Chapter 1 The Calamity Begins

Garton Star Cluster, Ninth Star Region, Aquamarine Star.

Summer in the Southern Continent was experiencing intense heat, the scorching sun hanging high, the air distorted by the high temperature.

The moment Version 2.0 was launched, inside the Third Shelter, player figures appeared one after another in the originally empty plaza, hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands… The plaza, which had been quite spacious, became incredibly crowded within seconds.

Before the version update, due to the [Last Stronghold] mission left by Han Xiao, as well as the "Galaxy Times" analysis of the 2.0 main storyline, hundreds of thousands of Aquamarine Star players had gathered in the shelter, choosing to log off here. Now that Version 2.0 was launched, the location where these hundreds of thousands of players logged in was the Third Shelter.

Hundreds of thousands of people jostled, looking around curiously.

“Is it Version 2.0 now?”

“Doesn’t seem like anything’s changed.”

“Hey, the level cap has been raised, and experience can still be used to level up. It’s definitely a new version.”

“Aren’t there any other changes? I really just want to try taking a dump in the game.”

“Perverts, please have some self-respect.”

The players discussed, each opening their panels to check their attributes. Apart from the capped level now being able to be leveled up further, there were no other changes to their personal information.

However, someone soon discovered that the prompt for a mission had changed. It was [Last Stronghold], and the mission status had changed from "Frozen" to "Activated."

This was the prize pool mission that Han Xiao had left behind before he left, and the mission requirement was to protect the Third Shelter, which was to warm up for the Alienation Disaster and attract players to gather here. As he expected, the players suspected that this mission was related to the 2.0 storyline.

And now, this mission was actually activated!

Didn't that mean that the "cataclysm" mentioned in the mission prompt had already begun?

Many players were immediately excited. Thanks to Black Phantom, they had hardly participated in the main storyline of the previous version. This time, there was finally a serious major event!

That's right, the NPC who issued this mission was still Black Phantom… Oh, now he’s called Black Star. Is he still in space?

As soon as they thought of Han Xiao, many players couldn't help but envy the professional players who had been taken away by him, who had entered space earlier, and whose food, clothing, and possessions were several levels above theirs.

Just as the players were observing, an announcement suddenly rang out inside the shelter.

“All Inhumans, please stay where you are! I repeat, all Inhumans, please stay where you are!”

Soon, a large number of guards surrounded the plaza, their faces filled with suspicion and uncertainty, nervously staring at the massive crowd of players.

The Inhumans of the entire planet had disappeared for an entire year, but suddenly appeared today, which really scared the managers of the Third Shelter. Bennett quickly sent people to control the scene.

At the same time, the players in the Third Shelter triggered the same mission.

[【Stay Where You Are】]

[Mission Introduction: During your disappearance, many things have happened on Aquamarine Star. It is now at a critical juncture for the survival of civilization. Stay where you are and wait patiently for relevant personnel to explain the situation.]

This was a small mission with few rewards. The players also wanted to understand the situation, so hundreds of thousands of people obediently stayed in the plaza—mainly because there were guards all around. Who knew if leaving rashly would result in an attack? No one wanted to lose favor with the shelter at the beginning of the version.

Before long, Bennett hurried over, and a look of joy flashed in his eyes as he looked at the vast crowd.

He remembered Han Xiao's instructions that the Inhumans were the backbone of resisting this cataclysm. At this critical juncture, the Inhumans appeared again. He didn't know the reason, only that the Inhumans had come at a very timely moment, and now was when they were in dire need of manpower.

Bennett took out a loudspeaker and shouted, “Everyone, Aquamarine Star is suffering an unprecedented disaster and urgently needs help…”

He quickly explained the situation, and the players then learned that more than a year had passed since the last version. Just over a month ago, a strange phenomenon rapidly spread across Aquamarine Star, eventually turning into a global cataclysm.

Aquamarine Star called it the "Alienation Disaster."

