A billion people worldwide are scrambling for just ten thousand beta-testing slots. Jiang Zaixi, who has to live under someone else’s roof, casually taps the screen and becomes one of the “lucky” few in ten thousand.
At first, The Realms of Returning Ruin is little more than a comforting escape from her sharp-tongued aunt and arrogant cousins.
Gothic, eerie dungeons, NPCs hiding secrets, and source energy that can enhance the body: it all feels like an immersive adventure.
Until, in the power room of the tutorial dungeon, her fingertips touch the warm, throbbing heart of a gear, and she feels the pulse where machinery and flesh intertwine;
until the dungeon exit tears through the barrier between worlds, white fog surges in and swallows the city, mutated creatures’ claws slash across the night sky, and their roars shatter the neon lights.
Only then does Jiang Zaixi realize this was never a game.
There is no restart button, no return-to-town button. The game is an ironclad law that selects the strong, a horn announcing an invasion from another dimension, and the beginning of a world reshaped by new rules.
While players around the world are still fighting over dungeon rewards and losing themselves in the illusion of virtual upgrades, she has already survived by the skin of her teeth in the gap between reality and the dungeons.
Faced with mutated creatures closing in, fellow players harboring hidden ambitions, and the steady collapse of the real world, Jiang Zaixi’s gaze turns cold.
“A game?” She gives a mocking laugh.
“No. This is a war for the survival of humanity.”
【No romance + strong female lead + game invades reality + post-apocalyptic worldbuilding + cyberpunk + Cthulhu】
