Chapter 814: Just out of the newbie village?

With everything prepared, Cloud, Barret, and Tifa embarked on the path to rescue Aerith.

They obtained information from Don Corneo on how to reach the Upper Plate of Midgar.

Reaching the boundary's high wall, they used a grappling gun to ascend from the large circular plate they had once fallen from, heading towards the upper levels.

"Holy cow! We have to walk the entire way?!"

This part of the story scared Song Ren stiff.

In the original game, this was just a short climbing sequence. On one hand, the game already had a lot of content, so there was no need to waste too much on this part.

On the other hand, and most importantly, the technology at the time made it difficult to present that kind of impactful, adventure-like feeling.

As a VR game, other elements like the sewers or town mazes could be simplified.

However, Chen Xu decided to retain these cool high-altitude scenes. He would, however, significantly reduce the number of minor mobs and keep the combat sections at a stage that wouldn't bore players, while also planning routes where players could 'cheese' or directly avoid the mobs.

Song Ren, as a player, was unaware of all this; he just had one feeling right now: he was about to pee himself.

As a player with a bit of acrophobia, Song Ren's biggest fear when playing games was precisely this kind of scenario.

Games like Uncharted and Assassin's Creed, which require precise controls, were fine, because the act of controlling the character to overcome difficult sections would divert some of his attention.

But Final Fantasy was different; apart from the combat phases, most of the content was cinematic.

And by now, the game had already played with heights more than once. At night, accompanying Jessie and her trio to infiltrate Shinra, their final escape was by skydiving from high up.

When Shinra launched a surprise attack on Avalanche, the final escape involved following Barret down a tall tower using a cable.

Now, to top it all off, they had to climb all the way from the very bottom to the very top.

After some effort, they finally arrived at the Shinra Company's headquarters. However, the gameplay wasn't quite the full stealth infiltration he had initially imagined.

While heavily guarded areas certainly required stealth, the Shinra Headquarters itself wasn't as he'd imagined; it was actually quite permissive, as residents of Midgar frequently visited Shinra.

Here, Song Ren also experienced Shinra Company's VR technology.

He witnessed the planet's past landscapes.

Playing VR within a VR game, it must be said, was an experience that left him quite astonished.

During this time, Cloud even encountered someone who recognized him, almost making Song Ren think they would be exposed, but they safely navigated the close call.

The journey to rescue Aerith felt completely calm and uneventful to him, until the appearance of a particular character.

If asked who Song Ren disliked the most in the game before this, it would undoubtedly be Don Corneo, followed by Heidegger, who plotted to bring down Avalanche, and the Shinra director who decided to let the plate fall, killing Jessie and her trio.

But with the appearance of the character named Hojo, Song Ren realized that all the people he disliked before were absolutely nothing in comparison.

His sleazy appearance and pathological thoughts made Song Ren want to hack him to death.

'As a specimen, she is inferior to her mother. Based on data comparison, the difference rate between her and her mother is 18%. This means it would take another 120 years, possibly beyond our lifetime, to complete, and the specimen's lifespan wouldn't last that long either.'

'Therefore, I am considering breeding her to produce a specimen that can withstand time-tested research.'

From the cutscenes to the actual dialogue with the character and the levels designed to obstruct and study Cloud's combat power, all accumulated Song Ren's anger.

He could guarantee that, not even limiting it to Final Fantasy alone, if there was a spot for the most hated NPC in all the games he had ever played, this piece of crap named Hojo would definitely have a prominent place.

The Mayor of Midgar had been turned, and ordinary employees defected at the slightest fright. Through this 'all-traitor' situation, Cloud and his party safely found Aerith in Hojo's lab after a few close calls.

However, in the lab, besides Aerith, Song Ren also encountered an old acquaintance.

It was Red XIII, whom he had previously seen in Advent Children.

At the same time, through Red XIII's introduction, Cloud and his companions gained a deeper understanding of the so-called secrets of the Ancient Race.

It turned out that the Ancients were a race who called themselves Cetra, and now, apart from Aerith, they were completely extinct. Moreover, even Aerith was not a pure Ancient.

Thus, the protagonist's party once again welcomed a new member. With Red XIII's help, they could now open switches in certain areas that were previously inaccessible, allowing Cloud and his companions to proceed.

Inside Shinra, Cloud and his party also encountered some strange, mutated experimental subjects.

However, Cloud and his group accidentally fell into Shinra's trap, and special forces soldiers from the Turks, including Tseng, Rude, and Reno, captured them and brought them to a detention cell.

"So, I'm screwed? How do I get out of here? Who's going to save me?!" Song Ren stared dumbfounded at the locked door.

The only good news was that although he was locked up, he was in the same room as Tifa.

But the key was, how to get out?

All five members of the protagonist's party were locked up, Avalanche had fallen apart, Jessie and her trio had died, and Marlene was just a little girl.

No matter how Song Ren thought about it, he couldn't figure out who would come to save him.

Or would it be those characters who appeared earlier in Advent Children?

But before Song Ren could fully figure it out, a click sounded after a simple conversation between Cloud and Tifa, and the door actually opened.

"What's going on? The traitorous mayor they'd turned earlier? That soldier who knew Cloud?" Song Ren speculated about the possibilities.

But after passing through the detention cell door, Song Ren found that things had become eerie.

Because all the soldiers in Shinra seemed to have been killed, and before them was a scene straight out of hell.

The corpses were in extremely bizarre states; although there was blood on them, no wounds could be found, as if the blood had seeped out from their pores.

The glass casing holding Jenova in the lab was also shattered, and Jenova's body had vanished without a trace.

Following the bloodstains all the way to Shinra's upper levels, when Cloud and his party arrived at the Shinra President's office, they were all stunned by the scene before them.

The Shinra President lay face down on his usual office desk, impaled by a silver longsword, approximately two meters in length, which had pierced his abdomen and pinned him to the desk.

Who could possibly kill the Shinra President within Shinra Headquarters?

Barret, Aerith, and the others were puzzled.

But Tifa and Cloud seemed to have witnessed something incredible.

"Sephiroth is still alive?"

"Only Sephiroth would use that sword."

Listening to Cloud and Tifa.

Song Ren was equally dumbfounded.

From Cloud and Tifa's perspective, Sephiroth was already dead?

What was going on?

And wasn't Sephiroth a Shinra special forces soldier?

Song Ren's head was spinning with questions.

Filled with confusion, after defeating Rufus, the former Shinra President's son, and the Shinra soldiers attempting to capture Cloud.

Tifa, Barret, and Cloud successfully escaped to the wilderness outside Midgar.

Cloud decided to begin his pursuit of Sephiroth.

Tifa, Barret, Red XIII, and Aerith all expressed their intent to follow Cloud.

Subsequently, because they were still wanted by Shinra, a five-person team was too conspicuous, so Barret proposed splitting into two smaller teams.

Of course, while it was stated they would split into two teams, in reality, players could still select the active characters from the system interface.

But for players, what seemed like a multiple-choice question was, in fact, a single-choice question.

No one would leave Tifa and Aerith unselected just to put Barret on the field, right?

Hearing Barret's official playful jab of 'I knew you'd choose them' after selecting Aerith and Tifa, Song Ren couldn't help but smile faintly.

But putting all that aside, what amazed him the most was that after Midgar, the game had unlocked new maps.

Although many areas were shrouded in fog, Midgar itself only occupied a small portion.

So, up until now, he had only just left the newbie village?

(End of Chapter) <>