"Help me!" A voice—as fragile as spider's silk spun from moonlight—drifts in from the distance.
Vale bursts forth from the pitch-black night, his sword emanating a frigid glow. With a powerful swing, he aims straight at the shadow lurking behind the maiden.
"Are you okay?" Vale gently lifts the maiden who is slumped on the ground to her feet.
"Yeah, I'm okay." A delicate flush gradually creeps across the maiden's cheeks.
Soon, she bites her honeyed-sweet lips and murmurs, "Thank you... I'm Alice."
"Lady, it's my pleasure. I'm Vale." But as Vale examines the defeated monster, a spine-chilling voice slithers from behind him.
"You are Vale!" Before he can react, a dagger pierces through his chest.
His eyes widen, pupils dilating rapidly as blood spurting from his mouth stains his irises crimson.
Moments later, he collapses to the ground. In the fading haze of consciousness, he sees Alice's pupils—eerily scarlet and glistening with a predator's hunger.
"You are dead! You only have one chance to modify this game. Welcome to your next login." The system's mechanical monotone slices through Vale's haze like a rusty blade.
He jolts awake, gasps for air as his hands fly to his chest—no wound, no blood, only the phantom ache of a dagger through his sternum.
"Too real," he croaks, staring at his trembling fingers.
The memory of Alice's scarlet pupils burns in his mind, sharper than any pixelated nightmare.
This isn't just a game. And he is about to respawn into a trap.
Vale looks around, and heseeseverything is in its original position—except for one thing: his eyes feel like computer screens.
When he blinks, a game data panel flashes across his vision, numbers and code scrolling like blood in his veins.
"What's this!" Vale gasps, horror choking his voice!
"Welcome to use Chaotic Realm Online Game Admin Panel, I'm your assistant Susan." A gentle, lady-like voice whispers in Vale's ear, as soft as silk gliding over a harp string.
"Your world will merge with the game's chaotic realm in two hours."
"Complete the prologue now, or your in-game injuries will cause real-world death."
"Your current physical trauma level is 90%. According to the admin panel, you have 1 hour and 56 minutes left to survive in reality." Susan's voice drips with icy detachment, like a scalpel slicing through warm flesh.
A red timer in the corner of Vale's vision blinks:01:56:00 → 01:55:59.
"Choose wisely, Player 000001. The first boss awaits in the alley where you died." Susan's avatar dissolves into pixels, leaving the echo of a single word:
Hurry.
Vale stares blankly, his mind reeling. Everything has happened too fast, leaving him in a state of utter confusion.
In fact,Chaotic Realmbegan its internal beta testing a decade ago.
Back then, Vale was already a closed-beta player, and he quickly became one of the game's top players.
Although he wasn't the strongest in terms of combat power, he consistently ranked first on the level leaderboard.
The company behind this virtual reality game, Thor Technology Co., Ltd., is a giant in theglobalgaming industry. Five years ago, the game entered its open beta phase.
By then, it had already become an indispensable part of the world.
The in-game currency, Chaotic Coins, was pegged 1:1 to real-world currency.
This led to aninfluxof over a billion players, accounting for one-eighth of the world's total population.
In the past month, Thor Technology announced that the game had entered its final testing phase.
They invited all of humanity to join the game in the name of the "Lord of the World," claiming that every human being was a citizen ofThor Empireand that the game was the real world, and vice versa.
Such arrogant statements naturally triggered resistance from various countries.
Soon, the game was removed from shelves worldwide andforcedto shut down.
As a hardcore gamer, Valenaturallycan't bear to part with games. He learned about a private server through an insider forum.
He logged in, hoping to experience the game one last time as a farewell gesture.
Little did he know that right after reaching level 20, he would encounter Alice, one of the final game bosses—a human-looking maiden in disguise.
"Could all of this be real?"
"Did Thor Technology not lie after all?"
"Is the game really going to merge with the real world just as Susan said?"
Vale shakes his head in disbelief, "That sounds insane."
Of course, he can't bring himself to believe such a far-fetched thing.
No matter how advanced Thor Technology's tech is, it's impossible to merge a game with the real world—unless they've received help from alien technology.
"Alien technology? That's ridiculous nonsense!" Vale shakes his head again, dismissing the crazy thought in his mind.
Soon, he gets up and walks to the living room of his house.
Suddenly, he notices that the light in his little sister's bedroom is on.
"Victoria? Go to bed now. You have classes tomorrow." Vale taps lightly on his sister's bedroom door.
Just then, the door of Victoria's room unexpectedly opens by itself.
The table lamp in the room emits a dim and eerie light, and theblood-redmoonlight filters through the spotlessglass, casting an eerie red hue over the room.
Victoria is not in the room. On the bed, there is only a head-mounted gaming device—the sole means of entering the game.
Vale pushes the door open and steps in.
At this moment, he notices a note on the table:
Vale, I've seen our parents. They're still alive! It's so great! The Lord was right. As long as I submit to him, I can have everything I desire.
Upon reading this, Vale suddenly feels a sharp pain in his heart. Then a searing stomachache follows.
Soon, a mouthful of blood spurts from his mouth, instantly drenching the entire room in a layer of blood-red.
In Vale's vision, that familiar voice rings out again:
Detected an increase in the negative effects of the Blood Sacrifice Blade. Injury progression accelerated.
Current injury level of player Vale has reached 95%. Note: Death will occur when the injury level reaches 100%.
Vale can clearly feel that it seems as if there is actually a dagger stabbing in his chest.
Only then does he realize that all of this is real. "Damn it! I have to enter the game quickly and deal with Alice. Otherwise, I'll really die in the real world."
Enduring the intense pain, Vale crawls onto his sister's bed and then puts on the helmet.
Soon, his mind goes blank, and a clear mechanical voice rings out in his head: "Link Start!"
When Vale opens his eyes again, he finds himself in the Fountain Square at the center of Victoria City.
Susan's voice rings out in Vale's mind,
"Dear game administrator, welcome to the Chaotic World. Due to your previous encounter with Alice, the Goddess of the Blood Night, who killed you, all of your game data has been archived. Currently, you need to level up again. Here is your current attribute panel."
Game Nickname: Vale
Level: 0
Strength: 1
Constitution: 1
Magic: 1
Agility: 1
Defense: 1
Advanced Attribute: None
Identity: Honorable Chaotic Game Administrator
Special Attribute: Power of the Game Administrator.
Tips: Active skill. Each use requires consuming 10 Game Administrator Points. Due to your level limitation, you can claim a maximum of 10 Game Administrator Points per day.
"It is detected that you haven't signed in today. Do you want to sign in to claim 10 Game Administrator Points?"
"Yes, I want to sign in." Vale nods.
Soon, the attribute panel changes.
The points attribute is added to the special attributes, and the value changes from 0 to 10.
Vale finds that all his attributes have been reset, except for the injury level, which has now actually reached 98%!