Saturday, 8:30 p.m.
For most people, this was simply prime time for watching TV dramas, nothing special.
But for gamers, this was when "Visage" went on sale.
It had to be said, no one else would choose to release a game at this hour.
Most other games went on sale just after midnight.
Yet he had chosen 8:30 at night.
Thus, the moment Huaxia time hit the thirty-minute mark, all Cyber users who had added "Visage" to their wishlists received a text notification.
Meanwhile, on Danmu Network, this game gave streamers competing for the popularity rankings an extra boost.
Zai Zong came up with an idea and directly changed his stream title to: Streaming Visage at 8:30
Short, but effective.
It really did bring him quite a bit more traffic and drew many people in to watch.
And now, he had already downloaded the game.
At the same time, to maximize the stream's impact, he turned on his webcam and set it up some distance away, capturing his whole body and putting his handsome figure on display in the lower-right corner.
Since it was VR, he could not sit in front of the computer; he had to stand, so his whole body needed to be visible.
At this point, his stream's popularity gradually reached 1.1 million, with more than 900,000 viewers online, placing him second in Danmu Network's gaming category.
And now, for first place, he was going all out!
"Let me say this first: I'm not nervous, and I'm not scared. After going through Chainsaw Face Wash, you're still asking whether I'm afraid? Let me put it this way—I'm the Iron Gallant Divine Marquis!"
Whoosh—
The chat immediately exploded with scrolling comments.
Faced with the audience and fans' disbelief, Zai Zong pursed his lips, put on his VR headset, grabbed the two controllers, and entered the game he had already purchased and installed on his computer.
"Brothers, I never expected such a major VR title to come from a Huaxia game studio. I really never expected it. After all, Huaxia people accomplished what foreigners couldn't. That makes me pretty proud."
Zai Zong was extremely excited. After trying "21 Points," he had been eagerly anticipating "Visage"!
Especially after watching the trailer, he had not felt afraid at all. Instead, he had excitedly opened the game, wanting nothing more than to dive in and experience that sense of immersion firsthand!
Very soon, the screen went dark as the game began loading.
Then, a warning appeared before him.
Warning: This game's content may cause discomfort. It is recommended for players aged eighteen and above with a certain degree of self-control. Elderly individuals and those suffering from heart disease, asthma, or similar conditions are strongly advised to close the game and are prohibited from experiencing it! We accept no responsibility for any issues caused by this game!
Seeing that, Zai Zong thought it over and put away his half-joking attitude.
Although those trashy horror games in the past all had similar warning messages, neither he nor the other players had ever taken them seriously. Instead, they felt the developers were just trying to hype themselves up, acting as if their games were terrifying.
But with "Visage," it was better to be cautious.
That trailer really was incredible!
And the previous game, "21 Points," had truly been too realistic.
He had no choice but to take this game seriously.
It would not be good if he underestimated it and suffered for it.
Soon, the game began.
The screen was pitch-black.
Then, soothing and tranquil music slowly began to play.
Beside it was a small birdcage, containing a little bird that kept looking around and chirping.
Its calls blended with the menu's gentle music, creating an unusually beautiful sound!
Zai Zong listened, completely absorbed.
Although the menu screen did not have much imagery overall, it gave off a feeling of simplicity without being plain.
It was far more sophisticated than the absurdly low-budget dripping-blood menu from "21 Points"!
"Mm, the music's good. If I didn't already know this was a horror game, I'd have thought it was some other genre."
Zai Zong entered the settings and cranked every parameter to the maximum. His rig was powerful, so of course he wanted to squeeze every last drop out of the graphics card.
Once everything was adjusted, he selected Start Game.
A loading screen soon appeared. It showed a damp concrete floor with a toy train sitting on it.
This was clearly some unknown in-game location. Whether he would ever get to encounter it was another question.
But more importantly, in the middle of the loading screen was a warning—or rather, a prompt—that caught Zai Zong's attention.
It read:
"Visage" is a difficult game. Please remain rational, investigate carefully, manage and use your resources wisely, escape their pursuit, and finally... good luck.
Zai Zong:
"Hiss... I've got a bad feeling about this, brothers. The official warning came up twice in a row. Even 'Dark Forest' only had one."
"And that 'good luck' is a really nice touch. It's making me look forward to the game even more."
Zai Zong's room was neither particularly large nor particularly small.
