Chapter 2

Just now, the series of events that occurred in those few seconds could be considered the game's way of greeting the player at the start of the tutorial.

A normal person would be startled when their surroundings suddenly turn pitch black, and then hearing that bone-chilling voice would certainly make them feel uneasy. At that moment, the elevator suddenly plummeted, even though it was just a brief sensation of falling, it was enough to accelerate one's heartbeat and cause a fright.

However, Feng Jue remained calm and showed no reaction...

After the elevator jolted, it began to move downward at a normal speed. At this point, a game menu automatically appeared before Feng Jue's eyes.

The game menu only appears in the player's visual field and does not illuminate the surroundings. Moreover, browsing the menu is a private action; even if another player is standing next to you, they wouldn't know whether you are looking at the options or just daydreaming.

At this moment, there was no system voice, but Feng Jue saw a text prompt in the menu: [You can open this menu at any time to check your character's attributes, status, equipment, and items.]

Feng Jue noticed that most of the areas in the menu were covered in shadows. Only after the text disappeared did a section in the upper left corner of the menu brighten up, revealing three rectangular bars similar to health bars.

An arrow appeared, pointing to the first bar, which was a green energy bar in a full state. Subsequently, new text appeared: [This is your Survival Value, displayed as a percentage, with the exact number hidden. When your Survival Value reaches 0%, your character is considered dead. Current Survival Value: 100%, Abnormal Status: None.]

The arrow moved to the second energy bar, which was also green but displayed a numerical value: [This is your Stamina Value, which can be seen. Running, walking for a long time, carrying heavy objects, fighting, and using skills will all reduce this value. It can be restored through rest or items. Current Stamina Value: 100/100.]

The third energy bar was empty, and this was the one Feng Jue needed to pay the most attention to: [This is your Fear Value, displayed as a percentage, with no specific number. If your Fear Value exceeds 100% for more than three seconds, your connection to the game will be forcibly disconnected, and your character will be considered dead. Current Fear Value: 0%]

Since he had read the basic settings online before, Feng Jue only glanced at these contents. He thought the other areas of the menu would be unlocked next, but the menu automatically closed after about ten seconds. When he tried to bring it up again, the areas that were previously shadowed remained unchanged.

Clearly, this tutorial was not just about reading text and familiarizing oneself with the interface in a pitch-black elevator. Otherwise, the system wouldn't have mentioned the possibility of the tutorial being interrupted if the Fear Value was too high.

Sure enough, the elevator soon stopped, and the darkness remained. Feng Jue could only hear his own breathing.

Suddenly, the lights flickered on for just a second, and then immediately returned to darkness.

In that one second, an image that would make anyone jump in fright was imprinted on Feng Jue's retina.

You might remember that one wall of the elevator was a mirror. In that brief moment when the lights came back on, Feng Jue saw two figures reflected in the mirror.

One was clearly himself, and the other... although he only caught a glimpse, Feng Jue was almost certain it was a blood-covered, upright creature.

If it had just stayed dark, it would have been better. This deliberate glimpse was worse than not seeing anything at all.

If it were anyone else, they would have screamed by now, either retreating to the corner of the elevator or frantically punching or kicking the spot where the blood-covered figure stood.

Feng Jue, however, stood there expressionless, muttering to himself, "Hmm... Since this is a tutorial, it's unlikely that the game would put the player in a situation where they are guaranteed to die from the start. At most, it might reduce some Survival Value or scare me a bit, and then something will happen to keep the game going."

As he thought this, a sliver of light indeed entered the elevator and quickly expanded. The elevator doors opened on their own, and a musty, decaying smell hit his nose. Outside was a straight corridor with a wooden ceiling, wallpaper on the walls, and a pattern that looked like human eyes. The floor was covered with green carpet, and there were no windows or doors on either side of the corridor, only dim wall lamps spaced at intervals.

The corridor seemed long, and the distant wall lamps appeared as tiny yellow lights. The visible distance was less than twenty meters, and the rest was shrouded in shadow, requiring him to move forward to see clearly.

A normal person would probably have already rushed out of the elevator and started running. Feng Jue, however, was not in a hurry. To him, this dimly lit path might not be any safer than the elevator. Since it was no longer pitch black, he wanted to turn around and see what the shadow beside him was.

When Feng Jue turned around, he saw a blood-covered claw reaching for his face. He ducked, barely avoiding it, and crouched, dashing out of the elevator. Turning back, he finally saw the full appearance of the shadow.

It was a skinless, blood-covered corpse, similar to a human muscle model, but alive and bleeding.

The elevator doors were slowly closing, and the blood corpse tilted its head, grinning, its eyes fixed on Feng Jue. Just as the doors were about to close, it extended a hand and squeezed through.

"According to common sense, I should run away here..." Feng Jue thought, "But this thing doesn't seem too strong. Should I try fighting it?"

At that moment, the blood corpse stepped out of the elevator and roared, swinging its arm to hit the wall. The thick wooden board behind the wallpaper was instantly shattered, and a swarm of cockroaches, about the size of a burlap bag, flowed out like a tide.

"You're tough," Feng Jue said, turning to run.

Since this was a tutorial, it was designed to guide the player forward, not to kill them. The blood corpse's action was actually a waste of time, clearly intended to give the fleeing player more distance. However, the system had also considered other possibilities, such as a player being paralyzed with fear or attempting to fight the blood corpse in a well-lit area. In such cases, the blood corpse's action would make the paralyzed player crawl away and discourage the more aggressive players from fighting.

