Ren Yifei spent a few days in the desolate corner. Apart from the occasional visit from a neighbor who was not publicly acknowledged and brought him food he could not refuse, his life was uneventful.
Saman's virtual game experience center has been open for over ten days and is packed with customers. Ren Yifei's own walkthrough videos are also attracting a huge audience, generating countless virtual currency.
Everything looks pretty good.
On the seventh day after returning to the desolate corner, on the seventh day of sunbathing by the sea, he guided the elf to emit the same electronic sound as before:
"Player ID 95XX27, you have been forcibly bound to a high-end dungeon activation key. In three days, you will be forcibly taken into a random high-end dungeon. You may carry three active skills, three non-ghost card items, and two ghost cards. Please be prepared."
Ren Yifei: "..."
Even the donkeys in the production team need to rest for a few days. Who did this dirty trick?
"Ding-dong, you have a message from a friend."
Immediately following was a letter from Saman. Ren Yifei opened it and found a string of text with no punctuation marks left: "Was Afei forcibly brought into a high-level game?"
Yes, just now.
"I'm outside, I'll be right back."
Saman arrived a few minutes later.
He later learned that in that one second, more than a dozen people had been forcibly locked down, all of whom were high-level players who had recently gained popularity. Several of the top ten players were also affected, as if they had come prepared.
"They locked onto a few of us instantly. We might end up in the same game, or we might not," Saman told him. "Protect yourselves. I'm worried someone might take advantage of the situation."
After he finished speaking, he brought over several protective props that were priceless and unavailable on the market.
Ren Yifei initially wanted to refuse, but after thinking for a moment, he asked, "What about yourself?"
"I have some too, Afei, don't worry. I haven't eaten my way through the entire Desolate Corner with you yet, I won't die," Saman said with a smile, trying to dispel Ren Yifei's worries.
"Don't randomly insert flags."
In the end, Ren Yifei accepted a prop that he deemed suitable.
Guardian Charm: It can protect you from one fatal attack.
It was a key-shaped pendant, tied with a red cord. Looking at it, he was reminded of the Scarlet Witch's sieve with a hundred eyes; amulets could bring more than just effects; they might also bring a blessing.
The sudden forced game disrupted many people's plans, and some players began to make arrangements for their aftermath—hoping for the best while preparing for the worst.
They can leave a will through the system, which allows them to transfer a portion of their property to others after their death.
Making a will costs money, and transferring the estate after death incurs a large estate tax. Items like ghost cards and props cannot be transferred, so very few people make a will.
"Do players also need to make a will?" The guide spirit was surprised. It had mentioned this to its host before, but the host had no interest whatsoever. Why had it changed its mind now?
Ren Yifei tugged at his hair, experiencing this feeling of irritability for the first time.
I thought the dessert players would join in the next game, but this happened out of the blue. It's really baffling.
Although he remained confident and didn't believe he would be a loser, what if he wasn't?
Who can predict the future?
"System, make a will."
Three days passed quickly, and Ren Yifei woke up on a swaying train.
"You're awake, newbie?"
He opened his eyes and saw a round-faced man with a big nose leaning on the seat in front of him, smiling at him.
"You…" Ren Yifei turned his head and looked around, finding himself on a somewhat historic train. It was pitch black outside, and it seemed to be nighttime.
His eyes darted around, unsure of what was going on. The round-faced man's description of him as a 'newcomer' intrigued him.
"Ah! Where am I? Who are you? Kidnapping?"
While Ren Yifei was still somewhat dazed, a young man to his left and right also woke up.
The young man's first reaction was to scream. He clutched his bag tightly with both hands, and his entire expression, language, and body language conveyed his helplessness and panic.
"Shut up, newbie." The woman in her thirties with a scar on her face at the front glanced coldly at them. Her eyes were like knives, which made the young man who had been screaming earlier shut his mouth.
"Keep yelling if you want to die."
The young man covered his mouth, but his body was still trembling violently.
"Have you heard of Infinite Terror?" the round-faced man asked with a smile.
The young man was stunned: "I...I've heard of it..."
"This is it."
With a single sentence from the round-faced man, the young man's face turned deathly pale. Watching all this, Ren Yifei felt an inexplicable awkwardness: ...like Zhang Fei meeting Li Kui.
While everyone's attention was drawn to the young man, Ren Yifei quickly assessed his own situation.
On his left wrist was a Rolex watch with slight signs of use. Ren Yifei had owned two Rolexes before, and he recognized it as a new Rolex Ocean Star model that could display dual time zones and an annual calendar, with a market price of around 300,000 yuan.
He was wearing a dark blue casual suit, made of a very comfortable material with a good drape, and the fabric shimmered with a subtle sheen when it wrinkled.
"The custom-made suit fabric, which contains diamond powder, costs around 100,000 yuan including the fabric and the labor," Ren Yifei roughly calculated the price of his suit.
Since he couldn't see what the shoes looked like, he could only make a rough estimate. But that was enough for him to draw a conclusion: a middle-class person.
Judging from the condition of his hands, he looks to be in his late twenties or early thirties, very young, and might even be a rich kid.
After that, the other people who were lying on their seats woke up one after another. One was a young woman wearing pajamas and slippers, another was a dark-skinned boy wearing a basketball uniform, and the last was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties wearing a typical office worker's three-piece suit.
As usual, the round-faced man 'warmly' welcomed the newlyweds.
Faced with this sudden shift to a terrifying world, they couldn't accept it at all, thinking it was a prank or some kind of live-streaming trick.
