True Apocalypse Game

At first, Kong Yan and the other two hadn’t processed what had appeared on the other side of the Wormhole. But after hearing Jiang Bing’s shout, they immediately understood what it was.

An eye. An eye more than two meters in diameter!

Now they finally understood the source of the feeling of being watched.

’Where did this monster come from?’

’It can actually survive in space!?’

The moment they met its gaze, they were flooded with a profound malice. It was a malice that came from the depths of their souls, from the very marrow of their bones—a purely instinctual malevolence.

The owner of that eye was undoubtedly an intelligent being, one whose place on the food chain was far, far above them.

The way it looked at the four of them was colder and more heartless than a human looking at an ant.

"SHHH... SHHH... SHHH..."

The Submersible’s ascent had now come to a complete halt, as if from a mechanical failure. The comms were also silent, save for a soft hiss, like white noise.

The surroundings were pitch-black, with only the light from the Wormhole and the Submersible’s lamps illuminating the small area.

The entire Submersible hovered just twenty meters from the Wormhole, stared down upon by that terrifying, giant eye.

"Old Kong, what’s happening!? Is it a mechanical failure!? Emergency detach! We’ll surface on our own!" Jiang Bing shouted. "Don’t look at that eye!"

Her whole body was trembling, causing her teeth to chatter. The feeling of being stared at by a higher being on the food chain, the feeling of being prey, instilled a primal, instinctual fear in all of them.

Kong Yan was already drenched in sweat. He fought the urge to look up, instead lowering his head to quickly check the Submersible’s various systems and wiring as he yelled:

"There’s no mechanical failure! I don’t know what’s going on... It’s like we were hit by a micro-EMP! We won’t be able to contact the surface for a while. If worst comes to worst, we’ll have to do a manual detachment and surface ourselves! But the manual detachment lock seems to be busted too... I knew we were tempting fate... All that talk about getting married, having kids, promotions, watching the game... that’s just asking to die... I never should have come. I’m already getting deputy-director-level pay, what am I even doing out here..."

"Shut up!" Jiang Bing shouted, gritting her teeth. "Turn off all equipment! Kill the lights! Hide! Hide in the darkness!"

Since the owner of that terrifying eye could influence their Submersible through the Space Wormhole, their only hope of returning to normal was to pray that the creature would leave.

At her words, Kong Yan and the others immediately understood her plan and quickly began shutting down the various systems.

The bulk of the data had already been transmitted via the cable, so they weren’t worried about losing any unsaved information.

The brightly lit Submersible instantly went dark. All internal systems were shut down, leaving only the temperature control active.

They couldn’t turn that off. The seawater outside was now a hundred degrees Celsius. If they shut down the climate control, the Submersible’s hull would hold for a while, but eventually, the inside would turn into a pressure cooker, and they’d all be steamed alive.

To their mounting terror, even after powering down the Submersible, the giant eye in the Wormhole remained. It continued to stare at them, seemingly looking them up and down.

Its gaze seemed to hold a hint of mockery, as if laughing at these pathetic insects for thinking they could hide with such a clumsy trick.

The malice emanating from its eye grew more palpable. The bone-deep terror made the four of them go cold, and they huddled together.

The four of them looked at each other, and they all saw the same thought in each other’s eyes:

We’re screwed.

The terrifying being didn’t even have to lift a finger. By simply keeping the Submersible suspended here, they would all suffocate once the oxygen ran out.

"My kid was just born..." A tear rolled from the corner of Kong Yan’s eye. He pulled out his phone and looked at the photo of the baby set as his screen saver, overwhelmed with grief.

’Is my newborn child going to lose their father?’

Jiang Bing was still frantically trying to find a way out of this, but she couldn’t come up with any good ideas.

The manual detachment was useless, and the Submersible was now confined to a radius of a few dozen meters. If that eye didn’t leave before their oxygen ran out, were they supposed to take manual control and ram the Submersible straight into the Wormhole!?

Ivan, too, wore an expression of utter despair.

