Chapter 48

Being a professional gamer sounds like a dream job, where one can make a living and even achieve fame and fortune by playing games. Who hasn't thought about it?

In 2055, it indeed became a socially recognized profession, with top talents in the industry enjoying the same level of influence as famous athletes.

The age range for professional gamers is between fourteen and thirty-five, though there are younger prodigies. However, some games' age restrictions prevent them from joining.

Generally, professional gamers can be divided into two categories: star players and ordinary blue-collar players.

Star players usually choose to retire around the age of thirty, transitioning to amateur status or stepping back to prepare for management roles in studios. Some move to other positions in the gaming industry, such as commentators, referees, or organizers. A few even become bosses after making substantial profits.

Everyone entering this field dreams of becoming a star player. However, many start in their early teens and work until thirty without achieving much, eventually having to find other ways to make a living. These people can be said to have bet their youth, and only they know the gains and losses. These non-star players form the blue-collar class of the industry, the backbone that keeps the studios running and supports the star players.

The most frustrating aspect of this field is the intense competition.

Any game that becomes popular must have a "competitive" element. If a game lacks any way for players to compete and determine a winner, it won't attract any studios or a large player base.

In multiplayer online games, whether they are competitive or not, there are always ways to compete, such as leveling up, equipping, or player-versus-player (PvP) battles.

The simplest and most straightforward way for a professional gamer to prove their worth is to win.

Unfortunately, there are no invincible champions in this world. No one can win forever.

Factors such as aging, fluctuating competitive states, and the decline of certain games cause many once-revered "gods" to fade from the spotlight. Those who can retire at the peak of their careers are few and far between.

The more elite the game studio, the more brutal the competition. They always need young, fresh blood—players who maintain high competitive states, have a fighting spirit, and can challenge the reigning gods. In short, ambitious geniuses. For example, Ghost Swallow.

This time, Order Studio sent four teams into the Haunted Amusement Park, each consisting of ten players, with one to two star players per team, and the rest being experienced, seasoned blue-collar players.

Ghost Swallow is the only new player under twenty among these four teams.

Order Studio has high hopes for him, which is why he was included in the first batch of players to enter the Haunted Amusement Park. The team leader gave him no specific tasks, allowing him to play as he pleased. However, during a killing game mode, he accidentally encountered a trio led by Fearless Hero and, rather impudently, defeated all the seniors. This reckless act led to his "vacation" from the team, which he deserved.

Of course, Fearless Hero is not among the "strongest" players. Among Order's many star players, his past game achievements and fame do not rank in the top ten. Although his team successfully became the first to reach level twenty during the beta test, Order's true strength goes far beyond that.

Currently, these four teams are just the "pioneers." The studio's strongest players have only registered accounts and set their nicknames but have not logged in. In other words, Order's true experts have not yet been officially dispatched to this project. The studio's management has decided to wait and see, at least until Dream Company opens currency exchange and charging services, before deciding whether to invest their top talent.

After all that, you might be wondering, what about Feng Jue? What about the Nuka City script?

Let me bring the story back in three sections.

Speaking of studios, Feng Jue's script also involves studio members.

However, he does not belong to a high-profile studio like Order. He is the owner, financial manager, and player of a third-rate studio mentioned earlier.

He is Young Master Atobe.

Yes, his studio is called "Ice Emperor."

In real life, Young Master Atobe is twenty-three, having just graduated from university last year. His father runs a factory, and the family has some savings, enough to let him start a game studio. The cost of starting a game studio is not high—just renting a place and buying a few game pods. The human resources are minimal, as his employees are all friends from his student days.

Currently, Young Master Atobe has only three employees: one is "Name Is Hard to Choose," who is in the same script with him, and the other two are "Naming Is Truly Hard" and "Really Hard to Name." Although Young Master Atobe once seriously asked his friends to use nicknames like "Hua Di" or "Ninzu," they refused. When he threatened to cut their pay, they still refused.

Their studio also knows to rotate shifts, so they are divided into two teams. The other two are currently on a break, eating night snacks outside.

In the game, Young Master Atobe's character is a handsome, fair-skinned man with a slim build, not too different from his real appearance, though his face has been slightly altered.

Name Is Hard to Choose is of average build, slightly shorter than Young Master Atobe. His character exudes a disheveled look, fitting his name. He didn't make himself look handsome but instead chose a bald head, saying he wanted to experience being bald in the game.

Young Master Atobe's title seems to be a system's malicious joke, "A Lone Swordsman." He wields a simple saber, a common weapon in martial arts TV shows, with no special attributes or effects, but it is a proper weapon.

