[Instance: 12,340 players survived the arrival of the great fog.]
[The tenth round of the survival game is over. Congratulations to the surviving players. Rewards have been distributed. The eleventh round will commence in two days!]
[Players who failed to clear the instance will be eliminated!]
[Process complete.]
Ye Shu opened her eyes in her own luxurious villa, still puzzled as she spotted the black cat curled up at the foot of her bed.
[Contract beasts: SS+ Black Tiger, S-class Jiaoren, D-class Clownfish, Plant Spirit (level and details unknown)]
[Item inventory: .................]
No changes to Backtrack or Optimization.
Suddenly, a new dialog box pinged onto her screen.
Without a second thought, Ye Shu clicked in.
[Ding! You may view the outcome of the previous instance. View now?]
The ending of the instance?
Did the survival game just level up again?
She’d admit she'd mostly loafed through this time around, but she was curious about what happened after the white fog rolled in.
[Confirmed. View.]
[Retrieving memory. Transmitting...]
A sudden, blinding pain stabbed through Ye Shu’s head, as a flood of memories that weren’t her own poured in, cold sweat breaking out all over her body.
"…Damn this cursed game. Does it have to hurt this much just to access some memories? Cancel, cancel—"
Her world suddenly lightened, her body disappearing from the bedroom.
She was swallowed by darkness.
It was dead quiet.
No sound reached her ears.
For a time that felt interminable, she drifted in the darkness until, gradually, the hum and murmur of voices seeped through.
Her vision sharpened.
Ye Shu turned, seeing once more that familiar floor-to-ceiling window and the milky fog rolling over the mountainside.
The face reflected in the glass was indeed her own.
So she was... back inside the game?
Impossible… This had never happened before.
It had to be—a hallucination.
Her mind was playing tricks.
She must not be fully awake.
She’d just exited the instance; it should take at least two days to log in again.
Ye Shu reached to pinch her own cheek—only to discover she couldn’t move.
‘Ye Shu’ abruptly stood and went to the window, even snapping a few photos to upload to the world channel... And Ye Shu, trapped in her own game instance, could only watch herself repeat the same actions as before.
"Shu Shu, come on down. We only need to last a few more hours until we're back in the real world."
Su Bai’s head popped up from the cellar in the little garden.
‘Ye Shu’ set off a box of fireworks. After a moment's hesitation, she followed Su Bai’s suggestion.
Back into the cellar, waiting quietly for the transition back to reality.
Ye Shu expected to follow her body underground—yet found herself abandoned on the terrace.
What was going on?
There were only a few hours left until the instance would end.
She drifted through—yes, drifted, for Ye Shu found herself in spirit form. When she tried to leave, she discovered she was only a soul.
Outside, the white fog was massing in a tidal wave, smothering the entire planet.
Through the haze, she caught snatches of frantic voices.
"Haven’t we developed a stronger acid yet?"
"Let’s try again. Maybe there’s still hope."
"Old Bai, the fog's dropped to six meters. We should withdraw... There will be more chances. The underground base has been sprayed with your acid; maybe it'll buy us some time."
"As long as we live, there’s hope, isn’t there?"
"……"
No matter how hard humanity fought, the white fog swept over the world like a swarm, devouring everything.
The last survivors fled underground, using every imaginable desperate trick...
Barely three days later, not a single human remained—they’d all been transformed into host organisms.
December 14th, 2025 of the new era.
The white fog covered the earth.
Humanity vanished from history.
All that had transpired in the instance flashed past Ye Shu’s eyes in panoramic dismay.
"Just like that... Species wiped out..."
For the first time, she felt the frailty of humankind. Mere parasites ended tens of thousands of years of civilization.
"Ye Shu, what are you spacing out for?"
"I called you, you didn’t even blink."
Su Bai gave Ye Shu’s shoulder a hearty smack, snapping her out of her reverie.
In the instance game, life and death were every day. But for a moment there, she wavered.
"Nothing. Just thinking," Ye Shu said, "Xiao Bai, did you get any notifications from the system?"
"Notifications? What notifications?"
Su Bai looked blank, flipping through menus on her own data screen in front of Ye Shu, "Nope, didn’t get any."
"End-of-instance summary notice."
"The game world… it became a paradise for parasites."
"Humanity ended..."
Ye Shu laid out her experience matter-of-factly.
The survival game seemed to have left a special backdoor open only for her.
She wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
Su Bai’s face stayed breezy, as she forced easy nonchalance: "Eh, it’s not so bad, is it? Just a game instance, after all—we’re just players fumbling day to day. If the sky falls, someone taller will hold it up... Oh, right, did you know? Ye Wanwan dropped by. I just chased her out, and she had the nerve to squat in the hallway pretending at sisterly love. Tch. As if she could fool me..."
Da Piaoliang looked thoughtful, "Awoo... Wasn’t Ye Wanwan that fake-sweet, green-tea little rich girl?"
The ugly mutant in the fish tank muttered to itself, "Daughter of fate, rewritten destiny... Fortune faded, misfortune on the wind..."
Ye Shu’s face tightened, just for a beat.
"As long as the ugly’s said it, I feel better!"
"Don’t forget, our Ye Shu is still the main character of the real-fake heiress story! Only, that ‘real’ beloved lost her parents, so she isn’t fated for greatness anymore..."
Su Bai’s over-the-top tone finally made Ye Shu laugh, breaking the somber mood.
After a quiet day at home, Ye Shu and Su Bai scheduled riding lessons for the next morning, only to run into Ye Wanwan as soon as they set out.
If it weren’t for that brash, spoiled face from Zhang Yao, Ye Shu might not have recognized Ye Wanwan at all.
The former little princess of the Ye family wore plain clothes, her makeup-free face shadowed with dark circles under the eyes.
Ye Shu gave her a once-over, then smartly steered clear by several yards.
"Ye Shu! Stop right there!"
Ye Shu just picked up speed, refusing to answer.
"Wait."
"Afraid to face the truth? Was it you who did this to Mom?"
"How could you be so heartless? She may not be your birth mother, but still... Mmph—"
Ye Shu didn’t even let Ye Wanwan finish before guessing where this was headed.
Her body, strengthened to the limit by the game, grabbed Ye Wanwan’s throat one-handed, her voice cold as steel: "Ye Xiaoshu’s debt to the Ye family has been repaid in full. We’re done. If you come to me again or try anything behind my back, I won’t hesitate... to kill you."
The last words were spoken low, meant only for Ye Wanwan’s ears.
"You... aren’t you afraid..."
Ye Wanwan's face flushed with panic as she tried to call for help.
People walked by, but it was as if they couldn't see Ye Wanwan at all.
With the survival game now haunting Blue Planet, everyone knew fear—one slip, and they'd be dragged into the game; the old laws were broken, and nobody cared for such petty personal grudges.
"Afraid?"
"The old Ye Shu is dead."
"Xiao Bai, let’s go."
Ye Shu hurried away with Su Bai in tow.
Su Bai was baffled; this version of Ye Shu was never one to forgive an enemy, always carrying a grudge, full of thunder and lightning. Letting Ye Wanwan off this easily just didn’t fit.
"Shu Shu... are you... being too soft on Ye Wanwan? Don’t tell me you still feel anything like sisterly affection?"