The catastrophe struck abruptly, its progression swift and unrelenting.
Near a subway entrance, a player emerged, pried open a bicycle parked by the roadside, and began pedaling toward the train station.
In a supermarket, another player hoisted a bulging backpack onto her shoulders, hesitated briefly, then resolved to head for the airport.
Not far away, a new player wandered aimlessly, bewildered by this unfamiliar world yet brimming with the thrill of being reborn in a foreign realm. Unconnected to the internet, he remained oblivious to the unfolding crisis.
At a restaurant three kilometers from the airport, a player dined while scrolling through a stolen phone. Upon seeing the latest news, he flung aside his chopsticks and bolted, disregarding the owner's shouts of, "Hey! You haven't paid!"
…
The city was crumbling everywhere. Eric maneuvered to avoid the collapsing sections and the debris raining down from above.
The air was thick with dust and sand, making breathing increasingly difficult and obscuring visibility. Eric donned a mask and a pair of anti-dust goggles purchased from an outdoor specialty store.
NPCs were also fleeing, their panic adding to the chaos.
The motorcycle's compact size and agility proved invaluable as Eric navigated the turmoil, weaving her way toward the airport.
Earlier, while checking the airport's location, she had noted that two flights were scheduled for the day, one departing in two hours. If she hurried, two hours should suffice to reach the airport—but if the airport itself began to collapse, the flight might depart early. Speed was essential.
"Help! Can someone take me with them?"
"Wait for me!"
People called out to Eric, but she couldn't stop. She coldly passed pedestrians fleeing on foot, her eyes constantly scanning the surroundings. The moment she spotted dust clouds in the distance, she veered away.
Thanks to the sharp instincts honed in past escape dungeons, Eric wove through the chaos like a fish darting through turbulent waters.
Yet danger was ever-present. Suddenly, she sensed something amiss beneath her, a creeping dread that made her heart skip a beat. Without time to look down, she accelerated and swerved.
"Ah!" The motorcycle behind her vanished abruptly, its rider's scream fading into the abyss.
Who knew how deep the collapse was? Eric had no intention of finding out—once down, there would be no return.
Crack!
The ground fragmented like brittle biscuit, collapsing in its wake. This time, Eric's luck ran out; the collapse pursued her relentlessly. The motorcycle's speed reached its limit, and she felt the wheels briefly lose contact with the ground as the earth crumbled beneath her.
At such velocity, her surroundings blurred into streaks of motion. Her heart pounded in sync with the engine's roar, and she realized she had been holding her breath, only gasping for air when her chest began to ache.
But misfortune seldom travels alone. A truck barreled toward her from the side without warning, its driver's face twisted in terror as he shouted, "Get out of the way!"
There was no time to react.
The motorcycle was sent flying, Eric and the bike separating mid-air. Seconds later, she hit the ground, the sickening sound of bones breaking accompanied by searing pain in her abdomen.
Almost instantly, she purchased and used a basic healing kit, then scrambled to her feet and began running as the healing took effect.
The asphalt beneath her feet crumbled inch by inch, revealing a bottomless chasm. Vehicles and chunks of concrete vanished into the void without so much as a thud. Death's scythe loomed over Eric, driving her to sprint with every ounce of life she had left.
The ground ahead split open, the crack widening to a foot in the blink of an eye. But the other side remained intact. Summoning her courage, Eric leapt—
The ground beneath her feet gave way, a few stones tumbling into the abyss. Using the momentum of her jump, she rolled forward several times, the jagged rocks scraping her body painfully. Regaining her footing, she turned to see the path she had traversed now completely gone.
With no time to waste, Eric pressed on. If the road to the airport was lost, so was she.
After enduring countless brushes with death, she finally glimpsed the airport's silhouette in the distance.
Other survivors hurried toward it, their faces etched with fear.
"Almost there! The airport's just ahead!"
"Damn it, my tire's blown!"
Seeing the airport, Eric exhaled in relief. A mere 800 meters separated her from her goal, victory within grasp.
Ten minutes later, Eric pushed through the thronging crowd and entered the airport. The terminal was a chaotic sea of people, some climbing atop service counters, while the blaring loudspeakers tried in vain to restore order. It was bedlam. Having previously stowed away on a plane, Eric intended to replicate her earlier feat.
"Flight xxx is now boarding. Passengers, please proceed to the gate…"
The flight had begun boarding—twenty minutes early!
There was no time to waste. With her head down, Eric maneuvered through the crowd with purpose.
Fifteen minutes later, she seized an opportunity, disguising herself as a baggage handler.
Pushing a luggage cart into the cargo hold, Eric remained inside, concealing herself within a large suitcase. Suddenly, the plane trembled, and she froze. The vibrations persisted—had the plane taken off prematurely? Boarding was still underway outside!
Had the airport begun collapsing?
