Survival in an apartment, starting with a stroke of luck on a plane

Crimson Empire.

Lin Yu remembered the name.

Another faction that has emerged from the game world.

"It seems we can't reach an agreement." Lin Yu sighed.

He raised his hand.

The azure rose was aimed at the officer.

Charged Shot - Level 4.

Penetrating magic bullet.

The officer's smile froze. He sensed just how dangerous the energy gathering at the muzzle of the gun was.

"Fire!" he roared.

Dozens of weapons fired simultaneously, and energy blasts, arrows, and flying swords of various colors shot towards Lin Yu.

But Lin Yu's gun was faster.

"Bang."

A low, muffled gunshot rang out.

A beam of blue-gold light shot out, piercing through all the bullets, through the officer's dark red armor, through his body, and out through his back.

The officer looked down at the smooth hole in his chest, opened his mouth as if to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.

His body began to break down from the inside out.

The demonic power erupted within him, instantly destroying his internal organs, meridians, and energy core. His armor, having lost its energy support, detached from his body, revealing his rapidly turning to ash body beneath.

A few seconds later, the officer turned into a handful of ashes, which were scattered by the wind.

The soldiers on deck were stunned.

Their commander, an epic-level peak powerhouse, was killed with a single shot?

"Enemy attack!!" Someone reacted and sounded a sharp alarm.

The entire airship began to operate. The runes on the hull glowed with a dark red light, and a thick energy shield enveloped the entire deck. The cannons began to turn, aiming at Lin Yu.

But Lin Yu was no longer there.

The Voidwalker's space flickered, and he appeared at the top of the airship's mast.

He looked down at the massive war machine beneath his feet, his mind racing with calculations.

A direct confrontation is definitely not an option. There are at least several hundred soldiers on the ship, along with twelve massive cannons. Even if he could kill all the soldiers, once the cannons opened fire, the apartment buildings below would be destroyed.

The cannon must be decommissioned first.

His gaze fell on the center of the ship—where there was a huge red crystal, where all the runic lines converged, clearly the energy core of the airship.

Once the core is destroyed, the ship is useless.

Lin Yu took a deep breath and jumped down from the top of the mast.

Instead of charging directly towards the core, he landed on the deck first, unleashing his Demon-Slaying Sword and Mountain-Splitting Axe simultaneously.

Golden sword energy and dark golden axe light intertwined, forming a destructive energy storm that engulfed all the surrounding soldiers.

Screams echoed throughout the room.

Platinum and Diamond level soldiers were no different from paper in front of him. The Demon Slayer Sword dealt ten times the damage to evil-aligned creatures, and these soldiers' energy characteristics were biased towards the chaotic alignment, which was exactly what he could do against.

With a single sweep of the sword, more than a dozen heads fell to the ground.

With a single axe strike, a cloud of blood mist filled the air.

But there were too many soldiers.

They charged forward fearlessly, one after another, using their bodies to wear down Lin Yu's physical strength and magical power.

To make matters worse, the ship's defense system had been activated—countless spikes sprang from the deck, a barrage of crossbow bolts shot from the walls, and a pale red mist filled the air, slowly eroding his energy shield.

Lin Yu fought as he moved toward the core.

The real problem is time.

The giant cannon was in its final charging stage, and the light from its muzzle shone like a small sun.

They will open fire in at most one minute.

We must speed things up.

Lin Yu gritted his teeth, and the source power within his body suddenly erupted.

"War God Domain."

Golden light surged from his body. This time, he did not compress his domain, but instead unleashed it at full power.

A legendary domain spread across the deck of the airship, enveloping all soldiers within a radius of 100 meters.

Battlefield Dominator - Increases all friendly attributes by 30%, and reduces all enemy attributes by 10%.

The more you fight, the stronger you become—the speed at which your life and mana recover increases by 1,000%.

Unbeatable belief – greatly enhanced resistance to mental control.

The moment the domain expanded, the attack frequency of the surrounding soldiers noticeably slowed down, while Lin Yu's speed and strength surged.

He seized the opportunity, flashed through the soldiers' encirclement, and rushed directly to the core crystal.

The core crystal is about the height of a person, with dark red energy flowing on its surface, and four energy chains around it fixing its position.

Lin Yu raised his axe.

"Splitting the rock."

The dark golden axe light surged and slammed into the core crystal.

"clang--!"

A loud bang.

A crack appeared on the surface of the crystal, but it didn't shatter. The four energy chains lit up simultaneously, transmitting a tremendous shockwave back to the axe. Lin Yu's arm went numb from the impact, and he took two steps back.

"It's so hard." He frowned.

This crystal is at least of epic quality and is reinforced with energy chains, making it unbreakable even with a single axe strike.

Just then, he sensed a tremendous danger approaching from behind.

