Chapter 1 The Beginning

On the seventeenth level of the Dark Abyss, one hundred and twenty-five thousand cosmic citizens stood on the gray, desolate ground.

"Congratulations on arriving at the seventeenth level of the Dark Abyss. The rules for this round are: when the number of deaths reaches half, all survivors will advance to the next level. If, after five minutes, the number of deaths is less than half, participants will be randomly eliminated."

"Task, begin."

A voice echoed in the sky.

Xu Jingming observed his surroundings.

Having studied numerous resources, he understood the rules of each round very well.

"In the fourth round, the strong must be more proactive and not waste time," Xu Jingming thought to himself. "Because if the number of deaths is less than half after five minutes, there will be random elimination. Even top experts might be randomly eliminated."

The weaker one is, the more willing they are to endure and gamble on 'random elimination.'

Because their probability of dying in battle is higher than the probability of being 'randomly killed'!

The stronger one is, the less they want to gamble on luck.

"I am a sixth-order Starry Sky lifeform. In terms of actual combat, I am considered top-tier at the sixth-order level." Xu Jingming knew his own position. People like Mr. Lu, Miss Ziteng, and Miss Qingyu were all sixth-order Starry Sky lifeforms and second-rate experts in the Blood Rain World.

Moreover, Xu Jingming had also collected public information. Sixth-order Starry Sky lifeforms generally had a combat bonus of around five times.

As the number one genius of Blue Star, Xu Jingming's combat bonus reached ten times, which was extremely rare among sixth-order Starry Sky lifeforms.

Seventh-order Starry Sky lifeforms generally have a combat bonus starting at ten times.

Eighth-order Starry Sky lifeforms, on the other hand, have a combat bonus starting at 30 times.

The entire 'Cosmic Human Alliance' attaches great importance to combat bonuses because the 'combat bonus' can determine the strength of one's mind and consciousness, as well as their control over their body. These two aspects are fundamental to becoming a 'ninth-order Origin lifeform.'

"There are two eighth-order participants, 156 seventh-order participants, and over a hundred thousand sixth-order participants. My strength is at the bottom of the seventh-order and at the top of the sixth-order. I should be able to rank in the top one thousand." Xu Jingming watched the melee of over ten thousand people on the field and clearly defined his own position.

Suddenly, a cosmic citizen nearby launched a sneak attack. Xu Jingming sidestepped, and his left hand, like a knife, cut towards the opponent's throat.

*Boom.*

The opponent's large palm blocked the thrust, and a foot simultaneously kicked out. Xu Jingming naturally blocked with a raised knee.

*Boom boom boom!*

The two sides exchanged blows at lightning speed, back and forth.

Xu Jingming had practiced Bajiquan and Chuo Jiao from a young age, and his palm techniques, fist techniques, elbow techniques, and leg techniques were all very proficient. Moreover, at his current realm, his entire body could be transformed into a weapon. His hands could perform the dual shield technique, or he could use spear techniques.

After six consecutive exchanges, the cosmic citizen suddenly retreated, glanced at Xu Jingming, and sought other opponents.

This exchange between the two also made some other participants take notice, and they intentionally avoided them: "These two are quite powerful; they are probably seventh-order Starry Sky lifeforms."

The slaughter continued.

Experts were chasing and killing.

The weak also had their moments of frantic fighting, but more were deliberately running away to delay time.

"Run, run, run. When the time is up, there will be random elimination. I will most likely enter the next round." Many cosmic citizens were old players, perhaps with mediocre combat skills, but their movement techniques were very slippery.

Those who were slow to escape were killed one by one.

Those who believed they could rank in the top 10% were unwilling to delay until the end, and they struck fiercely. Some of the weaker ones also tripped each other up, making themselves safer with each participant who died.

At four minutes and three seconds, *buzz!*

Dark red light pillars descended from the sky, enveloping everyone.

This round was over, and they would all successfully enter the next round.

Although the rules stated 'half the number of deaths,' in actual execution, because there was constant fighting everywhere, a dozen people might die simultaneously at the instant the time limit was reached! Therefore, the number of eliminated people was slightly greater than 'half.'

"Hahaha, I successfully escaped to the end, and the prize money has reached 200,000. After deducting the registration fee, there's still 100,000 left. What a profit!" Many fifth-order Starry Sky lifeforms were cheering. Clearly, their strength was mediocre, and they had even become Starry Sky lifeforms through external forces. But they were hopelessly addicted to playing! They believed they had mastered some 'tricks' and repeatedly participated in the Escape from the Dark Abyss activity.

In their view, as long as they passed four rounds, after deducting the registration fee, they could earn at least 100,000. It was much better than working hard to earn money.

But in reality, fifth-order Starry Sky lifeforms were too weak and mostly couldn't pass the first three rounds.