In contrast, Name Is Hard to Choose's title is highly recognizable: "Strong on the Outside, Weak on the Inside." His bald, efficient look contrasts sharply with his performance in the game. He doesn't even have a proper weapon, carrying two baseball bats and a rusty iron pipe, likely found somewhere.

Their luck was good, as they landed only a block apart and quickly met up.

Despite their seemingly unreliable appearance, they do have some skills. If they were completely clueless, they wouldn't have a studio. So, Young Master Atobe made a wise decision: ignore the mission and find a gun store to arm themselves first.

The city's condition clearly indicates that the script is set in the evil empire of America. Therefore, there is likely a gun store in the city. Even if it doesn't have heavy weapons, standard pistols, shotguns, rifles, and plenty of ammunition are valuable.

As they moved forward, they encountered small groups of Blood Wolf zombies, but these were not much of a threat. They could easily avoid or dispatch them with a single blow. Although the zombies' movements would speed up when they got close, careful caution and avoiding being surrounded by three or more at once made them easy to kill.

After passing through two blocks, Young Master Atobe entered a phone booth. He picked up the phone, but the line was dead. Even if it worked, he wouldn't know who to call—911? His main purpose was to look through the phone book. After a few minutes, he found the address of the nearest gun store. He and Name Is Hard to Choose (I'll call him Xiao Ming from now on) quickened their pace.

After another ten minutes, they approached the destination but found an unusual scene.

The street was littered with about thirty Blood Wolf zombie corpses, each with a smashed head, leading to the gun store's entrance.

In the middle of the street, in broad daylight, there was a large, cylindrical ice bucket with the Gatorade logo, filled with red liquid. Empty plastic blood bags were scattered on the ground, and the strong, pure smell of blood could be detected from a distance.

Two speakers were placed next to the "blood bucket," playing "The Toreador Song" loudly. The speakers seemed to have been dragged from a nearby audio store, and the power cables extended to an open electrical box on the roadside.

"What's going on?" Xiao Ming asked.

Young Master Atobe was also confused but didn't have time to answer. Suddenly, a Blood Wolf zombie flew out from a corner behind the blood bucket.

Then, a blood-soaked man walked out. He held a dagger in one hand and a wrench in the other, with two strings of garlic slung over his shoulders, forming an X in front of him, both stained with blood.

He danced to the rhythm of the "Toreador Song," similar to the Axe Gang in "Kung Fu," chewing on a white, unidentified object. He approached the fallen zombie and brutally chopped its head, splattering blood and bone.

After killing the zombie, he seemed to notice something and turned to see Young Master Atobe and Xiao Ming, frozen in shock.

"Run!" "Get out of here!" They both shouted and turned to run after a two-second stare at Feng Jue.

Feng Jue didn't waste time, chasing after them. He wanted to shout, "Why are you running? I'm a player!" but his mouth was full of garlic, preventing him from speaking clearly.

On the other side, seeing the agile figure chasing them, Xiao Ming's fear value skyrocketed. He shouted while running, "We're done for... If he catches us, we're dead! It's all your fault! Why did you look for a gun store? Of course, there's a mini-boss at the entrance!"

Young Master Atobe glanced back at the approaching Feng Jue, "It's not my fault! How could I know this would happen?" He looked back again, "By the way... he's running faster than us!"

"I noticed that too! He's ridiculously fast!" Xiao Ming yelled.

Feng Jue, about twenty meters behind them, heard their conversation and thought, "Of course, I have [Jazz Dance] on my feet. You two can't keep up with me."

Suddenly, the two in front of him shouted in unison, "Split up!"

At the next intersection, they went in opposite directions.

Feng Jue thought, "These guys have some tactics!"

Without hesitation, he turned left and followed one of them.

It happened to be Young Master Atobe...

"Oh no... He didn't hesitate at all!" Young Master Atobe muttered, "He ignored the obvious target, the bald guy, and came straight for me. It must be my good looks that got me into trouble."

As Feng Jue got closer, Young Master Atobe's fear value increased. Knowing he was about to be caught, he decided to fight back rather than be killed from behind.

He suddenly stopped, raised his saber, and swung it at the fast-approaching Feng Jue.

"Hey?" When Feng Jue reached him, Young Master Atobe found that his saber wouldn't move; the system had stopped his action.

Feng Jue stopped in front of him, panting heavily, and said, "I... huff... I... am... a... huff... fellow player! You [beep]!"

The word "idiot" was censored, but it showed that Feng Jue didn't mean to insult him, just to express frustration.

"Huh?" Young Master Atobe collapsed to the ground, pale and trembling, "H... h... how... sorry."

; {Piaotian Literature}