Chapter 1

Cheng Yang was in a dazed state, still able to see the demonic birds flying in the sky.

Countless humans struggled under the claws of those mutated creatures, and a hawk's talon, as large as a millstone, instantly grabbed for his head...

"Where am I?" When his vision finally cleared, the scene before him left him shocked.

This was a classroom, a large one, with over twenty students scattered throughout. About half of them were sleeping on their desks, and the teacher at the podium continued to lecture vividly, or perhaps just read from the textbook.

Indeed, this was a university classroom, and a freshman one at that. The reason for the sparse attendance was simply that there were only so many students in their class.

A deep sense of shock and joy flashed in Cheng Yang's eyes. The familiar scene before him made him realize he had been reborn. This was no longer the apocalyptic world that resembled a killing game, but a peaceful and harmonious classroom.

It seemed that the experience in his memory was just a dream, Cheng Yang comforted himself.

Suddenly, a chilling sensation spread throughout his body. If he remembered correctly, in his previous life, the apocalypse also came in a peaceful and harmonious environment, without any warning.

If there was any warning, it was the intense earthquake that lasted for over ten minutes before the apocalypse, a scene of complete collapse.

Cheng Yang suddenly took out his phone and quickly glanced at the time: April 12, 20XX, 9:32 AM.

At that moment, cold sweat broke out on Cheng Yang's forehead, and his body began to tremble slightly. He clearly remembered that the disaster in his memory was to strike at 5:00 PM the next day, just over a day and seven hours away.

Would the apocalypse come again as scheduled? Cheng Yang didn't know. At this moment, he couldn't distinguish whether the scenes in his memory were dreams or reality.

"Yangzi, what's wrong with you?" Liu Hao, who was sitting next to Cheng Yang, was playing a mobile game. Seeing his friend's unusual state, he immediately asked, his chubby face looking innocent.

Cheng Yang snapped out of his shock, looked at Liu Hao, this close friend who had sacrificed an arm to save his life during the apocalypse, and felt a sudden pang of sadness.

"Nothing, I just thought of something," Cheng Yang said softly. Before he could confirm whether the scenes in his memory were real, he didn't plan to reveal any information.

Liu Hao gave him a suspicious look but didn't press further, saying, "We have a basketball game at noon. If you're really sick, we'll be short one person." With that, Liu Hao picked up his phone and continued playing.

Cheng Yang's heart trembled, and the fear in his eyes became more evident. In his memory, two days before the disaster, he and Liu Hao indeed played basketball at noon. Could everything in his memory really happen?

"Yangzi, are you really okay?" Liu Hao, seeing his friend's slightly pale face, felt uneasy. "You're not heartbroken, are you? You haven't even started dating, right?"

Cheng Yang shook his head again.

"Haozi, if this world became like a game, what do you think it would be like?" Cheng Yang suddenly asked.

Liu Hao put down his phone and looked at Cheng Yang, unable to decide whether to laugh or cry. "Are you getting delusional? Although you're better at games than me, you shouldn't be this obsessed. How could the world become a game?"

Cheng Yang sighed inwardly and said, "I was just asking."

Liu Hao smiled and said, "For us losers, if the world really became a game, it would be a great thing. Killing monsters, fighting bosses, and improving our strength every day—how exciting would that be!"

Cheng Yang could hear the deep longing in Liu Hao's voice. Perhaps this was what they called the fearless ignorance!

After Liu Hao finished speaking, he resumed playing his game, while Cheng Yang fell into deep thought.

Based on Cheng Yang's estimation, there was an 80% chance that the apocalypse would come as scheduled. If so, he needed to make some preparations, or it would be a waste of his experience in the apocalypse.

Cheng Yang had spent a whole year in the post-apocalyptic world, a period that, though not long, was extremely precious.

From an observer's perspective, the Earth had become a game world, but for humans, it was the apocalypse. The biggest difference was that injuries hurt, and death was permanent.

Would a game where death was permanent attract players? Clearly not. But this time, humans had no choice; they had to play.

People had to choose various combat professions, then fight and level up...

Thinking of this, Cheng Yang suddenly looked at Liu Hao. In his previous life, after choosing a profession, he had activated a talent, and it was an extremely powerful one: a 3% increase in movement speed and attack speed for each small rank advancement.