For example, only 125,000 people had passed the first three rounds, and the number of sixth-order participants generally exceeded 100,000. It could be judged from the numbers—

For fifth-order participants, playing 'Medium Escape from the Abyss' had a very high probability of losing money.

But many Starry Sky lifeforms were still willing to participate in 'Escape from the Abyss'! They called it 'honing their minds and wills' and 'honing their combat skills,' but in reality, even if they lost ten times, as long as they won once and earned over a million, they would become addicted to the taste of earning a fortune.

After all, working hard, a fifth-order Starry Sky lifeform couldn't earn a million cosmic dollars in a year.

"The fifth round is about to begin." Xu Jingming was also enveloped by the light pillar. He was very calm; it was normal for him to pass the first few rounds with his strength.

…

"The rate of attrition in this level of the abyss is quite fast. It's estimated that half will die in about four minutes." The cute girl wearing a hat was the most terrifying existence in this activity. She was 'Tata,' a cosmic celebrity and big streamer who had long reached the limit of the eighth order.

Tata's telepathy naturally covered every part of the battlefield. Even the other eighth-order Starry Sky lifeform didn't notice Tata's peeping.

Disguised as a cute girl, she was running around in a panic, looking very scared. She ran around in the crowd, and the places she ran naturally caused some chaotic fighting, greatly increasing the rate of attrition.

Clearly, she didn't kill anyone, but under her invisible influence, over a thousand participants died.

"Too amazing."

"How is she so strong?"

"Tata's influence on the situation is too strong. Those participants are quite experienced, but they are unconsciously influenced by Tata."

"How exactly does she do it? Every time I imitate Tata and drill through the crowd, I get killed."

Tens of millions of cosmic citizen viewers watched Tata's performance and thought the performance was beautiful as a picture.

Without directly taking action, running left and right, she indirectly killed over a thousand cosmic citizens.

This kind of influence on the outside world was indeed inconceivable.

"When participating in Escape from the Abyss, everyone is very careful and vigilant. There is a distance of caution between people. Once the distance of caution is broken, fighting is highly likely to break out." Although Tata couldn't see the viewers' comments, she still gave a voice explanation, "Influencing their distance will naturally cause chaos. Moreover, the mind influences each other. My mind can naturally influence the state of mind of others, making them more angry and irritable. When they are irritable, they are more likely to clash and fight."

Tata ran happily, and the fighting was obviously more frantic wherever she ran.

…

The rules for the fifth and sixth rounds were the same as the fourth round.

These rules forced the strong to take action, and the weak fifth-order, and even some sixth-order participants who lacked confidence, were frantically fleeing.

Finally, dark red light pillars descended!

Xu Jingming arrived at the fourteenth level of the Dark Abyss.

"Now the number of people is estimated to be only over fifteen thousand." Xu Jingming scanned the dense crowd of cosmic citizens from various civilizations. With his speed of thought, he could completely judge the approximate number. "I estimate that there are very few fifth-order participants left."

"Wahahaha, big brothers and sisters in the streaming room, did you see that? I, a fifth-order Starry Sky lifeform, have made it to the seventh round!" A short, fat alien excitedly said, of course, only his own streaming room audience could hear him. "Including the reward money in the total prize pool, my reward money this time is conservatively estimated to be 1 million cosmic dollars. Wahahaha, so awesome. I know a lot of people are like me, with no evolutionary talent and stuck in the fifth-order. But you can learn from me and work hard to practice 'movement techniques,' practice them fast enough and slippery enough… in the Escape from the Abyss activity, you can hope to survive seven or eight rounds."

"Starting next, it will be team battles, and I will definitely be dragging everyone down." The short, fat alien pointed out, "It's purely a matter of luck. If the experts in the team are strong enough, I can get into the next round, and the reward money will be doubled, wahaha…"

Escape from the Abyss does have a certain probability of allowing the weak to muddle through to the middle and late stages and obtain huge rewards.

This made the participants very enthusiastic.

But in reality, for the organizers, they make money from every 'Escape from the Abyss' activity. They are sure to earn 50% of the reward amount and handling fees. Little by little, it is still a virtual game that is extremely terrifying for sucking money across the entire universe.

"The rules for this round: Every two teams will fight to the death until one side is completely dead. The winning team advances as a whole, and the defeated team is eliminated. If the game is not over within five minutes, both teams will be eliminated!" A voice echoed in the sky.

Xu Jingming and the dense crowd of over ten thousand people suddenly felt the ground crack.

The ground cracked irregularly, naturally dividing the over ten thousand people into over a hundred teams.

The cracked ground became small islands, suspended on the ocean.

Xu Jingming looked around and determined with a glance that there were a hundred people on his island.

"Our team happens to have a hundred people." A purple-haired man in the team said, "Once our island collides with another island, we must attack immediately. Because once the five minutes are up, as long as one person on the other side is not dead, we will be eliminated."

