Urban Strange Tales: At midnight, press the remote control ten times while facing the TV at home, and an entirely unfamiliar gaming channel will appear.
The organizers are unknown. The entry requirements are unknown. The prizes are unknown. All that's known is... terror, bloodshed, brutality, and a deadly contest where the players risk their lives.
A strange force is behind it. No one wants to be chosen by it, except Wen Yu.
Wen Yu is crazy about games. He once had a chance to become a pro gamer, but something went wrong with his brain.
"Electronic Fantasy Syndrome" is one of the rarest diseases in the world. During an episode, sufferers can't tell games from reality and see the people around them as monsters, seriously disrupting their lives.
Because of this illness, Wen Yu was disqualified by the tournament organizers.
To get treatment, Wen Yu deleted all his gaming accounts and spent several years in a psychiatric hospital, drifting through life in a daze, until he entered a game instance.
System: [Welcome, new player "Wen Yu," to the beginner trial instance. Do your best to clear the instance and survive.]
[Checking player's overall stats. Player "Wen Yu" has earned the title "Frail as a Willow," and their maximum starting HP has been reduced by 50 points.]
Wen Yu: ?
The instance is full of strange monsters with blue-green faces, fangs, and bizarre shapes. Wen Yu suspects he's having another episode. It isn't until he runs into the other players that he confirms he's not in reality.
As the other newcomers scream in terror at the monsters, Wen Yu narrows his eyes and politely waves at one. "Hello. You look so familiar. Can we be friends?"
Monster: ?
Three years of medication have dulled Wen Yu's nerves, including his sense of pain. Even when a monster runs him through, he barely feels a thing. As long as his HP doesn't hit zero, victory is his only goal.
His teammates tremble with fear. Compared to the monsters, Wen Yu is even scarier...!
Compared to reality, games really are his comfort zone.
*
Wen Yu was once in a relationship. He and his boyfriend often played games together. Later, Wen Yu began to suspect that his boyfriend had been someone he imagined.
After entering the infinite game, Wen Yu meets a strange man named Bai Nanyin, who claims to be his ex-boyfriend.
Wen Yu curses him out as a scammer and blocks him without hesitation.
Bai Nanyin: "???"
*
Bai Nanyin is a widely recognized gaming ace who has won multiple tournament championships.
He met a highly talented gamer, his junior schoolmate Wen Yu. He taught Wen Yu how to play, and the two fell in love through gaming.
Then Wen Yu got sick. Electronic Fantasy Syndrome turned their lives upside down, and in the end, Bai Nanyin had no choice but to let him go.
Three years later, Bai Nanyin meets Wen Yu again.
Following the principle that if they can't be lovers, they can still be friends, Bai Nanyin reaches out to Wen Yu, only to be blocked without mercy.
The more Bai Nanyin thinks about it, the angrier he gets. He acts like he couldn't care less, but still can't help keeping an eye on Wen Yu.
Wen Yu seems even thinner now. He's fighting monsters in the game while running a slight fever...
Bai Nanyin grits his teeth and goes to buy Wen Yu fever medicine.
Wen Yu (shou) x Bai Nanyin (gong)
Naturally unwell and a little unhinged shou x softhearted, cool guy gong
Reader's Guide:
1: Mostly game instances, with the protagonist leveling up and romance as a secondary focus.
2: The shou is unwell, both mentally and physically, but the gong is deeply in love with him (though he may act reserved on the outside). Mutual feelings, one-to-one pairing.
3: Infinite-flow stories cover all kinds of things. The instances that appear won't necessarily all be horror-themed; it depends on the author's imagination.
Blurb written on 20240614
Theme: Forge ahead without fear.
