tkworld #354 - Dilemma: Players lament the sense of immersion in FPS games (2-in-1 order required)
#354 - Dilemma: Players lament the sense of immersion in FPS games (2-in-1 order required)
In that critical moment, Endo Kazuki suddenly shouted and lunged towards the horde of zombies.
"Emi-san, run!"
Emi: "!!!!!!!!"
The zombies howled, their claws tearing through Endo's lab coat and scratching his skin, but he didn't flinch, clenching his teeth and forcefully blocking the zombies.
"Go quickly, you and Kenji-san take the USB drive, create the vaccine, and complete our atonement."
Emi looked at Endo in disbelief, finally bit her lip, and made up her mind to run.
She told Kenji sadly about what happened on the plane.
"Is that so? Endo-san also…"
Kenji silently clenched his fist.
...
Afterward, Kenji took Emi out of Akihabara.
As they were about to get into the car, they encountered Misaki, who had come alone.
Misaki cried as she explained to Kenji what had happened.
The other members of the squad had sacrificed themselves while climbing Tokyo Tower to cover them, and Shimazaki Kazuya had also sacrificed himself to repair the satellite signal transmitter.
Kitahara Kenji silently closed his eyes.
"I see…"
The two exploration teams had more than 20 people when they first entered Tokyo, but now, only the three of them were left alive.
The audience in the live stream exclaimed, "Damn, the cost of this sacrifice is too high."
...
Afterward, Kenji drove a small car they found on the street, and the three of them headed towards the University of Tokyo.
As they entered the gates of the University of Tokyo, Kenji was shocked by the scene before him.
In front of the gate, the blood-stained ground was a scene of chaos, littered with corpses. The bodies of zombies and human guards were intertwined, forming this land of deathly silence.
The fallen zombies stretched from the school gate all the way to the entrance of the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Medicine, which was already filled with zombies, forming a bizarre mountain of corpses, densely packed together, with bullet holes smoking all over their bodies.
It was evident that the squad had also encountered a zombie horde attack not long ago, but they had not given up, choosing to forcefully attack, resulting in heavy losses.
Kenji raised his gun and stood guard, the three of them silently walking through this area along the main road, their footsteps heavy.
In the second-floor laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine building, Kenji finally saw a living person.
It was a man with high combat power among the armed guards of the Final Defense Line.
He stood alone with a rifle, like a guardian, guarding the iron door of the laboratory.
When he saw Kenji, he was relieved and collapsed, swaying.
Kenji quickly stepped forward to support him.
The man's face was pale, and he grinned:
"Police Officer Kitahara, you… you've finally arrived.
There are too many zombies at this university. I'm sorry, my brothers have all died, leaving only me…
But, don't worry, Researcher Ueda, Chief Purser Ono, and those experimental terminals are behind this door, well protected by us.
We didn't let you down, did we?"
Kenji nodded: "No, you did a good job."
The man waved his hand and continued to smile:
"Police Officer Kitahara, actually, you said that our organization is humanity's Final Defense Line, but I'm not that great.
The reason why I'm willing to help you develop a vaccine is because my wife and children are in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
I… I also have a very cute daughter. I don't want them to live in a world of fear and anxiety."
Kenji: "You're seriously injured, don't talk anymore, let's bandage your wounds first."
The man shook his head: "It's useless, take a closer look, these are all bite wounds, all… all just happened."
Kenji checked the wound, his heart sank.
And the edges of the man's eyes began to slowly turn red.
In other words, he had also been infected not long ago, and was only using his willpower to hold on until Kenji arrived.
The man's breathing became rapid, and he handed his Glock pistol to Kenji.
"Police Officer Kitahara, I don't want to become one of those monsters. This is my last request, give me a quick death."
Kenji was silent for a moment, then shook his head:
"No, I can't do it, I'm a police officer."
The man continued to plead:
"Police Officer Kitahara, this is precisely the duty of a police officer. This is not only my request as a Japanese citizen to a civil servant, but also my request as a father. I don't want my precious daughter to think that her father turned into a monster.
Police Officer Kitahara, you also have a daughter, you should be able to understand, right?"
The man heavily shoved the pistol back into Kenji's hand.
Game prompt: [You are free to decide whether to shoot]
In the live stream, G-chan's hand holding the game controller was trembling slightly.
She said: "Although I know this is a game, I've never played a game with such a realistic sense of immersion, so it's really hard for me to do it…"
Across from her, the man's skin began to gradually change, and his eyes began to turn redder.
"Police Officer Kitahara, I know what you're thinking, you're waiting for me to completely turn into a zombie before shooting.
You're being too cunning, it's not fair to me.
I want to fall as a warrior with dignity, instead of being eliminated by you after turning into a zombie.
Although there's only a few minutes difference between the two, it means something completely different to me.
Please!"
The man looked directly into Kenji's eyes.
