Chapter 6121 - 5134: A Journey of Wonder (9)

When the radio broadcast sounded again, the four of them let out a collective sigh of relief. Finally, no more mini-games; this time, there’d better be some content, or else they’ll have to go out and give a bad review.

Right, even up to this point, they weren’t planning on giving a bad review. The reason being, if this was a game made by Batman, then it probably had some deeper meaning. Even if this part was a bit boring, that boredom could signify something. One can’t easily judge until reaching the end; what if there’s a shocking twist at the end, making leaving a bad review seem tasteless?

Actually, there were quite a few games like this in Battleworld. Some earlier parts play a bit flat, and some sections are even counterintuitive, with gameplay not smooth at all. But by the grand climax, at least there’d be a passable showdown or a decent plot twist that ties up all the earlier hints, making the experience quite enjoyable.

This time is the same; the stranger the earlier parts, the more hints there’d be to tie up later. Everyone was looking forward to seeing how Batman would reconcile these bizarre plot threads.

The reason they felt these were hints was that there were indeed some out-of-the-ordinary elements. For example, at the end of the last scene, the tooth Greed obtained — he inspected it closely during a game break. It looked like an adult canine, with very little wear, almost as if it hadn’t been used much.

If there was no connection between these game scenarios, then what was the deal with this tooth? It was exactly designed to provide such an item.

The radio broadcast carried the voice of the Survivor Organization, claiming they would drive the zombie hordes over to have them consume this newly arrived team. Thus, the survivor squad had to begin setting up defenses to ward off the zombie army.

The storyline was like that, but when actually playing, one person was sitting on a bench chopping wood, playing progress bar determination. Another was whittling stakes nearby, playing letter sequence determination. Another was assembling a barrier — this was a bit fresher, involving middle-school level English word letter completion. The one responsible for setting up defenses and repelling zombie attacks was playing Minesweeper.

This wasn’t really the issue; the problem was, when the large Survivor Organization said they were personally coming to teach these unruly outsiders a lesson, everyone thought they’d finally see the game’s first NPC. They waited in the shelter for a long time, only to receive a joyous message from the radio that the Boss, leading the expedition, had been bitten to death by zombies.

This was a good thing for the survivor squad, but no one felt happy because the lively segment they were anticipating was gone. Then the Survivor Organization vowed revenge, dispatched a new team, which promptly got lost. Then another squad defected, and even a military helicopter inexplicably crashed.

All this information came from the radio, only through short dialogues. No one was seen, and they couldn’t leave the shelter.

The entire game flow was like a low-budget movie, with all the members in a small, enclosed space. The main plot again relied on dialogue, with the backstory and settings conveyed through in-game items, such as books and calendars. There were no exterior shots, no grand scenes, no action sequences.

To cover the production crew’s plight, they often inserted grand scenarios in the verbal narrative. For instance, police cars were surrounding the place, military helicopters were on the way, congressmen were in discussion, and the United Nations was in an uproar.

But in reality, whether cars or planes, whether the Capitol Building or United Nations Headquarters, there wasn’t a single shot. If there was, it should be online free footage, the kind subscribed with $19.9 US dollars all-in.

If the previous ’Snowstorm Villa’ was still a somewhat exquisite box, then this ’Zombie Siege’ had given up any pretense, with material reuse reaching outrageous levels. Even the two baseball bats looked identical, with the same degree of wear, as if they had used the same skin.

And that segment of animation was played every single time, not just for the four-person squad. Whenever anyone left to face the zombie horde, it would play, showing however many people there were, but the background and zombies remained unchanged. The most ridiculous part was the agent going out to throw out the trash and having the same epic animation play upon his return, as if he had gone for a night mission at the Umbrella Company.

After doing a series of daily tasks in the shelter, a new scene was finally unlocked. They had to explore the Survivor Organization’s headquarters.

The place first had a lot of people disappear, and then infighting occurred, leaving little inside. The squad intended to scavenge some supplies, but through dialogue, they learned that there seemed to be a scientist who escaped from a lab within the Survivor Organization, with some research on the zombie virus. They also wanted to look for clues.

