The world ended on a Tuesday.
Zhou Jun remembered that detail clearly, even ten years later—even after the acid rain melted his little sister's face, even after he watched his parents get torn apart by a pack of Iron-Back Wolves outside the safe zone, even after he himself died alone in a sewer, clutching a rusty knife and a half-eaten nutrient bar.
He remembered because Tuesdays used to be raid reset day in "Eternal Dominion," the VRMMO everyone played before reality itself turned into the final, unskippable patch.
On that Tuesday, at exactly 14:37 Beijing time, every screen on the planet went black. Then the sky tore open like wet paper. Azure system panels burned themselves into the retinas of eight billion people at once.
[Global Server: Eternal Cataclysm — Now Live]
[All players have been forcibly logged in.]
[Awakening begins in 10… 9…]
Some people laughed, thinking it was the world's most ambitious ARG.
Some people screamed.
Zhou Jun did neither.
He simply closed his eyes and waited for the pain—because he already knew what came next.
Death was supposed to be the end.
Instead, he opened his eyes to the ceiling of his high-school dorm room, the cheap fluorescent tube flickering exactly the way it had ten years ago—three days before the Cataclysm.
His roommate was still snoring in the upper bunk. His phone on the desk still showed the date: November 15, 2025.
Zhou Jun sat up slowly. His hands—smooth, uncallawed, unburned—trembled.
"I'm… back?"
The memories of two lifetimes crashed together like colliding freight trains. The humiliation, the starvation, the betrayal by people he once called teammates, the sight of the woman he loved selling his location to a guild for a single B-rank skill book.
He clenched his fists until his nails drew blood.
This time would be different.
This time, he would stand at the very top, and anyone who had ever stepped on him would learn what it felt like to be crushed underfoot.
Three days later, the sky cracked a second time—exactly on schedule.
The dormitory shook. Sirens wailed outside. Students poured into the corridors in panic.
Zhou Jun walked against the current, calm as death itself, until he reached the sports field where the first Awakening Altar had materialized in his previous life.
A ten-meter-tall obsidian monolith floated three feet above the grass, radiating pressure that forced normal people to their knees.
Hundreds of students had already gathered, eyes shining with excitement and fear.
A third-year senior named Zhao Hu—someone who would later become a regional tyrant—was first to step forward. He pressed his palm to the monolith.
Golden light exploded.
[Name: Zhao Hu]
[Awakened Talent: C-Rank — Giant Strength]
[Starting Stat Bonus: Strength +15]
Cheers erupted. In the early days, C-rank was already considered elite.
One after another, students awakened: D-rank Swiftness, D-rank Iron Skin, C-rank Fire Affinity…
When Zhou Jun's turn came, the crowd had thinned. Those who failed to awaken (about 8%) were already crying in corners.
He placed his hand on the cold stone without hesitation.
The monolith trembled.
Lines of blood-red text appeared—visible to every person in a kilometer radius.
[Name: Zhou Jun]
[First Talent Awakening…]
[D-Rank — Tenacity]
[Effect: For every 1% HP lost, all stats +0.5%. When HP falls below 10%, gain "Blood Rage" state: damage x3, pain immunity.]
Laughter rippled through the crowd.
"D-rank trash, haha!"
"Tenacity? More like masochist talent!"
"Next!"
Zhou Jun's expression didn't change. He kept his palm pressed to the stone.
In his previous life, he had only this one pathetic D-rank talent. It let him survive longer than most, but never let him climb.
This life, he knew a secret no one else did.
The monolith could be touched twice.
It was a hidden mechanic the top guilds only discovered two years after the Cataclysm—and then buried forever.
Zhou Jun circulated the breathing method he had traded his life to learn in his last timeline, guiding a trace of the monolith's energy back into his body instead of letting it scatter.
The monolith shuddered violently this time.
Crimson lightning crawled over its surface.
The laughter died instantly.
[Hidden condition fulfilled.]
[Second Talent Awakening…]
[SSS-Rank — Infinite Devour]
[Effect:
1. You may devour the core, bloodline, or talent fragment of any defeated lifeform.
2. Success rate and quality depend on how overwhelmingly you dominate the kill.
3. Devoured abilities can be fused, evolved, or directly equipped.
4. No upper limit.]
The sports field fell utterly silent.
Then someone screamed.
"SSS-rank?! Is that even real?!"
"Fake! It must be a bug!"
"System, I request a re-awakening! This is unfair!"
Zhou Jun removed his hand.
The monolith cracked down the middle and crumbled into black sand—its energy completely drained by the second awakening.
He turned, meeting the jealous, fearful, greedy eyes all around him, and spoke for the first time since his rebirth.
"From today onward," he said softly, voice carrying in the unnatural silence, "the name Zhou Jun will stand above the heavens."
Far away, in a military observation post, several officers stared at their screens, faces pale.
"General… SSS-rank talent confirmed."
"And it's… growth-type with no apparent upper limit."
The white-haired general crushed the steel cup in his hand.
"Find him. Protect him if he's willing to be protected. If not… monitor him. Closely."
That same night, the first monster wave arrived—low-level Mutated Rats the size of wolves.
The school's makeshift defense line collapsed in minutes.
Screams, blood, the wet sound of teeth tearing flesh.
Zhao Hu, drunk on his new C-rank strength, swung a rebar like a madman, shouting, "Follow me if you want to live!"
Zhou Jun walked past him without a glance.
A three-meter-tall Rat King blocked his path, red eyes glowing, drooling acid.
Zhao Hu laughed from behind. "D-rank trash wants to play hero? Die quickly so I can take your dorm bed."
Zhou Jun looked up at the monster and smiled for the first time since rebirth.
"Thank you," he told the Rat King. "You'll be my first stepping stone."
Ten minutes later.
The Rat King's corpse lay in pieces. Its chest cavity was torn open by bare hands.
Zhou Jun knelt, pressing his palm to the still-warm mutated heart.
[Devour successful.]
[Obtained: B-Rank Bloodline — Mutated Rat King (Low Quality)]
[Options: Fuse / Decompose / Equip Temporarily]
He chose Fuse.
His bones cracked skin knit together, growing a thin layer of black-red keratin. His fingernails lengthened into claws.
Strength +22
Agility +18
New Skill: Acid Saliva (Weak)
Zhao Hu, hiding behind an overturned bus, watched with wide eyes as Zhou Jun stood up, licked the blood from his fingers, and looked straight at him.
"Senior Zhao," Zhou Jun called, voice gentle. "In my previous life, you took my little sister's awakening quota and fed her to monsters to cover your retreat."
Zhao Hu's face drained of blood.
"W-what nonsense are you—"
Zhou Jun was suddenly in front of him.
"Unfortunately," he whispered, "there is no retreat this time."
Crunch.
[Devour successful.]
[Obtained: C-Rank Talent Fragment — Giant Strength (Complete)]
The apocalypse had only just begun.
But for Zhou Jun, the hunt was already over—he had become the predator.