He suddenly turned to the side.

A dark red beam of energy grazed his shoulder and struck the core crystal's protective shield, sending sparks flying.

The giant cannon has opened fire.

Not all twelve gates, but one of them—the test shot.

Lin Yu glanced back. The muzzle of that giant cannon was still smoking, recharging. The other eleven cannons had also reached their critical point.

There is no time.

Without further hesitation, he poured all his source power into the mountain-splitting axe.

"A divine artifact has descended."

The dark golden light on the surface of the axe suddenly turned pure white, and the runes on the axe lit up one after another, emanating a terrifying aura far exceeding that before.

The artifact, possessing 30% of its power, was briefly restored.

Lin Yu gripped the axe with both hands and raised it high.

"Opening the mountain."

He aimed at the core crystal and cleaved down with all his might.

This axe blow was completely different from the previous ones.

It wasn't just a simple crushing force, but a destruction at the level of rules—wherever the axe blade passed, space was distorted, and the energy chains groaned under the strain before breaking one by one.

"Snap—!"

The core crystal was split in two.

Dark red energy surged from the crack, like a punctured balloon, spreading in all directions. The entire airship shook violently, the runes on its hull went out one by one, and the charging light of the giant cannon dimmed.

"The core is destroyed! Abandon ship!!" someone shouted.

The soldiers began to panic.

Without its core power source, the airship's shields, weapons, and propulsion systems all failed. It began to slowly tilt, then accelerated its descent.

Lin Yu stood on the collapsing deck, watching the two-hundred-meter-long war machine beneath him plummet toward the ground.

He did not jump down.

Instead, he took out the jade lion seal from his storage space.

"Lion Soul Fusion."

Five jade lions flew out of the seal and merged in mid-air into a jade lion king whose size was comparable to a small mountain. The lion king let out a deafening roar and then caught the falling airship with its body.

The immense impact caused the lion's limbs to sink into the ground, but it withstood it.

The airship did not crash into the apartment building.

Instead, it landed in the central square of the residential area with a dull thud, raising a cloud of dust.

Lin Yu descended from the sky and stood atop the Lion King's head, surveying the surrounding scenery.

The square was filled with soldiers who had escaped from the airships. They had lost their commander and core energy, and their morale had collapsed.

Most people chose to surrender, but a few die-hards tried to resist and were killed by the lion king with a single swipe of his paw.

But Lin Yu had no interest in dealing with these prisoners.

Because he saw it—the crack in the sky was twice as big as before.

And there was more than one.

In the four cardinal directions—east, west, south, and north—there is a massive spatial rift, behind which glimpses of another world can be seen. Some are wild jungles, some are steel cities, some are frozen wastelands, and some are burning hells.

Countless points of light poured out from the cracks, sprinkling across every corner of the community like a meteor shower.

Those points of light are all intruders.

"This is just the beginning," Lin Yu said in a low voice.

His communication symbol lit up again.

This time it was a message from Lao Chen, but it was very short, just one sentence:

"The Balance Organization's command system has lost contact. All channels are down."

I don't know what happened, but we might have been abandoned.

Lin Yu stared at the message and remained silent for a long time.

The balancing mechanism has disappeared.

They disappeared when they were needed most.

Was it system failure leading to organizational collapse? Or did they encounter something more serious?

do not know.

But one thing is certain—from now on, no one will come to save them.

Lin Yu took a deep breath and put away the communication talisman.

He opened the system panel to see if there were any global notifications or urgent tasks.

The panel popped up, but it was different from usual—most of the functions were grayed out and could not be clicked.

The task system, the shop system, and the leaderboard system are all disabled.

Only the most basic attribute panel and inventory system are still functioning, but they flicker occasionally, as if they might disappear at any moment.

The system is crashing.

It was faster than he had expected.

Lin Yu turned off the control panel and turned to look in the direction of the apartment building.

Brother Long had already evacuated all the residents to the underground parking lot, and the energy shield at the entrance had been activated. Several security guards from the management office were stationed at the entrance, and when they saw Lin Yu looking over, they quickly stood up straight.

But Lin Yu knew that these people alone couldn't hold out for long.

He needs more power.

He needs allies.

Lin Yu took out a communication talisman and began sending messages one by one.

The first one is sent to the Red Demon.

"The system has crashed. The community world is being invaded. Where are you? Reply if you're still alive."

The second one is sent to the Overlord.

"Old Overlord, something big has happened. Come over here when you have time; there's a battle."

The third item was sent to Liu Baiyu.

"Mr. Liu, the boundary of our community world has collapsed, and multiple game worlds have invaded. We need your assistance."

He hesitated for a moment before sending the fourth message—to Xuanjizi.

"Xuanjizi, aren't you good at divination? Calculate how to break this situation."

