Human beings, human civilizations, and human kingdoms rose and fell, going around in a circle. No matter how great the leader, how important the contribution, how glorious the empire, they would eventually be forgotten by time. There was never a plaque that could stand forever because they would always be pushed down. There was never a story that could always be sung because people would always strive for a better story.

’Old Earth’ or ’First Earth’ was such a location that was slowly being forgotten by human beings…

On a night during the twenty-second century, in the observatories of the American Rockies and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, the astronomers noticed a new arrival in the sky. It was clearly visible at the area close to Pluto. The observatories from Sweden and Russia soon came forth to confirm this news as well. They predicted that this meteoroid of unknown mass and origin was hurtling toward the solar system.

Special interest magazines focused exclusively on this discovery, but major papers merely wrote small articles about it. For most people, news about the stars was far less interesting than celebrity gossip.

Several days later, the astronomers returned to observe the unknown object with excited and curious hearts, speculating about what would happen next. It was then that they realized… the meteoroid’s scale and brightness was growing at an impossible speed. It could now be seen clearly with its picture taken by a normal camera. The closer it went to Pluto, the more nervous the astronomers became. Even though it was the twenty-second century, having an interplanetary collision so close to Earth would still lead to unimaginable destruction. However, at that moment, the two planetary objects still looked quite a distance away.

Just as the impossible quickly turned into a possibility, the media from various countries started to pay attention to what was happening in the sky. There were even students from schools who produced related sky charts. All the evidence pointed toward human helplessness as they watched the meteoroid hurtle toward Pluto.

Soon, the whole world was alive with this news because the predicted collision did not happen. What happened instead was, when the meteoroid brushed past Pluto, it pulled the dwarf star right into its blazing self…

The two entities joined to form a large, eye-catching ball of fire, one that was visible from Earth with the naked eye. Therefore, other than sun and moon, there appeared a new celestial body that circled around Earth. It rhythmically appeared in people’s eyes. Every night, people on Earth watched the ball rise and fall, and it was quite noticeable that with each rise, the ball got bigger.

People started to fear. Questions like ’Why did such a meteoroid come here when universe itself is so big?’ started to appear, but questions like those were idiotic. It was like asking why one was born out of the millions of cells fighting to be born.

Scientists went on the news to explain some knowledge about astrophysics to the public and to share part of their research results. All the reports were talking about one thing—the final destination of this uninvited guest that appeared in the solar system was the sun, and only the gravitational field from the various planets could be strong enough to divert it away from its course. But no matter what, Earth’s doomsday was literally written in the stars.

However, what happened next was out of everyone’s expectations. To borrow an analogy, it was as if Earth was delivered a death sentence, but the sentence was going to be carried out decades later.

After the fireball consumed Pluto, its movement speed became incredibly slow. It stopped at a relatively safe distance, acting like a twin to the sun, burning all the planets alive. On Earth, winter became a thing of the past, and the coldest season on Earth was as hot as summer.

When the first sun fell, the other sun came to greet the day. The heat was unbearable, and a hellish heatwave scorched the land. No one knew how long those days would last, but the rapidly dissolving ice caps at the poles was a reminder to the people that they could not stay on Earth for long.

Optimism, cynicism, pessimism, and madness—people’s reactions were different, and Earth fell into insurmountable chaos. Doomsday announced itself in a believable and real context. It was no longer some ’environmental issue’, ’alien invasion’, or ’lethal virus’ as espoused by the movies. It was no longer something far away in the future. It appeared every day in the sky, announcing the end of the world.

If there was one good thing about this, it was that it pooled humanity together. In the decade after the discovery, human technology advanced far faster than the total progress made in the two hundred years prior.

Humanity—regardless of race, skin color, nationality, and faith—cooperated for the singular goal of survival. Everyone did their best, sharing their best scientific technology, scientists, resources, and everything. Finally, after twenty years, humanity took the first step into space. The first ’Noah’ spacecraft broke through the ozone layer, taking along the population number of 1,000,000 people. Then came the second and third crafts…

With the hope of survival on the line… humanity reared its ugly head. A large war broke out on Earth, one that ended with the death of the majority of humanity and the destruction of ninety-three percent of manmade buildings.

Twenty-seven years later, ’doomsday’ ended just like a joke, but of course, no one was laughing.

The star suddenly took a ninety-degree turn, regained its speed, and absconded from the solar system. No one knew the reason. Perhaps it was never a meteoroid to begin with but some kind of alien spaceship, a unique star life form, or an unknown trial for humanity.

In any case, after humanity gained the ability to leave Earth, the threat to Earth’s destruction disappeared, and the irony was, Earth was no longer habitable due to the nuclear warfare that was launched by human beings among themselves.

Thankfully, humanity had mastered the crucial warp technology, and long-distance travel through space was no longer fiction. Therefore, the survivors on Noah found a new home within the milky way, a homeless planet that was similar to Old Earth, a virginal planet that had not been experienced by sentient lifeform before—’New Earth’ or ’Second Earth’.

In the year 2386, new technology surfaced known as ’Ants’. It was a type of very small nanobot, used to resuscitate and repair organic tissue on a cellular level. Initially, Ants was used to reform the limbs of the incapacitated. This meant that patients who suffered from muscular atrophy could regain their mobility and dexterity.

However, later, when Ants brought a frozen mountain hiker who was lost in the mountains for years back to life, this technology was brought into the spotlight again, and humanity turned its focus back to First Earth.

Since the year 2401, a small group of people wished to find their ’ancestors’ from Old Earth to revive so that the truth from history and the past civilization could be restored. This rose to a belief, and it had not faded after more than half a century.