"We must unite and cooperate with each other." The short, fat alien also said loudly, looking full of fighting spirit. In reality, he was the only fifth-order in the team.

"Everyone must not be selfish."

"Even if you die, you must ensure that the team wins. If the team wins, you can naturally go to the next round."

People spoke one after another.

Those who could make it to the seventh round were either experienced or strong enough. They all knew the importance of 'unity' at this moment.

"Here it comes, here it comes."

The island where Xu Jingming and the others were located was approaching another island.

At the moment the two islands collided, both teams rushed over bravely.

"Yayaya, let's fight, let's fight. Killing one is not a loss, killing two is meritorious." These cosmic citizens being 'fearless' was the most basic requirement. The most important thing was to grasp the situation on the field and learn to cooperate.

With good cooperation, ten experts are stronger than thirty scattered experts.

The spear techniques that Xu Jingming comprehended, whether it was 'the flow of water' or 'the myriad appearances of living beings,' both emphasized the situation on the field! He naturally paid attention to the situation on the field and influenced the 'flow of water,' influencing the changes in momentum.

He filled in the key weak points.

He added fuel to the fire at the points of sharpest attack!

He was like a 'lubricant,' improving the team's coordination.

"Well done, I hope you are still on my team in the next round." The purple-haired man was also influencing the team. He looked at Xu Jingming with approval. The purple-haired man didn't care about Xu Jingming's combat skills. What he cared about was… Xu Jingming's ability to grasp the situation on the field and improve the team's coordination.

Team battles needed experts like Xu Jingming who were good at cooperating.

The purple-haired man was also good at controlling the situation, and his powerful mind and consciousness also influenced the surrounding participants. And he had super close combat strength! This was the real expert among the participants.

Xu Jingming watched in amazement: "My combat bonus is ten times, but this person's combat bonus is probably 20 times! Placed in the Blood Rain World, he would be a top-tier expert."

Although there were also experts on the other side, they were obviously inferior overall!

"Why is the opponent so strong in the seventh round? Is the official of Escape from the Abyss deliberately targeting me?" The leader of the opposing team was a bald man. He was fierce and domineering, charging ahead, but he was suppressed by the purple-haired man.

Around the purple-haired man, there were also experts like Xu Jingming cooperating. The team's cooperation was obviously much stronger.

The other side was constantly losing members.

"I can't even get past the seventh round this time. I'm going crazy." The bald man was suppressed by the purple-haired man and saw that his team had fewer and fewer people. He couldn't help but feel grief and indignation.

He was the cosmic citizen star streamer 'Demon Blade' among the seventh-order Starry Sky lifeforms, and he had won the first place in the medium-sized Escape from the Abyss activity several times! Streaming 'Escape from the Abyss' was his main project.

But in the last twenty-one days, he hadn't even made it into the top ten once.

"It seems like we're going to lose."

"Don't panic, don't panic. Winning and losing are common occurrences. I'll start a new round later. I don't believe it." Seeing that the situation was hopeless, with the other side still having over fifty people and his side only having a few left, the bald man reluctantly gave up resisting and allowed the purple-haired man's palm to pierce through his chest.

In this exchange, it only took three minutes for Xu Jingming's team to win and completely kill everyone on the other side.

"Wahaha, lying down and winning, lying down and winning again." The short, fat alien condensed from the void. As a member of the winning team, he naturally advanced with them.

"The opposing team was actually quite strong, with quite a few experts." Xu Jingming sighed secretly, "It's just that my teammates were more powerful, and the whole team was more united."

…

The seventh, eighth, and ninth rounds were all team battles.

Each time Xu Jingming was assigned to a new team, the overall strength was quite strong. Perhaps it was also because he himself acted as a team lubricant. In short, he won three consecutive rounds!

"Congratulations on arriving at the eleventh level of the Dark Abyss. There are now 1,950 participants remaining. We also have good news for you. Based on the current amount of viewers' rewards, you will conservatively receive a reward of 3.76 million cosmic dollars." An encouraging voice rang out in the sky.

This made the participants standing on the ground feel quite good.

Even for sixth-order Starry Sky lifeforms, over three million cosmic dollars was a pretty big reward.

Of course, while they were happy and joyful, more people had already been eliminated.

Xu Jingming also felt quite happy.

This money came really fast!

He had worked hard for more than a month in the Blood Rain World and only earned a million. Now, it hadn't even been an hour, and he had already earned so much.

"Calm down, calm down." Xu Jingming thought to himself, "Don't be obsessed with the Escape from the Abyss activity. According to the information I've found, many cosmic citizens have said… the first time they participate in Escape from the Dark Abyss, their luck is especially good, and they can generally earn a lot of money."

"Luck is more inclined towards newbies. This is deliberately attracting cosmic citizens to continue participating." Xu Jingming secretly advised himself.

But no matter how much he advised himself, his heart was still burning hot.

Because the further back the reward money goes, the more amazing the increase will be.