Chapter 2: Invitation Code

The next day, Lin Yi arrived early at the Vast Gold Farming Studio to assist the police from the municipal bureau in handling Liu Hong’s belongings.

He placed all of Liu Hong’s possessions into a storage box and handed it over.

A policeman asked, “Is this everything? Nothing else?”

Lin Yi nodded. “Yes. The studio is cluttered, and Old Liu rarely left personal items here. Aside from a few changes of clothes, there are just some small trinkets.”

“All right, thank you for your help. We’ll take these with us for now.”

Soon after, the two officers accompanying him swiftly departed with Liu Hong’s belongings.

Once they left, Lin Yi stood alone in the empty office, sighing deeply. From this spot, he could still recall Old Liu’s face from yesterday.

The studio had secured two major orders, and Liu Hong had specially come over to treat everyone to a meal.

Who would have expected his life to end so abruptly, so unexpectedly?

The once formidable elder brother was now gone—not even his body remained.

What on earth is happening to this world?

After his moment of reflection, Lin Yi returned to his desk, powered on his computer, and skillfully launched several of the hottest games and their auto-play scripts to begin work.

Although none of the other studio members had come today, as one of the studio’s owners, he needed to swiftly convert yesterday’s gaming achievements into profit.

After all, in-game gold and precious equipment fluctuate in value daily; delays were unacceptable.

After a long period of busyness, a few thousand yuan had been added to his bank account. Lin Yi was about to pour himself a glass of water when he suddenly noticed a golden envelope mysteriously placed inside his drawer.

The envelope was of fine material, boldly inscribed with two glaring characters: “Apocalypse.”

“Apocalypse? What is this?” Lin Yi wondered, puzzled.

He opened the envelope and saw a few lines of text:

“Dear Trial Participant, congratulations on obtaining the trial qualification for the Apocalypse game. Please log in to the website 3W.apocalypse... and enter the activation code erSfhaikSfhl...”

Apocalypse game?

Lin Yi’s heart skipped a beat. For some reason, he suddenly sensed that this game was different—perhaps connected to Liu Hong’s bizarre death in reality.

With a curious yet cautious attitude, Lin Yi entered the web address into his browser.

The screen flickered, revealing a profoundly immersive game interface, followed by a trailer.

The trailer began against a black backdrop displaying the game’s title: “Apocalypse.”

The scene shifted to a dilapidated mountain village, its buildings arranged unevenly, exuding an ancient aura.

A figure clad in a cloak and armor approached from afar, wielding a gleaming sword.

The figure slowly departed from the village.

Beyond the village lay an endless darkness—emerald eyes lurking in the shadows of the forest, mournful howls echoing through the woods.

It felt as if the figure was setting off on a journey from which there would be no return.

The camera then rapidly switched, showcasing various in-game environments: ancient ruins, bloodstained villages, mysterious altars, perilous mountains, and vast snowy glaciers.

Lin Yi’s eyes gleamed.

The graphics were truly exceptional...

Despite having played countless games over the years, Lin Yi had to admit that the Apocalypse game’s visual fidelity was superb.

Especially that eerie, dark forest with its wailing cries—it felt strikingly real.

After the trailer ended, a prompt appeared to enter the activation code.

Lin Yi furrowed his brow thoughtfully but didn’t hesitate to input the code from the envelope.

Suddenly, the screen flashed with large letters: “Ding! Congratulations, player. The game has been activated. Please begin character creation!”

The black text flickered three times before suddenly transforming into a swirling black hole that pulled Lin Yi in completely.

“Whoa!”

With a startled exclamation, Lin Yi vanished from the studio.

After a long while, the studio’s door lock turned, and several gold farming members slowly entered.

“The scene of Hong’s death last night was so harrowing; I couldn’t sleep at all and had several nightmares. Do you think he was poisoned?”

“Enough with the speculation. Hong treated us well. He’s gone now, so let’s not talk about it.”

“Yeah, let’s work. I’m drowning in debt. Although Brother Yi gave us a day off, making money can’t be delayed.”

One of them approached Lin Yi’s desk in surprise. “Hey, why is Yi’s computer still on with the game running? Didn’t he turn it off last night?”

“No, didn’t you see the water heater’s still on too? He probably came early and then went out. Stop chatting—let’s get to work. The game market’s good right now; let’s earn some hard cash...”

Meanwhile, Lin Yi felt dizzy for about three seconds before finding himself standing inside an ancient wooden hall.

Beneath his feet was a simple wooden floor, and above him were two thick wooden beams.

Wisps of pale smoke curled upwards in the hall. Lin Yi inhaled and caught a faint, elegant fragrance that seemed to cleanse the soul.

So real!

Scanning the surroundings, he realized his vision was obscured by the smoke; he couldn’t clearly see the hall’s details even three meters away.

Have I entered the game world?

What kind of game is this?

Though Lin Yi had already harbored doubts about this game, he was still utterly astonished.

He had somehow been transported through his computer to another space. Could this place be the Apocalypse game world?

And was Liu Hong’s death somehow connected to this?

Just as Lin Yi pondered, a deep voice echoed in his ear.

“Ding! Player activated the game through a special invitation code and earned the right to draw a talent. Please complete character registration within three minutes. Failure to do so will result in expulsion from the Apocalypse world.”

Draw a talent?

Before Lin Yi could react, another voice sounded.

“The player’s talent has been matched. You have received the ‘Universal Talent.’ This talent includes a library of 10,000 talent materials: 4,734 white talents, 3,200 green talents, 1,019 blue talents, 856 purple talents, 102 gold talents, and 88 red talents!”

[Universal Talent]: A red-tier talent. The bearer can randomly draw a talent from the talent library every 24 hours. Drawn talents can be solidified or discarded.

Note: After using the solidification ability, the player cannot solidify talents again for three days.

Talent Level: LV1 (can solidify one talent slot)

Universal Talent? And it’s a red-tier talent!

Lin Yi was stunned. As a veteran gamer with over a decade of experience, he understood the significance of top-tier talents in games.

This Universal Talent appeared to be a supreme red-tier talent, granting the ability to randomly acquire any talent daily. If the drawn talent was valuable, it could be permanently solidified.

Of course, after solidifying a talent, the player would be unable to solidify any others for three days. This meant that if a better talent appeared during this cooldown, it would be wasted.

Most importantly, this Universal Talent was only level one, with just a single solidification slot. If upgraded, it might unlock multiple slots.

At higher levels, if several red talents could be solidified, the player would likely be invincible in the game.

Despite possessing such a powerful talent, Lin Yi still felt uneasy.

He didn’t yet know what genre Apocalypse was, but given Liu Hong’s mysterious death in real life, it clearly harbored immense danger.

Having a top-tier talent didn’t mean he could afford to be careless.

Next, Lin Yi quickly created his character name and chose the initial attire.

There was nothing special about the name; he avoided using his real name or his usual gaming aliases, instead casually picking a common name: “The Evergreen Mountain.”

As for clothing, the choices were limited to a beast-skin outfit or a coarse linen garment, neither providing any attribute bonuses.

He selected the coarse linen clothes.

Strangely, the game offered no face customization or profession selection.

...