Chapter 10: End of the World Year 3: Reborn and Returned

“Crack”

Searing pain surged from his chest; Fang Shi forced his eyes open, meeting only a sea of red.

Roars of beasts echoed beside him, punctuated now and then by the crunch of chewing—chilling to the bone.

“Am I going to die?”

Fang Shi’s heart filled with bitterness; he had struggled for three years in this apocalypse.

Every moment, he treaded carefully, never daring to slacken for an instant.

Armor never left his body, weapon never left his hand; even the faintest rustle would jolt him awake.

Yet in the end, death still could not be escaped.

The Night Stalker, a powerful undead creature, was the king of the night.

Expert in stealth, it possessed a +8 racial bonus in dark zones.

Before the ambush, Fang Shi had sensed not the slightest anomaly.

Moreover, Fang Shi had only just entered the Second Tier—face-to-face, he was no match for the Night Stalker.

As his body was slowly crushed, Fang Shi’s heart burned with resentment.

“Is this my fate?”

“But I struggled for three years—only to end like this? I’d have been better off dying from the start!”

“I refuse to accept this!”

Yet objective reality did not bend to human will; Fang Shi’s consciousness gradually sank into darkness, slipping into eternal slumber.

…

“Ring ring ring”

An alarm blared; Fang Shi jolted upright.

“What is this?”

A dim bedroom, a soft bed; on the right, a 24-inch computer screen glowed with a faint blue light, accompanied by soothing music.

Seeing this familiar scene, Fang Shi was stunned.

He immediately leapt from the bed, strode to the desk, and grabbed the mouse, shaking it.

“June 6, 1022, 18:57”

“This—”

Fang Shi’s heart trembled.

June 6, 1022—wasn’t this the very day before the apocalypse began?

Had he been reborn three years into the past?

Or had it all been an illusion?

Had the apocalypse never happened—just a fleeting dream?

Before Fang Shi could make sense of it, a flash of white light streaked across the sky outside.

The sky’s color shifted rapidly—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, indigo, violet—seven hues swirling in turn.

The neon-lit city, bathed in the rainbow glow, appeared breathtakingly beautiful.

Passersby on the streets and residents indoors alike were drawn to this wonder.

All wondered what was happening.

But Fang Shi was not among them; seeing this, his eyes involuntarily filled with fear.

“Damn it—this isn’t the scene that preceded the apocalypse game’s launch?”

“This isn’t a dream—it’s real. It already happened.”

“So I’ve been reborn!”

At this realization, the fear in Fang Shi’s eyes receded, replaced by a resolute gaze.

As if no matter the mountain of blades or the eighteen layers of hell, he would never give up.

This was the trait forged by three years of desperate survival in the apocalypse.

“This time, I will not repeat my mistakes. I will ascend to the pinnacle of this world and master my own fate.”

The apocalypse’s arrival was both crisis and opportunity.

At the dawn of the previous apocalypse, 90% of humanity could not endure the Faze transformation, turning into monsters called Shamblers.

But the remaining humans broke free from their bodily chains, entering an era of accelerated evolution.

Before his rebirth, the world already had warriors capable of severing rivers.

Rivers blocked only by concrete dams weighing millions of tons.

Such warriors, even before the apocalypse, could exceed the first cosmic velocity and roam space.

With sufficient energy, their lifespans became infinite—they could sail the Milky Way.

Unfortunately,

After the apocalypse, Blue Star’s volume continuously expanded, the sky rose daily, the earth thickened daily, and thunderous calamities accompanied the heavens.

Though gravity remained unchanged under the Faze , leaving Blue Star had become immeasurably harder.

“Wait—I recall someone saying before my rebirth that the first person to activate their attribute panel received a bonus.”

Fang Shi vaguely remembered: before the apocalypse game launched, he’d ordered takeout, only to be trapped at home by a Shambler who had been the deliveryman.

Out of fear, he delayed action; when he finally mustered courage and killed the Shambler outside, he’d already missed the critical early window.

At this thought, Fang Shi immediately left his bedroom, grabbed the cleaver in the kitchen, and burst out the door without even closing it.

“《Blue Star Online》loaded. Game activated. Enjoy your game—”

A flat, cold mechanical voice echoed in every human’s mind on Blue Star—no warning, yet utterly inevitable.

The time: precisely 19:00, June 6, 1022.

While everyone stood bewildered, trying to comprehend what had happened,

Fang Shi was already sprinting down the hallway, hearing a roar from the corner.

“Roar!!”

Without hesitation, without thought, Fang Shi naturally swung his right arm, using the momentum of his sprint and fall, repeating an action he’d performed countless times.

“Squelch.”

Black blood sprayed; a headless corpse, reeking of decay, collapsed with a thud at the stair corner, its takeout box scattering across the floor.

