PLANET TERMINUS

Unfortunately, memories are hard to be retained during the process and crossover to a new life.

Only under a few special circumstances like transmigration will some retain their previous memories.

Otherwise, imagine this. You were once a powerful entity like a mage for example, that was revered by everyone in the universe, then you die someday too and find yourself in this process.

With your thousands of years of life experience, you find out that you are a toddler. You will have to pee and shit on yourself to look normal. Cry out regularly and even try to act cute.

There is again the point where you will have to learn to walk again yet you were able to walk and fly in the skies.

Many embarrassing things you will have to go through to be able to be your previous self with the only benefit for you is being smart at a young age.

Then why not be saved from all these hassles by a memory wipe out? You won't even know who you were, good for you it is.

---

Some years later, Ye Chen is already here again. In a new world called Terminus which is also in the mortal realm.

Just for clarity, the moral realm spans all kinds of galaxies, stars, and planet systems that have life on them and are majorly occupied by humans or some human-like entities but they are not that overpowered.

Terminus, a world beyond recovery, a dystopian world already.

The sun that was once a golden beacon of hope now hung like a skyline tarnished coin.

Its feeble light barely penetrated the thick smog that clung to the previous city's skeletal skyscrapers.

Welcome to Terminus, where dreams had withered and humanity's folly had birthed a dystopia.

This was a place of perpetual twilight, the air tasted of rust and despair.

The once vibrant neon-lit streets were now narrow alleys, chocked by vibrant vegetation, junk yard cars, and remnants of shattered dreams.

The collapsing buildings leaned against each other like old drunks, their windows boarded or shattered.

Graffiti, a desperate cry for meaning, adorned every surface.

The city's heartbeats were a cacophony of distant chirps of birds, echoing footsteps, and occasional gunshots.

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How did they end up here?

Legends spanning thousands of years circulated Terminus.

A group of corporations came together to form a unified world government.

They promised progress and prosperity.

They merged with governments, their tendrils infiltrating every facet of society.

The unknowing citizens traded their privacy for convenience, and their autonomy for security.

But the price was steeper than anticipated. Slowly by slowly, everything became centralized in that every action was monitored. Purchases, trade secrets, new plans, everything.

The stock market started collapsing, economies started to crumble and the world then turned to chaos.

A war broke out and the Corporations, like vultures, swooped down to pick the bones clean.

Elites separated themselves from the Underworlds up to today.

Another legend talked of an alien invasion and how a war broke out before the aliens were defeated and chased away.

Others talked of a nuclear war, a war that erupted from a glitch by the AI algorithms that controlled weapons of mass destruction.

But these two were skeptical and since skepticism doesn't sell, the newer generation stuck to the first legend.

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As per the current situation, Terminus was split into two.

An upper class called the Elites and those who dwelt in the wastelands called Underworlds.

Elites built a wall around themselves and constructed ivory towers to comfortably live in.

There was no direct interaction between the two classes. Only a few selected were able to go in from the outside trough some program initiatives.

Mostly chosen by the Elites themselves.

For the Underworlds, the air was thick with pollutants, and the rain burned like acid.

Orphans roamed the desolate alleys, their eyes hollow, their limbs twisted from malnutrition.

Terminus was divided into seven regions.

Elites residents that they called Eden, the Southern Division, Northern Division, Eastern Division, Western Division, Central Division, and The Polar.

The cardinal divisions were partitioned by a few overlords who were stronger than other people.

The Polar was the strangest as no one knew what was there. Whoever occupied here was believed to be the strongest as the environment there was not altered at all.

Eden was under strict surveillance such that the outside world did not know much about it. Those who managed to be taken in would have to be detained mostly and there were therefore no leaks to the outside.

Survival was what mattered for the Underworlds, they established schools for survival skills and training camps to birth new warriors.

The crisis strengthened their human bonds and made them forego the past and live in harmony.

They had a short lifespan anyway, no one would bother to fight you as it did not benefit the dwindling population.

Forty to fifty years was the maximum for most of them.

But there still existed danger out here.

Most animals had undergone some mutations and if encountered, it could be fatal.

They were called mammoths.

There was again the bandit groups, a group of outlaws that robbed and killed for resources.

They were believed to be working for Corporations related to the Elites for some benefits.

As for Elites, their life was already settled as per allegations.

Technology, food, health, and education were in abundance.

Unfortunately, you can't choose where to be born.

And like anyone else Ye Chen was born here as Ye Chen.

The innocent sixteen-year-old was not aware of what awaited him.

Let's meet him.