Greed was no longer interested in how the zombie virus came to be; he had 30 levels left in his match-three puzzle game to clear. He was really unwilling to go out.

Unfortunately, it was a mandatory plot event; all four had to go. This time there was a new cutscene, but it wasn’t even 3D, just a sequential display of somewhat rough hand-drawn style images, gradually unfolding in a central focus manner, accompanied by some startling music, making it feel thrilling.

But in reality, the vast underground structures unearthed by the Survivor Organization were nowhere to be seen. Once the cutscene finished, they found themselves in a simple, dim laboratory, where the floor was covered in bloodstains, and a badge from the scientist who escaped lay nearby.

The beauty of zombie stories is that you don’t need to portray living people or even dead bodies. The living? They ran. Those who didn’t run? They’re dead. The corpses? Eaten by zombies. The zombies? They left after eating their fill. Who says there’s no perfect crime in this world?

Apart from that large pool of blood on the floor, not even a hair of the scientist remained, so they could only continue searching the lab. Soon, they found a hard drive and a bunch of manuscripts.

The manuscript content was roughly that the Federal Government carried out a horrifying experiment. They launched a radioactive substance into space, embedding a bomb within the human race’s genes through near-earth orbit radiation. For some reason, the bomb was triggered. Many people turned into zombies, and those who didn’t transform grew weaker, eventually leading to the zombie apocalypse.

Now, they had to shut down the satellite emitting radiation, meaning they had to embark on a long journey to Washington. Yet the four of them weren’t the least bit worried, thinking they’d push open a door, close their eyes, and open them again in Washington.

They didn’t expect that this game would defy conventions; the travel section that most deserved to be skipped was unskippable. The plot forcibly pushed them to find a car and drive all the way to Washington.

Kentucky isn’t close to Washington, requiring at least ten hours of continuous driving in good conditions. After the apocalypse, many roads were damaged, and buildings had collapsed, blocking some routes.

Without being able to take the highway, they could only drive through the city, which had a lot of zombies. In such a situation, they couldn’t stop and had to forcefully crash through, but the car wasn’t tough enough, and constant crashes would damage it. Without spare parts, repairs weren’t possible, so they had to change vehicles.

What followed was driving and finding a way, bypassing the city, hitting zombies until the car was wrecked, finding another car, and continuing. The original ten-hour trip extended to over thirty hours, with everyone driving while fatigued.

Even more frustrating was that the task of finding the lab came without a map. They had to figure it out from a few lines in a notebook. Had it not been for the agent’s insight into the Federal Government’s secret lab locations and his rich experience in dirty work, they might have circled endlessly.

Inside the lab, predictably, was an exhilarating puzzle of finding keycards and elevator cards. The East side elevator card was in the West District, and the West side elevator card was in the East District. The dormitory area’s keycard was in the lab area, the lab area’s keycard was in the activity area, the activity area’s keycard was in the office area, and the office area’s keycard was in the dormitory area. The garage fuse was on the top floor, and the lighting power switch for the top floor lab was in the underground distribution room.

After categorizing everything, the four found everything needed. When they opened the lab, they expected at least a BOSS fight or a behind-the-scenes manipulator to step out and monologue. Instead, everything went dark, and the ending animation began playing.

This time, the closing animation was even more excessive, text stating that they found the vital clue, shut down the radiation device, and no new infectants would appear. Then, again, and again, and again, and again they played the animation of the four walking towards the zombie horde, ending the whole game.

Another vortex appeared, sucking them all in. With the previous experience, they were much calmer this time, and it was the agent who obtained the special item, discovering a yellow mask in his hand when he looked down.

But he quickly realized it wasn’t a mask; it was a peeled human face, likely stripped after death. Yet, its color was off, a strangely bright yellow as if soaked in dye.

The first level was a tooth, the second a face — all human body parts. It seemed these dull side quests might hide a secret. The four realized that things weren’t so simple and grew curious about what truth these items would ultimately reveal.