Time: Four hours after Qing Shi left.
The bonfire in the camp was dying. Only a few blackened pieces of charcoal remained, gasping for air and emitting the last faint traces of heat. The occasional spark that popped was the only light in this dead, silent space.
This shelter, barely held together by tattered leather, crushed stones, and frozen earth, was filled with the stench of despair. The cold wind drilled through the cracks in the walls, sobbing like a resentful ghost.
Hong Yu, the leader of the Red-Pattern Tribe, sat on the main seat covered in a ragged tiger skin. She was tall and thin from long-term hunger, with prominent cheekbones, but the wildness carved into her bones hadn't faded. Her slender fingers tapped unconsciously on the hilt of the horse-chopping saber beside her, making a dull tap, tap sound.
"Four hours."
Hong Yu spoke coldly, breaking the silence. There was no sadness in her voice, only the indifference of someone used to death.
"Qing Shi isn't coming back. The temperature outside has dropped to minus forty degrees. Even a thick-skinned mammoth would be frozen through, let alone that big fool who hasn't eaten for three days."
She turned her head to look at the old man sitting on the other side of the fire.
"Jin Pan, stop sighing fake tears. Count the remaining numbers of the Green-Pattern Tribe. Prepare to redistribute that pitiful amount of rations. Since their leader is dead, the remaining Green-Patterns are just burdens. We must exile some of them."
Jin Pan, the leader of the Yellow-Pattern Tribe, shrank inside his thick cotton coat, clutching the abacus that symbolized his authority as the steward. Hearing Hong Yu's words, a complicated look flashed across his wrinkled face.
"Sigh... That big guy was a glutton, but he was indeed a good shield."
Jin Pan sighed, about to flick the abacus beads to calculate how to consume the "inheritance" of the dead.
Suddenly.
THUD—!!!
A muffled, incredibly heavy sound struck like a hammer hitting a heart, causing the entire ground of the camp to shake violently. Dust fell from the ceiling, covering Jin Pan's face.
"What's happening?!"
"Earthquake? Or an avalanche?"
Before anyone could react.
BOOM—!!!
The triple-layered ironwood gate, half a meter thick and reinforced specifically to withstand blizzards, was smashed open from the outside by a terrifying force as if it were made of paper!
Wood chips flew everywhere. The cold wind wrapped in snow instantly poured in, blowing out the last of the bonfire. The entire camp plunged into chaotic darkness, with only the massive silhouette at the doorway clearly visible against the snowy background.
Amidst the blizzard, a three-meter-tall dark green steel giant stepped inside.
With every step, the ground trembled. His armor gleamed with a cold metallic luster, and white steam puffed from his joints. He looked like a war machine from hell. His left eye was the familiar honest gaze of Qing Shi, but his right eye was a heart-palpitating electronic eye glowing with eerie blue light—Shi Dian.
"Enemy attack?!"
Hong Yu reacted the fastest. As the strongest warrior, her saber unsheathed instantly, creating a red blur—the glow of her Battle Qi.
"I don't care who you are! Dare to break into the tribal gate? Die!"
This strike was heavy and powerful, gathering all her remaining strength. It was enough to split a granite boulder in half.
CLANG—!!!
However, the giant didn't even dodge. He simply raised a left arm covered in layers of carapace.
The saber, capable of slicing rock, hacked viciously onto his dark green arm guard. It only sparked a dazzling string of fire and made a tooth-aching metal friction sound, leaving not even a white mark. Instead, Hong Yu felt her hand go numb. The saber nearly flew out of her grip, and she was knocked back three steps by the recoil.
"Save your energy, Hong Yu."
The giant spoke. His voice, resonating through his chest cavity, was deep as muffled thunder, yet carried a mechanical coldness:
"Keep your blade for the enemies outside. Against me, it's as weak as a toothpick."
Dead silence filled the room.
