Chapter 2

 Chapter 2: The Apocalypse

With a fire lit, the cold, damp militia room starts to have a bit of warmth.

His saber stuck on the ground besides himself, Gu Qing Shan wrapped his arm with a bandage, leaned on the wall and sat down on the ground.

The militia introduced himself as Zhao Lu just now brought over a pot full of water, put it over the fire and closed the lid.

Zhao Lu searched himself for a small decorated box, gave it to Gu Qing Shan and spoke:

“Lucky that you’re here, otherwise I would’ve died to that monster as well”

“This is?” Gu Qing Shan received the box and asked.

Zhao Lu replied: “The outpost’s last two Healing pills”

Gu Qing Shan asked back: “Why didn’t you keep them for yourself to use?”

Zhao Lu shakes his head: “I’m not a cultivator, can’t use them”

Gu Qing Shan opened the box to see inside there really were two pills.

Taking one in his hand, Gu Qing Shan carefully examined the pill.

The condition of the pill is still perfect for use, even the thin layer of sap covering the pill isn’t damaged.

The light-green pill gives off a faint scent of herbs, calming anyone that smells it.

This is a Healing pill.

Healing pills are the lowest tier of HP recovery items, in the past, Gu Qing Shan wouldn’t even look twice at them, but now that he’s back in the past, his previous cultivation gone without a trace, and a body full of wounds, these two pills are the most precious treasures that one can find.

Gu Qing Shan can’t help but ask: “The whole outpost only have these two Healing pills left?”

Zhao Lu sighs and replies: “Yes, after everyone died, the supply chain got cut, so not only medicines and pills, but other kinds of supplies are running low as well”

Gu Qing Shan became silent for a bit, then thought of something: “Does the outpost have any more Spirit Stones?”

Zhao Lu curtly: “None”

“Then we’re doomed” Gu Qing Shan sighs.

Zhao Lu hurriedly: “What’s the matter?”

Gu Qing Shan answers: “The outpost’s Invisibility Formation is already very weak, without Spirit Stones to replenish the power, it will soon disappear”

Zhao Lu is visibly shaken, immediately stand up and made a mad dash outside.

If the Invisibility formation disappears, all sorts of demons and monsters can immediately find this outpost, when that happens the chance of survival will be no more.

No wonder a few days ago, before leaving, the two Captains’ eyes had the look devoid of all hope.

Gu Qing Shan looked at where the man dashed out, waited for some breaths, then heard a faint ‘wuu’ sound from outside.

That sound signals that new Spirit Stones had been replaced and the formation is restarting once again.

So Zhao Lu did hide some Spirit Stones for himself.

In this world, every person is very real, with blood and flesh, if you see them as nothing but stupid preprogrammed NPCs, you’ll lose out on a lot more than you gain.

From way long ago, Gu Qing Shan already know of this fact.

Not long after, Zhao Lu drags his feet back to the room, slowly sit down with his back against the wall, holds his face and starts crying.

Gu Qing Shan: “What are you crying about?”

Zhao Lu: “This time all the Spirit Stones are really used up, when the formation runs out of power again, we’ll really be killed by the monsters out there”

Gu Qing Shan sits quiet for a bit, scrape off the sap from the Healing pill, swallow it and start trying to feel the spirit energy inside himself.

At first, he was still a bit nervous, not knowing if he can actually feel his own spirit energy.

But everything turns out quite well, the spirit energy from his Dantian immediately answer his call, mixes and absorb the pill, transferring it all around his body.

Gu Qing Shan feels his whole body warm up, the wounds on his body starts to become slightly itchy all over.

Meaning they’re starting to close up already.

Feeling the pill is fully absorbed, when Gu Qing Shan once again opens his eyes, it was already past midnight.

Gu Qing Shan stands up to find his body in much better shape than before, most wounds are closed up and already forming a layer.

Zhao Lu is still sitting right there, his head bobbing side to side from lack of sleep, when seeing Gu Qing Shan woken up, he looks in anticipation and asks: “How are you, your body is already better right? Can you take me to get away from here as well?”

That last part of his question is probably his real inner voice.

If not for that, he most likely wouldn’t even take out the Healing pills.

Gu Qing Shan answers matter-of-factly: “Much better, but if I want to make a full recover, it’ll take a few more days”

“Then you keep resting” Zhao Lu dejectedly stands up, turning to leave.

After Zhao Lu left, Gu Qing Shan sits alone on the ground, contemplating.

In his original time period, the demons and monsters from the game have already entered Reality and destroyed human civilization.

The rest of humanity could only live on their dying breaths, unable to do anything as the Apocalypse came and went.

Everything was at a dead-end.

Now in hindsight, right as the game released, there were already clues of strange happenings.

Back then, every single country was trying like mad to popularize the game.

