After bidding farewell to two friends, Li Cheng returned home and opened the task log, massaging his temples in frustration.
[Task Type: Script Task (Multiplayer Battle)]
[Task Name: Disaster! I’m Surrounded by Beauties!]
[Task Goal: By midnight tonight at 12:00 AM, apply high-quality makeup and sit in front of the turned-on TV screen to wait for teleportation]
[Task Reward: To be announced when the next step of the task is prompted]
[Failure Penalty: Erasure]
Unlike team tasks, multiplayer battles do not have the concept of "teammates" nor a "friendly fire penalty" setting.
Players can attack each other, and if one player kills another, they can directly obtain the fallen player’s equipment items (items stored in the killed player’s Backpack, however, will disappear).
This means that battle tasks are often a zero-sum game.
"I always feel that from the task name to the task goal, there’s an air of malice..."
Li Cheng mumbled, earnestly taking out makeup tools, and altering his facial features with worm gene modifications. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novᴇlfire.net
Although aesthetics are subjective, when you broaden the scope to humanity overall, there still exists a common aesthetic.
So-called "high-class faces" and "high-class aesthetics" are all hypocritical concepts marketed by capital; you can verify it by looking up the big data from some anonymous yellow-black website — mouths can lie, but biological instincts cannot.
"This should be about right."
The mirror reflected a newly-crafted handsome face, with defined eyebrows, piercing eyes, and sharp features; his expression carried a mix of three parts depth, three parts melancholy, and three parts gentleness, perfect for a social media profile picture.
It would be best to pair it with some impressive, cryptic taglines—"Finally became a coward who whines without sickness, no longer daring to question the authenticity of love." "Unwarranted jealousy tastes the sourest." "Put on pants before shoes, be a grandson before becoming a grandpa."
The clock hands ticked and twisted, and precisely at midnight, the scene before him abruptly shifted—to a villa?
The villa’s interior decoration was elegantly refreshing: pale cashmere carpets, green velvet armchairs, cream-colored leather sofas, and a vividly detailed LCD TV, all subtly showcasing the phrase "understated luxury".
The only two anomalies were the rows of tracks embedded in the ceiling (under which hung mechanical arms connected to professional digital cameras),
and the pitch blackness outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, with no visible light anywhere.
Apart from Li Cheng, there were seven figures standing in the living room.
They were a Caucasian couple, a Black couple, an Indian man, and two East Asian women. One of the women, dressed in a suit with a tie and holding a fruit knife, looked particularly familiar.
’Isn’t this Little Red Riding Hood?’
Belonging to Sun Island’s Abnormal Affairs Investigation Bureau, Little Red Riding Hood, from her appearance during the last [Death Curse], hadn’t changed much; she still looked timid and nervous, with noticeable makeup on her face.
The task had not officially started yet, and a semi-transparent barrier surrounded each person, while players could still use the friend communication.
Li Cheng sent a message to Little Red Riding Hood and subtly waved his hand to indicate his identity, [It’s me, Ant. The Asian male wearing glasses.]
"[Eh?! Mr. Ant? We meet again...]"
Little Red Riding Hood widened her eyes in surprise, her tense expression slightly eased. It’s always good to meet an acquaintance in a deathmatch task, especially since Li Cheng left her with a deep impression last time—Mr. Ant may not be very consistent, but he should be reliable...right?
The two communicated silently, while the other participants observed each other.
Four young men, four young women, each with a beauty score above seven, dressed in trendy fashion, holding weapons defensively against each other.
"[This task is a deathmatch, Summoners can attack each other]"
"[Task Objective: Follow the game rules, survive until the end of the game]"
"[Time Limit: 72 hours]"
"[Reward 1: 600 Experience Points]"
"[Reward 2: 600 Game Coins]"
"[Reward 3: Random item *1, Quality depends on clearance evaluation]"
"[Reward 4: Emergency Escape Card *1]"
"[Penalty for Failure: Next task will become a punishment task]"
"[The ever-depleting oil resources finally triggered a large-scale war; thousands of nuclear bombs crisscrossing in the atmosphere set up artificial suns, radiation clouds covering the sky, over four billion people died on the first day of the conflict, and the remaining four billion human beings faced multiple hardships like radiation dust, reduced food production, government collapse, walking towards their doom]"
The first paragraph of the brief almost made everyone lose their composure.
What does this task name have to do with the war at all? If it’s a post-nuclear war wasteland setting, why is there a luxury villa? What’s going on?
"[The land is desolate, with mutated creatures, barbaric tribes, bandits, mutants, slave traders, Corpse Ghosts wandering the wasteland, order is nearly gone, only a few cities are still desperately keeping the spark of civilization alive]"
"[Just as all seemed beyond redemption, a genius scientist emerged, inventing automatic medical pods, freshwater purifiers, carbon dioxide to starch machines, restarting nuclear power stations, fertilizer plants, solving almost all problems except for the mutants, pulling the declining civilization of Earth back on track, revered as Messiah and savior by all tribes and city-states of the wasteland]"
"[Order reestablished, cities revitalized, even building starships in space bases, implementing plans for colonization of outer space]"
"[The only problem left, is how to perpetuate human civilization...]"
"...That is, a wasteland dating reality TV live show!"
Suddenly, an enthusiastic and emotional voice came from a speaker in the corner of the ceiling, just like a background commentary in a variety show.
"Welcome to ’Doomed! I’m surrounded by beauties/hunks!’ reality show, this program is co-produced by Eden TV and New Human Union, following ’That Corpse Ghost Made Me Love’, ’50°C Medium-Rare Lovers’, and ’Which Twin Mutant Sister Should I Choose?’, it’s the latest and hottest wasteland dating reality show."
"Four men and four women, a total of eight people. They will meet and get to know each other in a villa, facing their feelings actively in their interactions, striving to find the most suitable person to walk to the end with, setting a normal dating example for the vast wasteland youths."
"This program is broadcasted live, featuring various game segments. In each segment, the contestant with the least audience votes and lowest popularity will be banished to the wasteland."
"If the live broadcast’s popularity drops to a certain limit, the show will be directly cancelled, and all contestants will be executed, just like during the ’Love Radiation Apartment’ incident. May they rest in peace."
"Now, let’s witness the sweet and deadly romance~"