At this time, a month had passed since the full outbreak of the Alienation Disaster, and the entire planet's situation had undergone major upheaval. The six-nation political structure had collapsed almost within a month.

No one knew the cause of the disaster, only that it was some kind of virus, which they called the "Alienation Virus." Countless creatures, humans, beasts, and even plants, were infected, but the appearance, transmission mechanism, and operating principle of the Alienation Virus were completely undetectable. No one knew if they had been infected.

When the virus wasn't acting up, every infected person was no different from usual. Once it acted up, the infected person would suddenly exhibit unusual desires, including but not limited to murderous intent, destructiveness, anger, sadness, madness, lust, hunger, thirst, and other tendencies. A weak person might suddenly become a butcher who killed without blinking an eye, a normal person might suddenly squat down and frantically swallow sand until they burst themselves, and a dignified woman might suddenly become a slut.

The most terrifying thing was that, during the onset, the patient maintained their rationality, meaning it wasn't a loss of control or an impulse, but that these desires guided their thoughts, thus causing them to take various actions.

According to survivors' recollections, during the onset, these desires came from the heart, and were their true thoughts at the time, as if their personality had been tampered with, turning them into another person, and they themselves didn't realize it, feeling that their actions were normal during the onset.

Bennett gave a few examples, and the bewildered players immediately understood the horror of the Alienation Disaster.

Maple Red was the first place to experience a large-scale outbreak. Infected people in the army picked up their weapons and frantically shot their comrades, and the army instantly fell into chaos. No one knew which shooting soldier was infected. Internal warfare broke out, and weapons such as tanks, helicopters, and rockets were used. A large-scale outbreak almost disintegrated half of Maple Red's military strength.

The president even exhibited severe violent tendencies, wanting to plant mushrooms around the world. Fortunately, launching nuclear missiles required complex procedures. If the nuclear launch button had been on the president's desk, the world would probably already be at nuclear peace, and the president was subsequently arrested.

All kinds of absurdities that couldn't possibly happen under normal circumstances happened so unexpectedly. One person going crazy wasn't scary, but it was scary that the whole world had gone crazy. It was simply a demonic free-for-all.

No one knew when the people around them would act up, or even guarantee that they themselves were normal. This panic was unparalleled, as if the whole world had become the enemy, and they dared not trust others anymore, living in constant fear.

A month after the Alienation Disaster broke out, social order collapsed, and many formerly prosperous cities became wastelands. In order to be safe, citizens had to relocate or find a place to hide. Pessimism became the mainstream, and a view of the Alienation Disaster became popular around the world, believing that nuclear radiation was the cause of this virus.

So countless civilians began to angrily scold and condemn the Budding War that had brought them peace, believing that this was retribution, this was the end of the world!

After listening to the introduction, many players felt a chill in their hearts. Thinking about it from their perspective, this virus was too terrifying. The players had all sorts of guesses about the so-called "disaster" of Version 2.0, but they didn't expect it to be such a strange situation.

What exactly was the Alienation Virus?

For a time, the players were a little dumbfounded. During the update, the flow of time was asynchronous. In the players' eyes, the update time was only a few short days, and the familiar world had been subverted?

Was it that exciting?!

“Isn’t this virus incurable?” a player asked.

Bennett shook his head, “Currently, we have discovered two ways to resist the Alienation Virus. First, superhumans are not easily infected, which has been verified. Second, our Third Shelter has developed an inhibitor that can provide temporary immunity to the virus, but production capacity is limited and we are working hard to cultivate raw materials, but the quantity is far from enough.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the players’ panels moved, and they triggered the main mission at the same time!

[【Alienation Disaster】]

[Mission Introduction: Aquamarine Star is suffering an unprecedented disaster, and it is the responsibility of all living beings on this planet to resist the Alienation Disaster!]

