Chapter 339: Chapter 335: Sinister Closed Beta Start
Translator: 549690339
Friday morning, six oâclock.
Super Tomato updates his status punctually:
âThe closed beta of âSpeed Chaseâ starts inâ0 years!â
The first hot comment is a picture drawn by a player using special characters, showing a little man screaming.
The text bubble says: âFour years! Do you know how Iâve spent these four years?!â
This picture received more than 50,000 likes.
The second hot comment is:
âWhen will âSpeed Chaseâ closed beta start?
â Today! Today!â fđżđewebđ»ođŻđl.đom
Most players wonât be able to participate in the closed beta, but this time is different.
Lincoln generously didnât require players to keep the beta a secret!
Itâs not like âParadiseâ last time where agreements were vague and full of leaks.
There wasnât even mention of keeping things secret!
Under Lincolnâs special care, Super Tomato successfully received the closed beta qualifications.
During yesterdayâs live broadcast, after he finished reading the beta instructions, he hesitated a bit.
He eventually contacted Lincoln on his phone to confirm if Cloud Dream overlooked something or really allowed more open permissions.
Lincoln clearly said on the phone, âYou can broadcast it without worries.â
So, both anchors and players were excited.
Especially the players! Even if they couldnât play themselves, they could at least see the actual game content!
At eight oâclock sharp, Super Tomato naturally logged into the game first thing in the morning.
He initially thought it would be like the beginning of âAssassinsâ Alliance,â where he would wake up in a room and then proceed to a tutorial level.
But at this moment, he was dumbfounded, standing in place wearing a black outfit, holding an AR-15 automatic rifle, with similarly black-clothed companions beside him who had indiscernible faces.
In front of him was the brightly lit house from the trailer.
âWhat does this mean?â Super Tomato was completely confused.
Wasnât the protagonist in the trailer supposed to be inside the house, being attacked? And not on the attackerâs side?
Not even one main character?
Is it this miserable?!
Not only was Super Tomato confused, but countless viewers in the live broadcast room were also spamming question marks.
Everyone was caught off guard that the protagonist turned out to be a nobody in the trailer!
No matter how you think about it, the trailer implied that âthe protagonistâs residence is under attack, and after the lights go out, the counterattack beginsâ!
Now itâs not like that?
Super Tomato couldnât accept this setting for a moment⊠and one of the leaders dressed in black had already started making tactical hand gestures at him.
However, watching the leaderâs constantly changing gestures, Super Tomatoâs face was filled with confusion.
What does it mean? I donât understand!
Fortunately, text quickly began to float above the gesturesâ the system translated the meaning of the tactical hand gestures for him.
âFlank, eight oâclock direction, three minutes, attack.â
Although he still didnât get the whole picture, with a leader giving orders and time running short, Super Tomato acted quickly.
Under his ordinary closed beta habits, he wouldnât be so well-behaved in this situation.
At least he would try the âpretend to not understandâ hand gestures to see how the other teammates would react.
But this sudden development caught him off guard, and he instinctively followed orders.
Once positioned, Super Tomato, based on his experience in âAssassinsâ Alliance,â focused on the gun in his hand.
As expected, a skill floated above the gun: [Shooting Expertise: Level 1].
After checking the time, with only one and a half minutes remaining, he opened his personal panel.
As expected, a new set of character information appeared.
During different games, playersâ personal panels change accordingly. When entering a new game, the playerâs personal panel in that game occupies the main position.
The panel for the virtual world as a whole is placed on the secondary page.
This is for the convenience of players during intense battles.
At this moment, the character information panel has changed toâ
âPlayer ID: Super Tomato
Character Level: Level 1
Combat Skills: [Shooting Expertise: Level 1], [Cold Weapon Expertise: Unlocked], [Combat Sense: Unlocked], [Gunfighting Technique: Unlocked]
Non-Combat Skills: [Driving: Level 3], [Cooking: Level 2], [Fishing: Level 4], [Playing Cards: Level 3]âŠ
Killer Ranking: Unrankedâ
âWhat is this? My card playing skill is only level 3? Nonsense!â Super Tomato whispered in protest.
The audience saw Super Tomatoâs strange focus and immediately felt he was outrageous!
âCombat Sense! Gunfighting Technique! These are important things! Why are you focusing on playing cards?!â
âIs playing cards so important that itâs worth your attention?!â
âOn the other hand, how are non-combat skills determined?â
âIt doesnât seem to be inherited. I remember the anchorâs driving skill in âAssassinsâ Allianceâ was already max level.â
Seeing the discussions in the live broadcast room, Super Tomato decisively retorted: âYou guys! You lack foresight! Look at my handsome face! Who am I?â
Among the rows of question marks in the comments, Super Tomato answered his own question:
âI am the man who will become the Gambling King of Night City by playing cards!â
âLevel 3 is not enough! I must reach Max Level! I want all the casinos to remember my nameâSuper~Tomato~!â
Super Tomato obviously understood live broadcasting well. This bragging immediately attracted a bunch of comments.
However, he soon had no time to chat with comments.
âBang bang bang bang bangâââ
Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot burst through the air, interrupting Super Tomatoâs speech, the time had come, and the battle had begun!
