2025-10-16 00:23:25Rain beat against the window like falling glass. Jayden Cross sat in front of his monitor, eyes half-open, the glow of the login screen reflecting in them.
[WELCOME TO EDEN ONLINE, ENTER PARADISE.]
He stared at the words for a moment, whispering, “Paradise, huh? Let’s see if you can fix my miserable life.”
The small apartment behind him was silent except for the storm. His mother’s framed photo sat by the wall, she’d been in the hospital for weeks.
Jayden clenched his jaw. “If I win this tournament… maybe I can finally pay for her surgery.”
He slipped the VR headset over his head. “Eden Online,” he murmured. “Login: JayCross.”
A soft tone answered: [Identity Verified. Welcome, Player.]
Immediately, everything turned darnk, and then, light filled the whole space. Jayden opened his eyes to find himself standing in a bright green field under a glowing sky.
Thousands of players appeared beside him, shouting and cheering, their avatars sparkling like new armor.
A booming voice echoed through the world: “WELCOME TO EDEN ONLINE! THE WORLD WHERE YOU CREATE YOUR DESTINY!”
Jayden smiled weakly. “It’s just a game,” he muttered. “Let’s play.”
But as the cheers grew louder, the sky flickered. The bright blue turned static gray, then a scream. “Hey! Why can’t I open the menu?!”
Jayden frowned and tried too. Nothing. His hands froze midair. “What the, ”
Another voice shouted, “There’s no logout button! It’s gone!”
The crowd turned wild. Panic spread like fire. “Someone fix it!”
“This isn’t funny!”
“I can’t log out, help!”
Jayden’s pulse raced. He reached for his system settings again, but the screen stayed blank, then a red flash spread across the sky, burning through the clouds.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: CONNECTION PERMANENT. LOGOUT UNAVAILABLE.]
[SURVIVE TO ESCAPE.]
The cheering stopped. Everyone stared at the red words hovering above their heads. “What do you mean survive?” someone whispered.
A loud screech erupted behind them. The grass split open, and from the earth rose a creature made of wires and bone, half animal, half machine.
It lunged forward, tearing into the nearest player. The man screamed, pixelated blood spraying as his body shattered into glowing fragments.
Then came a chilling message over the system: [PLAYER DELETED.]
There was silence, followed by chaos. Players ran in every direction. Some fought. Most screamed.
Jayden stumbled back, heart slamming against his ribs. “This… isn’t part of the game!” he shouted.
A girl beside him tripped, long silver hair, violet eyes wide with fear. A monster crawled toward her.
Jayden didn’t think. He grabbed a broken sword from the ground and swung. Sparks flew as metal met code.
The creature screeched and fell apart. The girl looked up at him, shaking. “Th-thank you… you.”
Before she could finish, another creature burst from behind. Jayden turned, ready to fight, but this time something in his head clicked. A voice, calm and metallic, whispered:
[Survival System Activated.]
[Mission: Survive the first wave. Reward: Strength Boost +1.]Jayden froze. “Who said that?”
The voice didn’t answer. Only the mission glowed faintly in front of his eyes. He clenched the sword tighter. “Fine. You want survival? I’ll give you survival.”
He darted forward, slashing again and again. Every strike felt sharper, faster. Every kill made the voice whisper again.
[Kill confirmed. Strength increased.]
[Vitality +1.][Level Up.]Jayden’s body glowed faintly, the exhaustion gone. He could feel raw power rising through him, as if the world itself was feeding him energy.
He looked around. Players were dying everywhere, vanishing into red dust. The girl he’d saved crouched behind a rock, her hands trembling. He ran to her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded shakily. “My name’s Luna. I was part of the beta test, but… this shouldn’t be happening. The system’s locked, this isn’t just a glitch!”
Jayden frowned. “What do you mean?”
Luna’s voice broke. “This world isn’t just a game. It’s.”
She stopped. Her eyes widened. “Behind you!”
Jayden turned. Too late. A larger creature, black and spiked, swung its claw. He barely blocked, but the force threw him to the ground.
Pain exploded in his chest. The red system text appeared. [Health Critical: 12%.]
He gasped, pushing himself up, but the monster’s shadow fell over him. He heard Luna’s scream.
And then another voice, deeper, older, echoing through the world: [Let the first test begin. Only the strong deserve freedom.]
The sky darkened again. Lightning crackled above them as new monsters emerged from the ground. Luna grabbed Jayden’s hand. “Run! We can’t fight that!”
Jayden staggered, breathing hard. “If we run now… we’ll just die tired.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re insane!”
He smiled weakly. “Maybe. But I don’t plan to die in someone else’s game.”
The monster roared, shaking the earth. Jayden tightened his grip on the sword, feeling the strange energy pulsing in his arm. “System,” he whispered. “Give me something.”
The voice responded instantly. [Skill Unlocked: Combat Instinct. Temporary Buff: Speed x2.]
He shot forward, a blur of motion. The monster swung again, but this time Jayden moved faster, sliding under its claw, slashing its core open in one strike.
The creature shattered into glowing shards that rained like red snow. Luna stared, eyes wide. “You, how did you do that?!”
Jayden looked down at his trembling hands. His heart thundered. He didn’t understand either.
But before he could speak, the world shook again. The voice returned, cold and cruel.
[First Wave Complete.]
[Welcome, Player #10927. You have survived.][Let’s see how long you last.]The field around them dissolved into pixels. The surviving players screamed as the world tore apart like glass.
Jayden reached for Luna, but the ground beneath them vanished. Everything went black. The last thing he heard was her voice, desperate and terrified. “Jayden! Don’t let go!”