But while Joe’s eyes also held despair, there seemed to be a hint of something else.

His gaze was a strange, unsettling mix of relief, excitement, and confusion.

The other three, however, were too consumed by their own despair to notice the look in Joe’s eyes.

Just then, the pitch-black Submersible suddenly lurched. The extinguished lights flickered back to life, and the systems they had shut down roared back online!

Kong Yan was dumbfounded at the sight.

Jiang Bing and Ivan shot him a questioning glance. Kong Yan immediately waved his hands.

"It wasn’t me! I didn’t touch a thing..."

The next moment, a burst of static crackled from the previously silent communications system.

’The electromagnetic interference is gone!?’

Jiang Bing’s eyes lit up. She quickly spoke into the comms unit.

"HQ, HQ, requesting permission to leave! Requesting evac!"

But the voice that came back wasn’t from HQ. Instead, a slightly odd male voice suddenly crackled through the speakers, saying:

"Salvation Army, Fourth Brigade, First Battalion. Private Jiang Bing, receive your orders."

The moment she heard that voice, Jiang Bing shuddered. She shot to her feet, standing at attention. Her expression turned solemn, as if she were a completely different person. In a deep voice, she replied:

"Yes, Commander!"

’It’s him. It’s the Commander’s voice!’

At the same time, the blood-red eyeball icon instantly appeared on her phone screen, confirming it!

She had heard the Commander give speeches several times after joining the "True Apocalypse Game." The voice was so familiar it was practically burned into her memory.

Jiang Bing’s heart swelled with an excitement beyond anything she had ever felt. Her entire body trembled slightly, fists clenched, hardly daring to believe she was receiving a direct order from the Commander!

’And the Commander himself has come to save me!’

Thinking about the implications of this, Jiang Bing was on the verge of tears.

’I’m just an ordinary Salvation Army Warrior,’ she thought. ’What have I ever done to deserve the Commander risking discovery by the Whisperers to come and save me...’

"Captain Jiang, are you crazy? What ’Commander’? Who is that on the comms?" Kong Yan asked in confusion from the side.

But to his surprise, Ivan was also standing ramrod straight, and with a soldier’s bearing, he declared loudly:

"Commander! Ivan awaits your command!"

Jiang Bing was shaken again. She realized Ivan was also a member of the Salvation Army.

She had thought she was the only Salvation Army Warrior on the team, but it turned out her old friend Ivan was one too!

Then, the Commander’s voice came over the comms again:

"Good. Immediately restrain the Purification Society operative, Joe Alvin."

Jiang Bing and Ivan had been on high alert the moment the Commander’s voice came through. Before he had even finished his sentence, they lunged at Joe, pinning him to his seat. They grabbed some spare cables and began to bind him securely.

"Captain Jiang! Ivan! What are you doing? Have you lost your minds!? Why are you listening to that voice and attacking Joe? He’s on our team!" Kong Yan yelled, completely bewildered. He tried to move in and stop them.

But Ivan was built like a bear and couldn’t be budged, while Jiang Bing was swift and nimble. In just a few moments, they had Joe trussed up and tied securely to his seat.

Both of them were secretly stunned. They had never imagined that Joe was a member of the Purification Society.

’The Purification Society’s infiltration of human society runs terrifyingly deep!’

"Old Kong, it’s complicated. I can’t explain it all right now. I’ll tell you everything when we get to the surface. Joe is a spy," Jiang Bing said.

All of her earlier fear had vanished, replaced by a surge of confidence. Even knowing the eye in the Wormhole was still watching them, she was no longer afraid.

Kong Yan was stunned.

"A spy? What kind of spy? Are the Eagle Country people up to something? Is he with the Central Intelligence Agency? No, that can’t be right... this is a purely scientific mission..."

Just then, the voice of the "Commander" came through the comms channel again:

"Now, fire the deployment net and the high-pressure water cannon at the Wormhole."

Kong Yan muttered,

"What’s that for? To poke its eye out?"