Prologue - Destined Death

Zhao Qingyun took off his headset and slammed his fist onto the keyboard, standing up from his seat with a gloomy expression.

He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down at the gaming hall on the first floor, where the laments of the employees rose and fell in succession.

On the large screens, the participating members were in a state of carnage; the meticulously assembled raid team of over a hundred people had already suffered more than fifty percent casualties.

One by one, players' characters were wiped out, and their screens immediately turned a blood-red color, displaying nothing but a large, singular "Dead" character.

Looking out, more than half of the computer screens in the entire hall showed this same scene, and the chairs in front of them were filled with players who looked as if they were mourning their own parents.

Zhao Qingyun gritted his teeth. Although there had been casualties during past Boss Battles, this was the first time he had suffered such heavy losses in a single encounter.

It seemed that attempting to slay the dragon was still too ambitious. With losses this severe, the Azure Dragon Society would have to lie low and develop for a while.

But it didn't matter; as long as the core team remained intact, cannon fodder could always be recruited again.

"Tsk tsk tsk, these poor devils, they died truly miserably," Liu Qiang's gloating voice rang out from the side. "Boss Zhao, you've really taken a huge loss this time."

"Watch your attitude, Liu Qiang. Don't think that just because you were sent by headquarters, you can be disrespectful to me."

"Ah, yes, yes, how could I dare? I just have a loose tongue. You are a man of great stature, please don't take it to heart! Otherwise, I won't be able to sleep soundly. Let me offer you an apology." Liu Qiang performed an exaggerated curtsy, his expression as punchable as could be.

However, this was not the time to dwell on that. Zhao Qingyun turned on his microphone and cleared his throat.

"The usual rules: everyone who survived, return to the city to rest immediately. After logging off, everyone must write a post-battle summary of no less than three thousand words. Group leaders, come to the conference room for a meeting. As for all the fallen players, congratulations, you are retired. Go collect your severance pay, and remember to take your personal belongings."

Fifteen minutes later—

Sixty or seventy players sat in a room, each with a strange expression on their face.

They were all the unlucky ones who had been wiped out in this Boss Battle. From the moment they entered this base, they had been told that in the game they were playing, called Old Earth, every player had only one life. Once they died, they were out, which meant their job was over.

The boss had promised back then that as long as the account wasn't deleted due to personal reasons, they would be given generous compensation as severance pay.

It was just unclear whether this promise would be honored.

After all, they had almost all been "brought" here through various means, and during their time in the base, they had been almost entirely cut off from the outside world.

Although the food and drink were good and the work was just playing games, one look at the heavily armed "security guards" around them was enough to know that the identity of the base's boss was definitely not simple.

"Do you think the boss will really give us the money?"

"In your dreams. It's good enough that we kept our lives."

"I think we're done for. We've been locked in this base for over a year without even a chance to communicate. There must be something fishy going on... I bet they're going to silence us."

"That shouldn't be the case, right? Aren't we just here to play a game? We haven't come into contact with anything illegal... and this isn't some lawless border zone."

The door to the waiting room suddenly opened.

Zhao Qingyun walked in with a calm expression, followed by several heavily armed gunmen carrying a large pile of boxes.

He looked at the crowd with a half-smile, his expression suddenly turning serious.

"Congratulations, your mission at this base is complete. According to our original agreement, everyone can receive three hundred thousand in severance pay as compensation for your service here. I, Zhao Qingyun, keep my word; I always do what I say. Come and collect your money now."

Upon hearing this, the crowd revealed expressions of surprise; they hadn't expected him to actually pay.

One by one, they went up to receive their boxes. Some opened them in disbelief, only to find them filled with neatly stacked cash.

Soon, everyone had a suitcase in their hands. They looked at the money with excitement. Having worked in this base for nearly two years—ten thousand a month, plus the three hundred thousand before leaving—they had earned over four hundred thousand in two years. This was much more profitable than a regular job.

They then felt a sense of regret. It was a pity that the game had such bizarre rules: each player only had one life, and once they died, it was Game Over. They couldn't even create a new account; otherwise, it would have been great to keep this job going.

Liu Qiang followed behind Zhao Qingyun, watching his performance with a sneer, his eyes filled with gloating as he looked at the crowd.

