I wonder what that Brother Mushroom is up to. I deleted his five million super Mushroom Bombs. I wonder if he’s dead, or if he was lucky enough to inherit some other game ability...

Watching the Mushroom Bombs that had already been launched, Shen Fei recalled the person he had dealt with previously.

"Big Bro!"

"Big Bro! Big Bro, what should we do?!"

"Big Bro, should I deploy my Defense Towers or not?! There are already a bunch of vicious people in my neighborhood who’ve inherited firearms! Big Bro, should I deploy a Defense Tower to save my skin? I need your advice!"

"Big Bro! Should we join the Game Management Office? They’re prioritizing recruiting Tower Masters! I heard some guy who was ranked 101st on the *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms* Combat Power leaderboard was made a director the moment he joined!"

"Big Bro, our group has a lot of people from the top one hundred on the Combat Power rankings!"

Besides the uproar on the Forum, the Heaven-Reaching Gang’s QQ group was being spammed with even more messages. Many had been tempted ever since the Game Management Office started recruiting that morning. Unfortunately, seeing that the ultimate boss, Brother Chongtian, remained unmoved, no one dared to make a move, no matter how eager they were. Even though they thought they were powerful, compared to Brother Chongtian, they were made of paper. As long as Shen Fei didn’t move, no one else would. But just because they weren’t acting didn’t mean they weren’t anxious. The anxious fans in the Heaven-Reaching Gang expressed all their feelings through messages.

WHOOSH.

After just a single glance at the QQ group messages, Shen Fei quickly closed the app. He didn’t say a word in the group.

After the version 4.3 update, the game’s Neutral Cities will descend. Only then will it be the right time to make a move.

In his past life, version 4.3 wasn’t updated until one quarter—three months—after the game ability inheritance began. In this life, however, version 4.1 had already been updated last night. Shen Fei was confident version 4.3 wouldn’t be far behind.

The QQ group is a mixed bag right now. I can’t be hasty...

WHOOSH.

WHOOSH.

WHOOSH.

As Shen Fei browsed the Forum to gather intelligence, time flew by...

Soon, evening arrived.

Shen Fei had just finished the dinner his mother had called him down for when Father Shen and Uncle Sun returned.

"We’ve already eaten! The Game Management Office provides meals!"

As Mrs. Shen and Shen Yue were clearing the table, Father Shen strode in and bellowed. As he did, he puffed out his chest, where a gleaming badge was pinned.

"Well, well! And what might this be, Mr. Shen?" Shen Yue chimed in with a grin, looking at her proud father.

"A director’s badge!!"

"You may call me Director Shen!" Father Shen shouted triumphantly.

Today, Father Shen had experienced a joy unlike any before. The respect from the young people at the Game Management Office was secondary; after all, he had once managed a company with over a thousand employees. The main thing was his old friend, Li Yunlong—the one among their group of old friends who had climbed the highest and gotten ahead the fastest. Before the ability inheritance, his official rank was T-level. The deference and respect from this old friend, the one who always sat at the head of the table during their gatherings, had filled Father Shen with a happiness he had never known. And that happiness had lasted until this very moment.

"Greetings, Director Shen!" Seeing her father’s delight, Shen Yue put on a formal voice, grinning as she clasped her hands at her waist and gave him a curtsy.

"Not bad at all! Such a polite young lady!" Seeing his daughter play along so well, Father Shen roared with laughter.

"Honestly," Mrs. Shen rolled her eyes at her husband’s behavior.

"Oh, you should have seen Li Yunlong’s attitude today!

"I haven’t felt this way in decades!" Father Shen explained to Mrs. Shen as he sat down on the sofa. He was starting to like his job at the Game Management Office.

"Mrs. Shen, Yu and I are going to head back to our place tonight," Uncle Sun spoke up just as Mrs. Shen was about to tell her husband to watch himself. "I heard order’s been restored in our complex, and for some reason, all the monsters have been wiped out!"

Just like Father Shen, Uncle Sun was also exceptionally happy today. The feeling of being so deeply respected by Li Yunlong was the ultimate ego boost for a middle-aged man like him.

"What’s the rush? Why don’t you stay a few more days?" Mrs. Shen asked, puzzled to hear Uncle Sun was leaving.

"There’s really no need. Yu inherited Defense Towers too, and besides, we’re getting another inheritance tonight, right? We’ll be perfectly safe!

"Besides, our complex is really close—just a few hundred meters away. We can come over anytime..."

Still, Uncle Sun was set on leaving. The main reason was that it was a bit inconvenient.

"Alright then, Old Sun. You take Yu and head back, but remember to come over for dinner tomorrow!" Mrs. Shen was about to say something else, but Father Shen cut her off. Still riding the high from the "ego boost" he’d gotten from Li Yunlong, Father Shen was feeling full of vigor and looked at his wife expectantly... With Old Sun gone, many things would indeed be more... convenient.

"Why don’t we wait until after the ability inheritance tonight?" Sun Yu suddenly piped up. "You gave the Soldier Chess Pieces back to me and Brother Fei. We can see what we inherit and then decide how to redistribute them!"

Because Tower Masters were so frail, Father Shen and Uncle Sun had returned the two Soldier Chess Pieces to Shen Fei and Sun Yu when they got back.

Right now, there were only a few hours left until the second wave of game ability inheritance. They could discuss and redistribute things after it happened.

"That works."

"That works."

"That works."

Everyone agreed with Sun Yu. After all, it was only a little while longer.

And so, everyone sat on the sofas in the living room, waiting for the second inheritance to begin. Although it had only been a day, everyone except Shen Fei felt that this single day had been longer than the last ten combined. From the start of the inheritance last night to the second one tonight, what they had gone through was simply too earth-shattering. Many people had died, but the living couldn’t afford to mourn them. They all had to face an even greater crisis.

5%, 10%, 50%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 100%...

As he sat on the sofa, waiting for time to pass, Shen Fei mulled over the inheritance rates for the game abilities.

The first batch of abilities will be inherited over a week, a portion each day, until it’s fully inherited on the seventh day. I remember that in my past life, the first and second batches were inherited gradually, in waves each day. But when the third batch started to be inherited, there was no more gradual progression of 5% or 10%. Instead, all of a batch’s abilities were inherited instantly, all at once. Many researchers speculated that this was because the first two batches required a buffer period, hence the gradual release. By the later batches, players were already familiar with the process, so no buffer was needed—it all came in one go...

10%!! I should be able to inherit at least sixty Tenth-Tier Defense Towers!

As the time ticked over to 23:30:00, Shen Fei made a rough estimate of what he would get in the second wave of inheritance.

23:30:00

23:40:00

23:50:00

23:59:59

Time passed. It was finally time!

Just like the Shen Family, everyone still alive on Earth was waiting for this moment. If some people might not have cared about the game ability inheritance yesterday, then after twenty-four hours of cataclysmic change, the survivors now completely understood its gravity and necessity. Whether they had inherited any game abilities or not, everyone was waiting for this moment to arrive once more.

00:00:00!

As the clock struck midnight, text instantly appeared on every Ability User’s panel. From this moment on, the voice was gone. All inheritance notifications were now delivered via text on the panel:

[Ding!]

[Game Ability Inheritance, Day Two, begins!]

... 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

(PS: Thank you to reader 2021*33140 for the support!)