Then silence. And finally, a whisper in his head: [Level 2 Unlocked. Welcome to Zone Two: The Glitch Forest.]
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Chapter 136. Children of Light
The town of Solstice hummed quietly beneath its early morning sun, a fragile peace stretched thin over decades of rebuilding. The streets smelled of warm brick and wet asphalt, faintly mixed with the tang of solder and machinery from ongoing repairs. Children ran ahead of their parents, laughing, kicking pebbles and spinning in circles.Among them, small hands raised to the air, tracing invisible patterns. Clara, five years old with tangled hair and scraped knees, froze mid-spin. Her head tilted, eyes narrowing as if listening to a voice only she could hear. Her little fingers twitched, reaching toward a shimmer that didn’t exist to anyone else.“Clara?” her mother called, a note of caution threading through her voice. “Come here, sweetie.”Clara blinked, stepping backward as if resisting. The shimmer seemed to ripple, a soft echo that resonated through her chest. Other children nearby stopped too. Some rubbed their eyes; others tilted their heads, smiling faintly at empty air.Fr
Chapter 135. Lyn of the Threshold
The wind tore across the ridge before dawn, scattering loose dust and the remnants of scorched stone. A single figure stood at the edge, silhouetted against the first pale light of morning. The air hummed faintly, as if carrying a memory too old to be spoken.She moved without sound, stepping over cracked earth and jagged concrete. Each footfall was deliberate. She carried nothing, yet the weight of unseen burdens seemed to cling to her shoulders, bending the cold air slightly around her. The ridge overlooked a small town still waking, its streets empty, save for a few early risers shuffling toward markets or wells.From below, a child’s cry echoed, fragile and unsteady. Lyn froze. Her gaze tracked the sound. A small boy stumbled into the street, chasing a rolling hoop that had slipped from his hands. He barely noticed the figure on the ridge. The wind carried her presence closer, but not threatening. She did not speak. She simply watched.The boy tripped over a loose stone. The
Chapter 134. The Last Vigil
The flame refused to light on the first strike. Old Commander Rhyse struck the ignition rod again. Sparks jumped, sharp and brief, then died. The square stayed dark. Wind moved through the empty avenue, carrying dust and the faint smell of ash from the old ruins beyond the barricades. “Again,” someone said behind him.Rhyse did not answer. He adjusted his grip and struck the rod a third time. This time the flame caught. A thin line of fire climbed the wick and steadied. The Halo symbol carved into the stone plinth glowed faintly as the fire fed its channels. The vigil had begun.The square was smaller than it used to be. Reconstruction crews had taken half of it months ago, turning rubble into foundations. Metal frames rose where command tents once stood. The old banners were gone. Only the plinth remained, scarred and chipped, set at the center like an artifact no one wanted to move.Rhyse stood alone in front of it. He wore his Stormguard coat, faded and patched at the elbows. T
Chapter 133. Names Without Faces
The hammer rang against stone at dawn. Each strike echoed across the square. Dust lifted in short bursts and settled on boots and coats. The monument stood half-finished, its surface pale and rough. Workers moved along scaffolds, measuring, carving, stepping back, carving again. Names filled the slab in tight lines.A man wiped his hands on his trousers and leaned back to read. He mouthed a few names and frowned. He pulled a folded paper from his pocket and checked it. He nodded and went back to work.A woman crossed the square with a basket on her arm. She slowed when she saw the monument. She looked at the names for a moment, then turned away and kept walking. A child ran after her, dragging a stick along the ground. The stick scraped and caught. The child tugged it free and glanced at the stone. “Who are they?” the child asked.The woman did not stop. “Soldiers,” she said.The child frowned. “From when?”“From before,” the woman said.They disappeared into the street. By midmor
Chapter 132. Ashes into Soil
The first hammer strike echoed too loud for a quiet morning. Metal hit stone. Sparks jumped. Dust rolled across the broken avenue. People froze for half a second, then went back to work. The city had learned how to keep moving.Cranes stood where towers once leaned. Steel frames rose from foundations cut through layers of ash and glass. The ground still carried faint lines that glowed when the sun was low, thin traces of the ghost network sealed beneath concrete and rebar.A worker lifted his visor and wiped his face. Sweat cut clean lines through gray dust. “Mark the edge again,” he said. “The scanner’s off.”Another worker knelt and pressed a handheld sensor to the ground. The device hummed, then steadied. “No spike,” she said. “It’s quiet.”They both paused at that word. Quiet still felt strange. Above them, the skyline held its shape. No drifting figures. No screaming light. Just buildings under repair and scaffolds wrapped in orange mesh. Wind pushed through open frames and c
Chapter 131. The Dual Requiem
The first sound was not birds or wind. It was the soft click of settling metal.A tower’s fractured edge pulled itself straight. Panels slid back into place with dull thuds. Glass stitched together in slow lines. The city did not celebrate. It steadied itself.Morning light crept over the skyline. It was pale and low, filtered through a thin haze that caught on the air like dust. The haze moved on its own. It drifted, then paused, then bent as if listening.On the hill above the city, Lyn stood with her boots planted in wet grass. The soil was dark from melted frost. She kept her hands loose at her sides. She did not speak. She watched.Below her, streets filled carefully. Doors opened halfway, then wider. People stepped out and stopped. They looked up. They looked through each other. They looked again.Luminous forms moved between buildings. They were not fog. They were not shadows. They held shape. Some walked with clear steps. Some floated with slow turns. Light threaded through t
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