"Bro!!"

"Bro!!!"

"Bro! My dad’s... phone... it’s ringing, but... but... he’s not picking up...!"

"What... do I... do!"

The call connected, and Sun Yu’s voice came through, choppy and broken. Shen Fei understood. In the chaos, many cell towers had been destroyed. Full service would only be restored after the players who inherited the special "Ethereum" technology took action.

"Where are you?" Shen Fei asked directly.

He had panicked earlier because his own game ability inheritance had gotten stuck, and he’d completely forgotten that Uncle Sun was still on a plane and hadn’t returned yet. Now, getting Sun Yu’s call, Shen Fei immediately realized what must have happened. Uncle Sun’s plane had likely landed, but the game ability inheritance must have started the moment it touched down. That’s why the call could go through, but no one could actually be reached.

"I’m at home!" Sun Yu shouted. "I inherited twenty Eighth-Tier Defense Towers! I listened to you and haven’t dared to move!"

"Wait for me!" Of course, he had to go save Uncle Sun immediately. Knowing Sun Yu’s location, Shen Fei sprang into action.

"Dad! Let me use the Horse chess piece. I need to go save Uncle Sun. His plane just landed!" Shen Fei first took the Horse chess piece from his father. The airport was fifty kilometers away, and he needed to ride the Celestial Horse to speed things up and perform a rescue from the air.

"Want me to come with you?" Father Shen asked excitedly, fully supportive of rescuing his old friend.

"No, the three of you stay here!" Shen Fei instructed, taking the piece. "Don’t leave the villa’s perimeter. Wait for me to get back!"

With that, he walked straight out the door.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Before leaving, he placed five Defense Towers around the villa: a Mist Tower, an Anti-Invisibility Tower, a Guard Tower, a Healing Tower, and a Vine Tower for stealthy attacks.

"NEIGHHH!"

After setting up his family’s defenses, Shen Fei gripped the chess piece, summoned the Celestial Horse, and took to the sky.

SWOOSH!

From within the mist-shrouded Villa 42, a streak of golden light shot out.

***

SWOOSH!

After picking up Sun Yu from a neighboring community, Shen Fei guided the Golden Celestial Horse and flew swiftly toward the airport, ignoring Sun Yu’s terrified cries from his fear of heights.

Nearly ten minutes had passed since the game ability inheritance began. From the sky, the entire city was already in chaos. Kaleidoscopic lights streaked through the streets, and fires had broken out in many places, with flames reaching for the sky. Shen Fei even saw a large group of massive tanks opening fire in the city’s West Suburb. Air raid sirens wailed across the entire city. Tonight was a sleepless night.

WHOOSH!

Amid the chaos and death, some people looked up at the sky. They saw a Golden Celestial Horse with a pair of enormous wings streaking over their heads. Faintly, on its back, there seemed to be two figures.

"Don’t worry!" Shen Fei said, patting his worried friend’s shoulder. "I’m here! Uncle Sun should have inherited a game ability too! If he also inherited a Horse chess piece, he should be able to fly away safely!"

"Yeah!" Sun Yu nodded. "Bro! What in the world is happening?! I saw stuff online... Is it all real?!"

Although he’d been anticipating it, now that the game abilities had truly been inherited, Sun Yu’s emotions were a mix of excitement and panic. On the way to find his dad, he tried to talk more to distract himself from his nervousness.

"You can think of it as a new world," Shen Fei explained. "You can also think of it as the apocalypse. Or you can think of it as a playground."

With game abilities being inherited and the game itself invading reality, this was a change unseen in three thousand years—an unprecedented transformation for all of humanity. This was a new world. At the same time, for some, it was the apocalypse. And for others, it was a playground.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

While comforting Sun Yu, Shen Fei steered the Celestial Horse toward the airport. Soon, he arrived above it. Then, he saw the airport terminal engulfed in flames, countless wrecked airplanes on the runway, and a large group of unexpected people locked in a chaotic battle.

***

"Why don’t you play games!"

"Tell me!!"

"You worthless son!!!"

"Why don’t you play games!!!"

At the same time, in another villa in the Nanshan Villa district, someone was roaring in anger. Listening to the distant explosions and watching the sky glow red from the flames, Uncle Yi was terrified. He’d heard through the neighborhood group chat that several families had already been murdered by villains who inherited game abilities. He grabbed his son by the neck, shaking him violently as he questioned him at the top of his lungs.

