Chapter 002: The Will of the Gods
Li Gang could clearly feel the entire building tremble slightly from the recent explosion.
A hand grenade? A bomb? These words flashed through his mind.
After the blast, a sense of foreboding gripped him. He no longer bothered to hide himself, shouting loudly as he quickened his pace, “Li Shen, Lin Yan, there are three of them in total—one sniper in the shadows. Stay away from windows facing the street, and don’t let your silhouette show!”
Darting around a corridor, Li Gang’s nerves tensed instantly.
Ahead, a dark gun barrel was aimed straight at him.
The man holding the gun was a burly Black man, grinning at Li Gang as he emerged. His mouthful of gleaming white teeth radiated a chilling menace.
Without a moment’s hesitation, like a cold-blooded butcher, the Black man squeezed the trigger the instant Li Gang appeared.
Bullets tore toward Li Gang!
“Damn it!”
Li Gang cursed inwardly.
His enhanced speed proved invaluable at that critical moment—he immediately fell back.
In truth, the instant the man fired, or perhaps even as his finger twitched, Li Gang had already halted and thrown himself backward.
Bullets from the machine gun riddled the wall where he’d been standing, leaving a dozen deep craters.
Barely steadying himself, Li Gang quickly pulled out a grenade, yanked the pin, and the moment the gunfire ceased, he flung it toward the spot he remembered the Black man occupying, not even looking.
But just as he hurled his grenade, he spotted another, even larger, grenade flying his way.
The sight nearly made him scream aloud.
He tossed his submachine gun aside and, without a thought for the several-meter-high staircase, leapt down, curling himself into a ball in midair and using his arms to shield his body as he rolled down the stairs, letting the slope carry him.
The agony as his body collided repeatedly with the concrete steps made him grit his teeth hard.
Boom!
He was still tumbling when, not far away, a tremendous explosion shook the air. The shockwave sent him spinning even faster down the stairs.
Thanks to his enhanced physique and his well-practiced evasive maneuvers, none of his bones fractured or dislocated—his injuries were mostly superficial scrapes, and even those wounds were healing before his eyes.
After so many battles since the world had ended, he had learned how to protect himself well.
Enduring the pain, Li Gang slowly stood amid smoke and dust.
A wave of tinnitus robbed him of his hearing. He quickly moved into the nearest room to hide.
Li Gang realized they had encountered a team with exceptional military training: ruthless, adept with all kinds of firearms, and equipped with communications gear for real-time contact.
He soon recovered from the ringing in his ears, then slipped silently out of the room, making his way up the shattered corridor.
The hallway was already in ruins from the explosions.
Li Gang’s goal was to retrieve his submachine gun. He’d thrown a grenade earlier, and with his two companions holding the enemy’s attention above, he judged the corridor safe for now.
He soon found his weapon amid the debris and, after a quick inspection, breathed a sigh of relief.
The gun was still serviceable, not damaged beyond use by the explosion.
All around him fell silent—clearly, a stalemate had set in ahead.
At that moment, footsteps sounded from below, growing closer.
Peering through the gap in the stairs, Li Gang’s face fell. A white man, gun in hand, was racing up the steps.
He realized he might be finished now, caught from both sides.
The white man seemed to sense Li Gang’s gaze, pausing to look up. Seeing the fear on Li Gang’s face, he grinned.
Then, with practiced ease, the white man raised his machine gun, took aim, and pulled the trigger.
“Is this the end?”
Li Gang wondered. In that instant, all fear and dread vanished; he felt strangely calm.
In truth, from the moment the apocalypse began, or rather, ever since the so-called “god” declared the start of the game, he never truly believed he would survive to the end.
From the very beginning, Li Gang had lived each day as it came, waiting for the day death would claim him.
When had this damned “game” begun?
No, he didn’t believe this was a game at all. This was the end of the world—the true apocalypse for humanity alone.
Was it a year ago? Several years? Decades past? Li Gang’s thoughts drifted far, far away…
…
Earth, one day.
In the capital of the most powerful nation in Asia, at exactly seven o’clock in the evening.
At that moment, across six continents and over two hundred nations and regions, a divine decree from “god” was simultaneously received.
This “decree” was delivered through every means imaginable—network, television, mobile phone, newspaper, any form of printed text—any medium capable of transmitting information, appearing everywhere in local languages and scripts.
The message persisted for nearly an hour.
It appeared out of thin air, and vanished just as mysteriously.
Its content:
“I am the god of this world. Ten years from now, I will randomly choose ten thousand humans between the ages of fourteen and forty-four on Earth to be the Chosen. All other humans on Earth will be erased by me!”
In China, the strongest nation in Asia, every television, computer, and phone screen displayed the same message in Chinese characters:
“I am the god of this world. Ten years from now, I will randomly choose ten thousand humans between the ages of fourteen and forty-four on Earth to be the Chosen. All other humans on Earth will be erased by me!”
Turn off the screen, and the message vanished. Turn it back on, and there it was again, as if infected by a virus.
People reading books or newspapers found, no matter the publication, that every page was filled with this message, even the covers—without exception.
That night in China, sleep was impossible.
“What is this?”
“Whose prank is this? Or did some master hacker break into every computer, TV, and communications device?”
“Idiot! What kind of hacker can change the printed words on every book and newspaper?”
“You must be joking! There’s no such thing as god in this world!”
“Am I dreaming?”
“Haha! God has finally acted—this is punishment for humanity’s sins!”
“God? Screw you, what nonsense.”
“Damn it, I was about to win this game—what the hell is going on?”
“Network admin, your internet café’s been hacked.”
“…”
Countless people lost their minds. These were the phrases most frequently uttered in those moments.
After one minute, all of China was in shock.
After three minutes, the nation was restless, and chaos erupted.
After five minutes, unrest persisted; public order issues broke out in many places, emotions ran high, and crime rates soared to new records.
After ten minutes, the military, police, and all departments mobilized, broadcasting reassurance and striving to maintain order.
After fifteen minutes, the highest officials in China convened an emergency meeting on the matter, reaching out to other nations. Any communications device without an electronic screen functioned normally.
After contacting the world, China’s leaders received shocking news—the same phenomenon had appeared in every nation at that very moment.