Chapter 1 Child of Stardust_2

At the edge of the rooftop stood a crow, its feathers glossy black, and strangely, its eyes were a bright blood-red, like glittering rubies.

The crow cocked its head and stared at Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan also stared back at the crow.

"Oi!"

Zhou Yuan stomped his foot hard, trying to scare off the crow, but the bird remained unflappably calm and only lazily stretched its wings to fly away after several seconds.

"Quite bold..."

Muttering to himself, Zhou Yuan walked back to the elevator. That crow was quite fat and not afraid of people; it must be someone's pet, he thought.

He didn't dwell on it and began to patrol down each floor.

At the 18th floor, a female employee with a work badge stopped him near the water dispenser, "Young man, help me change the water jug, will you?"

"Sure." Zhou Yuan took the empty jug and headed to the storage room.

Inside the storage room, he had just set down the empty jug when suddenly, an earth-shattering boom came from above, followed by violent shaking that affected the entire building.

An earthquake?

Zhou Yuan's nerves instantly tensed up; he was on the 18th floor!

He dashed out the door immediately, but when he saw the scene in the lobby, he froze in place.

Both the ceiling and the floor were pierced through by a scorching hole, the edges glowing fiery red, and dozens of employees in the office area had vanished without a trace, the air filled with a burnt smell.

The female employee who had asked Zhou Yuan for help moments before stood right at the edge of the hole, her right side completely sheared off, the wound charred and smoking profusely as she convulsed violently on the ground.

The temperature around the scorched hole was so high it ignited everything flammable, a fire broke out, spreading everywhere, engulfing the female employee, who soon stopped struggling.

The piercing fire alarm went off, and the overhead fire sprinklers burst open, pouring down like torrential rain.

Zhou Yuan was petrified by the horrific scene, his brain crashed for a moment before he turned and ran, rushing into the fire escape heading downstairs.

As he reached the turn between the 12th and 11th floors, crack!

The wall to the left below him suddenly shattered, and a narrow, red-black shadow swept past, the metal fire door on the 11th floor cried out under the strain and was sliced into two halves instantly, followed by the staircase and the opposite wall, the indestructible steel-reinforced concrete was cut through effortlessly like tofu by the sweeping shadow.

More eerily, the areas that were cut surged with some kind of red-black substance, hissing as if they possessed intense corrosiveness.

Damn...

Zhou Yuan's back was covered in cold sweat; he involuntarily swallowed, he had been inches away from being cut.

What was that thing?

First, the terrifying attack that pierced straight through the building, and now, slicing through metal and concrete with ease... In just a few minutes, Zhou Yuan felt his view of the world was crumbling.

And... why would Stars Network, a gaming company, be subjected to this kind of attack?

He didn't have time to think it over, escaping was urgent, he leaped down, crossing the staircase broken by the surging red-black substance, and landed in front of the shattered fire door.

The fire door was already open, so Zhou Yuan witnessed the scene unfolding inside the 11th floor.

A heatwave hit his face, stifling him, as he saw flames raging over the entire floor, a swath of red glaring back at him.

Those flames were bizarre; the water sprayed by the fire sprinklers couldn't extinguish them at all, instead even causing the sprinklers to melt into molten iron, and amidst this inferno, several people were fighting fiercely.

As a company security officer, Zhou Yuan immediately recognized one of them as Nangong Yi, the chairman of Stars Network!

Besides Nangong Yi, there were three others, all clad in red robes, one of them holding a longsword swirling with red-black currents.

Zhou Yuan's eyes widened in shock as his worldview completely collapsed.

These people... were all Transcendents!

After the shock, Zhou Yuan turned and ran; the priority was to escape from this place of conflict to avoid being mistakenly killed by the residual effects of the battle.

He rushed down the stairs all the way to the 7th floor, wondering why he hadn't encountered a single employee along the way when a wolf's howl came through the fire door from the 7th floor, followed by a man's terrified scream.

A dull thud followed immediately, the sound of something heavy hitting the ground mixed with the man's increasingly heartrending screams.

Zhou Yuan's heart pounded like a drum, terrifying images involuntarily surfacing in his mind.

He tried to calm his tense nerves, lightened his footsteps, held his breath, and carefully moved down the stairs, praying he could evade the wolf's notice.

But Lady Luck did not favor him; seconds later, a loud bang was heard as the fire door was violently burst open by a completely black figure.

"It's spotted me!"

Zhou Yuan's heart tightened, and his back was instantly soaked in cold sweat as he rushed into the sixth floor. Pressing his thumb on the fingerprint lock, the fire door locked with a click.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Heavy impacts came from the other side of the door. The metal fire door vibrated ceaselessly. The black wolf outside was probably a Transcendent creature, and this door wouldn't hold it off for long.

"There's another fire escape on the other side, hopefully that way leads out..."

Zhou Yuan kept moving, his mind a tangled chaos, the panic growing stronger.

Boom!

Suddenly, a deafening roar came from above, like a bomb exploding. The terrifying force caused the entire building to shake violently. The nearest floors were breaking apart under the burst of power, shrapnels of steel and concrete flying in all directions.

The ceiling above him crumbled as the floor beneath his feet collapsed, and Zhou Yuan lost his balance and fell hard.

Everything went black before his eyes, consciousness fragmenting briefly. When he came to, he found himself buried under rubble.

Pain surged from all over his body, bringing Zhou Yuan to tears. He groaned in pain and struggled out of the debris. The pain in his left leg was particularly intense, and turning his head, he saw it was severely fractured.

"Roar..."

The deep howl of the wolf sounded at that moment.

Zhou Yuan looked over in horror. The black wolf was also buried under the rubble, trying to break free!

"What do I do?"

"What should I do??"

"That wolf is a Transcendent creature, even if it's not, killing a wolf isn't something I can achieve, especially with my broken leg..."

"I can't run away, I'm going to die... I'm going to die..."

Countless thoughts flashed through Zhou Yuan's mind. His chest heaving violently, breathing rapidly, resentment, helplessness, despair, and the fear brought by death overwhelmed his sanity, consuming him bit by bit.

He didn't want to die.

Soon he could have repaid his debts and lived a life of freedom. There were still so many landscapes he hadn't seen, so many things he hadn't enjoyed, so many things he hadn't owned.

He really didn't want to die...

"Caw."

Just then, Zhou Yuan heard a harsh crowing.

He saw the same red-eyed crow from the rooftop flying over, carrying a golden card filled with a futuristic technology in its beak.

The crow landed, tilting its head to look at Zhou Yuan, his face covered in tears.

Zhou Yuan stared blankly at the crow.

Then, the crow hopped forward a couple of steps and pecked the exquisite golden card onto his face.

In an instant, the golden card disappeared.

And the crow exploded into black mist with a "bang," leaving no trace.

Zhou Yuan had no time to ponder what had just happened. The moment the golden card touched him, a flood of information streamed into his mind, a dazzling golden data flow rushing in his pupils.

[—The basic elements that make up our bodies were once evolved in the most luminous stars in the universe.

The iron in our red blood cells came from a brilliant supernova explosion.

The zinc in our blood originated from the dust ejected into the cosmos after the collision of two neutron stars.

That trace of copper witnessed the death of a white dwarf star.

Even the most insignificant cobalt came from a nebula billions of light-years away.

We are Children of Stardust, miracles in the grand universe.]

["Child of Stardust" Player System installation complete, wishing you a pleasant game.]

[New player gift pack has been distributed, please check.]

[Event detected, generating mission...]

[Mission name: "Survive"]

[Mission objective: Survive.]