The lights in the elevator suddenly went out, plunging the surroundings into darkness. Only the panel in front of him remained lit.
Words continued to pop up on it.
[Welcome to the Global Evolution Game. Detecting player information, please wait.]
[Detected that this is your first time playing this game. Please create a character.]
[Please enter your player nickname:]
Gu Mian paused. After much deliberation, he typed two defiant words into the nickname bar: "Daddy."
[Warning: This nickname is already taken.]
Someone sure is quick...
[Nickname successfully created. Player quality scan will now be conducted.]
[Scan complete. Player attributes recorded.]
[Please choose your initial outfit.]
Four sets of outfits popped up below.
[Grass Skirt] [Key Parts Pixelated] [Swimsuit] [Current Outfit]
Gu Mian looked at the swimsuit for a few seconds, then chose the last option.
[Character creation successful. The beginner tutorial will begin soon. Please get ready—]
As if not wanting to waste any preparation time, another line of text appeared on the panel.
[All players have been pulled to the nearest ticket booth. After the beginner tutorial, players will be forcibly matched into an instance.]
Seems like everyone has to go through this first instance, whether they want to or not.
Then, a light suddenly glowed in the darkness.
The sudden brightness didn’t sting his eyes, and he quickly glanced around.
Fatty was gone. He was alone.
He found himself in a small, dilapidated ticket booth; the words "Ticket Booth" were written in large characters on the wall.
It was called a ticket booth, but it seemed somewhat out of place.
A glass window split the small room into two spaces. It was much like the glass windows that separate customers and bank tellers—though, obviously, a bank’s glass window was mainly to prevent robbers.
It was unclear what purpose the glass window in this ticket booth served, but it was likely also to deter robberies.
Large characters on the glass window read: "Ticket Counter."
The room contained a shabby wooden door and a worn-out long table, upon which sat a trident-shaped candelabrum.
The long table could probably seat around twenty people.
One end of the long table pointed towards a giant, crimson door. Carved upon it were two rather menacing door gods, inspiring a sense of awe and fear.
Outside, there appeared to be a familiar-looking street. It shouldn’t be far from Lianhua Hospital.
A few more lines then appeared on the panel.
[After players obtain tickets at the ticket counter, they can enter the portal to be randomly matched into an instance.]
Gu Mian glanced at the crimson door, guessing it was the aforementioned portal.
[Besides instances matched via ticket booths, a few special instances exist globally. These do not require ticket booth matching, can appear at any time, and are extremely difficult.]
[Instances include team-match and solo-match types. Team instances require a group ticket; solo instances require a solo ticket. Special items obtained within instances can be brought out.]
[Instance difficulty ranges from 1 to 10 stars. The higher the number, the greater the difficulty. Instance rewards are related to difficulty.]
[An instance can only accommodate one group of players at a time. If players remain within an instance, it will not accept another group.]
[Touch the ’Attributes’ button to check your own attributes.]
After these lines scrolled past, the panel in front of Gu Mian changed.
It was no longer filled with text but now displayed a graphical interface.
There was a search box in the top-right corner.
The top-left corner displayed the time: Global Time 8:02. It seemed time had been synchronized.
There were many buttons on the left side. From top to bottom, they were "Attributes," "Friends," "Leaderboard," and "Forum." Below them were some grayed-out buttons, which were apparently not yet active.
However, the most conspicuous part was the central area.
It was a large, indistinct gray area, showing only a few silhouettes and a line of text: "The world’s first major event is coming soon. Stay tuned!"
For the moment, he ignored whatever this ’ghostly event’ was and pressed the [Attributes] button on the left side of the panel.
A long list of attributes appeared before him, though they seemed a tad unusual.
[Special Items: None]
[Instances Cleared: 0]
Seeing the "???" after Gender, Gu Mian fell into deep thought.
Below these were four values: [Stamina], [Speed], [Strength], and [Spiritual Value]. Without exception, all were followed by "???"
This peculiar ID, and these peculiar question marks.
I wonder if everyone in the world has such questionable genders.
He looked further down and discovered another attribute.
[Faction: Chaos·Evil]
Earth seems to have teamed up with the developers of the instance game. How did they even copy the factions from an instance game?
And what’s with this Chaos·Evil of mine?
Damn it! I’m clearly a kindhearted Doctor!
At that moment, new text began to pop up on the screen before him.
[Leaderboard Feature will unlock after 10,000,000 instances are cleared worldwide.]
[Friend List Feature will unlock after 1,000,000,000 worldwide player deaths.]
[The Mall System will unlock after players worldwide have acquired a total of 1,000,000 Game Coins.]
Progress bars followed these lines, currently unmoving.
Below these were a few more lines:
[Profession System: Not yet unlocked (Unlock conditions unknown)]
[Players can summon this panel at any time (if you are still alive).]
[Instances may contain quest-type NPCs. Players cannot attack them but can attempt to interact.]
As this text finished scrolling, a smiling middle-aged man, who looked like a ticket seller, suddenly walked out from some corner.
Two lines of text hovered above his head:
The panel said they’re unattackable, so it must be true. But that taunt is so damn annoying.
Gu Mian rubbed his hands. I can’t suffer in silence. I’ll feel better if I just give it a swing.
Thinking this, he raised his hand. The NPC, as if used to this, continued to beam, confident that the player couldn’t hit him.
Gu Mian’s large palm descended. The NPC was still smiling brilliantly.
The NPC, who had been slapped, his head hitting the wall before he collapsed to the ground, let out an astonished, "What the fuck?"
Gu Mian, whose slapping hand throbbed with pain, also exclaimed in astonishment, "What the fuck!"
After being slapped, the NPC scrambled back behind the glass window, giving Gu Mian no chance for a second slap.
Gu Mian, in his white coat, rubbed his hands apologetically. "My apologies."
The man behind the glass, clutching his face, replied with a highly unnatural expression, "No... no problem..."
The beginner tutorial on Gu Mian’s panel was nearing its end.
This time, he ignored the NPC, who was looking at him pitifully after being slapped, and dutifully turned back to the panel.
[The beginner tutorial is about to end. All players worldwide will be forcibly matched into an instance.]
[Please proceed to the ticket counter immediately to obtain your ticket. The game will officially begin in one minute.]
After reading these two lines, Gu Mian shifted his gaze to the NPC, who was hiding behind the glass window and observing him secretly.
The NPC, taking the hint, quickly stuck out a hand from a small, square hole at the bottom of the window, threw out a ticket, and immediately retracted his hand.
Gu Mian reached out and caught the ticket. Looking down, he saw a few lines of text:
{Instance Entry Ticket (Single Use)}
{Issuer: Low-level Ticket Booth}
Gu Mian, looking at the ticket, asked, "Do these ticket booths only sell instance tickets?"
Wouldn’t that be a waste if they only sell instance tickets?
"Of course not," replied the NPC, peeking his head out. "When the Mall System is unlocked, the game will establish some supermarkets worldwide. You will need a ticket from here to get in, though those won’t be free."