The Earth exploded.

Yang Ming remembered it vividly. Just about half an hour ago, the Earth blew up.

The sky had been a storm of fire, an inferno of crimson clouds. He had sat in his family’s living room, holding his parents and younger sister tightly, watching as the ground split open and flames roared out like the breath of some vengeful god. Then, the searing pain consumed him, and his consciousness was swallowed by an abyss of darkness.

So this is death?

Strangely, Yang Ming felt calm.

For the past three days, the internet, television, and phone alerts had all been  broadcasting the end of Earth civilization, declaring that humanity’s time was running out. A high-energy radiation wave had emerged from the outer solar system, an unstoppable force barreling straight toward Earth. No technologies on Earth had answers or solutions, causing the order of human civilization to collapse at breakneck speed. (This information source was not a direct detection.)

And just like that, before humanity even had a chance to escape, it was over.

Before the explosion, there had been a wild theory spreading across the web—that Earth’s destruction was somehow linked to a virtual reality space exploration game called Abyss.

Yang Ming had been obsessed with Abyss since college. Three months ago, the game had reached a climactic chapter: The Abyss Befalling. The climax of the chapter was about using the homeworld base as a bet and calling upon players worldwide to unite against the interstellar threat from the Legion of the Ninth Calamity.

But global players uniting? That was wishful thinking.

Main story quests weren’t exactly a priority for most.

For three months, factions continued their endless wars. Everyone assumed that when the expansion’s countdown hit zero, the developers would just send in some overpowered NPC fleet to clean up the mess.

Then, three days ago, the Ninth Calamity’s fleet shattered the outer defenses and reached humanity’s homeworld. And in the game, the planet was obliterated by a single planetary annihilation warhead.

All players were forcibly logged out.

Half a day later, real-world satellites detected the high-energy wave.

Human civilization had three days left.

Was that… really just a coincidence?

It was too much of a coincidence.

For three days, conspiracy theories exploded online. Some claimed humanity was a common species in the universe, and that Abyss had been a trial given by an advanced civilization. Humanity on Earth has failed. And so, it was erased.

But Yang Ming refused to believe that he had played a game so badly he had literally doomed the Earth.

But it didn’t matter anymore.

He couldn’t open his eyes, but he could still remember, he could still think, he could still feel his own body.

So that means…

He was in heaven? Or hell?

If not for the unbearable agony of being burned alive, he might have dismissed everything as a dream.

“Professor.”

The echoes of footsteps and voices from a man and a woman conversing sounded next to his ears.

The man, who was being called as the Professor, had a deep, commanding voice.

The woman’s tone was gentle but firm, likely middle-aged.

“Doctor Lina, how’s our third officer?” the man asked.

“Hanton’s stable now. His vitals are back to normal, but he suffered severe head trauma. There might be lasting effects.”

“This poor guy. He did a damn good job shaking off the Human Rationality Bureau’s scout ships. Spare no medical resources.”

“Of course, Professor. I’ll take good care of Hanton.”

Hanton?

Human Rationality Bureau’s scout ships?

What the hell was all this?

Yang Ming struggled to think, but instead, fragmented memories rushed into his mind like a tidal wave.

These disjointed images, a chaotic onslaught of unfamiliar experiences, crashed into his consciousness. The pain was unbearable, making his body convulse.

In that moment, realization struck.

If he couldn’t withstand this surge of foreign memories, he would lose himself. His identity—Yang Ming—would vanish.

Gritting his teeth through the agony, he clung to his own memories, forcing himself to recall his short life on Earth over and over again.

Slowly, the pain receded. The foreign memories dulled, no longer attacking him but instead lingering in the background, waiting to be examined.

He had won.

Yang Ming exhaled in relief, but before he could process what he had gained, more footsteps approached.

“What’s happening to him?”

The professor’s voice was stern.

“Possible central nervous system damage… It’s worse than we thought. I need to rerun some examinations.”

