I

  Alex Chen’s footsteps were steady as he rushed downstairs.

  Not running.

  Steady.

  Ten years in the apocalypse had taught him one thing—when things are truly urgent, you cannot run.

  Running wastes stamina.

  Running makes you lose judgment.

  Running attracts unnecessary attention.

  He strode out through the gates of the residential complex and swept his eyes over the breakfast stalls by the street.

  Fried dough sticks crackled in oil.

  Soy milk steamed in paper cups. The stall owner shouted to draw customers over.

  Everything was so normal it belonged to another world.

  And in truth, for these people, it was another world.

  A world with twenty-four hours left.

  Alex pulled out his phone and checked as he walked.

  Bank balance: 187,432.00

  This was everything he had saved over five years of work.

  He had originally planned to scrape together a down payment and buy a small place in the city.

  In his previous life, this money had become worthless paper on the third day after System Descent.

  This time, it would become the capital that kept him alive.

  He went to the nearest ATM first.

  Withdrawal limit?

  Didn’t matter.

  Twenty thousand from one bank, then on to the next.

  He hit seven banks in a row. His backpack was stuffed with cash—one hundred and eighty thousand in total.

  The few thousand left over could stay in the account just in case.

  Then came procurement.

  Alex entered the largest outdoor supply store in the west side of the city, pushed a shopping cart, and swept through the aisles like a madman.

  Tactical flashlights.

  Ten of them.

  The power grid would collapse on the third day, and no one would fix it for the next half year.

  Multifunction combat knives.

  Five.

  For fighting.

  Opening cans.

  Prying locks.

  Compressed biscuits.

  Twenty cases.

  High calories.

  Small storage footprint.

  Long shelf life.

  Purified water.

  Thirty large jugs.

  But that wasn’t the main point—he knew which water distribution station would be forgotten three hours from now.

  There was an entire warehouse of stock there.

  What he was buying now was only for emergencies.

  First-aid kits.

  Ten of them.

  Tourniquets, anti-inflammatory drugs, painkillers.

  The more, the better.

  Climbing rope, flint, thermal blankets, waterproof tarps...

  The cashier stared at his cart with a strange expression.

  “This is... for an expedition?”

  Alex looked up at her.

  A young girl in her early twenties.

  Ponytail. The sleepy, sluggish look of someone who hadn’t fully woken up yet.

  Tomorrow at this time, she would be screaming as a Monster chased her out of the store.

  Then she would run past the corner and be tackled by a second one.

  Alex remembered her.

  In his previous life, he had passed by here and seen her corpse.

  “You could say that.” Alex looked away. “Going somewhere remote for a few days.”

  “Oh...” The girl half understood and went back to scanning the items.

  Alex paid in cash and loaded the supplies box by box into a delivery van.

  Before leaving, he turned back for one glance.

  The girl was looking down at her phone.

  He wanted to say something.

  But what?

  Tell her the world would end tomorrow?

  Tell her to run?

  Run where?

  She wouldn’t believe him.

  No one would.

  Alex turned and got in the van.

  II

  The delivery driver was the chatty type and talked the whole way.

  “...The weather’s been weird lately. Yesterday I saw on the news that...”

  Alex wasn’t listening.

  He watched the city rush by outside the window while drawing a map in his mind.

  People’s Square subway station, Exit D. Tomorrow at 3 p.m., the first five-man Dungeon would appear there.

  The First Clear reward was a rare skill book, and he knew how to trigger the hidden Boss.

  Lower level of New Century Mall, walk-in freezer in the fresh produce section.

  Tomorrow at 8 p.m., it would become the entrance to the first Raid Dungeon.

  Eighty percent of those who entered would die, but the ones who survived would make out like bandits.

  Underground parking garage of Third Hospital in Old Town. An Elite Monster would spawn there, and three days later it would evolve into a Lord-tier Monster.

  It had to be cleared within twenty-four hours or the consequences would be endless.

  Abandoned warehouse in the northern industrial zone.

  Thirty tons of emergency supplies.

  Enough to feed a hundred people for three months.

  But to get there, he would have to deal with Victor Zhao first.

  Alex closed his eyes and memorized the coordinates one by one.

  Information he had paid for with his life in the previous Timeline.

  This time, it would be used here.

