Kingdom of Corrosion

In the vast universe, there was a most beautiful planet named Earth. It had azure seas and skies, towering mountains, rushing rivers and seas, and picturesque farmlands that nurtured countless lives. For thousands of years, people lived on this planet, enjoying an unparalleled life and happiness.

But everything changed from that day on.

The world was filled with the stench of decay as the dead became walking corpses. The surviving people hastily boarded the Ark, leaving behind Mother Earth, leaving our beautiful homeland.

For thousands of years, humans residing on Blue Star never forgot their mother. And today, a million humans would return to Earth to rebuild their home.

Lin Wu stretched out his hand to turn off the virtual display in front of him, thinking to himself: It's just a game, a zombie game at that, why make such a big fuss about it?

For Lin Wu, a college student about to enter society, he had played countless games in his lifetime, but had never experienced moral enlightenment or improved his literacy through them. In the past, Lin Wu would have picked up the keyboard and fired off some comments as a mark of 'respect', but not with this game. It wasn't because the developer Dawn was anything special, but because he had no choice but to play.

A week ago, the second part of the Home Plan of humanity's second habitat, Blue Star, had begun. The Blue Star Butler, an intelligent AI named Dawn, randomly selected one million Blue Star people aged 18-40 to return to Earth and take over the first part of the Home Plan, a city built by robots. Lin Wu was one of the 'unlucky' million.

The video Lin Wu had watched earlier was a game trailer for 'Survival', produced by Dawn based on the blueprint of the zombie virus outbreak on Earth in August 2144. One purpose of the game was to provide a bit of fun for the million people during their two-year hibernation journey. Lin Wu's interest in 'Survival' stemmed from the game's other important purpose: resource allocation for settlers.

With a million people migrating to Earth to rebuild their home, even if there was no distinction between noble and humble professions, houses still varied in size, and not everyone would be satisfied with how the resources were distributed. 'Survival' was the answer Dawn developed to solve this issue. In short, the points each person ended up with in the game represented their right to resource allocation upon arrival on Earth.

As for how the points were calculated, Dawn did not provide a detailed explanation, but only gave examples of a few ways to gain and lose points in the game, hoping the players would actively explore and engage. The longer one survived in the game, the higher the score. Achievements in the game could also add to one's score. Defeating powerful enemies was another way to gain points. Death was the only penalty mentioned by Dawn.

After touring the magnificent mountains and rivers of Blue Star and bidding farewell to his friends for the last time, Lin Wu kissed the soil of Blue Star and boarded the Ark. Was it possible to not go? Of course not, for Dawn would not be pleased, nor would Lin Wu himself. Migrating to Earth was a rare opportunity for ordinary people to turn their lives around. Whether on Blue Star or in Rome, everyone would start from the same starting line.

For Lin Wu, one of the million immigrants, his wish was to dominate the game 'Survival', to earn points, and thereby win a big villa and reach the pinnacle of life. Unfortunately, his wish was everyone's wish, and no one wanted to start a new life on Earth on 'hell mode'.

Following the system broadcast instructions, after waving goodbye to their mother planet, the passengers each entered their hibernation pods. With a million immigrants in hibernation, the game 'Survival' had officially begun.