Its head rolled down the stairs, clattering.

Fang Shi stood still, expressionless.

When the apocalypse came, humans could do anything to survive.

Besides, the corpse before him was no longer human—it was merely a monster inhabiting a body.

Those who failed the Faze transformation had already died; by destroying the Shambler, he had granted it release.

“You killed a Level 1 Shambler. Officially logged into 《Blue Star Online》.”

“...Scanning biological data... Race confirmed...”

“...Element collection complete. Player character template loaded...”

As several streams of data flashed through his mind, a semi-transparent attribute panel appeared before Fang Shi.

“Name: Fang Shi”

“Race: Human”

“Attributes: Strength 12, Agility 14, Constitution 12, Intelligence 14, Perception 18, Charisma 15”

“Class: Graduate Student Level 1”

“Health: 6/6”

“Experience: 0”

“Attribute Points: 0”

“Survival Points: 0”

“Race Specialization: Versatile I”

“Life Skills: Focus 12, Reading People 6, Science 14, Mathematics 12, Chinese 15, English 10, Finance 13, Computer 9, Cooking 8, Driving 6”

“Class Skills: Stealth 8, Hiding 10, Listening 10, Survey 12, Roll 15, Taunt 6, Medicine 10, Jump 14, Intimidate 7, Swimming 6, Climbing 6, Spell Identification 5, Wilderness Survival 10, Throw 12...”

“Personal Specialties: Iron Will I, Athlete I, Photographic Memory I”

…

“Huh?”

Fang Shi swiftly scanned the attribute panel, pupils slightly dilated.

“These numbers are off—Perception increased by 4, Intelligence by 1, Charisma by 1.”

“Skills are identical to before my rebirth.”

“But I only gained one new specialty: Iron Will.”

The game’s initial attributes were entirely based on the player’s physical condition.

Fang Shi had a hunch: Intelligence, Perception, and Charisma linked to the soul; skills and Iron Will did too. Clearly, his rebirth was a soul rebirth.

These attributes were absurdly high—the human race’s maximum was 18.

Unless one reached the First Tier or spent free attribute points, no amount of training could exceed 18.

Moreover, few could even train to the limit.

Modern people lived too comfortably, with little physical labor; most had Strength below 10.

With 5 points of strength, according to the data, you can bench-press 50 kilograms; 10 points is 100 kilograms; 15 points is 200 kilograms.

18 points of strength can only be achieved by a world champion in the heavyweight category.

That’s not even one in ten thousand; with 7 billion people on Blue Star, it’s practically one in a billion.

Fang Shi’s 18 points of perception are a rarity on Blue Star.

A total attribute of 85 is an absurdly high value—least of all, he’s among one in a million on Blue Star.

There are only two ways to gain attributes in the Apocalypse Game: the first is daily hard training; the second is one free attribute point every four levels.

Free attribute points can only be obtained through leveling up and are excellent aids for breaking through limits.

But in this perilous end-times world, most people live day to day, uncertain if they’ll see tomorrow.

A single point increase in an attribute is vital to oneself; sometimes death comes down to just that one missing point.

Thus, most people allocate points as early as possible to survive the ever-present dangers.

“Panel activation complete. Player ID: 0000000001.”

“As the first player to activate the attribute panel, you have received one random attribute point.”

“Begin allocation. Allocation complete. Perception 18 → 19.”

Fang Shi’s heart trembled—the reward for being the first to activate the attribute panel was an attribute point.

He had luckily received it on perception.

That meant once he reached level 4, he would gain one free attribute point.

Then he could add it to perception—could perception then enter the transcendent realm?

That was a transcendent attribute!

Before his rebirth, after three years of desperate training, his highest attribute—strength—had only reached 19.

He had planned to wait until level 12, gain one free attribute point, and then allocate it to enter the transcendent realm.

Unfortunately, he died before even seeing transcendent power.

In this life, he could gain his first transcendent attribute at just level 4—how could Fang Shi not be ecstatic?

“Don’t be arrogant. Right now, the most important thing is to gain 100 experience points and unlock a combat class.”

“Only by unlocking a combat class can you maximize your combat power.”

“The reward for being the first to activate the attribute panel was so generous—what about the reward for being the first to unlock a combat class?”

Thanks to his rebirth experience, Fang Shi did not spend long in shock or analysis as he had in his past life; these thoughts took no more than ten seconds.

A flash of determination lit Fang Shi’s eyes as he leapt over the stairwell railing—14 points of jump made clearing this three-meter drop effortless.

He felt grateful that a hundred meters from his front door stood a square dance gathering spot.

In the past, it had been a nuisance, repeatedly reported by neighbors for disturbing the peace, yet the group never changed; Fang Shi had been one of the most troubled residents.

Now, to him, that place was nothing short of a treasure trove.