Outwitting the Players of the Fourth Calamity

[The full draft is in progress. See the author's note in Chapter 11 for details.] [50,000 words already written] Yan Qi lost everything after a devastating natural disaster. But then he suddenly received a blessing called [Reload], allowing him to return to a specific point in the past whenever he wished and start over. He soon discovered that he was an NPC in a post-apocalyptic wasteland game, and the world he lived in was nothing more than an insignificant universe in a higher-dimensional world. The apocalypse came. His home was destroyed, his family was lost, order collapsed, and the Old Gods awakened... The source of all this misery was the [Player]. For nothing more than a bit of fun, the Player could treat everyone's lives as worthless, tormenting anyone who dared challenge his authority. He would show humanity no mercy, just as humans wouldn't care whether an ant lived or died. But Yan Qi was destined to become the one who killed God. [The Player has detected your anomaly] [The Player is approaching you] [...You have been eliminated by the Player] [You have reloaded] Yan Qi opened his eyes once more. Exhaustion and madness wrestled in his mind, while the pain and anguish of the past became fuel for his revenge. Even as his mind was corrupted and his body consumed, he remembered perfectly clearly: He would kill the [Player] with his own hands. [Reader's Guide] · No romance, ensemble cast, dual male leads with dual POVs. A deeply unhinged, looping-game NPC versus a chaotic player who plays for fun. They only want to kill each other. · The protagonist is a native of the game world, while the antagonist is a player from a higher-dimensional world. The game world is an alternate post-apocalyptic wasteland, with a touch of cosmic horror. · Blurb revised on October 16, 2025. Screenshot saved. Theme: Only the self can serve as the one true guiding light forward.