Chapter 1 The System Returns

Just as Li Ang was joking around in the classroom, the system prompt that hadn't moved for a long time finally came back online.

[Original Connection System debugging complete, system template officially online, players can check basic information]

"Finally..."

Li Ang took a deep breath, walked out of the classroom, and conversed with the system prompt in his mind.

"This game, the Earth Killing Field, who created and runs it? God? Ancient gods? Or aliens?"

[Insufficient player permissions, unable to query relevant information]

"What is the ultimate purpose of this game?"

[Insufficient player permissions, unable to query relevant information]

"How many Killing Field Games have been held in Earth's history?"

[Six large-scale Killing Field Games have been held in Earth's history. The first occurred approximately 542 million to 485 million years ago, the second approximately 439 million to 363 million years ago, the third 208 million to 146 million years ago, the fourth approximately 66 million to 65 million years ago, the fifth approximately 50 million to 2.5 million years ago, and the sixth approximately 135,000 to 24,000 years ago.]

Li Ang narrowed his eyes. "So, the first game took place during the Cambrian explosion of life, when arthropods, mollusks, and annelids suddenly appeared.

The second game was during the Silurian and Devonian periods, during which green algae landed on the continent and evolved into ferns, establishing a terrestrial ecosystem with early insects, while vertebrates began to dominate the ocean, and fish evolved into primitive amphibians that began to reproduce on land.

The third game was in the Jurassic period, when the forests on the supercontinent Pangaea were lush, the climate was warm and humid, and dinosaurs became the rulers.

The fourth game took place before the asteroid impact that caused the fifth mass extinction. After that, the terrestrial overlord dinosaurs completely disappeared, and small terrestrial animals that survived developed and grew on the ruins of the dinosaur era.

The fifth game saw the rapid evolution of primates: apes, propliopithecus, aegyptopithecus, dryopithecus, australopithecus, until they evolved into the genus Homo.

The sixth game was the competition between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. Ultimately, Homo sapiens won, and Neanderthals were defeated and became extinct."

If the system's statement is true, then the Killing Field Game has almost covered most of Earth's species evolution history. It could even be argued that the Killing Field Game has played a significant role in the history of biological evolution on Earth.

"In what form were these six Killing Field Games conducted?"

[The system will randomly select native residents to be promoted to players. Players complete various tasks given by the system to obtain rewards. Non-players can only obtain qualifications by killing players. Player qualifications cannot be inherited through bloodlines, nor can they be transferred.]

"In what form will the game end?"

[The system will determine whether the game progress has met the standards. If the player group fails to complete the final task within the specified time limit, the system will carry out a comprehensive attack on the Earth's ecosystem, wiping out the species to which the player group belongs.

For example, the Ordovician global temperature drop extinguished invertebrates, the Devonian marine regression extinguished Dunkleosteus, Materpiscis attenboroughi, and other marine creatures, the Permian continental drift extinguished trilobites, sea scorpions, and other arthropods, the Triassic large-scale seawater hypoxia extinguished brachiopods and gastropods, and the Cretaceous meteorite impact extinguished dinosaurs.]

"Wait, the main players in the fifth and sixth games should have been apes, right? Has humanity ever been subjected to system extinction?"

[Approximately 73,500 years ago, the system determined that the main player group in the sixth Killing Field Game, namely humans, failed to complete the progress target, and therefore implemented an ecosystem extinction strike.

The Toba volcano on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, erupted continuously for seven days, and volcanic ash covered half of the Earth's sky, causing the Earth to enter an ice age and wiping out 99% of humanity.]

Li Ang wasn't too surprised. The Toba volcanic eruption disaster 70,000 years ago did reduce the human population to only a few thousand individuals. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to consider that period the most dangerous moment in human history.

"Then, after the sixth game, have there been any more Killing Field Games?"

[After the sixth game, the system believed that large-scale Killing Field Games could not select high-quality players, so it changed the game format and periodically held small-scale Killing Field Games.

These small-scale games have been intermittent in civilization circles around the world, lasting from a century to a few years. Some of the gods, demons, monsters, and heroes in human myths, epics, and legends were players in the Killing Field Games.]

"I see."

Li Ang nodded. This explains why supernatural powers in history appear and disappear from time to time.

"So what about now? When did this current game start? And how many players are there at this moment?"

[This is the seventh large-scale Killing Field Game. It started seven months ago. The current player scale is confidential.]

"Okay."

Li Ang lightly tapped the table with his finger joints. Seven months ago was exactly when urban legends began to flourish.

The duck is the first to know when the river warms in spring. Since the Killing Field Game will ultimately determine the survival of human civilization, the state apparatus, with its stronger organizational capabilities and professional intelligence agencies, must have already grasped more information and taken corresponding measures based on that information.

For example, establishing specialized intelligence agencies, investigating and screening potential civilian players, or forming officially-backed player strategy teams in an organized manner. Each officially-backed player has a think tank of a company at their disposal.

Philosophers, historians, mathematicians, astronomers, physicists, psychologists...

Compared to the giant creature that is the state apparatus, with its thousand hands, thousand feet, thousand eyes, and thousand heads, the "high-quality players" selected from ordinary people are still ordinary people.

Under the strong observation of the think tank team, individual players with insufficient intelligence have no advantage at all, even if they have supernatural powers above a certain level.

Organization. The biggest difference between human society and primitive organisms lies in the fact that humans possess unprecedentedly powerful organization.

This organization is undoubtedly a good thing for the collective strategy game of human civilization, but for individual players, powerful organization also seals off the possibility of becoming a Buddha or patriarch and acting wantonly as a transcendent being.

Even, at this time when the situation is not yet clear, individual players must also bear pressure and threats from sources other than the Killing Field Game.

For example, the state apparatus's investigation and screening {not necessarily a bad thing},

The prying eyes of commercial organizations that smell the change of the times {definitely a bad thing},

Terrorists who can't think straight,

Other players with malicious intentions.

Therefore, to sum up, it's best for individual players to hide their identities at the moment...

"One last question, the specific form in which the system issues tasks."

[The system issues tasks in three types. The first is basic tasks, which are randomly triggered by players on a daily basis. Players can choose whether to accept them. Completion is rewarded, failure has no penalty.

The second is mandatory tasks, which are randomly issued by the system. Players must complete the task objectives. Completion is rewarded, failure results in the player's elimination.

The third is script tasks, the task scenario of which does not necessarily take place on the real Earth. It is randomly generated by the system. Players will play a certain role and complete the script. Completion is rewarded, failure results in a random penalty from the system.]

"Oh?"

Li Ang raised his eyebrows. The first and second types of tasks were easy to understand, but the third type, the script task, sounded a bit strange.

Just as he was about to continue asking, the system issued a prompt.

[Task trigger conditions met, task type: basic task]

[Task name: Afterlife Affairs]

[Task objective: Eliminate the possessed ghost within Yanshi Experimental High School 0/1]

[Task rewards: 1. Increase player permissions, open the player's personal panel. 2. In addition to eliminating the target spirit, reward additional experience points. 3. 100 game coins. 4. Ordinary quality random item *1]