[Mission Requirements: Contribute to combating the Alienation Disaster]

[Progress: 0/30,000,000]

[Success Condition: Achieve progress before the Alienation Virus becomes complete]

[Failure Condition: The civilization of Aquamarine Star collapses, and all survivors are forced to evacuate]

[Rewards: Depends on individual progress contribution (Note: Even if the virus grows and causes the total progress to decrease, the individual's previously accumulated progress will be included in the reward evaluation)]

The mission requirements of the hundreds of thousands of players were similar to Han Xiao's, except that the players' [Alienation Disaster] mission only required 30 million progress on Aquamarine Star, while Han Xiao's mission requirements included all the other planets where the Alienation Disaster had been unleashed. Clearly, Technician Han's mission was more complete.

This was a large-scale main mission for all players to carry out together. Every player's contribution would be counted in the total progress, and they needed to work together to achieve the mission goals.

“We triggered the main mission as soon as we logged in? The storyline for this version is coming so fast!”

“No foreplay, straight to the point, I like it that direct.”

“…No, we directly obtained the main mission because we logged in at the Third Shelter. This place can enter the main storyline early. The Galaxy Times’ analysis was correct.”

The crowd recalled and suddenly realized.

Sure enough, that was right. If they were in another place, no one would carefully explain the situation, and Bennett just said that the Third Shelter was the only place that possessed the inhibitor, which meant that this was a key scene in the 2.0 main storyline, and it was the mission left by Black Phantom that guided them here.

He was their guiding light!

With the main mission, the players' spirits were greatly lifted, and they asked what they could do to help. The hundreds of thousands of people caused the scene to fall into chaos. Bennett finally stabilized the order and had his subordinates list various jobs, all of which were missions. The content was different, but the rewards were all to increase the progress of the main mission.

The number of people needed for each type of mission was limited, which immediately caused a frenzy.

The large guilds grabbed the most missions, and some solo players who didn't grab the shelter's official missions looked a little depressed.

A player couldn't help but ask, “Can we leave the shelter now? I want to go to other places.”

Bennett’s face was helpless. “You’d better go up to the city wall and take a look for yourself.”

The shelter's giant steel walls completely blocked the view outside. Hearing this, many players became curious. A group of players climbed up the walls and looked out from the outside of the shelter.

With just one glance, these players were stunned, and a look of shock appeared on their faces.

They saw countless tents densely connected in an area of ​​dozens of kilometers around the shelter, like gray clouds covering the reddish-brown earth, like a huge open-air refugee camp. It was unknown how many people were staying outside the shelter and refused to leave. From time to time, angry shouts and fighting sounds came from somewhere, and it was unknown whether someone was having an onset or was fighting for scarce water or food.

“The news that we have inhibitors has spread, and countless people come here every day, wanting to inject the inhibitor and seek our protection.”

Bennett followed and looked at the refugee camp that stretched as far as the eye could see, his tone mournful.

“But our inhibitor production is limited, and we can only inject a certain number of refugees every day, so we can only let the others camp outside and wait. The more people there are, the more onset incidents there are. Many people die outside every day, but I can’t let everyone in, otherwise there will be riots inside… I can only watch them die.”

The whole world was helpless against the Alienation Disaster, and only the Third Shelter had a solution. The result was obvious: this place had become the pure land in the eyes of the refugees, bearing the last hope, and countless people flocked here.

After the Alienation Disaster broke out in his previous life, everyone became headless flies, panicked and bewildered, without a destination, and the situation was very chaotic. But now, due to Han Xiao's influence on the plot, the refugees on the entire planet had a goal, namely the Black Phantom Third Shelter, which they regarded as the only savior.

However, the inhibitor made by Yi Ye Qing and Aurora could only take effect temporarily and couldn't permanently eliminate the virus. Bennett had no idea how to solve this cataclysm. No one on Aquamarine Star knew. He couldn't help but think of the reason why Han Xiao went to space in the first place. Black Phantom was going to find a way to solve the disaster. Did this mean that staying on Aquamarine Star couldn't solve the Alienation Disaster?

Bennett could only place his hopes on Han Xiao… if he could really come back.

“There are no other shelters anymore…” Bennett said in a heavy tone, “Here, is the only shelter.”