"Motherfucker!" In the middle of a vast ocean, Nick stood on the deck of a sinking warship, letting out a frustrated curse as he stared at the mountain-like World Beast in the sea ahead.
He turned to look behind him. The human fleet on the sea’s surface had long since been all but wiped out.
Some had their ammunition depots detonate, others were gradually sinking, many had lost power, and still more had been torn to shreds by the World Beast.
The commanders aboard these warships were almost all Salvation Army Warriors who had entered the True Apocalypse Game 1.0, and they too had suffered heavy losses.
Many had already died during the game mission, returning to their respawn points at the Floating Island Market or on other islands.
Ever since receiving news that the Water World Apocalypse mission had begun, the Salvation Army Warriors had been incredibly excited.
After all, the Undersea Space Wormhole in the North Pacific Ocean was constantly expanding, and it was rumored that a few giant monsters had already passed through it and arrived on Earth.
According to current model projections, the Space Wormhole would continue to expand until it was large enough for all the monsters to pass through to Earth.
At that point, it wouldn’t just be an issue of giant beasts attacking human cities; the rising sea levels from the overflowing seawater alone would be enough to destroy human civilization as it now existed.
For this very reason, when they saw the Water World Apocalypse mission begin, everyone understood that the Commander must have found a solution to this problem—or needed their help with something—and that was why he had them enter True Apocalypse Game 1.0.
What no one had expected, however, was that upon entering the game mission, they would be faced with an endless battle against the World Beast!
Although they had new weapons like Energy Concentration Cannons and Fusion Reactors, and even the Super Giant War Armors, humanity still stood no chance of victory in the fight against the World Beast.
If the Super Giant War Armors could be mass-produced by the hundreds or thousands, there might have been a chance of victory, but this was simply beyond humanity’s current industrial capacity.
Earth’s resources were not infinite, either.
The giant fortress walls built beside coastal cities were equally useless against the World Beast.
When it discovered its tentacles couldn’t completely destroy these fortress walls, the World Beast simply swung its sharp, leg-like appendages and utterly demolished them.
The coastal fortress defense initiative and the Giant Combat Robot program were both declared total failures.
Even a mutually destructive weapon like the Giant Hydrogen Bomb failed to inflict serious damage on the World Beast.
No scheme, whether open or clandestine, was of any use in the face of such an absolute disparity in power.
If the game mission hadn’t included a respawn-and-reload mechanic, allowing them to revive at the Floating Island Market where they first appeared every time they died, they probably would have been kicked out by the game system long ago.
BOOM! With a deafening explosion, a nearby Super Giant War Armor erupted in a massive fireball as its ammunition depot detonated.
If Nick remembered correctly, that was the War Armor piloted by Li Tongchen and Vasily’s team.
Propelled by the force of the blast, the War Armor swayed violently a few times before toppling toward the warship Nick was on.
Watching the sky-blotting shadow fall toward him, Nick couldn’t help but curse again. "Motherfuc—"
His vision went black. He didn’t even feel the pain of death before losing consciousness.
In his last moment of awareness, Nick figured his in-game body had been crushed to a pulp, then incinerated by the detonating ammunition.
A flash of white light filled his vision. As his surroundings slowly sharpened from a blur, Nick picked himself up to find he was on a dilapidated Floating Island Market. Around him, besides a few companions who had also just revived, were only the game’s emaciated NPC fishermen staring at him.
Not far from the Floating Island Market stood a lightly damaged Super Giant War Armor—what the fishermen called the "Holy Corpse."
’Everything is starting all over again...’
In the Director’s office at Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Eagle Country, a sweat-drenched Nick sat up in ’The Stars’ virtual reality pod. He took off his helmet, grabbed the nearby coffee cup, and chugged down the iced coffee in one go. He lit a cigar, squinted, and smoked half of it, then placed the still-burning cigar in an ashtray. With that done, he lay back down in ’The Stars’ virtual reality pod and put the helmet on again.
He blinked, selecting the "True Apocalypse Game" icon.
’He refused to accept it. The Salvation Army had completed so many difficult game missions before. Could this Water World mission truly be unsolvable?’
’The Undersea Space Wormhole in the North Pacific is still expanding, and the real world is waiting for us to find a solution. We have to complete this mission in the game!’
This was the same thought shared by over one hundred thousand Salvation Army Warriors around the world!
Perhaps the Commander was still waiting for them to deliver an answer to save the world. They absolutely could not let him down!
...
Meanwhile, a small yacht was cutting through the waves, crossing the Bering Strait at maximum speed.
The yacht had originally belonged to a Russian oil tycoon. Docked in the port of Vladivostok, it was equipped with the world’s most advanced automatic control system.
Just a few days ago, however, the yacht’s automatic control system had suddenly gone haywire, and the vessel had vanished into the vast ocean during the night.
