paranoianovel Chapter 2 This is not a game!
Chapter 2 This is not a game!
Dead silence.
A deathly silence that lasted for more than ten seconds.
Then came the complete eruption.
"Where...where am I?!"
"Isn't our school surrounded by a science park?!"
"Are you kidding me! This can't be! This must be a hallucination!"
A girl with poor mental fortitude couldn't withstand this surreal shock; her eyes rolled back and she fainted.
Many more rushed out of the classroom, ran into the corridor, and peered out of the windows on the other side.
Jiang Ming followed closely behind.
The same scene.
The familiar high-rise buildings are gone, replaced by an endless grassland and a majestic, rolling mountain range at the edge of the grassland.
"This...this can't be real...I must be dreaming!"
A boy pinched his thigh hard until he was wincing in pain, but the expression on his face changed from pain to despair.
Panic, like an invisible plague, spread throughout the entire teaching building in an instant and quickly spread to the entire campus.
Screams, cries, and incredulous roars rose and fell.
Countless students rushed out of various teaching buildings and dormitories, standing blankly on the balconies, looking at the completely different world around them, feeling that their understanding had been completely overturned.
Someone frantically pulled out their phone, the screen showing a full battery, but the words "No Service" in the upper left corner were incredibly glaring.
"No signal! I can't make calls!"
"Where's the internet? Both Wi-Fi and mobile data are down! Nothing connects!"
"Someone please tell me what's going on!"
In the chaos, Zhang Wei also rushed out of the classroom. He looked at everything outside, his face as pale as paper.
His family background and wealth, which he was so proud of, became worthless in an instant in this unknown place.
He noticed that Su Xiaoxiao was moving closer to where Jiang Ming was.
This discovery stirred a strange mix of jealousy and anger in Zhang Wei, who was in a state of extreme panic.
Just as everyone's emotions were about to collapse, and the entire campus was on the verge of utter chaos—
Mutation and regeneration!
There was no sound, no sign whatsoever.
A semi-transparent virtual panel, emitting a faint blue light, suddenly appeared before everyone's eyes.
It floated quietly in mid-air, and no matter how people turned their heads, it always remained in the center of their field of vision.
This supernatural scene instantly silenced the noisy campus.
Everyone was stunned, staring blankly at the panel in front of them, speechless with astonishment.
Immediately afterwards, lines of text appeared on the panel, one by one:
From this moment on, you will be here, fighting for survival.
Each person's survival performance will be rated daily.
Exploring unknown territories, gathering survival supplies, and hunting invading beasts... all of these can improve your rating.
[Daily settlement at midnight; high scorers will have a chance to win survival rewards in a lucky draw.]
Please note that this is not a game.
Death is a real thing.
Best of luck to everyone.
After the text flickered for a few seconds, it gradually faded away, eventually shrinking into a small, semi-transparent icon that quietly remained in the lower right corner of the field of vision.
If the previous scenes were surreal, then this silent text is like slamming this surreal nightmare into everyone's heart.
This is not a prank, not a drill, and certainly not a dream.
They were caught up in a real, deadly survival game!
"No... I don't want to! I want to go home! I want my mom!"
A chubby girl stared at the disappearing words before her, her mental defenses completely crumbling, and she sat on the ground, bursting into tears.
Unfortunately, her cries did not elicit much sympathy.
Instead, it woke Jiang Ming up.
As a hardcore fan of survival games, his attention returned to the semi-transparent icon in the lower right corner of his field of vision.
With a thought, the panel unfolded again.
In addition to the previous announcement, three more options have been added: [Personal Attributes], [Survival Rating], and [Lottery Roulette] (grayed out and unavailable).
A very standard survival game template.
With a thought, Jiang Ming opened [Personal Attributes].
Name: Jiang Ming
Race: Human
【Level: Lv.0 (0/10)】
[Strength: 6] (The standard average for adult males is 5)
[Agility: 4]
[Physical Fitness: 4]
【Perception: 5】
[Status: Slightly weak (due to long-term sleep deprivation)]
[Evaluation: Aside from being slightly stronger, you're a total squishy character. I suggest you just slide to your knees when you encounter wild beasts; that way you'll die more peacefully.]
Jiang Ming's lips twitched.
Sure enough, the consequences of staying up all night playing games have come.
Although my strength is slightly above average due to occasional barbell and arm strength training in my dorm, and my sensory perception is also good, my agility and physique...
"4 points... that should be considered the weakest of the weak, right?"
He chuckled to himself.
In this primeval jungle, if you can't run fast and have a fragile body, you're basically a "buffet" for carnivores.
However, just as he was about to close the panel, his gaze suddenly froze.
At the very bottom of these standard options, in an inconspicuous corner of the panel, there is a unique icon that emits a faint golden glow.
It was a symbol that looked like a furnace, with only two words below it:
【synthesis】.
"What is this?"
Jiang Ming's heart skipped a beat.
He subconsciously looked at the other classmates around him.
Everyone was pointing at thin air or staring at their own panels with a look of utter despair, muttering words like "rating" and "attributes," but no one mentioned "synthesis."
Only I have it?
Jiang Ming couldn't help but feel excited. He immediately clicked on the unique [Synthesis] icon.
In an instant, a virtual box emitting a faint metallic sheen appeared in the center of the field of vision, and below the box was a line of small text explaining:
[Everything can be synthesized: Place any item into the crafting menu to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, creating powerful new items.]
"Can everything be synthesized?"
Jiang Ming's heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously looked up, his gaze sweeping over the messy classroom.
Just as his gaze fell on the corner of the classroom, a magical scene unfolded.
There was a section of solid wood chair leg that had broken off during the tremors, and not far away on the ground, there was a rusty iron nail that had come loose from an old school desk.
As Jiang Ming's gaze swept over the two seemingly unrelated scraps, the synthesis panel in his field of vision automatically detected the target, and a line of illusory formulas instantly appeared:
Solid wood chair legs + rusted long iron nails = nail-headed club (common weapon)
[Attribute Preview: Attack Power +2, with the special effect "Tetanus Wrath" (causes continuous bleeding infection upon hitting the target, reducing their wound healing speed by 80%).]
I rely on!
Jiang Ming almost cried out.
No drawings needed?
No worktable needed?
It doesn't even require complicated materials; the panel can automatically provide a synthesis solution just by looking at it.
This isn't a composite; it's practically something created out of nothing!