Chapter 72

The space before him was even narrower than a storage room, only slightly larger than an elevator. The ceiling was white, casting a soft white light from above; the floor was a black and white checkerboard pattern, like a chessboard; the strangest thing was that, except for the elevator door, all the walls around were made of various distorted mirror surfaces, similar to funhouse mirrors.

In the mirrors, numerous images of Feng Bujue appeared, all bizarre and distorted. Not only were their forms twisted, but it seemed that even their facial expressions and auras were altered by these mirrors. In these mirrors, one could see joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, greed, hatred, delusion, and folly... as if each distorted reflection in the mirrors represented an emotion or desire.

"I thought it would be a large public space like the mall," Feng Bujue muttered to himself, his gaze already drawn to the only item in the room.

In the center of the room, on the floor, sat a large box, a square, colorful gift box about a meter on each side.

"So... if I open it, a clown with a spring for a lower body will suddenly jump out and scare me, right..." Feng Bujue shrugged and smiled, walking closer.

At that moment, a system prompt sounded: [In front of the Scare Box, you can open a specific menu to browse its items.]

"Ah... so it's just for show, huh." Feng Bujue opened the system menu with a slight disappointment.

The number of items in the menu was surprisingly large, with over four thousand items, all of which were at least of Fine quality.

The internal test lasted only two days, equivalent to fifty hours of real time, providing five hundred hours of game time in sleep mode and one hundred hours in non-sleep mode, totaling twenty-five days of virtual time.

During this period, each randomly generated script contained one or two items that players could not take out, as well as countless items of Fine quality or higher that existed in the scripts but were never discovered by players before the end.

These items, after certain attribute adjustments, were now all available in the Scare Box.

The public beta started at 8:00 AM, and from then on, all items in the Scare Box began their destruction countdown. By now, over six hours had passed, and all items generated during the internal test now displayed [Remaining Existence Time: 6 days 17 hours 38 minutes]. Items generated after the public beta also began their countdown based on the real-time end of the script.

Out of curiosity, Feng Bujue searched for the item he had used once, [Blood Zombie Must Die], and indeed found it, though its equipment conditions had clearly changed.

[Name: Blood Zombie Must Die]

[Type: Weapon]

[Quality: Fine]

[Attack Power: Strong]

[Attributes: None]

[Special Effect: Dissolves Blood Zombies when attacked]

[Equipment Conditions: Combat Proficiency D, Level 18]

[Note: This sword is an early work of the legendary dwarf craftsman "Oar All Must Die." A cunning goblin merchant acquired this sword from Oar with a few bottles of a drink called "Erguotou." Half a month later, Oar created "Goblin Must Die."]

As a weapon with a strong special effect and high attack power, the equipment conditions were quite reasonable. A player of level 18 with Combat Proficiency D, regardless of their equipment, should be able to defeat a Blood Zombie in a one-on-one fight, though it wouldn't be easy. With this sword, however, it would be much simpler, allowing for a nearly damage-free kill.

The price of this weapon was exactly what Feng Bujue expected for such a low-level item, 300 Skill Points, and this slightly narcissistic guy couldn't help but indulge in a few seconds of self-satisfaction.

However, Feng Bujue didn't plan to buy it. After all, it was a weapon with a specific counter, and the probability of encountering Blood Zombies in various scripts was only about one in ten. It would likely rot on the auction house...

He adjusted the menu by time, starting from the first page. Then... his reading habit made it hard for him to stop. The quality of the items here was higher than in the auction house, and he was afraid of missing out on anything good.

The more he scrolled, the more excited and surprised Feng Bujue became. Although [Legendary] quality items were still rare, there were a few [Perfect] quality items. Of course, their prices, in the thousands of Skill Points, were only for his eyes. These items might have only appeared in CG scenes in the scripts or been held by bosses, and at most, like [Blood Zombie Must Die], they might have been used by players once before the script ended. But in the end, they all ended up in the Scare Box, awaiting destruction.

Therefore, it was possible for items like the Xuanyuan Sword or the Blade of Aesir to appear in the Scare Box. As long as players had enough Skill Points, they could buy them, though whether they could equip them was another matter. Skill Points couldn't be bought with money; the only way to obtain them was through combat skills or intelligence in the scripts. Players with a large number of Skill Points were likely to be quite powerful.

Feng Bujue stood there for a full hour, completely giving up on the idea of selling the items for money. He thought: Is it crazy to set up a function in the Scare Box to exchange Skill Points for money? The system's exchange rate is only 1:10, and it's a one-way exchange. This is a rip-off! 1000 Skill Points can only be exchanged for 10,000 game coins, which is equivalent to about five yuan, but can five yuan buy 1000 Skill Points? Even players at level 50 with all their skills at Perfect and excess Skill Points wouldn't bother with this exchange. They could use their extra Skill Points to buy equipment and put it up for auction. Who would use precious Skill Points to directly exchange for game coins?

Not just Feng Bujue, but many people had complained about this setting on the forums that morning. Of course, this wasn't a big deal; the system didn't force players to make this exchange. If they thought it was a bad deal, they could simply not do it.

