Chapter Three: Live Broadcasting the Apocalyptic World
Su Ming'an immediately opened the interface to check his attributes.
[Personal Data]
Name: Su Ming'an
Number: BE3030
Level: First Rank One
Honor: Blank
Achievement: Blank
Occupation: Not Acquired
Skill: Blank
Health Points: 500
Mana: 100+10*4 (recovery rate 5/min)
Physical Strength: 5
Strength: 4
Agility: 5
Spirit: 9
Charm: A
Luck: E
Points: 140
Combat Power Rating:68
Next, he heard the system voice:
[Achievement Earned ('Endless Faraway'): Above a billion souls, your public speech unfolds.]
[Achievement Points Earned: 40 points.]
[Honor Earned ('Newbie Level First Person'): Strongest among a billion souls, please maintain your supreme fighting spirit.]
[Honor Points Earned: 40 points.]
...
Su Ming'an glanced at his current points, 220 points, and considered that most people would have an average score of around 30 to 70 points upon completing the novice level. He already had an early advantage.
He suddenly discovered that his "Death Replay" skill was not displayed on the data panel.
...Unique skill?
He confirmed the suspicion in his heart—this was a secret only he knew of, although he did not know where it came from.
He thought of a possibility.
—Perhaps, even the unknown mastermind behind the World Game was unaware of it?
After all, this skill was too defiant, as if it was created to disrupt balance.
Next to him, a young man wearing glasses said, "But we don't know the exact time point... but being trapped in this place definitely won't work, we should leave quickly."
This group comprised six people including the big guy who spoke first, the young man with glasses, a female student still in her school uniform, a middle-aged man in a suit, and a woman dressed in a cold-looking business attire.
...A standard setup indeed.
Su Ming'an inwardly sneered as he had already accessed the so-called skill purchase menu while the others were still confused.
...
[Now entering the skill acquisition phase.]
[Player detected as SS rank for perfect pass, Skill Sea set to highest level, significantly increased chance to acquire high-level skills, each draw cost 120 points, do you choose to proceed?]
He selected yes and saw a skill icon appear in the skill bar.
[Acquired Epic (Red Level) Potential Skill: Cloning (Evolvable)]
[Cloning lv1 (costs Mana 80): At the cost of one-third of your own strength, create a clone.
The clone possesses the same original strength as the main body, and the strength returns to the main body when the clone dies.
The main body can reclaim the clone through touch, or choose to let the clone explode.
The combat power and spirit of the clone are directly related.]
[Note: Potential skill levels from lowest to highest are: Common (White Level), Advanced (Green Level), Rare (Blue Level), Epic (Red Level), Legendary (Purple).]
After checking his remaining 100 points, he chose to try his luck in the A-grade Skill Sea, using 80 points.
[Acquired Rare (Blue Level) Potential Skill: Annihilation (Evolvable)]
[Annihilation lv1 (costs Mana variable): Whatever your fingers touch can be melted by annihilation energy, the power depends on the amount of mana invested.]
With the remaining 20 points, he spent them on upgrading his four dimensions, each point costing 10 points. He added one point to strength and one to spirit, then he closed the shop.
[Congratulations Player on Spirit breakthrough to 10 points!]
[Acquired Basic Skill: Mentality Resistance.]
[Mentality Resistance lv1: Passive skill, you have a certain resistance to others' mentality attacks.]
The shop menu wasn't yet available, and Su Ming'an finally looked at his panel. His combat power was now 188.
At that moment, the young man with glasses, seemingly eager to take on the role of the "Sage" in the team, immediately began to strategize, "Although we don't know what dangers we might face, let's first figure out a way to get out—our location seems to be a place like a prison, and forcing the doors open definitely wouldn't work since our combat power hasn't reached that level yet. My combat power is 86, I think we should start by communicating..."
"Do you guys know what is happening?" the middle-aged man interrupted him, looking somewhat perplexed, "What is Apocalypse? Is it like those volcanic eruptions at the end of the world?"
The man with glasses was interrupted and seemed to want to say more, but he just watched as Su Ming'an walked straight towards the iron bars.
"Hey, the situation is unclear, don't wander off!" the man with glasses just shouted when he saw Su Ming'an's finger swipe over the heavy lock, followed by a "clack—" sound from the bars.
The gate opened.
Annihilation was applied and withdrawn instantly at the tips of his fingers as Su Ming'an stepped out, leaving the place behind.
"..."
The group exchanged looks, and the burly man suddenly blurted out:
"... How did he get out?"
At that moment, the white-collar woman surveyed the surrounding environment before swiftly turning to leave.
"Hey, where are you going? Don't stray from the group!" The burly man, having watched her for a while, quickly spoke up to bring her back.
"Whoosh!"
A bright silver dagger was poised between them.
The white-collar woman wore a warning look: "They just transported the six of us together, it doesn't mean we're on the same team." She wielded the dagger, her eyes wary: "Come any closer and don't blame me for being rude."
The burly man breathed heavily, visibly disgruntled, but did not advance.
"Wait a moment." The man with glasses wanted to keep the team together, and he was also vying for the position of captain: "Look, the apocalypse is imminent, naturally the more people, the greater our strength. It's rash for one to leave now, especially when you all are young..."
