Chapter one

"ah--!"

I jerked my head up from the keyboard, panting heavily.

The chair lurched backward and bounced back, my back drenched in cold sweat, my T-shirt clinging to my skin. The fan beside me whirred, and the Abyss Era dungeon interface on the screen continued to flicker.

I slowly turned my neck and looked around.

The familiar studio. A dozen or so computers. Takeout menus and copy schedules plastered on the wall. The calendar's edges were curled from the air conditioning.

June 15th.

Three days.

Three days left.

The Abyss Era will descend upon reality. Monsters, skills, and equipment will all materialize. Governments will collapse overnight, top players will become the rulers of the new world, and ordinary people will crawl through the ruins like ants.

In the previous life, it was the day before the game was about to begin—

Julian, a rich second-generation, approached me, saying he wanted to invest in my studio. I was incredibly grateful and led my entire team to fight tooth and nail to conquer the SSS-level dungeon [Absolute Defense], obtaining the artifact ring that could create an absolute defense field spanning a kilometer.

On the same day, Julian and my fiancée Emilia teamed up to steal my account.

He became a god.

I became trash.

Later I learned that Julian knew all along that this world was a novel, and he was the protagonist. He approached me three months in advance, seduced my fiancée, invested in my studio, and got me to work for him—and then, at the most crucial moment, devoured me whole, bones and all.

"Aidan, don't blame me."

That was the last thing he said to me.

He threw me into the horde of corpses, and Emilia stood beside him, wearing a magnificent divine gown, looking down as I was torn to pieces.

"Following the protagonist is better than following cannon fodder, right?"

I closed my eyes.

That suffocating feeling of having my throat bitten came back up again.

"Captain? Captain, what's wrong?"

The sound of my teammates' voices came through my headphones, pulling me out of that hell.

"Aidan?"

A hand rested on my shoulder.

Warm , soft , and with bright red nail polish.

I turned my head abruptly.

Emilia stood behind me. Long blonde hair, blue eyes, bright red lipstick, and a black bodycon dress. She held a phone in her hand, the screen still lit—I couldn't make out the last few words of the message preview, but I knew who had sent it.

Julian made her look at me.

I stared at the hand she had on my shoulder.

It was this hand. In my past life, it was this very hand that gently pushed me away from the horde of rotting corpses. The force was light, even gentle. Like pushing open a door I didn't want.

"Honey, you look terrible." Emilia tilted her head, her voice filled with rehearsed concern. "Did you have a nightmare?"

I looked at her.

A scalding sensation rose in my stomach. It wasn't stomach acid, it was hatred. A hatred so intense it burned my throat.

But she was waiting for an answer.

"It's nothing," I said, my voice calmer than I had expected. "I just fell asleep and had a dream."

She squinted at me for two seconds, as if to confirm whether I was lying, before switching back to her sweet expression.

"I'm glad you're alright... By the way, Aidan."

They've arrived.

"Julian just messaged me asking if I have my account password ready. He said that in order to ensure a smooth handover of items after tomorrow's dungeon raid, we need to manage the core members' accounts in advance."

As she said this, there was a very subtle curve to the corner of her mouth. The smugness of "You've finally taken the bait, and I'm about to get my reward" was impossible to hide.

Looking at her face, I suddenly felt a little amused.

In my previous life, I honestly handed over my account password.

Then, a few hours before the game launched, Julian used that information to completely strip my account bare. My character, equipment, and inventory all became his resources.

In the world I was born into, I couldn't even defeat a level 1 monster.

"Account and password?"

I slowly curled the corners of my mouth into a smile.

"Okay, I'll give it to him right now."