Chapter 759: The Special Nature of an Ordinary Premise
Amidst the somber and mournful sound of a guitar, Zhao Lei’s vision went pitch black. Black-and-white ink-wash style scenes unfolded one after another, introducing the game’s development team and cast list.
The voice of a news report also narrated to the players what the world had become after the outbreak.
The epidemic erupted, streets piled high with thousands of corpses, vaccination efforts failed, cities were declared quarantine zones, residents rioted, food rations ran short, and the Fireflies organization launched an uprising...
Twenty years later, summer.
Joel woke from a nightmare.
The story truly began only now.
Zhao Lei hadn’t yet recovered from the earlier opening.
“What does this mean? An opening kill? A sweet little girl dies right at the start??”
Zhao Lei had originally thought this little girl would be a key character in the game, someone he’d have to protect and help escape. How did the plot just cut off here?
When Joel held his daughter and wept bitterly, Zhao Lei truly felt his own heart clench painfully. He recalled the watch the little girl had given her father, and the birthday card. Such an adorable little girl, killed by a soldier’s gunfire. It was easy to imagine how agonizing this must be for Joel.
How had he spent these twenty years?
Zhao Lei found it hard to imagine. Amidst the pain of losing his daughter, through twenty years of suffering and torment, in such a terrifying apocalypse—how had Joel managed to survive?
After a cutscene, the game’s main story began.
An American flag still hung upstairs, but it looked tattered and worn. Soldiers patrolled the rooftop, while garbage piled up like a mountain below.
It was clear that over the past twenty years, civilization had completely stagnated, even regressed severely. Beside the mountain of trash, two people were discussing the matter of “being selected to go out and work.”
On the main street, a broadcast reminded citizens to carry their latest ID cards at all times.
The ration line hadn’t opened yet, and food supplies were probably running low again. But some people still queued in front of the ration line, likely already starving.
Ahead, within the blockade line, several refugees knelt on the ground as soldiers tested them for infection. The fourth refugee tested positive and was directly injected with a lethal dose. The fifth tried to run and was shot on the spot.
Zhao Lei curiously approached, only to be roughly shoved away by a soldier. He tried again out of curiosity, but this time the soldier pushed him to the ground and shot him in the head.
Zhao Lei: “...Is this game really this realistic?”
...
...
It wasn’t just Zhao Lei. In Chen Mo’s experience store, a large number of players and streamers were all playing *The Last of Us*.
Professional game reviewers from well-known domestic and international media outlets were also experiencing *The Last of Us*.
This opening surprised everyone. After seeing the words “20 Years Later,” they were even more astonished.
Clearly, the main story took place twenty years later. In the two decades since the epidemic broke out, the rules of the entire world had undergone earth-shattering changes. The cordyceps virus hadn’t been contained; instead, it was still spreading. Major cities were under strict lockdown, and people barely scraped by. Joel had become a smuggler, moving in and out of the city, earning the apocalypse’s hard currency—“ration cards”—through gray-market deals to survive.
It was obvious that Chen Mo wanted to create a highly realistic post-apocalyptic world. This was an era where civilization had already collapsed, not the transitional phase from a civilized society to an apocalypse right after the outbreak.
This story background was completely different from typical zombie-themed works.
Many people could imagine the chaos when the cordyceps virus first broke out, but it was hard to picture what the world would be like twenty years later. Clearly, Chen Mo wanted to craft a completely unique setting.
But returning to the earlier question—what was the point of this opening?
It wasn’t just a tutorial level for movement and controls, nor was it merely an introduction to the game’s backstory. Obviously, Chen Mo had invested a lot of effort into Joel’s daughter—her hobbies, her gift and birthday card, her thoughtfulness, the deep bond between Joel and her, and the little girl’s death.
Clearly, all of this had deeper meaning.
The opening didn’t feature any grand spectacles or thrilling, blockbuster-style excitement, but it unexpectedly felt incredibly real. This sense of realism permeated every detail of the environment, every small object, and every line of dialogue, making everyone feel Chen Mo’s sincerity in telling this story.
...
...
As the game progressed, Zhao Lei began to encounter more of its content.
First was the game’s resource system.
His first impression was that this game was surprisingly stingy...
In the secret hideout, Joel picked up his gear: a backpack, a gas mask, and a pistol. And the pistol only had four 9mm bullets.
Clearly, whether in *PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds* or *Uncharted*, players had never encountered such a miserly game. With most people’s aim, what could four bullets even do...
As Joel left the city, players began to encounter more gameplay elements, like finding a way out.
This was essentially a form of puzzle-solving. Amidst collapsed ruins, players might need to find a ladder hidden in the grass or a wooden plank to proceed. Joel wasn’t Drake; he couldn’t climb walls, so many high places could only be reached by finding special objects in the environment.
Of course, this was where the companion’s role came in. Joel could work with Tess to climb to higher spots, crossing obstacles that couldn’t be passed alone.
In the environment, players could also scavenge supplies. This felt a bit like collecting batteries in *Outlast*, but the collectible elements were more varied. Some materials could be used to craft medkits or bombs, while parts could upgrade weapons at workbenches.
Additionally, as the game progressed, many previously unclear details were revealed through subtle hints.
For example, the cordyceps virus in *The Last of Us* was actually a plant-based fungus, a type of spore. These spores could spread through the air, and infected individuals carried them.
This cordyceps fungus essentially parasitized humans. Unlike traditional zombie viruses, where the infected gradually decay over time, those infected with this fungus grew stronger. They could even evolve into Clickers—creatures that had completely lost their sight but moved with terrifying speed, posing an even greater lethal threat to humans.
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