"Beep——"

A sharp buzzing sound rang out, and Huang Shengjie glanced around somewhat frantically. The peculiar sensation of entering the game for the first time made him a bit uncomfortable.

Mere seconds ago, he was still in the community hall, and now he found himself in an entirely unfamiliar space, all alone.

Currently, he was in a rectangular lounge, with rather simple furnishings and layout inside.

Surrounding him were snow-white walls, a small bathroom cubicle in the corner, an automated vending machine, a single sofa, and a large screen in the room, all appearing purely decorative in their sparse arrangement.

Furthermore, the few items in the room were all soft and without edges.

The single sofa was wrapped entirely in leather, making it very soft; the large screen was embedded directly into the wall without any protrusions; the vending machine had an overall rounded shape, with soft edges and coverings.

Huang Shengjie had not participated in any Walkway games before, so he simply found the current scene a bit strange, though he couldn’t pinpoint the exact oddity.

It just felt somewhat off.

An experienced player might be able to perceive some issues through such settings.

Besides the door to the bathroom cubicle, there were two doors in the room, differing distinctly in design.

They were located on the two narrow walls of this rectangular room, one marked ’Consultation Room,’ and the other ’Lounge.’

Next to the ’Consultation Room’ door was a small screen that seemed functional, while there was nothing by the ’Lounge’ door.

However, both doors were currently locked and could not be opened.

On the broader walls of the rectangular room, one bore a large screen, the other a specific structural map of the room.

The large screen did not immediately display the game rules, prompting Huang Shengjie to examine the structural map.

The map showed that the entire place formed a cross structure, divided into four distinct zones labeled A, B, C, and D.

At the very center was a grid in the shape of a square, featuring four ’Sales’ rooms, connected to four ’Auditor’ rooms.

Each ’Auditor’ room was linked to two ’Doctor’ rooms, and these two ’Doctor’ rooms were further connected to six ’Patient’ rooms.

Among the six ’Patient’ rooms, the four in the middle were much smaller, deemed ’Ordinary Patients,’ while the rooms on the sides were nearly double in size, marked as ’VIP Patients.’

The six patient rooms in the same zone were all connected to a singular large lounge.

Even though adjacent, rooms of players with the same identity had no doors.

For instance, the five rooms adjoining ’Doctor’ were an auditor, another doctor, one VIP patient, and two ordinary patients, with doors connecting to the auditor and three patients, except lacking a door to the other doctor’s ’Consultation Room.’

Huang Shengjie’s current location was an ordinary patient room in Zone C, identified uniquely on this map by a blue marker.

The large screen began to display the game rules introduction.

[Hello, Huang Shengjie, welcome to ’Pain Game.’]

[This game lasts 4 hours in total, with a game round every 10 minutes, making for 24 rounds altogether.]

[No specific goals are set for this game; players can freely act according to their identity traits, returning to the community safely when the game concludes.]

[1. Meeting Rules]

[Within 1 minute after the start of each game round, players can choose to send a meeting request to players in adjacent rooms, where both parties can agree to meet.]

[You may choose to offer any amount of ’Medical Points’ to facilitate a meeting. If the other player declines, the medical points will be returned.]

[The lounge doors require no requests and can be accessed freely.]

[However, players can open only one door in the room per game round.]

[——2. Special Attention: Pain and Death Rules——]

[In the last 2 minutes of each game round, all players must return to their own rooms and ’endure 1 minute of pain.’]

[The pain experienced may be ’Regular Pain’ or ’Special Pain.’]

[All players will default to experiencing ’Regular Pain.’]

[Characteristics of ’Special Pain’ include extreme agony, nearly unbearable. Players suffering ’Special Pain’ will be considered ’Infected.’]

[Under the following circumstances, players may experience ’Special Pain’:]

[1. Without effective medication pain relief, regular pain will intensify each game round, eventually becoming ’Special Pain.’]

[2. In the 3rd game round of every hour, one player from each ABCD zone will be randomly chosen to suffer ’Special Pain.’]

[3. Players sharing any equipment with ’Infected’ enduring Special Pain will be infected and become new ’Infected,’ suffering ’Special Pain.’ (If usage of the equipment is clearly sequential, the player using first won’t be infected by the subsequent user.)]

[Complete pain relief through medication in three consecutive game rounds will result in healing.]

[***If the ’Infected’ has not been healed 1 hour after the onset of ’Special Pain,’ they will suffer instant death penalties.***]

[3. Special Identities and Medication Rules]

[Players can assume one of five identities in this game: ’Sales,’ ’Auditor,’ ’Doctor,’ ’VIP Patient,’ and ’Ordinary Patient.’]

[Within their own automated vending machine, ’Doctors’ can purchase 1 type of ’Basic Medication.’]

[Sales can acquire 4 types of ’Special Medication’ from their vending machines.]

[Patients can purchase the same ’Basic Medication’ as ’Doctors’ in the lounge, though quantities are limited, and prices are higher.]

[In this game, all medications take effect immediately upon intake, aiding players in pain relief.]

[Moreover, all medications have real-world prototypes, mirroring their real-life characteristics, including hazards and side effects.]

[4. Medication Trading Rules]

[The only circulating currency in this game is: Medical Points.]

[Players can receive a personal ’Medical Card’ from an automated vending machine, with a default medical points amount based on visa time before entering the game.]

[After the game officially begins, players can still recharge medical points at a 2:1 ratio spending their visa time; or incur debt at a 4:1 ratio for medical points recharging.]

[There are two types of medical points in the game, displayed in different colors.]

[Basic Medical Points: obtained through any form of recharge actions, disappearing directly after the game ends without converting to visa time.]

[Special Medical Points: gained via any transaction actions during the game, automatically converting to visa time at a 1:1 ratio when the game ends.]

[Every medication has a certain ’recommended retail range,’ and no transaction can deviate from this range. Otherwise, ’the seller’ of the medication will incur 1 count of ’illegal transaction behavior.’]

[For each instance of illegal transaction behavior, post-game profits will incur a 10% deduction, maxing at 7 times to a deduction of 30% from the original.]

[5. Additional Rules]

[1. Player Communication]

[By clearly entering a player’s zone and name, you can spend 1000 medical points to initiate communication with them.]

[Limited to once per game round, the opportunity and medical points will be consumed if the zone or name input is incorrect.]

[2. Using Monitor]

[Players can select any room to use the monitor to view conditions inside, lasting until the game round ends.]

[Each usage costs 2000 medical points, and during that round, players must remain in the room without opening any doors.]

[3. Identifying the Imitator]

[At the game’s end, all players can choose to ’expend all medical points’ to identify one player as the Imitator of the game design and initiate an all-hands vote.]

[Other players may choose ’Verify’ or ’Do not Verify,’ spending 2000 medical points if verifying. If verifying players exceed half, the system will automatically verify the Imitator’s identity.]

[Verification succeeded and the Imitator will suffer death penalties.]

[Verification failed, deducted medical points won’t be refunded.]

[For more rules, please explore in the game yourselves.]

[Some rules of this game may have implications on the community.]

[Throughout the game, violence and serious violations are prohibited, violators will suffer instant death penalties.]

[In 10 minutes, the first game round officially begins. Wishing all players a return full of gains, free from pain!]