Relax, I'm not some troublemaker from a role-playing game.

"Welcome aboard Sunset City Bus Route 214. This bus's final stop is the Grand Gathering. Next stop..."

On the bus, the girl by the window gently put on her headphones, adjusted the canvas bag resting on her lap, and placed it on the seat next to her, seemingly saving it for someone.

Then, she turned her head, sunlight shining on the ends of her black hair. The bustling cityscape at sunset flowed out of the window, accompanied by deep music from her headphones.

The girl began to hum softly, the melody of the Beatles' rock music from the last century playing on her lips, as if maintaining the momentary tranquility.

Suddenly, someone stumbled and broke the silence.

"Excuse me, please make way."

The boy, looking rather disheveled, made his way through the crowded bus, which resembled the morning rush hour, and walked in through the almost-closing doors.

The passengers on the bus seemed to realize he was from out of town and kindly made way for him. The driver even turned around and whistled at him.

"Young man! Welcome to the City of Sunset!"

The boy turned around awkwardly and smiled, squeezed his way to the girl's side, finally sat down, and let out a long sigh of relief.

"How's it going, Bai Xi? Isn't this game realistic?"

The girl took off her headphones, turned around, and smiled at Bai Xi, asking a question. Upon hearing this, Bai Xi couldn't help but complain:

"It's certainly realistic, but does it have to be so realistic that it even recreates squeezing onto a crowded bus?"

"Have you finished the tutorial?"

"Yeah, I just finished playing and then rushed over."

Bai Xi said, counting on his fingers, "I easily made it to the end of the tutorial, and then I saw a ghoul who was piloting a Gundam and knew ancient martial arts."

Upon hearing Bai Xi's words, the girl's previously calm expression faltered momentarily: "What did you see?"

"Isn't this your beginner tutorial? I thought it was 'First Encounter Kill'."

Bai Xi turned around in surprise and asked, but after the girl shook her head blankly, his eyes widened in surprise:

"Holy crap! That bastard KP ruined my life!"

To be honest, I think it was your fault for threatening that weak, pitiful, and helpless ghoul race with the Azathoth summoning spell first.

A bright blue screen appeared in mid-air, displaying the words of the KP—the electronic host of this tabletop RPG game.

Bai Xi hesitated for a long time before finally managing to utter, "How can that be the same?!"

The girl chuckled softly after looking at it and placed the canvas bag back on her lap.

"It's still the same as before, Ah Bai."

After saying this, Bai Xi couldn't help but smile, leaned back in his chair, sat down next to the girl, and closed his eyes.

A line of small print remained on the corner of my retina, reading "Welcome to Sunset City," but it quickly faded away.

"This game is indeed quite realistic."

Finally, Bai Xi shifted slightly in her seat, then sighed:

"I never imagined I'd be playing a fully immersive tabletop RPG one day."

"Who can argue with that?"

The girl shrugged and said.

Sunset City is the game the two are currently playing. It should be called an online game, but it's a little special.

Because it's a fully immersive online game, and also a tabletop role-playing game!

For both the girl and Bai Xi, tabletop role-playing games were already very familiar.

TRPG stands for Tabletop Role-Playing Game, a type of board game. Simply put, it's a game where a group of players, following different rulebooks, take on different roles within a story, and, under the guidance of a moderator, create that story themselves.

This game is based on the rules of COC, or Call of Cthulhu, plus various other rules.

And coincidentally, this was also the rule that Bai Xi and the girl played most often. Being Cthulhu enthusiasts themselves, they even met because of this very rule.

A chance encounter with a stranger in an online role-playing game led Bai Xi to meet a girl named Jiang Lingyi. They later became teammates in various games.

After the release of "Sunset City", Bai Xi received a team-up request from Jiang Lingyi immediately.

However, besides playing games with his good buddies, Bai Xi had another reason for playing this game.

"By the way, how's your ancient coin project coming along?"

Jiang Lingyi turned around and asked Bai Xi. Bai Xi shook his head.

"There's no tutorial for beginners. I guess we'll only have a chance to find it when we actually start playing the game and doing dungeons."

Bai Xi replied, casually opening a website within the game and glancing at the current trading market on the forum.

The price of ancient coins has been driven up to an astonishing 10:1, meaning you can get an ancient coin for 10 yuan.

Wow, which rich kid is playing this game?

Bai Xi mentally scoffed, then closed the webpage, quickly putting the matter out of her mind.

It doesn't matter, it's fine if it goes up a bit, after all, I still rely on this to earn some living expenses.

For various reasons, Bai Xi is practically unemployed, and his main source of income is either gaming services or online gaming.

Therefore, another feature of this game naturally attracted Bai Xi.

All the in-game items that require real money cannot be directly converted into combat power. Instead, they must be converted into a game currency called Ancient Coins. Both the game items and the game currency are tradable.

I don't know what kind of business strategy the game developers came up with, but at least it benefits Bai Xi. He can earn some living expenses while playing games with his good buddies.

"How about we try a thrilling and exciting role-playing game?"

Jiang Lingyi looked up at the time until arrival and asked.

They were heading to the large settlement, the players' gathering place. The game developers, as if they had nothing better to do, built an entire city outside the player settlement…

Of course, according to the developers, this is because they designed a grand world view within the game and hid it in the city.

Even so, in order to ensure the player's gaming experience, the game developers have still left an entrance to the dungeon that can be entered at any time.

You can play a game anytime, anywhere, just by picking up your phone.

Bai Xi looked up, glanced at the time, and then replied decisively:

"Come!"

"Go up, go up."

Jiang Lingyi skillfully opened her phone, and soon Bai Xi received a team-up request. After accepting the request, Bai Xi quickly saw the "Matching" screen.

"Oh, we've found a match."

Jiang Lingyi suddenly spoke, and her phone displayed the module description for this role-playing game.

Bai Xi glanced at her phone, but her expression turned blank.

The Escapists 2: A Hilarious Mayhem

[Difficulty: Ghoul Level]

[Rules: Clash of Clans 7th Edition Standard Rules]

Number of players: 4

[Module Description: Brawl! Competition! Use your brain to complete the levels! A thrilling and exhilarating adventure!]

[Reward: Based on completion rate, starting with 10 ancient coins]

What the hell is this module?