Reality 1

Under everyone's watchful eyes.

The lights in all one hundred game rooms finally went out.

Game Field No. 01 survivors: 3040/100000

Game Field No. 02 survivors: 1020/100000

Game Field No. 03 survivors: 2009/100000

Game Field No. 100 survivors: 2889/100000

The number of surviving Players in the second Survival Game had increased dramatically. Compared to fewer than twenty survivors in the first game, over two hundred thousand Players had cleared this one.

Yet out of the ten million people who had entered the game, only 253,660 had survived. It was still an extremely high death rate.

Reports on the second round of the Black Hole Game flooded the internet. Every major social media platform was filled with discussions about it, and even news outlets rushed to cover it.

[Have all the Players who entered the game returned? Can anyone who got out tell us what this game world was like?]

[I see that far more people cleared this round than the last one. It probably wasn't as difficult as the previous round, right?]

[253,660 Players cleared the game, which means Blue Star now has 253,660 elemental ability users. The world is about to change. From now on, it'll be the era of ability users.]

[Change what? The black hole will begin the third round of the Survival Game in seven days. How many of those 250,000 people can survive is still unknown. They can't even control their own lives. What's the use of having power? A small group of people can't decide the fate of the world.]

[I'm back, I'm finally back! Sob, do you know how miserable my life was in that game world? I fucking had to eat and live with those anomalies every day, and I had to pretend I couldn't see them. Especially during the last two days, when my companions almost threw me out to feed the anomalies!]

[I'm reporting xxx for murder under my real name! He kidnapped me and my teammates. Luckily, I was fast enough to escape, but he threw my two teammates to the anomalies... He's a murderer!]

[I want to report xxx! He stole all the game items from me and my friend. If he hadn't needed us to feed the anomalies, he would have killed me too!]

[Why is everyone talking about feeding anomalies? It can't be what I think it is, right? Feeding them human flesh?]

[As someone who got out of the game, let me tell you: yes, it was human flesh. The anomalies only calmed down after eating human flesh. Otherwise, they would riot and destroy everything around them! Some people pushed the teammates beside them forward as shields to protect themselves.]

[Then wouldn't all the Players who came out of this game be murderers? That's terrifying!]

[Every man for himself. In that situation, nothing is unforgivable.]

[Holy shit! You're all still chatting? That mysterious big shot has listed game items on the exchange again! I got lucky this time and snagged an Attribute Page that adds Strength! I can really feel myself getting stronger! But I'm not even a game Player?]

[Holy shit? Non-Players can use Attribute Pages too? The world really is about to change!]

[...]

In response, the authorities finally announced a new policy: a Black Hole Game Special Department would be established to recruit game Players and run survival training courses to help people survive better in the survival worlds. At the same time, they promised to provide Players' families in the real world with as much assistance as possible.

For a time, quite a few Players responded, saying they were willing to join the official organization.

Nie Yun also wrote a game report and deeply repented for his acts of killing. However, thirteen members of their investigation team had been randomly pulled into the Survival Game this time, and only three had made it out alive. Their condition after returning was especially poor—they had suffered extreme mental breakdowns and were already receiving psychological counseling.

Nie Yun and Old Wang were actually among those in better condition. Nie Yun had pulled Old Wang into the organization as well. Old Wang had originally been an ordinary househusband, but now he had no choice but to bid farewell to his family, take off his apron, and be dragged into the training room for relentless drills day and night.

It was suffering.

It was just that, before the game ended, Nie Yun had left Ye Zhao his real-world contact information, yet she had never contacted him.

Fortunately, the moment he got out, he contacted that mysterious anonymous seller and bought five Wood Element Elemental Ability Cards, five Water Elemental Ability Cards, and twenty +1 Attribute Pages.

Although Nie Yun was curious how the other party could produce so many items at once, he also knew that some things could not be asked. Once he asked, the transaction could no longer continue.

Gamers always had a few little secrets, after all.

Aside from the game items Ye Zhao had sold to Nie Yun, she also spent 1,000 Creation Points to create game items and exchange them on the market for other game items.

A red hairband with +10 Defense. Although it only had a few points of durability left, it was still a pretty good game item for Ye Zhao, who had no Defense.

[Vines - Elemental Card: Can release 100 vines measuring 10m*10m.]

[Misfortune Card: Inflicts bad luck upon a person. Can be used on anyone. Effect lasts 24h. Single-use item.]

[Fishing Net: As long as you throw it out, you'll catch a big fish~]

[Sunscreen: Sunscreen that will keep you from ever getting tanned~ Beautiful you deserve to have it~]

Although the Sunscreen seemed rather useless? Still, how could a pretty girl not have Sunscreen that would keep her from ever getting tanned? She deserved to have it.

The other five were Attribute Pages that increased physical attributes, and she exchanged them directly for 500,000 in real-world currency.

Of Ye Zhao's 15,000 Creation Points, she now had 11,000 left. She then spent another 5,600 points, raising her Constitution from 170 to 200, her Strength from 90 to 100, and her Speed from 84 to 100.

Whole numbers looked much more pleasing.

