I

  The world was red.

  Standing atop the ruins, Alex Chen stared at the colossal beast that blotted out the sky, and that single thought was all that remained in his mind.

  The world was red. Red with blood. Red with fire. Red with the countdown on the System warning panel.

  “World Devourer”—a Level 90 Mythic Tier Boss, humanity’s ten-year nightmare—was floating above the city at this very moment. Its body covered half the sky, like a continent suspended in the air.

  Countless tentacles hung from beneath it, each one as thick as a skyscraper.

  With a casual sweep, an entire city block turned to dust.

  Alex Chen’s left arm was gone.

  It hadn’t been bitten off. It had been shattered by the shockwave. He couldn’t even remember when it happened.

  Maybe three minutes ago. Maybe three hours.

  On the final battlefield, time had already lost all meaning.

  Behind him was the last line of defense.

  And on that line, only seventeen people remained.

  Seventeen.

  Seven billion humans. Ten years of bloody war.

  And in the end, only seventeen were left.

  “Alex Chen!”

  A familiar voice came from behind him. Alex turned and saw Lena Lin stumbling up the rubble.

  Her phoenix tattoo was burning—

  No.

  It was going out.

  That once-brilliant inferno was now reduced to a few scattered sparks, like the dying wick of a candle in the wind.

  “You’re still alive.” Alex’s voice was so hoarse it barely sounded like his own.

  “No shit.”

  Lena forced out a grin, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth.

  “How could I dare go first without seeing you die?”

  She came to stand beside him, shoulder to shoulder, both of them staring up at the monster in the sky.

  “Are you afraid?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Alex said. “I’m afraid we still won’t be able to hold this time.”

  Lena said nothing.

  She only took his hand.

  Her hand was cold.

  So cold that it made panic rise in Alex’s chest.

  Below them, Marcus Wang braced the shield wall and blocked a sweeping tentacle strike.

  His Iron Bastion was already broken by two-thirds, and what remained was covered in cracks, like glass on the verge of shattering.

  Teeth clenched, veins bulging, drenched in blood from head to toe, he still didn’t take a single step back.

  Farther away, Iris Su was kneeling in the ruins, hands locked in a seal, lips bitten through and bleeding.

  She was casting one final buff on everyone—

  Burning Time.

  Exchanging her life for three seconds of extreme speed for the entire team.

  Her hair was turning white at a visible speed.

  Her skin was shriveling, as if all the moisture in her body had been drained away.

  “Iris!” Alex roared. “Stop!”

  Iris lifted her head and smiled at him.

  That smile was exactly the same as it had been ten years ago—

  Back in the convenience store stockroom, when that trembling high school girl had been curled up in the corner, and Alex had pulled her out.

  She had smiled just like this then, too.

  “Brother Alex...” Her voice was so faint it was almost impossible to hear. “This time... let me protect you...”

  The moment the words fell, a burst of golden light exploded from her body and enveloped the entire battlefield.

  Alex felt his body grow lighter.

  Three seconds.

  Only three seconds.

  He charged toward the World Devourer.

  Lena stayed beside him, her Phoenix Rebirth burning for the very last time as her entire body transformed into a firebird.

  Marcus threw away his shattered shield and charged barehanded toward the beast’s tentacle, using his own body to block that fatal strike.

  Three seconds.

  Two seconds.

  One second.

  Alex leapt in front of the monster, his sword driving toward its enormous compound eye.

  And then he saw his own reflection.

  Inside the monster’s eye, he saw the reflections of seventeen people.

  Seventeen people, disappearing one after another.

  Lena’s firebird slammed into the monster’s face, exploding into a spray of sparks before going dark.

  Marcus was smashed into the ruins by a tentacle and never stood up again.

  Iris’s body broke apart into motes of light and drifted away in the wind.

  Alex’s sword pierced the monster’s eye.

  The monster’s claw struck his body.

  Boom—

  The world shattered.

