Monsters Are Coming-Chapter 1058 - 287: Civilizational Downscaling—This Doesn’t Make Sense!
Meteor World.
Interstellar Bay.
The queue of people snaked out two blocks like a greedy serpent.
Everyone clutched their pre-order slips tightly, eyes gleaming with fervor.
At the front of the line, Kong Jie checked the time again with his frostbitten fingers, confirming that there were 37 minutes until the release of Civilization War.
He had been anticipating this day for three years.
Now, it was about to come true.
Emotions of tension and anticipation intertwined in his heart.
He turned his head, casting his gaze forward.
At the front stood a middle-aged man wearing an interstellar soldier's uniform, boasting about his collection of collector's editions to those around him.
Further ahead were a pair of twins, taking turns to keep watch while the other curled up in a sleeping bag to catch up on sleep.
Those who stood at the front had arrived two days early, bringing with them food and water.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible to get the game first.
Amidst the whirl of thoughts, the "secondary AI" rang.
He took the secondary AI out of his pocket to check, the screen displayed: Dad.
Kong Jie bit his lip and finally pressed the answer button.
"Kong Jie, you're already seventeen, you should consider joining the interstellar exploration program instead of queuing overnight for some game."
"This is my favorite strategic game, it's the twentieth anniversary version, the limited collector's edition has...."
"Enough, if your mother were still alive to see you like this...."
Kong Jie abruptly hung up, stuffing the secondary AI back into his pocket.
His eyes turned red, and his knuckles whitened from clenching too tightly.
It's been five years, yet his father was still like this, always bringing up his deceased mother in every argument.
Eight years ago, his father participated in the interstellar exploration program and never returned, only occasionally talking to him through the AI.
He didn't even attend his mother's funeral.
Clearly not by his side, yet always instructing his life in a lecturing tone, he hated this feeling.
"It's open!"
Just then, the crowd suddenly rumbled with excitement.
Kong Jie turned his head to look, the glass doors of the game store slid open like a curtain of water, revealing the inside filled with game boxes.
Kong Jie's breath hitched for a moment, then he decisively stood firm.
He was seventh in line and soon arrived at the store entrance.
A robot standing inside the store nodded with a gentle synthetic voice:
"Please show your pre-order code."
Kong Jie took out his pre-order slip from his pocket, interfacing it with the green beam emitted by the AI.
"Verification complete, buyer number 7, here is your Civilization War: Pioneer Special Edition."
Receiving the game box containing the disc, the dissatisfaction in Kong Jie's heart was instantly overshadowed by excitement.
He immediately turned around and walked briskly towards home.
After only a few steps, he suddenly felt as if the world in his eyes had changed color.
He looked up sharply at the sky, only to see an eerie orange-red seeping through the clouds, as if something was burning.
The nearby crowd suddenly grew restless.
Someone pointed at the sky and shouted:
"Look, what is that?"
Kong Jie followed the direction of the fingers, his pupils contracting sharply.
A fireball was tearing through the clouds, with more than a dozen dispersed trails behind it.
He could clearly see it disintegrating in the air, its fragments scattering layer by layer, rapidly enlarging in his view.
"The meteor shower is coming, run!" someone screamed, and the nearby crowd descended into chaos.
Boom!
The first piece struck the tall shopping center three blocks away, the shockwave was like an invisible giant hand, flipping Kong Jie onto the ground.
The back of his head struck hard against the sidewalk, black spots appearing at the edge of his vision.
In the last second before losing consciousness, he saw at the center of the meteor shower, a fist-sized black stone spinning as it plummeted toward the rooftop of the game store.
Boom!
After the loud bang, Kong Jie completely passed out.
Elsewhere, the black stone that hit the game store decomposed layer by layer among the ruins, finally transforming into a golden light mass that rose up.
The light mass hovered briefly in the air before suddenly shooting towards where Kong Jie lay.
More accurately, towards the game box in his hand.
Upon contact with the game box, it vanished without a trace.
Not knowing how much time had passed, when consciousness gradually returned, the first thing Kong Jie smelled was the pungent scent of disinfectant.
Squeezing his nose, he slowly opened his eyes.
The hospital's pale blue ceiling came into view, accompanied by the steady "beep beep" of the monitor.
"Awake?"
Turning his head, he saw a nurse adjusting the IV speed:
"Mild concussion, you're lucky, it's a complete mess outside, your area was hit by the meteor shower...."
Listening to the nurse's account, Kong Jie attempted to sit up, his temples throbbing:
"Is it the End of Dharma Clan's invasion?"
"Based on publicly available information, it has nothing to do with the End of Dharma Clan. Though the frontline is in disarray, they haven't reached Interstellar Bay yet."
Kong Jie nodded, then suddenly realized something, and exclaimed to the nurse:
"Where are my things?"
The nurse pulled out a storage drawer from under the bed:
"They're all here."
Seeing the game box still there, Kong Jie let out a long breath of relief.
If the game box was lost, the coming days would be unbearable.
This time, he pre-ordered the Pioneer Edition, the official version wouldn't be released for another six months.
The worry in his heart dissipated, giving way to the joy of having survived.
After the nurse's reminders about precautions, he couldn't wait to go through the discharge procedures.
The street outside was a mess, shattered glass and bricks scattered everywhere, the shouts of rescue personnel and sirens mingled, but none of it could distract Kong Jie, he just wanted to get home quickly to start the long-awaited game.
If tomorrow is the end of the world, then so be it, at least today he could play the game.
