True Burning Desire

Lin Feng sized up the young girl who had greeted him.

Her dress, made of white gauze embroidered with golden and silver threads in a cloud pattern, reflected a soft glow in the sunlight. A gentle breeze stirred her waist-length hair.

Her hair was minimally adorned, simply tied back on both sides with a white jade hairpin, while the rest cascaded down naturally.

Her eyes were lively and bright, as if twinkling with vibrant colors. Her unadorned face held a cheerful and endearing smile, leaving a deep impression on anyone who saw her for the first time.

Lin Feng identified the dynasty of the Hanfu as the Tang Dynasty.

"Hee hee hee, are you mesmerized by my charm already?"

"No, I was just thinking. I've just entered this game, and there's a lot of information. It's the Tang Dynasty, the Han Dynasty, and people from the Middle Ages..."

Lin Feng shook his head. Being mesmerized was impossible. He wasn't someone who hadn't seen beautiful women before. Before becoming a Wallfacer, he hadn't just seen them, he'd pushed away quite a few.

Besides, this was a game world. Character appearances and genders had no bearing on reality because they could all be adjusted. For all he knew, the person on the other end of the network could actually be a fat, greasy uncle.

"I'm quite lost right now. This game doesn't even have a tutorial."

Lin Feng explained his situation to the girl. Most game players, upon entering, would have some sort of tutorial to guide them on controls and the main quest.

However, the Three-Body game did not do that.

Ultimately, it was due to the different initial design purpose of the game. Most games were profit-oriented, thus requiring tutorials to help players integrate quickly. The Three-Body game, on the other hand, was designed to screen anti-human elements from human society to aid the Trisolaran invasion.

"A newcomer? Then follow me."

After a moment of thought, tapping her chin, the girl beckoned Lin Feng to follow her.

As they walked and talked, Lin Feng learned the girl's name was Liang Gong, and she was one of the administrators of the Three-Body game.

Yes, definitely an ETO member.

They discussed the game's main quest. Lin Feng stated that he was just here to play the game and hoped that Liang Gong, as an administrator, could explain the main quest.

"There used to be a main quest, but not anymore."

"No main quest? Didn't I remember there was something about predicting the sun's trajectory? And creating things like Human Computers?"

Lin Feng deliberately brought these up. He wanted to see the Human Computers from the original work, Mozi's Armillary Sphere, the array of pendulums standing tall, and so on.

"Someone has already completed that, so it naturally disappeared," Liang Gong said, shrugging.

"The laws of the sun's movement have been deciphered. It's three suns in the sky, constantly moving unpredictably."

"The Three-Body Problem. I know. I heard that problem is unsolvable," Lin Feng said.

Liang Gong shook her head, swinging the half-eaten candied hawthorn in her hand.

"Saying it's unsolvable is inaccurate. A more accurate statement is that there is no general stable solution. The Three-Body Problem has no regular answer and cannot be expressed in an analytical formula; only numerical solutions can be obtained, with no way to derive precise values."

"Here, want to try some?"

Saying this, Liang Gong offered the candied hawthorn, with two pieces remaining, to Lin Feng.

"No, no, I appreciate the offer, but you should keep it for yourself," Lin Feng said, waving his hands in refusal. It wasn't that he was afraid of being taken advantage of or was shy, but the mere thought that the person on the other end of the internet might be a greasy middle-aged man made him feel physiologically unable to adapt.

Especially since the girl was offering him something she had already started eating, it made him feel that the other person might actually be a man. After all, most women wouldn't offer something they'd already eaten to a man they'd just met, right?

The girl ate a piece of candied hawthorn with a look of regret, saying as she ate.

"Ahhh... If you don't seize the moment now... to enjoy this peaceful time... you won't have the chance later..."

"You say that as if the world is ending in the next second."

"It is the end of the world," Liang Gong said matter-of-factly. As if to prove her words, a commotion began to erupt.

The sun in the sky, which had been of normal size, inexplicably began to enlarge. In a short while, the sun's volume had doubled.

But this was not the end. The sun's expansion did not slow down. The sun was like a beast devouring everything, consuming the sky.

This anomaly stunned Lin Feng. No matter how wealthy he was, he had never witnessed anything like this.

The air trembled, and the ambient temperature rose to three times its original level within half an hour. Even the high temperatures in Earth's iron smelting furnaces couldn't compare.

Wisps of black smoke rose from the horizon, standing out starkly against the bright sky.

"Run! Fire! Fire!"

The temperature reached its ignition point. Even without flames, combustible materials in contact with the air began to burn.

Many people's clothes caught fire. Although Tang Dynasty silk was light and durable, it was unfortunately not fire-resistant. These fiery demons descending from the sky were consuming people's lives.

"Dehydration! Dehydration!"

"Quick, hide in the shade! Don't be directly exposed to the sun!"

People shouted in panic, fleeing towards the pre-prepared shelters.

"It's hot! It's hot! My clothes are on fire!" Lin Feng cried out in pain.

Lin Feng and the others were also fleeing. On their way to escape the sun's rays, the clothes on Lin Feng's left arm caught fire.

"Hold on a little longer! There's a cave here to shelter from the sun!" Liang Gong, whose clothes were also on fire, shouted to Lin Feng behind her.

The searing pain of his severe burns made it difficult for Lin Feng to run, but Liang Gong ahead of him astonished him. Her back was scorched, even her hair was burning, yet she could still run so swiftly, without a hint of panic.

The cave was just ahead. As Lin Feng stumbled, about to fall, Liang Gong caught him.

Now a human torch, she took the opportunity to push Lin Feng into the cave's shadows.

"Go in!"

"You...!"

The girl in the Hanfu didn't have time to enter the cave. The flames on her body burned her into a human torch. The beautiful girl from not long ago was now disfigured.

Lin Feng struggled to get up and pull Liang Gong into the cave's shadows, but the girl stopped him.

Her vocal cords burned away, she opened and closed her mouth, silently saying something. The words were automatically translated by the Three-Body game system into a line of small text: Don't worry, Passerby A. Death and the apocalypse are normal in this game. You'll get used to it.

The girl was quickly burned into a charred corpse. Even hiding in the cave, the smell of burning filled the air.

Lin Feng struggled to stand, leaning against the cave wall. The cave was located at a high point, offering a clear view of the city below.

Flames consumed everything. Both the dehydrated and the not-yet-dehydrated were reduced to ashes. A vast sea of fire. All prosperity vanished in an instant, as if it were just a joke from God.

No, God wouldn't be this cruel...

The sun in the sky continued to enlarge, and Lin Feng could even clearly see the details on its surface. The sea of flames was filled with surging waves and vortices, sunspots moved irregularly, and the corona stretched lazily like a flowing sleeve.

The sun enlarged further, obscuring most of the sky. Looking up, a peculiar feeling arose in Lin Feng's heart. The sun above didn't seem to be above, but below.

He wasn't looking up; he was hanging upside down in the sky, overlooking the burning, fiery land!

The giant sun set to the west, yielding the sky it occupied and sinking below the horizon.

It set quickly. The dazzling sunset was fleeting, and night fell upon this world ravaged by flames, already riddled with holes.

The lingering flames and molten lava made the entire land emit a dark red glow under the pitch-black night sky.

Darkness gradually consumed Lin Feng's vision, and a line of crimson text appeared before his eyes.

[Civilization No. 839 was destroyed in the flames. This civilization evolved to the early Tang Dynasty level. The seeds of civilization remain. She will restart and begin her unpredictable evolution in the Three-Body world once more. Welcome back.]