owlsbooks Chapter 1 The Strange World
Chapter 1 The Strange World
"Welcome to the bizarre world survival game!"
Please remember the following game rules.
"1. Each person will have a vehicle with a magic circle engraved inside. The magic circle can protect you from strange attacks. The higher the level of the magic circle, the stronger its ability to resist strange attacks."
"2. The vehicle will automatically travel along the road. When it encounters a treasure chest, the vehicle will stop, and you can get out and explore on your own. The treasure chest contains everything you need."
Note: Except for special areas, there is only one treasure chest per location. However, please note that areas with treasure chests also pose dangers, so proceed with caution.
"If you don't want to get out of the car, you can stay inside. The vehicle will automatically drive away after half an hour."
"3. The chances of encountering something strange at night will greatly increase. For your own safety, please stay in the car."
"4. When 80% of the surviving survivors upgrade the magic circle to a certain level, a more dangerous area will be opened."
"The situation will be even more difficult for weaker survivors, so please don't fall behind!"
"5. There is a newbie gift pack inside the car. Please make good use of the supplies inside."
"6. Good luck!"
Li Yuan forced himself to calm down. He had just woken up from the dazed state of being asleep when he found himself in this strange world.
He is now in a state of inexplicable panic, just like the feeling of suddenly having to transfer to another unfamiliar school, only more intense.
But he could only try to accept reality.
Accept reality! You've been transported to a survival game by some strange force! Yes! The kind of survival game you see in novels!
There's no going back!
You've lost everything, but luckily you have nothing left.
On the bright side, at least you won't have to be a beast of burden anymore. With your abilities, and if you're lucky, you might even do better.
Thinking about it this way, Li Yuan felt much better.
Li Yuan carefully examined the car in front of him.
From the outside, it was just an ordinary, almost dilapidated black sedan, with peeling paint and rust on the edges of the doors, as if it might fall apart at any moment. But this seemingly crumbling metal shell had become his only refuge.
He opened the driver's side door and got in. The moment he sat down, the engine started on its own, a sudden roar startling him. But he quickly realized—it was autopilot.
The car accelerated rapidly, eventually settling at a steady speed of sixty kilometers per hour on a desolate highway. The scenery on both sides flashed by like phantoms: withered trees, wild grass, broken road signs—everything exuded a sense of deathly stillness and foreboding.
Li Yuan forced himself to calm down and examined the interior of the carriage again.
His gaze fell on the steering wheel, and he instantly understood why it was automatic driving.
Because it wasn't an ordinary steering wheel at all, but a complete Bagua formation! Copper wires outlined the eight directions: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui, with the Taiji symbol in the center, where Yin and Yang flowed. The patterns were ancient and mysterious, with no place to grip.
However, even if Li Yuan could transfer the power, he wouldn't dare to.
He accidentally killed himself.
Li Yuan stared at the Bagua formation for a long time. He didn't understand these things, but he had seen them in movies and TV shows. Vehicles traveled along the "Gen" direction of the Bagua formation.
It seems to be in the direction of the gate of life.
Li Yuan then looked at the instrument panel, which only displayed the speed and fuel level.
There was another display screen next to it, which was lit up. Li Yuan went over to take a look and found that it displayed basic information, as well as chat channels and a trading center.
In addition to your own information, the basic information also includes information about vehicles or spell arrays.
An old car, a barely functional car teetering on the edge of being scrapped.
I've heard that driving an old, dilapidated car on the road is a sure way to get killed!
Swift Movement Illusion Formation: Move objects swiftly while hiding in illusions.
It's just a very simple magic array; don't expect it to withstand strange attacks.
Upgrading requires 10 spirit stones.
Adding other materials during upgrades will grant additional abilities.
"Spirit stones?" Li Yuan's heart skipped a beat. "Isn't that the hard currency in cultivation novels?"
Could it be... that cultivation is truly possible in this world?
In an instant, countless images flashed through his mind: riding the wind on a sword, walking on clouds; raising a hand to summon lightning, burning mountains and boiling seas; moving heaven and earth with a single thought, causing all ghosts to bow down...
Who hasn't dreamed of transcending the mundane and wielding the power of the laws? Who hasn't dreamed of becoming the protagonist who defies fate?
Perhaps... here, those fantasies that only exist in dreams can really come true?
He suppressed the surging excitement in his heart and searched the car carefully. Finally, under the passenger seat, he found a huge red magic circle that covered almost the entire bottom of the car. It was made up of countless strange runes, with intricate patterns that pulsated slightly like living things, exuding an indescribable mysterious aura.
That was the "Swift Illusion Array".
He stared blankly, a surge of shock and awe welling up inside him.
