"Phew..."

The time was 12:10 AM. Looking at the more than 800 million Gold Coins now back in his inventory, Shen Fei let out a long breath, finally able to relax completely.

"Son, are you okay?" Just then, his mother’s voice came from behind him.

That afternoon, her son had told the family not to go to sleep at midnight. She hadn’t expected that just after 12 AM, he would frantically wake them all up, shouting for them to choose some game. Afterwards, the family of three stood in the doorway, watching their son perform all sorts of frantic "operations" on the computer. Although Father Shen and Mrs. Shen didn’t know he was topping up a game account, they could still recognize the bank transfer interface. Earlier, that voice—they didn’t know if it was a dream or real—had echoed in their minds again. Faced with her son’s "madness," Mrs. Shen was a little nervous.

"I’m fine. You guys go get some rest," Shen Fei said, trying to placate his family for now, as he still had a lot to do. "Don’t go out tomorrow! I heard from someone that big changes are coming!"

There was so much he couldn’t explain. They would only understand when the game truly descended in a day’s time. If he told his parents right now that things from the game could be brought into reality, they would think he was crazy. They might even try to have him committed to a mental hospital.

"Bro! What’s going on?!"

While his confused parents were persuaded back to their room, his younger sister, Shen Yue, wasn’t so easily fooled. Just a moment ago, she had watched Shen Fei dump so much money into the game all at once. Shen Yue was shocked at how rich her brother was, and also shocked at why he was spending it all like this. At the same time, she was reeling from that voice in her head from earlier. Many of her close friends had just messaged her, asking if she was asleep and if she’d heard the voice too. Combining her brother’s recent words with his current actions, Shen Yue had a feeling that her big brother seemed to know something.

"It’s nothing. I saw some news in a private group, so don’t worry!" Knowing his sister wasn’t easy to fool, Shen Fei casually invented the existence of a "master." "This master said that all we have to do is top up in the game!"

"Alright, hurry up and go to sleep!" he said, shooing her away when he saw she was about to ask more questions. "And no running around tomorrow!"

Tonight confirmed that the game would descend; tomorrow night was the real arrival. He couldn’t sleep tonight because he had to make a choice. And tomorrow night, sleep was even more out of the question! In his past life, he’d heard of someone who, upon inheriting their Extraordinary Power, had collapsed an apartment building with a single slap in their sleep. Therefore, when the abilities were inherited, one needed to be even more awake than right now. Although the game’s ability inheritance had a short adaptation period at the beginning, being wide awake was still the most important thing.

If my sister rests well tonight, she’ll have the energy for tomorrow night...

"Phew..."

After sending his bewildered sister away, Shen Fei let out another long breath and turned his attention back to the game. The game’s descent was now a certainty. The anxiety that had gripped him finally subsided.

Focusing on the game again, he looked at the newly added 800 million. The top-up channels for all games worldwide had been sealed by an invisible force. Even if other people wanted to do something in response to the voice, there were no methods or channels left for them to use. But he was different. With the 800 million he had just topped up, he could continue to upgrade his game character. Whether continuing to buy items or upgrading his Level 7 and Level 8 Gemstones to even higher levels, everything was possible!

Shen Fei believed that at this very moment, all the major game companies, banks, online banking institutions, and even official global regulatory agencies were in chaos. Game top-up channels being closed might seem like a small matter, but for it to happen in such an undetectable and incomprehensible way would surely terrify people. The higher one’s status and the more one knew, the greater the fear would be.

None of that had anything to do with Shen Fei. He began spending his Gold Coins, planning to upgrade all the Level 7 Gemstones on his Defense Towers to Level 8. While doing so, he headed toward the world map. He had previously told the fans of the Heaven-Reaching Gang to stay awake past midnight to consciously make their choice, and he had also promised everyone that he would send out Gold Coin red packets on the world map. Now, he had to fulfill that promise. Having just topped up 800 million, giving a few million to his fans in red packets was nothing to him.

"Bro!"

"Bro!"

"Bro, are you done yet? What the hell is going on?!"

"I’m seeing tons of people saying they heard that voice!"

"This obviously isn’t some Mandela Effect!!"

As soon as Shen Fei entered the world map, a string of questions from Yu came flooding through the in-game chat channel. He, too, had logged back into the game. And, following Shen Fei’s advice, he had poured all his money into the game.

"Just play the game and stop asking questions!"

Unlike with his parents and sister, Shen Fei didn’t bother explaining much to Yu. Yu’s family lived in a high-end residential complex right next to the Nanshan Villa district, so they could meet tomorrow and talk in detail. To make it convenient to drive Father Shen around, Uncle Sun had bought a house in the community closest to the villa district, so the two families lived very close to each other. Because of this, after Yu returned from Songhai City, he could easily come over to hang out every day.

"So many people! Everyone, form a line!"

Arriving at the world map coordinates provided by the streamer "Gun’Er," Shen Fei saw a huge crowd of players who had changed their name prefixes to "Heaven-Reaching Gang." While greeting everyone through the local chat channel, he started sending out red packets. He heard from the fan leader, Gun’Er, that in the QQ group—the one that had crowdfunded the Gemstones for him—90% of the members were online tonight. The ones who weren’t online were pretty much all busy with real-life matters, either at social engagements or on a plane.

Regarding this, Shen Fei could only express his regret. However, 90% was enough.

As long as a fraction of these people are willing to follow me after the apocalypse descends, my core team will be established!

While sending out the red packets, Shen Fei also chatted with everyone, and during their conversation, he learned which real-life cities many of his fans lived in.