To this day Ling Ke still remembered exactly what had happened in the final moment before he crossed over.
That day he had simply gone downstairs to the fruit shop to buy a watermelon to cool off.
The afternoon sun beat down on the street as he stepped out of his apartment building.
Suddenly from high above came a loud shout and the sound of something heavy being hurled off a balcony.
Ling Ke looked up just in time to see a massive watermelon launched from one of the upper floors.
The watermelon plummeted faster than he expected.
The wet green rind caught the sunlight and blurred into a bright blue streak as it tore through the air, growing bigger and bigger in his vision every split second.
Then it smashed straight into his forehead without missing a beat.
He still had no idea what the hell that thing actually was.
A random watermelon falling from the sky was not even on the list of things he could have written down on paper.
However…
"Logically speaking something that can smash a person straight into crossing over should be a portable golden finger right?"
"System? Inheritance? Old grandpa? Demon god's inner core? Or a star beast's nucleus?"
Back then Ling Ke had daydreamed about every single one of those ultra-cliché possibilities countless times.
Because that was his only hope of escape.
Unfortunately during the nearly four years of endless torment no matter how desperately he screamed in despair there was never any response.
But the same way until today…
[Special region meeting "Rebirth Chamber" binding conditions detected. "No.1 Player System" fully activated.]
[Please select future development route: "World Savior" or "World Destroyer".]
Staring at the ultra-cliché semi-transparent rectangular interface floating in front of him Ling Ke narrowed his eyes after a brief moment of daze.
Ling Ke didn't even need to think twice.
A few years ago the old him would have picked "World Savior" without any hesitation at all.
But now the warm heart he once had had long since turned to cold ash.
So the answer was obvious.
[Host has selected: "World Destroyer".]
[From this day forward every time an intelligent lifeform dies because of the host's own actions — whether killed directly or dying as an indirect result — the host will gain 1 unit of points.]
[Points can be used to randomly draw "game character templates" inside the system. The host can load any template onto himself and gain its "character traits," "game skills," and "background talents."]
[Initial process complete. Reward: one "Newbie Big Gift Pack".]
Ling Ke quickly scanned through all the information.
Soon everything clicked into place in his mind.
First of all…
"Ignoring all humanitarian concerns the difference between 'World Savior' and 'World Destroyer' is simply where their advantages lie."
"Earning points as a World Destroyer is obviously much easier."
"Just kill people directly and earn 1 single point of unit per kill. Considering how many people on earth was."
"But on the World Savior side if the same person keeps falling into danger and I keep saving them I can farm points again and again."
"One path gives explosive short-term growth. The other is slow and steady."
At that moment Ling Ke himself didn't even notice…
The way he now thought about things had become ice-cold.
Or perhaps it was absolute based purely on his own benefit… to a terrifying degree.
And on top of that…
"I am the host of the 'No.1 Player System' and at the same time the Herrscher of Dominance of this era."
"That means the game character template loading function which used to work on only one person can now expand directly to a thousand."
"And this Theater of Dominance…"
Ling Ke looked around him "after being bound by the system as my 'Rebirth Chamber' has turned into an absolute domain completely under my control."
He remembered that in many games he had played before crossing over the 'Rebirth Chamber' was usually a protective zone that outside enemies could never invade.
Like the ones in left 4 dead or even in Overwatch.
So…
"Now this Theater of Dominance with Rebirth Chamber properties cannot be forced into by anyone unless I personally allow it."
"Which means the original plot trick where Kiana used the Herrscher of the Void's power to teleport a battleship inside… is now impossible."
"Therefore as long as I stay inside the Theater of Dominance I am naturally undefeatable."
Then…
["Newbie Big Gift Pack" has been opened.]
[Congratulations host you have obtained a new game character template — Anby.]
When he saw the result the corner of Ling Ke's mouth curved up slightly.
At that thought Ling Ke chose to load the "Anby" game character template.
The moment he confirmed it, a flood of images and sensations rushed into his mind.
He saw a silver-haired girl moving with lightning speed, electricity dancing along her baton as she weaved through enemies. The instinctive timing of her dodges turning into devastating counters, the sharp crack when her strikes broke through tough defenses, the surge of power charging and releasing like a living battery — all of it became part of him in an instant.
Then it settled.
In the next instant inside the vast Theater of Dominance all 999 "Dominance Puppets" changed appearance at once.
Every single one transformed into a girl wearing black-green clothing with headphones on her head and short silver-gray hair.
If you looked closely on the battery pack modules on the backs of these 999 "Dominance Puppet · Anby" each had a different number.
The original Anby was 123.
The 999 "Dominance Puppet · Anby" here were numbered from 001 all the way to 999.
As for Ling Ke himself his number was 000.
Yes. The true "Number Zero".
=
i... kinda didnt changed that much aside from, here and there adding stuff and all. i thought someone threw a water melon scene would be funny lmao.