A Resource Exchange Device from the Start

With the planet's resources depleted, Earth built an aircraft carrier to search for resources in outer space. On its return trip, scientists brought back a black sphere from a barren planet. No one expected the real crisis to begin then: the sphere carried an unknown virus, and Earth's plants and animals slowly began to die out. Scientists predicted that humanity would face a food shortage within three years. Governments around the world tightly suppressed the news and prepared to send humanity's elite into space as seeds of civilization, in search of a slim chance of survival. Just then, the mysterious black sphere suddenly spoke. Following its instructions, scientists opened it and found a way to save humanity. Everyone on Earth entered an online game created by the black sphere, where any resources they acquired could be brought into the real world.