Blood streamed from the gaps between his fingers, but the young man sitting on the ground, covering his ears with a terrified expression, bit his lip so hard that he dared not make another sound.
Those others who had intended to say something also shut their mouths in fear.
Only Cheng Mouren stared at Green Skin's gun muzzle, his eyes narrowed, while his mind was focused on something else—
That was whether this gun broke through the power limitation on technological weapons imposed by the "Medieval Fantasy" Entry, or if this was actually a magical weapon disguised as a firearm.
"Buddy? You're not worthy. Next time you're noisy, I'll shoot your head."
Green Skin looked seriously at One-Ear, then stood up from the Tombstone, and only spoke again after a suffocating silence.
"This is a Chosen Space Instance. You are all Players chosen by the Space. If you can survive and complete the Main Quest, you can Return to Reality and qualify to meet veteran Players like me in the plaza.
As for dying... that means you're dead, and you will die in Reality in various plausible ways.
But honestly, you rookies have terrible luck. Even for Players with two or three Instance experiences, the Demon World Village related Instance is extremely easy to wipe in. Our Player community even unanimously agrees that the minimum difficulty for the Demon World Village Blueprint should be D-rank level.
As the novice guide, I am only responsible for helping you quickly accept reality and recognize the current situation. Once I've guided you, I'll leave.
Actually, I was planning to offer you some paid assistance that you could repay later, but considering the high probability of you all being wiped out... How about this: if you are willing to fully display the effects of your Talent Skills to me, I might lend you some things for self-defense, but I will only help the top 5 People whose Talent Skills are most valuable."
After speaking, Green Skin paused and glanced at his wrist device.
"There are 3 minutes left. No extensions."
Green Skin looked up, only to see a group of rookies, still afraid to even breathe, staring intently at him.
"Oh, you can talk now."
As soon as the words fell, Green Skin was surrounded. No one dared to question the situation further; they were all asking questions about how to display their Talent Skills.
Clearly, they had all been intimidated by Green Skin. Even if they still didn't understand the situation, it didn't stop them from trying to secure help.
Only Cheng Tian, who was clutching his lower abdomen trying to avoid catching a chill, had a slightly different thought process.
He personally felt that this Green Skin might be much kinder than he appeared or acted, because what he said, though harsh, was very pertinent.
Given that 《Demon World Village》 has the reputation of being "one of the hardest side-scrolling action platformer games ever," if the settings were highly replicated, a total wipe was certain.
Thinking of this, Cheng Tian involuntarily shuffled to the edge of the low mound and looked toward where Arthur was lying dead. Unexpectedly, Arthur, who should have been lying dead, managed to prop himself up halfway, meeting Cheng Tian's gaze.
Arthur's eyes held a final trace of inexplicable vitality, but Cheng Tian clearly couldn't read anything from it. Then, Arthur completely collapsed, and simultaneously, the flesh and skin all over his body dissolved rapidly, directly revealing a complete Skeleton.
It was exactly the same Special Effect as when Arthur was Killed in the game!
Witnessing Arthur's bone-and-flesh separation, which rivaled a horror B-movie, Cheng Tian was not scared at all. Instead, he took a deep breath through his Nasal Cavity of the Graveyard air, which was filled with a faint smell of corpse decay—
At this moment, Cheng Tian felt the excitement of personally discovering a rare game Easter Egg!
This intense excitement was enough to completely mask the terror of watching a living person's skin, muscles, and organs dissolve on the spot, leaving only a skeleton.
Cheng Tian loved video games, loved them very much, and his taste was very retro, especially favoring old games from decades ago on obsolete console platforms.
How should I put it? Sometimes the fine textures of Unreal Engine 5 just don't have the same flavor as the stacked pixels of an 8-bit machine.
And now, the screen image that should have been composed of pixels was presented before Cheng Mouren in its real form, enough to make him cast everything else aside and dedicate the rest of his life to exploring this Chosen Space based on video games as its Blueprint.
