Chen Xu returned home, cooked some noodles, and hastily ate a bowl to fill his stomach.
After eating, he sat down to rest, "waking up" the virtual dreamscape device. In the interface prompting a new dreamscape world, there was a small window labeled "props."
Such a window did not exist in the first dreamscape.
He guessed that he must have completed the previous dreamscape's task and received fifty points, reaching the condition to unlock it.
When he clicked it open, a dense array of small images appeared before him. As his attention focused on a particular image, it would enlarge, forming a three-dimensional figure.
They were all equipment, like guns, daggers, axes, medicine, and even vehicles and other transportation tools, totaling dozens of kinds.
Chen Xu felt it was becoming more and more like a game.
The items above weren't considered expensive; a regular pistol only cost two points, and one hundred bullets cost just one point.
Judging from the name of this world, there was a high probability of encountering beasts, so weapons were needed for protection.
He exchanged for a pistol and a rifle; coincidentally, the model was the same he used in the last dreamscape world. He got two units of each kind of bullet.
In this way, he spent five points.
Then, he bought an exoskeleton mechanical arm (left), which cost forty points, and with the remaining five points, he got a backpack, drinking water, food, and some medicine.
He had thought it through. The props, whether machine guns or rocket-launchers, sure had powerful impacts. But they were only useful if he could hit the target. Only the exoskeleton machinery could directly enhance his strength and be more useful.
It was just too expensive; a single mechanical arm required forty points. To gather a full set, it needed eighty points. His points were not enough; he could only afford one.
The exoskeleton mechanical arm had a built-in power source; the entire piece weighed only thirty kilograms, yet its maximum power reached ten tons, definitely high-tech.
After spending all his points, he exited. Lying on the bed, he prepared to sleep.
...
"You are about to enter the virtual dreamscape 'Beast Invasion.' The difficulty level of this dreamscape is one, lasting one hundred eighty days. Wish you a pleasant experience in this dreamscape."
Chen Xu heard the voice again, and it made him open his eyes.
What he saw was a murky sky, seemingly covered with a layer of dark yellow fog, creating a heavy feeling in his heart.
"This time, not in a room?"
He smelled a thick burning stench, tried to stand up, and found that he was lying on uneven stones, which were uncomfortable. Standing up to look around, he was somewhat bewildered.
All around was a dead silence, like the scenes only seen in movies, of a city razed to the ground. Collapsed buildings were everywhere. He was now standing on a pile of broken bricks and fractured concrete pillars, occasionally seeing a severely rusted piece of rebar.
This was a city ruin with no signs of life.
Woo—
A gust of wind blew, making a creepy sound.
Chen Xu looked at the building broken in half in the distance, feeling a tingle at the back of his neck, "What exactly happened in this world?"
Could it be the invading beasts that destroyed the world?
If that's the case, it would be too dangerous. Surviving here for one hundred eighty days seemed like an impossible task.
Even though he had ventured in a dreamscape once before, facing such an environment made him somewhat nervous.
"Right, where are the items I exchanged?"
He had nothing on him; the items he exchanged for fifty points were nowhere to be seen.
"Really?"
He anxiously searched around and, upon turning, discovered a headless corpse, blood spread everywhere, looking extremely gory.
"This is so intense?"
He gasped, no wonder the burning stench he smelled before was so reminiscent of burnt hair and flesh. Thinking about this made him somewhat nauseous.
He forced himself to overcome the discomfort and approached the corpse.
From the color of the blood, he could tell this person hadn't been dead long; it meant there might be lurking dangers nearby. His first reaction was to get a weapon for self-defense.
The corpse was dressed in a peculiar style that looked like a soldier, so there was likely to be a weapon on it.
As Chen Xu got closer, he saw a pistol by his feet, his eyes lit up, and he picked it up.
"Why is it this model?"
He was very surprised; it was exactly the model he was used to. He removed the magazine, finding it filled with bullets.
No matter what, having a gun in hand made him much more secure, allowing him to stand a fighting chance against danger.
He glanced around again and quickly noticed something new: something was burning in a relatively intact building about a dozen meters away.
"Let's go check."
He loaded the bullet, slowly approaching while keeping an eye on the movements around him.
When he clearly saw the scene inside the building, he couldn't help but sigh. He had some speculation when seeing the corpse outside, but he hadn't expected the scene to be so tragic.
Inside were human corpses as well as monster corpses. Signs of fierce battle were everywhere, with blood sprayed all over.
He hesitated for two seconds but still went in.
Because he saw an exoskeleton armor, very familiar. It was exactly the style of the one he exchanged his points for. He wouldn't believe it was a coincidence, even if beaten to death.
"They're just some NPCs and monsters, won't scare me."
He muttered in his heart, consciously avoiding looking at those corpses. Upon entering the building, he picked up a rifle, unsurprisingly, the same as the one he exchanged for.
Silently, he slung the gun over his shoulder, walked to the corpse wearing the exoskeleton armor, and found its right arm severely damaged, though the left arm was intact.
It was obvious these were the props he exchanged for, just that they didn't appear directly in his hands, but came to him in this way.
"Is this to increase the sense of realism?"
He was a bit helpless, having earlier thought the exchanged items were lost, feeling incredibly upset, only to find them waiting here.
"If I had been a little careless and left directly, wouldn't I have missed them?"
He could only lament that as a guest, he had no rights, playing a game without even a hint. He had to rely entirely on himself to explore everything.
Then, he recalled the operation process and removed the exoskeleton mechanical arm from the corpse, putting it on himself.
It was called a mechanical arm, but it included leg components. Without foot support, the weight of thirty kilograms alone could tire a person out.
This set of mechanical arms was semi-enclosed; wearing it was like donning half a suit of armor.
He tried moving and felt it didn't make much of a difference, retaining his usual flexibility.
"Test the power."
He noticed a fallen two-meter-long concrete pillar on the ground, grabbed one end, and with a force, the heavy concrete pillar weighing several tons left the ground.
"Truly high-tech." He released the concrete pillar, feeling amazed, "In this way, the technology in this world seems much higher than in reality."
Just then, he heard some movement behind him, turned around abruptly, and saw a green-skinned monster taller than a human, drooling, no more than five meters away from him.
All of a sudden, his hairs stood on end.