It''s almost twelve o''clock.


    As an experienced netizen, I''ve always beenhighlyqualified. Even though I have to clock in for work every day, I won''t crawl into bed beforemidnight.


    But what should I donow? Over the past two years of working, I''ve had neither the time nor the interest to pursue new games, nor the money to upgrade my computer for them. So, besides the ever-popular Dota, I haven''t played any other games.


    I sank into the recliner and stared blankly at the icons scattered on my computer screen, my gaze inadvertently drifting to a corner.


    There, a fierce demon''s head stared back at me, labeled as Diablo2. Yes, it was the icon for Diablo, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, a masterpiece that had accompanied me for over a decadebut had been forgotten for equally as long. To my surprise, I still had iton my computer.


    My passion was ignited by thosedust-covered memoriesas soon as I stared at that icon. With eager clicks of the mouse, I hurriedly accessed the familiar startup screen.


    Wait, I stillhave a lot of modifiers for Diablo.Consideringthat I hadn''t ventured in the world of Diablo for a long time, and the hellish monsters and the deadly penalty of -100 to all resistances, I shivered. Then I quicklyswitched out, andstruggled to find the modifiersomewhere on my computer.


    Of course, the first step was to create a character, which couldalsobe done directly through the modifier. Hmm, as for the character''s name, I''d use the name of a Scorpio Saint, Milo.


    Then came the crucial choice of class. Diablo II offers seven classes: Paladin, Sorcerer, Necromancer, Amazon, Druid, Assassin, and Barbarian. Since it''s been so long since I last played, so it does not matter which classI chose,they are all fresh to me. Then,which profession would provide me the most experienceof the game? The answer was Druid, who could play with elements, summon creatures, and even transform to performmelee combat. Although none of these abilities are top-tier, it doesn''t matter; I have modifiers, right?


    Yes, Druid it is!


    Nowcomes theequipment.That is the key for editing.However, I still wanthave somegaming experience, so just one bug charm is enough: the Annihilus, but the edited version: +3 to allskills, +50 to all attributes, all resistance +50, a 300% increased chance of finding magic items, and +30% to experience gained. Alright, with such aAnnihilus charm, other unique or sets equipment will come eventually, sparing me the trouble of smallbackpack.


    Character created! Well done!


    I hurried to switch back to the game and double-clickmy character to start the journey.


    The scene changes to theopeninggate opens, as I was eagered to enjoymy precious charm in the game.


    Yet, instead of thescene ofRogue Camp, the entire screen remainedeerily dark, with only two large buttons left.


    "Yes"


    "No"


    I rubbed my eyes astonishingly. What happened here? Game corrupted or striked by a virus?


    I gazedat the two buttons,andhesitatedfor a long time,wonderingif itwasa virus or not.


    The mysteriously appearing "Yes" button, emittingstrange glamour, constantly attracted me. At some time point, I forgot the possible danger, and clicked "Yes".


    Suddenly, a huge black vortex emergedfrom my screen, andengulfedall my consciousness. Everything wentdark in my eyes, and Iwaspulled into the vortex. My body disappearedfromthe computer desk, leaving only one thought in my mind: Iwon’tever cheat again.


    "Ooof"


    A chill shiver ran over me. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a dark, gloomy sky, with fine rain falling from the boundless iron-gray clouds, dotting on my body and face. I shivered as my leather jacket was all wet and clinging tightly to my skin, transmitting a chilling cold straight to my heart.


    Wait, a leather jacket? I remembered I waswearing a sport suit. And I should definitelyat home just now. How did I end up in this creepy place?


    Breaking out in a cold sweat, I sat up and scrutinized my surroundings.


    I was surrounded by athin fog, allowing me to see only about 100 meters. Iwassitting on slightly damp grass, with patches of exposed hard earth nearby. In my vision, there were only two colors: the greenunknown weeds and the brown soil.


    "Was thata dream?"


    I muttered to myself, with a dazed mind, rubbedmy eyes, and lay back down again.


    "Wake up!I shallcontinue playing my Diablo..."


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.Well, some timepassed. And yet the rain in my dream seemed to get heavier and heavier, with piercingcold on my body.


    It wasn''t a dream!


    I opened my eyes again and gazed at the iron-gray sky.


    "What kind of hellish place is this? I was definitely playing computer game at home, how did I suddenly end up here?!!"


    I sat up arduously, and desperately tore my hair. I looked around this wilderness with terror and panic, with only the sound of rain in my ears. The last scene slowly emerged in my mind: at the last moment, it seemed like there was an eerie choice on the computer. After clicking “Yes”, I blacked out and ended up here.


    Thinking of the countless time-travel fictions I had read online, a wave of fear swept over me. All of a sudden, I am one of them?!


    SHIT NO!!


    I looked up at the sky sadly. In the wilderness, there was no house, no food, and even no shelter from the rain!!


