[Survive to Discover the Joy of the Game]
As soon as Wu Liang touched the computer, darkness shrouded his eyes, and the above phrase echoed in his ear in a mechanical voice that reminded him of classic arcade games.
"Heh, is this a riddle game? Why can't it be a fighting game? Let's have a 1V1 man showdown!" he laughed.
The next moment, his blurred vision slowly began to clear, and the surroundings transformed from darkness to brightness.
Soon, Wu Liang found himself standing in the middle of an unfamiliar city street, with cars whooshing past him incessantly.
Everything felt so real.
Even his own blinking, breathing, and body temperature were so vivid that he almost mistook it for the real world.
"Interesting, there's a 'survive' condition for completing the game, which means there's danger. What could it be? Dodging obstacles?"
Wu Liang pondered as he leisurely strolled through the seemingly endless traffic and onto the sidewalk. With his reflexes, the speed of these cars didn't pressure him at all.
The danger probably wasn't from that.
Suddenly, a series of rapid gunfire sounds erupted from a nearby bank at the corner.
Hearing this familiar sound, Wu Liang instinctively ducked behind the counter of a nearby café.
He had once threatened Jiang Hongtao with a pistol before and fired a few shots, so he was quite sensitive to this sound.
Robbing a bank inside?
This game world seemed to belong to an open-world game, and the immediate danger he could think of was threats from firearms and other heat weapons.
Just as Wu Liang thought this, the bank's main door was violently kicked open, and several figures rushed out.
The moment he saw these figures, he was stunned.
"What the hell?! Did I wake up and see Rockman robbing a bank?" He rubbed his eyes to make sure his vision was correct.
Three individuals clad in blue armor, clearly Rockman classic skins, were fleeing towards him with money bags in hand, occasionally turning back to shoot a few rounds.
The bullets hit whatever was chasing them from the bank's entrance.
But it didn't cause any damage, just fell to the ground and transformed into sharp-edged pixel blocks, looking extremely bizarre.
"Damn! Is Pac-Man the security?"
Wu Liang found it hard to keep his composure.
The ones pursuing the Rockman robbers were a pixel-styled, yellow, round-bodied Pac-Man with a constantly opening and closing mouth.
Its body was about the size of a car.
As it hovered towards Wu Liang, any vehicles or crowds it bit into turned into pixel blocks scattered on the ground, making Wu Liang's scalp tingle.
If it bites me, it's probably game over?
What kind of freaked-out game is this?
Too many elements in play!
Before he had time to figure out what 'discover the joy of the game' meant in the mission, Wu Liang was experiencing the meaning of 'survive' first.
Without the slightest hesitation, he turned and sprinted away.
In no time, he caught up with the Rockman trio who had passed him earlier.
As they looked at him bewilderedly, Wu Liang approached at an extremely cunning angle and delivered a punch to one of their faces.
This sudden assault left the Rockman robbers at a loss, completely unfamiliar with this random guy who suddenly appeared.
Then, Wu Liang picked up the gun dropped by the one he had knocked out.
"Don't underestimate me! Back in the day, I scored 2500 points on the 5E pivot platform in shooting games, damn it!"
Skillfully loading the gun, he aimed at the other two and began high-speed shooting!
The remaining two Rockmen were instantly shot in the legs by this stranger, collapsing to the ground, wailing in pain, clearly losing the ability to move.
"I #%&**" Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦•𝘯𝘦𝘵
The two cursed Wu Liang viciously as they lay on the ground, even crawling to shoot at him with their guns.
But Wu Liang had already ducked into a nearby building, entirely unthreatened by bullets.
After they emptied their guns, Wu Liang slowly poked his head out.
Smiling, he said, "You know, when you encounter a tiger, you don't have to outrun the tiger, just outrun your companions."
With those words, the Rockmen on the ground sensed immediate danger, feeling the impending pressure from behind, and looked back desperately.
A yellow, spherical creature was already standing behind them, glancing down at the Rockmen.
Accompanied by a massive chomping sound, the Rockmen transformed into blue and white interscattered pixel blocks amid their screams.
Wu Liang could even hear Pac-Man chewing the pixel blocks, seeing its mouth dripping with Rockman's limbs assembled like a jigsaw puzzle, making one shiver.
"Brother, I helped you catch them, you won't eat me too, right?" Wu Liang nonchalantly tossed his gun to the ground.
His mind remained clear—this was just a game world.
Everything he encountered was merely NPCs, which is why Wu Liang had no hesitation in breaking the Rockmen's legs, even though they were strangers.
He wanted to test a theory—can NPCs improve their favorability?
Games should naturally have a gaming approach.
Especially in this open-world game, where Rockmen rob a bank, and he assists Pac-Man in capturing them as a good gesture.
What would happen next?
If Pac-Man still attacked him, it would prove NPCs were hostile to players, prompting Wu Liang to hide and figure out a way to destroy the entire city.
If Pac-Man understood him and chose to be friendly, that would be a different playstyle.
"Go hide, the time is near."
Suddenly, a mechanical-like voice came from Pac-Man's seemingly interaction-less body, advising Wu Liang of something.
With that, it ignored the Rockmen's pixel fragments, turned, and ran back into the bank.
Wu Liang was left bewildered.
What the heck? Pac-Man can talk?
"Hide? Time is near? Could there be timed traps here?" Wu Liang scratched his chin, pondering Pac-Man's words.
Suddenly, a sharp siren, like an air raid alarm, emanated from afar, echoing throughout the city.
Wu Liang's expression turned serious immediately; clearly, this was what Pac-Man meant by "time is near," but what would happen next?
What danger awaited those who failed to hide?
He cautiously observed his surroundings, his heightened senses picking up even the slightest movement; his eyes darted around like surveillance cameras.
In an instant, something seemed to drift onto his head.
Wu Liang swiftly brushed it off, reacting as fast as a startled cat.
But all he found on his palm was a bit of ash.
Suddenly, he had a bad feeling and looked up at the sky.
Ash began raining down, painting the whole world a dusty gray.
This familiar scene was making Wu Liang's molars ache.
"What on earth did this supernatural game stitch together?!"