If You Can't Beat the Game, You Die

[There are 7 natural days remaining until the 'Player's' scheduled death]

[Do you wish to enter the game?]

Ever since he could see this strange frame in front of him, Su Wen had been wondering if there was something wrong with his eyes or his brain.

He chose to check it out on Baidu.

In this day and age, having minor issues is normal.

The other day, someone in Binjiang New City breathed fire, but breathing fire wasn't the unlucky part.

He crashed a wedding banquet for a big shot in the business district and set the big shot's wig on fire during the toast.

The wedding venue was also full of fire.

Now, it's all good.

There was no need to go to the Mental Review Bureau; he went through the criminal process, and his life directly entered phase two.

Su Wen didn't want to be locked up for no reason because something was wrong with his brain.

He casually used a virtual IP to search for similar phenomena on Baidu.

Great.

Terminal illness at the starting line, with no upper limit.

Just as he expected.

Then, he tentatively asked:

"I'm a coward, can you not make it holographic?"

[Player selected 'Operation Mode Switching - Mobile Terminal']

[Do you need to project to a smart terminal?

(Friendly reminder: If you have a brain-computer interface, you can ignore the system prompt and connect yourself)]

"What level of technology do I have? My graphics card is a second-hand 2070 I picked up after the mining crash. Where am I going to find a brain-computer interface for you? Help me connect."

[Projected to the nearest operating device: An old antique computer]

In an instant, Su Wen's computer RGB lights turned on, and the computer interface lit up.

It was truly decisive.

The annoying prompts in front of him all disappeared and turned into a display on the computer:

['Space-Time Shuttle' game started, do you want to enter the novice tutorial?]

"What happens if I don't play?"

The annoying things are gone, and I, Su Wen, am a normal person again. I still need to prepare my small assignment for tomorrow's class.

Whoever's sick can play it.

The next second, a blinding red light lit up on the screen, and a voice like a news anchor came from the computer speakers:

[Latest news report for September 17th: In an old residential building in Binjiang Old Town, a young man named Su died suddenly at home.]

[The Mental Review Bureau determined (no illness)].

Cause of death: Prolonged state of excitement, excessive pressure on the heart, and overexertion leading to sudden death.

It's terrifying. There's also the prolonged browsing of inappropriate content. We hope all viewers will take this as a warning.]

The computer screen even thoughtfully included a mosaic picture of him when he died suddenly.

He looked at the time marked below his computer (September 10th). At this moment, Su Wen was genuinely scared.

"If I can't beat the game, I'll die?!"

"Also, how am I browsing inappropriate content when I'm so upright and forthright? Garbage news."

He calmly copied the folder named [Study Materials] in his D drive.

Then he repeated the aforementioned monologue.

Suddenly, that string of bright red data text appeared in front of him again:

[Countdown: 6 days 11 hours 59 minutes]

"I'll play.

I love playing games."

Su Wen immediately clicked on the novice tutorial.

"I just ask you not to appear in front of me, it will block my view. You don't want the game to fail, do you?"

[Germination]

[Game Type: Beginner Tutorial Level]

[Time Span: Three Thousand Years]

[Game Difficulty: Extremely Low]

[Game Rewards: Players Can Find Them Themselves]

[Game Background: Three thousand years after the Origin Era, humanity successively conquered the Eridanus ε Star System, the Cetus uv Star System, and Centaurus α, their footprints spanning the Galactic Star Cluster, and then advancing towards the Large Magellanic Companion Galaxy. The Home Star was gradually abandoned due to its dangerous environment, becoming a 'criminal paradise' for low gene sequence individuals.]

[Game Objectives:]

[One Star: Rescue the Scavenger Qin Xiaodie]

[Two Stars: Eliminate the threat of [Sixth-Order Ruler—Pollution Spread—Home Star Life Forbidden Zone—Will of Nature]]

[Three Stars: Hidden Objective]

[Note: Completing the minimum score will prevent the player from dying in reality. The higher the evaluation, the higher the reward.]

"The game starts with the Home Star being abandoned, three thousand years... I probably won't even find my tombstone in the game."

As soon as he said that, He suddenly felt like he had told a bad joke.

After all, if he couldn't complete the game, he would most likely be lying in the Su Family Cemetery in seven days.

And in the most undesirable corner.

