Li Guanqi stood frozen like a statue, his legs heavy as lead.
His mind was blank, his heart pounded violently, and fear, shock, and confusion surged over him like a tidal wave.
Why did she jump?
Where did everyone go?
Was it a dream…?
No, it wasn’t a dream.
His instincts as a doctor urged him to rush forward, but the most primal human emotions rendered him immobile.
“1”
“1”
“1”
Li Guanqi murmured blankly, his gaze vacant as he looked around.
Two voices clashed in his mind.
One voice analyzed rationally: falling from the 5th floor, given that the hospital was right nearby, it was entirely possible she could be saved.
As a medical student, he should rush over right now, kneel beside her, press his fingers to her carotid artery, clear any obstructions, ensure her airway was open, and check her pupils for a reaction.
Then use clean gauze or a bandage to apply pressure and dress the wound to control the bleeding.
Finally, he should cover her with his white lab coat to prevent hypothermia and call for help.
But he was very terrified.
The most primal human emotion overwhelms him——— the fear of the unknown.
Another voice roared madly in his mind.
“Run!”
“Something is coming.”
Room 505.
A girl from some Level 4 Fortress broke in and dueled him three times.
She said her name was Shuang Shenghua.
Then she leapt.
She saw a countdown, but some kind of rule-bound power prevented her from speaking about it.
She tried to convey it in her own way.
“Run.”
“You must run.”
Li Guanqi clutched his head, his eyes wide and round, pupils constricted to pinpoints.
He staggered back a few steps, nearly falling, a hoarse and suffocated groan escaping his throat.
Once again, he abandoned her and turned to leave.
If there really was a countdown———–
5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
then comes the final 0, the symbol of the end.
His footsteps echoed along the empty streets, the entire city a vast sounding board.
Shops lining the road all remained open as usual, yet there wasn’t a trace of human presence.
There were no signs of disaster anywhere.
The people hadn’t fled in panic.
The streets were completely undisturbed, clean, peaceful.
The chicken wings at the barbecue stand were still steaming.
It was as if———–
An admin had pressed a button and deleted all the NPCs from the game.
Li Guanqi ran until exhausted.
He checked his phone, still no signal.
No network connection.
All messages frozen in time from half an hour ago.
Calls couldn’t go through.
Messages couldn’t be sent.
The only thing left with any interaction was the AI duel in YGO.
The AI in YGO would still send messages:
<I’m going to———>
<Your LP is mine!>
Li Guanqi wandered aimlessly down the street.
He wished someone, anyone, would speak to him.
Even an online troll.
Anyone who could tell him what the heck was going on.
“Run?
Run where…”
He didn’t even know what the danger was, where it was, what he was running from.
Meanwhile————-
Shuang Shenghua’s fall had caused severe physical trauma: shattered bones, damaged organs.
From the moment her breathing stopped to when she lost consciousness, one minute passed.
Three minutes of unconsciousness, then her heart stopped.
Six minutes without a heartbeat, blood flow to the brain ceased, neurons suffered irreversible damage, and ultimately, brain death.
Through the entire process, no one came to help.
From the sky came an ethereal, eerie singing, in a language not of humans.
The world was sick, groaning in its death throes.
A fictional world, no matter how dazzling the illusion, would one day shatter.
The singing grew louder and louder.
The sky shattered, the earth split apart, and in unison, a meteor fell———– an unparalleled force was tearing this world apart.
<Nibiru, the Primal Being>
Li Guanqi stood at the center of the storm, his shoulders slumped, staring blankly at it all.
A massive vortex slowly formed in the sky, emitting a shrill roar.
It spun faster and faster, its center turning deeper and darker, like a bottomless black hole.
The clouds were sucked in with thunderous roars.
Dust and gravel on the ground were swept up, all pulled toward the vortex.
In the sky, a single massive symbol was etched———– < 0 >.
<Super Polymerization>
Rank: Pralaya
Spiritual Sequence: ***
“So this is 0…” Li Guanqi murmured to himself.
He felt like he had been dragged into a game, one wrapped in layer upon layer of fog.
He didn’t even know when it had started.
Was it when he entered Room 505?
Or did it start when he left it?
He only knew one thing———– he had lost.
[Lost again.]
A familiar yet foreign voice echoed in Li Guanqi’s mind.
His shadow split into two.
[This is…]
[The final time.]
Li Guanqi’s consciousness had already grown hazy.
His soul floated up, out of his body, drifting toward that bottomless black hole.
He slowly lost awareness.
[WARNING: COLLAPSE OF METAVERSE – EARTH…]
[SYSTEM REBOOTING…]
[NEW ARCHIVE CREATION IN PROGRESS…]
[RENAME]
[FILE NAME: GRAND FUSION]
[NARRATOR: LI GUANQI]
[WELCOME TO BIANTANA]
Year 1067, Biantana, outskirts of Bianyuelong Fortress, 8 PM.
Li Guanqi lay sprawled across the grass in a white lab coat, looking like a charming, flour-covered lump.
His eyelashes quivered lightly, consciousness slowly returning, as if trapped in a dream too thick to open his eyes from.
Two robots, one large, one small, approached with heavy, metallic footsteps.
The larger robot opened a scanner in its palm.
A red light swept across Li Guanqi’s body repeatedly.
[VITAL SIGNS: NORMAL]
[NO AFFLIATION DETECTED]
A cold voice echoed in the night sky.
The smaller robot took out a special pen and etched a line of digital numbers, 0748, onto Li Guanqi’s wrist.
“Aaagh———-!” The searing pain jolted Li Guanqi awake, a sharp scream tearing from his throat.
The large robot’s eyes flared red.
It swiftly pulled out a small metal rod, about the size of a finger, and forcibly shoved it horizontally into his mouth.
Then it extended two iron bands from each end and locked them around the back of his head.
“Mmm——–!” Li Guanqi struggled, trying to call for help, but could only let out muffled grunts.
The robot’s immense strength pinned him down with ease.
The small robot continued, branding bizarre patterns across his face with the pen, just like how Yusei Fudo was treated in the anime.
A cargo truck slowly approached and stopped nearby.
“Help###” Li Guanqi cried out instinctively, still not understanding what was happening.
But the next moment plunged him into utter despair.
The rear door of the truck opened, another large robot stepped out.
From the driver’s side, a greasy middle-aged man climbed down, urging nervously, “Hurry up, load him in.”
Li Guanqi couldn’t speak, but his ears worked just fine.
That sentence was nothing less than a death sentence.
The two large robots lifted him by force, their arms yanking him up and tossing him into the open truck bed.
Just like they were throwing out garbage.
His body tumbled across the floor, slamming into the cold steel wall.
Bang!
A robot stepped up and slammed the iron door shut.