He knew exactly what their fate would be. That "keeping his word"... it really was something to be "awed" by.

The crowd, however, was completely oblivious, all excitedly staring at their money boxes. It was actually cash—how generous.

Soon, the money was all distributed.

Zhao Qingyun checked his watch: "A vehicle will come to pick you up in an hour. Please wait here patiently. Alright, let us say goodbye here, everyone. I hope you found your stay at this base pleasant enough."

With that, he took his men and left. When the door closed again, the crowd immediately began to chat excitedly.

"Hahaha, I told you! The boss is a generous man; he definitely wouldn't lie to us."

"He really gave us the money. We're rich now."

"Rich? It's only three hundred thousand. It's not even enough to buy a house..."

"Be content with what you have, why are you complaining... cough, cough cough."

A player who was speaking suddenly began to cough. He coughed louder and harder, as if he were trying to cough his lungs out.

He hunched over, collapsing onto the floor, but even in such a wretched state, he still gripped the money box tightly.

An acquaintance nearby asked hurriedly, "What's wrong, buddy?"

"Cough... I don't know... cough, I just feel a bit... uncomfortable, cough—blegh!"

As the man spoke, he suddenly began to retch violently, as if his lungs were filled with water that made it impossible to breathe. But he couldn't vomit anything out. He opened his mouth, emitting terrifying coughing and retching sounds, struggling on the floor as if he were drowning.

This massive commotion immediately drew the attention of the surrounding players, who stopped talking and looked at the man on the ground in shock.

"Holy crap, A-Gui, what's going on with you? I—blegh!"

Another man spoke, and suddenly his vision blurred. Amidst the dizziness, he felt a wave of nausea in his stomach. He looked down and saw that his entire palm had turned a dark, murky green. The man thought his eyes were playing tricks on him and blinked, only to find that it wasn't just his palm turning green—his entire arm and body were beginning to turn green as well. At the same time, his whole body began to emit a nauseating, fishy stench, causing those around him to retreat in disgust.

At the same time, a violent, burning sensation surged from every part of his body.

"Ah! Ah! It hurts, it hurts!"

He shrieked, blood streaming from his seven orifices.

The shrill, miserable screams terrified everyone present.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Old Li seems to have been poisoned!"

"I—ah!"

The third unlucky soul appeared soon after. Before he could even finish his sentence, he felt an intense, searing pain erupting throughout his body. Two pillars of blood suddenly burst from his chest and back, as if someone had punched two holes through him. An invisible force tore at him, crushing his bones and driving his ribs deep into his chest cavity. He screamed as he was compressed into a mangled mass of flesh and blood. Immediately after, his body was ripped open by countless wounds, blood gushing out as if an invisible monster were gnawing on his body and chewing his flesh.

"Save me! Save... me!" He reached out, trying to grab the person next to him, but everyone around him recoiled in terror. Snap. The man's body was severed clean in two.

This gruesome scene stunned everyone into silence.

No one knew what was happening. People continued to scream, dying in various bizarre ways. Some rushed toward the door to call for help, only to find the lounge doors had long since been sealed. Others noticed the security cameras overhead and shouted for help, but there was no response.

A variety of horrific deaths played out in succession: some drowned, some were poisoned, some were struck by lightning, some were crushed, some were torn apart, and others were sent flying by invisible forces, their heads smashed and bleeding.

When the screaming finally ceased, nothing remained in the lounge but twisted corpses and gore scattered across the floor.

Zhao Qingyun watched it all through the monitor, a chill running through his heart. He had witnessed such scenes more than once, yet each time, he could not help but feel his heart race. That invisible, inescapable Destined Death was impossible to predict or resist. He only hoped such misfortune would never befall him.

He turned his head away, struggling to steady his emotions. It's fine. As long as I don't die in the game, I don't need to worry about meeting an untimely end in reality. With my level, my equipment, and the protection of my subordinates, ordinary monsters couldn't possibly threaten me.

As he thought this, he finally began to relax.

"It looks like we need to recruit another batch of new players—Liu Qiang."

"Don't worry, Boss Zhao. That's my specialty. Besides, in this day and age, as long as you have money, you won't have any trouble finding people." Liu Qiang chuckled, seemingly long accustomed to everything happening on the monitor.

Zhao Qingyun nodded. "Then I'll wait for your good news."