Night fell.
Since Shen Fei had announced he had something to declare, his father returned home early.
But after hearing that his son was merely announcing his participation in a charity event two days from now...
Father Shen wanted to hit someone.
And here I was, wondering what you were up to. This is it? This is what you had me looking forward to all day? And you made me cancel my plans tonight for this?
"Dad, can you call Uncle Sun and have him come back?"
Ignoring his father, who looked ready to explode, Shen Fei changed the subject.
After returning from the supermarket, he had spoken with Sun Yu, who confirmed he couldn't get Uncle Sun to return.
Shen Fei could only ask his father to step in.
"Old Sun is coming back tomorrow. His flight is booked, and he has already reported it to me."
"What are you planning?"
Father Shen found it strange that his son wanted Old Sun to come back early.
"Er, okay..."
Seeing that his father had made up his mind and figuring that a flight tomorrow meant he'd be back before evening anyway, Shen Fei didn't press the issue.
Tonight was a special moment in time.
After midnight, when that voice sounded, most people were actually asleep. As a result, the majority of them didn't get to make a choice. They were assigned one at random instead. The number of people who actually got to choose their favorite game—the one they had spent the most money on—was only a small fraction of the total player base...
This time, he wasn't about to let his parents and sister go to sleep early.
They have to be awake when the time comes to choose...
"I'm going to play some games. It's been a while!"
Having made his plan to keep his family awake, Shen Fei openly announced he was going to play games, much to Father Shen's astonishment.
April Fools' Day was almost here.
There was no need to hide his gaming anymore.
Father Shen was speechless.
He looked like he wanted to say something, but after catching a look from his wife, Father Shen ultimately kept his mouth shut.
WHOOSH.
Back in his bedroom, Shen Fei logged into the game immediately.
He had to let his parents know he was a gamer. Only then would his choice not seem so out of the blue.
In his past life, he had been pulling an all-nighter for a live stream, so he chose the battle royale game he was playing. In this life, of course, he was going to choose *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*.
While logging into the game, Shen Fei also opened QQ.
He saw that his fan group chat had already accumulated over 9999+ messages.
"Reporting to the organization, I've topped up 2,000 yuan! Number 1321."
"Heaven-Reaching Gang, Number 325, has topped up 13,000 yuan!"
"Reporting, I'm a college student. I only topped up 600 yuan! Number 3412."
"Topped up 6,000 yuan, got a level-seven Defense Tower! Number 819."
The vast majority of people in the group had followed his instructions and put money into *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*. Moreover, they had topped up even more than the amount he had given them in red envelopes. They had even assigned themselves numbers, ready to join the "gang" Shen Fei had promised them at a moment's notice...
After seeing that most of the topics were about topping up, Shen Fei didn't say anything. Instead, he turned his attention to the game.
"Brother Kaipan! Get out here!"
"Why aren't you taking bets today!"
"Say something!"
"Why aren't you talking!!"
In the game's world channel, players were spamming Sun Yu.
Right now, Sun Yu was dutifully waiting in front of the game, just as Shen Fei had instructed, counting down to midnight. He hadn't opened any new betting pools at all. Unexpectedly, some addicted players were actively demanding that Sun Yu start one...
SWISH!
Seeing that Sky Control was still running a dungeon, Shen Fei sent a party invitation to Sun Yu.
Then, he took Sun Yu into the Heaven-Reaching Tower.
The two of them partied up and idly grinded through the tower.
But Shen Fei's attention was actually fixed on the time.
This is torture... It all comes down to this!
He had been busy for over a month, just waiting for the apocalypse to finally begin. If that voice sounded tonight, everything would be perfect.
If it didn't, then...
"Hey everyone, tomorrow is April Fools' Day!"
"How are you guys planning to prank your friends?"
"I'll go first..."
After 11:00 PM, someone in the world channel started talking about April Fools' Day.
"You're wrong, it's not April Fools' tomorrow!"
"It's April Fools' in an hour..."
Many night owls were replying.
Shen Fei even saw players in the world channel who had changed their name prefixes to "Heaven-Reaching Gang" and were promoting the non-existent organization...
As time slowly ticked by, Shen Fei took deep, heavy breaths.
He felt nervous.
Even after experiencing three years of slaughter and trials in the apocalypse, at this very moment when the truth was about to be revealed, he still felt boundless tension and pressure. The invisible pressure made his breathing grow short and rapid...
11:30:00
11:40:00
11:50:00
11:59:00
As time passed second by second, a thousand thoughts raced through Shen Fei's mind. He had even made a backup plan. If the apocalypse didn't arrive, he would just become a streamer. He would use his reputation as a "billion-yuan Krypton Gold" whale to build his fame and attract fans...
