Humanity, human civilization, the land on which humanity thrives—cycles of rise and fall, over and over. No matter how outstanding the figures, how great the achievements, how prosperous the era, all will be forgotten by the eternal passage of time.

There are no monuments that can stand forever, for they will all eventually be torn down.

There are no stories that can be praised forever, for people will constantly write new, great chapters.

"Old Earth," also known as "Earth One," is such a place, one that is gradually being forgotten...

One peaceful night in the twenty-second century, through the clear lenses of the Shair Mountain Peak Observatory in the United States and the Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico, astronomers were astonished to discover a new bright spot in the sky. It was clearly visible in the region near Pluto. Russian and Swedish observatories quickly confirmed the discovery and speculated that this small meteor of unknown mass and origin was speeding toward the solar system.

Some newspapers gave the new star a small amount of coverage, while news agencies only mentioned it in passing. It seemed that for most people, news about astronomy was far less appealing than gossip and entertainment stories.

A few days later, astronomers watched the starfield with both tension and curiosity, wondering what was about to happen. The result was… the size and brightness of the meteor grew at an astonishing rate, and its image could now be clearly captured with ordinary photographic plates. The closer it got to Pluto, the more uneasy the astronomers became. Even in the twenty-second century, a celestial collision occurring so close to humanity was still unimaginable. However, at the time, the absolute distance between the two celestial bodies was still very far.

When the unimaginable quickly became the possibly happening, the world's media began to pay attention to the event unfolding in the sky. Even some students in schools created relevant celestial charts. All the evidence indicated that people could only helplessly watch the meteor hurtle toward Pluto.

Soon after, the whole world was reporting on this event, because the imagined collision did not occur. Instead, the meteoroid, as it passed Pluto, dragged the entire dwarf planet toward its own fiery mass…

The two celestial bodies melted into one giant, dazzling white sphere, visible to the naked eye from Earth.

Thus, in addition to the sun and the moon, there was a new celestial body, appearing regularly in people's sight as the Earth rotated. Every night, people watched the rise and fall of this sphere, and they gradually realized that each time the sphere rose, it became larger…

People began to suspect, to fear… asking questions such as, "Why is the universe so big, yet the meteor came here?" Asking such questions was foolish, like asking why one was born successfully among billions of compatriots.

Scientists explained some relevant astrophysical knowledge to the public in news programs and published some of their research results. Overwhelming reports were telling the same thing: this uninvited guest intruding into the solar system would eventually head towards the sun. Only the gravitational pull between the major planets could possibly deflect this celestial body from its destructive path, but in any case, the end of Earth was at hand.

But what happened next was unexpected.

It was as if Earth had been sentenced to death, but with a reprieve.

After engulfing Pluto, the fireball slowed down significantly. It remained at a relatively safe distance, scorching the world like a twin brother of the sun. Winter disappeared, and the coldest season worldwide was like early summer.

When one dawn ended and a second dawn lit up the sky, so dazzling, so hot, hellish heatwave hurricanes raged across the world. No one knew how long these days would last, but the rate at which the polar ice caps were melting reminded people that Earth was no longer a place to stay for long.

Optimists, doubters, despairers, madmen—people reacted differently, and Earth fell into unprecedented chaos. Doomsday finally appeared in a tangible form before people's eyes, no longer some "environmental problem," "alien invasion," or "deadly virus"—assumptions that existed in movies or that people often talked about. Instead, it actually appeared in the sky, announcing to the world every day that the end was near.

Unexpectedly, this "reprieve" brought humanity together. In the following decade, human technological development even surpassed that of the past two centuries.

All of humanity finally abandoned prejudices of skin color, race, nationality, belief, and so on, uniting together, doing their best for the common goal of racial continuation, sharing the most advanced science and technology, scientists, resources, everything without reservation.

Finally, twenty years later, humanity took the first step in interstellar colonization. The first "Ark-class" interstellar mothership flew out of the atmosphere, carrying a population of one million. Then came the second, the third…

Later, that glimmer of hope to escape Earth… finally revealed people's true nature. A war broke out on Earth, ending with the deaths of most humans and the destruction of 93% of the man-made facilities on Earth.

Twenty-seven years later, "doomsday" ended like a joke. Of course, no one was laughing.

The meteor actually turned ninety degrees, accelerated again, and left the solar system. No one knew why. Perhaps it was not a meteor at all, but an alien spaceship, perhaps it was some kind of special life form, or perhaps it was an unknown god's test of humanity.

In short, when people had the ability to escape Earth, the crisis of Earth's destruction no longer existed. Ironically, the planet had been devastated by humanity's own nuclear war and was no longer suitable for continued survival.

Fortunately, people had mastered key warp technology, and long-distance interstellar travel was no longer a fantasy. Therefore, the survivors on the Ark found a new home in the Milky Way, an uninhabited planet very similar to Old Earth, a virgin land untouched by intelligent life—"New Earth," also known as "Earth Two."

In 2386, a new technology was successfully developed, called "Ants." These were extremely tiny, nanoscale robots that could be used to repair the cell tissues of living organisms.

Initially, "Ants" were used to reconstruct the bodies of amputees or to treat patients with spinal cord injuries. Even patients who had been bedridden for a long time and suffered from severe muscle atrophy could be restored to a normal state.

Later, when "Ants" brought a mountaineer who had been frozen to death on a snow mountain for several years "back to life," this technology attracted attention, and people turned their attention back to Earth One…

From 2401 onwards, a very small number of human "ancestors" found on Old Earth were resurrected. The truth of history, the lost civilization, and many questions were answered.