After the Russian tycoon reported it, a satellite search was conducted, but not a single trace of the yacht could be found. It was as if it had either sunk to the bottom of the sea or had never existed in the first place.
It had simply vanished under satellite surveillance.
At this moment, the yacht continued its steady advance. There wasn’t a single person aboard, save for the young man standing on deck.
"Xiaofeng, your Salvation Army Warriors are still in virtual reality, fighting to the death. They’ve already died countless times, and they have no idea that no matter how hard they try, it’s impossible to defeat the World Beast with humanity’s current technology. Isn’t this a little cruel? Tsk, tsk. Even I can’t bear to watch anymore." A mischievous female voice emanated from the young man’s chest. It was Jingwei.
Shen Feng chuckled and said:
"This little bit of tempering in the Spiritual World is nothing. And look, haven’t they come up with some ingenious ideas? This Wormhole-black hole tactic is pretty good. And the play to create an infectious disease for the World Beast, or the proposal to quantize all of humanity—those are great, too."
In the Water World mission of True Apocalypse Game 1.0, the Salvation Army Warriors teetered on the brink of death daily. Human civilization had been extinguished and rebooted dozens of times. This extreme environment forced the Salvation Army Warriors to think on their feet, leading them to devise many ideas that Shen Feng himself had never even considered.
The Wormhole-black hole tactic was one such idea. Specifically, it involved disrupting the energy stability of the Undersea Wormhole, causing an energy backlash that would collapse it. This would ultimately form a micro black hole that would then swallow and compress the Beast Ancestor and the other World Beasts into its singularity.
The only flaw in this plan was that the resulting black hole singularity would be uncontrollable. It would quickly devour the surrounding World Beasts, followed by the seabed, and then the entire Earth.
If the Wormhole-black hole tactic were realized, the entire Earth and even the Moon would eventually be swallowed, and humanity would, of course, be completely wiped out.
Of course, all things considered, being instantly crushed into pulp by a black hole was slightly better than drowning slowly.
At least it would be relatively painless.
Then there was the plan to quantize all of humanity.
It was based on the principle of the Quantum Force Field Core and proposed putting all of humanity into a critical state between life and death—in other words, turning everyone into undead Ghosts.
This way, they wouldn’t have to worry about being drowned by the rising seas when facing the World Beast; they could even survive on the ocean floor.
The major side effect was that no one had ever experienced this quantum state of being neither alive nor dead. If they were to be observed by an observer—say, the World Beast, or even just stared at by a fish—they might instantly collapse into the state of "death," wiping out all of humanity.
Furthermore, in this quantum state on the threshold of life and death, it would be difficult to interact with the material world. To put it simply, they would become like ghosts—their consciousness would remain, but they would be unable to influence physical reality.
In short, they were mostly plans for mutual destruction. If some were implemented, humanity might go extinct before the World Beast even had a chance to flood the world.
"With plans like these, I’m starting to think your Salvation Army is the villain here," Jingwei said irritably.
’It seemed like humans in this world weren’t very reliable. She was the only artificial intelligence worrying herself sick over the fate of human civilization.’
By now, the yacht had crossed the Bering Strait and was gradually approaching the area where the Undersea Wormhole was located.
Due to the brutal naval battles in which several human fleets had been annihilated, this area of the sea had long been blockaded as a restricted zone. Besides, no one would risk their life coming here.
After dodging a few warships patrolling nervously on the perimeter, the yacht continued onward, arriving not far from the waters directly above the Undersea Wormhole.
On the surface of the sea, a tentacle dozens of meters thick poked out from the Undersea Wormhole, waving and swaying incessantly, almost like a playful octopus.
In human eyes, however, this swaying tentacle was a terrifying monster from the Hell Abyss.
"I’m about ready. If I die, remember to donate my house to... hmm, there aren’t many reliable foundations, are there? Just donate it to the government, then," Shen Feng said as he slung a backpack over his shoulders.
At his feet, swarms from a Nanomechanical Cluster rapidly swirled up to envelop his body, forming a thick layer of Nanomechanical Battle Armor that was both tough and indestructible.
Beside him, Jingwei, who was already controlling her nanomechanical avatar, rolled her eyes and said:
"Donate my ass. If you die, I’m defecting to the Whisperers and donating your house to the Purification Society."
Shen Feng chuckled, then leaped into the sea. Beside him, Jingwei dove in as well.
The pair swam toward the Undersea Space Wormhole like two fish. Before them, in the dark depths, a faintly blue Wormhole hundreds of meters in diameter lay silently, with only a single, thick tentacle reaching out from its other side.
On either side of the Undersea Wormhole, the long-waiting army of the Gray Tide began to glow with a silver light as it surged toward the opening.
It was as if they were welcoming their king.