Food, money, beauty, power, everything can be given to you, as long as you are strong enough in the game.

Everywhere in the world, there are strange things happening, but all of them were easily covered up by the top brass of humanity, while the populace knew nothing.

It was only when the first-ever weapon was brought from the game into reality, that the populace finally found out that it wasn’t a game, but a complete, real, and living, other world.

Everyone scurried like mad to get into the game.

But the demons and monsters in game were truly terrible, enough to make people become hopeless.

Even though hundreds of millions of people all joined the game, helping the people of the other world fight against the demons, but in every single strategically deciding operation, humanity kept losing, and losing, and losing.

Right down to the final operation, when the game released a server-wide notice, that when this operation failed, demon kind would then fully occupy the other world, using that as a springboard to move onto invade Reality.

And Reality, would also be devastated by the demons.

Of course, Reality went absolutely mad again.

Every person aged 5 and above were mandated to create an account in the game.

As propaganda, they said that even if you’re the weakest of the weak, without any real power, you can still use your own bodies as shields to block on strike for the main fighting power legion.

But even in that final operation, humanity still failed.

Only Gu Qing Shan who headed his nation’s strongest guild was able to complete the missions put out by the System, successfully cleared a path straight to the final Demon Lord.

When all of his comrades had died, Gu Qing Shan finally knocked the final Demon Lord down his throne of flesh and bones, seeing the chance of killing this final BOSS right before his face.

Right then, the heavy sound of the System voice resounded twice.

“Humanity’s final Ascended has fallen, Humanity’s final fortress has been breached, operation final verdict: Humanity had lost.”

“The game had ended, the protective barrier is broken, reality’s destruction begins”

BOOM-

A huge explosion resounded, everybody was forcefully logged off from the game, not being able to do anything but watch as the end of the world comes.

Taking the small time when he still isn’t forcefully logged off, Gu Qing Shan raised his weapon, put all his might into stabbing the final Demon Lord right where his heart is.

Not being able to see the result, Gu Qing Shan then only felt his sight blackened, forcefully ejected from the game.

But he didn’t leave the Apocalypse to go back to Reality, but instead lost all his senses.

Faintly Gu Qing Shan could hear a mechanical voice speaking.

“Player Gu Qing Shan finished off the final Demon Lord, for helping the despaired world that fell into the abyss leave a final spark, special final reward received”

Gu Qing Shan could only feel that he had an extra something in his hand, but became senseless afterwards.

When he finally reawakened, he was already inside the military dead pit.

Remembering up to there, Gu Qing Shan shakes his head, breaths out in regret.

It’s weird, the game was out for a whole of 10 years, right until the end he never heard about any final rewards existing.

So curious to know what it is.

Wait a minute, that’s not right.

Gu Qing Shan suddenly remembered a crucial detail.

Right when he awoke from the dead pit, he was holding something in his hand.

———– this saber!

Gu Qing Shan looks back down.

The saber is still there, stabbed on the ground next to him.

A gold color saber, with the blade not having any extraneous details or decoration, only a well-sharpened edge.

When Gu Qing Shan looks at it carefully, he can actually see a bit of faint gold color light on the blade.

As Gu Qing Shan try to recall more and more, his heart beat also starts to quicken.

Before he killed the Commander, this sword was already in his hand.

Not knowing why, he only felt that the sword fit his hand extremely well, so he didn’t bother to search the dead pit for any other weapons.

Did this sword originally from the dead pit, or did it come with him from that fight?

Gu Qing Shan holds the saber, hesitate for a long time, before finally pouring spirit energy from his Dantian into the weapon.

Right when spirit energy touched it, the gold color light from the sword intensified and expanded into a huge area painted gold.

A strangely sense of dignity and mourning emits from the gold saber.

“Illegal entry successful, begin activation”

A cold and mechanical voice starts.

Not knowing if he’s just imagining it, Gu Qing Shan feels that this cold System voice he’s heard so many times, in fact, hold a bit of uncontrollable excitement.

After only a minute, the gold saber in Gu Qing Shan’s hand explodes into countless golden sprites.

Each of them floating in the air for just a bit, circling around Gu Qing Shan twice, then all rush straight in between his eyebrows.

Gu Qing Shan only hear a deafening exploding sound, his Thought Sea completely empty, his body at a dead stand still, unable to move.

A while passed, the cold mechanical voice spoke with a tired tone.

“Activation successful, War God UI (user interface) turned on”

Notes:

-Dantian: a fictional area around the stomach area that is used primarily to hold energy from

cultivation. A main-piece of any cultivation novels

-Thought Sea: a sub-piece of many cultivation novels, a fictional space in between your eyebrows that primarily deals with thought. Depending on the novel, it would either power the process of thought (accelerating thought, finesse control, etc…) or influence the outside world through pure thought (telekinesis, 6th sense, etc…).