Dream Company had not responded to the complaints, ignoring them. It wasn't until the second Monday of May, after more than a month, and several changes in the exchange rate, that the mainstream player base became familiar with the market, and the prices in the auction house stabilized. Dream Company then changed the exchange rate for Skill Points to money.

By then, the players in the Horror Park were roughly divided into three tiers: the upper tier, the middle tier, and the lower tier.

The upper tier players were generally around level 30, with very clear specialization and advanced combinations of equipment and skills. They had their own strategies and titles that matched their abilities. With their experience and skills, they could lead any middle-tier player team. A player like this, even if they didn't voice opinions, could play a significant role by simply doing their part.

The middle tier players were the mainstream, ranging from professional players to more casual players who logged in regularly. Some had the potential to reach the upper tier, but their understanding of the game was not as deep as the upper tier, affecting their character's strength and script completion rate. These players were the typical "players," sometimes surprising everyone, sometimes making mistakes, sometimes blaming teammates, and sometimes being blamed. Most of them considered themselves skilled but couldn't figure out the gap between themselves and the top players. Over time, they developed a mindset: the strongest players in the game were either richer or had more game time.

This mindset had some truth to it but was only part of the reason.

Feng Bujue had once analyzed what conditions a player needed to be among the top in a game with significant technical content, listing seven:

Knowledge, strategy, luck, determination, will, courage, and talent.

Although some of these were innate and uncontrollable, this was reality. Games and sports were similar in many ways; only hardworking geniuses could become legends.

Finally, the lower tier players could be summarized in three points: 1) new players who had just joined the game; 2) casual players who logged in irregularly; 3) players with a combat skill of only 5.

This was the lowest tier, and their strength was evident. The first two types might move up after some time, but the third type was more unfortunate... everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and this principle also applied to the game.

A month later, the layout of the Horror Park was roughly as described. These details were mentioned to preview two upcoming events.

The first event, in late May, would be a competition. Due to the large number of players, qualifications for the preliminary rounds would require certain conditions, and the lowest tier players would likely not have a chance...

The second event, after hearing this, you might naturally assume that Feng Bujue was among the top players. But... no.

He belonged to the fourth category of players, a group so small that it couldn't be called a "group." In a game with millions of registered users, there were only a few dozen such players. Their levels might not be the highest, but they were frequent entries on the power rankings.

In the later competition, Dream Company simply canceled the preliminary rounds for these players, directly placing them in the finals and giving them a bye in the first few rounds. Although this was called a black box or unfair competition by many, in reality, Dream Company was protecting the players... facing them in the preliminary or early finals would have been unfair.

...

Returning to the story, Feng Bujue spent over an hour looking at the equipment, finally feeling satisfied.

In the Scare Box menu, each page displayed one hundred items, showing only the name, type, and price. Clicking on an item would reveal more detailed information.

Feng Bujue naturally couldn't check every item, only focusing on those that interested him, and quickly scanning the rest. Some pages he skipped in just ten seconds. Even so, it took him a long time, indicating that there were indeed many interesting items.

After finishing, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and organized his thoughts. Then he used the search function to find an item he had specifically noted:

[Name: Casey Jones' Mask]

[Type: Armor]

[Quality: Fine]

[Defense: Moderate]

[Attributes: None]

[Special Effect: When equipped, the player's Combat Proficiency is considered one level higher than their actual level, but not exceeding C]

[Equipment Conditions: Male player, Level 15, binds upon equipping]

[Note: The owner of this mask spends his days with four pizza-loving, sewer-dwelling mutant turtles. As a young man with no superpowers, he is still passionate about fighting street crime, and this mask has become his symbol.]

The mask was priced at 500 Skill Points, with its value mainly in its low equipment conditions and a powerful effect applicable to all players.

Before level 20, it was almost impossible for a player's proficiency to reach C. This mask's effect might help players break that barrier. As a transitional item, the benefits of using this mask between levels 15 and 20 would be significant. Even after level 20, it would continue to be useful until the player's actual Combat Proficiency reached C.

Feng Bujue's current proficiencies were: General E, Weapon E, Recon E, Combat E, Shooting D, and Medical F. After the public beta, the proficiency section in the menu had changed, with the font slightly reduced and new shadowed areas indicating two new proficiencies that were currently locked.

Regardless, acquiring this highly cost-effective mask would be very beneficial, so he almost immediately decided to buy it. Although he was currently level 13, reaching level 15 was not a difficult task; theoretically, he could achieve it by completing four scripts.

After decisively buying the mask, Feng Bujue took it back to the storage room. He then went to the mall and listed [Kenny's Hoodie] for 110,000 game coins, with a fixed price of 140,000. When listing the item, he paid 4,000 game coins in fees, which were set by the system based on the item's non-obvious attributes, indicating the system's evaluation of the item's value.

If no one bid within 24 hours of real time, the item would be delisted and returned to the player as data via email. If it sold, the system would send the money.

After finishing these tasks, Feng Bujue returned to the login space, and it was already 3:00 PM in real time. He had half a day and a full night ahead. He set a short-term goal: to reach level 15 and upgrade his Weapon Proficiency to D by the next morning. This would allow him to successfully equip [Casey Jones' Mask] and [Echo Armor] and experience the "Killing Game"...

{Piaotian Literature}