By the faint light reflecting off the snow outside, all the goblins stared dumbfounded at this monster. This voice... this tone...
"Qing... Qing Shi?!"
Lan Xuan, the leader of the Blue-Pattern Tribe who had been silent in the corner, pushed up his glasses. A stream of data disbelief flashed in his eyes:
"You... your life form has changed. This is impossible! According to the law of conservation of energy, you didn't eat anything. How could you complete this level of physical evolution in four hours? The hardness of your exoskeleton exceeds refined steel!"
"Because I found new 'food'."
Qing Shi (the Protagonist) lowered his arm, ignoring the fearful and awed gazes around him. He walked heavily to the center of the camp.
He looked around at his three former colleagues with a gaze that looked down from a higher dimension:
Hong Yu (Fighter): Hungry until her hands trembled. Lan Xuan (Intellect): Brain slow due to lack of sugar. Jin Pan (Logistics): Broke and only calculating against his own people.
"How miserable."
Qing Shi pointed at the trembling saber in Hong Yu's hand, his tone flat. "I know what you were discussing. You want to split up. You want to abandon the old and weak, and take the elites to Dragon Mystery Mountain thousands of kilometers away to fight for a living. Because this place can't support so many people, and you can't defend it."
"But you don't dare to go. You're afraid the base will be destroyed, afraid of dying on the way, right?"
Her thoughts exposed, Hong Yu sheathed her blade and snorted coldly, trying to save face. "Since you know, cut the crap. You've become stronger now. Did you come back to seize power? Kill us all to save food?"
"No. I disdain doing such low-level things."
Qing Shi patted his abdominal armor, which was as hard as iron, making a sound like a striking bell:
"I am here to save your asses."
"From today on, the Green-Pattern Tribe will not consume a single grain of the camp's food. Not only that, but I can also provide a brand new type of 'Perfect Laborer'—ones who don't need to eat, don't need to sleep, and aren't even afraid of death."
"With them, you can go to Dragon Mystery Mountain to expand territory, snatch resources, and rebuild civilization without any worries."
"Undead laborers?"
Jin Pan gave a bitter laugh and shook his head. "Qing Shi, are you starving crazy? Stop joking. Unless you learned Necromancy from those dark mages. But even skeleton soldiers need mana to maintain. We don't even have dregs of magic crystals left."
"Better than the undead. Crazier than demons."
The blue electronic eye of Qing Shi flickered, and the corner of his mouth curled into a mysterious, eerie smile.
He slowly reached into his chest armor—where he hid the only property he had risked his life to bring out.
A dusty grey pouch appeared in his hand.
"Those old fogies of the Grey Pattern Clan... sitting on a gold mine while begging for food. They didn't dare to open this for a hundred years. What a joke."
Shi Dian controlled Qing Shi's fingers, gently stroking the ancient runes lighting up on the pouch. As magic (or rather, a high-dimensional signal) was injected, a line of text only he could see floated in the air:
[Connecting to Alien World: Earth Server] [Summoning Authority: Unlocked] [Initiate "Fourth Disaster" Plan?]
"The Fourth Disaster..."
Shi Dian looked at these words, the blue light in his right eye surging violently.
As a transmigrator, he knew exactly what this meant. It meant a terrifying species that was immortal, had liver cirrhosis from overworking, and would scam the underwear off a god just for an achievement badge—Gamers.
"In this desperate world ruled by Ancient Gods and Magical Beasts, who else can save us but players who are crazier, greedier, and more fearless than them?"
He turned to look at the shivering clansmen in the camp.
"Watch closely. I'm going to add some... spice to this dead world."
With that, he yanked open the drawstring of the pouch.
BOOM—!!!
A dazzling pillar of light, tens of meters in diameter, instantly pierced through the eternal gloom of the Northern Wasteland, shooting straight into the heavens!
Tonight, every living being in the North looked up in terror at the pillar of light connecting heaven and earth.
The God's Descent had begun.