Abyss Solo

Earth exploded.

Yang Ming remembered vividly that, about half an hour ago, Earth had exploded.

The sky was tumultuous with fiery clouds, and he sat in his living room at his childhood home, tightly embracing his parents and younger sister, facing the flames spewing from the cracks in the earth, succumbing to the agony of the flames and plunging into the abyss of unconsciousness.

"Am I dead now?"

Yang Ming's heart, on the contrary, calmed.

The television, internet, and mobile phone messages had been announcing from three days ago that Earth's civilization was about to collapse and human civilization was entering a countdown. High-energy rays from the outer Solar System were hitting Earth directly without any hindrance, and Earth's technology was powerless against it, rapidly disintegrating the civil order. (This message was not directly detected.)

The human civilization that hadn't managed to leave Earth just vanished like that.

Before the explosion of Earth, there was a rather absurd theory circulating online—that Earth was attacked by rays because of a virtual reality space exploration game called "Abyss."

Yang Ming, who had been addicted to "Abyss" since college, had reached the story arc of "Abyss Descends" three months ago. The climax of the story arc was betting on the home planet base, calling for global players to unite to counter the threat from the "Ninth Natural Disaster" Army.

How could players from all over the world unite?

The main storyline wasn't that big a deal anyway.

Over the past three months, various fleets were still waging wars against each other, and it was generally assumed that when the countdown of the expansion pack ended, the official "phantom troops" would overturn the powerful NPC fleets.

Just three days ago, the main fleet of the Ninth Natural Disaster Army broke through the outer lines of defense and reached near the Origin Mother Star of Earth's humans, firing a star-destroying missile at Earth's Origin Mother Star in the game world.

All global players were simultaneously kicked out of the game.

Half a day later, Earth's external satellites detected that high-energy ray, and Earth's human civilization entered a three-day countdown.

Was it really a coincidence?

Wasn't that too much of a coincidence?

During those three days, Yang Ming saw many conspiracy theories and analytical posts, saying humans are a common species in the universe, and the game "Abyss" was a test of civilization given by higher human civilizations, which Earth's humans failed, hence their destruction.

But Yang Ming really couldn't accept the absurd theory that he "played Earth to destruction."

But all that was in the past.

Although Yang Ming couldn't open his eyes at this moment, he could still remember, think, and feel the existence of his body.

Now it was probably…

Did he arrive in heaven? Or had he fallen into hell?

If not for the previous burning pain being too intense, Yang Ming would also have liked to think it was just a dream.

"Professor."

Suddenly, footsteps and a conversation between a man and a woman reached his ears.

The man was addressed as professor, his voice deep and strong;

The woman should also be middle-aged, her tone very gentle.

"Doctor Lina, how is our third deputy now?" the man asked.

"Hanton is no longer in serious danger, his body's various indicators have returned to normal, but his head has suffered a severe concussion and may experience some sequelae."

"This poor guy, he played a crucial role in shaking off the Human Council's detection ship; don't skimp on medical resources."

"Don't worry, Professor, I will take good care of Hanton."

Hanton?

Human Council's detection ship?

What is all this mess?

Yang Ming struggled to think, a series of memory fragments flashed through his mind;

These blotchy, illogical images suddenly assaulted his brain, causing intense pain that made Yang Ming convulse.

Yang Ming quickly realized.

If he couldn't withstand the assault of these memory fragments, he might become an idiot, likely losing the personality known as Yang Ming!

Enduring the severe pain in his forehead, he tried to divert his attention, repeatedly recalling his brief life as Yang Ming.

Finally, the pain started to subside, and the memory images from this body became blurry and tame.

He had won.

Yang Ming sighed in relief in his mind, not having had time to review these newly surfaced memories, when he heard messy footsteps again.

"What's wrong with him?"

The professor asked in a deep voice.

"It might be a central nervous system disorder... The problem is worse than we thought. I need to redo the examination for him," Doctor Lina said.

"Let me take a look."

Two ice-cold fingers clad in leather gloves pried open Yang Ming's eyelids.