"Can I, can I give up..." Suddenly, the trembling female student raised her hand, her eyes brimming with tears: "They said we could just be spectators... I don't want to venture anymore... I want to go back..."
"—Only suicide allows you to become a spectator." Su Ming'an, who was initially walking away, halted and turned around: "Do you want to commit suicide?"
"I, I..." The female student shook her head desperately, at a loss for words.
Seeing the white-collar woman walk away, the burly man immediately shifted his target to comfort the petite, vulnerable-looking female student: "Don't be afraid, speaking of which, my niece is about your age, I don't know where she is now, whether she's scared... We'll protect you next, just stay close to us—by the way, what exactly is your ability?"
"My, my ability is..." The unguarded female student spilled all her information.
Su Ming'an turned and left.
Just then, he had received the unique quests assigned to each player.
[Welcome, players, to the first world!]
[World Name: Apocalypse]
[—Plot tip: "This city harbors such bright hope. A 'great' hope that prioritizes the collective good over individual lives."]
[Story Background: Dragon Country's City X (As it's all players' first entry into the game, they will automatically comprehend the local language during the game and it will be revoked after the game ends)]
[Basic quest for all players: Survive until the fifteenth day]
[Advanced quest: Find the antibody.]
[Perfect pass: Uncover the secret behind the apocalypse outbreak and achieve the TE ending・Save/Unable to save. (The current world has two possible ending routes, which will change based on player actions)]
[Days until the apocalypse begins: Five]
...
The advanced quest was only prepared for certain high-ranking players. A perfect pass... seemed even more unattainable.
Just the basic quest alone required one thing: to simply stay alive.
Hence, the difficulty of surviving in this world would be extremely high.
Indeed, in an apocalyptic world, people would have more room for error when gathered together, but that's under the assumption that your teammates aren't fools, not the type to push you off a cliff when danger arises.
From the performance of those two men earlier, this team wasn't very harmonious or trusting. The smart businesswoman likely noticed this as well.
...
[Bai She: Eh? You seem quite relaxed]
Suddenly, a comment drifted leisurely from the top of the screen.
This was probably a player who had died and become an audience member, stripped of all points and strength, who had randomly clicked into his livestream.
Through interacting with this viewer, Su Ming'an knew that those eliminated to become viewers couldn't go on adventures temporarily, unless they earned enough points by watching livestreams, writing strategy guides, making videos, or participating in forums. They could then resume adventuring, but had to wait for the next world to start.
The comments weren't allowed to divulge useful information related to the world replica or the players, nor could they report whereabouts or such, at most they served to recognize people.
The livestream interface was similar to a regular livestreaming platform, where the more popular streams appeared at the forefront.
This viewer had probably died in an attack today and had randomly clicked into a livestream.
[Not much popularity here, maybe change your livestream's name, that might attract people.] the viewer said. [The popular livestreams get bonus points at the end, and more people can also give you ideas. After all, there aren't many adventurer players; no one wants to keep dying, so they rely on you who take on quests.]
Su Ming'an couldn't see other people's livestreams, only his own livestream's name, popularity, and the comments.
So far, he hadn't changed his livestream's name, which was simply [Su Ming'an's Livestream].
Su Ming'an found it amusing, "What do you think I should change it to?"
[The most popular ones currently are small teams, all famous stars on Zhai Xing or wilderness survival experts, with titles all over the place, like slaughtering zombies or something. You could choose something catchy.]
Su Ming'an thought about it and changed the name to [World Game, Online Vacation].
He experimented and found that the livestream content could be switched, and he could limit what the viewers watched, and even shut it down during crucial moments. After all, running a livestream shouldn't broadcast everything—that wouldn't be good. Just in case there was any cereal guy...
[You look pretty relaxed; the newbie level's perfect pass must be decent.] the viewer said, [On the day I return to adventuring, you must include me— let's kick our boss rabbit and punch the organizers!]
The relationship between adventure livestream players and viewers was symbiotic.
Viewers provided advice to help the adventure players earn more points. Adventure players supplied material for writing strategies, aiding the viewers to earn points through other means.
As Su Ming'an spoke with this sole viewer, the popularity of the livestream gradually increased, and from three or four comments it surged to a sporadic few, though Su Ming'an didn't pay much attention to the livestream for now.
The situation at hand was more important—this was after all, the apocalypse.
He stepped out of the prison, seeing a long, deep path on the left, lined with dim lights, and a faintly glowing circle of light in the far distance.
The path to the right was bottomless, completely dark, like a deep abyss with no end.
He walked towards the right path, following the rough wall into a pitch-black room.
The room was eerily silent, with only the tick-tock of a clock sounding.
"Swoosh!" A blade flashed across his field of vision, and Su Ming'an raised his hand, precisely grasping the attacker's arm,
In the darkness, they couldn't see each other clearly. He raised his knee to strike but was suddenly hit hard on the waist, then quickly lost balance and was overpowered.
A cold blade pressed against his neck, while the attacker's breath sprayed on his face. He kept his eyes open, gradually adjusting to the darkness, now making eye contact with a pair of narrow eyes.
...
[World Game・Current Players: 1117676882]