Chapter 22 First Multiplayer Scenario 6

Chapter 22 First Multiplayer Scenario 6

After around fifteen minutes of walking, the group of five arrived at the police station. The building was about five hundred square meters, and its entrance faced the door, but one could also access the building from the side that led to the parking lot.

Feng Bujue went to inspect the side door first; it was a path used by vehicles. At the end of the path was a very tall wall, and the movable steel grate had blocked the path off. Looking in, all he could see was darkness. This way was sealed.

When he went back to the entrance, Long Aomin had already finished his inspection. The door was made of wood, and it was thick and sturdy. Something on the other side seemed to be blocking the door, and even if they pushed hard, the door would not budge.

Feng Bujue shook his head to inform them that the side door would not work. Long Aomin shrugged and said, "We cannot get this door to open either."

Wang Tanzhi took a few steps forward to look at the building’s outer walls. "There are grilles on the windows. Looks like it won’t be easy to get in..." Before he finished, his expression changed. "Wait... did you hear that?"

Feng Bujue, of course, had heard it. He yelled, "Back off now!"

He rushed forward to grab Wang Tanzhi’s shoulders and yank the man back.

Long Aomin and the couple had already taken a step back when they heard Feng Bujue’s warning. The latter had just retreated from the door when a dull thud came from behind them. The wall next to the entrance was blasted open from within, and a large monster stuck its upper body through the hole. If Wang Tanzhi did not move away from where he was, he would have been buried under the rubble.

"Okay... I think what I heard was its footstep running toward the wall." Wang Tanzhi’s face was white, but his voice was not loud. After experiencing so many scares, he had gotten used to stuff that would normally raise his Terror Points to fifty percent... because his Terror Points had basically been hanging around thirty-five percent the whole time.

Just like every mini boss that cracked their way through the wall, the first thing the monster did after it showed up was roar. To Feng Bujue’s surprise, he recognized this adversary.

A zombie.

"Hmm... There’s no need to make it sound so serious; it’s only equipment." Feng Bujue looked rather unaffected. Facing the scary zombie, he did not show a trace of fear. He crouched down and moved quickly. He sneaked around the enemy and jumped through the hole in one smooth motion, disappearing inside the darkened police station.

The two who stood further away were flustered. Mr. Loneliest and Ms. Saddest were in the role of helpless victims. All they could do was stay as far away as they could so that they would not get in the way.

Wang Tanzhi got close to the zombie carefully. The zombie’s full attention was on Long Aomin. When the opportunity arose, he would charge forward to slash at the zombie and then quickly slither away. He would only attack after he confirmed that he would be not countered by the mini boss.

Compared to the head-on combat style of Long Aomin, Wang Tanzhi’s combat style was more dependent on speed. Weaving in and out of combat, sneak attacking, his main purpose was to wear the enemy out. This kind of tactic was not suitable for equipment like blunt weapons or shields; a bladed weapon was his best choice. He did not need incredible strength but fast speed. He delivered damage via accumulated nicks and slashes.

These two were players who would go on to focus in fighting mastery, but even so, they had completely different combat tactics. The difference was observable in this scenario; one was familiar with the use of strength, while the other was better at speed.

This was why the game did not have limitations like ’jobs’. With the power of this system, a job would instead become a shackle that limited the players.

In the later part of an online game, a personalized persona was important to the player experience. If everyone looked the same and had the same characterization when they reached the highest level and their learnable skill became limited by ’jobs’, it would be very boring. Any normal player could refer to the player guides, and they would know what to focus on for their ’jobs’, which skill to learn and which type of equipment to buy.

With the current game setting, the system provided the players with massive freedom. First, other than Stamina Points, there was nothing like a ’character build’. The Life Points and Terror Points were always shown in percentages, not numbers. As for how much damage an attack had done, how much damage defensive equipment could resist, there were no exact numbers to clarify that.

Secondly, the skills and equipment were all randomized, and they were not limited to jobs. Plus, everyone had access to the same set of masteries. Players would unlock and improve the mastery that they specialized in. If they had the time, a player could even train all six masteries to S level.

With such a high degree of freedom, other than the Terror Points System, Thriller Point’s second biggest selling point was the title system. The system allowed the players to focus on their specialty after a series of combat. This system was the solution provided by Dream Inc. to ensure the player’s individuality after giving it much thought.

The ’title’ was beyond the limitation of the twelve Skill Bars. It would give the player a special power, like Long Aomin’s Lighting Bash. The special power would not take up space within the Skill Bar. One’s title would also grow with the player. Starting from level ten, the system would improve and correct the player’s title following their progression. Each title would be unique, and even if two players shared the same title, they might not have the same special power. The special power might not even be an activated skill; it could be passive or a support skill that added to one’s attributes.

When the open beta arrived, in scenarios over level twenty, titles would be something like a business tag. After entering Team Survival Mode, IGNs became less important because the players would check each other’s titles first because that gave a clearer idea of one’s teammates. For example, the intrepid charger, the blundering boxer, the sharpshooter, these were a clear definition of the characters. Of course, one could discern a player’s ability from their title as well. After level forty, other than the typical titles, one might even see titles like ’Zeus’, ’Superman’, ’Black Widow’, and so on. These were professional players.

Back to the battle at hand, while Long Aomin and Wang Tanzhi kept the zombie busy, Feng Bujue sought his way forward in the darkened police station.