Besides Hua Nation, every other country was taking action of its own. The United States had likewise investigated the company Starsea Era, discovered the phenomenon of Cognitive Overwrite, and learned that those bound to the Ultimate Edition were immune to it.
Likewise, some people had set their sights on stealing those spots. Clearly, their methods were not nearly as gentle, but the result was the same: failure. Every attempt to seize the bound users' identities failed.
Assassination, outright robbery, threats—they tried all manner of methods. Even after repeated failures, those people still refused to give up.
Their persistence seemed to have angered that power.
At that moment, somewhere in the United States, one man was planning his next move when his consciousness suddenly blurred and his body fell uncontrollably. Under the horrified gazes of the people around him, half his body vanished into thin air. Blood and organs spilled across the floor, red and white mingling as the stench of blood spread.
"Ugh!"
"Oh my god!"
"F**k!"
Screams and curses filled the air as chaos erupted. The people nearby scattered in terror, leaving a large space empty.
Over the following days, more and more people died in the same way. People all over the world grew anxious, terrified they would be next.
Only after enough people had died did they discern a pattern: now, anyone who intended to seize a spot and acted on it would draw an unknown power that erased half their body.
When everyone in the know abandoned the idea of seizing a bound user's identity, a worldwide reconstruction of information took place.
Almost everyone's memories changed. All those deaths were rationalized as accidents, every record and report changed, some files vanished into thin air, and all related materials were altered.
Only the thousand people bound to the Ultimate Edition remembered any of it.
Oh, no, not a thousand. Besides them, there was one other person who remembered.
Looking at the various changes to information online over this period, Lin Yu scratched his head, unsure what had happened.
After discovering that the game "Epochal Shift" was not so simple, Lin Yu had quit his job and stayed home, spending every day on the official "Epochal Shift" forum to see if there was any useful information.
During that time, Lin Yu had tried making a few posts saying that the company Starsea Era seemed somewhat unusual.
As a result, nothing happened.
The posts had vanished like stones dropped into the sea, without receiving a single response. And when Lin Yu came across his posts a second time, he found that everything he had written in them had changed.
The posts that had originally described how unusual Starsea Era seemed had turned into posts speculating about "Epochal Shift" and expressing anticipation for its launch.
Lin Yu was absolutely certain he had never made posts like those.
After trying to post a few more times, Lin Yu discovered that his posts about the unusually fast delivery of his package and his inability to find Starsea Era's location would all turn into different posts without his noticing.
After realizing that he apparently had no way to share the anomalies he had discovered with others, Lin Yu gave up.
In the days that followed, Lin Yu saw even more changes online. A few days earlier, he had browsed foreign websites and seen plenty of information about the extraordinary incident in which half the body of a shareholder in an American pharmaceutical company had instantly vanished, as well as various cases around the world of people suddenly losing half their bodies.
But when Lin Yu woke up today and checked again, he found that all the information had changed. The pharmaceutical shareholder's original cause of death had been that half his body had somehow vanished.
Now, when Lin Yu found information about him again, he discovered that the man's cause of death had changed from half his body mysteriously vanishing to a car accident.
Lin Yu then searched for the names of several other deceased people he remembered. Without exception, all their causes of death had changed.
For the rest of the time, Lin Yu mostly lazed around at home, waiting for Epochal Shift to launch.
Back to the present.
After checking everything one last time and making sure he had done everything he needed to, Lin Yu lay down in the gaming pod and pressed the button beside him. The lid slowly closed, and he pressed the button to enter the game. His vision went black.
When he opened his eyes again, Lin Yu found himself in the testing space. This time, however, a few small changes had been made to it.
A huge, translucent screen glowing blue appeared before Lin Yu. It displayed 6:31, and the next second, the numbers changed to 6:30. There was no need to guess: this was the countdown to the game's launch.
Over the past three months, the Hua Nation authorities had made all kinds of preparations.
First, practically all military and police personnel had been equipped with login devices, so they could enter the game as soon as it launched and bring back relevant intelligence.
The investigation into Starsea Era had continued without pause for those three months, but so far it had yielded nothing.
Just then, a message came from the director of the Anomaly Investigation Bureau, and a document was handed in at the same time. After carefully reading the message and document, the higher-ups were greatly shaken. They assembled as quickly as possible and held a secret meeting.
The document was quickly delivered to everyone.
When the meeting ended, one order after another was swiftly issued, demanding immediate execution.
Five minutes before launch, every member of the Anomaly Investigation Bureau received an email. It was conjectured that only those bound to the Ultimate Edition could receive it.
The email briefly introduced the Ultimate Edition's privileges and some of the truth about the game.
Not long after the email was passed up the chain, a response came down from above.
It boiled down to a few points.
1. After entering the game, do not finish creating a character yet. Once you have obtained and completed the draw for the additional legendary trait and SSS talent granted by the privilege, log out immediately. Wait for the pioneers sent by the state to bring back information on character creation, class selection, and other related matters first.
2. The state does not require you to report the legendary trait and SSS-grade talent you draw. However, if you do report them, the state's think tank will use the trait and talent you obtained, together with the information brought back by the pioneers, to devise the character creation and class selection plan best suited to you.
3. Trust the state and trust the Party. You may report any problems you encounter in the game, and the Party will do its best to solve them for you.
The moment the countdown before him reached zero, the content on the translucent screen changed. The game had officially launched.
Looking at the huge translucent screen before him, Lin Yu completed his identity registration, linked his bank card, and performed the other necessary steps before beginning to create his character.
First came his in-game name. Looking at the huge screen, Lin Yu fell into thought. To be honest, he was terrible at naming things.
How about...
As Lin Yu thought it, the words "How about" appeared in the nickname field.
Delete, delete, delete it all!
At Lin Yu's thought, the words in the nickname field were erased.