[Player K8107 has joined the random Script queue.]
[Drawing a random Script for you. Draw complete. You are currently entering: Team Mode (Normal).]
[Randomly generated team size: 4 members.]
[Script Name: Journey of Death.]
[Current Script Danger Grade: D-grade.]
[The Script introduction will now play. Once the playback is complete, the Script will immediately begin.]
"Another D-grade Script?" Bai Mu frowned.
Logically, since he was only at the F-grade, he should have been queued for E-grade and F-grade Scripts first.
'I've only cleared two Scripts, and the hidden score mechanism has already targeted me. Do they think F-grade and E-grade Scripts are too easy for me?' Bai Mu thought to himself.
He was somewhat prepared for this. After all, the previous Script he cleared had a D-grade difficulty that ultimately escalated to a C-grade. As a rookie who managed to obtain an S-grade rating under such circumstances, it was only natural for Paradise to single him out.
However, going by his own guesses, he originally assumed Paradise would test him with one or two simple Scripts like Deserted Island Survival before ramping up the intensity.
"Paradise is unexpectedly sensitive," he muttered.
As he lamented this, a cinematic cutscene materialized before Bai Mu's eyes.
Unlike the feeling of floating in mid-air he experienced the previous two times, this time he felt as if he were sitting in a plush seat.
He could make out the general surroundings—it was clearly a modern movie theater. Not far from him were three shadowy figures also seated, but the lighting was too dim to discern their faces or genders.
'Did they arrange a movie theater because this is a team mode?' Bai Mu wondered.
This was his first time participating in a team mode. According to Light Evening Breeze's intel, a normal team mode required Players to cooperate to clear the stage, and the objective difficulty of the Script would be higher than in solo mode.
A D-grade danger rating in team mode was far more perilous than a D-grade in solo mode, though it didn't quite reach the level of a C-grade.
The specific subjective experience relied entirely on what kind of teammates you were matched with. The Main Quest for all four individuals would be identical. If you queued with a formidable teammate, you might just get carried to an easy victory by tagging along behind them. But if you met a useless deadweight, you would have to shoulder the burden and carry them forward.
Of course, you could also completely ignore the deadweight. The Main Quests in team mode never forced Players to guarantee the survival of the entire team to clear the Script.
'It seems those three are my teammates,' Bai Mu concluded.
He couldn't move his body freely or stand up from his seat to chat with his teammates. It seemed he had to wait until the Script introduction finished before he could act on his own.
'I should focus on the backstory.' Bai Mu directed his attention to the large screen.
[In 2009, a mutated rabies virus suddenly erupted in the eastern part of Country M, rapidly spreading and sweeping across the world.]
Accompanying the narration, a white building came into view. A red cross was displayed on its signboard—it was a hospital located in the city center.
A rotting stray dog stood at the hospital entrance. Its intestines dragged across the ground, and its stark white ribs protruded from the decaying flesh.
A Zombie dog. Bai Mu couldn't be more familiar with this creature's characteristics.
[Under the influence of the virus, Infected humans undergo physical mutations. They become extremely sensitive to light and sound, beginning to instinctively attack any living creature around them.]
The Zombie dog snapped its head around, revealing hollow, pitch-black eye sockets. It bared its fangs, but with a loud bang, a gunshot rang out. The Zombie dog's head was blown apart, splattering rotten blood all over the ground as it collapsed.
The camera shifted to the front of the hospital doors, focusing on a police officer in uniform. The police cruiser flashed its lights with a wailing siren, and gunsmoke drifted from the black muzzle of his firearm. The pale-faced Caucasian officer swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. Behind him were his colleagues, a whole row of armed detectives entering the hospital.
He seemed to think the crisis had ended right then and there. But in the quiet environment, a flurry of chaotic footsteps echoed from inside the hospital.
Bai Mu knew this man was dead meat. A tidal wave of people surged out of the hospital's main entrance. It wasn't just the doors—people were also jumping down from the rooftop and out of the windows.
The gunshot had attracted the Infected. Firing a weapon in a densely populated area like a hospital was akin to seeking death.
Infected wearing nurse uniforms, patient gowns, and white lab coats swarmed crazily toward the police officers.
Some Infected leaped from the heights of the third or fourth floor, fracturing their bones upon impact, yet they continued to drag themselves forward with their hands, crawling toward the living humans outside.
These scenes left too profound an impression on Bai Mu, instantly dragging him back to ten years ago.
The police fired continuously at the Infected, but they soon realized the sheer number of enemies was overwhelming. The moment one fell, another immediately filled the gap.
Someone dropped their gun in sheer terror, scrambling and tumbling their way into the police cruiser, only to find all escape routes completely blocked by the Infected.
An Infected suddenly lunged in front of the camera, filling the screen with a close-up.
That face was rotting and ghastly pale. Its teeth were sharp, slender, and yellow-black, looking as though they had been corroded by concentrated acid.
This matched the Zombies in Bai Mu's perception. Unlike those he encountered in Dave's backyard—who wore suits and polished leather shoes, looking as neat as office workers possessing some hidden order—these creatures were genuine mad dogs.
They had no rationality, only chaos and primal instinct.
Seeing this, Bai Mu already knew what he was going to face in this Script.
"Does this count as returning to my roots?" he mused.
[Due to the virus's extremely rapid transmission speed, the eastern part of Country M completely fell within a month.]
[Although the Infected became incredibly powerful due to their mutation, they did not learn the skill of swimming. Therefore, the western region, bounded by the Mississippi River, remains safe for now.]
The scene rapidly shifted, turning into a top-down, bird's-eye view.
A city of skyscrapers and overgrown wilderness came into sight. These modernized cities had become utterly lifeless.
The pale, weak sunlight illuminated the Zombies wandering the streets. Shattered glass, overturned trash cans, and crashed cars littered every corner.
Bursts of a woman's mournful weeping echoed from the dark corners, inexplicably horrifying.
[A tiny fraction of survivors have been forced to push westward, seeking a sliver of hope for survival.]
[In this eastern region overrun by the Infected, four survivors have formed a squad through a stroke of coincidence.]
[You are a member of this squad. Together, you have united to head toward the military Evacuation Point in the western part of the city.]
[But currently, you are trapped in a commercial building, attempting to scavenge for gasoline to drive away a car found in the building.]
[Main Quest (Phase One): Refuel the car.]
After these words flowed into his ears, the light faded away.
Bai Mu could move his limbs again. He realized that the tidy, clean theater from moments ago had changed. The area was now choked with the stifling smell of dust and rot, as if it had been abandoned for ages.
To his right, he could finally see the three figures clearly. One woman and two men—it seemed they were his other three teammates for this Script.