Control Failure!
What an interesting opening!
The way this black screen transition is presented as a mechanical door that opens is a real improvement in the viewing experience, making it feel less abrupt and less jarring.
What's even more intriguing is the windowless secret room behind the door and the human-shaped statue standing in the corner.
Judging from the initial sound of gears turning and the slow opening of the heavy metal door.
Clearly, this windowless and airtight sealed room was intended for detention.
The person being held captive was a pale yellow, wooden-carved human-shaped statue inside the room!
Combining the game's title with the term "Containment Sites," it's not hard to guess that this is the statue.
"Could it be the 'anomaly' that the authorities claimed to be when the Staircase video came out?"
Seeing this, Zai Zong more excited.
Previously, when the video clip from the Staircase was released on the Danmu Network, the official name "anomaly" completely overturned the name "Controlled Object" that had been passed down among players.
This makes these mysterious entities with letters and numbers even more professional and rigorous.
The catchy and easy-to-remember term 'abnormal' sounds much better than the strange term ' Controlled Object '.
Therefore, no one used the term "Controlled Object" after that.
Instead, it uses the same terminology as the official production team.
"Brothers, if this thing is an anomaly, what kind of characteristics does it have?"
"The Illusion Helmet creates realistic hallucinations, the Staircase is even worse—it's hell. This statue is neither an object nor a building, so what ability does it possess that can compare to other anomalies?"
However, Zai Zong saying it, Zai Zong didn't actually look at the comments.
Because there will definitely be spoilers.
He didn't want that; he wanted to maintain the curiosity and mystery surrounding the trailer's content.
So, Zai Zong stopped speaking and stared intently at the screen.
In an instant, many viewers and fans in the live stream who hadn't seen it before stopped chatting and started watching along with the streamer.
In the trailer, the secret room is dark and windowless, with only two incandescent lamps on the wall providing dim illumination.
A pale yellow human-shaped statue stood in the corner, its back to the crowd, clinging tightly to the wall.
Its shadow, illuminated by the lamplight, stretched long and thin.
The ground was covered with a red, sticky substance, scattered in puddles everywhere.
For some reason, Zai Zong felt a strange sense of unease at this moment.
The human-shaped statue in the video is completely still.
However, the lighting effects and dim environment give it an overall eerie and unpredictable, potentially dangerous feel.
This feeling was very strange, and Zai Zong all.
I could only take a deep breath and forcefully suppress my unease.
As he continued watching, the video suddenly went black for a moment, as if it were blinking.
The Zai Zong was surprised; it turned out this was a first-person perspective!
However, upon closer reflection, it seems that the video mentioned at the beginning that the person in question was D-Class Personnel, a researcher, or an agent with some kind of retinal device.
He couldn't understand it, so he didn't pay attention.
I just feel that this makes it more immersive.
Watching this at nearly 10 pm is especially exciting!
Soon, the main perspective in the video shook slightly, seemingly as a reaction from its owner to the human-shaped statue inside the secret room.
Then, the viewer subconsciously looked to the left, where a man wearing an orange shirt was standing.
He turned his head and made eye contact with the person in the viewpoint before looking away and continuing to stare straight ahead into the secret chamber.
"Holy crap! Orange clothes! They're D-Class Personnel! Is this trailer going to be another experiment?!"
Before Zai Zong continue speaking, the main perspective of the video shifted to the right.
There stood a fully armed special forces soldier holding a gun.
Not far behind him, two researchers, one in black and one in white lab coats, were discussing something.
Immediately afterwards, the soldier raised his head and coldly and calmly gave an order.
[Go in.]
The voice, with its distinctly electronic tone, sounded cold, ruthless, and devoid of human warmth.
The person in the first-person perspective seemed somewhat timid, took a step back, looked at the secret room ahead again, and went inside.
Clear footsteps rose in response, echoing through the quiet, windowless room.
The radio came through again from behind.
[Two test subjects have entered the control room and are approaching the target. Please close the isolation door. Repeat, please close the isolation door.]
Accompanying this sentence is the camera angle in the video gradually approaching the statue, finally stopping behind it.
During this time, the screen went black again for a brief moment.
However, as Zai Zong and more engrossed in watching the video, he overlooked this detail.
Only when he got closer did he realize that the statue
It's over 2 meters tall!
The perspective in the video is such that, upon closer inspection, one even has to look up.
However, precisely because it was so close, Zai Zong could clearly see the rough surface covered with grooves and cracks.
He was convinced that this thing would feel rough to the touch!
Soon, a broadcast voice came through the video.
[Um... that door won't close, it seems to be malfunctioning? We're checking it.]
As soon as these words were spoken, the two incandescent bulbs on the wall began to flicker.
At the same moment, the Orange-Clad Man on the left slowly stepped forward, appearing in the frame and looking directly at the statue.
Just as Zai Zong was wondering what was going on, the two incandescent bulbs suddenly sparked and went out of power in an instant!
The screen suddenly went black at that moment, but then instantly returned to normal.