  “We’re here!” the driver called, pulling him from his thoughts.

  Alex got out and carried the supplies into a temporary storage site he had rented—an old factory building in a remote area.

  Cheap monthly rent.

  No one ever came here.

  He spent half an hour stacking everything neatly, then lay down on a folding cot in the corner and closed his eyes.

  Not to sleep.

  To remember.

  He needed to run through the full ten years in his memory and find every useful detail.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  But the process alarmed him.

  Some of the details were already starting to blur.

  For example, the exact date Lena Lin had died. He remembered it was in the spring of the second year, but which day?

  He couldn’t remember.

  And after the first Forced Evolution Event, how many people had died?

  He remembered the percentage, but the exact number was vague.

  And...

  Alex’s eyes snapped open.

  Was that normal?

  Or was it an aftereffect of the regression?

  He couldn’t be sure.

  He only knew one thing—time would make his memory less reliable.

  He had to do the most important things while everything was still clear.

  He sat up, pulled out paper and pen, and began drawing a map.

  A huge map of the city, marked with red dots, blue dots, and black dots.

  Red dots were Dungeon Entrances.

  Blue dots were Resource Nodes.

  Black dots were danger zones.

  He drew for two full hours until his hand cramped.

  Then he took out his phone and sent his sister another WeChat message.

  No matter what happens tomorrow, stay home and don’t go outside.

  Wait for me to come get you. Don’t go out.

  Three seconds later, she sent back a question mark.

  Bro, did you stay up all night gaming again?

  Alex didn’t explain.

  Remember this. No matter what you see, don’t go outside.

  ...Okay, I guess.

  But I was supposed to go watch a movie with my classmate tomorrow.

  Alex’s heart clenched hard.

  Cancel it.

  Huh? But I already bought the tickets...

  Cancel it.

  Whatever excuse you use, don’t go out tomorrow.

  Or the day after. Or the day after that. Wait until I come get you.

  There was silence on the other end for a few seconds.

  Bro, did something happen?

  Do you need me to come find you?

  Alex stared at the screen, his eyes heating up.

  Chen Yu was his little sister.

  In his previous life, she died on the seventy-third day after System Descent.

  Victor Zhao made a command error.

  Their squad was surrounded by a Lord-tier Monster.

  Chen Yu rushed forward to buy him time.

  By the time Alex reached her, only one hand was left.

  Later, he killed that Lord-tier Monster.

  Later, he killed Victor Zhao.

  Later...

  There was no later.

  Humanity had gone extinct.

  Alex took a deep breath and typed:

  I’m fine.

  But you have to listen to me.

  Just this once.

  Listen to me.

  ...Okay.

  Then I’ll tell my classmate I’m sick.

  Good.

  Wait for my call tomorrow.

  Okay.

  Take care of yourself, bro.

  Alex lowered the phone and closed his eyes.

  Twenty-three hours left.

  III

  At three in the afternoon, Alex rode a shared bike through the city.

  He was scouting.

  Every Dungeon Entrance he had marked, he needed to inspect in person—confirm the position, the surrounding terrain, the escape routes.

  People’s Square subway station, Exit D.

  Normal.

  There was a fire access corridor nearby that could be used for retreat.

  Lower level of New Century Mall, produce section freezer.

  Normal.

  There was a freight elevator behind the freezer leading straight to ground level.

  No one had discovered it in the previous life.

  Underground parking garage of Third Hospital in Old Town. Normal.

  The entrance was narrow—easy to defend, hard to attack.

  It could serve as a temporary stronghold.

  He rode all afternoon and checked every one of the thirty-seven marked locations.

  By sunset, he stopped at the last one—an abandoned warehouse in the northern industrial district.

  This was the first base he had chosen.

  The warehouse was large enough to hold dozens of people.

  The open space around it offered good visibility.

  Easy to defend, hard to assault.

  Most importantly, in the basement beneath the warehouse, thirty tons of stockpiled supplies were hidden there—inventory left behind by a bankrupt food company.

  Alex climbed over the wall, found the basement entrance, and looked at the locked door.

  The lock was no obstacle.

  He took out his combat knife and pried it open in three seconds.

  He pushed the door open, and dust rushed into his face.

  The flashlight beam swept over rows of shelves stacked with canned food, compressed biscuits, and bottled water.

