Chapter 129

Chapter 129: The Earth’s Wastelands (2)

Translator: Sigma Editor: Sigma

Human beings, human civilization . Mankind lives on Earth just like the cycle with ups and downs . No matter how brilliant one is, how outstanding his achievement is, or how wealthy he is, all will eventually be buried and forgotten by the eternal time .

There is no monument that stands forever, since they will all be pulled down in the end .

No story will be told forever since people will be writing new and great chapters constantly .

‘The Old Earth’ or ‘The First Earth’ was a place which people had started to gradually forget just like that .

One day in the 22nd century, in a quiet night, through the clear lens of the astronomical telescope at Arecibo Observatory in the valley of Puerto Rico, the astronomers of United States of America had found a new shining spot . It could be clearly seen near Pluto . Russian and Swedish Observatories soon confirmed this finding; they also predicted that this small comet, whose origin and volume were unknown, was dashing rapidly towards the Solar System .

The press had started to post about this new nova, but they just gave succinct information about it . It seemed that to the majority of readers, news in astronomy was far less interesting than rumors and gossip in showbiz .

After the days had passed, the astronomers were both nervous and curious while watching that comet and predicted what was about to happen there . Soon, they found that the brightness of that nova was amazingly increasing . At present, they could still observe it clearly using ordinary photographic or filming techniques . The closer it got towards Pluto, the more highly-strung the astronomers were . Although they were living in the 22nd century, collision of astronomical objects that happened near to mankind was still an event that went far beyond their imagination . Anyway, at that moment, the distance between these two heavenly bodies was still pretty far .

And when the unimaginable event was about to become possible, news agencies from around the world started to pay attention to what was happening in the sky . Some students even built the related celestial map . All had proven that they could only helplessly watch that comet ran madly towards Pluto .

Not long after that, the whole world started to report on this incident . The impact event didn’t happen as they had imagined . When that comet had crossed by Pluto, it had dragged that whole planet into its scorching lump…

The two heavenly bodies had merged into a massive white sphere that people on Earth could observe with their naked eyes .

Thus, besides the sun and the moon, there was another new celestial body orbiting the Earth . It regularly appeared in people’s vision . Every night, they observed this sphere’s movements, and gradually, they recognized that each time they saw the sphere, it was getting bigger and bigger .

They started to doubt and fear… Some pointed out the topics like ‘Why in this vast universe, that star decides to come here’ . Such question was stupid enough . It was like asking why one was born among billions of his fellows .

Scientists had given them some related knowledge in astrophysics . Moreover, they had publicized a part of their study, which was the earth-shaking information: that uninvited guest invading the Solar System was heading towards the Sun . Only the total gravity of the biggest planets could deviate this comet from its destructive orbit . Anyway, no matter what, the apocalypse of the Earth was about to come .

But what happened next was unexpected .

In other words, the Earth had received a death penalty, but the sentence was commuted .

After this fireball had swallowed up Pluto, its speed became sluggish . Finally, it stopped at a relatively safe distance . And, just like a twin of the Sun, it started to light and warm up this world . Freezing winter had disappeared . The coldest time of the year became like the early summer .

When the first morning ended, the second morning lit up the sky . Such blazing and scorching heat were like a hurricane of heat wave from Hell burning the whole world . No one knew how long they could endure such life . Nevertheless, the melting pace of the polar ice caps had reminded people that this planet would no longer be their homes .

Some people were optimistic; some were skeptical; some were crazy; while some others felt hopeless . Their reactions were different, and the Earth had sunk into an unprecedented chaos . The apocalypse finally appeared in an entity in front of mankind, no longer ‘an environmental problem’, ‘Aliens invading’, or ‘fatal viruses’ that existed only in films or from rumors . It truly appeared in the sky everyday to announce to the world that the end was at hand .

Unexpectedly, ‘the commuted death sentence’ had gathered humans together . In the next 10 years, human science and technology had advanced rapidly, much more than that of 200 years ago .