But the pale yellow humanoid statue that had been so close to him had vanished!
My perspective faltered, and I instinctively looked to the right.
He was startled and turned around only after hearing a crisp cracking sound of bones coming from his left.
However, what he saw was a horrifying scene!
The Orange-Clad Man had his head twisted 180 degrees, died instantly, and collapsed to the ground!
Behind him stood that eerie humanoid statue!
It instantly teleported behind the man and snapped his neck!
"Holy crap! What the hell is this monster?"
Zai Zong could finish speaking, the person in the video panicked and retreated repeatedly, even accidentally falling to the ground.
But what puzzled Zai Zong was why this person didn't run towards the door immediately?
There are people and soldiers outside. If you don't run, why are you still here watching?
Run!
At this point in the video, the view from which the person fell to the ground began to turn slightly red, as if it were swollen.
He sat on the ground, moving backward while shouting and yelling, even reaching out to try to drive him away or block him.
But as the surrounding area became increasingly red, it gradually seemed unable to hold on any longer.
until
Click—
A cracking sound was heard from the bones.
The viewpoint collapsed instantly.
On his deathbed, he saw two fully armed soldiers rush to the door and open fire on the human-shaped statue.
The screen went black again, the image flushed crimson, and the humanoid statue moved to a different position, now standing behind one of the soldiers.
The soldier collapsed to the ground, powerless, the next second.
He was obviously dead.
The other soldier was still somewhat unaware of what was happening. His gun was still firing into the doorway.
until
The alarm went off, and the screen went black.
Prelude
Completed
Eerie music began to play at that moment.
The slow pace of the story reveals a sense of impending crisis.
Meng Shu's name slowly appeared on the black screen and then quickly faded away.
Immediately afterwards, the four large white characters "Control Failure" replaced the words and were displayed to the public.
At this point, the video had only played for 26 seconds.
There are still more than 3 minutes left.
The Zai Zong understands.
Just as the comments in the live chat said, the failure meant that the imprisoned items had escaped.
This humanoid statue will probably be the monster in the next game!
What a bizarre attack method!
What amazing speed!
That's practically teleportation!
How do we deal with this?!
In just 26 seconds, this seemingly eerie and harmless humanoid statue was portrayed as incredibly powerful!
Teleporting and then snapping your neck?
How did it do that?!
How will players face this in the next game?
The Zai Zong hasn't even seen its front, doesn't even know what it looks like!!
"Brothers, could this be the one that appeared in the true ending of ' Skyhill '? What was it called again? W-FBC-0173, right?"
"If so, then what do you suggest we do to deal with it?"
"This is ridiculously strong! The firepower from two soldiers is completely useless."
The comments section responded instantly.
But Zai Zong didn't watch it because the video in front of him switched the main perspective again, and it turned to another person.
Alarms were blaring and there was a lot of noise.
The Red Light on the wall flickered, and the shadows swayed incessantly.
A person dressed in orange, head bowed and silent, was startled awake and looked around when the alarm suddenly sounded.
At the same time, the control door beside me suddenly opened and retracted into the wall, giving me a sudden glimpse into the room.
All that can be seen in the image is a clean, porcelain-painted corridor outside the door.
Across from them was a prison-like dormitory.
Inside, on the bed, lay a Orange-Clad Man.
He was staring blankly as he raised his upper body in astonishment at the door that had inexplicably opened.
It seems like he hasn't quite grasped the concept yet.
Immediately afterwards, the viewer got up, carefully went to the door, and looked outside.
All that could be seen outside were large numbers of people dressed in orange clothes shouting and fleeing through the crisscrossing corridors.
Some even started fighting on the spot.
It was as noisy as a vegetable market.
[Go back to your dorm!]
A furious roar came from behind.
Looking back, two beams of tactical Flashlight swayed in the corridor.
Several men in orange clothes fled in panic, ignoring warnings.
Until a gunshot rang out, the person in the video was so frightened that they fell to the ground and kept backing away in fear.
And those orange-clad men who had fled also disappeared without a trace.
Only one of them collapsed in front of the door from the main viewpoint, facing inward, trembling as she reached out her hand, her eyes filled with a longing for life.
[Help me.]
Bang--
With a follow-up shot, the screen went black again.
The perspective then shifted to another person.
This is a researcher, or a PhD.
At that moment, he was looking down, copying and recording something.
At the same time, he was muttering to himself.
[The cycle has accelerated. Six months have been completed in just six minutes. What happened? Why is this happening?]
He then raised his head and looked ahead.
Meanwhile, the Zai Zong watching on the screen saw, through the main perspective of the video, two floodlights used for photography and taking pictures in the observation room directly in front of them.
On the white background in the center, the light from the floodlights illuminated a bizarre scene of a woman and three men.
I'll update this chapter first, then I need to go out for a bit and will continue later. Some descriptions in this chapter are based on the revised version. For example, the official and player names were originally standardized to the "you know what I mean" version. However, due to reasons related to "you know what I mean," some changes were made in the previous text, so now there are two different names. Sorry!