The glaring light met his eyes, and a shadow loomed in front of it—another head peeking from the side.

Yang Ming was startled.

He had seen this middle-aged man before!

The man's flickering red mechanical eye and the exposed mechanical skeleton on the left half of his face had left a deep impression on Yang Ming.

The dark red scars where mechanical skin met natural flesh looked nauseating up close.

He... he is...

A name nearly slipped out of Yang Ming's mouth.

Kigrov!

Holy crap, wasn't this Kigrov, the hidden boss from the level 30 Empire faction epic dungeon in "Abyss"?

He could drop rare skills for bio-engineered classes and core components for all classes!

His original name seemed to be... Right, Professor Kigrov!

This level 30 epic dungeon was called "Voice of Abandonment."

"Voice of Abandonment" was the second squad-based epic dungeon players challenged after leaving the Origin Mother Star, and it was the hardest dungeon of that time. Batch after batch of players died in the final battle against 'Valkyrie,' whose miniskirts were the hottest topic on the "Abyss" forums.

Oh, that pure, powerful, and amazingly shaped Valkyrie.

After conquering the dungeon, Yang Ming would even go out of his way to guide newcomers, all to catch a glimpse of that beautiful Valkyrie.

Though, it hadn't been half a month before he got smitten with the curvy career guide at Mink Port...

'Uh, this is not what I should be thinking about now.'

The icy fingers released his eyelids, and Yang Ming's sight plunged into darkness again. Instantly, someone gently manipulated his arms and neck and attached some metal patches.

Yang Ming tried to remember every detail of "Voice of Abandonment," having battled through it dozens of times.

The introduction to the dungeon seemed to go like this...

[A boundary detection ship discovered a scientific vessel abandoned on the fringe of a desolate Resource Star. The vessel's internal structure hadn't been entirely destroyed, and there were signs of life activity in several chambers.

The ship bore the emblem of the Sherman Empire.

During further exploration, genetically transformed monsters, with strength beyond the limits of carbon-based lifeforms, were found inside.]

Yang Ming's brain was racing.

At the beginning of the dungeon, a blond-haired, blue-eyed virtual NPC in a nurse outfit would guide players, introducing the person in charge—Professor Kigrov,

and progressively unveiling the most powerful being there—the out-of-control Valkyrie.

The research ship had encountered a crisis thirty years ago. The powerful Valkyrie, created by genetic experiments, had escaped their control, leading to a bio-disaster and massacres of the crew by the transformed beings.

To prevent the infinitely evolving Valkyrie from becoming the Empire's nightmare, Professor Kigrov decided to use the non-directional instant jump technology to head towards a black hole near the star road. However, the Valkyrie destroyed the ship's propulsion system, and the vessel was trapped in this desolate Star Domain.

That's it, the backstory of the "Lost Voice" dungeon!

Genetic modification, war machinery, experiments to explore the limits of carbon-based life's power!

After players defeated the Valkyrie, they could proceed to explore the storyline, which led to the hidden boss—'Kigrov,' who had turned into a monster himself trying to destroy the Valkyrie.

Wait a minute!

Something is not quite right.

Yang Ming clearly remembered—the hidden boss Professor Kigrov in the "Lost Voice" dungeon didn't look middle-aged.

He was supposed to be a hunched, skinny old man with a receding hairline, messy white hair, somewhat out of his mind, turning into an ugly tumor-like monster after swallowing a red pill!

The research ship had encountered a crisis thirty years ago...

Does that mean, he had been resurrected in "Abyss," thirty years before the game even started?

Right now, the Valkyrie had not yet started the riot, and this research vessel continued cruising within the Sherman Empire's territory, conducting sinister experiments on genetically modified human beings.

And he was, he was...

Hanton, one of the three mates on this research vessel, a formally commissioned officer of the Empire, a captain who had spent two years aboard, mainly responsible for maintaining the ship, solving technical issues, and managing the fire safety systems.

To put it simply:

[An unassuming crew member about to be slaughtered.]