Of course, if the player was too scared to stand or insisted on fighting to the death, it would likely result in a GAME OVER, and they would have to restart with a new random tutorial script.

"First, I probably can't break through the walls. Second, even if I could, there would be no way out. Third, fighting this monster would mean certain death. Great..." Feng Jue silently organized the information he had confirmed, realizing he had few choices in this tutorial.

After covering a considerable distance, Feng Jue saw the end of the corridor, where there was a thick wooden door.

He turned the doorknob, and it opened! He didn't have time to consider whether the other side was dangerous; he had to go in because the blood corpse was close, and he couldn't afford to delay. At this moment, Feng Jue realized he should have run as soon as the elevator doors opened; that was the usual choice. The brief pause made his current situation much more urgent.

He quickly entered the room and closed the door, finding a metal bar on the back to lock it. Without hesitation, he latched the door, and almost immediately, the thing outside started banging on it.

Feng Jue ignored it and began to look around the room. It was a square room of about sixteen square meters, with no furniture, only one wall lamp and two doors. One door was being hit by the blood corpse, and the other was in the middle of the opposite wall.

He went to the only door that could be used for escape, tried the doorknob, and found it was locked. He kicked the lock, which seemed to have some effect, but his kick wasn't strong enough. He estimated he would need to try a few more times to break it.

At that moment, the game menu appeared again, and another shadowed area was unlocked, showing a number, which was currently 0: [This is your Skill Value, which can be seen. Skill Value can be used as currency and accumulates based on the player's actions. Any action that improves game efficiency will reward Skill Value. Current Skill Value: 0]

"Showing the Skill Value at this point suggests there might be an optional shortcut..." Feng Jue also checked his Fear Value in the menu, which was still 0%, unchanged.

He sighed, turned to look at the door being hit, and saw the metal bar was slightly deformed, indicating it wouldn't hold for long. Under the pressure of a monster that could burst in at any moment, no one could remain as calm as he was.

Feng Jue carefully examined the room again. In this seemingly empty room, there was indeed a clue. At the top of one wall, a corner of the wallpaper was flipped down, not very noticeable but not easily overlooked with careful observation. When Feng Jue stood on tiptoe, he could just reach the corner. He tore off the wallpaper and found a symbol drawn in blood on the wooden board behind it. The symbol was a circle connected to a "卜" shape, resembling a key.

At that moment, a roar and the sound of wood breaking came from behind. Feng Jue turned to see the blood corpse's claw had already punched through the door, waving through a hole the size of a bowl. It was unclear whether the creature's intelligence would allow it to find and lift the metal bar.

This situation clearly indicated that the blood corpse was about to break in, and time was running out, whether he was solving a puzzle or trying to break the door.

Feng Jue quickly hit the wooden board with his elbow, feeling a realistic pain, but the board was brittle and broke with one hit. He expected a swarm of insects to emerge, but there were none, only a bit of dust. Behind the board was a small space, and in the middle lay a key.

When Feng Jue picked up the key, the game menu appeared again, and another shadowed area was unlocked: [You have obtained an item. Since the inventory and equipment slots are not yet open, you can only hold it in your hand or discard it.]

He then saw the item's attributes in the new menu area:

[Name: Rusty Iron Key]

[Type: Consumable]

[Quality: Common]

[Function: Open door locks]

[Can it be taken out of this script: No]

[Note: I think you know what to do.]

Feng Jue felt the note was full of malice, but he didn't have time to think about it. After glancing at the item's attributes, he closed the menu and ran to the locked door. When the door opened, the key disappeared, and the long-awaited system prompt sounded: [You have gained 30 Skill Points. This prompt will only appear once. You can check your Skill Points in the game menu in the future.]

Feng Jue had no time to worry about things he couldn't use at the moment and continued forward. Behind the door was a stone staircase leading upward, with stone walls on both sides and no ceiling, allowing him to see the night sky. The moonlight illuminated the steps clearly. However, he couldn't escape from the top because the stone walls were too high, smooth, and more than two meters apart, clearly designed to prevent him from climbing.

As he climbed the stairs, he checked his Stamina Value, which had dropped to 24/100. He calculated that running several hundred meters after leaving the elevator, kicking the door, smashing the wall, and now climbing the stairs had already consumed three-quarters of his Stamina Value, much faster than he had expected. His Survival Value had also dropped to 98%, indicating that the system had judged the elbow hit to the wall as damage.

The blood corpse broke through the door about five seconds after Feng Jue unlocked it and pursued him, emitting a series of sinister laughs that sounded as if they were right next to his ear, extremely terrifying. However, Feng Jue was completely unaffected by this level of interference.

At the top of the stairs, there was a hill, and a giant sword was embedded in it. Under the moonlight, the sword's blade reflected a cold, eerie glow. When Feng Jue's eyes met the sword, the blood corpse seemed to sense something and increased its speed dramatically, quickly closing the distance.

Feng Jue scrambled to the sword, grabbed the hilt with both hands, and surprisingly, lifted it easily, finding it lighter than it looked.

Turning around, the blood corpse was already close, and a piercing scream pierced his eardrums as a pair of blood-covered claws lunged at him.