If someone told you the world was ending in a few days, you'd definitely think they were crazy!
The irony is, every human in the world received the exact same system message in their heads. The whole planet was stunned.
March 1, 2026: The Blue Planet is about to enter a planetary-level survival challenge. No one can escape it!
Wars quietly broke out. Some people tried to unite humanity to face this apocalypse together, but they were just dreaming!
The system's appearance actually gave these wars a twisted kind of "justification," making the world order even more extreme.
Major governments tried to crush the violence with force, swearing to the public that if they just obeyed the law, they'd be safe. The military was deployed everywhere to temporarily suppress the chaos, but that surface-level peace didn't last long.
In just one week, the whole world was engulfed in war. People everywhere were trapped under the shadow of conflict. Order collapsed, laws became useless, and even soldiers started deserting.
Earth turned into a living hell. Driven by fear, everyone was desperate to find a way to live just one second longer.
Right now, Xu Si and his best friend Yin Zhong were throwing their own weird little doomsday party.
"For us," Xu Si said with a rebellious smirk, raising a plastic cup full of soda while looking at the street below. Fires were ruthlessly burning the surrounding buildings, and smoke drifted in through the window. He sighed slightly, "Life used to be a crazy rat race, but at least we could chill out sometimes."
"I think life is still pretty awesome even now!" Yin Zhong pushed up his glasses and grinned, raising his own cup. "Actually, I kind of like how things are now."
"That's just because your life has always been easy," Xu Si sighed, tossing his head back and downing the rest of his soda.
He wanted to throw the cup away, but remembering it was the apocalypse, he kept it. Every useful item had to be saved now.
Yin Zhong tossed his cup into his backpack too. Then, he expertly gathered his long black hair and tied it into a bun at the back of his head. Even in the apocalypse, the guy still cared about his looks!
When everyone else was rushing the supermarkets to hoard food and essentials, this guy had packed up all his bath and skincare products. Classic Yin Zhong.
Xu Si's backpack, on the other hand, was stuffed with food and an old first-aid kit. His late father had forced him to take it to college. Thank god he hadn't thrown it away.
"Four, what do you think the world will turn into next?" Yin Zhong asked while adjusting his backpack.
Xu Si rolled his eyes. How long had it been since he heard that nickname? Years, probably!
He shrugged. Not far away, a restaurant had been swallowed by flames. Thick smoke billowed up like massive pillars reaching into the sky.
"Aliens invade? Or maybe we all get sucked into some glowing orb space to do this 'planetary survival challenge'?"
Honestly, compared to aliens, Xu Si was hoping for anime characters to show up. Imagine if Rem and Ram appeared in real life right in front of him—how sick would that be!
"No matter what happens, you gotta stay alive!" Xu Si said, taking a bite of his pizza.
Yin Zhong swapped his glasses for a clean pair. God knows how many backups he had on him. He looked at Xu Si proudly and said, "See? This trick works perfectly. I'm an absolute genius!"
Xu Si laughed helplessly. "If I were the last guy left in the world, I'd definitely just kill myself."
Yin Zhong froze for a second, thought about it, and said, "Four, you're not an actor. Stop writing movie scripts in your head."
Hearing that nickname again made Xu Si roll his eyes so hard he almost saw his own brain. Actually, he hadn't told anyone, but ever since he got that system message, he'd felt a surge of excitement.
He always felt life was kind of pointless. It was just studying and more studying, picking a major he hated, and then slaving away for some corporate boss for the rest of his life.
The day he got the system message was the most thrilling day of his life. He felt like this was how life should be—no worrying about jobs, just everyone thrown into a life-or-death battle.
Now things were different. The apocalypse put everyone on the exact same starting line—if they wanted to survive, that is.
To Xu Si, the system wasn't here to wipe out humanity; it was like a patch fixing a broken code. It was salvation!
Suddenly, Yin Zhong's watch let out a harsh beep-beep. Yin Zhong always bragged about this watch, claiming it was perfectly synced with global time.
But looking at the cheap plastic thing, Xu Si knew it was actually a few seconds slow. Yin Zhong just refused to admit it.
They both fell silent, staring down at the plastic watch. The sharp beeping shattered the quiet moment.
"One minute left until the apocalypse," Yin Zhong said distractedly, looking uneasy. "Could this all just be a prank? The end of the world has to be fake, right?"
