Chapter 1: Disaster Game, Scavenger Profession

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Disaster Game, Scavenger Profession

"Where is this?"

Seraphina Sullivan frowned as she looked around. The unfamiliar environment made her tense up entirely.

It was a cramped dormitory. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling, flickering dimly due to an unstable current. Several dilapidated suitcases were piled in the corner, their zippers half-open, revealing the clothes inside. Outside the window, a loudspeaker blared, hawking savory sauce pancakes for a dollar a portion.

Just a second ago, she had clearly been staying up late to revise a design proposal. Her boss’s absurd request for a "vibrant black" color scheme had nearly driven her crazy. Her keyboard had clattered incessantly, and she had chugged cup after cup of coffee, her eyelids so heavy she could barely keep them open.

But just as she rubbed her aching temples, ready to fight through another round, her vision blurred. When she came to her senses, she was standing in this hellhole.

"You’ve got to be kidding me. A paranormal event?"

Seraphina subconsciously pinched her arm. The pain was so real it made her gasp. "Or perhaps..."

She read plenty of web novels in her spare time and was all too familiar with the tropes of transmigration, rebirth, and infinite flow genres. But those were other people’s stories. Now that it was happening to her, she only felt a mix of absurdity and terror.

"Transmigration? Or a game?" she muttered under her breath, her heart pounding like a drum.

As if to confirm her guess, in the next second!

[DING!]

A cold, mechanical voice abruptly exploded in her mind, making her shudder.

[DING! The Disaster Game is loading. The doomsday instance is about to begin...]

Seraphina’s pupils constricted.

"Disaster Game?"

[DING! Welcome, lucky Players from the Azure Star Universe, to the Disaster Game. You will enter an unprecedented survival test, struggling to survive in various doomsday and disaster instances!]

[Starting now, please read the game rules carefully!]

[Rule 1: Players have been selected at random from able-bodied individuals aged 16 to 50. Once the game is joined, you cannot return unless you complete the main quests distributed by the system!]

[Rule 2: Death in the game equals true death!]

[Rule 3: The novice gift pack has been sent!]

[Rule 4: The first doomsday instance is a novice instance with lower difficulty!]

[Rule 5: Attention! Your Azure Star Universe is entering a doomsday era. The Abilities Players acquire in the Disaster Game may be able to change the fate of the real-world apocalypse. Therefore, survive—do it for the planet you live on.]

[Rule 6: The instance ’Alien Apocalypse’ will open in five minutes. Players, please prepare yourselves!]

[Rule 7: Be careful not to reveal your identity as a Player to the Native People.]

Listening to this, Seraphina took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Since resistance was futile, she could only do her best to deal with the impending danger.

"The instance is called ’Alien Apocalypse’?" Seraphina quickly analyzed the situation. "Judging from the name, it should be a doomsday world invaded by extraterrestrial beings or mutated species... In a setting like this, the danger level definitely won’t be low."

"And the system actually said this is a lower-difficulty instance? You’ve got to be kidding me." She immediately grew tense. "I can’t panic... The system also distributed a novice gift pack."

She immediately began searching and soon spotted a pitch-black metal box not far away in the cramped dormitory. The surface of the box was carved with eerie patterns, emitting a faint, ghostly glow.

Without hesitation, she quickly opened it.

[DING! Congratulations on obtaining a Talent Awakening Scroll!]

The box dissolved into specks of light in her hands. In its place appeared a yellowed, ancient scroll. The parchment was covered in obscure, incomprehensible runes that faintly exuded a mysterious Power.

"A Talent Awakening Scroll?" Her eyes lit up. "This must be the key for Players to survive in the instance!"

She unfurled the scroll without a second thought. In an instant, the runes on the parchment squirmed like living creatures, transforming into countless specks of light that surged into her body.

A bizarre Power flowed through her, and the system’s notification chimed in her mind!

[DING! Congratulations, Player, on awakening a Talent: Worker!]

"...What?"

Seraphina’s expression instantly froze.

A Worker Talent???

Upon hearing that she had awakened this Talent, her heart went completely ice-cold. Awakening a "Worker" Talent in a life-or-death doomsday instance? Was this a joke?

Seraphina’s mouth twitched. "Are you messing with me? Am I supposed to work a shift in a pile of monsters? Be a corporate drone for the Aberrations? Isn’t that just asking for death?"

However, in the next second, the detailed information of the Talent unfolded before her eyes—

[Worker Talent (Unique)]

[Effect 1:]

[Corporate Drone: Upon entering an instance, you will randomly obtain a Profession. Different awakened Professions yield different Abilities. (Profession Abilities disappear when the instance ends!)]

[Effect 2:]

[Eye of Resume: Can view the data of any living entity.]

[Effect 3:]

[Stealing Master Agreement: After an instance ends, you can permanently learn one Ability from the Profession awakened by Corporate Drone.]

Seeing the Effects and Abilities of the Talent, Seraphina realized this Worker Talent seemed somewhat different from what she had imagined. But it was too late to explore it thoroughly, because time was up; the Alien Apocalypse instance had begun.

[DING! The instance ’Alien Apocalypse’ has begun. Players, please survive!]

[DING! Instance opened. Return quest issued!]

[Main Quest 1: Survive for seven days in the Alien Apocalypse!]

After the quest prompt, the system’s voice vanished from her ears.

Seraphina surveyed her surroundings again. She walked to the window of the single dormitory and looked outside. However, the streets were filled with a mundane, everyday Aura; it didn’t look like an impending apocalypse at all.

Yet, just as she had that thought, she noticed meteor-like objects suddenly appearing on the horizon, plummeting rapidly toward the ground.

"So the Alien Apocalypse means creatures coming from outer space?"

She didn’t wait any longer, looking instead at her own profile.

[Player: Seraphina Sullivan]

[Talent: Worker]

[Level: Level 1]

[Items: None]

[Skills: None!]

"I need to use the Worker Talent to awaken a Profession right now. I don’t know what it will be, but it has to be a Profession that will let me survive in this instance." She prayed silently for a Profession with powerful attacks, for instance.

[Worker Talent activated... Awakening! DING! Awakening successful!]

[Congratulations, Player! Your Worker Talent has awakened the Profession ’Scavenger’ in the Alien Apocalypse!]

[Scavenger Profession]

[Ability 1:]

[Scavenging Backpack: Possesses a 3,500-cubic-foot Space.]

[Ability 2:]

[Waste Transformation: Use scavenged scrap to perform impromptu crafting every day.]

Staring at the awakened Profession’s information floating before her eyes, Seraphina didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"A Scavenger?" she muttered to herself. "Am I supposed to pick up trash during the apocalypse?"

Outside the window, those meteor-like objects were drawing closer, dragging crimson exhaust flames as they tore across the sky. The crowds on the street finally noticed the anomaly in the sky. Some stopped to watch, others raised their phones to film, and some panicked, ducking into buildings for cover.

Seraphina quickly calmed down and carefully analyzed her Profession Abilities.

"Scavenging Backpack—a 3,500-cubic-foot Space. Space Abilities are absolutely God-tier skills in the apocalypse! Stockpiling supplies is more important than anything else. Waste Transformation..." She frowned. "This Ability is a bit vague, but since it’s granted by the system, it shouldn’t be too bad."

Suddenly, a deafening explosion rang out in the distance, shaking the entire building.

Seraphina hurriedly rushed to the window, only to see a massive mushroom cloud rising in the middle of the city, the flames soaring into the sky. Immediately after, the second and third "meteors" crashed down in succession. The resulting shock waves even shattered the nearby glass.

Screams instantly filled the entire street.