  Alex’s body flew backward like a rag doll and crashed into the rubble. His vision blurred.

  In his ears were the howling wind and the System’s cold mechanical voice.

  “Human civilization—”

  “Trial failed—”

  “Evaluation: E—”

  “Eliminated—”

  Alex lay in the ruins, staring up at the red sky.

  Where was Lena Lin?

  Where was Iris Su?

  Where was Marcus Wang?

  He opened his mouth, wanting to call their names, but only broken breaths escaped his throat.

  His vision grew darker and darker.

  With his final glance, he saw the World Devourer’s giant claw rise again, blocking out the red sky.

  “Time Anomaly Detected—”

  “Rewind Protocol Initiated—”

  “Target: Regressor · Alex Chen—”

  “Rewind Time: 3652 days earlier—”

  II

  Alex Chen snapped his eyes open.

  A white ceiling.

  A white hanging lamp.

  A familiar ceiling. A familiar lamp.

  It was the apartment he had rented for five years, a place where he could find every corner with his eyes closed.

  Sunlight slipped through the gap in the curtains, casting a golden stripe across the floor.

  Outside came the familiar noise of the city—car horns, street vendors shouting, children laughing.

  Everything was normal.

  So normal that it felt like a dream.

  Alex stared at the ceiling without moving.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  He didn’t dare move.

  He was afraid that the moment he did, the dream would break, and he would return to that red world, return to those ruins, return to the instant Lena Lin vanished.

  Tears slid silently from the corners of his eyes, soaking into the pillow.

  After a long, long time, he slowly raised his right hand and held it before his face.

  A complete hand.

  Five fingers.

  No scars.

  No calluses.

  This was not the hand that had gripped a blade for ten years.

  This was the hand of Alex Chen, game tester.

  Slowly, he sat up and looked around.

  The apartment was small, just one bedroom and one living room, thirty square meters total. Game posters were taped to the wall.

  A half-eaten cup of instant noodles sat on the desk. His computer was still on, displaying the Dungeon run he hadn’t finished last night.

  His phone on the bedside table was lit up.

  Alex reached over, picked it up, and unlocked it.

  Friday, March 14, 2025, 09:37

  He stared at those words for a very, very long time.

  Then he opened a browser and searched the news.

  “Today’s Headlines: Domestic fuel prices enter a new round of adjustment”

  “Entertainment Flash: Celebrity romance rumors surface”

  “Tech News: Manufacturer releases next-generation smartphone”

  Normal news.

  Normal headlines.

  A normal world, before the apocalypse.

  Alex lowered the phone and closed his eyes.

  Ten years.

  He had survived ten years in the apocalypse.

  He had watched Lena Lin stand in front of him. He had watched Iris burn away her life.

  He had watched Marcus Wang shatter into dust. He had watched humanity fall from seven billion to seventeen. He had watched the World Devourer crush his last comrades like ants.

  Then he had died.

  Then he had come back.

  Back to the day before everything began.

  Alex’s eyes snapped open.

  His gaze had changed.

  No more dazed confusion from waking up. No more pain from drowning in memory.

  These were the eyes of an apocalypse veteran—cold, sharp, like blades.

  He threw back the blanket, got out of bed, walked to the window, and yanked the curtains open.

  The sunlight was blinding. He narrowed his eyes.

  Below was the familiar street. The familiar breakfast stall.

  The familiar old man walking his dog. The familiar parents taking their kids to school.

  Everything was still running as usual.

  No one knew what would happen tomorrow.

  No one knew that tomorrow at noon, the sky would split open.

  No one knew that by this time tomorrow, this street would be filled with the roars of Monsters and the screams of humans.

  No one knew that three years from now, not a single person on this street would still be alive.

  Alex clenched his fists.

  “This time...” His voice was quiet, so quiet it was almost a whisper to himself. “This time, I’m going to change everything.”

  III

  Alex turned and walked to the computer desk.

