Glorious God Throne

Glorious God Throne - Extra 1

The first day after the Black Rain Catastrophe ended.

The White King, observing the infinite worlds, projected every world destroyed by Return to the Void into the deepest parts of dreams, recreating them as game instances.

Wielding authority over worlds and connecting with all living consciousness, He distributed public beta access, inviting every surviving being to join His nightmare game.

In the game, players could experience the customs, history, culture, and unique extraordinary systems of infinite worlds. They could continuously experience combat in nightmare instances, face death, confront fears, and gain rich survival experience in the wasteland world, thereby surviving better in reality.

They would take on the role of game protagonists, fulfill their wishes, resolve the obsessions of each nightmare game protagonist, and finally earn points based on completion of clearance tasks.

Game points replaced original national currencies, becoming one of the most important and universal currencies. They could not only be exchanged for items in the nightmare game but also for corresponding living materials in real life, miraculous extraordinary items, and better treatment… anything could be exchanged for if points were sufficient.

With enough points, players could even apply to the game system to bring suitable extraordinary powers from instances into reality—that is, giving players the possibility to cultivate certain extraordinary systems in reality.

However, after exchange, they still had to start cultivation from scratch.

Otherwise, even if they mastered corresponding techniques or tricks in nightmare game instances, the rules of the real world would not allow cultivation.

Beyond this, the White King did not interfere in human affairs. He created the nightmare game, allowing everyone the opportunity to enter nightmare instances to temper themselves, but humanity’s survival and development in the real world remained under the Pan-Human Alliance’s management, except for indicating general directions.

As Calamity Truth Palmer combined wizard formulas with modern science to create new communication methods and spread “signal towers” as beacons across the world, previously isolated humans reconnected and were no longer islands in the sea.

Various countries initially wanted to rebuild their order, but the environment on Blue Star was harsher than imagined.

In the post-disaster world, distorted rules and contaminated monsters were distributed everywhere. The scope ranged from a single room, a street, to an entire city, or even an island.

The rules in these areas became bizarrely varied:

Some areas lost gravity; some had soil that devoured all life like swamps; some were filled with invisible spatial blades where entering would randomly result in loss of body parts; in some areas water burned and fire froze solid, where humans would spontaneously combust the moment they entered as the water in their bodies immediately ignited…

These areas with chaotic and distorted rules were collectively called Anomalous Zones.

Areas where rules remained exactly the same as before the disaster’s arrival were called Safe Zones.

–Humanity, initially ignorant, paid countless lives to summarize these two simple concepts.

The Anomalous Zones completely shattered Blue Star’s structure, making many countries’ hopes of restoring their pre-apocalyptic order impossible.

Because Anomalous Zones were randomly distributed and extremely irregular, they divided original territories into fragmented Safe Zones. Even the strongest countries couldn’t cross these dangerous and terrifying Anomalous Zones to govern all Safe Zones that should have been their territory and restore pre-disaster order.

Under these circumstances, a new social model emerged: the Pan-Human Alliance served as humanity’s highest governing body, while Safe Zones self-governed. They followed the Pan-Human Alliance’s arrangements in humanity’s overall development direction and obeyed its highest directives and basic laws, but each Safe Zone had its own self-governing system.

According to the Pan-Human Alliance’s “Highest Directive”, all Safe Zones were obligated to explore nearby dangerous Anomalous Zones, eliminate wandering monsters, ensure human safety, create more space for human survival and development, and carry out various infrastructure tasks according to guidance from the Life Tower scholars.

–This was a preliminary step for future Void Tower refinement. Many people didn’t need to understand its mysteries; they just needed to follow the Life Tower’s guidance step by step.

–Although all Safe Zones self-governed according to their circumstances, this highest directive was mandatory for everyone.

Most people’s daily routine became earning points in the nightmare game at night while broadening their horizons, and clearing monsters, exploring Anomalous Zones, and rebuilding their homes during the day.

Thus, Blue Star entered a new era.

The day the White King guided all beings into the nightmare game was seen as the end of the old era and the beginning of the new.

Year 3 of the New Calendar.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The sun hung high in the sky, visible from any corner of the world except those Anomalous Zones shrouded in dense fog, making their internal scenery impossible to discern.

Looking down from the sky, outside the fog-covered Anomalous Zones, towers rose from the ground. They stood in the gaps between Anomalous Zones, forming the core of Safe Zones.

According to Life Tower scholars, these towers were merely components of the Void Tower. To use an analogy, they were like energy collectors and engines. All towers worldwide would jointly form a massive formation that, once completed, could refine the entire Blue Star into the Void Tower.

Radiating outward from the towers were buildings of varying heights, forming circles that expanded outward to constitute entire Safe Zones.

“Haha, impressive, right? This is the initial result of everyone’s joint construction efforts over three years! To be honest, every time I return from outside and see the changes in the Safe Zone, I feel super accomplished!” said the siblings Ji Heng and Ji Nian, who had just returned from exploring an Anomalous Zone, looking up at the tall tower in the Safe Zone with proud smiles.

“Indeed impressive,” someone nearby nodded, admiring the tower for a moment before saying with a smile, “Although I’ve visited many Safe Zones and seen such sights more than once, each time I’m amazed by humanity’s potential…”

His tone carried an extremely faint non-human quality, as if excluding himself from humanity and calmly observing everything from another perspective with detachment.

