Through the third day
The system interface was a deep crimson, and Adrian was incredulous at realizing he had failed in the first round.
He lost just like that?
Is he really that bad?
Adrian was in a daze. He resolutely refused to admit that he might be a noob. He was fine; it was all the game company's fault. He was certain he wouldn't lose next time.
Back at the spawn point, Adrian activated the replay function. He would start from where he failed. What difference was there between an adventure game without a replay and one that was meaningless? Adrian squatted down and carefully observed the death replay. The streets were deserted, and the alleys were damp and dark. It seemed like there was no problem.
Adrian repeated it two or three times before noticing a small crack in the barbershop window in the lower right corner, revealing the dark, gaping mouth of a wooden gun baring its fangs in the shadows.
They were as beautiful as movie shots, depicting a perfect aesthetic of death, making one sigh at how beautiful and cruel it was, with the thin man being hit in the back by three guns.
They were only ten meters away from leaving the alley, but those ten meters were the difference between life and death. The last limp body collapsed quietly and fell into the puddle.
It's truly undignified to die in such a place. Who would have thought that Adrian would fall right into a stinking puddle? He was really unlucky.
He shuddered, feeling nauseous; Adrian could almost smell how foul the sewage in the video reeked.
A chemical weapon made from rotten fruit pits mixed with rotten eggs; leftover food dumped in the trash can and left to bake in the scorching summer sun all day long—getting close to it only makes you feel disgusted.
Adrian: The dead memories are attacking him again. Let him go. Why can't he be 100% indifferent?
Forget it, Adrian didn't want to dwell on it; to be precise, there was no point in dwelling on it in the game.
...
Adrian began to pay attention to game announcements.
Everyone knows that Gotham is a rainy city with little sunshine, and that most of its wealth and power are controlled by capital. It's not surprising that the infrastructure in the slums is inadequate. Adrian carefully reviewed the game's description again. A thousand words are not as good as experiencing it yourself. Experiencing things teaches you a lesson.
If you interpret the game announcement in reverse, you'll easily understand what kind of place Gotham is.
Sunshine City is equivalent to a rainy and gloomy city; hospitality is probably cold and xenophobic. The only clue is that the time is still at night. Adrian's heart sank. The announcement of the extra program at night is worth considering. He has a feeling that the difficulty of triggering the plot characters is extremely high.
It's okay, the game needs to be challenging, Adrian tried to convince himself.
After convincing himself, Adrian wore a cold expression. No one likes to lose, and he was no exception, but losing a game was nothing to worry about.
His heart pounded violently for the first time in a long time, and his stagnant emotions began to ripple. Adrian couldn't wait to press the restart button. Who would have thought he could start over? First of all, the cold gun behind him was waiting for him.
Adrian was eager to try.
After restarting, Adrian went straight to the bottom of the bed, retrieved his initial startup capital, destroyed the note, and ignored the thugs outside. Adrian climbed down the stairs.
He wants revenge!
How can one not avenge a betrayal?
After taking his revenge, Adrian could almost imagine himself smoothly reaching the clues, triggering the plot, progressing through the main storyline, unlocking side quests along the way, and then bragging to his friends afterward.
Haha, Adrian stopped this daydreaming and became serious.
The first time, he pretended to go out after the people next door left. Now he knew that the group was outside, and he couldn't wait that long anymore. The stairwell was blocked, and the only way down was... Adrian focused his gaze on the exposed water pipe.
One of the unavoidable features of modern high-rise buildings, he never expected that something that only happens in movies would happen to him.
Adrian tore his shirt and wrapped it around his hands, the thin layer serving both to prevent his palms from being cut and to prevent the layer from hindering his movements. He gently pushed open the broken glass window in front of him and tested the sturdiness of the water pipe; it wobbled a little but remained firmly in place.
Adrian gripped the water pipe through the fabric, the lingering smell of rust still haunting his nostrils. He tentatively stepped onto a raised section of the floor, descending steadily and quickly. A few minutes later, Adrian glanced down; the gray-black ground was enough to make even someone with a fear of heights dizzy. He was hanging naked and without any protection in mid-air.
However, Adrian is not afraid of heights, and this is only the third floor. If he falls with the right posture, he won't die; he'll just break a leg.
Adrian suddenly had a strong urge to jump down and try it out, minimizing the pain so that maybe he could even drag his broken leg to the bar... Things he couldn't do in real life, he always wanted to try in the game.
It will only affect game time.
While Adrian was still hesitating about whether to jump, God made the choice for him.
The balcony door beside him made a soft sound. Adrian's last memory was of a tall, burly man with a thick beard making a throat-slitting gesture at him.
The matte-colored gun in his left hand was incredibly eye-catching. How could he be so lucky? Adrian's expression remained blank, showing no sign of his speechlessness.
There's no need to wait for him to try jumping off the building; he's already tried it. If his posture is incorrect, he'll bleed profusely and even end up with a crooked neck.
Adrian's neck was throbbing; he had died a terrible death.
He focused his attention on the sound of the door opening. How could he die the moment the door opened? Was it a door-opening murder?
Finally, Adrian exclaimed that a silenced gun was a really good thing, but what kind of good person would leave a cold gun in the house!
