"ROAR—!!!"
Black mist churned, and a foul wind rushed toward them. The first wave of [Void Locusts] had broken through the defensive line.
In the players' view, these originally tiny bacteria had been rendered by the system as savage half-mechanical, half-biological monsters. They were as large as wolves, toxic green code flowing across their shells. Their sharp mouthparts spun like drill bits, giving off a nauseating stench.
There was no newbie protection period.
A locust kicked off with its hind legs and shot forward like a black cannonball, pouncing straight at Chen Feng at the front!
"Good."
Chen Feng's gaze sharpened. As a former professional gaming legend, his mind instantly completed the entire process from prediction to tactical planning.
Sidestep left, dodge the pounce, then counter with a reverse backstab.
That was muscle memory carved into his bones from God's Domain.
His brain issued the command.
However—
"Damn it!"
Chen Feng's pupils contracted sharply.
His mind had reacted, but his body had not kept up.
This new LV.1 body was like a rusty old machine. The severe delay warped his movements.
Riiip!
What should have been a perfect dodge turned into an awkward stumble. Though he avoided having his throat torn open, the locust's claws still savagely ripped through his left shoulder.
[-35! (Bleeding)] [Warning: External armor damaged!]
Intense pain instantly spread through his entire body. Though the system had weakened the pain sensation, the realistic feedback of "flesh being torn apart" still made cold sweat pour down his back.
Chen Feng quickly retreated and immediately opened his [Character Panel].
[ID: Vanguard Across the Realm] [Class: Hunter (LV.1)] [Status: Lightly Injured] Strength: 6 (Physical Attack/Carry Capacity) Agility: 9 (Movement Speed/Attack Speed/Neural Reaction) Constitution: 5 (Health/Defense) Spirit: 5 (Perception/Skills) [Total Attribute Points: 25] (Note: The average adult male on Blue Star has 5 points in each individual attribute, for a total of 20.)
"Damn..."
Chen Feng looked at that "Agility 9" and bitterly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Though it was nearly double that of an ordinary person, this was already the Hunter's starting limit. For balance, his Constitution and Spirit were at the lowest tier.
"Forget that I was once a legend." Chen Feng took a deep breath, his eyes turning cold and practical. "Right now, I'm just cannon fodder with trash stats."
The locust pounced again.
This time, Chen Feng did not try to show off.
He used his only advantage—the Bone Blade.
The instant the claws were about to touch his face, he advanced instead of retreating. At the cost of letting his chest be scratched, he viciously drove the Bone Blade in his hand into the monster's soft abdominal joint!
[Weak Point Strike! -80!]
Elsewhere, screams rose one after another.
Not everyone possessed Chen Feng's combat awareness. Facing monsters with such overwhelming realism, many were immediately knocked to the ground and torn apart until they were mangled masses of blood and flesh.
"Help! It hurts! It really hurts!"
"These monsters hit too hard! I'm nearly dead after two hits!"
In the crowd, an unlucky player with the ID [Even So] was surrounded by three locusts and instantly torn to pieces.
[Player "Even So" has died.]
His corpse dissolved into white light, and all his equipment scattered across the ground.
Immediately afterward, every player's system interface displayed a bright red [Death Penalty Notice]:
[Warning: Player death.] [Extracting "Core Energy" to reconstruct the physical body...] [Penalty determined: Lose 50% of current level experience and drop 50% of carried "Bio-Energy" (currency).] [Resurrection wait time: 30 minutes.]
Seeing that notification, the players who had been dreaming of an "infinite resurrection build" instantly came to their senses.
"Half our money gets deducted? And we lose experience too?"
"This penalty is way too harsh! This isn't some casual game—it's a hardcore soulslike!"
From a High-Dimensional Perspective, Gu Yuan watched it all coldly. He had not set the penalty as ruthlessly as a complete wipe, but the players had to feel the pain before they would learn to cooperate.
"Stop panicking! Are all the Divine Guards dead? Get up there and hold the line!"
A furious roar exploded across the chaotic plaza.
Wang Daqiang, ID: Brute Force Yields Miracles, crashed into the monster horde like a moving mountain.
He had also glanced at his own panel. His total attributes were likewise 25 points, but the distribution was completely different:
[Class: Divine Guard (LV.1)] Strength: 8 Agility: 3 (Slow as a turtle) Constitution: 9 (Thick skin and tougher flesh) Spirit: 5
A locust bit down viciously on his arm with a crisp crack. Only a white mark appeared on his heavy white plate armor.
[-8 (Blocked)]
"Hahahaha! You're scratching an itch for me!"
Wang Daqiang burst into wild laughter. Though everyone had the same total attributes, years of heavy physical labor had taught him far better than those homebodies how to use his body's center of gravity.
He grabbed the locust by the neck and used his 8 points of Strength to block the monsters behind it like a wall.
