If I were to write a book called “A Brief History of Food: From Caves to Data Packets”, I would probably add a note to the last chapter: “In the early 21st century, humans realized the freedom to order food on the virtual battlefield for the first time.”
This is not a joke. In the game “PUBG”, which players call “chicken eating”, a KFC has really been launched recently.
Imagine such a scene: you just grabbed a fully equipped M416 from the airdrop box, and before you have time to sigh that you are “Africa turned European emperor”, gunshots have already sounded in the distance. But you don’t panic, but calmly walk into an abandoned gas station, click on the ordering machine on the wall, choose a fried chicken family bucket, and then squat quietly, watching your character pick up a chicken leg and gnaw it bite by bite.
Yes, this is not a bug, it is a feature.
KFC has really “landed” in Erangel this time. On that map full of industrial relics and Soviet ruins, KFC’s red and white sign looks like a Nai Xue in the Moscow subway, eye-catching and a little abrupt, but also a strange harmony. It’s like a late-night canteen suddenly inserted in a Cold War movie.
The operation of the ordering machine is very “smooth”: you approach it, press the interaction button, the interface will show your game ID, and then the set meal will appear on the counter as predicted, as if an invisible waiter has quietly fried chicken legs for you.
The fried chicken set meal is not a decoration, it has a game function. The family bucket is equivalent to a first aid kit. When the character uses it, he will seriously bite a chicken leg, which not only replenishes blood, but also “full” in a spiritual sense. French fries are equivalent to bandages, and drinks correspond to energy drinks. After eating a meal, you may not live longer, but you will definitely die more calmly.
The designer also added a sense of “institution” to this fried chicken: each KFC can only be used once per game, and you have to wait until the fourth stage before you can eat it again. This is very similar to the old days when people in Beijing bought ice tickets, which were limited daily and you would miss them if you missed them. Although the character is wearing a tactical vest, he is actually a middle-aged greasy man, thinking about when to go for another “additional meal”.
KFC not only appears in Erangel, but also expands to Miramar, Sanhok, Vikendi and other maps. Even the belly of manned aircraft has KFC banners flying under it – the Air Force Propaganda Team is not so dedicated. You just took off, and your teammates are still echoing in your ears asking “where to jump”, and a sentence has been brushed above your head: “KFC smells so good.”
The game has become a little funny, but also a little gentle. In this world where everyone wants to be the first and pick up airdrops, someone actually squatted down just to order a fried chicken. This reminds me of a year when I was doing archaeology in Xi’an, and a smell of fried jelly suddenly wafted from one side of the construction site. A group of masters holding Luoyang shovels stopped their work and took out their phones to order takeout. You say they are excavating history, but in fact, history has already been dug out of their stomachs.
A friend joked: “Is this game starting to sell feelings?” I don’t deny it. But in the final analysis, which one is not? Those comics that rely on “childhood memories” to open new series, and milk tea shops that rely on “Republic of China style” packaging, which one does not add emotions like chili oil, making people feel “really fragrant” when swallowing? The same is true for fried chicken. It doesn’t have to appear, but once it appears, it successfully makes you forget that you are fighting.
In the final analysis, it adds a little humanity to this cold battlefield.
In this chicken-eating game, we always think about winning, rushing, fighting, and fighting. But occasionally we have to stop, find a corner, and order a set meal, even if it is just to remind ourselves: don’t forget to eat, don’t forget to live. And the designer arranged this opportunity for you-giving you a floor tile for “daze” in the high-pressure competitive system. If you don’t sit down and rest, then you will play in vain.
So, friends, don’t laugh. Fried chicken is not absurd, it is a mirror. What you see from it is not calories, but yourself.