This became a wave, thriving for more than half a century, and it still has not stopped…

One day in 2455, a Class 4 twin-hulled transport ship named Grendel arrived at Old Earth. The research team on board discovered two cryogenically frozen living organisms in the Crystal Lake Laboratory and brought them back to the ship. One was a female researcher named Rowan; the other was named Jason Voorhees, the immortal killing demon.

They did not know that the Grendel was not the only ship to visit the Crystal Lake underground laboratory that day. Another team with ulterior motives followed the research team here. After the team left, that group of people entered the laboratory…

…………

"I didn't expect... we've run into a strong enemy." Zhong Qiang Strike muttered.

"Kuang Zong Jian Ying, one of Dao Jian Xiao's (Blade Sword Smile) elites, is indeed a very tricky opponent..." Mo Ri Qiang Strike added.

The two members of the Corpse Blade Studio both had buzz cuts, pale faces, and a numb expression. Their voices were not loud, and their tones were very even. They were wearing green and black uniforms that resembled the uniforms in Star Trek, but in different colors. The Corpse Blade badge was printed on the left chest of the uniform. The pattern was an elaborately carved skull scimitar, and the words "Corpse Blade" were naturally in black.

"Is that guy called Feng Bujue also a master in the Jianghu (martial world)? How come I've never heard of him..." Mo Ri Qiang Strike said, "Don't you think it's strange to encounter such a combination?"

Zhong Qiang Strike responded, "It is indeed strange... According to the rules of this game, the difference in strength between the two teams should not be very large." He paused and continued, "I have to admit, even if Kuang Zong Jian Ying is two levels lower than us, his strength is definitely not below the two of us. But that guy called Feng Bujue is only level sixteen..."

"In other words... the system believes that the combined strength of these two is not much different from us two level nineteen players?" Mo Ri Qiang Strike said.

"Hmph... there must be something wrong, could it be that this unknown guy called Feng Bujue is a powerhouse on the same level as Kuang Zong Jian Ying?" Zhong Qiang Strike said, "If that's the case, the only possibility is... he's actually a star-level professional player, but he's using a new nickname in Thriller Paradise."

"That makes sense." Mo Ri Qiang Strike added, "It must be a master who switched from another studio to Jianghu (martial world), changed his game ID, and teamed up with Kuang Zong Jian Ying. This can explain... why we encountered two players whose levels are lower than us in a 2v2."

"Isn't that great?" Zhong Qiang Strike said, "It's rare to encounter opponents who are lower level than us in a killing game. The chances of winning must be higher."

"Hmm..." Mo Ri Qiang Strike nodded and said, "But even if we know we will win after the fight, we can't be too careless. Look, our survival points are slowly decreasing, which means there is a time limit in this script. If the other party uses delaying tactics and does not confront us head-on, then this battle will become a war of attrition to see who has more survival point supplements and healing abilities. The health in this game doesn't have specific numbers, but is expressed as a percentage. If the situation develops into a game of hide-and-seek, we will have no advantage at all."

"That's what I thought too, we'd better make a quick decision." Zhong Qiang Strike replied, "We're leading in levels, and we have the help of 'that medicine'... It would be too much to lose like this."

…………

On the other side, Feng Bujue was leading the way with a steel knife, and Kuang Zong Jian Ying was following him, moving quickly and quietly in the corridor.

Feng Bujue turned the Casey Jones Mask into display state. Although it wasn't a gas mask, wearing it could alleviate some of the discomfort of inhaling harmful air.

"A war of attrition is a more favorable way for us to fight." Feng Bujue said as he walked. Because the mask was on display, his voice became muffled.

"What kind of attrition?" Kuang Zong Jian Ying said, "Do you mean using ranged weapons, or tactics like traps to maneuver?"

"No, just not running into the opponent is a kind of attrition." Feng Bujue replied.

Kuang Zong Jian Ying pondered for a moment and understood what he meant: "You mean... using the indiscriminate health reduction effect here?"

"That's right." Feng Bujue replied, "Their levels are higher than ours, so theoretically they will have more survival points." He coughed again, "But the survival point loss caused by the environment is obviously based on percentage, which you and I just verified."

They had exchanged information about their survival points a few minutes ago. The two were one level apart, and their current survival points were both 95%, and even the timing of the percentage drop was almost the same, accurate to the second. This shows that the rate of survival point loss has nothing to do with level. As long as you breathe the air here, your health will decrease by percentage after a fixed period of time.

"Heh..." Kuang Zong Jian Ying laughed, "Brother Feng, can I ask, how many survival point supplements did you bring?"

"I have four (medium) capacity bottles." Feng Bujue replied.

"Let's not talk about how many the other side has." Kuang Zong Jian Ying said, "I brought more than you." He shook his head, "Besides, if one of those two is specializing in healing, or even just knows a little, wouldn't your 'war of attrition' be playing right into their hands?"

"I said start with a war of attrition, but I didn't say end with a war of attrition." Feng Bujue said, "What I mean is, it's best not to let this game enter a quick-win tempo."

"You think we'll lose in a head-on confrontation?" Kuang Zong Jian Ying asked. In fact, the tone in which he asked this question already indicated that he didn't think so.

"Not necessarily." Feng Bujue said, "But since you asked me to be your teammate, you should know that, in terms of our combination, the advantage in overall strength far outweighs engaging in close combat with the other party." He turned his head slightly, looked over his shoulder at Kuang Zong Jian Ying, and said, "Strategic application is also part of strength." He paused, then looked forward again, "If you just want to go straight in and fight the other party head-on, then teaming up with me is not as good as finding a purely martial-type player."

Kuang Zong Jian Ying said: "Okay, then..."

Roar—

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a strange growl. Feng Bujue also stopped at the right time.

The two had a tacit understanding. They both kept silent and consciously faced two directions to be vigilant. They listened intently, waiting for the roar to sound again in order to determine its location.