Shen Fei: "That’s right. Otherwise, the Earth in its current state wouldn’t be able to handle abilities being inherited all at once. The planet needs an adaptation period!"

After giving Sun Yu a brief explanation, Shen Fei said no more.

As humans inherited their game abilities, their powers were massively enhanced. As humanity’s vessel, Earth naturally had to be enhanced as well. The colossal planet wouldn’t just increase in size. Its mass, density, Defense Power, energy levels, and more all had to be upgraded.

Preventing players from inheriting all their abilities at once was precisely to give Earth time to grow. Otherwise, the current, ordinary Earth wouldn’t just be at risk of being blown to pieces by a max-level player losing control of their newfound power; it was even more likely to be destroyed by the various Super Bosses invading reality! Only a phased inheritance that gave Earth time to evolve could prevent all of this from happening.

Having lived through three years of the apocalypse, Shen Fei didn’t know all the secrets, like the ultimate reason for the game’s arrival. But he had heard some theories. He had even heard that the game’s descent seemed to be related to something special about Earth itself...

After ending the call with Sun Yu, Shen Fei glanced back at his parents, who were sitting in the living room looking slightly nervous but trying to act as if nothing was wrong.

23:45:00

23:50:00

23:55:00

23:59:00

.

Time slowly ticked by. Having made every preparation, Shen Fei was as steady as a rock.

At this moment, on all the major gaming forums, countless threads were live-streaming the countdown. Meanwhile, on Q&A sites, social media, short-video apps, and every other platform, the top-ranking news was all about the midnight countdown.

Moreover, the hype surrounding the "Game Arrives at Midnight" event was off the charts. It was hotter than any news story in history. The entire world was waiting for this moment to arrive. Through the livestreams, people could even see looters stopping in their tracks as the moment arrived...

"I am a God!!!"

"Look at my Attributes!!!"

With ten seconds left in the countdown, someone on the forums suddenly posted an image. It was a screenshot of a game’s Attribute panel. On the screenshot, all the values were a long string of 9s. Obviously, this was an account someone had made for themselves by altering the game data...

"I am Pangu!!!"

"I am a black hole!!!"

"I am the singularity of the universe!!!"

"I am the rules, I manage a trillion cosmic bubbles!!"

.

In the final ten seconds, spurred on by the sudden appearance of the modded image, many people couldn’t hold back any longer. Countless others began competing to show off their own data. These were all character info cards from modified private servers. There were always clever people trying to take a shortcut...

They were all scheming bastards, each wanting to pull off something big. These people all revealed their true colors at the last moment.

23:59:56

23:59:57

23:59:58

23:59:59

.

Shen Fei paid no mind to the images suddenly flooding the forums. He just calmly watched as time flowed by!

CLICK!

When the time ticked over to "00:00:00", a tremendous roar suddenly thundered in everyone’s ears. After the initial shock from the sound, the waiting crowds heard a calm and neutral voice slowly begin to speak in their ears...

Whether they believed or not, whether they were prepared or not, whether they were good or evil, the voice once again rang in everyone’s ears.

Those who had been asleep the previous night and missed the announcement stared with wide eyes. And those who had made their choice last night were all overjoyed. Especially the "wise guys" who had just posted their explosive screenshots—all of them were now roaring, their eyes bloodshot. Some even started a livestream on the spot, ready to display their greatness to the world...

Of course, there were also people who paid no attention to any of this. Some people, busy with their lives, hadn’t heard the voice last night, had ignored the news during the day, and were now sleeping as usual...

[Ding!]

[Azure Star Version 4.0 update is commencing!]

[Game ability inheritance into reality is beginning!]

[Game ability inheritance will begin in five seconds. Inheritance is divided into eight categories: Cultivation, Skills, Pets, Accessories, Equipment, Cities, Heroes, and Other. Please select the first category you wish to inherit. If no choice is made, the selection will be random...]

[Inheritance will be calculated based on in-game purchase amounts. Stage One: Initial 1-yuan purchase. All players who made this purchase will inherit 5% of their chosen category’s abilities. One day later, Stage Two will begin: the 6-yuan purchase, granting 10% inheritance. Two days after that, Stage Three: the 88-yuan purchase, granting 50%... The full inheritance of the first chosen category will be completed after one week.]

[To ensure fairness, accounts with privately altered game data, including related GM and other internal accounts, will be excluded!]

[To ensure fairness, a relative Combat Power calibration will be applied across different game genres.]

[Due to unknown reasons, paying users of a certain literature app may inherit additional ’text’-related game abilities based on their subscription value...]

.

.

Midnight arrived, and the voice rang out just as he had hoped! 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Shen Fei’s eyes lit up as he listened!

"Accessories!!"

With a fierce pump of his fist, Shen Fei made his choice.

Reborn for a month!

It’s finally happening!

I’m really about to inherit the game abilities I’ve been working on for a whole month!

The apocalypse is really here!

My preparations have finally paid off!

The inheritance of game abilities was done by category and by percentage. His Defense Towers were classified as a type of Accessory. Shen Fei directly chose to prioritize inheriting Accessories.

Although his Gemstones, his skills, his Black Tortoise, and his Floating City were all very powerful, the foundation of their power was the Defense Towers. He had to prioritize inheriting the Defense Towers.

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

"AHH!!"

At the same moment Shen Fei made his choice, his father, mother, and sister all cried out in shock beside him. The three of them were startled by the voice in their heads.