Gamers Are Fierce

"Feeling nervous."

Wang Congshan put on the bracelet, twisting her wrist, the Mobius-shaped metal pendant in the middle of the bracelet reflecting sunlight onto the metallic base of the drawer below, "Thanks."

"Mm."

Li Ang nodded calmly. At this time, the speech from the school leader on the TV was also coming to an end, handing over the scene to an instructor from the Special Affairs Bureau,

wondering how far-reaching changes could be brought to both mankind and aliens alike. After a typical lecture on safety education, the speech officially ended, and the TV was turned off.

Teachers from various subjects entered the classroom one after another to assign homework and distribute test papers,

and the homeroom teacher emphasized at the end the need to stay safe during the holidays and to reasonably plan time for upcoming senior year preparations...

The restless students, feeling like they were sitting on pins and needles, finally endured until the dismissal bell rang,

and with melodious music, Shi Qingsong on the podium announced the end of class with a helpless smile.

"Yay!"

The classmates jumped up and began packing their bags,

Li Ang organized the homework schedule, casually chatting with Wang Congshan as they walked out of the classroom.

Today, since it was the end of the second year of high school, the school gate was packed with the cars of student parents, and Wang Congshan's parents also drove over to pick her up,

while Li Ang rode his bicycle home, opening the door to see Chaichai sitting on the sofa, staring seriously at the laptop screen.

Li Ang casually hung his backpack on the wall, "What's wrong?"

"Come and take a look."

Chaichai scooted over, scrolling the mouse wheel back to the top of the webpage.

It was a new post on the player forum, having gathered hundreds of replies in less than five minutes,

and the content of the post —

"Sudden Earthquake in the Mayotte Archipelago, Tsunami Engulfs Coastal Facilities"

Mayotte Archipelago?

Li Ang searched his mind for relevant information. This archipelago is located between the African continent and the Madagascar Islands, covering an area of 374 square kilometers with a population of over two hundred thousand, primarily producing spices like vanilla, belonging to France's overseas regions.

The last time he heard the name of this archipelago was a long time ago.

"Submarine seismic waves?"

Li Ang raised an eyebrow. Previously, globally distributed seismic sensors had all detected a strange seismic wave signal, repeating every seventeen seconds, lasting a total of 20 minutes,

with the source of the signal coming from the Mayotte Archipelago.

At that time, scientists suggested that a new volcano was forming beneath Mayotte's coast, but this theory couldn't explain the long breathing sounds that locals heard every night before sleep.

"This news is from a year ago, right?"

Li Ang frowned, "Is it a supernatural event?"

"It can't be determined yet."

Chaichai shook her head, "Communication with the outside hasn't been cut off, both the external web and player forum have live posts.

Let me see, it's here..."

She opened a live streaming channel, the footage being outdoor shots from a local resident's phone.

In the phone footage, low white-painted buildings were shaking violently,

local residents with darker skin tones were running and shouting emotionally on dusty roads filled with sand, urging others to leave the buildings quickly,

and in the far distance of the scene, the green-covered island slopes were also slightly trembling visibly.

Waves up to nine meters high surged from the sea, like a giant's arm, pounding heavily against the island's slopes, easily sweeping away large swathes of trees.

The phone's owner, who provided the streaming footage, handed the phone to his son as they quickly drove their family to higher, safer open areas.

Cracks continued to appear on the road along the way,

trees swaying and snapping to reveal lush roots, resembling scenes from the movie "2012".

Soon after, the tremors of the ground finally came to a stop, and the phone camera panned down the mountain,

revealing an island devastated, with collapsed buildings, felled trees, and vehicles swept away by the sea, jumbled together like a careless child's blocks.

"That is..."

Li Ang's pupils contracted, in the far ocean horizon of the scene, seawater was rapidly rotating, forming a massive whirlpool over ten meters wide below the sea surface.

The center of the whirlpool was a vague, colorfully blurred starlight.

A star gate, or more precisely, a portal,

was absorbing massive amounts of seawater with terrifying efficiency.

This star gate's shape hadn't yet fully stabilized, sometimes expanding, sometimes contracting, rising and falling like a heart,

and the phone's owner noticed the whirlpool too, zooming in on the phone's footage,

but the phone camera was so poor that even when zoomed in, the view wasn't clear,

only faintly seeing several luminous towering humanoid silhouettes near the star gate, as if guarding it.

Alien creatures? Guardians of the star gate?

Just as Li Ang was rapidly contemplating, five black dots flew over the horizon of the Mayotte Archipelago at high speed, suspending urgently above the star gate.

One of the black dots fell into the water,

a few seconds later, the black dot on the water's surface released a thunderbolt attack towards the star gate absorbing seawater below,

a lightning bolt as thick as a barrel pierced the seawater, striking the star gate,

exploding into a colorful arc of light around the star gate, pushing seawater into towering geysers,

like underwater torpedo explosions, splashing water flowers as tall as seven or eight-story buildings.

A second or two later, the phone picked up a loud "boom" sound.

The phone's owner let out a terrified scream, and the live feed was abruptly cut off without warning.

"..."

Li Ang squinted, looking at the pitch-black live feed screen, his brows tightly knitted.

Chaichai smacked her lips, "What was that just now..."

"A portal."

Li Ang slowly said, "Similar to my star gate, capable of drawing spiritual power and freely expanding."

"What do you mean?"

Chaichai asked blankly, "Has Earth been invaded by aliens?"

"Possibly, but I lean more towards it being bidirectional..."

Li Ang shifted position, tapping on the keyboard on the laptop, returning to the player forum.

The post about the Mayotte Archipelago had now been pushed to the top, with over seven hundred replies in a short span, overshadowing the recent popular posts documenting anomalous events worldwide.

Li Ang rapidly scanned through the replies from players in the post, and glanced at information on external websites — Mayotte's local network had already been cut off from the outside world,

the last transmitted footage showed the star gate being attacked as seen in the previous live stream.

"No clearer footage..."

Li Ang frowned, "But that's definitely a star gate, no doubt about it.

Those five black dots that arrived later shouldn't be people from the European Heavy Industry Group — although they have several bases on the African Continent, they're far from Mayotte Island or Madagascar.

It's highly likely a task force from the Global Occult Coalition, only they have this level of operational efficiency.

However, attacking the guardians of the star gate upon sight, rather than attempting negotiation or communication, isn't typical of the Global Occult Coalition's approach.

Or perhaps, they have more undisclosed intelligence..."