Chapter One: Must You Die If You Can't Beat the Game?

[7 natural days remain until the player’s scheduled death]

[Do you wish to enter the game?]

Ever since this strange frame appeared before his eyes, Su Wen had briefly thought either his eyes were failing or his mind was playing tricks on him. He decided to check on the "101 Degrees" platform.

In this era, minor oddities were quite common.

A couple of days ago, in Binjiang New City, there was a fire-breathing incident. Though fire-breathing wasn’t exactly unlucky, it was still troublesome.

Someone had crashed a big shot’s wedding banquet in the commercial district, and while toasting, accidentally set the big shot’s wig on fire.

The whole wedding was engulfed in flames.

That was it.

No mental evaluation bureau needed; it was straight to criminal procedures. His life would enter phase two directly.

Su Wen did not want to be locked up for some mysterious mental illness.

He casually used a virtual IP to search "101 Degrees" for similar incidents.

Good.

It started with a terminal illness—no upper limit.

Just as expected.

Tentatively, he asked:

“I’m scared. Can’t you not make it a hologram?”

[Player selects ‘Operation Mode Switch – Mobile Terminal’]

[Would you like to project to an intelligent terminal?

(Tip: If you have a brain-machine interface system, you may ignore this prompt and connect manually.)]

“What kind of tech level do I have? My graphics card is a secondhand 2070 from the mining crash. Where would I find a brain-machine interface? Just connect me.”

[Projected to the nearest operating device: an old antique computer]

In an instant,

Su Wen’s computer’s RGB lights lit up, and the screen flickered on.

No fuss at all.

The annoying floating prompts vanished and instead appeared on the computer screen:

[‘Time-Space Traverse’ game started. Enter tutorial stage?]

“What if I don’t play?”

With the intrusive frame gone, Su Wen was just a normal person again, preparing tomorrow’s assignment.

Let the sick play.

The next second, a glaring red light flashed on the screen, and a news anchor’s voice came from the speakers:

[Latest noon news report, September 17: In an old residence in Binjiang’s old district, young man Su suddenly died at home.]

[Mental Evaluation Bureau certified: No symptoms.]

Cause of death: prolonged excitement, excessive cardiac pressure, body overexertion leading to sudden death.

Scary stuff. Also, prolonged exposure to harmful content is warned against for viewers.]

The computer screen even helpfully included a pixelated image of his sudden death.

He glanced at the timestamp below his computer screen (September 10). At that moment, Su Wen truly panicked.

“Can’t beat the game, so I have to die?!”

“And how am I browsing harmful content when I’m such an honest guy? Trash news.”

Calmly, he copied the folder named [Study Materials] from his D drive.

Then repeated his thoughts aloud.

Suddenly, the string of bright red data appeared again before him:

[Countdown: 6 days 11 hours 59 minutes]

“I’ll play.

I love playing games.”

Su Wen immediately clicked to enter the tutorial.

“Just don’t show up in front of me; you’ll block my view. You don’t want the game to fail, do you?”

[Sprout]

[Game type: Beginner tutorial level]

[Time span: Three thousand years]

[Game difficulty: Extremely low]

[Game rewards: Players may find on their own]

[Game background: Three thousand years after the Origin Era, humanity has successively conquered the Epsilon Boötes star system, the UV Whales star system, Alpha Centauri, leaving footprints across galactic clusters, advancing toward the Magellanic Cloud satellite system. The homeworld was gradually abandoned due to its hazardous environment, becoming a ‘criminal haven’ for low-genetic-sequence beings.]

[Game objectives:]

[One star: Rescue scavenger Qin Xiaodie]

[Two stars: Eliminate the threat of [Sixth-tier ruler—Pollution Spread—Homeworld Life Forbidden Zone—Natural Will]]

[Three stars: Hidden objective]

[Note: Completing minimum rating avoids player’s real-life death; higher ratings yield better rewards.]

“The game starts with the homeworld abandoned. Three thousand years, huh? Probably can’t even find my tombstone in the game.”