"What are the Divine Guards doing? Learn from me! Hold the choke point!" Wang Daqiang roared. "Where are the backline mages? Zap them!"
With tanks taking the damage, the previously chaotic players finally found their rhythm.
Dozens of Spirit Pivot Envoy players stood in the backline. Their attribute distribution was extremely specialized:
[Spirit Pivot Envoy (LV.1): Strength 4, Agility 5, Constitution 4, Spirit 12]
With 12 points of Spirit, they could manipulate far more powerful energy.
Crackle—
Dozens of blue electric arcs focused on a single locust.
[Class Trait: Nerve Block]
The monster was instantly electrocuted until its entire body convulsed, entering a rigid state.
"Healers! I'm almost dead!" a Divine Guard on the front line shouted.
"Coming!"
Li You, ID: Cloud Pomelo, rushed over with a heavy mechanical backpack on her back.
[Life Weaver (LV.1): Strength 5, Agility 6, Constitution 6, Spirit 8]
It was a versatile attribute distribution, with balanced survival and support capabilities.
She rushed behind the player, pressed both hands to his wound, and activated her class skill.
[Skill: Bio-Gel Spray]
It consumed 20 points of spiritual energy to restore the target's health every second and repair their armor.
White foam surged out and rapidly hardened into a scab.
Watching his health bar rise again, the Divine Guard was overjoyed. "That's amazing, sis! Your heals are huge! Brothers, with a healer here, what the hell are we afraid of? Charge!"
"Charge!!"
The Divine Guards absorbed damage, the Spirit Pivot Envoys controlled the battlefield, the Life Weavers healed, and the Hunters finished enemies off.
Under the pressure of survival, the prototype of the four major classes' iron triangle rapidly took shape.
Once the players discovered that these monsters were vicious but could be killed through cooperation, the Fourth Calamity's greedy nature completely overwhelmed their fear.
"Don't steal it! That low-health one is mine!"
"That glowing drop is Bio-Energy! Pick it up!"
Half an hour later.
As Chen Feng severed the last Void Locust's neck with a single slash, Heart Core Plaza finally fell quiet.
The ground was littered with green insect corpses and shattered player armor.
Of the thousand players, only a little over six hundred were still standing. The remaining three hundred or so were counting down to resurrection in the little black room.
Chen Feng leaned against an enormous column-like Muscle Fiber, gasping for breath.
His health bar had only 10 points left, and his blue bar—stamina—was completely depleted.
[Battle concluded.] [Total rewards gained: Bio-Energy +85.] [Level Progress: LV.1 (99%) -> LV.2!] [Congratulations on leveling up! All attributes +1. Free attribute points +2.]
"Leveled up..."
Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Feng invested all 2 of those precious free attribute points into [Agility].
Agility: 9 -> 12 (Level-up +1, allocated points +2)
Chen Feng clenched his fist and tried swinging his arm.
The sluggish obstruction that had made his body feel heavy and unable to keep up with his thoughts had noticeably faded. Even his mind seemed a little clearer, as refreshed as if he had just woken from a good night's sleep.
"This game's feedback system is incredible. Even the thrill of getting stronger is simulated this perfectly."
Chen Feng praised it without thinking much of it, assuming it was merely some advanced effect of the brain-computer interface.
At that moment, the system broadcast rang out above the plaza again.
[Warriors, you have defended your glory.] [Server-wide announcement: The player population has accumulated sufficient "Bio-Energy." The "Gene Shop (LV.1)" is now open.] [Area unlocked: Crimson Star Path (First Defense Zone).]
Chen Feng closed the shop and looked into the distance.
The [City of Origin] they were in—the heart—was actually a supercontinent floating in the Void.
At the end of the plaza stood a vast passage leading into endless darkness.
It was the [Crimson Star Path]—the aorta—formed from countless gigantic crimson vessels.
It was as broad as a true star river, surging with a golden-red torrent of energy. Standing at its entrance, the players were like ants beside the Amazon River.
The system prompt sounded at just the right time:
[Current Location: City of Origin - Core Area] [Next Destination: Gate of Judgment (Mitral Valve Defense Line)] [Distance: 120,000 kilometers]
"One hundred and twenty thousand kilometers?"
Chen Feng froze.
He opened the minimap and discovered that the so-called [Gate of Judgment] was merely a gate leading out of this "starter village."
Meanwhile, even more distant regions on the map—such as the place marked [Abyss of Storms], the lungs—were measured in "light-years" from here?
"This map... isn't it way too big?"
Wang Daqiang also came over. Looking at the map, he clicked his tongue. "Are we supposed to run until our legs break?"
Chen Feng shook his head, his gaze profound.
"With a map this large, there must be a vehicle system. But right now..."
He looked toward the deep Crimson Star Path, where countless shadows could vaguely be seen wandering.
"We have to kill our way through this gate first."
Before you continue