Frustrated, Adrian consoled himself that since he had plenty of time, he could just consider it a trial and error.
Tried and failed...
Players will never tolerate being mistreated!
Adrian complied and activated the third restart, taking out his gun and climbing down the pipe along the second route. He climbed over the pipe at that spot to retaliate, but the unexpected always came first. Adrian made the sign of the cross over the corpse on the ground, wishing it peace.
After taking his revenge, Adrian easily dealt with the NPCs in the alley, but when he reached the main street, he was hit by stray bullets fired by a group of straw-haired men.
Ah, stray bullets, so many unexpected things.
Frustrated, Adrian restarted the game again, still needing to find the character to trigger the plot. He was completely clueless and couldn't play any further.
The familiar interface was driving him crazy. Adrian knew his patience was limited, and now he just hoped the game wouldn't disappoint him too much.
He climbed down the stairs, easily taking out the first two NPCs he hated, and dodged stray bullets. This time, he was determined to reach the bar safely and successfully start the story.
Perhaps because he set the flag too high, Adrian was robbed just as he thought he was on the verge of a happy ending.
!!
? ? ?
Adrian stood on the street, very puzzled, so bumping into him earlier wasn't a coincidence... He was shocked; it turned out he was a lucky guy.
On the bright side, he only lost money; he's still alive.
Adrian chose to randomly engage in street fights and restart the game. He played the game with endless restarts in the early stages, waiting for the thief to come to him. He wanted to catch the thief. There were so many people on the street, why did he only steal from him?
"Why is it so easy for me to steal from so many people on the street?" Adrian asked, pressing the gun against the thief's back. As he asked this question, he pulled the homeless child behind some cover, where he could observe the situation on the street and no one could place a cold gun behind him.
The struggling street urchin froze when he noticed the metal wooden barrel. His fierce, untamed brown eyes instantly filled with fear, and tears welled up in them. "Please, sir, I was wrong."
The little thief he caught was as thin as a kitten; he could lift him up by the collar. Like the kittens he had seen before, he was so fragile that he would break at the slightest touch. Adrian gave up the urge to pick him up and put him down; it was not ethical to play with a poor little cat.
"What's the use of begging me? What does it have to do with me if you're wrong?"
Street child: ......
The homeless child was heartbroken. Damn it, he'd run into a lunatic!
The homeless boy shrank back, cursing his bad luck in his heart. Intuition had saved him many times before, and he knew that this time, he couldn't just get through it by getting a beating like before. He had to be obedient.
Adrian naturally noticed the homeless child's little scheme; his desire to tease the cat took over.
"May I have your name?"
The homeless child was completely bewildered, his pitiful eyes almost bursting with tears. Who was this person? What kind of question was he asking? Did he need to know someone who was going to steal?
The homeless child answered honestly, "Quinn."
“You’re lying,” Adrian interrupted the street urchin’s self-introduction, staring at the green warning light on the panel.
"I'll give you another chance. I hope you won't let me down."
The deep, husky voice sounded like a devil chanting. Elena looked terrified, as if she had seen a ghost. How could he know she was lying?
"Only well-behaved children are valued by adults, am I right?"
“Elena, my name is Elena,” she said, trembling.
"Good girl."
After playing with the cat, Adrian returned to the original question, "With so many people, don't tell me you took a liking to me at first sight."
Elena forced a smile, but dared not lie to this lunatic any longer. God only knew if he would see through her lies. "You are not like the people of Gotham."
She watched as the young man raised an eyebrow slightly, knowing she had the upper hand. "You're not from Gotham, are you? The people from Gotham you know are always different," Elena didn't say, but what outsiders were particularly easy to fleece, in every sense of the word, and she was the unlucky one.
“That’s it,” Adrian thought, assuming that was the case.
"that's all."
Elena bit her lower lip, staring longingly at Adrian, her meaning quite clear.
Once Adrian got the answer he wanted, he moved back to the gun. He'd already petted the cat by the roadside; he couldn't take her back anyway. "Let's go," he said, even giving Elena a push so she wouldn't believe him.
"Be careful next time. If you don't run into someone as kind and soft-hearted as me, you'll be in big trouble."
"......Thanks."
Perhaps Elena sensed Adrian's sincerity, and in the end, she left only one sentence and quickly disappeared into the alley.
After playing with the cat, it was time to get down to business. Adrian clapped his hands and left the corner, sincerely hoping that the money he gave the kitten would help it get through its current difficulties.
*
Adrian emerged from the sewer looking depressed. What was the point of being the riddle solver? Was he supposed to solve a case? He figured he wasn't playing a detective game. Going to the bar next door to find characters and try his luck was a risky move for Adrian. His initial excitement was quickly worn down by the game, and he forced himself to cheer up.
Nightfall is a bar that perfectly embodies the spirit of a bar. Adrian, spouting nonsense, squeezes his way into the crowd until the chaotic, sweltering atmosphere becomes deathly still.
The sound of gunfire could be heard everywhere.
Adrian tiptoed to look in the direction of the gunfire, and his eyes widened the moment he saw the person; at that moment, the game panel refreshed instantly.
The main storyline has begun.
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