11:59:56
11:59:57
11:59:58
11:59:59
As Shen Fei watched, the time finally reached the last second.
00:00:00!
Shen Fei held his breath, watching as the clock finally ticked over to midnight.
POP!
The instant it struck midnight, the game screen before him suddenly flickered.
He had been disconnected!
The game returned to the login screen...
"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!!"
Seeing the game boot him to the main menu, Shen Fei pumped his fist and roared.
It's here! It's really here!
At midnight on April Fools' Day, everyone's games crashed. No matter what game they were playing, they were all kicked out.
Only after one second could they log back in.
And two seconds after that, the voice would sound...
A breath later, amidst Shen Fei's excitement, a neutral, calm voice, devoid of any emotion, sounded in his ears:
[DING!]
[Azure Star Version 4.0 Update!]
[For ease of understanding, the update method has been confirmed: Video Game Ability Inheritance!]
[Ability inheritance will begin in one day. Please select a game! If no selection is made within ten minutes, a previously played game will be randomly assigned!]
[Ability inheritance will commence after a multi-data calibration and balancing process based on game type and amount spent.]
"I choose *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*!"
The moment the voice finished, Shen Fei shouted his choice.
Back then, while playing the battle royale game, he had casually said, "I choose the battle royale!" A day later, he began to inherit the abilities from that game.
This time, he chose *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*.
BANG!
After making his own choice, Shen Fei immediately bolted out of his room and slammed open his sister's door.
"Shout after me: I choose *Traveling Frog*!"
"Hurry up!!" Shen Fei roared, his sister Shen Yue staring at him in shock.
"Oh, okay... I choose *Traveling Frog*!"
Half-asleep, Shen Yue had been wondering about the voice she'd just heard when her brother burst in like a charging bull. Faced with her older brother's shouting, Shen Yue obediently complied...
"Quick! Say 'I choose *Chess Alliance*!'"
After his sister replied, Shen Fei rushed into his parents' room.
"Quick! Say 'I choose *Happy Farm*!'"
After making sure his stunned parents had both made their choices, Shen Fei immediately rushed back to his room and called the middleman.
"Give me the money!"
"Now!"
"Give it to me within five minutes!"
"If it's more than five minutes, I don't want it!"
With the voice appearing as he had hoped, Shen Fei proceeded to sell his mother's shares.
The voice has sounded! That means the apocalypse is really coming! Now I can finally go all out!
He sent the pre-recorded video to the middleman and immediately told him to transfer the money.
"You heard that voice? Good. Then pick a game you like to play, put some money in it, and choose it!"
After giving the middleman a heads-up, Shen Fei immediately opened his QQ group chat and sent another message:
"I just heard a voice out of nowhere. Everyone, remember to choose *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*!"
"I chose *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms* myself!"
Shen Fei @everyone in the fan group.
Instantly, he received a flood of "Roger that" replies. Since Shen Fei had previously said he would be giving out red envelopes on the game world map at 12 AM, most of his fans were still awake and waiting. At this moment, his words were met with an overwhelming response!
"Bro!"
"Bro!"
"I shouted it!"
"You told me to shout 'I choose *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*' after 12:01 AM, and I did!"
"But what was that voice all about??"
Just as he finished alerting the fan group, a call came in from Sun Yu.
"Good. Did you tell Uncle Sun?"
Hearing that Sun Yu had chosen as instructed, Shen Fei didn't offer any explanation and continued with his questions.
"I did, I did! Right after I shouted, I video-called my dad and had him shout it in front of me..." Sun Yu quickly explained.
"Good. Then hurry up and put all the money you have into the game. I mean all of it!!"
His family had chosen, Sun Yu had chosen, and most of his fans had probably chosen as well. Shen Fei's excitement finally began to subside a little...
[DING!]
[Your bank card ending in ***9537**** was credited with 800,000,000 yuan on April 1st at 12:04:37 AM.]
As he took a deep breath to calm himself, a transaction notification popped up on Shen Fei's phone.
"Top up!"
Seeing his parents and sister standing strangely in his doorway, Shen Fei didn't waste a word and immediately started topping up.
Time is tight, no time to explain!
During this ten-minute window for choosing a game, the top-up channels would not be closed. But after 12:10 AM, it would be impossible to add money to any game in the world.
He had to be fast!
After this wave of top-ups, he could relax and wait for the game's invasion in 24 hours...
WHOOSH.
WHOOSH.
WHOOSH.
Luckily, the game company had opened a channel for large-sum top-ups. Therefore, before the ten minutes were up, he poured all of the 800 million yuan he had just received into the game.
His total top-up amount reached its final figure: 1.95 billion