A red fog descended without warning, and civilization collapsed. Mutated creatures roared as they tore the city lights apart. Humanity huddled inside rust-stained safe zones, where every trip outside to scavenge supplies was a gamble with death.
Lin Ye, formerly a member of the safe zone patrol, lost his only younger sister when the red light swallowed her at the moment the red fog's core leaked. Not even her bones were left behind. His obsession locked him in endless pain, until a cold System voice exploded in his mind:
[Abyss Instance 001: Rusted City, Hunger Square, has begun.]
[Player: Lin Ye. Forced entry.]
The red fog swallowed him, carrying a bloody stench. When he regained consciousness, he was standing outside a convenience store in the old district of Cangnan City, where rain poured in torrents. Beyond the glass doors, the shrieks of crawling corpses tore through the rainy night. Inside, the irritable demon hunter Zhao Lie held a dagger to a mutant's throat, while Su Wan, dressed in a white skirt, crouched in the corner, clutching a medical kit with terror in her eyes.
This was the first desperate trial after the apocalypse began, and the starting point of his quest to collect the pieces of the apocalypse puzzle and reverse the cataclysm.
Inside the instances were giant carrion hounds so hungry they'd chase down and devour the living, Abyss elites that controlled the red fog, and broken clues about his sister's disappearance hidden in every level. He awakened the one-of-a-kind Puzzle Solver class, able to analyze instance rules and locate puzzle pieces. Yet in one desperate situation after another, he caught sight of his sister's hazy silhouette, left behind here long ago.
He formed the Echo Squad with Zhao Lie and Su Wan, braving the Rusted City's Hunger Festival, infiltrating the terror prison of the deep-sea ruins, and traversing the redemption maze of an abandoned laboratory. His teammates entrusted their lives to one another, their obsession slowly came into focus through the puzzle pieces, and the truth about the red fog gradually surfaced with every cleared instance.
The red fog, it turned out, was no natural disaster. It was an abyss formed from humanity's negative emotions, the product of a leaked experiment, and a prison built from countless people's obsessions and regrets.
Lin Ye must collect all seven pieces of the apocalypse puzzle. He must dispel the red fog and save his sister, while also keeping those around him alive through the instances' endless cycles. But the corruption value spread through his flesh and blood, while fear and guilt gnawed at him day and night. He watched his teammates grow stronger through each desperate trial and his own sanity slowly get devoured. More than anything, he feared that even after giving everything, he still wouldn't be able to hold on to the one person he treasured most.
The Abyss is endless, and obsessions are hard to lay to rest.
With the puzzle as his blade and his obsession as his shield, he struggles again and again through the apocalypse's instances, searching for an answer to how to survive and piecing together a future without disaster.
But no one knows whether, when the puzzle is complete, salvation or eternal ruin awaits him.
Theme: Apocalypse Puzzle