On a fateful day in 2455, a level four dual carrier ship known as Grendel arrived on Old Earth. The research team on the ship found two frozen lifeforms in the Crystal Lake lab and took them back to the spaceship. One of them was a female researcher, Lauren, and the other was Jason Voorhees, the unkillable demon.

They did not know that other than Grendel, there was another party that visited the Crystal Lake lab that day. With an unknown purpose, they tailed the research team and arrived at this place. They waited until the research team left before entering the lab…

…

“This is unexpected. We’ve run into a strong enemy,” Final Assault said.

“That’s Flashes of Sword from Dao Jian Xiao, an adversary who will be hard to deal with,” Doomsday Assault concurred.

The two from Zombie Blade had their hair shorn to the scalp. They had pale faces and dull expressions, and even the tone of their voice lacked normal cadence. They wore similar outfits that had green and black stripes, looking similar to the uniform from Starcraft, with a difference in color. There was a badge for Zombie Blade printed on the left side of their chests. The picture was that of a curved skeletal blade, and the words were naturally Zombie Blade, written in black.

“Is that Feng Bujue also a player from Jiang Hu? How come I’ve not heard of him before?” Final Assault asked. “Don’t you think it’s strange for us to run into a team like this?”

Final Assault nodded. “You’re right… Based on the rules in the game, the ability between the two teams shouldn’t be so different.”

He paused before continuing. “We have to admit that even though Flashes of Sword’s level is two levels lower than ours, his capability might not be weaker than us, but that Feng Bujue is only level sixteen…”

“In other words, it is the system’s belief that the combined power of these two people is not so different from us two level nineteen players?” Doomsday Assault commented.

“Humph… There must be some mistake with the calculation. I refuse to believe that this unknown Feng Bujue is an expert player at the same level as Flashes of Sword,” Final Assault said. “But if that is the case, there is only one explanation… He actually is a celebrity player but has used a new IGN for Thriller Paradise.”

“You have a point there,” Doomsday Assault said. “He has to be an expert who recently jumped ship to Jiang Hu from another studio, swapped his IGN, and formed a team with Flashes of Sword. That explains why we would be paired against two players whose levels are lower than ours.”

“But isn’t that a good thing?” Final Assault asked. “Since our enemies are of a lower level than us, our chance at victory should be higher, right?”

“Hmm…” Doomsday Assault nodded. “Even though that might be the case, we mustn’t put our guard down. Look, our Life Points are slowly dropping. This means that there is a time limit to this scenario. If the enemy drags the battle out and refuses to face us head on, this will turn into an exhaustive match decided by the number of health potions and medic level of both parties. There is no actual numerical value to our Life Points in this game, and it is shown as a percentage. If this turns into a game of hide-and-seek, we will have lost all of our advantage.”

“I think so too. We’d better end this battle as soon as possible,” Final Assault concurred. “With the lead on our level and the assistance from ’that medicine’… if we still lose, it will make no sense at all.”

…

On the other side, Feng Bujue scouted ahead with the flashlight. Flashes of Sword followed behind him, and they went down the corridor swiftly and quietly.

Feng Bujue set Casey Jones’ Mask to show. Even though it was not an anti-gas mask, it felt like it could provide some filter function.

“An exhaustive battle is one that will benefit us the most,” Feng Bujue said as he walked. Since the mask was showing, his voice had an echo to it.

“But what kind of exhaustive battle are you talking about?” Flashes of Sword asked. “You mean dragging the battle out with long-ranged weapons and traps?”

“No. As long as we do not run into the enemy, it is already a type of exhaustive battle,” Feng Bujue replied.

Flashes of Sword understood it immediately. “You mean… we should make use of this effect that gradually takes our Life Points away?”

“Indeed,” Feng Bujue answered. “Their level is higher than ours, and theoretically speaking, they should have more Life Points than us.”

He coughed again. “But the loss of Life Points caused by the environment is clearly based on percentage. We confirmed this among ourselves earlier.”

A few minutes earlier, they had compared their Life Points. With a level difference between them, their Life Points both dropped down to ninety-five percent. Even the rate of decline was almost the same, accurate down to the second. This meant that the decline had nothing to do with level. As long as one took in the air in the lab, they would drop a fixed percentage of Life Points after a fixed amount of time.

“Ha…” Flashes of Sword commented with a smile. “Brother Feng, do you mind me asking how many Life Potions you’re carrying?”

“I have four medium sized ones,” Feng Bujue answered.

“The number our enemies are carrying aside,” Flashes of Sword mocked, “even I carry more than you.

“Furthermore, what if, among those two, one of them specializes in medic mastery? In fact, they only need to be somewhat proficient in it. Then, won’t the exhaustive battle you suggest benefit them?”

“I said that we should start with an exhaustive battle, but I never said we should end it with one,” Feng Bujue explained. “I mean, for this game, I don’t think it’s wise to end the scenario quickly with direct combat.”

“Do you think we will lose in a face-to-face battle?” Flashes of Sword asked, but actually with the tone of his question, it was clear that he did not think so.

“Not necessarily,” Feng Bujue said. “But since you’ve asked me to be your teammate, you should be clear that with our team composition, our overall ability is far more powerful than our combat ability.”

He summarized a bit too much. As Flashes of Sword walked past him, he added, “The mastery of strategy is part of one’s strength.”

He paused before turning to look ahead. “If you wish to rush into battle, you should’ve teamed up with a fighting-based player rather than myself.”

“Fine,” Flashes of Sword grumbled, “you win. Then…”

Roar!

Before he finished, he was interrupted by a strange growl. Feng Bujue also stopped moving.

They worked quite well together. Neither of them spoke, but they cooperatively moved in a different direction to go into cover. They held their breath and listened closely for the growl to reappear to discern its origin.