  Thirty tons.

  Enough to feed a hundred people for three months.

  Alex closed the door and retraced his steps out.

  This was the starting point.

  IV

  At nine that night, Alex sat on the rooftop of his apartment building.

  The city was ablaze with lights.

  Office towers still glowed, and young workers were still trapped in their cubicles working overtime.

  Couples strolled hand in hand outside shopping malls. Smoke and the smell of grilled meat drifted from barbecue stalls.

  Someone nearby was loudly shouting over a drinking game.

  Everything was normal.

  No one knew what this city would become in twenty-three hours.

  Alex looked at the distant skyline, and suddenly an image flashed through his mind—

  A starfield.

  Not an ordinary starfield.

  It was made of countless points of light, dense and packed together like an enormous net.

  Earth was only one of those points, so small it was almost invisible.

  The image vanished in an instant, and Alex froze.

  What was that?

  He had never seen a starfield like that.

  Not in his previous life, either.

  Was it... a memory?

  A hallucination?

  Or something else?

  He tried to recall more, but nothing came back.

  The image had appeared out of nowhere, without cause or context.

  Alex frowned and stared at the night sky.

  The city lights were too bright to see the stars.

  But he knew those countless points of light were there.

  V

  At two in the morning, Alex returned to his apartment.

  He checked everything one last time: phone fully charged, power banks fully charged, knife sharpened, cash split into three hidden stashes, clothes chosen for mobility.

  Then he sat on the edge of the bed and watched the darkness outside the window, waiting for dawn.

  He wasn’t sleepy.

  Ten years in the apocalypse had taught him how not to sleep.

  Sometimes, by the time one nap ended, you were dead.

  He opened the computer and reread the document.

  Everything was in there.

  Dungeons.

  Bosses.

  Resource Nodes.

  Key figures.

  Key events.

  This was information he had traded his life for.

  It was also humanity’s only hope of turning things around.

  But he knew those memories were slowly slipping away.

  Like sand leaking through his fingers.

  He closed his eyes and silently recited the most important priorities again:

  Save Lena Lin.

  Save Iris Su.

  Save Marcus Wang.

  Kill Victor Zhao.

  Seize the first kills.

  Climb the Global Rankings.

  Snowball.

  Then, before the Final Boss descended, find a way to break the cycle.

  He opened his eyes and looked out the window.

  Dawn was close.

  A pale strip of white had appeared on the distant horizon.

  The outline of the city slowly sharpened, like a sleeping beast about to wake.

  Alex stood up and walked to the window.

  Nine hours left.

  In nine hours, the sky would split open.

  In nine hours, Monsters would pour out of the rifts.

  In nine hours, the System would descend and declare that humanity had entered the Evolution Trialground.

  And then seven billion people would die until only seventeen remained.

  Alex clenched his fists.

  But not this time.

  This time, he would change everything.

  He turned and walked toward the door.

  His hand stopped on the doorknob.

  He glanced back at the apartment—his home for five years.

  The game posters were still on the wall.

  The half-finished instant noodles from last night were still on the desk.

  Ten seconds later, he pushed the door open and stepped out.

  The hallway was silent. His neighbors were still asleep, unaware that this was the last peaceful morning of their lives.

  Alex walked to the elevator and pressed the button.

  The elevator doors opened.

  No one was inside.

  He stepped in and pressed the button for the first floor.

  The elevator descended slowly. The numbers on the display ticked down one by one.

  7. 6. 5. 4...

  Alex closed his eyes.

  He remembered the World Devourer’s body blotting out the sky.

  He remembered Lena Lin becoming a firebird and charging forward.

  He remembered the smile on Iris’s face as she burned away her life.

  He remembered Marcus Wang’s shield wall breaking into dust.

  He remembered humanity’s last seventeen survivors.

  The elevator doors opened.

  Alex opened his eyes.

  Outside was the ordinary apartment lobby.

  Sunlight streamed through the glass doors, scattering bright patches across the floor.

  The old man at the entrance was sweeping slowly, like it was any other morning.

  Alex stepped out.

  The sunlight fell warm across his body.

  He looked up at the sky.

  The sky was blue.

  The clouds were gone.

  Everything was normal.

  Alex lowered his head and clenched his fist.

  Eight hours left.