Xu Si looked out the window. The streets were noisy with protests. There were broken barricades and shattered glass from clashes between police and students. Abandoned cars littered the roads, most of them smashed to pieces. Faint sirens wailed in the distance. Most of the trams were dead on the tracks, out of power.
Xu Si looked grim. "I think the apocalypse is already here."
Yin Zhong gave a helpless smile. "Alright then. In that case, I hope I get magic or spells. Shooting fireballs like a wizard would be pretty sick."
Xu Si couldn't help but roast him: "Just hope you don't burn yourself to death!"
"Maybe."
They went quiet again, staring hard at the watch as the seconds ticked away.
10...
9...
8...
Yin Zhong suddenly spoke up softly: "Four?"
"What's up?" Xu Si looked away from the watch.
"It already..." Yin Zhong's words were instantly drowned out by an earth-shattering boom.
In a flash, blinding blue light lit up the entire sky, so bright it temporarily blinded them both. Xu Si instinctively threw his hands up to block the glare, yelling out in shock: "I knew your stupid watch was a few seconds slow!"
At the same time, a deafening noise exploded in Xu Si's mind, vibrating through his entire body. Weird golden text danced in the air, slowly coming into focus right in front of his eyes.
[Welcome to the Milky Way Galaxy - Planet 5, commonly known as the Blue Planet.]
[Your warning period has ended. The Blue Planet will now merge into the Challenge Planet. Initialization starting now.]
[Initialization will proceed in three stages. Please try to minimize the damage you take during this process.]
As the whole building shook, Xu Si blinked hard, trying to read the golden words. Blood rushed to his head, a shiver ran down his spine, and his hair stood on end.
He and Yin Zhong quickly exchanged a look—they didn't even have time to speak.
Just as the first message vanished, another one popped up.
[Initialization Initiated!]
[Welcome Challenger Xu Si. Your data is being processed... Please remain quiet.]
[You are currently ranked #1,105,879,123 on the leaderboard.]
The sharp smell of ozone shoved its way into Xu Si's nose. Strange energy crackled loudly in the room. Tiny blue electric arcs danced wildly across the walls and zipped around their feet.
The static energy made Xu Si's hair stand straight up. As more and more energy gathered around them, he caught a glimpse of black energy flashing like a ghost outside the window.
Suddenly, a beam of black light sliced through the ground like a blade, tearing it apart. Wherever the energy hit, black crystal pillars shot out of the earth.
A parked car nearby was instantly crushed and twisted, then sucked right into an obelisk by some massive force.
Yin Zhong yelled in panic, "Oh crap! We gotta run!"
Without another word, the two jumped to their feet. The energy pooling around them was getting dangerously intense.
A black beam suddenly slashed down right in the middle of the room, blocking Yin Zhong's path. It acted like a ruthless sword, effortlessly slicing the floor and spreading outward, splitting everything it touched in half!
Seeing this, Xu Si didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, using all his strength to shove Yin Zhong out of the way. In the nick of time, Yin Zhong was knocked to the floor.
Where Yin Zhong had just been standing, black energy erupted, instantly forming a crackling obelisk. Another beam of blue energy grazed Xu Si's arm, and the smell of burning flesh instantly filled the room.
Xu Si screamed in pain on the floor. Yin Zhong quickly dragged him to the side. Xu Si's entire arm had turned charred black!
"Xu Si!" Yin Zhong shouted anxiously, "Are you okay?!"
Xu Si replied weakly, "Not dead yet!"
By now, all sorts of weird objects were appearing in the room, surrounded by flashing lights. It was bizarre and mesmerizing, but neither of them had the time to care.
Yin Zhong quickly stood up, hauled Xu Si to his feet, and they ran for the exit.
Xu Si felt energy flashing right behind his back. His heart dropped. Gritting his teeth, he leaped forward, pulling Yin Zhong down with him. They barely dodged another deadly death ray!
"Fuck!" Xu Si panted heavily. "Damn it! We're actually gonna die this time!"
"Run!" Yin Zhong got up and supported Xu Si. For a split second, Xu Si felt like Yin Zhong wanted to say something. He opened his mouth, but suddenly closed it again, his face turning completely dark.
And then, without any warning, Yin Zhong shoved Xu Si.
Xu Si's back crashed hard right into the incoming black energy. His mind was instantly filled with a deafening roar.
He opened his mouth in shock, but whatever he was going to say got stuck in his throat.
The complicated look in Yin Zhong's eyes was the very last thing he saw before fading into the darkness!