The terminal descended into a boiling cauldron of panic. People screamed, cursed, and wailed in despair. The ground outside the airport gave way, and cars in the parking lot tumbled into the abyss. Survivors stranded across the widening chasm cried out in anguish, "No! Please, no!"
The fissures spread relentlessly, forcing those who could to turn their vehicles around or abandon them entirely. Yet, trapped between despair and destruction, they too vanished into the endless void.
The collapse advanced rapidly, consuming the airport's entrance. The terminal erupted into full-scale pandemonium as people burst through the gates, sprinting onto the runway in a desperate bid to chase the accelerating plane.
"Wait for us! Please, wait!"
The plane did not stop. As the original runway crumbled, the aircraft veered onto an alternate path, its engines roaring.
A deafening crash shook the terminal, and the once-grand structure collapsed in a thunderous cascade. The air was pierced by the dying screams of countless victims, their voices echoing as if the very souls of the damned cried out against nature's wrath.
Inside the cargo hold, Eric felt the weightlessness as the plane ascended, her ears ringing. She curled up in the suitcase, enduring the discomfort, praying the flight would reach safety.
Unseen by her, the airport was completely devoured within minutes.
The train station had been the first to fall. A packed train fled the collapsing station, but the destruction pursued it, the tracks disintegrating inch by inch, sparks flying as steel ground against steel. Passengers, still shaken, clung to hope. A child pressed his face against the window: "Mom, the sugarcane fields are falling."
Outside, vast stretches of sugarcane fields sank into the earth as if carved by an invisible blade.
"Don't look!" someone snapped, yanking the curtain shut as if ignorance could shield them from fear.
The train shuddered violently.
"What's happening?"
The rear carriages were the first to sense the danger.
"The tracks are collapsing!"
"Oh no, our carriage is going to fall!"
"Run!"
But there was nowhere to go. Every carriage was packed, and escape was impossible.
"Detach the rear carriages! Cut them loose!" the ashen-faced conductor ordered, his voice trembling. He had no choice—saving the entire train was impossible.
The high-speed rail station met a similar fate, though its greater speed allowed it to outpace the collapse, if only barely.
Rivers churned violently, and overpasses, trembling under immense strain, finally gave way, plunging vehicles into the watery depths below.
The city was sinking, its streets undulating like waves before disintegrating into chaos.
Two hours later, the once-thriving metropolis lay silent, buried under clouds of dust, all signs of life extinguished. Only faint silhouettes in the sky, fleeing in all directions, hinted at survivors.
Eric had been counting the minutes. The plane landed two hours later, and stepping out of the cargo hold onto solid ground, she felt as though she had been reborn.
The portal of light stood before the plane's nose, and Eric understood—escaping the city and reaching the next destination completed the dungeon. Without delay, she stepped through.
[Player Eric has completed the Ordinary Dungeon: City Collapse. Reward: 4 points.]
The airplane had been the fastest, followed by the high-speed rail.
As passengers disembarked from the train, a few players among them quickly spotted the portal of light on the tracks ahead and leaped down.
"Hey! What are you doing?" A conductor rushed to stop them. Jumping onto the tracks was dangerous!
But in the next moment, the passengers vanished, leaving the conductor and onlookers gasping in shock.
Yet their expressions of terror lasted only a moment before they forgot the incident entirely, resuming their routines as if nothing had happened.
The same occurred at the train station.
After all surviving players departed, a new batch of players was thrust into the dungeon. Unaware of their predecessors, they faced a heightened level of difficulty—a misfortune born of their late entry.
Only two players managed to complete the dungeon, receiving the announcement:
[Player XXX has completed the Ordinary Dungeon: Global Collapse. Reward: 4 points.]
[Player Kevin has completed the Ordinary Dungeon: Global Collapse. Reward: 4 points.]
Kevin stood in the stone forest, his heart still racing. The dungeon had been brutal—players were dropped in only after the disaster struck, leaving no time to prepare. Competing with NPCs for survival had been a harrowing ordeal, and the measly 4 points hardly felt worth the effort.
He resolved to return to paranormal dungeons the next day. Two days of rest were enough. The rewards from ordinary dungeons paled in comparison to the effort required; if he wanted to amass points quickly, paranormal dungeons were the way to go.
The following morning, Kevin entered a paranormal dungeon.
He found himself on a narrow mountain path, dense forest to his left and a sheer cliff to his right. The trail wound precariously like a ribbon.
In the blink of an eye, other players materialized around him—seven in total, four men and four women.
Kevin quickly scanned the group, his eyes meeting those of a young female player. There was something oddly familiar about her gaze, but before he could ponder it further, a figure approached from up the path.
"Ah, you've arrived! Come, follow me to the village!"
The players trailed behind the NPC guide. Eric lingered at the rear of the group, her eyes lifting to the sky. The heavens were dark and foreboding, heavy clouds pressing down with an ominous weight.