Chapter 651: The Courier
Soon, players began emerging from the VR gaming pods one after another, most of them looking utterly bewildered, still not quite understanding what had happened.
"What the hell? I got killed before I even found a gun! That's not fair!"
"Same here. I jumped out of the plane and my parachute opened right away. By the time I floated down, someone was already waiting for me with a gun..."
"Dammit, someone snuck up behind me and killed me with a frying pan!"
"How's the game going now? We want to see!"
The players in the entire VR gaming experience area were extremely curious—how was the game progressing?
Those who had been eliminated had already GG'd without even understanding the game's mechanics, while those who hadn't gotten to play at all were even more confused, having no clue how the game was actually played.
Just then, Qian Kun came to the VR gaming experience area and clapped his hands. "Everyone, listen up! You can continue watching the match through the spectator mode in the VR gaming pods. Other players can come to the holographic projection viewing area to watch."
"Oh? The holographic projection is on? Let's go check it out!"
The players immediately followed Qian Kun to the holographic projection viewing area on the second floor.
There were quite a few people there already, and the players coming from behind filled up the entire holographic projection viewing area. This kind of spectacle had only ever happened before during major League of Legends tournaments.
Qian Kun went to adjust the equipment, connecting the current battlefield data of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" to the holographic projection device. The big screen also displayed the in-game screen simultaneously.
When Chen Mo had been developing the game, he had already considered future tournaments and spectator systems, so he had implemented a full set of features. Although promoting a tournament system for "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" wasn't as easy as it was for "League of Legends," professionalization was still one of the game's directions.
"Wow, awesome! We can spectate now!"
"The holographic projection is... a bit small. I can't see the little figures clearly."
"Just watch the big screen. Huh? Is that circle the poison zone? It's already shrinking."
"There are only fifty-something people left. They died fast."
The players all gathered around the holographic projection, chattering away. Those who couldn't see the holographic projection had to settle for the big screen.
The big screen used a traditional observer mode, mainly following a third-person perspective, focusing on players with the most kills. The holographic projection, on the other hand, continuously zoomed in based on the poison zone. If it shrank to the final circle, it would probably be great to watch, but during the first circle, the figures on it looked too small, which somewhat affected the viewing experience.
"Whoa, awesome! They're fighting! One got killed!"
"But there's someone else nearby! That guy got killed while looting the crate! That's the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!"
"Holy crap, that guy just got a huge power spike! He was wearing junk a moment ago, and now he's decked out in all kinds of good gear, and he's swapped out all his guns!"
The players were all watching the big screen and discussing animatedly. Now that they could spectate, they truly immersed themselves in the game.
From the holographic projection, the players were mostly concentrated in a few towns, each one cautiously searching, terrified of being exposed to others' view.
Several players had terrible gear, but they stayed crouched on the second floor of buildings, their gun muzzles aimed at the stairs, and had survived until now.
Clearly, those who didn't understand the game mechanics, acted impulsively, or had poor aim had already turned into crates. Those who survived either had good aim, good luck, or knew how to lie low.
...
Old P waited cautiously on the second floor, observing the outside through the window, but he didn't see any other players.
Earlier, there had been two intense bursts of gunfire outside. The first time, a kill notification appeared in the bottom-left corner of his vision. The second time, two notifications popped up simultaneously. He couldn't tell if the deaths were in P City or elsewhere.
Old P really wanted to grab his submachine gun and go check it out, but he held back.
He glanced at the poison zone. The second circle had already appeared, and P City was still in the safe zone.
Old P was a bit conflicted because his gear wasn't great, and he didn't have much medicine.
Just as he was hesitating about whether to go out and search some more, he suddenly heard footsteps downstairs, followed by a "creak" as the door opened.
Old P perked up immediately. Before coming upstairs, he had deliberately closed the door to make the house look like no one had been there. Of course, the loot had been taken, but since everyone was still a newbie, the guy downstairs probably wouldn't notice such a detail.
The footsteps were clear, and Old P could even accurately pinpoint the person's exact location—they were wandering around on the first floor.
Old P tiptoed quietly to the stairs, switched to his S686, and then charged straight down!
The guy on the first floor had decent gear—it looked pretty good. He had an AKM on his back and was holding a SCAR, wandering around the first floor, probably wondering why there was so little loot in the house.
Hearing movement behind him, the guy was obviously startled and quickly turned around, but Old P had already reached the first floor and fired two shots from the S686!
"Bang! Bang!"
Two very rapid gunshots, almost no interval between them. Both of them were on the first floor, only about three or four meters apart. The S686's buckshot blasted the guy clean off his feet, sending him flying through the air. The level 2 body armor he was wearing couldn't save him. He slammed into the wall beside him, scattering the clutter on the nearby table everywhere.
Old P heard a sudden shout from one of the nearby VR gaming pods: "Holy shit!!!"
Obviously, that guy was seriously freaked out.
Old P chuckled to himself as he reloaded and scanned the surroundings. There shouldn't be anyone else.
The S686's close-range power was indeed ferocious—two shots and done.
Old P walked over to the crate left behind. "Holy crap, so much stuff!"
A level 2 helmet, level 2 armor, a level 3 backpack, two guns, plus attachments, scopes, bandages, med kits, energy drinks, and so on...
Old P was thrilled. This guy was basically a courier! He had gone through all that trouble to find such good gear, and then he couldn't wait to deliver it all to him.
He wondered if that guy was really pissed off—having such good gear, only to get ambushed by him.
After swapping out all his equipment, Old P's level 3 backpack was almost full. There was a lot of useless stuff in there, like submachine gun and shotgun ammo. Old P sorted through his backpack and tossed it all.
He didn't have room for the fuel can either. After some hesitation, Old P tossed that too.
The SCAR in Old P's hands was already close to fully equipped; he was just missing a magazine, which wasn't a big deal. The only issue was that he had less than 90 rounds of ammo.
"Let's go out and look around a bit more."