November 15. Night. Cycle 17, Day 15. The Endless Sea.
A small manor sat in the woods outside the capital.
Rhine had deliberately picked somewhere quiet. With the Mid-Ring looming, with Greedy Wolf moving, with the Creator God’s pressure growing heavier by the day, he wanted at least one night without strangers listening at the door.
Skye didn’t care about any of that.
She sat on his lap like she owned the chair, one arm around his shoulders, the other idly playing with the collar of his shirt.
“Tell me something,” she said, eyes narrowed. “Why does my sister insist on meeting you alone every time? Does that sound normal to you?”
Rhine sighed. “Huang Yanyan is an official player. A lot of what she handles can’t be said in front of other players.”
Skye’s frown deepened. “Still suspicious.”
“It isn’t,” Rhine said flatly. “Stop imagining things.”
Skye huffed, clearly unconvinced, then flicked her tail as if changing topics on purpose.
“Fine. Then talk to me about Greedy Wolf.”
Rhine’s expression cooled. “He’s going to come to the Endless Sea.”
Skye blinked. “Here?”
“Here.”
Rhine leaned back slightly, voice steady. “He’s aiming at the Creator God. The Mid-Ring is the next step, but once he goes in, he can’t return. If he wants leverage before that—if he wants something the Creator can’t fully control—then the City Beneath the Sea’s fragments are his best bet.”
Skye stared at him for a moment, then snorted. “So we just kill him.”
“If it were that simple, I wouldn’t be thinking this hard,” Rhine said.
Skye was about to argue when her eyes suddenly lit up with mischief.
She shifted on his lap, tugged his shirt open a little, and smiled like a predator pretending to be cute.
Rhine froze.
Skye giggled, pleased with the reaction, and leaned close enough that her breath brushed his ear.
“You’re always so serious,” she whispered. “Relax.”
Rhine opened his mouth—
And the System cut in, merciless as ever.
[SYSTEM]
Cycle 17 has ended.
Cycle 18 has begun.
[SYSTEM]
Task Triggered: The End of a Player’s Life
Task Description:
Choose one world—between the Player World and the Endless Sea—to remain in permanently.
Task Hint:
1) If you choose the Player World, you will lose all Endless Sea powers and all items that exist only in the game world.
2) If you choose the Endless Sea, you will lose all Player World property, resources, and all items that exist only in the Player World.
3) Once the two worlds are fully disconnected, your System will be sealed. Prepare your System Backpack accordingly.
Time Limit:
Before Cycle 18 ends, choose the world you will remain in permanently.
Choice:
Player World / Endless Sea
Reward:
Remain in your chosen world forever. No more Player status. No System. Live your original, quiet life.
Rhine stared at the words.
To Skye’s surprise, he smiled.
He had no family ties in the Player World. No job to return to. No obligations that chained him.
For him, this task didn’t feel like a guillotine.
It felt like a door.
If the System was forcing everyone to choose, then the Creator God’s grip on the Outer Ring was weakening. This wasn’t a gift.
It was an endgame.
And it was happening on his timeline.
Skye poked his chest, suspicious. “Why are you happy?”
Rhine ignored her and opened the authority he’d unlocked as a Tier 4 Player.
He could publish quests—system tasks—to any Player Tier 3 and below.
In their batch, that was almost everyone.
Huang Yanyan sat with him and drafted the details as carefully as she could, choosing words that would guide without revealing what couldn’t be spoken.
When she finished, Rhine pushed the task out.
***
[CHAT]
* “Wait—what?! A new task?!”
* “The End of a Player’s Life… are you kidding me?”
* “Choose one world permanently? That’s insane.”
* “If I pick the Player World, I lose my class and talents. If I pick the game, I lose everything back home.”
* “This is straight-up murder.”
* “Is this even the System? It feels… different.”
* “It says ‘no more Player, no System’ as a reward. How is that a reward?”
* “So we either become normal people again, or we become permanent residents in a horror ocean world. Great.”
* “Does this mean someone cleared something and triggered the end?”
* “Official players! Say something! Are we being scammed?”
* “Official players can issue tasks, right? I thought only official players could do that…”
* “I thought I was the only one with this… guess not.”
* “So what do we do? The official players aren’t talking!”
* “Think about it: only a handful of people are Tier 4. If this is a Tier 4 push, it’s probably one of them.”
* “Player 0067. It’s him. It’s always him.”
* “Yeah, Player 0067 cleared everything, and now we all have to pick a world.”
* “Player 0067, say something! Confirm it!”
***
Yun City. Ethan’s apartment.
Ethan was sorting through documents—bank slips, asset proofs, anything that might become meaningless depending on what world he chose.
Huang Yanyan refreshed the chat log, then nudged him. “They’re chanting your number again.”
Ethan skimmed the messages and sighed.
It was convenient for them to blame him. It made the chaos feel smaller. Explainable.
He typed a single line.
[CHAT]
Player 0067: “The task is real.”