After that nauseating "dinner" incident, the players all lost their appetites. They lay in twos and threes on the relatively clean ground, looking up. There was no sky here, only a massive, cold, rust-stained tal do, with countless pipes and cables intertwined like the veins and nerves of a giant beast, obscuring the faint light from the upper Hive City, leaving only eternal gloom.
A silent oppressiveness perated the trenches, and fatigue and nausea were etched on everyone's faces.
Finally, a player spoke weakly, breaking the silence: "Playing this ga… is a double tornt for both body and mind."
His words were like a stone thrown into stagnant water, imdiately causing ripples.
"Exactly…" The other players nodded in agreent. One of them covered his eyes with his arm, his voice trembling slightly, "I think after this closed beta, I'll never touch another war-thed ga in my life."
"I think so too," another grumbled indignantly, "This ga dev better not let find their address, or I'll definitely go offline to have a chat with them about life!"
Amidst the chorus of complaints, Robert, however, looked thoughtful. He gazed at the oppressive tal firmant above and slowly said, "Perhaps… this is the ga dev's goal? They intend to create an anti-war ga?"
"Will you still play?" another player asked, his voice sounding weak. "I probably won't play anymore. I feel like from now on, whenever I hear words like 'fighting' or 'war,' I'll… I'll feel sick…"
"No way, buddy, is that PTSD already?" the player next to him said in surprise, but then he also sighed, "Although… I probably won't play again after this either…"
"The ga dev might really be going for the 'This War of Mine' route," a player echoed. "I have to admit, they succeeded. I, too, will never play war-thed gas again, including this one."
An atmosphere of quitting the ga perated the player group. However, Robert shook his head and said firmly, "I still plan to continue playing. At least, I want to experience the full story of this ga. I am, after all, a ga VR strear; if I don't experience it fully, I don't have much right to speak."
"A ga VR strear? I knew your Na sounded familiar!" As soon as he finished speaking, a player next to him suddenly slapped his thigh and sat up, "Dr. Dixy Normous, right! I've watched your videos! I even followed you! Big shot, since you're continuing to play, I plan to continue playing too! Can I get a friend slot? Let's play together later!"
Robert didn't expect to et a fan here, and he readily agreed: "Of course, we are all closed beta players, this is fate."
As he spoke, he skillfully opened his data panel, ready to add a friend. Then, he froze.
"Uh… where do I add friends in this ga?" He searched through the rudintary UI interface. "Wait, does this ga… even have a friend-adding function?"
The player who had asked to add a friend also searched his own panel for a while, then finally gave up dejectedly: "It seems… there really isn't. This is too incomplete! I definitely need to report it to the official team later, it must be added!"
Just then, Robert seed to suddenly think of sothing, looking thoughtful. He suddenly spoke: "Don't you think it's strange?"
Everyone looked at him.
"According to our previous deductions, the ga dev is pursuing ultimate realism and… uh, tornt," Robert analyzed, "But, would they really let us just sit around doing nothing for several hours? That doesn't fit their style."
He sat up, his expression becoming serious: "Think about it, from the mont we entered the ga, every tornt has been 'with content.' The bumpy troop carrier was to let us experience the actual situation of soldiers on the battlefield; the chaotic battlefield was to let us feel the cruelty of war; that pot… that pot of soup, was to let us understand the dark essence of this universe. These are all carefully designed 'contents' that bring strong emotional impact."
"But, 'idly waiting for several hours,' what is that? That's boredom, not tornt. For a ga, boredom is more fatal than pain. Given the level of this ga dev, I don't think they would make such a basic mistake."
In the indescribable dinsion of the warp, the God of Information, Terrabyte, "listened" with interest to Robert's analysis. A ripple of sothing akin to astonishnt spread through His consciousness.
The logical chain of this "Dr. Dixy Normous" was so clear, His inferences so rigorous, that if Terrabyte hadn't been certain that He had never interfered with the players' specific thoughts from beginning to end, He would almost have been convinced that all of this was indeed a script He had pre-arranged.
Robert's words were like a shot in the arm, invigorating the disheartened players. Upon closer thought, it made sense. Although this dog ga dev was inhumane, in the matter of "how to tornt players," he had at least so far shown great creativity and substance, not just simple AFK punishnt.
"Dr. Dixy Normous is right!" a player exclaid, slapping his thigh. "This is definitely not just a rest period; this must be the calm before the storm! The dog ga dev must be up to sothing bad!"
"Then Dr. Dixy Normous," another imdiately pressed, "how do you think the dog ga dev intends to tornt us next?"
Robert thought carefully, going over all the details from login in his mind. Suddenly, as if he had hit upon a crucial point, his eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "Do you still rember what the Commissar told us at the beginning?"
The players were all confused: "The Commissar said a lot of things, which sentence are you referring to?"
Robert almost verbatim repeated Commissar Walter's tone, which carried a hint of encouragent and brutal reality: "If you're lucky, you might even pick up a finely crafted boltgun!"
He pointed to the pile of corpses not far away that still reeked, his voice full of confidence: "This is the hint the ga dev gave us! A hidden quest clue!"
"We were able to find a lasgun from the pile of corpses before, which proves that 'scavenging' is at least one of the ga's chanics! The Commissar's words weren't just casual; he was telling us that there are even better things in there!" Robert grew more and more excited. "There are still good things waiting for us to find in there!"
The players were all convinced by Robert's well-reasoned and confident words. Fear and nausea were replaced by a more primal, player-specific desire—the craving for better equipnt. Those who had just looked utterly dejected now had greedy glints in their eyes.
One of them suddenly understood and couldn't help but exclaim, "Good heavens! There's even a treasure-hunting segnt after fighting monsters; this ga dev is really good at mashing things up!"
Terrabyte in the warp smiled faintly: "Since you're all so good at self-rationalization, it seems I can't not cooperate."
He subtly manipulated information and energy: "In that case, let give my lovely players sothing good to eat… After all, the ga does need so positive feedback, and it can also be considered a reward for helping with the closed beta."
User Comments
0 comments from readers