There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

Chapter 3: Chapter 3: This Game’s Art Team Really Gets It

Silence.

An awkward silence.

After a long moment, a video call request from Little Fatty finally came through.

Due to the booming gaming industry, virtual reality games had integrated with major communication apps. Feixin was one of the more common third-party in-game communication tools.

Through Feixin, players could communicate in-game, share their points of view, and so on.

However, to create a better gameplay experience, some games would disable these tools at certain times.

Such a measure only deterred the honorable, not the unscrupulous. It was the development team’s tactful way of telling players, "Alright, you’re the boss, but that’s enough."

Fortunately, this dungeon didn’t block video calls.

Through the shared video feed, Duan Fei saw that Little Fatty was in a pitch-black monitoring room, the only light coming from the glow of the monitors.

The place he was in was even more cramped than the security office. It looked like a small room that had been hastily converted, and the plastic film on the monitors hadn’t even been peeled off.

The room’s door had been welded shut, and the cracks had even been sealed with molten lead, giving Duan Fei the feeling that there was something unusual about this dungeon’s design.

A fan was whirring in the room as well, but this sound came from overhead—it was probably an exhaust fan.

In front of Little Fatty were several monitors. One of them was aimed at the security office, while the others showed different rooms.

Duan Fei observed the situation through Little Fatty’s video feed and began to ponder the dungeon’s setup.

’Why separate the two of us?’

’Why have one person watching the monitors and the other on patrol?’

’Wouldn’t it be easier to discuss and solve problems if we were together?’

If this setup was just to increase the difficulty, Duan Fei felt the game wasn’t all that special.

But his impression of Abyss was that it was a game made by a bunch of obsessive, detail-oriented freaks. A flaw this obvious shouldn’t exist.

’So, could the answer to this question be related to some hidden element?’

After summarizing the current situation, Duan Fei’s attention was drawn to a book on the desk.

"What’s that book?"

"The Emergency Incident Response Manual. It’s seven hundred and twenty-one pages long, basically a dictionary. It records a ton of different situations, so the idea isn’t to memorize it, but to react quickly based on what’s happening and guide you on how to respond. You just need to—"

"Don’t feel too much pressure. Just focus on cooperating with me," Duan Fei said to Little Fatty on the other side of the camera.

Little Fatty’s jaw dropped. He was speechless for a long moment.

’What a case of gamer god complex!’

’I’m the pro player here!’

’Acting like that, you’re making me wonder who’s the Level 10 veteran and who’s the Level 1 newbie.’

But this Duan Fei had such a powerful and confident aura that Little Fatty started to think he might actually have the skills to back it up.

Squinting at Duan Fei on the monitor, Little Fatty decided to test his mettle. If he was really any good, Little Fatty would recommend him to his guild leader and snag a recruitment bonus.

Flipping open the manual in front of him, Little Fatty said, "I’ll watch the mall’s interior through the monitors. Right now, I can see the movie theater, the amusement park, the electrical room, and a few other places. If a problem comes up, I’ll let you know so you can check it out. You should also pay attention to your surroundings. If you notice anything unusual, tell me, and I’ll look through the manual for a solution."

"Understood. Don’t worry."

"Since nothing’s happened yet, I’ll go over some key points. The main feature of a Mysterious Dungeon is that there are very few physical attacks, but it’s easy for your Spirit to be affected through various means. Every event can temporarily lower your Spirit Attribute. When your Spirit Attribute drops below Zero, you’ll start having all sorts of hallucinations, then you’ll either go insane or die of heart failure."

"Isn’t there anything to defend against that?"

"Veteran players usually bring items to restore their Spirit, but you’re a new player, so you probably don’t have anything in your pockets besides your starter weapon. That’s why Mysterious Dungeons are very unfriendly to new players. It’s common for a run to be over in a few minutes. Luckily, the penalty for failure in this game isn’t harsh. You just have to stay in the main hub for an hour."

After a pause, Little Fatty remembered Duan Fei’s newbie status and elaborated, "Just because the Spirit Attribute is useful in this dungeon, don’t go dumping all your points into Spirit when you get out. The Spirit Attribute seems to only be useful in Mysterious Dungeons; it’s not very versatile in other dungeons. Unless you get special Equipment or Skills, you don’t need to pay much attention to it."

"Okay, got it."

Duan Fei was about to ask a few more questions when he suddenly noticed the lights in the room flicker.

He quickly gripped his Crowbar, its rough, solid feel giving him a small sense of security.

Little Fatty’s Reaction was also fast. The moment the lights flickered, he started frantically flipping through the manual, then let out a sigh of relief. "It’s nothing. The voltage here is unstable, so flickering is normal. As long as the TV doesn’t turn on—"

The words had barely left his mouth when the television turned on.

It wasn’t even plugged in, but the TV flickered to life. Combined with the sputtering lights overhead, it made Duan Fei’s heart beat a little faster.

"Uh..."

"Shut up, you jinx."

After a brief moment of static, a person appeared on the color TV.

She was wearing a long black dress and had her back to Duan Fei. She looked as if she had just been pulled out of the water, with drops constantly trickling from her body.

The moment he saw the woman, Little Fatty let out a yelp and cut the video connection, refusing to look any longer no matter what.

Duan Fei also took a step back, tightening his grip on the Crowbar.

From the moment he saw her, Duan Fei smelled a pungent stench, as dreadful as a piece of beef left untouched in the back of a fridge for five years.

Even though she was on a screen, Duan Fei felt as if she were right in front of him. The sensation made his scalp tingle, and then a voice sounded in his ear:

[You have witnessed a bizarre entity on the television. The sudden scene has filled you with courage. Your Spirit Attribute is temporarily increased by 5 in this dungeon.]

Huh?

Confused, Duan Fei opened his attribute panel and saw his Spirit Attribute had changed from "10" to "10 (+5)."

Hmm...

’You guys applied the stat change backward, didn’t you?’

Suddenly, the woman slowly turned around. Her rotting face was now looking directly at Duan Fei. Molten adipocere rolled down her cheeks, making her appearance even more grotesque.

The sound of running water filled the room as black sewage began to seep down from the ceiling, mixed with hair and unidentifiable fleshy chunks. Duan Fei shivered again.

[The bizarre entity continues to assault your nerves. The terrifying environment has filled you with courage. Your Spirit Attribute is temporarily increased by 5 in this dungeon.]

A Spirit Attribute of 20 points was double what he had when he first entered the dungeon.

Duan Fei had never really understood how a high Spirit Attribute was supposed to reduce mental stress.

After all, scary things in this game were just scary. No matter how high your Spirit Attribute was, you’d still be afraid when you saw them.

But now, Duan Fei understood.

The grotesque water spirit in front of him suddenly seemed much better-looking. Her rotting face appeared softer, and he could faintly discern a certain charm, like that of another man’s wife.

"The artists for this game... they really get it."