1 Dark Starry Sky Era

This was the 15 square-meter room of an apartment.

Plain and ordinary.

However, at this moment, it was filled with splendid brilliance.

Shen Shi sat on the bed in a daze and looked at the projection that had surrounded him. It was the ruins of a huge city. The raging flames were burning in front of him, and the surging black smoke almost blotted out the sky. Attacks that could not be seen by the naked eye appeared densely from all directions, bringing with them continuous explosions and expanding flames. Countless wailing humans struggled and fled in all directions, but there was nowhere to escape.

Shen Shi even saw a girl in an exquisite princess dress being wrapped in flames in the air. She rolled and shouted, falling heavily in front of him.

The mixture of charred and red foams of flesh made his whole body tremble.

This was a grand inferno.

It was the end of mankind.

The extreme audio-visual images brought unimaginable emotions that kept hitting Shen Shi's every nerve.

If it had not been for the soft touch of the mattress and silk blanket still felt from beneath him, he would have already screamed and fled.

Suddenly, an unknown rumble shattered a large stretch of black smoke. With countless fragments sent flying, Shen Shi finally saw the sky behind the black smoke.

He also saw the "enemy" who had caused all this.

Shock swept through everything in an instant.

Warship!

It was a huge shadow that had enveloped the sky above the city. It was a weapon that had definitely not come from humans. Its ferocious outer shell was intertwined tightly with the squirming flesh. Every detail was showing a reality that special effects could never reach, bringing about unspeakable shivers.

Just when Shen Shi's emotions were about to reach their limit, everything stopped.

The burning flames, the swept up debris, and even the screaming humans fleeing, everything stopped changing.

Only huge words kept appearing in the center of his field of view.

East Kingdom language, Western Alliance language, Nia language…

All the human words that could be imagined were among them.

Shen Shi subconsciously found the one he could understand.

[On June 18, 2026 A.D., the history of mankind was changed.]

[The Earth Star Era has ended. The dark Starry Sky Era has begun with an all-out invasion war.]

[On June 25th, the Earth Federation Command, representing 198 countries around the world, announced its surrender.]

[800 million humans have lost their lives this week.]

[Those who survived have also lost everything, including their dignity, freedom, hope, culture, history…]

[We have not done anything wrong. The only mistake is that we are too weak.]

[…]

[With this video, remember the beginning of the Starry Sky Era.]

[Produced on January 1, 3026, Starry Sky Era.]

As the final words appeared, the illusion, which had originally enveloped the surroundings, started to surge toward the center like a receding tide. In the end, it returned to a small white ball floating in the air, which was about five centimeters in diameter.

If some people outside were to see this scene, they would definitely fall into an indescribable madness.

The kind of projection that made one feel as if one was in the midst of it, turning the entire room into a virtual world, was actually released by such an inconspicuous and portable small ball. If such technology could be popularized, it would suffice to completely change the video industry of humans and even the gaming industry.

However, the only person who knew all this was clearly not in the mood to care about this.

Shen Shi was still sitting on the bed.

Everything around him, which had already recovered and become familiar, also gradually calmed his emotions.

It was as if he had watched an extremely exciting movie in a movie theater, and his emotions were stirred. However, when the movie ended and he left the movie theater, he also left the world in the movie.

However…

This was not something a movie could compare with.

This was because Shen Shi knew very well where the small ball, which still floated in front of him, had come from. It contained a level of technology that humans absolutely could not understand at this moment.

That was the future 3,000 years later.

He raised his right hand and with a thought, a diamond-shaped piece of skin on the back of his hand started to emit a faint starlight. Then, it became clearer and clearer. In the end, the original appearance of the skin could no longer be seen. It became like a black hole, incomparably deep. It was as if it had become the entrance to another starry sky, dotted with countless starbursts.

"How did this thing get onto me?" Shen Shi muttered to himself.

When he first discovered this change, he had been excited for a long while, especially when he realized that there was also a "black market trading terminal" connecting to the human civilization 3,000 years later that was bound to him together with this thing.

All kinds of movie plots he had seen before, such as "black-technology literature", "learning literature", and "future technology literature", filled his mind.

To him, it was definitely not a false imagination.

The virtual-reality projection ball in front of him was proof.

Anything he could casually obtain from 3,000 years later would be enough to completely change this era. If he could operate it well, be cautious right from the beginning and be discreet, it would be enough for him to conquer this era and create a future which no one could imagine.

Power, status, wealth, health, beautiful women… Everything was within reach.

However, that kind of expectation, just a few minutes ago, had been ruthlessly smashed, along with what was recorded in the projection ball!

It was May 2023.

If this projection ball really came from the future 3,000 years later, it meant that everything that had just appeared in front of him would happen in three years! Humanity would be invaded by alien forces, surrender in just a week and enter the dark Starry Sky Era.

Even if he could survive that brutal week of war, he would lose everything!

"No!" Shen Shi gritted his teeth, his eyes revealing fear. "I have to think of a way to escape from this future!"

Although the possibility of a parallel space-time theory existed, he dared not take the risk.

Moreover, he had an inexplicable intuition, as if it had come from the galaxy in the back of his hand.

That was the future of this world!

At this moment, Shen Shi had completely forgotten his original plan to get rich.

Surviving was the most important thing!

After forcing himself to calm down, Shen Shi looked at the back of his hand again.

He could see his ability very clearly.

He was an ordinary person who had worked hard to get into a good university. He had some ability and was also a little selfish. He was not much different from the people he saw wailing and fleeing in the video earlier.

However, with this thing in his hand, the intrinsic difference thus appeared.

"This thing has appeared in this era and in me. Could it be that it wants to assign some mission to me, or does it have some expectations of me?" Shen Shi stared at the starry sky that had appeared at the back of his hand. His rather bright eyes were a little uncertain at this moment. In the end, as if he had made up his mind, he said in his heart, "It might be disappointed… Letting me and the people I care about survive is the most important thing for me!"