With his VR headset on, all he could see was the game's loading screen.
It had not seemed like anything before, but after reading that prompt, he suddenly felt as though reality itself was not very safe.
It made him take off the VR headset and cautiously sweep his gaze across his room.
Then he felt a little embarrassed, quickly put the headset back on, and silently cursed himself for being so cowardly. This was his own home!
Shrugging, the game officially began!
"It's starting, brothers!"
The instant he finished speaking, Zai Zong saw nothing but darkness before him.
Fine dust and debris drifted through the air.
A dim incandescent bulb flickered faintly overhead, illuminating the surroundings.
The camera slowly moved downward. Gray-white dust swirled continuously like scattered snowflakes, making his vision blur.
During this process, the producer's name slowly appeared.
Meng Shu
"So Shuo Guang's real name is this. Come to think of it, this is the first time I've learned Shuo Guang's real name."
At that moment, a highlighted message worth twenty yuan floated across the stream. It asked: Brother Zai, will you be scared?
Zai Zong immediately snorted and responded to the twenty-yuan message in a deliberately profound tone.
"Brother, this is just a game! Even if it's scary, even if there are real ghosts in it, so what? At the end of the day, it's still a game. As long as it's a game, it's entertainment. If you get scared, that just means you need more training. Go get a Chainsaw Face Wash in '21 Points' later, and you'll graduate."
Zai Zong replied half-jokingly to those fans who liked spending money on donations.
Everyone was used to it anyway, so no one would be offended.
That was his persona.
Just then, all the company information had finished appearing, and the screen shifted to a table.
On the table lay a revolver and six scattered bullets.
The strong sense of familiarity made Zai Zong recognize it at once as a scene from the trailer.
At the same time, this also indirectly proved that the trailer had been actual gameplay footage.
If nothing unexpected happened, the protagonist would pick up the gun and kill the person tied to the chair.
In the trailer, only one woman had been killed before the scene cut away.
Now that he was playing the full game, would the entire sequence be shown?
Zai Zong did not know. This was still a real-time rendered opening cinematic, and he could not control it, so he simply watched.
In the game, the opening played out from a first-person perspective.
Those hands slowly picked up the revolver, examined it, and loaded the bullets into the cylinder one by one.
Then they slowly stood up, staggered over to the woman, gradually raised the gun, and aimed it at her forehead.
"Wait, wait."
Zai Zong directly pressed the menu button, pausing the game.
He let out a breath, shook his hands, and spoke.
"Brothers, um... this is a little too realistic. Playing with a VR headset is completely different from watching the trailer on a computer before! I don't know how to describe it. When I raised the gun just now, all I could think was, 'I'm going to kill someone. I need to stop this urge right now.'"
"Damn, VR immersion really is something else. I don't know whether you can feel this game's atmosphere, but look at these character models—they look way too much like real people! And the opening is first-person too, so it really made me feel like I was about to kill someone. That feeling was just... really unsettling, you know?"
At that moment, a thirty-yuan message floated by. It read: You're scared, aren't you?
Zai Zong immediately got angry.
"Brother, are you kidding? I already said this is just a game. Why would I be scared of a game? Come on!"
Zai Zong pressed the menu button again, and the real-time rendered cinematic continued.
At this moment, in Zai Zong's eyes, the woman before him, who kept struggling and whimpering, showed no trace of being a character model under the play of light and shadow.
Her movements looked incredibly real, impossible to distinguish from reality.
It was as if a real person were desperately begging him right in front of him. Her desire to survive was conveyed to him with startling immediacy.
Zai Zong could barely bear to look!
Even though he knew it was a game, it still felt too real—so real that it crossed a line and instead gave him a deeply uneasy feeling.
Maybe I should close my eyes?
He was wearing VR anyway. The audience would not know he had closed his eyes, and he could still stay calm and maintain his image. What was not to like?
Just as Zai Zong thought this and prepared to close his eyes—
A thunderous gunshot rang out.
Blood splattered everywhere.
Specks of crimson stained the VR display.
He was utterly dumbfounded.
Third update complete! A total of 8,304 words! That's practically four updates! I never realized typing could be this exhausting. Especially toward the end, even choosing words and forming sentences became a problem. The writing flowed like plain boiled water, so frustrating! Sure enough, my best state is still when I'm writing a single chapter!
Thanks to 'With Scallions Comes a Future' for the monthly ticket support!!
Before you continue