Liu Si was Chen Nian's neighbor, a beautiful young woman in her early twenties with a sweet voice and an exceptionally hardworking nature.
She had been watering the flowers and plants in the courtyard when suddenly, the stainless steel gate outside let out a shrill, explosive bang!
Turning her head, she saw a massive black dog outside the gate, its sharp teeth clamped onto the fence, drool dripping hot onto the ground...
Terrifying!
Thinking it belonged to another household, she figured she could just shoo it away. Grabbing a clothesline pole, she stepped forward.
But unexpectedly...
Two, three, four terrifying black dogs appeared!
Their pupils glowed with an eerie light as they tore at the stainless steel with their sharp teeth, producing a constant grinding sound.
Then, an even more spine-chilling scene unfolded.
The stainless steel was actually being bent by sheer force!
Clang! The clothesline rod rolled to the ground. Liu Si was so terrified she fell backward onto her butt, her spine tingling cold and her whole body trembling.
"Monster... monsters..."
Finally, the courtyard gate was completely torn apart!
Those ink-black vicious dogs, saliva dripping, stepped into the courtyard with their thick, powerful limbs.
Surrounded in the center, Liu Si resembled a lamb hunted by beasts.
"Sis Liu!"
A figure charged from the side.
"Xiao Chen... you..."
Seeing the youth blocking her path, Liu Si's heart instantly filled with shock.
In her eyes, this neighbor was a shut-in who never left home, preferring to stay indoors gaming. She rarely saw him around.
Yet in this moment of peril, he was the first to rush out to protect her...
Chen Nian glanced around.
Just a few low-level, first-tier monsters.
He hadn't expected these creatures to infiltrate reality so swiftly, launching indiscriminate attacks on humans.
Perfect to test the power of the Word Spirit.
A few obscure syllables burst from her mouth, like incantations carved on ancient stone tablets.
Sequence 121—Spell of Words, Judgment Golden Sword!
In the darkness, a pair of dazzling golden pupils suddenly ignited. Within that golden radiance lay indifference and majesty, like a sovereign towering above all creation!
This was a domain-type ability centered on himself,
granting him absolute power over life and death for all beings within its reach!
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
Several demonic hounds finally lost control, charging forward in a frenzied attack. At this moment, they were more ferocious than wolves on the prairie, their teeth sharp enough to snap steel bars, capable of crushing a human skull in an instant!
Liu Si screamed in terror.
But what followed would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Those demonic hounds were torn apart mid-air without warning, then slowly dissipated into black smoke...
"You...?"
What the hell was happening!
Was this a dream?
Why did my neighbor—the guy who only ever played video games—suddenly have superpowers?!
The golden glint in Chen Nian's pupils faded rapidly.
Using the "Judgment Golden Sword" against these minor foes was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
This was a super-high-risk word-spell meant for powerful monsters—capable of directly battling ghost-god-tier creatures!
Instant annihilation was, of course, a foregone conclusion.
[Gene Energy +10]
[Gene Energy +10]
[Genetic Energy +10]....
Chen Xian instantly leveled up to Level 3!
Gaining Genetic Energy by slaying monsters to level up—this fundamental mechanism for growth remained unchanged.
"Are you okay, Sister Si?"
"I'm... fine..."
Grasping Chen Nian's hand as she stood up, Liu Si—her legs still weak—nearly collapsed into his arms.
A sense of security!
"Xiao Chen, what exactly are you... and what are these monsters?"
Chen Nian explained, "Sister Liu, you must have seen the notification earlier too. Perhaps the world is about to change."
After settling his neighbor sister, Chen Nian continued to assess the current situation.
He opened his phone and saw that the trending news had indeed been completely taken over.
[Game and Reality Merge? Unbelievable, yet undeniable! ]
[Monsters attack multiple city locations. World undergoes massive upheaval—where do humans go from here?]
[Gaming talents can actually be inherited! Multiple players now possess extraordinary powers—this is no coincidence]
[Teleportation arrays appear across the city. Monsters suspected to enter via these arrays. Supernatural beings urged to defend array portals!]
Chen Nian scanned the situation.
These were the most basic monsters, yet they had already dealt a massive blow to the human world.
But he knew the true terror lay in the "Blood Moon Calamity" descending in a month!
The Blood Moon Calamity was the first large-scale disaster to strike the game world, catching players completely off guard. The main city, home to millions of players, was slaughtered to the last soul!
Players resurrected countless times before barely holding the line.
But in reality, there was no resurrection!
Death was final.
Chen Nian's primary goal was clear: grow as powerful as possible before the Blood Moon Calamity struck, to protect himself and those dear to him.
Wait...
If he had gained talents from the game, the other players should have too.
He absolutely couldn't reveal his identity... Otherwise, all those fangirls and rich women would come knocking, and he couldn't handle that!
The class group chat was already exploding.
Liu Yu: Holy crap, is all that news real?!
Luo Qingqing: Are those game monsters really appearing in real life? Anyone who played that game, speak up!
Ma Dawei: Heh, I played it. Now I've got the Flame Master talent!
Xu Song: Damn... bro, can I tag along? Take me under your wing!
Jiang Chen: I'm the Sword Emperor talent in the game, and I've awakened it too, haha!
xxx: Sword Emperor?! Holy crap, that sounds insane!
xxx: Bro, where are you now? Can I come find you? I'm so scared...
Messages flooded the screen at a rate of dozens per second, overwhelming Chen Nian.
But one thing was clear.
Those with "Talents" were already showing signs of rising above the masses.
And this trend would only become more pronounced!
Ordinary people without Talents would likely be reduced to cannon fodder... The era had changed completely.
Chen Nian dared not imagine the uproar if his identity were exposed...
It wouldn't just be a few women—the whole world would be scrambling for him, right?.....
Chen Nian's phone suddenly rang.
The caller ID showed Xia Wen.
The campus beauty who had recently rejected and blocked him, even calling him a "lapdog"—what could she possibly want now?
Chen Nian pressed the answer button with a cold expression.
"Chen Nian... Chen Nian, where are you?"
"There are so many monsters on the street. I... I know you play that game too. You must have awakened your abilities too, right?"
"Hurry! Come protect me now! I'll give you a chance to be my boyfriend!"