[Name: Ye Zhao]

[Constitution: 200 (no equipment effects)]

[Strength: 100 (no equipment effects)]

[Speed: 100+50 (equipment effects)]

At this point, Ye Zhao had 5,400 Creation Points remaining.

The game exchange had also listed quite a few strange things by now, such as toilet brushes, driver's licenses, and bicycles. There were even bicycles among game items?

She wasn't worried that someone might deliberately use something else to disguise it as a game item. After all, aside from real-world currency, only game items produced by Black Hole Game could be listed on the exchange.

As Ye Zhao searched through the listings, she unexpectedly saw a familiar name send her a message.

Ye Minghao: [Hello, I'm Ye Minghao, president of Ye Group. I'd like to cooperate with you. No matter how many game items you have, Ye Group will buy them all at ten times your current price.]

Ye Zhao was only selling each Attribute Page for one hundred thousand yuan. That was already a very fair price. After all, these were items with demand but no market value—hardly anyone was willing to trade Attribute Pages, so wasn't it up to her how much she charged?

In fact, during the short time she had been out, quite a few people had already privately messaged her, saying they were willing to pay high prices.

But she wanted to become a rich woman with a conscience and a heart, so she chose a middle-ground figure instead of asking for an exorbitant price.

Seeing Ye Minghao's lofty attitude as he demanded to cooperate with her, she only found it amusing. She smiled and couldn't be bothered to respond.

After a while, Ye Minghao sent: [If you think that isn't enough, we can discuss it further. Just name your terms.]

[Money, status, beautiful women—I can give you all of them. What do you want?]

[Do you have any team-up items? I'm willing to pay one million for them.]

Ye Zhao replied: [Go die, idiot.]

Ye Minghao: ...

When Ye Minghao saw the anonymous reply, his face immediately darkened like the bottom of a pot. He had never seen anyone so crude and unreasonable. Yet Black Hole Game had allowed this kind of person to possess a way to obtain large quantities of game items.

If it had been him, he would definitely have done better!

He could even create a Ye Empire that belonged to him.

Seeing that Ye Minghao looked unhappy, Ye Mingyue asked worriedly, "Big Brother, what's wrong? What did that anonymous shop owner say?"

Ye Minghao didn't want Ye Mingyue to see him making a fool of himself, so he shook his head. "He refused."

Ye Mingyue sighed. "I knew it. I heard that lots of people sent him messages, and some even wanted to offer tens of millions for those Attribute Pages, but he ignored them all. Anyway, once game items are listed, whoever grabs them gets them. It would be great if someone this talented could join us."

Ye Mingyue's call in the game forums had been effective. Several of her fans had actually contacted her on their own, saying they wanted to join her team. Ye Minghao had now arranged for all of them to stay in a hotel under Ye Group.

Ye Minghao offered them very generous benefits. Aside from the full insurance and housing fund, their base salary was one hundred thousand yuan, not counting the various holiday benefits.

Although the Player death rate was high, Ye Minghao was undeniably farsighted. Once Players grew stronger, the entire world order would undergo earth-shaking changes.

Ye Mingyue said with a smile, "Big Brother, don't worry. I've awakened an ability too. I can protect myself, and I can protect you, Little Brother, Dad, and Mom as well."

Ye Minghao smiled and rubbed Ye Mingyue's head.

Ye Mingtian was lying on the sofa scrolling through his phone when he suddenly sat up. "Holy shit, that kid surnamed Zhuang actually came out of Survival Game alive, and he even drew a Metal Ability?"

Ye Mingyue and Ye Minghao immediately walked over to Ye Mingtian. The video playing on his phone showed a trendy young man in sportswear grinning at the camera. He held a piece of metal in his hand and could knead it into any shape at will. He could even control it to float in midair. "Brothers and sisters, yours truly has become a New Human ahead of you all! I've awakened a Metal Ability~"

"I know everyone must really want to ask whether the game world is scary and how I cleared the game. Of course it was scary. As for clearing the game, you need thirty percent courage, forty percent wisdom, and thirty percent luck. My luck was pretty good. Besides the Metal Ability, I also drew Attribute Pages for Strength +10 and Constitution +10. Anyway, everyone, keep it up!"

This scene amazed Ye Minghao just as much as when lightning had appeared out of thin air in Delivery Guy's hand. What a miraculous power—and yet it had appeared in such an insignificant person. A flash of anger passed through his eyes.

"Isn't this kid one of Mingyue's pursuers?"

Ye Mingyue said awkwardly, "No, we're just good friends."

Ye Mingtian muttered, "That kid isn't worthy of my sister anyway. Once I enter the game, I'll definitely obtain skills even stronger than his!"

Ye Zhao had already gone out. The first thing she did after returning was still to contact a group of accomplished masters and have them perform rituals day and night. Sincerity works miracles, diligence makes up for shortcomings, quantitative change leads to qualitative change...

Lord Ghost Messenger would surely hear her sincere call.

For the next seven days, Ye Zhao ignored everything outside and spent her days and nights shooting at the shooting range. She also signed up for a self-defense class, but there were simply too many people registering now. All kinds of classes were full, as everyone prepared to enter Survival Game.

By the time it was Ye Zhao's turn, seven days had already passed.