This Is Our Mission
The cry for help came from a man.
Zai Zong, wanting to experience what it would feel like to face these anomalies from the perspective of a modern soldier.
In the past, most games where players played as soldiers were first-person or third-person war games, with only a few being top-down RTS or mecha games.
As a soldier, facing terrifying anomalies head-on is almost unheard of; it didn't even happen in the first few installments of the game.
There isn't even a related movie.
That makes sense, really. Before the advent of the Only Game, other Horror Games mainly involved playing as an ordinary citizen, being chased by ghosts in a map. There was no plot, it was easy to get tired of the game, and the low-quality graphics even made people want to laugh.
If even ordinary protagonists can't be made into a good Horror Games, how can soldiers with their own firepower be made into one?
Even though it was the Only Game to emerge out of nowhere, it wouldn't dare to set the protagonist as a soldier in Horror Games.
After all, a soldier-type protagonist requires calmness, composure, and exceptional qualities. When necessary, he also needs superhuman combat abilities and the ability to regenerate health.
Not to mention that you have to bring your own gun or teammates when you go out.
Therefore, for most players, playing as a soldier in Horror Games is much more novel than playing as a D-Class Personnel or agent.
After all, the thought of modern firepower battling supernatural beings is thrilling!
Although I've experienced this in "Control Failure" and "Skyhill" and even been taught a lesson by the monsters, the protagonist isn't a soldier after all, and players don't empathize with the calm and composure.
And now, in the VR version of "Dark Forest", Zai Zong playing as the soldier-type protagonist!
And he even has teammates!
The teammates also have firepower!
In this wave, our side has a large number of people and strong firepower, so the advantage is definitely in our hands!
At that moment, as a distress call came over the radio, the C-1 captain he was controlling immediately responded.
[Immediately report your identities and current location!]
The radio crackled to life very quickly.
[We are the Channel 21 excavation team. We are trapped here.]
[We can't leave.]
We are at the Magnetic Bend.
(The radio broadcast was interrupted.)
The Zai Zong started yelling.
"Tunnel excavation team, my god, what time of day is this?"
"In the original game, Channel 21 was destroyed by tree roots long ago, so is this side quest about how the passage was only recently built and the construction crew didn't have time to leave?"
The Zai Zong was very interested in the upcoming plot of the game.
It's still unknown whether this Special Task Force will offer a perspective on the forest's story at another point in time.
Will this Special Task Force reunite with the protagonist later?
Will it play a role in the later stages of the process?
Will it affect the direction of the plot?
Everything is unknown, but that also makes Zai Zong feel excited and expectant.
Just as he was lost in thought, the next second, his teammate spoke over the radio in the game, his tone both surprised and incredulous.
[WTF?]
[He said they were from the Channel 21 excavation team? But weren't those people already evacuated?]
[That's right, I heard the excavation team encountered something during construction, which left them in a vegetative state, lying in the hospital.]
[So, if the construction crew isn't here anymore, then who the hell was the person who just contacted us?]
Seeing this, Zai Zong and the people in the live stream were slightly confused.
This is insane.
It seems like something supernatural just happened!
I thought there were real NPCs waiting to be rescued.
"Not bad. This side quest gave me a surprise right from the start. It's truly amazing that it's the Only Game I know!"
So, are we still going to save her or not?
Zai Zong stared at the VR headset, waiting for the next conversation.
Although he can now move around freely, his years of experience playing games make him afraid to wander off. He simply stays in place and waits for all the dialogue to finish before moving on.
This ensures that you can concentrate on the game later without feeling distracted by having to look at the dialogue and keep your eyes on everything else.
In many games, especially racing games.
Every time you're in a fast-paced race, a dialogue is shown, forcing you to concentrate on the track while also glancing at the subtitles below. Since you don't have the ability to read quickly, you end up not being able to read the dialogue completely.
Therefore, Zai Zong usually stops when encountering dialogue scenes, reads them, and then continues playing the game.
Now, amidst the discussions among the opposing team members in the game, C-1, as the captain, simply spoke calmly.
[Regardless of who contacts us.]
Click—
The captain pulled back the bolt, his tone serious.
None of this can affect our mission.
[Let me reiterate: This mission is primarily investigation-based, with rescue as a secondary objective. No one is permitted to act on their own or disobey orders. Understand?]
[Understood!] *5
At this moment, the dialogue in the storyline ended.
Zai Zong immediately cheered in the live stream and started operating.
"I like this captain's persona; he has that sense of responsibility."
"I'm getting more and more excited about what will happen next."
Zai Zong quickly pressed the remote control and began to move forward in the passage with his gun.
The game's visuals remain achromatic black and white, and the narrow and cluttered passageways, combined with the realistic VR experience, create a sense of oppression.
Channel 21 is about 2 meters high and two people wide. The ground is covered with wooden planks scattered with gravel, and the thick wooden beams supporting it make it look like a mine tunnel, dark and quiet.
In the deathly silence, only the sound of footsteps could be heard, which made Zai Zong and the captain feel as one and focused their minds.
The occasional flow of stone chips and dust made him feel as if a landslide was about to occur, filling him with urgency and panic.
Fortunately, the light from the tactical Flashlight and the sight of his teammates scouting ahead brought him some relief.
See? This is the advantage of having teammates. This is the advantage of being a soldier-type protagonist. So what if I'm facing ghosts and anomalies? At least I'm not alone!
I have reliable teammates now!
Channel 21 was not complicated, and the group of six people carefully made their way along the narrow path supported by wooden beams.
There were no further distress calls over their radios. Right now, only Zai Zong controlling the captain to explore the area and see if they could find the so-called construction workers.
The journey was peaceful until they reached a deeper part of the area, when strangely, tree roots began to appear entwined on the stone walls on both sides.
"Holy crap, there are tree roots!"
"It's already been eroded by the forest? I have a feeling something bad is about to happen."
As Zai Zong his confusion, the voices of his teammates came through the radio in the game.
[Captain, tree roots have indeed been found in Channel 21 as well. The situation is the same as in the other passages, just not as severe.]
[I remember this passageway wasn't even finished yet, how come there are so many tree roots in just a few days? 5 days? 7 days?]
[Luckier than other access routes, the report said, other routes were blocked by tree roots while construction was underway. The road dug today was blocked by tree roots the next day, making progress completely impossible.]
[Yes, several passages have collapsed. What kind of Anomaly Trait is this?]
At this rate of growth, will we even survive?
Silence fell instantly; the team members on the radio were silenced.
No one could answer the question; everyone seemed to have foreseen their own fate and consequences.
until
After a few seconds of silence, the C-1 captain spoke solemnly.
[Everything comes first, that's our mission, guys.]