    A gust of wind broughtpiercing cold to my body. The rain-soaked leather jacket clung to me like ice. Meanwhile, I felt hungry, too. It turned out that the so-called time-travel was nota fairy tale as imagined. Warm home, food in fridge, bed with dry and clean quilt, all these things that I had taken for granted, were now the most precious.


    “God, please, send meback!!”


    The dark sky just lit several dazzling lightnings to mock my weakness.


    After quite a while, I finally stood up from the ground blankly, like a puppet. But the coldness on my body and my growling stomach made me realize the cruel fact: Staying in this hellish place any longer would only lead to death.


    I looked around. The heavy rain had dispersed the mist, but the visibility was even lower. Where could I goin this deserted wilderness?


    The desire for survival finally motivated me to start walking towards one random direction.


    I didn''t know what was ahead of me, perhaps a city, perhaps a man-eating beast, or maybe just endless wilderness. Yet I had to keep walking, even if there might be only a glimmer of hope.


    I don''t know how long I walked. My feet became numb and my vision blurred. My body almost reached the limit. Perhaps the place not far ahead would be my end.


    "Well, maybe I would travel back again..."I whispered to myself, trying to seek joy amidst sorrow.


    The heavy rain stained the horizon into an endless grayish-white, and the only sound in my ears was the squishing of my feet in the mud and grass. I stared at the ground with glassy eyes and stood there for a moment. Finally, the irresistible hunger drove me to kneel on the ground, slowly grab a handful of grass tremblingly from the ground, shake off the mud on the roots, regardless of the remaining mud and sand, and stuff them into my mouth along with the rain.


    The bitter, astringent, and fishy taste gradually numbed my taste buds, which made me gradually ignorethe feeling of chewing mud and sand.


    I pulled handfuls of grass and stuffed them into my mouth. Bitter tears soaked my entire face, leaving muddy tear tracks on it.


    Once upon a time, I threw away a McDonald''s that I had only eaten one-third of into the trash casually, or I poured the remaining half of my milk down the drain...


    "Ugh..."


    Finally, I could notbear the fishy taste of mud and sand in my mouth any longerandretched loudly. But thankfully, at least I was not that hungry, and gained a little strength inmy feet. This was a ray of hope in despair. Yet I knew that if I couldn''t find shelter from the rain soon, I would be frozento death. So I continued this unpredictable journeywith heavy steps.


    I lost all sense of time againwhen I was about to give up, a blurred figure emerged through the heavy rain.


    "Hey..."


    I shouted ecstatically, waving my arms hard, without confirming if it was an illusion or not, if that “person” could hear me or not, or even if the figure was a human or a beast. It was the glimmer of hope in this endless wilderness. Having endured loneliness, hunger, and the creeping despair of death, once freed, I was refilled with illusory energy.


    I wavedmy hand and ran towards the figurewith long strides, getting closer and closerto the figure. The figure in the rain also seemed to sense something. Itturnedslowly in the blur and lookedtowards me.


    It was a human figure.


    "Here, I''m here!" I waved my arms hard and shouted loudly. At this moment, I forgot to considerif “he”could get my word, if“he”would accept me, or if “he”was hostile to me.


    The figure seemed to have really seenme, and slowly walkedtowards me step by step. His hunched posture and slow motion indicated that he was probably an aged person.


    I didn''t find it strange why an aged person lingeredin such a rainy wilderness, asmy joy had got the best of me.


    Finally, it was close enough to geta clear look at the figure. I wiped off the sweat from my eyes, and witnessed a scene that I would never forget in my lifetimejust as the “old man”slowly raised his head.


    It wasn''t a man at all! The face of that creature was terrifying: the bald head had been sliced in half, with yellowish-green brain matter constantly spilling out with the rain and flowing into its eyes and mouth. Its left eye was already white, while its right eye had fallen out, with only a bit of flesh still connecting it to the socket, allowing the eyeball hanging on the face. From the hollow socket, I could even see the flesh and blood inside. The lips had started to decay, exposing half of the yellowish-brown teeth that constantly rubbing against each other. The slightly grinning mouth seemed to make a smile. Even in such heavy rain, its body was so dry and thin as it had just been dehydrated. The flesh appeared to stick on the body piece by piece, and might fall off at any moment. There were large holes in the abdomen and the right thigh. The decaying organs and muscles were crawling with disgusting maggots.


    "Ugh..."


    I vomited again, even spitting out the grass and mud I had just eaten.


    This was no human, but a "living" decaying corpse!


    The decaying corpse “smiled”at me, and it slowly reached out towards mewith its withered, bony hands.


    "Ah..."


    My only hope turned into despair. I stumbled backward a few steps and sat down on the ground. Then, I scrambled to my feet and ran aimlessly, just running like a madman...


    I didn''t know how long I ran. The intense activity drained the last ounce of my strength. With a thud, my legs gave out, and I fell into a small mud pit. The splashing mud gradually drowned all my senses.