[Game Player: Su Wen]
[Physique: Weak (caused by playing games for a long time; please exercise more to avoid sudden death)]
[Thinking Ability: Not a top-tier individual in a civilized cluster (excellent creativity, highly malleable)]
[Awakened Ability: None, normal human]
[Mental Pollution Level: Below negative one hundred billion, cannot be retrieved]
[Evolutionary Lineage: None, normal human]
[Title: Chief Player (locked, unique)]
[Trial Ability: Appraisal (valid for seven days)]
[Congratulations, after comprehensive evaluation, your combat power is even lower than the old hen at the village entrance.]

I was forced to die suddenly.

Besides, it's normal for modern people to be no match for the village bully.

As for the mental pollution level, which has so many zeroes it's about to break through the sky, Su Wen didn't know if it was the ghost of [Time-Space Travel].

He was completely speechless and clicked "Start Game."

The background of the screen was a top-down view, with the ruins of huge high-rise buildings occupying the entire screen, and gray-black vines traversing between the buildings.

What should have been a prosperous city, now only remained as ruins.

But the most striking thing was the Giant Tree, even taller than a future metropolis, as if it wanted to touch the floating clouds in the sky.

After the opening CG, The perspective fell back.

The screen changed to the back view of the game protagonist standing on the rooftop of a high-rise building, wearing a jacket.

"This protagonist is handsome, I like him."

Su Wen 'very impartially' commented.

After all, it was created using his one-to-one digitized data.

The controls were simple: QWER plus an [Appraisal - Trial Version], and nothing else.

He first used [Appraisal] on the Giant Tree in the distance.

[Appraisal Result: ??! Destruction Factor ?? [￥%#@ Data Error]?... Will of Nature?]

"So that's the so-called Life Forbidden Zone? Looks like the two-star objective can be abandoned directly."

Su Wen shook the mouse to adjust the view.

Only then did he see that there was even a metal ring outside the sky.

[Megastructure: Human Mother Star Star Ring (Damaged)]
[Kane Corporation was founded nine centuries ago. What you are seeing now is the data monitoring station area.
But it is also equipped with a weapon system that can fire focused energy beams, specially allocated by Kane Corporation to study the [Singularization Phenomenon - Life Forbidden Zone - Giant Tree].
Later, due to being hit by (??? S-03 Sealed File [Ash Breath]), the entire outer ring is in a state of complete paralysis and abandonment.]

"Future wasteland style, not bad."

But for the sake of his own life, he decided to save the Scavenger Qin Xiaodie first, after all, the game difficulty was [Extremely Low].

This shouldn't be too difficult for Su Wen, a soul-series master who cleared Elden Ring with one drop of health against Malenia.

"Normally, the game's starting point and story points aren't too far apart."

He judged based on his experience.

Just as he was about to search for information about his surroundings.

A long-haired beauty with a curvaceous figure, dressed in a Scavenger's dust-colored, form-fitting motorcycle suit, ran onto the roof.

Seeing him, she raised the gun in her hand:

"Are you from the Morton Brotherhood, lying in ambush here?"

"I'm not, don't talk nonsense."

Su Wen activated Appraisal:

[Secret Treasure Scavenger - Qin Xiaodie]

He didn't forget his mission objective, and quickly became more serious, preparing to enter the game's flow:

"Qin Xiaodie, I'm here to save you."

"There's no time, they're catching up."

The long-haired beauty remained vigilant, not trusting him just because her real name had been exposed.

But now they were on the roof, and she wasn't wearing gliding wings, so she had nowhere to retreat.

The next second.

Before Su Wen could do anything.

A group of armed men with guns ran up the stairs and surrounded them.

A Morton Brotherhood armed member gave feedback over the comms channel.

"There's an accomplice, should we kill him too?"

"We only need the Secret Treasure information, kill the others, and retreat quickly."

"Roger."

Just as they were about to pull the trigger.

Huge vines burst out from the ground, completely destroying the entire building.

At the same time, in mid-air, Su Wen watched his game character turn directly into a pile of dust.

[Contacted: ??! Destruction Factor ??[￥] Decay]

[Vitality Decay]

[Health Points Reduced to Zero]

['Player' has died, would you like to restart?]

"The hell I'm playing! This is supposed to be the easiest difficulty?"