Chapter 299 The End of an Era

That night, Ling Mo couldn’t sleep.

Just like that first time at school when Xinyan confessed her feelings.

Although they had been dating for over half a year now, as X夏歆言 had said, they had never actually gone on a proper date.

Or more accurately… they hardly did anything couples were supposed to do.

Xinyan suggested they should try something.

What exactly to try, Ling Mo didn’t dare think too deeply.

He was afraid that if he pondered more, he would lose even more sleep.

His affection for Xinyan had almost seeped into his bones, and because of this affection, he was hesitant to push her too hard, even before she felt “ready.” Those few kisses and even sharing a bed were results of his persistent effort.

And now, he heard Xinyan say she was ready.

It felt like the moment in a hundred-meter dash when the referee finally pulled the trigger for the starting gun after a long wait—now as an athlete, he no longer had to consider whether his starting position was right or if he had prepared enough power; all he had to do was run.

The release of all concerns left him in a state of excitement that prevented sleep.

He had a premonition that this night was the opportunity for their relationship to deepen.

And about their upcoming date…

Even though the location Xinyan mentioned in the Dark Zone felt a bit odd to him—after all, it was a place filled with danger and death, and hardly romantic—clearly, it wasn’t a good choice for a date.

But… the words Xinyan said did touch his heart.

The Dark Zone was a space that had already met its end; aside from incoming players, there were hardly any normal living beings present.

It could easily be summarized as an apocalypse.

However… if it was just him and her in that apocalyptic world, with no one to interfere and no quests to disturb them, wouldn’t that be a nice choice?

By now, finding a true two-person world seemed very difficult; most player communities had a large number of players, and the situation where there was only one or two players in a world, like when player communities first opened, was unlikely to happen again.

It was similarly tough to find such places in reality, and even if they went to famous scenic spots, the upcoming Cataclysm could cause unpredictable damage, and if by bad luck they happened to be attacked at their chosen destination, that rare date could easily be ruined.

Moreover, in reality, they couldn’t freely use their Abilities, adding to their restrictions.

As for the Private Space… it satisfied various requirements, but it didn’t quite fit the mood—wasn’t that just like dating at home?

That certainly wasn’t how Ling Mo viewed dating.

So, thinking about it, Xinyan’s suggestion didn’t sound too bad after all.

Actually, Ling Mo didn’t ask for much; as long as he could be alone with Xinyan in their own world, that was enough for him. And since this was a place Xinyan wanted to go to, he naturally had no objections.

With a slight tilt of his head, he glanced at the person beside him—Xinyan was already fast asleep. Her defenseless sleeping face softened Ling Mo’s gaze a bit.

He took a deep breath, quietly suppressing the excitement within, and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep.

Tomorrow should mark the start of their date, and he wanted to face it in the best condition, not wanting to disappoint Xinyan…

Time flew, and soon it was the next day.

The game would officially launch at noon, but before that, the happenings in reality had Xinyan quite concerned.

Summer Jincang’s movements were indeed swift; in just one night, he had made most factions aware of the situation. Numerous discussion threads about the Dark Zone even popped up online. It seemed Summer Jincang had no intention of keeping it a secret; after all, the more people prepared, the better—doing otherwise would result in adverse effects.

Xinyan didn’t know the specific actions of those major factions, nor did she have time to learn them all one by one; anyway, Summer Jincang would handle things to the best of his ability, so she didn’t need to meddle further.

Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that the Fat Guy was also quick on his feet, having moved the main personnel to the new Stronghold today. But since not all members of the Chicks were stationed there twenty-four hours a day, and many were out handling various matters, coordinating those people would inevitably take some time. Ling Mo found the time to call the Fat Guy, only to find him too busy to even listen to what he had to say.

Ling Mo hung up.

“Well, since they’re already on the move, let’s not bother them,” Xinyan smiled as she sat across from him, then opened the Game Pod, “We can log into the game now. Want to check out the Dark Zone together?”

Ling Mo put away his phone, feeling a bit excited: “Sure.”

Their first date…

Taking a deep breath, he immediately grabbed a few bottles of nutrient solution, planning to pour them into the Game Pod—exploring the Dark Zone and going on a date were two big things, and they would likely spend several days in the game; he definitely needed to prepare.

However, when he got to the side of the Game Pod, he discovered a problem—the nutrient solution compartment was gone.

“We don’t need that anymore,” before Ling Mo could react, Xinyan smiled, “The Game Pod has been updated; this time, we’re really going to ‘enter’ the game.”

Every time there was a major game update, the Game Pod would also receive real-time updates, just like when nutrients were added during past dungeon updates—this kind of thing didn’t require sending the Game Pod back for modifications; it appeared automatically with the game update. Some said these features were part of the Game Pod all along, merely unlocked with the game’s upgrades.

As for the real answer, Xinyan couldn’t be bothered to research it.

After all, if the earth could meet its end and the world could reset, what small problem like this was worth bothering over?

In any case, any unexplainable issues could just be blamed on those high-level beings.

All she needed to know was what the update entailed.

For example, in this update, players would no longer leave their bodies in the Game Pod while their souls entered the game; instead, they’d truly enter the game together with their bodies.

This meant that from this stage onward, all players’ bodies in the game would completely synchronize with their bodies in reality—at least, in the previous life, the game achieved that standard before entering the Cataclysm era, so Xinyan was still unclear about what sort of situation would arise from this change.

However, if this was about forcibly matching players’ bodies in reality to those in the game post-entry, then it was hard to say whether it was good or bad, or whether it had both good and bad aspects.

The upside was that humanity would have a certain degree of defensive capability, while the downside was that entering the age of Abilities without a buffer could cause a massive societal shock.

Overall, by now, peace had likely become a thing of the past.