At first, Gery played while researching the game's various settings.
But as he experienced it, he quickly became immersed in the game's content.
Joel and Tess wanted to find someone named Robert because he had taken a batch of their weapons and equipment.
The enemies they fought here had changed from infected to humans.
Compared to the infected, Gery felt humans were harder to deal with.
This was because most of them had guns and used the terrain for cover.
After some effort, Joel and Tess finally found their target, Robert.
But they received bad news: Robert had already traded the weapons and equipment to Fireflies.
Enraged, Tess immediately shot Robert in the head. As Joel and Tess were discussing whether to negotiate with the Fireflies,
The leader of the Fireflies organization, known as the Fireflies Queen, Marlene.
Marlene told Joel and Tess that she had paid for this batch of goods, so she couldn't return it to them.
However, if Joel and Tess helped her complete a task, transporting a cargo out of the city through a smuggler's tunnel, she would return the weapons and even give them more.
Joel and Tess clearly had no choice. After seeing the cargo, they accepted the task.
But to their surprise, the so-called cargo turned out to be a little girl!
Gery had been wondering how Joel would meet that little girl.
However, compared to Gery's surprise, Joel and Tess weren't too astonished.
They were just curious why the Fireflies would go to such great lengths to protect this little girl named Ellie, and why even the Fireflies Queen, Marlene, was present.
The two of them privately guessed that perhaps she was the daughter of an important Fireflies executive?
But none of this mattered to them as smugglers. After all, it was no different from their usual smuggling runs, except this time the cargo was alive.
But on their way out of the city later, they encountered soldiers. After taking care of the soldiers during an opportunity,
By chance, they discovered that Ellie was infected, but she was an infected person who had developed antibodies. This little girl might hold the key to creating a vaccine for the virus.
Here, Joel and Tess had a small argument.
Joel didn't believe Ellie when she said she was immune. He thought they should leave Ellie alone, and their reason for escorting her was not out of pity but merely to get their weapons back; this was just a transaction.
But now the situation had changed. Continuing to escort her would put them in danger, and Joel didn't want to face that.
But Tess chose to believe Ellie and decided to escort her to the Fireflies' meeting point.
Seeing Tess's determined look, even though he didn't want to continue escorting Ellie, Joel agreed for some unknown reason.
The meeting place with the Fireflies was in the Capitol Building in the city center.
It was a very difficult journey.
Compared to ordinary infected runners, more troublesome infected called "clickers" appeared on this journey.
After much hardship, they arrived at their destination, the Capitol Building. The plot took another twist.
Because all the Fireflies soldiers there were dead.
Seeing this, Joel decided to give up. After all, the Fireflies soldiers who were supposed to meet them were dead, so there was no need to continue escorting.
But Tess went frantic, constantly digging through the bodies to look for any clues.
Seeing this, Gery had a bad feeling.
'What are we doing? This isn't what we should be doing!'
'How much do you know about us? About me?'
'I know you wouldn't do something so stupid!'
'We're just surviving, Joel! We always have!'
'No, we're trying to live!'
'This is our chance! She...'
'Enough, Tess!'
'It's over! We tried, we should go back!'
Listening to Joel, a hint of sadness appeared in Tess's eyes, and she took two steps back.
'I'm not going anywhere. This is my last stop.'
'What do you mean?' Hearing Tess's words, Joel seemed to realize something, his voice trembling slightly.
'Our luck will run out sooner or later.'
Tess stood there, looking at Joel with a lifeless expression. The entire Capitol Building was empty.
'Let me see...' Joel said to Tess.
He couldn't accept this reality and wanted to see Tess's wound with his own eyes.
And Tess did as Joel hoped.
On her right collarbone, a clear bite mark could be seen.
White blisters had already spread around the wound, and she was already infected and worsening.
'This wound was from three weeks ago, and this wound was just inflicted. She wasn't lying, she really is immune!' Tess excitedly said to Joel, comparing her wound to Ellie's.
'She is hope, the hope to save this world. Please, Joel! Take her to Tommy. Tommy used to be with the Fireflies, he should know where to find the Fireflies!' Tess pleaded with Joel.
'I won't do it.' Joel shook his head and refused.
He was clearly unwilling to risk his life for a vague goal. He had seen too much in his twenty years of living in the apocalypse.
He just wanted to survive.
Going to find Tommy and the Fireflies in this world? Was that a joke?
Tess pleaded with Joel, but Joel remained unmoved.