  He opened a blank document and started typing.

  His fingers flew over the keyboard so fast it looked like combat.

  In truth, it was combat.

  “Day One: System Descent, initial Class Selection. Hidden Class trigger phrase: Chrono Observer...”

  “Day One afternoon: First Dungeon spawn points: People’s Square subway station, lower level of New Century Mall, underground parking garage of Third Hospital in Old Town...”

  “Day Two: First Elite Monster spawn points: ...”

  “Day Three: Victor Zhao reveals his true nature for the first time: ...”

  “Day Seven: Newbie protection lifted, PVP activated, first large-scale human infighting: ...”

  “First month: First Forced Evolution Event, Boss siege, key defensive points: ...”

  “Third month: First mist contraction, Regional Convergence, first batch of cross-region powerhouses: ...”

  Alex kept typing, pouring everything he could remember onto the page.

  Ten years of apocalyptic memories flooded out of him like a breached dam.

  He knew which Classes were traps and which ones were god-tier.

  He knew where the first month’s Bosses would spawn and what they would drop.

  He knew who could be trusted and who would stab you in the back.

  He knew Victor Zhao would set a trap on the third day and get thirty-seven people killed.

  He knew Lena Lin would be severely wounded in the rescue operation on the fifth day and carry the damage forever.

  He knew Iris Su would lose her parents on the third day and hide in the convenience store stockroom waiting to die.

  He knew Marcus Wang would make a fatal mistake on the first day and wipe out the whole team.

  He knew too much.

  But as he typed, his fingers gradually slowed.

  He stared at the three characters for “Lena Lin” on the screen, and an image flashed through his mind—

  Her standing in front of him, pierced by a beam of light, transforming into a firebird, then going dark.

  He kept typing, but his hands were shaking.

  When he typed the name “Iris,” he saw that smile again.

  That smile from the instant before she burned away everything.

  Exactly the same as ten years ago.

  Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

  Don’t cry.

  Apocalypse veterans don’t cry.

  There was no time to cry.

  He opened his eyes again and resumed typing.

  This time, his gaze was colder, harder, sharper.

  Like a blade.

  He compressed ten years of memories into that single document.

  Then he saved it, shut down the computer, and stood up.

  He had too much to do in the next twenty-four hours.

  Withdraw cash—before the apocalypse, cash would still be useful.

  The power wouldn’t go out in the first few days, and supplies would still have to be bought.

  Procure supplies—medicine, compressed food, drinking water, tactical flashlights, multifunction knives.

  Scout locations—mark Dungeon Entrances, resource points, safehouse locations.

  Contact people—send a message to his little sister and tell her not to leave the house tomorrow no matter what.

  Send Lena Lin a message... no, that wouldn’t work. She wouldn’t believe him. He could only go save her in person when the time came.

  Alex unlocked his phone and sent his sister a WeChat message.

  No matter what happens tomorrow, stay home and don’t go outside. Wait for me to come get you. Don’t go out.

  Three seconds later, his sister replied with a question mark.

  Bro, did you stay up all night gaming again?

  Alex didn’t explain. He just sent another message.

  Remember this.

  No matter what you see, don’t go outside.

  He slipped the phone into his pocket, grabbed his wallet and keys, and headed for the door.

  His hand stopped on the doorknob.

  He looked at this ordinary apartment door and remembered that ten years later, this entire area had already been flattened.

  Nothing remained.

  Then he pushed the door open and walked out.

  The sunlight outside was perfect.

  No one knew what would happen tomorrow.

  Except him.

  As Alex walked down the familiar street, looking at the people who were about to die, he thought silently to himself—

  This time, I’m going to save you.

  This time, I’m going to change everything.

  This time—

  I won’t let Lena Lin stand in front of me again.

  I won’t let Iris burn away her life again.

  I won’t let Marcus Wang hold up the shield wall alone again.

  This time—

  It’s our turn to win.

  [End of Chapter 1]