Programmer Ling Yi and 9,999 people around the world are forced to arrive at a vast ruin after the “Starfall Incident”: the “Nest of Erebus.” This is a super-civilization graveyard, layered upon itself and extending infinitely into the depths. Cold rules ring in their ears:
[Welcome to the Civilization Selection Grounds, you insignificant insects]
[Rule One: You are on the first level of the “Nest City.” Find the “Abyssal Wedge” to open the door to the next level]
[Rule Two: Each level of the “Nest City” is a time capsule, preserving the legacy and curse of a fallen civilization]
[Rule Three: Beware everyone around you. Those infected by “Annihilation Spores” are among you. They feed on civilizations, and they are your kind, too]
[Rule Four: Death is not the end. The dead will be resurrected at the lowest level of the “Nest City,” carrying their memories as they fight their way back up to the starting point. This is the Abyssal Cycle]
Ling Yi dies in the chaos of the first day, but awakens in the deepest resurrection pool as the only “Returned Dead” to claw his way up from the bottom, bearing the memories of every cycle.
Alone, he transmigrates through countless fallen civilizations:
He solves steam-powered mysteries in a city of frenzied machines and scrap metal;
He wrestles with the ethics of survival in a symbiotic rainforest where every living thing is implanted;
He fights blissful annihilation in a sea of illusory stars where emotions are energy...
Armed with the ultimate intelligence he has accumulated over countless cycles, he stays one step ahead, seizes legacies, poses as a “prophet,” and builds a faction to fight the spore-infected lurking among them.
But another consciousness in his mind is speaking ever more clearly: Why do these selection grounds exist? Who is whispering? And is he a returning hero, or a vessel chosen for some purpose?
“They fear the abyss, but I climbed back to the world of the living from its very depths...”
So well written! The author is great, it made my blood boil.
It's super beautiful, the world view is very grand I think it's very well written. Why doesn't anyone come to read it? Book friends, where are you? Come and discuss it together.