Until the national guard arrived, until Tess chose to cover Joel and Ellie, until Joel saw Tess lying in a pool of blood on the first floor from the second floor.
For the world, for Tess, or perhaps because he could no longer return to the Boston quarantine zone?
Regardless, Joel didn't speak, he just silently continued his journey with Ellie.
And during this process, Gery finally understood.
He finally understood why Sarah's death in the opening prologue happened.
If his guess was correct, the main elements of the game going forward would revolve around the relationship between Ellie and Joel.
Unlike the tenderness he showed Sarah twenty years ago, Joel was now cold and heartless towards Ellie.
Not only did he refuse to give Ellie weapons, but he also strictly forbade Ellie from mentioning Tess in front of him.
During their journey, the two of them were silent.
Joel didn't want to speak, and Ellie was too afraid to speak because of Joel's attitude.
However, Ellie could help in combat, such as using bottles and bricks for surprise attacks.
And in solving puzzles, it was different too. When he was with Tess, usually Tess or Joel would help the other climb to a point, and then the other person would pull them up.
But Ellie needed to use tools as stepping stones to climb up.
Of course, what made Gery most curious was how these two characters, Joel and Ellie, would develop later in such an apocalyptic setting.
...
It wasn't just Gery who was curious; all the invited game reviewers were equally curious.
At first, the game didn't show much charm.
Although the graphics were indeed outstanding, the gameplay could only be described as passable.
But as the game's plot progressed, the emotional interaction between the characters drew these reviewers completely in.
Especially in the Capitol Building, where Tess was infected, it was the first emotional climax of the game.
But this was just a simple beginning.
As they continued to experience the game further, the storyline presented in the game left everyone in silent contemplation.
In the context of the apocalypse, the story presented by the game could only be described in two words: despair.
...
After leaving Boston, Joel and the others needed to find Tommy. But before that, they needed a car, as it would be too difficult to complete the journey on foot.
Joel had to find someone named Bill, who owed Joel a huge favor, a favor so large that he had to help him even in this zombie-infested apocalypse.
When Joel arrived at Bill's warehouse, he accidentally stepped on a trap Bill had set and was hung up. Fortunately, Bill appeared in time to help Joel kill the infected.
But during this time, Bill discovered his things were missing. He had a heated argument with Joel, and Tess was mentioned during the argument, which instantly enraged Joel.
But then Bill suddenly quieted down because he saw a body, a body hanging from the ceiling.
The moment he saw the body, Bill recognized it as his good friend Frank, with whom he had fought side-by-side.
Joel also quieted down.
Because not long ago, he had encountered a similar situation.
In the room, he could also find a letter left by Frank.
The letter said he had fixed the battery and taken Bill's things.
Because he was fed up with Bill and this place, he wanted to leave.
Even though the outside world was more dangerous.
Giving the letter to Bill triggered a cutscene.
Leaning against the car, Bill crumpled the piece of paper and threw it aside, his voice trembling with a slight sob, "This is how you feel? Screw you, Frank, you idiot!"
When he finally bid farewell to Joel, Bill said it was even, and told Joel to get out of his town quickly.
But on the other hand, he reminded Joel that there wasn't much gas left in the car.
...
Upon arriving in Pittsburgh, Joel and Ellie were attacked by a group of hunters.
Unlike hunters in peacetime, in this world, hunters were exactly what their name implied.
Their prey was humans!
The evil of human nature in the apocalypse was fully revealed.
The hunters, riding in modified jeeps, slaughtered a man and a woman, two survivors.
After a fierce battle with the hunter group, Joel and Ellie entered their warehouse through a rolling door.
It was piled high with clothes and uncared-for corpses. By identifying them as uninfected humans, it was clear that all these people were victims.
Besides the bodies of outsiders, there was also a cargo manifest. In the eyes of the hunters, outsiders were only valuable for plunder.
Ellie appeared very surprised, while Joel remained calm because he had also been a hunter.
To survive, he was capable of doing anything.
And it was here that many of the reviewers participating in the closed beta fell into deep thought.
The game had previously shown Tess and Joel, and a side description of the apocalypse.
Bill's story was also touching.
But upon reaching Pittsburgh and encountering the "hunters,"
They could finally feel the despair this world brought.
When the apocalypse came, and laws and rules collapsed, everyone seemed to have gained "freedom."
But this freedom was dangerous and incredibly cruel.
It made people completely lose their bottom line, or rather, it made them no longer recognizable as human.
The virus wouldn't wipe them out; humans would.
(End of chapter)
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