Yes, Uncle Yi was still alive. The same Uncle Yi who had secretly bought the shares Shen Fei sold, the man who acted like a brother to Father Shen but was full of malice behind his back—he and his family had been lucky enough not to be killed in the initial chaos. However, his son’s beautiful girlfriend had just been snatched away by a group of security guards who had barged in.

Now, nearly ten minutes after the game’s arrival, seeing his home ravaged, Uncle Yi squeezed his son’s neck and demanded answers. He’d never imagined that the game’s arrival was actually real, that there really was a game ability inheritance. Unfortunately, his son didn’t play games. All his son’s money was spent on women. Games were generally played by young people. Facing this new world without any power, and having just been toyed with by those security guards, Uncle Yi knew he was finished.

"Let go of my son!!" Seeing her already pale-faced son being choked breathless by her husband, Uncle Yi’s wife, her own clothes tattered, immediately rushed forward. "Weren’t you the one who told him not to play games!! What are you doing!!!"

When the security guards had rushed in, they saw how cooperatively the Yi Family offered up the son’s beautiful girlfriend. So, being "reasonable," they hadn’t assaulted Uncle Yi’s wife, who was still quite attractive. That didn’t mean they refrained from groping and taunting her, however. The tattered state of her clothes was proof enough.

"HUFF... HUFF..."

Letting go of his son, Uncle Yi gasped for air, his heart filled with terror. He was filled with regret! He regretted not letting his son play games! He regretted mocking that kid from the Shen Family who played games.

"Old Shen!!!"

Gasping for breath, Uncle Yi’s thoughts turned to the Shen Family’s son, Shen Fei. He remembered how Shen Fei had spent hundreds of millions on a game.

Don’t let him inherit from that game!! Please, don’t let him inherit the abilities from that game!!

Uncle Yi prayed that Shen Fei wouldn’t inherit from the game he had poured hundreds of millions into. He prayed that the Shen kid hadn’t taken that voice seriously, that he’d ended up with a random ability and not the one from the game he’d spent the most on.

"Why!!! Why!!!"

Just yesterday, he had gone out of his way to mock Mrs. Shen while she was out shopping with her children. Uncle Yi never expected that he would become a joke overnight. He was filled with fury and resentment.

My family is finished! he realized. Without inheriting a single game ability, we’re truly finished unless we can latch onto someone powerful! My good days are over!

Knowing Shen Fei’s personality—the type to sell his own father’s shares to play games—Uncle Yi knew that even if Shen Fei didn’t inherit from that hundred-million-dollar game, he would have inherited other game abilities. As long as he inherited any ability, he would be different from everyone else.

"COUGH! COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!"

Just as Uncle Yi was kicking himself with regret, his son, freed from his grip, began to cough violently.

"Who said I didn’t inherit a game ability!" he roared, eyes bloodshot and whites showing. "I did!!"

He played games too. The game he played was *City Flower Young Master*, and he had already inherited an ability. But it was an ability he was a little embarrassed to talk about. That’s why he had been playing dead ever since the game’s arrival.

[Golden Spear Skill: A skill that allows a Young Master Hua to conquer a sea of beauties, enjoying life to the fullest... Can be controlled by thought...]

This was the very ability Uncle Yi’s son had inherited.

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Half a minute later, after reading the description of their son’s ability, Uncle Yi and his wife looked at each other, completely stunned.

This... this... what the hell kind of ability is this!

Before the game’s arrival, maybe he could have used this ability to become the ultimate freeloader, living off women. But now that the game had arrived, this ability was a bit difficult to put to good use.

"Go to the Shen Family!" Uncle Yi decided instantly, his eyes gleaming. "That girl in the Shen Family is very good-looking! Your girlfriend was just taken away, so Dad will find you an even better one! As long as you use this skill to conquer that Shen girl, our whole family will have someone to depend on! I’m a Shen Family shareholder now, you know!"

Looking up, he gazed toward Villa 42 in the distance. Suddenly, he saw a golden, winged shadow shoot up into the sky from the Shen Family’s villa. Connecting this sight with his son’s new skill, his mind was made up.

WHOOSH!

Soon, under the chaotic night sky, Uncle Yi’s family of three arrived at the gate of Villa 42. For some reason, the villa was shrouded in mist. After circling it and finding no way in, Uncle Yi started shouting at the gate.

"Old Shen! Old Shen! It’s me, Old Yi!" he called out. "The age of chaos is here! I was thinking our two families should stick together, to watch each other’s backs!"

A few seconds later, a voice rang out from within the misty villa.

"Old Yi?"