A World Without Tomorrow

The sensation of weightlessness vanished abruptly.

"Thud!"

Fang Zheng flew out of the portal and crashed heavily onto the ground, making him groan in pain.

"Damn it!"

Feeling the dull ache beneath him, Fang Zheng gritted his teeth. He seriously suspected that he and teleportation were sworn enemies. Ever since being reborn into this world, not a single teleportation had let him land safely on his feet. The first time he had teleported to the Dark World, he had been thrown straight into a horde of Undead. The second time had sent him directly before Maghda, forcing Fang Zheng into an unplanned boss battle. When he returned to the Main World, his first trip through Starpath had separated him from the other two. And now this time... Damn it, looking at the record, he really was naturally incompatible with teleportation!

"What rotten luck!"

Complaining, Fang Zheng got to his feet and quickly scanned his surroundings. To his relief, he did not seem to have been thrown into a nest of monsters this time. Instead, he stood in a dim, narrow alley, with tall concrete walls on either side. In the distance, he could even hear the blare of passing car horns. The scene was both familiar and strange to Fang Zheng. Familiar because sights like this had once been a common part of his daily life; strange because... everything had changed, and his body no longer belonged to this world.

"Hey, boys, look who this is?"

Just as Fang Zheng gazed at the scenes before him with nostalgia, a jarringly unwelcome voice rang out. He turned toward it and saw three scruffy-looking blond white men grinning at him.

"Never thought we'd run into a stray cat here. Hello there, little rich boy."

As he spoke, the man in front bared his teeth in a cold smile, flexed his knuckles, and strode toward Fang Zheng.

"This is Kaft Brothers territory. I don't know what you're doing here, but... don't you think you owe us an apology?"

"..."

Fine, take that back. The place where he had lived in his previous life had never had security this bad.

"Ah..."

Fang Zheng sighed helplessly at the three punks before him.

"Then I'm really sorry...!"

Before he could finish speaking, Fang Zheng suddenly turned into a blur and rushed before the lead man. He did not use the Skycleaver Sword. Instead, he drove a fist directly into the man's chest. The guy let out a muffled groan and flew backward, only crashing heavily to the ground after flying nearly ten meters.

"Boss!"

Seeing this, the two lackeys behind him immediately cried out. They hurriedly turned toward Fang Zheng. One of them reached into his jacket and pulled out a switchblade, but before he could make another move, Fang Zheng grabbed him by the head and smashed him straight into the ground. The poor bastard collapsed without a sound, blood streaming from his nose.

"Help, help!!"

It had all happened in an instant. From Fang Zheng sending the trio's leader flying to taking down his lackey, less than five seconds had passed. Only then did the last idiot react. He screamed for help, but before he could get the words out, Fang Zheng seized him by the throat and pinned him hard against the wall.

"Shh... Keep it down. Don't shout. I just want to ask you a few questions."

Fang Zheng remained extremely calm before the little thug. He was no longer the person he had been just after his rebirth. He had fought Cultists, slaughtered Undead, danced with the Abyss in his dreams, and had just faced the Lich Lord head-on. If this was merely a normal world, Fang Zheng truly had nothing to fear.

However...

"So it really isn't a normal world."

After leaving the alley, Fang Zheng counted the cash he had taken from the three punks and sighed helplessly. He walked over to a shop and looked at the television in its display window. On the screen, the anchor was excitedly reporting the latest news.

"Today, five years later, we have finally achieved our first victory! These are images sent back from Verdun..."

As the anchor spoke, the image on the screen changed. Crowds waved their hands joyfully while fully armed armored vehicles sped down the middle of the road. The soldiers atop them stood excitedly and waved to the surrounding civilians. Cheers rose all around as people jumped and celebrated in exhilaration.

Soon, the camera returned to the anchor. Smiling, she continued her report.

"More importantly, casualties and damage from this victory were extremely low. It was truly an extraordinary victory! And all of this is thanks to the newly developed New Power Armor. With this armor, we can create super soldiers after only a brief period of training. They can take to the battlefield and defeat those aliens!"

That was right. Aliens.

This was a world where humanity was fighting against aliens.

From what Fang Zheng had learned from those punks, a group of mysterious aliens had arrived on Earth five years ago and, as expected, launched an assault on the planet. These aliens, known to humanity as Mimics, had inflicted devastating damage from the very beginning. Faced with this threat descending from the heavens, humanity had been almost powerless to fight back. Over the past five years, they had nearly conquered all of Europe. Only yesterday had humanity finally achieved its first victory against the aliens.

At first, Fang Zheng had not known what world this was. It was only after he saw Tom Cruise on television, dressed in a military uniform and speaking eloquently, along with those aliens that looked like bundles of tangled wires, that Fang Zheng finally remembered this world's name.

Edge of Tomorrow.

It was a science-fiction movie with a very simple plot. Aliens invaded Earth and drove humanity into retreat after retreat. In the film, Tom Cruise played a publicity officer. At the beginning, a United Army general informed him that he would be accompanying the troops to the front line to film and fight. Naturally, Tom Cruise refused. He handled propaganda, not battlefield combat. But the general was no pushover. Faced with Tom Cruise's refusal, he had him arrested and forcibly sent to the front as a deserter.

As a green recruit, Tom Cruise was naturally scared stiff on the front line. Still, he was a man, after all. When faced with the enemy's assault, he gritted his teeth and detonated a bomb, turning both himself and the enemy into pieces. But what Tom Cruise had not expected was that the alien he killed was a very special one. Its blood splashed onto his body, and when he opened his eyes again, he was shocked to find himself back on the day he had been sent to the frontline camp! Everything began all over again before him!

The rest of the plot was simple. Tom Cruise went to the front line again and again, died again and again, and grew stronger again and again. Then he met the heroine, who had gone through the same experience. Like every Hollywood blockbuster, the two fought side by side. Tom Cruise used the knowledge he had gained from his endless loops to track down the enemy commander. In the end, they found the enemy boss, pulled off a classic Hollywood decapitation-squad infiltration, successfully killed the boss, and saved Earth...

This movie had once been very popular among game developers like Fang Zheng. In their eyes, it was basically the story of a player constantly reloading saves and grinding a boss. Some had even joked that aside from the unacceptable fact that one had to die to force a reload, it was practically the perfect transmigration perk!

To be honest, Fang Zheng now felt a little kinship with Tom Cruise, because it reminded him of his time in the Dark Souls World... Forget it. The more said, the more tears shed.

He had never imagined that he would actually transmigrate into a movie world.

Before coming here, Fang Zheng had assumed he would enter a Game World. After all, the first world he had entered had been a Game World, and the Dark Souls World, a free Dungeon, also seemed to be one. Thus, Fang Zheng had assumed the third Dungeon would likewise be a Western fantasy Game World.

But he had never expected it to be a science-fiction movie world instead.

So, what was he supposed to do next?

As Fang Zheng watched the anchors' explanation on the screen, he began to think. This world's main storyline was too simple. Fang Zheng knew exactly where the alien boss was, but what exactly was the mission? If it wanted him to enlist and fight those monsters, then Fang Zheng was not doing it. He had only just fought tooth and nail to escape the Main World, and now he was supposed to throw himself back into suffering?

"Ding."

As Fang Zheng pondered, a soft chime rang out. The next moment, a system notification appeared before his eyes.

Main Quest issued