After the world became a game, humans could activate talents when choosing professions, and these talents were divided into different levels. A 1% increase in a single ability was the lowest E-level talent, and for each additional 1%, the talent level increased by one, with a maximum of 3% for a single ability. The best talent known in his previous life was a 6% increase in two abilities, which was an S-level talent.

However, even S-level talents could be useless, such as a 6% increase in both magic and physical attack power, which was equivalent to a 3% increase in a single ability, a C-level talent.

A talent like Liu Hao's, which increased both movement speed and attack speed by 3%, was commonly known as a god-level talent, indicating its extreme power. It made Liu Hao a flexible fat guy.

In his previous life, Liu Hao had sacrificed an arm to save Cheng Yang from a mutated creature's claws, severely reducing his combat ability. Cheng Yang had always felt deep guilt over this.

In his previous life, Cheng Yang was just an ordinary student and had no ability to fight against fate. He struggled for a year in the apocalypse and died under a demonic bird's claws.

Although Cheng Yang didn't know why he could be reborn, it wasn't important. What mattered was that he had come back, and heaven had given him another chance. In this life, he might be able to compensate Liu Hao and also increase his own strength.

In the apocalyptic game, everyone could choose a combat profession, but there was a special group: the lords. They were not only powerful combatants but also rulers with control over countless lives.

In his previous life, Cheng Yang did have a talent, but he never had the chance to use it. His talent was mainly related to lords and was a B-level talent: a 1% increase in magic attack power and a 3% increase in the effectiveness of residential training for each small rank advancement.

Although this talent wasn't top-tier, in the apocalyptic world, only 10% of people had B-level or higher talents.

As far as Cheng Yang knew, talents related to lords were very rare, and the highest was only 2%. His 3% increase was extremely powerful. However, Cheng Yang didn't dare to reveal this attribute, as it would be a huge threat to any lord. Moreover, a lord-related talent had no value unless the person was a lord.

In this life, he didn't want to repeat the same mistakes. His memories were his greatest asset.

Suddenly, Cheng Yang thought of something and quickly took out his phone to check the news.

"... A mysterious giant stone has appeared in the suburbs of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. Experts have been unable to determine the composition of the stone after nearly a week of analysis..."

The news was followed by a detailed report on the giant stone, including some pictures. The stone was about three meters tall, cylindrical, and had a rough, black-gray surface.

Seeing this report, Cheng Yang was extremely excited. He was very familiar with the stone because it was the prerequisite for becoming a lord, the territory altar.

In his previous life, after the apocalypse, some people speculated that the transformation of the world into a game was not completed in a day but over a long period. The territory altar was the best proof, as it had appeared in the world before the disaster.

However, at that time, no one knew the purpose of the altar. Everyone thought it was a natural phenomenon, similar to a sinkhole, except that one was concave and the other was convex.

It wasn't until nearly two months after the apocalypse that someone accidentally discovered the purpose of the altar, and the news spread worldwide.

The territory altar wasn't limited to Harbin; it appeared all over the country and the world. However, most of them were buried underground and undiscovered until the intense earthquake during the apocalypse revealed them.

Cheng Yang's excitement wasn't because of the lord altar in Harbin but because there was a territory altar in Luofeng Slope, five kilometers south of Xiangcheng City. It was occupied by the military forces of Xiangcheng City in the third month after the apocalypse.

It was said that the altar had already been partially exposed before the apocalypse, but people who saw it thought it was just an ordinary stone and ignored it. Later, when the altar was occupied, the original discoverers regretted it deeply.

In the apocalypse, some people speculated that the territory altar could be occupied before the apocalypse, but no one could verify it.

Now that Cheng Yang had a second chance, he was determined to find the territory altar in Luofeng Slope, which would be the foundation of his life in this world.

After class, Cheng Yang found an excuse to separate from Liu Hao and took a taxi to Luofeng Slope.

Under normal circumstances, the seventy yuan taxi fare would have made Cheng Yang feel bad, but now he didn't care. After the disaster, these banknotes would be no different from white paper.

When he arrived at his destination, the car stopped by the roadside.

The area around Xiangcheng City was hilly, and Luofeng Slope was no exception. Looking at the environment, which was different from his memory, Cheng Yang sighed. He wondered what the scene would be like in two days and hoped it wouldn't be too chaotic.

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