Super Tomato quickly raised his gun and fired at the house.
But he wasnât clear about the whole situation and was afraid of accidentally hurting innocent people, so he didnât really aim properly, raising the gun almost towards the sky, and the bullets all flew towards the roofâs eaves.
Just after firing the gun for real, he immediately noticed that without the max level Shooting Expertise and the sensory enhancement effect of [Assassin Bloodline], his shooting accuracy had severely declined.
During high-speed rapid-fire, he could even clearly feel the gun trembling uncontrollably in his hand, and there was no control over it.
Where the bullets hit was entirely up to luck.
He used to feel so familiar with guns that he worried they were too realistic and might affect public security in society.
He felt that he was already very familiar with guns, and even if he lost the systemâs skill assistance, holding a real gun, he could still be skilled in loading and firing it.
Moreover, even if he couldnât hit a target at twenty meters, within ten meters, he could surely shoot accurately!
But now, holding the gun again, he no longer felt that familiarity with firearms.
Leaving reality aside, even just changing games within the virtual world, both his firearm control ability and precision shooting ability had disappeared instantly.
It was like a miraculous dream.
It was not until this moment that he felt more acutely how astonishing Cloud Dreamâs technology was!
But now was not the time for heartfelt emotions; the gunfire had stopped, and his teammates had already started to enter the dark house.
âAhââ Seeing this scene, Super Tomato instinctively reached out his hand, wanting to call out to stop his teammates.
Although he had been deceived by the trailer, with the protagonist actually outside participating in the siege, the sound of firearms being loaded inside the house was real.
Without a doubt, the owner of the house was still alive and hadnât been hit by the blind gunfire.
Moreover, the weapons were loaded and ready for a counterattack!
But Super Tomato was a step too late.
âBang!â âBang!â âBang!â
Three short gunshots, and the three black-clothed men closest to the house fell to the ground.
Before Super Tomato could react further, there were another âBang!â âBang!â âBang!â from inside the house.
The three fallen gunmen each had their heads shot an extra time, ending them completely.
The black-clothed gunmen didnât get scared; instead, they continued to fire suppressing shots while charging into the house.
Super Tomato hesitated and hesitated, but in the end, he did not move from his position.
He just stood a few dozen meters away from the house, under the warm light of the nearby street lamps, watching the house briefly illuminated by the gunfire.
There were continuous gunshots.
But amidst the chaotic gunfire, there was one particularly rhythmic and easily distinguishable gunshot.
Noticing this sound, Super Tomato perked up his ears, pursuing this gunshot.
âBang! Bang!â âBang! Bang!â âBang! Bang!ââŠ
Soon, he found that almost every time such a gunshot rang out, the sound of automatic rifle fire would decrease a little.
So he realized: another teammate had been killed.
This also further discouraged him from getting closer to the house and checking out the situation.
Of course, more importantly, he finally realized somethingâ
No system tasks were prompting him to attack the house!
Neither was he asked to attack or save anyone.
More preciselyâ
There were no tasks at all!
From the beginning of the login trial to now, it was always just the black-clothed leader instructing the attack.
The system didnât show up at all.
There were no main missions or tutorial guidance.
Nothing at all!
During this closed beta, players were just thrown into this battlefield, and then the ownership was given up, allowing players to fend for themselvesâŠ
âToo sinister!â Super Tomato angrily denounced Lincolnâs misconduct.
If it wasnât for his calmness, he would probably be dead along with the black-clothed people!
A bunch of Level 1 and Level 2 weaklings who directly challenged a BOSS-level opponent?
Isnât that asking for death?!
âI bet with you guys, there must be a lot of people who will fall for Lincolnâs trick and give the first blood here,â Super Tomato said to the audience.
Comments immediately responded:
âHaha, not betting!â
âNo need to bet, haha, a bunch of anchors have already died!â
âIâm dying of laughter, Yi rushed into the house and died right away without even seeing the person!â
âSo far, I havenât seen any anchor who has seen the face of the house owner! Tomato, why donât you give it a try?â
Of course, no one could see the face of the house owner.
Inside was John Wick! Being seen would directly expose him!
In order to not be seen by the players, Lincoln even played a little trickâ
As soon as the player entered the house, John Wick would immediately put down his current target and get rid of the player first, regardless of being shot.
This was because when deciding on the closed beta, Lincoln, Fred, and Samuel had reached a consensus:
âBoth John Wick and Milkshake are surprises prepared for all players, not just for the 3000+ players.â
So during the closed beta, they couldnât be exposed.
And such information, once released during the closed beta, would almost certainly be leaked by insiders.
Even if they were sued, the losses would be irrevocable.
So Lincoln decided: During the closed beta, we wonât open the main tasks! Just let the players play in Night City!
After all, Night City has enough content.
Both Lincoln and Fred were very confident: Even without main tasks, they could still provide an enjoyable experience for players!
And because they did not open main tasks, they allowed players to livestream.
As for why he would put the plot content from the trailer and directly trick players into experiencing (crossed out) high-end battle scenesâŠ
That was just Lincolnâs small personal interestâŠ