Cheng Tian quickly calmed himself down and turned back toward the crowd. A group of people were opening their personal Panels under Green Skin's guidance, but Cheng Tian soon noticed a phenomenon: everyone was using their mobile phones to perform the relevant operations.
Although he hated to admit it, for the modern society and country Cheng Tian belonged to, the mobile phone had become indispensable. It was a camera, communication, wallet, entertainment, and had even severely reached the point of becoming an external Organ for Humans.
Cheng Tian was no exception, so he lit up the phone he had been clutching, mimicking the others, and found a completely unfamiliar new APP icon on the interface.
A circle containing the character "Tian" written in an extremely bold style, it looked as if it had been directly stripped from Gouki after he finished One Instant Thousand Strikes.
But for some reason, although the APP Pattern was black, Cheng Tian could perceive a strange sense of "kaleidoscopic color."
This was the universal Chosen Mark for the Chosen Players, or perhaps the Chosen Mark automatically selected this display method that was most Compatible with them. Of course, this wasn't the case for everyone.
The Old Brother who felt his alcohol tolerance had dropped had an AR display via glasses; the woman wearing the anti-marriage Ring had a Ring projection display; and the foul-mouthed university student who was bandaging the wound of his classmate One-Ear clearly had a phone but displayed it as a tattoo.
It is worth mentioning that the opening speed of the Chosen Mark APP was as smooth as a Famicom Cartridge: 0-frame expansion, instant use upon touch, requiring absolutely no loading or waiting.
Subsequently, a character Panel interface with a strong ARPG style, visible only to Cheng Tian, was projected before his eyes using the phone screen as a medium.
【Name: Cheng Tian / Player ID DX233180 （ Can perform 1 custom setting ）】
【Race: Earth Human Race 】
【Attribute: Strength 10, Agility 10, Spirit 12, Charisma 9 （ Average Stats for a normal adult male is 10, female average is 8 ）】
【Status: HP=100, MP=120, No BUFF 】
【Talent: Game Master 】
【Skill: None 】
【Equipment: None 】
【Item: None 】
【Wealth: None 】
...Game Master is me?
However, before Cheng Tian could click to check the detailed information of his Talent, he heard applause from the crowd.
It was Green Skin clapping to attract attention.
At the same time, Cheng Tian noticed that five people had already received paid sponsorship from Green Skin: axes, swords, hammers, and clubs—all falling under the category of Cold Weapon.
Cheng Tian's Eyeball darted around, and several Thoughts instantly formed in his mind.
First, this Green Skin possesses a Space capable of holding at least five large Cold Weapons, and it's unclear if it's an innate Space or some kind of spatial backpack.
Second, based on Green Skin's previous statement, although he didn't know this was the Demon World Village Instance before entering, he highly likely knew there was a "Medieval Fantasy" Instance Entry here, which is why the items he prepared for potential bad loans were all Cold Weapons.
Finally, the information on Players' Talent Skills is valuable, but not very much so, or rather, low-level Talents hold little value, and the Talents of the vast majority of Players probably aren't very high. This Green Skin is likely engaging in paid lending with the mindset of 'might as well try,' and it's highly probable that these are all bad loans.
Of course, it's not impossible that Green Skin is cold on the outside but warm-hearted, using the inspection of Talents as an excuse to provide some extra help to this group of people doomed to die.
"Time's up. I hope some of you lucky ones make it back alive. That's all."
Green Skin cast a final glance over everyone, and then, amidst the gasps of the crowd, he vanished into thin air, enveloped by a sudden Light Pillar descending from the sky, just like switching levels in the Mega Man series.
Simultaneously, the Tombstone that had just provided them with introductory information suddenly stirred. The decaying dust began to vibrate slightly, and then—
A human hand, rotted down to only three relatively intact fingers, violently burst out from under the ground!
The bulging grave mound, the rotting human hand, combined with the background of a night sky occasionally flashing with lightning and thunder, formed a truly terrifying scene.
And just as several rookies screamed at this sight, Cheng Tian seized the precious opportunity—
To capture a perfect shot, comparable to the cover of 《Left 4 Dead》, at the fastest speed!