Barren Wasteland spreads, disaster descends!

Reality, Blue Star.

Indonesian Archipelago, Jakarta.

Night.

Crackle crackle…

In a room of a residential building, a young man with curly brown hair was frantically typing while eating a sandwich produced by a god-given book.

He was engaged in a heated debate regarding the recent news of the "Barren Wasteland" spreading from Great Xia.

Many people online stated that since the Great Xia Official had mandated entering Hideouts, others should follow suit, as it was likely first-hand information from some secret channels!

But this curly brown-haired young man didn't think so.

Because he was a landlord.

Before his father died, he left him an entire residential building, ensuring he would have no worries about food or clothing for the rest of his life. Even the arrival of the God Forsaken Game didn't make him give up his building.

"…Bullshit, what Barren Wasteland."

"I'm perfectly safe here. Even if some monsters invade reality, I'm a Level 17 Archer!"

"I can guarantee that the friends living in my building will be very safe!"

"There's news that as long as one passes the challenge of the High-Level Divine Authority Tower, they can obtain 'god-given book: Defense Barrier.' When that happens, I'll add a defense barrier to my building…"

The keyboard clattered loudly under the young man's typing.

The more he typed, the more excited he became. He was clearly engaged in a fierce debate with countless people, a keyboard warrior battling the masses!

But suddenly, he noticed something was wrong.

He typed a series of words but found they wouldn't send.

"Disconnected?"

The curly brown-haired young man's expression changed slightly. "That's not right. How could my building lose internet connection?"

He finished the rest of his sandwich in one bite and crawled under the desk to check the network cable.

"Fuck, there's no problem here?"

As he crawled out from under the desk, cursing, he suddenly froze.

Looking up, he saw a pitch-black crack on his ceiling, over three meters long and one meter wide, splitting the ceiling of his room in two!

That wasn't even the main issue.

The most terrifying thing was…

One after another, four-armed mummies were falling from the crack and standing up in his room. Several mummies were already staring at him with their withered, hollow eyes.

"What the fuck!"

The curly brown-haired young man's face instantly turned pale.

He instinctively took out a bow and arrows from his storage bag and launched an attack at the four-armed mummies.

Unfortunately, his lower body was still under the desk, making his movements awkward.

Meanwhile, the four-armed mummies had opened their mouths and were spitting bursts of murky white energy liquid at him!

Pffft pffft pffft!

The curly brown-haired young man barely managed to fire one arrow, which missed, and then he was engulfed by the attacks of the four-armed mummies…

"Aaaah—"

The terrifying corrosive energy plunged the young man into extreme agony.

Fortunately, he had extracted quite a bit of his constitution attribute. Enduring the pain, he crawled out from under the desk. In just those few moments, his face was nearly corroded away, but he wasn't dead yet and began to fight back with basic attacks!

"If only I had known to extract some attack skills into reality…"

"With only basic attacks, the damage against these monsters doesn't seem very high…"

The young man felt like crying.

Because he hadn't extracted any skills, he could only use basic attacks, which barely did any damage to the monsters.

He ran while shooting, casting an Appraisal spell over his shoulder, only to find that these four-armed mummies were actually Level 20+ monsters!

And the area he was currently in…

…had already turned into a "Fierce Area" with a hundredfold lifespan flow rate!

At night, the starlight in the sky silently dissipated, vanishing forever from the night sky of the Blue Star.

In its place was a layer of grey mist, just like the sky in the God Forsaken Game—always a dull grey, regardless of day or night!

"Healing, I need healing!!"

The curly brown-haired young man limped out of his room, shouting for help.

By now, his entire body had been corroded by the monsters' attacks, his flesh rotting. Though he wasn't dead, he was on the brink.

The moment he pushed open the door and escaped.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

A sound of rushing wind came from above, followed by a massive black mouth descending from the sky, swallowing his entire festering body whole!

*Burp~*

A pitch-black Big Mouth Toad let out a burp and leaped toward the opposite rooftop…

…

America, Mexico.

This was a country where criminals and underworld gangs ran rampant.

Since the arrival of the God Forsaken Game, this place had become a paradise for the strong and a hell for the weak…

God Abandoned Continent, at the Weslaco Ruins near the Gulf of Mexico.

An underworld team was currently in a Fierce Area with a hundredfold lifespan flow rate, taking on a Platinum-level BOSS. Using resources they had exploited, their development was ahead of many others, and dealing with a Platinum-level BOSS was already second nature to them…

So they laughed as they fought, competing with each other for the highest damage output.

"Hahaha, if I'm top DPS today, prepare ten women for me when we get back!"

"Idiot, aren't you afraid of exhausting yourself to death?"

"You're worried about Hulda? Only the women will be dying."

The bald man codenamed "Hulda," holding a Platinum dagger and with a snake tattooed on his arm, was puffing on a cigarette while throwing a "Shadow Blade" at the Corrupted Wolf BOSS from a distance.

However, his Shadow Blade didn't lack a cooldown like Qin Feng's.

It could basically only be cast once every three seconds or so.

Only during the intervals between the BOSS's skill casts did he dare to go in for a backstab combo, dealing over ten thousand damage.

This damage was already among the best in their team.

Seeing that the Platinum-level BOSS's health bar was nearly empty…

Suddenly, the expressions of all the players in the team changed drastically.

"What's going on? Our lifespan flow rate suddenly jumped to ten thousand times?!"

"Son of a bitch, is there a bug?"

"I checked the notes; it says we're also in a Fierce Area in reality, and it's stacking with the Fierce Area in the game…"

"A hundred times a hundred is ten thousand times!!"

"In reality? A Fierce Area?"

Everyone's faces paled.

The bald man Hulda was also startled. With everyone distracted, the Platinum-level BOSS suddenly found an opportunity, pouncing and instantly killing an elderly Priest!

"Don't panic! Kill the BOSS first…"

Enduring the ten-thousand-fold lifespan flow rate, it took them over a minute to kill the BOSS.

In those few dozen seconds, they had already lost over ten days of their lifespan!

This left them with ashen faces.

And when they tried to log out, they were even more horrified to discover that they were already surrounded by various monsters!

Logging out meant death, and staying logged in meant death too.

Better to go all-in with their lifespan, extract everything into reality, and then leave this area!

"Go, go, go!"

"Everyone log out with me, let's fight our way out of the hotel together!"

This group had come to the hotel last night to party and hadn't returned to their Hideout, which was why they were facing this terrifying situation.

Just as they logged out one by one and fought their way out of their rooms…

An Emerald-grade BOSS, the 'Hanged Man,' was already waiting on the hotel lobby ceiling, holding two daggers and wearing a dark smile…

Only moments later, this team, considered upper-middle class in all of Mexico, was completely wiped out!