G-chan struggled for a moment, then silently raised the controller.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out, and the bullet fired by Kenji pierced the man's chest.
The man fell backward heavily, and with his last breath, he smiled:
"Th… Thank you…"
Watching the man fall, Kenji threw the pistol on the ground. Not far behind him, Emi and Misaki supported each other, looking sad.
In the live stream, G-chan's hand holding the controller was trembling slightly. After a long while, she exclaimed:
"The zombie-themed FPS games I played before were all mindless shooting, which was very fun, but I've never had such a hard time doing it like this time.
But I'm not criticizing this game, on the contrary, what a doomsday game needs is a sense of immersion!
I can only say that the Paradise Utopia production team has redefined how a doomsday FPS should be made!"
The audience in the live stream also exclaimed:
"Indeed, this is the ninth art, Paradise Utopia put their heart into it!"
"This doomsday is very cold, but the members of the Final Defense Line are very warm."
"I also played up to this point just now, but I didn't make up my mind to shoot, and instead hid far away. Now it seems that the streamer's choice may be better…"
"The brother upstairs, there's no need. Since Paradise Utopia gave you the opportunity to choose, it means that any choice is reasonable. This can be considered a clever idea from the game designers."
After readjusting his mood, Kenji pushed open the door to the laboratory.
It was filled with densely packed test tubes and various scientific instruments.
Behind an instrument, Kenji found Ueda and Chief Purser Ono.
The two seemed to be whispering and secretly discussing something.
Seeing Kenji arrive, Chief Purser Ono stood up in a panic.
"What are you talking about?" Kenji asked curiously.
"Nothing…" The chief purser evaded the question.
The sacrifice of his teammates left Kenji with no mood to pay attention to these details. He handed the eight USB drives to Ueda and said coldly:
"Mr. Ueda, we have connected the satellite signal and obtained the USB drives. It's your turn."
Ueda nodded, and with his only remaining right hand, he inserted the USB drives into the computer terminal one by one and started typing on the keyboard.
Kenji just held his gun and stared at him, wary of any suspicious movements.
After an unknown amount of time, Ueda breathed a sigh of relief and nodded:
"The DNA map analysis has been completed. The supercomputer has completed the reverse engineering of the genetic code and transmitted the calculation results back to this terminal.
Considering that the Self-Defense Force's bombers are coming soon, I suggest we leave quickly."
Kenji raised his eyebrows: "You don't need to continue here to complete it?"
Ueda shook his head: "The calculation has been completed. I only need to take this terminal, as well as that microcentrifuge and culture instrument. The remaining work can be completed on the train to Hokkaido."
Kenji was not a professional researcher after all, so he had to believe what the other party said.
Everyone carried the instrument terminal onto the car and drove back to Tokyo Station.
When they arrived at the platform, everyone saw that the bullet train they were supposed to take had been completely destroyed by another train coming from the opposite direction.
The driver's cab of the train had been completely deformed and surrounded by zombies. Many zombies had already squeezed in through the broken windows.
Everyone's heart sank!
...
At this time, the audience in the live stream was also worried:
"Damn? Could it be that the train conductor is already dead? After finally getting to this point, it won't all be in vain, right?"
Just when everyone inside and outside the game was on the verge of despair,
Suddenly!
On the railway tracks not far away, the sound of an old-fashioned diesel engine train came!
An old train head drove out of the warehouse.
Train conductor Fukuyama waved to Kenji and the others from the front of the train:
"Come on up!"
Everyone was overjoyed and ran quickly towards the train head.
The sound of the train whistle and the diesel engine also attracted the attention of the surrounding zombies.
Soon, all the zombies in Tokyo Station gathered towards this train head!
"Hurry up!"
Kenji carried the experimental terminal on his back, helped Emi catch up with the train head, and the two successfully boarded the train head along the stairs, then reached out and pulled Misaki up as well.
Ueda Yusaku also swung his only arm and ran desperately.
Behind him, the zombies were getting closer and closer!
Ueda looked at Chief Purser Ono, who was running not far in front of him, rolled his eyes, and quickly said:
"Mr. Ono, save me! Don't forget the Arasaka Group shares I promised you!"
It turned out that in the University of Tokyo's laboratory, Ueda Yusaku had asked Ono to escort him all the way to Hokkaido on the way.
As long as he safely arrived in Hokkaido, Ueda would transfer half of his Arasaka Group shares to Ono.
Ono had been a miserable chief purser his whole life, earning a low salary, and he was naturally tempted when he heard this condition.
But he knew Ueda's character and didn't dare to believe him easily, so at that time, Ueda directly found paper and signed a written gift agreement, which made Ono completely relieved.
But the condition for the agreement to take effect was that Ueda had to arrive alive in Hokkaido.
Therefore, Ono had to grit his teeth and turn back to help Ueda.
"Mr. Ueda, put your arm on my shoulder, hurry!"
