* A self-proclaimed straight man who doesn’t realize he’s in love, pretending to be a saintly gentleman top X a wicked, powerful bottom who takes great pleasure in being a menace
* The apocalypse hits everyone, but I’m the only one who can buy pay-to-win bundles, so... I stand at the summit and look down. The world is at my feet :)
On that day, the countdown in the Endless Apocalypse Survival Game reached its final twenty-four hours before the ultimate apocalypse instance.
Twenty-four hours later, extraterrestrial mechanical lifeforms would rain down like dumplings, scattering evenly across every corner of Earth.
Jiang Baoxian, the powerful player with the world’s only doomsday fortress shelter across all servers, three Temple Progenitor Cores, and the unique achievement “Carver of Mountains and Seas: Jiang, as in Jiang Ziya,” was humanity’s only possible salvation.
The bad news: Jiang Baoxian didn’t want to play anymore.
Because life with his straight husband, Shen Xianru, didn’t seem to be going very well.
To do or not to do, that is a question.
Other players: “Can’t you just live a peaceful life, Mr. Shen? Why did you have to provoke him?!!!!”
Every player across the globe was huddled in their shelter, agonizing over every passing second as they anxiously waited for Jiang Baoxian to make his choice.
Countdown to the opening of the ultimate apocalypse instance: 23:59:59.
*
Jiang Baoxian was a gold digger. At twenty, before graduating from college, he planned to marry the gravely ill tycoon Shen Xianru to bring him good fortune. But on the second day at the Shen family home, the tycoon was one breath away from kicking the bucket.
Shen Xianru had one son. At eighteen, convinced he wouldn’t live much longer, he had used his own genes to create a sequence and brought his legitimate heir, Shen Zhi, out of a cultivation tank. Now Shen Zhi had returned from overseas to handle the affairs of his nearly departed father and, while he was at it... deal with the stepmother who was one year younger than him.
Jiang Baoxian: I’m doomed!
Before Jiang Baoxian could be thrown out, a global deep freeze apocalypse descended overnight, plunging everyone into the Endless Apocalypse Survival Game.
You start with a ramshackle wooden hut, but the System gives everyone a chance to survive. On the first day, players open a beginner’s gift pack. Jiang Baoxian’s starting talent was the gray, F-rank “Wang Baochuan’s Shovel.”
[Talent description: You’re great at digging up wild vegetables!]
Jiang Baoxian wasn’t lovesick, and had no idea why he was being punished like this.
“...”
Just as he was despairing over his awful luck, his eyes suddenly lit up. The System informed him that his unbelievable good fortune had unlocked a second starting talent: “Pay to Win Browser Game.”
[Talent description: Pay money and get anything. Pay money and become king of the world!]
Have you ever played one of those browser games with servers that keep launching?
The moment you enter the game, the payment options are already flashing: 6 yuan, 18 yuan, 68 yuan, 128 yuan, 648 yuan...
Spend money and you can buy all kinds of bundles containing rare items other players can only dream of, game-changing weapons, top-tier gear, mountains of card-draw tokens, and enough power to hit others for 9,999 damage per strike while they hit you for 1, 1, 1, or just keep missing...
That’s a pay-to-win browser game.
While other players froze and struggled outdoors for pitiful scraps of resources, Jiang Baoxian only had to spend six gold coins to redeem, from the comfort of his home, an endlessly extendable, indestructible, fluffy, rechargeable electric blanket that could fend off any cold (item level: S), along with six wooden chests and countless basic materials for upgrading his shelter.
Jiang Baoxian: “The gameplay? Other players are my gameplay :)”
*
Reader’s guide
Also known as: “Not Reborn, but I’m Surviving the Apocalypse and Driving My Stepson Crazy”
① One-on-one romance. The bottom never really came close to dying. That was just the spectators’ guess. The top has a secret identity. 39 is a fake age (...)
② The apocalypse unfolds in this order: deep freeze → insect plague → zombies → extraterrestrial mechanical lifeforms.
③ The golden finger is overpowered, with lots of shocked reactions.
④ If you’re extremely particular about character roles, this novel may not be for you. Please run!
⑤ No insults, arguments, or made-up plot speculation ❌. The author won’t argue, but will delete comments.
Theme: Being nurtured by love makes you grow toward the sun
When the Most Hated One Takes Back Their Body
As the Moonlight Returns
Elegant Pig Slaughtering in the Immortal Sect
Pure
Shh, the King Is Hibernating
I've Been Out of School for Years
Wild Dog
Three Poisons
[Harry Potter] Glory
The Wolf's Servant
We Were Young Once
Born Under a Peach Blossom and a Sword
System, You Got My Gender Wrong
I Offended My Boss, So I Told Him I Had a Crush on Him
The Maybach Meant for My Younger Brother's Mentor
Self-Awareness
The Young Fake Young Master Chooses to Return to a Poor Family
The Cat Above the Law
The Handsome Scholar Loved by Ghosts
The Diligent Incubus
How to Properly Lull a Tyrant to Sleep
The Poor, Oblivious Straight Guy [Quick Transmigration]
Pampered by the Feudal Patriarch of a Powerful Family
21+
My Husband Is a Tyrant
Honey, Can't You Just Comfort Me?
After Refusing the Gods' Grace
21+
Matrix Interference
You Didn't Die Either?
The Lost-and-Found Moonlight [Quick Transmigration]
Withdrawal
I Share a Lifespan with the Dragon-Proud Protagonist
21+
Arrogant Fool
Ugh, I really hate, or rather, I'm disgusted by this illusion. If it were just an illusion, that would be fine, but if it were something that actually happened, I really couldn't stand it at all. The title is right; others may not understand the sentimental nature of this kind of writing, but it certainly doesn't suit my taste.
Robbing a bank and having a lottery is a must, so why not let Shen Zhi participate? He's incredibly lucky!
Sister, it's a good thing your IP address is in Guangxi, otherwise, with your irregular updates, I'd suspect you'd gone to Chongli! [Oh oh oh][Oh oh oh][Oh oh oh]
This update will be a little later this afternoon.
A coward who tries to pick up bargains, why should he? [Eye roll][eye roll] Sometimes it's really the world that forces good people to turn bad.
I'm so angry I'm going to fatten up!
It seems like both the top and bottom characters have issues.
I can't believe it! Shen's AI is so strong. He uses big data simulation to avoid wrong choices, and he's like a multi-playthrough visual novel player who knows which options are right. But I don't feel any love, nor any emotion from him towards others. His human-machine interface is so strong! 😂
I feel like he deserves it, but I can also understand. We've only known each other for a short time, but we've been through so much together, and so many things have happened. Ugh, I'm so conflicted! [Crying emoji]
I remember in this playthrough, Shen Zhi looked at Bao Cheng's roster with that kind of look in his eyes, and Shen said something like, "Don't look at him like that." Shen, if you were to relive that moment, how would you feel? 🧋