As he said this,

he suddenly realized he had just made a dark joke.

Because if he failed the game, he would most likely be lying in the Su family cemetery in seven days.

And in the least desirable corner, no less.

[Player: Su Wen]

[Physique: Frail (caused by long gaming hours, please exercise more to avoid sudden death)]

[Mental ability: Not top-tier among civilized clusters (excellent creativity, strong adaptability)]

[Awakening ability: None, ordinary human]

[Mental pollution level: Below negative 100 billion, untraceable]

[Evolution lineage: None, ordinary human]

[Title: Chief Player (locked, unique)]

[Trial ability: Identification (valid for seven days)]

[Congratulations, after a comprehensive evaluation, your combat power is even lower than the old hen at the village entrance.]

That was forced sudden death.

Also, it was normal for modern people to lose to the village bully.

As for the mental pollution level’s near-infinite value, Su Wen wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the Time-Space Traverse game.

He was utterly speechless and clicked start.

The background showed a bird’s-eye view: vast ruined skyscrapers filled the screen, with gray-black vines weaving through the buildings.

What should have been a bustling city was now only ruins.

But the most striking feature was a colossal tree taller than any futuristic city, seemingly touching the drifting clouds.

After the opening CG,

the perspective shifted.

The screen showed the game’s protagonist in a jacket standing on the rooftop of a tall building, viewed from behind.

“This protagonist’s handsome. I like him.”

Su Wen gave a “fair” appraisal.

After all, it was modeled one-to-one after his own data.

Controls were simple: QWER plus one [Identification – trial version]. Nothing else.

He first used Identification on the distant giant tree.

[Identification result: ??! Destructive factor?? [￥%#@ Data error]? ... Natural Will?]

“So that’s the so-called Life Forbidden Zone? Looks like I can give up on the two-star objective.”

Su Wen shook his mouse to adjust the view.

Only then did he notice a ring of metal beyond the sky.

[Megastructure: Human homeworld star ring (damaged)]

[Cain Corporation was founded over nine centuries ago. What you see is the data monitoring station area.

It also hosts an energy beam cannon weapon system, allocated by Cain Corporation for researching [Anomalous Phenomenon – Life Forbidden Zone – Giant Tree].

Later, struck by (??? S-03 sealed data [Ash Breath]), the outer ring became completely paralyzed and abandoned.]

“Future wasteland style, not bad.”

But for his own safety, he decided to rescue the scavenger Qin Xiaodie first, given the game’s difficulty was “extremely low.”

For a player skilled in souls-like games, someone who cleared Elden Ring’s Valkyrie fight with a single hit, this shouldn’t be too hard.

“Normally, spawn points and story points aren’t far apart.”

He judged based on experience.

Just as he prepared to search for more information,

a long-haired beauty in a dust-colored tight scavenger biker suit ran onto the rooftop.

Seeing him, she raised her gun:

“Are you the Morton Brotherhood’s ambush?”

“I’m not. Don’t say that.”

Su Wen activated Identification:

[Hidden scavenger – Qin Xiaodie]

He hadn’t forgotten his mission and quickly became serious, preparing to proceed:

“Qin Xiaodie, I’m here to rescue you.”

“No time. They’re catching up.”

The long-haired beauty remained cautious, unmoved by her real name being revealed.

But now they were on the rooftop without gliding wings—no way out.

The next second,

before Su Wen could react,

a team of armed Morton Brotherhood soldiers ascended the stairs and surrounded them.

One soldier reported over the comm:

“There are accomplices. Kill them all?”

“Only need the hidden info. Kill the others and retreat quickly.”

“Understood.”

Just as they were about to pull the trigger,

massive vines erupted from the ground, utterly destroying the building.

At the same time, Su Wen watched his game character disintegrate into a cloud of dust.

[Contacted: ??! Destructive factor?? [￥] Decay]

[Life force declining]

[HP zero]

[‘Player’ has died. Restart?]

“I’m playing your hammer? This is extremely low difficulty?”