Ueda sneered: "That's right, my Director Ono."
In the next moment, he grabbed Ono's shoulder, hooked his foot, and tripped the other party completely.
The moment Ono fell to the ground, he was completely submerged by zombies!
"Ugh ah ah ah ah!"
Ono's screams came from behind, Ueda didn't look back, he used Ono to attract the attention of a large number of zombies, gained a moment of respite, and successfully climbed onto the train head.
...
At this time, in the driver's cab of the train head, train conductor Fukuyama breathed a sigh of relief and muttered to Kenji:
"Police Officer Kitahara, you don't know how thrilling it was just now, that bullet train that came from the opposite direction was crashing so fast!
Fortunately, I was smart and found this train head in advance…"
As he spoke, he noticed that only Kenji and a few others had returned, and was stunned:
"Wh… where are the others?"
Kenji settled Emi in her seat and shook his head:
"The others are all… forever left in Tokyo."
Train conductor Fukuyama understood what had happened. After a long while, he nodded:
"Although the price is a bit high, as long as a vaccine can be developed, it will not be in vain for the spirits of those young men in heaven."
Everyone sat there silently for a while, and Fukuyama suddenly muttered:
"Huh… what's going on?
Why is the train's speedometer getting slower and slower? I clearly filled it with fuel!"
Suspicious, Fukuyama pushed open the door and walked to the rear of the train head, and was instantly stunned.
It turned out that Ueda Yusaku was lying on the edge of the rear of the train,
And behind him, a large number of zombies were running and chasing the train.
Several zombies pounced forward and grabbed the hooks of the car, and their legs were grabbed by other zombies.
So, the zombies piled up like acrobats, more and more!
The engine was carrying more and more weight, and the wheels and the rails were constantly rubbing out blazing sparks!
If this continues, the train will soon be dragged to a complete stop by the zombies.
Fukuyama tsked and walked to the rear of the car to untie those hooks,
These hooks were old and in disrepair, and had long been rusty,
Plus, there were constantly zombies grabbing the other end of the hook and constantly climbing forward,
Fukuyama struggled a lot to completely remove the bolts from the hook.
Exhausted, he just breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly!
The zombie on the hook, at the moment the hook was removed, pounced and grabbed Fukuyama, dragging him off the train.
"Ugh ah ah ah ah!"
Fukuyama's screaming voice quickly faded away and disappeared at the end of the road.
Ueda, who was originally lying on the back of the car panting, was startled. He didn't expect the zombies to pounce so far, and struggled to stand up quickly.
However, he only had one arm left after all, and his movements were inconvenient. Before he could completely get up, a pouncing zombie bit his leg.
"Aaaaaaah!"
Ueda Yusaku screamed in pain, using every ounce of strength he had to kick the zombie's head with his other foot.
He kicked several times before finally knocking it off the train.
"Damn it, damn it!"
Looking at the wound on his calf, Ueda cursed as he untied his tie and tied it above the wound to stop the bleeding.
Then, he calmed down for a moment, lowered his pants to cover the wound, and walked towards the front of the train.
At that moment, Kensuke had just emerged from the driver's compartment and saw Ueda walking towards him.
Kensuke: "Hmm? What about Train Conductor Fukuyama and Attendant Ohno?"
Ueda could only say, "Mr. Ohno couldn't get on the train, and Fukuyama went to unlock the chains at the rear and was dragged off by zombies."
"I see..."
Kensuke nodded sadly.
Ueda: "Officer Kitahara, I have a request. I want to continue researching the vaccine data in the driver's compartment using that computer terminal."
Although he didn't know why Ueda was suddenly so motivated, it was ultimately a good thing, and Kensuke nodded.
But he wasn't foolish enough to trust him completely. He called Emi and Misaki out of the driver's compartment and had them wait in the outside passage.
He then stood guard next to Ueda with his pistol, watching him work.
After getting access to the terminal, Ueda began frantically typing on the computer, trying to find a way to temporarily block the infection through the gene map.
He muttered to himself: Prepare serum? Extract antigens with a centrifuge? Damn it... what to do, damn it!
The fear of death made Ueda's hands tremble slightly as he typed on the computer.
The rhythm of his typing became increasingly frantic, and he eventually slammed the equipment almost furiously.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Kensuke, who was standing guard, grabbed Ueda's arm.
It was then that he noticed something was wrong with Ueda. Red blood vessels were rapidly spreading from the edges of his eyes.
"You're infected?"
Kensuke frowned and looked down, only to find that blood had already stained the other man's trouser leg red.
"I'm not infected, not infected, let go of me, I, I want to save myself!"
Ueda Yusaku let out a hysterical scream, his eyes becoming increasingly ferocious as he looked at Kensuke.
Kensuke clicked his tongue and tried to raise his pistol to intimidate him, but was surprised to find that the gun was out of bullets!