The whole mankind, regardless of skin colors, races, nationalities, religions, and conflicts, had all united for a common, sole mission, which was to maintain the human survival . They put forth every source, shared their advancement of knowledge, scientists, and every essential thing .

Eventually, 20 years later, mankind took the first step into the era of interstellar colonization . The first mother ship ‘Ark’ flew out of the atmosphere, carrying 1,000,000 people . The second, the third, and the fourth then followed…

Afterwards, when an exit to escape the Earth was found, humans started to reveal their true colors . War had burst out on Earth and ended when the majority of humans died together with the destruction of 93% man-made vehicles on Earth .

27 years later, the ‘Doomsday’ ended like a joke . Of course, no one could laugh at it .

That big star then took a 90 degrees turn, sped up again and left the Solar System . No one knew why or how . Perhaps that star wasn’t a shooting star, but an alien spaceship . Perhaps it was a special living form . Or, it could be a challenge an unknown God had given to humans .

In short, when human beings were capable of escaping the Earth, the threat of the Earth’s destruction no longer existed . Ironically, this planet had been damaged too much by the hands of its dwellers through their nuclear wars to the point that it was no longer a suitable place to live in .

Fortunately, humans had mastered the space-leaping technology . Long-distance interstellar travel no longer only existed in Star Trek . Thus, the survivors on the ‘Ark’ had found a new home on the Milky Way . An uninhabited planet, pretty similar to the Old Earth, a virgin land where no intellectual living form had ever put steps on: ‘The New Earth’ or ‘The Second Earth’ .

In 2386, a new study on technology succeeded called ‘the Ant’, which was a micro nanobot used to repair living creatures’ damaged cells .

At first, ‘the Ant’ was used to cure broken human limbs . Even if it were a permanent-paralyzed patient with serious shriveled muscles, it could help restore him to the standard state of normal people .

Later on, ‘the Ant’ had revived a frozen-to-death-for-years mountaineer found on a snow-capped area . People then laid their eyes on this technique and threw their glance towards the First Earth .

From 2041 onwards, some ‘ancestors’ were found in the Old Earth and had been resurrected . The true history, the old civilization in the past, and the questioned matters were all answered .

This became a rising tide of prosperity for over half of a century without ceasing…

One day in 2455, a four-tiered carrier named Grendel came to the Old Earth . The science team on the ship found two frozen bodies in a lab in a Crystal Lake . They brought them to the ship . One of the frozen bodies was the female researcher named Rowan, and the other was Jason Voorhees, the immortal devil murderer .

They didn't know that besides the Grendel spaceship, there was another team who visited the underground laboratory in Crystal Lake on the same day . With unknown purposes, they followed the science team to this place, waited until the former team left, and then entered the underground laboratory .

. . .

"Didn’t expect that we would meet strong opponents," said Ultimate Assault .

"One of the Saber Sword Smile, Wild Trace Sword Shadow . A tough opponent…" continued Apocalypse Assault .

The two workers from Corpse Saber Studio had really short hair, pale face and numb complexion . They didn't speak with a loud voice, but their tones were steady . They all wore uniforms in blue and black hues, looking much alike with uniforms in Star Trek, but the colors were different . The badge of Corpse Saber was worn on the left chest of their uniform, which was a delicate bone cutlass . And, of course, it had the words ‘Corpse Saber’ in black hue .

"Is the guy called Feng Bujue a hotshot of the Martial World? Why have I never heard of him…" said Apocalypse Assault, "confronting such odd combination, don’t you feel weird?"

"It’s weird, indeed… According to the rules of this game, the competences of the two parties shouldn't be much different . " He paused for a while then continued, "Can’t deny the fact that although Wild Trace Sword Shadow is two levels lower than us, his competence isn’t less than to both of us . But that moron Feng Bujue’s level is only 16…"

"In other words… the system deems that their combined competence is not lower than us, two players at level 19?" said Apocalypse Assault .