As a result, the scarred woman raised her hand and fired a shot. The bullet hit the hood of the car, but the hood remained intact, only making a sound.
The bright yellow bullets fell, already twisted, and a faint smell of gunpowder filled the air.
"Are you calm now?" the scarred woman asked.
A group of people were so frightened that they looked like chicks who had lost their mother hen, their mouths agape in terror, their eyes practically bulging out: Was it the real thing?
Ren Yifei was among them, but he appeared very calm. At least his face showed no sign of panic; only his frequent glances at his watch betrayed his inner turmoil.
"Were you all on your phones before you came here? Did you even click on an ad for some casual game?" the round-faced man asked with a smile.
He seemed to be a seasoned player; he looked like he knew a lot about games.
"You can check your phones now, and maybe you'll understand."
The five newcomers, including Ren Yifei, were skeptical, but they all took out their phones.
The young man who had screamed earlier frantically searched for his phone in his small pocket, but his hands trembled so much that he dropped it.
"Don't be afraid, the game hasn't even started yet," the round-faced man said to the young man who was sweating profusely, which only made the young man tremble even more.
Ren Yifei held the original owner's phone in his hand; it was black and simply designed. He lowered his head, turned on the phone, and a page appeared directly in front of him:
Player: Zhong Lan
Level: lv.0
Points: 0
At the very bottom of the page, he also saw a 'shop'. Clicking on it revealed a bunch of strange items, fewer than what the Wasteland Corner could offer, but requiring more money.
The currency used for purchases is points.
All the endless flow novels in the world are equally dark.
Ren Yifei frowned as he tapped on his phone, as if searching for an exit button.
"Give up, you won't get out of here until you beat the game. You might as well study some books or watch some educational videos; that might be more helpful." The round-faced man shook his head and said, seemingly quite fond of Ren Yifei, the first person to wake up.
"What game are you talking about?" Ren Yifei raised his head, naturally straightening his posture, his voice somewhat deep. To put it bluntly, it was as elegant and profound as a cello.
Based on the clues we've gathered so far, the original owner of this body is at least not an inexperienced young man, so it's reasonable that he's being calm and reserved right now. He needs to review the resume for more specific details.
"If you browse some illegal websites, you might click on this game invitation. You either accidentally clicked it or you were interested, so you clicked 'confirm,' right?"
Upon hearing this, Ren Yifei frowned slightly.
"I accidentally opened a pirated website earlier," the woman in pajamas said, rubbing her forehead.
"I just climbed over the wall to take a look..." the young man said, and the others also looked annoyed.
The round-faced man looked around and laughed, "This is a casual mini-game world, or as it calls itself, but we usually call it 'Despair Train'."
"Each mini-game lasts half an hour, and the timer starts when the train arrives at the station. If you can successfully complete the game, you will return to the real world. But…" The round-faced man interrupted the few people on the train who had just begun to smile, with a single "but".
"But what?" the young man who had screamed earlier asked.
"However, this does not mean the end of this journey. After today, you will still be here. The higher your level, the closer you will be to the front carriage, and there will be a mini-game like this every day from now on." That's why it's called the Despair Train.
"Um, this train of despair, does it... does it have an end?" the young woman in her pajamas asked tremulously.
The round-faced man gave a mysterious smile: "Maybe so, who knows?"
"You're such a kind person." The middle-aged office worker, having recovered from his shock, came up to flatter the round-faced man.
"Good intentions? Not really. Explaining the game rules earns me a few points, every little bit helps," he laughed. "But if you ask again later, you'll have to pay."
After saying that, the round-faced man sat back down in his previous seat. He glanced at his watch: "Five minutes left."
Ren Yifei also glanced at his watch: the time was 9:55, the number 5 above the hour marker was dark red, and the number 4 was displayed in the small window next to it, May 4th.
It's impossible to tell from the character whether it's 9 AM or 9 PM, but judging from the middle-aged office worker's tired appearance, it's probably around 9 PM. This time also aligns with people's habit of checking their phones after get off work.
Tick-tock, tick-tock, time passed second by second. No one spoke in the old train; the air was heavy with tension.
Ren Yifei sat there quietly, his gaze sweeping over the group: the round-faced man and the scarred woman were undoubtedly seasoned players, having at least one or more games of experience; the rest were him, the young man, the dark-skinned athletic student, the woman in pajamas, and the middle-aged office worker.
Two people leading five others, a configuration of seven people.
This looks like a beginner's game.
In addition, the game world calls itself a 'casual mini-game,' while players refer to it as the 'Despair Train,' and playing a mini-game well allows you to return to the real world.
He can derive two pieces of information:
First, the basic model of this world should be a 'casual mini-game' that requires a sufficient amount of knowledge to complete (encourage them to read more books and watch more science videos), with a time limit of half an hour. You'll only know the specifics after playing.
Second, this game is not something that ends once you finish playing it; it may need to be played indefinitely, and playing the game always carries the risk of death. Finally, everyone will appear on this train before the game begins.
Third, there are break times between games, during which players can return to the real world. This also means that messages from the game world can be carried out into the outside world.
In this world, if two people know something, it can't remain a secret. However, the newcomers acted as if they had never heard of such a thing before, so the game must be using some means to prevent players from revealing information about this place.
Tick-tock, tick-tock, the second hand jumps one tick at a time, and finally, after completing a full circle, it approaches the number 12.
Ren Yifei sat up straight, and everyone else on the train was so nervous they almost stopped breathing.
"Tick-tock".
It's 10 o'clock.
Author's Note: Afei: About
my playing the infinite flow game.