On Earth, he scoffed at feng shui, talismans, and formations, dismissing them as mere tricks by charlatans. But now, with the supernatural rampant and ghosts and spirits appearing, he yearns to be the old Taoist priest under that bridge, ringing a copper bell and drawing talismans to exorcise evil.
He sighed softly, "How amazing..."
Li Yuan opened the chat channel again.
The chat channels are divided into world channels, regional channels, group chat, and private chat.
The world channel was in an uproar, and Li Yuan, unable to see the information Kuku was sending up, had to switch to the regional channel.
The regional channel is much better; I can barely read the messages.
"Holy crap! Northern Myanmar's got a new twist?"
"Ha! Who kidnapped me? And they're doing this like a prank game! Survival novels are popping up everywhere, now even variety shows are coming out, huh?! Do you even know who I am?! Come out right now! Don't force me to kneel down and beg you!"
"Waaah, please don't hit me! I didn't do anything! Let me go back!"
"I told you not to click on random online links, and now I'm being held hostage."
"Brothers! Gods! I don't care if you kidnap me, but could you please delete my browsing history?!" (kneeling and crying)
"Holy crap! I really don't know anything about earrings, doctors jumping off buildings, or the heatstroke incident. Please let me go! Oh, I really didn't curse Xiao Qiao!"
"I've been helping you guys all along! I'm the one behind the capital-driven entertainment schemes, please leave me alone!"
"Get out of here! Don't pin everything on us, we really didn't do it!"
"I have lived a clean and virtuous life. The multiple-choice questions on that exam were the biggest gamble I ever took. How did I end up here?"
"Hahaha! I don't have to pay off my millions in gambling debts anymore!"
"Holy crap! I just won 200,000!"
"Xiaoli, Xiaoli, where are you? You added me as a friend. The situation is unclear right now, so please be careful. If you need anything, just tell me. I don't care about you and Wang Huadong! I only realized how much I care about you after I got here. Please forgive me."
"Li Cheng, where are you? I'm your father."
"Wait, is this a real survival game?!"
"This steering wheel is actually shaped like a Bagua diagram, how eerie!"
"I just tried turning it and it works, so I think I can drive it myself."
"This is not acceptable, fellow Daoist!"
"So stingy! They didn't even give a decent newbie pack! A bottle of water and a pack of compressed biscuits—who's going to eat that? They inexplicably dragged me into a survival game and didn't even offer anything good! Get me a change! Or I won't participate anymore, and what are you going to do about it?"
"The people upstairs are really awesome!"
"At this point, they still think they're the center of the world."
Li Yuan looked at the newbie gift pack in the passenger seat, a red cardboard box with a ribbon tied with a bow on it.
Li Yuan opened the newbie gift pack.
"Ding! You have received a 500ml bottle of mineral water."
"Ding! You have received a bag of compressed biscuits."
"Ding! You have obtained 500 grams of cinnabar."
"Ding! You have obtained one Five Emperors Coin."
The compressed biscuits are a size smaller than the palm of your hand, and about the width of your thumb. They are just enough for an adult to eat for two meals.
The cinnabar was packaged in a yellow cloth bag; 500 grams didn't seem like much.
It's really scarce, but they're making good use of what they have!
Li Yuan complained.
Suddenly a pop-up window appeared.
"Ding! Resources detected. You can choose one item to increase its value by 100 times."
Li Yuan was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed!
WTF! Hang up!
Goldfinger!
A hundredfold increase! That's awesome!
Li Yuan, unable to contain his excitement, carefully examined his pendant.
"100x Boost: Can be used once per day, increasing the quantity of one type of resource obtained that day by 100x!"
"Refreshes daily at 6 AM; counts do not accumulate."
"New user bonus: You get an extra use today."
The quantity of a single resource increases a hundredfold, once a day, cannot be saved for the next day, and only applies to resources obtained on the current day.
Li Yuan understood how to use his cheat code.
Li Yuan carefully examined the supplies he had obtained.
Water and compressed biscuits are not considered.
Both cinnabar and five-emperor coins are used to ward off evil spirits, but five-emperor coins are more durable than cinnabar and can also be made into a money sword, so let's go with five-emperor coins!
In an instant, the old copper coin seemed to come alive, crackling like a bean bursting, and one after another it was copied, split, and stacked!
Ding ding ding—
Copper coins rained down, and in the blink of an eye, a small mountain had piled up on the passenger seat. Each coin was exactly the same as the original, with mottled verdigris, clear inscriptions, and emanating a faint aura of yang energy and the power to ward off evil.
Li Yuan stared at the pile of coins from the Five Emperors, which formed a small mound, and remained silent for a long time.
He knew that in this game, perhaps... he could actually survive.