"Harrumph… Something strange happened . Is that Feng Bujue a hotshot that’s as strong as Wild Trace Sword Shadow?" Ultimate Assault said, "If so, the only possibility is… he’s actually a star player, but he’s using another ID to play Thriller Paradise . "

"Make sense," Apocalypse Assault continued, "should be a hotshot from another Studio doing job-hopping to the Martial World . He changed his ID and now works with Wild Trace Sword Shadow . Then it’s possible to explain why we are going to confront the other two players whose levels are lower than ours in a 2 versus 2 match . "

"This is good, isn’t it?" Ultimate Assault said, "It’s rare to meet low levels opponents in Killing Game, we should have more chances to win . "

"Yeah," Apocalypse Assault nodded, "anyway, even if we know we are going to win, we shouldn't be careless . See, our Survival Value is decreasing gradually; it means that this scenario has some sort of time restriction . If the opponents use attrition strategy and don’t confront us directly, this game will turn into a competition of wearing down Curing Specialty and the quantity of consumed Survival Value Supplements . This game doesn’t quantify Health Point with specific numerical value but percentage . If the situation develops into a hide-and-seek game, we’ll have no advantage at all . "

"I think so . We’d better battle fast and win fast," Ultimate Assault replied, "we’re at higher levels and with the support from that ‘drug’… if we lose… it’s unacceptable . "

. . .

On the other side, Feng Bujue was leading the way while holding his flashlight . Wild Trace Sword Shadow followed him, moving fast but quietly along the corridor .

Feng Bujue chose to display his Casey Jone’s Mask . Although it wasn’t a gas mask, he felt that if he wore it, it would help him to filter the air a little bit .

"Attrition is a strategy that benefits us," Feng Bujue spoke up while talking . Because of the mask, his voice sounded croaky .

"Like how?" Wild Trace Sword Shadow said, "Are you going to use tactics like using ranged weapons or some traps to fight with them?"

"No, if we are not going to face them, it will be considered a type of attrition," answered Feng Bujue .

Wild Trace Sword Shadow had contemplated for a while before he got his idea . "Are you saying that we will make use of the decreasing blood effect here?"

"Correct," Feng Bujue answered . "Their levels are higher than ours . In papers, their Survival Values are more than ours . " He dryly coughed again . "But the atmosphere here reduces Survival Value by percentage . We’ve already checked that . "

Minutes ago, they had just exchanged the information on their Survival Values . Although they were one level different, their current Survival Value were both 95%, and the time their Survival Values were reduced was almost the same, precisely to second . This meant that the blood’s reduction rate didn't depend on levels . As long as they breathed the air here, their blood percentage would be reduced after a fixed period of time .

"Oh…" Wild Trace Sword Shadow smiled, "Feng-Ge, can I ask how many bottles of Survival Value Supplement you have?"

"I have four (medium) bottles," answered Feng Bujue .

"Let alone how many bottles our opponents are bringing along," Wild Trace Sword Shadow said, "even I have more than you . " He shook his head . "And, what if one of the other two is training himself in Curing Specialty or has a certain knowledge about it, would this ‘war of attrition’ of your become a disadvantage?"

"Well, I said using attrition to begin the war, I didn’t say we would use it to end this match…" Feng Bujue said, "I meant, in this game, we’d better not be involved in their rhythm of ‘fast battling-fast winning’ . "

"Do you think that if we have a face to face battle, we will lose?" asked Wild Trace Sword Shadow . In fact, from his tone, they could see that he didn’t think so .

"Not sure," Feng Bujue said . "But since you have come to me and made me your teammate, apparently, our combined strength and advantages are far better than doing close combat with them . " He slightly turned his head and talked to Wild Trace Sword Shadow over his shoulder . "Using strategies is a part of competence . " He paused for a while and looked forward . "If you want to play hard with the enemy, teaming up with me is worse than working with a player specialized in Fighting . "

"Alright, then—"

ROAR ——

A strange roar interrupted his talk . Feng Bujue stopped at the same time .

They worked together in a tacit understanding as they kept their mouths shut . Consciously, the two faced the opposite directions and started to take guard . They held their breath and concentrated on waiting for this roar to sound again in order to identify its origin .