But the siblings didn’t notice this subtle strangeness and instead were deeply moved, nodding in agreement with feeling.

“Exactly! When Return to the Void arrived, a quarter of the world’s population died in just ten days. I thought I was nearly done for…” Ji Heng said, looking fearfully at his left arm where flesh had been replaced by some strange black metal inscribed with mechanical school wizard runes. He then smiled, showing bright white teeth, “But who would have thought we not only didn’t die but survived, and in just three years, we’ve made new homes in Safe Zones? Shows how tenacious we humans are.”

“Oh right, Bai Yi just said he’s been to many Safe Zones? Really? How are things in other places?”

The siblings suddenly realized the meaning behind the other person’s earlier words and looked at him with surprise.

Strictly speaking, they had only known him for a few hours.

Not long ago, when they had just finished their exploration task and left that Anomalous Zone, they ran into this “youth” wandering alone near the Anomalous Zone.

His appearance looked incredibly young, with soft fluffy black hair and a youthful face. A black cat perched on his shoulder, and when he smiled slightly, his lively aura was infectious, like a middle school student who had run away from home before the disaster struck.

If he hadn’t personally admitted to being 21 years old, they wouldn’t have believed it. Even now they were somewhat skeptical.

To be honest, the “youth’s” appearance was too deceptive, and they couldn’t bear to let him continue wandering outside alone, so they simply invited him to return to the Safe Zone with them.

He readily agreed.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

But they hadn’t expected that this “youth” wasn’t actually a resident of their Safe Zone. Moreover, from his words, he had apparently visited many other Safe Zones…?

If this wasn’t false, then they had misjudged him. In this era where monsters roamed everywhere, crossing maps filled with Anomalous Zones and traveling between multiple Safe Zones… only powerful extraordinaries could accomplish this.

But they had never heard of the name Bai Yi.

Under the siblings’ subtly suspicious gaze, the youth with the black cat on his shoulder slightly raised his eyebrows and showed a troubled smile:

“…Ah, that’s a long story.”

The three walked into the tower while chatting.

This was the Safe Zone’s central hub and where tasks were assigned – tasks of varying danger levels, from clearing monsters and exploring Anomalous Zones to cultivating crops and raising livestock in the Safe Zone, and periodically purifying pollution for plants, all cycled on display screens covering the walls.

After each task was marked the corresponding contribution points. This was also the “currency” for everyone living in the Safe Zone.

The Ji siblings first submitted their Anomalous Zone exploration task, uploading all recorded content and their personal experiences as data for review and contribution points distribution. They then introduced Bai Yi to the staff in the task hall. “This is an extraordinary from another Safe Zone, Bai Yi, who will stay here for a while. Please help register him.” They didn’t forget to turn to Bai Yi, “Unfortunately, contribution points from different Safe Zones aren’t transferable. If you don’t mind, you can temporarily stay with us? Later you can take some easier tasks, and the contribution points will be enough for daily expenses, how about that?”

Bai Yi gladly accepted their proposal.

The registrar then began asking about Bai Yi’s profession.

Bai Yi tilted his head. “I guess I’m a gourmet?”

A gourmet wasn’t, of course, a food critic from before the apocalypse, but rather a new extraordinary profession, a branch of Spirit Forgers and one of the best support professions.

They fully adjusted food’s spiritual energy through cooking, developing spirituality through Spirit Forger techniques. The resulting cuisine had various magical effects, whether helping people quickly recover spiritual energy and spirituality consumed in battle, eliminating negative emotions, resisting mental pollution, or achieving completely opposite negative effects… these were all techniques gourmets excelled at.

The so-called cuisine wasn’t fixed in form. Pastries, candies, staple foods, beverages, spray mists, powders… all fell within the scope of cuisine. When gourmets used negative effects, they could completely function as poisoners/cursers. This gave this support profession some combat capability.

But regardless, people had deeper impressions of the positive effects. Especially in this post-apocalyptic era, anything that brought people positive emotions was worth cherishing. Sometimes, a dish from a gourmet could dispel many people’s negative emotions, keeping them in good spirits all day.

Therefore, when Bai Yi announced his profession, not only the staff and Ji siblings, but everyone in the hall who heard his voice looked over at him.

Many people still carried travel-worn fatigue and lingering sorrow from not yet emerging from three years of pain, but in the depths of their eyes, there wasn’t complete despair.

There seemed to always be a light of hope attracting their progress, making everyone strive toward that bright future.

And this self-proclaimed gourmet youth was undoubtedly one of those countless hopeful lights supporting their journey through darkness.

People’s gazes filled with kindness and respect. “A gourmet, that must be the most healing profession!”

Thinking of his “vest” that was still ranked first on the Dark Gourmet list, and those people who over three years had tearfully bought his cuisine, benefited from its powerful positive effects yet lost their sense of taste due to the horrifying flavors, eventually developing distorted food aesthetics, coming to like his culinary art, praising him frantically, promoting him, causing more people to be misled into placing orders and becoming his new batch of fanatics… Bai Yi felt momentarily guilty.

But he had indeed healed many people, hadn’t he? Just look at all those comments and sincere thanks under his account.

Bai Yi immediately became righteous again.

He slightly raised his chin, accepting everyone’s praise. The black cat on his shoulder mimicked the gesture, meowing once.

“Mm, I think so too~”