Platform Game

Biodata

Participation Rules

• Monthly opportunities are limited. Passengers recognize that postponing their first game beyond the middle of the month risks leaving too few opportunities to meet the three-game requirement 85.
• Veterans may enter to replenish points and survival time, particularly when they cannot complete their Dream Game tasks 134.
• Survival time remains a scheduling concern: Zhao Xun avoids games whose unknown end times might exceed his remaining time, then resumes participation once he has accumulated a substantial reserve 164.

Entry and Game Structure

Arrival

• Players leave the train through thick white fog and gather before the game begins. At Nairui Town, six participants assemble in a grassy clearing 16.
• Zhao Xun concludes that the fog conceals which carriage each participant came from, preventing players from identifying newcomers and veterans by their boarding locations 28.
• The system does not announce participants’ newcomer or veteran status. Veterans can deliberately pose as inexperienced players, as Tiantian does in Nairui Town 28.
• Instructions may appear as individual pop-ups or on a shared overhead screen 17 47.

Missions and Roles

• Objectives vary between games: individual searches, faction missions, paired quest chains, shared hunts, and multi-stage tasks all appear 17 87 164 297 317.
• Missions can place otherwise cooperative players on opposing sides. Zhao Xun’s agreements with Xiao Hong explicitly exclude situations where their objectives directly conflict 83 108.
• Some games assign identities and personal traits. In Deep Mansion, Old Dream, Zhao Xun becomes a resident swordsman who carries a longsword and dislikes sweet foods 164.
• Shared rules displayed before a game apply to every participant, according to Zhao Xun’s experience 167.
• Not every game provides a complete backstory. Hide-and-Seek School has no backstory, while NPCs in fully developed story settings do not know that they are NPCs or recognize the identity of “player” 323.

Special Abilities

• Players use their Special Abilities during Platform Games, including Metal Control, Fire Control, and Lightning Control 50 69 117.
• Ability level and mental power affect combat effectiveness. Repeated combat can gradually increase mental power, according to Zhao Xun’s observations 75.
• NPCs can possess abilities: Zhao Xun obtains Resurrection and Frenzy from the Princess in Princess Thorn 78.

Rewards

• Platform Games can earn points much faster than daily Personal Missions aboard the train, making additional participation a way to finance ability upgrades 83 99.
• Hidden missions are difficult to trigger and complete. A Mu notes that usually only one player in a Platform Game triggers one, limiting the supply of special items 83.
• Rewards are not always equal for every survivor. In Labyrinth of the Minotaur, players who reach the finish after another player kills the Minotaur receive half the normal clearance points 200.

Taking Items Back to the Train

• Ordinary food and clothing collected in Nairui Town disappear when players board the train 42.
• Items willingly gifted by an NPC can be retained, including clothing, weapons, and everyday supplies 82.
• Coercion and mind control do not qualify an NPC’s transfer as a valid gift 82.
• Food and drinking water cannot be brought back through the gift exception 82.
• Task rewards can be retained; Zhao Xun returns with special items such as the Princess’s Prince Pendant and Mimicry Doll 83 177.

Documented Games

Risks

• Failure commonly means death, and most Platform Games have low survival rates. Newly promoted veterans therefore often prefer Dream Games when they have a choice 134.
• In the fourth September round, Zhao Xun estimates that more than 200 newcomers died and only slightly more than 100 cleared the game 117.
• Clearing a game does not guarantee a safe return: after the fifth round, three unconscious players remain outside without treatment, needing someone else to spend points and bring them aboard 125.
• Cooperation may be essential. City of Light links partners’ survival, while other games reward or require faction coordination 87 297.
• Conversely, allies can become enemies through mission assignment. Players may also sabotage a stronger opponent’s quest objective rather than fight them directly 43 108.
• Veteran participation does not imply weakness. Instructor Wu is misled into believing only weak veterans enter Platform Games, overlooking exceptions such as Zhao Xun and Su Tiantian 169.

Role in Zhao Xun’s Progress

Zhao Xun enters Nairui Town partly because clearing a Platform Game will allow him to explore the veteran-player area. He subsequently participates in every Platform Game during his newcomer month, using the faster point income to upgrade Devour 16 83 133.

After becoming a veteran, he alternates Platform Games with Dream Games when scheduling and survival time permit. His participation is not purely compulsory or defensive: he tells Xiao Hong that he enjoys the games and wants their points 108 164.