel fear.

So, he went to a nearby hospital. If he hadn't gone, he might have missed a major issue. An MRI revealed a blurry shadow in his brain, near the amygdala, which could be a tumor.

Later, Feng Jue visited three or four of the top hospitals in the country, but none could provide a definitive diagnosis. The proposed treatments varied widely. After countless tests and consultations with numerous renowned doctors, Feng Jue realized that his condition was likely to be historic. As a patient, he had two things to consider: first, which doctor should have the naming rights for this condition, and second, whether to donate his brain to medical research after death, contributing to the scientific field.

Two months passed, and the shadow in Feng Jue's brain remained unchanged, neither worsening nor shrinking. His overall health was normal, even excellent. After careful consideration, he refused treatment and was discharged from the hospital.

Since the loss of fear was his only symptom, and no one could clearly explain whether he would die or how long he had left, he decided to leave it to fate.

One day, Feng Jue came across an advertisement for the beta test of Horror Park. The ad read, "Break the traditional game model, immerse yourself in despair, shock, and relentless terror, and experience an unprecedented game." He then checked the game's setting description, watched a well-produced trailer that claimed to have scared children, and noticed the link for "Buy the new game pod, get a beta test account."

Thus, although it seemed bizarre, Feng Jue's purpose for entering the game was not just to "play" but primarily to be "scared." He had a "treat the dead as if they were alive" attitude, hoping that the immersive horror experience might help him regain his sense of fear.

Of course, having such a peculiar mental condition only made Feng Jue a patient. The reason he was not an "ordinary person" went beyond his brain tumor. Even before he developed this condition, he was already different—what some might call a "weirdo."

Feng Jue had many peculiar traits, none of which reached the level of obsessive-compulsive disorder, but most were quite perplexing. One such trait was his reading compulsion...

His desire to read was beyond comprehension. For example, he would read the text on shampoo packaging; he could read the entire user manual for household appliances from start to finish without missing a word; and he even read the tags he cut off new clothes.

Whenever something or someone had a stake in his life, he would instinctively gather all related information. He did not just read casually; he had an extraordinary reading and memory ability. While not as impressive as the ancient scholar Zhang Song, who could memorize and recite everything he read, Feng Jue could recall at least 60% of what he read, even after a long time.

"Hmm... It's similar to other game agreements." Feng Jue finished reading the thousands of words in the terms and conditions in two minutes. "The only particularly unique part is the few clauses in the sixth paragraph..." He slightly lowered his head, resting his right elbow on his left hand, and placed his index and middle fingers on his forehead, then gently slid them down his nose, a habit he had when thinking. "In other words... if a player dies from a heart attack or if a mental illness is triggered, it's not the company's responsibility." He summarized.

Feng Jue thought it was also possible that this clause was a marketing gimmick by Dream Company. He had seen the game's setting on the official website, and the game's main selling point was the concept of "fear value." Using the optical brain and game pod, the game could monitor the player's heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, and brain nerve reactions in real-time to measure the level of fear. If the player's fear value exceeded the critical point, the neural connection would be forcibly disconnected, and the player would be immediately logged out. If the player's condition was severely abnormal, such as a stopped heartbeat or suffocation after logging out, the game pod would immediately notify an ambulance. Since all neural connection networks were linked to the police and emergency services, the possibility of being scared to death should be minimal.

After clicking to continue, Feng Jue heard the system prompt again: 【This is your first login. Please enter the nickname you will use in the game.】

An input area appeared on the screen, along with some restrictions, such as the nickname needing to be more than four characters and not using profanity or sensitive words. In the era of optical brains, such restrictions were even more stringent. The system's intelligence and computational power were so advanced that it could autonomously reason and restrict any borderline behavior. For example, names like "Big Dick" or adding symbols after "FUC" and "K" to bypass filters were ineffective against fourth-generation optical brains. Over a decade ago, there were concerns that such AI might turn against and enslave humans, but so far, there has been no reliable evidence to support this.

In short, the optical brain's intelligence was very strong, and the specifics of its capabilities would be elaborated on later...

【Verification complete. Nickname "Mad Jue" can be used. Please confirm.】

Feng Jue's real name was quite obscure and could have been used, but he replaced "Feng" with "Mad" to avoid using his real name and to add a touch of self-deprecating humor.

After confirming, the system voice said: 【Next, you will go through the new player tutorial. This tutorial can only be completed once, and the script is randomly generated. After completion, you will receive the corresponding initial rewards. Note that the results of the tutorial will not affect your character's initial attributes; only the rewards will differ. If you interrupt the tutorial due to high fear value, voluntarily disconnect, or leave the game pod, you will not be able to continue the original script when you log in next time. A new tutorial will be generated for you.】

Feng Jue listened to the prompt and reached out to confirm the option. However, just as his finger touched the icon on the touchscreen, the entire elevator space suddenly went pitch black.

The next second, a voice different from the mechanical system voice echoed, sounding like an old witch: "Welcome to Horror Park..."

As soon as the voice finished, the elevator space jolted unexpectedly. Then, this pitch-black box began to move, slowly descending.