“Let me see.”

Cold, gloved fingers pried his eyelids open.

Blinding light flooded his vision. A silhouette loomed over him, blocking part of the flare.

Yang Ming’s breath hitched.

He knew this man.

The red glow of a mechanical eye and the left half of his face made of exposed mechanic skeletons had once left a lasting impact on Yang Ming.

The dark red scars tracing the seam between synthetic and organic tissue were even more unsettling up close.

He-he is…

A name hovered on the edge of his tongue.

Geiger.

Holy shit. Wasn’t this Geiger, the secret boss from Abyss’s Level 30 Imperial faction epic dungeon?!

The guy who could drop rare skills for biotech related careers and legendary core components for all careers!

His real name… right, Geigerlof!

The dungeon was called Echoes of the Forsaken.

Echoes of the Forsaken was the second major team dungeon after players left the homeworld, and was the most difficult dungeon at that time. Countless squads had been slaughtered by the final boss—the Valkyrie. The progression of her defeat had been a heated topic on Abyss forums for weeks.

Oh, that pure, powerful, and very hot Valkyrie.

Even after Yang Ming had cleared the dungeon, he would still help the rookies play the dungeon just to see that beautiful godlike Valkyrie again.

However, within two weeks, he had moved on, captivated by the stunning career mentor in Minks Port…

Uh, now is not the time to be thinking of that.

The cold fingers released his eyelids. His vision plunged back into darkness. More hands gently adjusted his arm, attaching cool metal patches to his skin.

Yang Ming forced himself to remember every detail of Echoes of the Forsaken. He had run it so many times.

The dungeon’s intro went something like this:

“A deep-space patrol vessel discovered an abandoned research ship drifting near a ruined resource colony. The ship’s life support remained functional, with signs of activity in several compartments.

The vessel bore the insignia of the Sherman Empire.

Upon further investigation, horrific bioengineered monstrosities were found aboard. Their strengths surpass the limits of carbon-based lifeforms.”

Yang Ming’s thoughts raced.

The dungeon’s narrative unfolded through an NPC in a nurse uniform. As the dungeon progressed, the lead scientist——Professor Geigerlof——would be introduced. 

Gradually, the guide would lead to the most powerful being abroad——the Rogue Valkyrie.

Thirty years prior, the ship had suffered an outbreak. The Valkyrie went rogue, triggering a catastrophic bioweapon disaster, causing bioengineered subjects to slaughter the crew members.

In desperation to prevent this Valkyrie, who can evolve infinitely, from becoming the nightmare of the empire, Geigerlof had decided to use the Non-Directional Instantaneous Space Skipping to pilot the ship into a black hole near the Star Trail. However, she sabotaged the engines, stranding the vessel in deep space.

Yes. This was the Echoes of the Forsaken backstory.

Genetic experiments. Super-soldiers. The experiments on the limits of carbon-based life.

After the players defeated the Valkyrie, they could continue to explore the story, leading to the secret boss——Geiger, or Geigerlof, who had transformed himself into a monster in order to destroy the Valkyrie.

Wait.

Something was wrong.

Yang Ming remembered clearly——In the game, the hidden boss, Geigerlof, wasn’t in his middle-age.

He was a hunched and frail old man, balding and with messy white hair sticking everywhere. He was half-mad, and would turn into an ugly, slimy, meaty monster after swallowing a red pill!

In the game, the disaster of this ship happened 30 years ago…

That means he had revived into the world of the Abyss thirty years before the game even began?

The Valkyrie hadn’t gone rogue yet and this research ship was still flying within the realm of the Sherman Empire, while containing evil bioengineering experiments on humans.

And his new identity is…

Hanton. Third officer of this ship. An actual, enlisted imperial officer of the empire. A lieutenant who had stayed on this ship for two years already, mainly responsible for parts of the technical problems as well as maintaining the fire protection system.

In other words:

A soon-to-be slaughtered crew member.