Chapter 440 - 288: The Most Immersive Experience in History

Zog's request was strange: Devils who didn't mind being shattered to pieces multiple times a day. It didn't sound like a good job.

But as it happened, Devils were an even stranger race than Zog's request implied.

Asmodis had no idea what Zog was up to, but he answered directly, "Of course we have them."

"That's great."

"But the pay doesn't need to be very high."

"Huh?"

That was an answer Zog hadn't expected. 'Why is he lowballing his own kind?'

'Could it be? The mighty Lord of Hell is a traitor to his own people!'

But Zog didn't really mind. Lowballing was good. No pay would be even better.

"It's like this," Asmodis explained. "Because most Devils are constantly at war, many of them have developed some mental issues. Even when they retire due to injury or are on leave from the battlefield, they experience all sorts of hallucinations, thinking they're still in battle. It's very painful for them."

"Post-traumatic stress disorder?"

Zog felt Asmodis's description sounded a lot like the condition every veteran character in an American TV show seemed to have: PTSD.

The general situation was just like the Devils he described: returning to a peaceful area but still thinking they were on the battlefield, highly stressed, experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations, insomnia, and depression.

Because entertainment featuring such characters was so popular, it made it seem like the disorder was inextricably linked to war.

In reality, it wasn't just people who had experienced war who could get it; experiencing natural disasters, traffic accidents, and so on could also be a cause.

'But I never thought Devils could get this stuff. I thought they were a bunch of born warmongers.'

"Post-traumatic stress disorder?" It was the first time Asmodis had heard the term. "That name is quite fitting. Is this already a concept in Feilin medicine? Truly advanced."

Zog shrugged. "Maybe."

As far as he knew, Feilin's medicine had already moved past the "bloodletting cures all" stage. It had merged with budding biology and, combined with its long history of Healing Magic, had become quite reliable.

"But what does post-traumatic stress disorder have to do with not minding being shattered to pieces multiple times a day?"

If he remembered correctly, Devils felt pain. They couldn't die, sure, but it still hurt a lot, which was why Zog had offered high pay.

"I don't know how Feilin handles this condition. I hear it's by taking some very addictive drugs?"

Zog nodded, confirming he was right.

"That stuff is useless for us Devils. To alleviate the symptoms, Devils choose to return to the battlefield or seek death. Of course, not to die for real, but to go to other planes and experience the sensation of dying and then reviving in Hell," Asmodis explained.

This left Zog utterly bewildered.

He thought Red Bull sponsorships were as extreme as it got, but these Devils were on another level entirely.

"So," Zog summarized, "being shattered to pieces several times a day is actually… helping the Devils?"

"More or less. If the pay is too high, it might cause them to fight over the job, leading to infighting among the Devils."

"Then why am I paying them at all? I should be charging the Devils money! A pay-to-die service!"

"It's not that extreme. I'm not sure how you plan to 'shatter' them, but those particular Devils are very picky about how they die. Different Devils have different preferences. It's better to pay them a little something. That way, they won't be picky about the method of death."

Asmodis said with a perfectly straight face.

In the end, they settled on a daily wage of 30 Copper Coins per Devil, paid at the end of each day. This wasn't a job they could do every day; dying too much would numb even the Devils. They needed a break after a day's "work."

The daily work intensity was not low. The demo levels included single-player, two-player, and a four-person squad mode—the classic adventurer party size.

Each type of level required anywhere from a few dozen to nearly two hundred Devils. After all, Doomsday Warrior was positioned as a satisfying game that emphasized cathartic killing and slashing. Too few enemies wouldn't be gratifying enough.

The Devils in a single level worked in three shifts: one shift was in the level getting beaten up, one shift was in Hell reviving, and one shift was waiting on standby.

Several small Gates of Hell were installed in the venue to allow the resurrected Devils to teleport back.

The Devils signed up with great enthusiasm. Besides the 30 Copper Coins a day, the more crucial factor was that the method of death was being shot by a gun.

This made the Devils very curious. 'What's it like to be shot to death?'

'It's so novel! I've never heard of it!'

So they rushed to sign up for the experience.

From the many Devils who signed up, Zog carefully selected a batch that just looked like they were asking to be shot, ensuring that players wouldn't feel any guilt while playing.

Afterward, he conducted a simple training session on where different Devils should pop out from and what actions they should perform.

During the rehearsal, Asmodis finally understood what was going on.

It was a show where players of other races got to act as Warriors fighting against Devils, experiencing the thrill of "tearing Devils apart."

"Wait, isn't this just inciting hatred for Devils among other races?"

Asmodis asked, shocked.

"We just barely managed to get other races to have a slightly better impression of Devils, and now you're bringing up war."

The background Zog had arranged for the Feilin Doomsday Warrior was based on the war between the Devils and Feilin from a century ago, though the details were given a near-future twist.

The passages between the two planes were thrown wide open, the Devil Legion invaded en masse, and Humanity was locked in a bitter struggle. At this moment, a mysterious Warrior of unknown origin, filled with an endless hatred for Devils, threw himself into the battlefield alone.

In Asmodis's view, this Warrior's background story was a bit too exaggerated.

'What's this about drawing strength from slain Devils, getting stronger the more you kill, and killing more the stronger you get?'