Chapter 78 -78-Back Online!

Chapter 78: Chapter78-Back Online!

This trip out had taken much longer than John expected.

On the way back, he picked up some daily necessities and also dealt with vehicle maintenance and a few matters involving his real-world accounts.

By the time the supercar drove back into the residential community.

The sky outside was already beginning to darken.

The car door closed.

John walked into the villa.

"Alfred?"

No response.

He changed his shoes.

Then called out again.

"Alfred?"

The house remained silent.

John frowned slightly.

The old butler was usually available almost the moment he was called.

It was rare for him not to be around.

But the moment John entered the dining room.

His steps stopped.

Dinner had already been prepared on the long table.

Steak.

Roast chicken.

Thick soup.

Vegetables.

Bread.

And several desserts with almost ridiculously beautiful colors.

Even the utensils had been arranged exactly where John usually found them most convenient.

John fell silent for two seconds.

"Man’s not here."

"Dinner’s already done."

"Professionalism maxed out."

He couldn’t be bothered to keep looking for him.

John sat down and started eating.

At the same time.

He turned on the news terminal beside the table.

He hadn’t paid attention to the outside world for an entire day.

And as usual, the world was still a complete mess.

Radiation levels had risen again in one region.

Several major underground shelter cities announced new expansion projects.

The United Council released another production plan for hibernation pods.

And there were countless reports from around the world involving black snow, energy, and food supplies.

John quickly browsed through the headlines while cutting into his steak.

Most of it was nothing new.

Until a video that had already surged onto the trending list entered his sight.

[Abnormal Black Snow Phenomenon! Local Snowfall Density Increased by Over 1,700%!]

John’s movements slowed slightly.

He opened it.

The footage had clearly been recorded by a passerby.

The camera shook badly.

The location appeared to be somewhere on the outskirts of a city.

The black snow falling in the surrounding area looked completely normal.

But a small region in the center of the frame was entirely different.

Huge amounts of black snow poured down from the sky like a waterfall.

The density was so extreme that the buildings behind it were almost completely obscured.

Strangely.

The abnormal area itself was extremely small.

Its diameter was less than a hundred meters.

And its boundary was unnaturally clear.

It looked as though an invisible giant pipe existed somewhere in the sky.

Dumping everything into one fixed location.

The person filming continuously tilted the camera upward.

"Look!"

"Look at the sky!"

The image zoomed in.

Deep within the heavy clouds.

Where the black snow was falling.

Faint flashes of light could be seen appearing again and again.

Not lightning.

More like...

Sparks.

Countless tiny sparks seemed to collide with one another.

And occasionally.

A brief white spatial rift flashed across the sky.

John stopped chewing.

He rewound the video.

Then played it again.

The white spatial rift had appeared for less than half a second.

But he had definitely seen it.

"A spatial rift?"

The first thing that appeared in his mind was the scene created when [Void Shift] activated.

It wasn’t the same.

But there was a strangely subtle similarity.

John was about to check the comments.

When the screen suddenly flickered.

[This content no longer exists.]

"Hm?"

Refresh.

[Video deleted.]

He searched for the title again.

Nothing.

Even the uploader’s account had disappeared.

As though the video that had already surpassed ten million views had never existed in the first place.

John stared at the screen.

"Weird."

He didn’t jump to any conclusions.

For now, he simply kept the matter in mind.

Then continued scrolling through the trending list.

Very soon.

Another piece of news posted only a few minutes earlier shot directly to number one.

And this time.

It came from Apocalypse’s official account.

[Major Version Preview!]

[The Apocalypse Arena System will officially launch in 14 days!]

John’s eyes lit up slightly.

He opened the full announcement.

[Arena Season 1!]

[Time Until Launch: 14 Days!]

[Season 1 will be divided into two stages!]

[Stage One: City-Level Competition!]

[Stage Two: National-Level Competition!]

John continued reading.

[City-Level Competition]

[Players will compete for rankings within the territory of their respective First-Tier Main Cities!]

[City Rank 1: SSS-rank Reward!]

[City Top 10: Different reward qualities will be granted according to final ranking!]

After that came the national competition.

[National-Level Competition]

[The top players from each city will enter the national arena!]

[Final Rank 1: Divine-rank Random Item ×1!]

[Final Rank 2: SSS-rank Random Item ×1!]

[Final Rank 3: SSS-rank Random Item ×1!]

[All remaining rewards will be announced after the event begins!]

John stared at the first-place reward.

A Divine-rank item.

Even now.

There were still pitifully few things in the entire game that could reach the Divine rank.

The most important abilities he possessed—

[Supreme Evolution].

[Reality Merge].

[Plunder].

All of them were Divine-rank.

And every single one had completely altered the trajectory of his growth.

First place in the arena.

A Divine-rank item awarded directly.

That was definitely worth participating in.

"Interesting."

John casually saved the announcement.

But there were still fourteen days until the event opened.

Half a month.

For other players, that might simply be a short preparation period.

For him...

Fourteen activations of [Reality Merge].

At least around fourteen levels’ worth of growth.

And on top of that, who knew how many additional SSS-rank traits he would obtain.

Even John himself had no idea how strong he would become by then.

"No rush."

"I’ll deal with it when the time comes."

He continued scrolling.

Most of the next several headlines were about him.

[Lv35! Endbringer Leads the Entire Server by Twenty Levels in a Single Day!]

[Seven of the Global Top Ten Equipment Rankings Belong to One Player!]

[Legionbreaker-Tier BOSS First-Kill Footage Leaked! Is This Really Something Players Can Do at This Stage?!]

[Official Investigation of "Endbringer" Account Data Strongly Demanded!]

[If He Isn’t Cheating, Then Please Explain Why a Lv30 Player Can Deal Million-Level Damage!]

The comment section was even livelier.

"Endbringer is insane!"

"Endbringer, taking disciples?"

"Don’t ask. It’s all skill."

"You’re calling hundreds of thousands of damage from one swing ’skill’?"

"The officials have already checked his account eight times. Every single time they said the data was normal."

"I just want to know where the hell he keeps getting all that equipment."

"Does Luna Wolf Guild have some kind of shady deal with him?"

"I heard the Black Rose Guild Master knows him too."

"Why does every major guild know this guy except me?"

John watched for a few minutes.

Then gradually lost interest.

People praising him.

People cursing him.

People questioning whether the game was fair.

People guessing at his identity in the real world.

It was basically the same every day.

There was no point scrolling any further.

He closed the news feed.

Finished the last piece of steak.

Then got up and returned to the second floor.

After washing up briefly.

He lay back down inside the gaming pod.

The hatch slowly closed.

Soft blue light lit up around him.

[Establishing neural connection...]

[Identity verification complete!]

[Welcome back to Apocalypse!]

His consciousness gradually sank.

The sounds of the real world quickly faded away.

A few seconds later.

John opened his eyes again.

The first thing that entered his vision.

Was the yellowed canvas roof of a military tent.

The air carried the faint smell of blood, potions, and leather.

Outside the tent.

He could vaguely hear soldiers moving supplies.

John sat up from the crude military cot.

The familiar system interface once again appeared before him.

[Current Location: Dawnstar City Garrison Camp.]

[Player "Endbringer" has returned online!]