After sending the message, he put away the communication talisman and sat down on the lion king's head.

The neighborhood world is now a dilapidated house with drafts coming from all sides, and intruders are everywhere.

No matter how strong he is, he can't possibly guard all directions at the same time.

A defensive line must be established.

Moreover, it has multiple layers of defense.

He closed his eyes and began to plan in his mind.

First layer: The perimeter of the community. Utilize the Zerg's underground tunnel network to establish early warning and blocking positions at the community's boundary. The newly hatched Void mutant Zerg soldiers come in handy; they have a natural affinity for Void energy and can detect Void creatures emerging from the cracks immediately.

Second layer: Inside the residential area. Several defensive outposts are established around the apartment buildings. Management personnel are responsible for maintaining order and evacuating civilians, while Zerg combat units are responsible for frontal defense.

The third level: Mobile warfare. Composed of himself and other legendary players, they would go to provide support wherever a powerful enemy appeared.

The key to this plan lies in whether other legendary players will come.

But regardless of whether they come or not, he has to build up the defenses first.

Lin Yu opened his eyes and jumped down from the lion king's head.

The Jade Lion King's form began to fade; three minutes had passed. He retracted the Lion Seal and turned to walk towards the entrance of the small world—he needed to return to the small world to mobilize more Zerg units.

Just as he reached the entrance of the apartment building, the communication talisman lit up.

It was the Red Demon's reply.

"I was in the East District, surrounded by a bunch of iron lumps that appeared out of nowhere."

What's the situation on your end? If it's serious, I'll come over after I finish this call.

Immediately following was a message from Ba Wang: "Hahahaha! Finally, the big one is here! Wait, I'll be there in half an hour!"

Liu Baiyu's message also arrived: "He's on his way. Brother Lin, please wait a moment."

Three messages, three responses.

He replied to Red Oni: "What's the situation in the East District? Do we need backup?"

Red Demon quickly replied, "No need. I can handle a bunch of platinum-level iron-clad guys. You hold out there for now, I'll be there in two hours at most."

"good."

Lin Yu put away the communication talisman and walked into the apartment building.

He didn't go to the underground parking lot, but went straight back to his apartment.

The living room was a mess—although the previous battle hadn't affected the interior of the apartment, the spatial fluctuations had shaken the furniture out of place, the coffee table was overturned, and the cushions on the sofa were scattered all over the floor.

Tangtang was curled up in the corner of the sofa, hugging her doll. Her big eyes were red. When she saw Lin Yu come in, she rushed over to him.

"Big brother! It's so noisy outside."

Lin Yu crouched down and patted her head: "It's alright. I'm here."

"Really?"

"Really." Lin Yu picked her up and placed her on the sofa. "You stay here for now, Jin Ling will protect you. I have to go out and take care of something, I'll be right back."

Jinling flew out of Xuandu Purple Mansion and landed on the sofa armrest, nuzzling Tangtang's hand with its head. Its feathers shimmered with a faint golden light, emanating a warm aura, and Tangtang's emotions gradually calmed down.

Lin Yu glanced at them, then turned and walked into the small world.

The dark golden fungal carpet covered the entire area, and the energy patterns of the main nest were much brighter than usual—the queen had sensed the crisis from the outside world and was automatically increasing the hatching efficiency.

"Overlord." The Queen's projection appeared before him. "The external space is fluctuating violently; a large number of unknown energy signatures have been detected intruding. Activate full-scale war mode?"

"Activate," Lin Yu said. "Move two-thirds of all combat units out of the small world and deploy them along the boundary of the community. Leave the remaining one-third to guard the main nest and the apartments. Also, send me a squad of elite troops; I need them for mobile operations."

[Understood. Total war mode activated. Combat units are being deployed... Deployment expected to be completed within ten minutes.]

"Also," Lin Yu thought for a moment, "notify the queen insect on the divine body's side to be on high alert. I have a feeling... something might happen on the divine body's side too."

[The message has been relayed. The Divine Body Sub-Network responded: The alert level has been raised to the highest. Lord Qingyuan is currently confirming the status of the Divine Core.]

Lin Yu nodded, turned around, and walked out of the small world.

Ten minutes later, the first batch of Zerg combat units poured out from various exits of the apartment building.

The dark golden swarm of insects, like flowing molten metal, spread along the streets in all directions of the neighborhood. Bladebugs, spiked insects, heavy beetles, flying units... various unit types were mixed together and entered the pre-designated positions under the unified command of the queen.

The residents of the community saw this from their windows; some screamed in fright, while others stared in disbelief. But Brother Long had already given prior notice—these insects were one of their own and wouldn't attack humans.

Although most people were still skeptical, it did not cause panic.

Lin Yu stood on the rooftop of the apartment building, watching the swarm of insects spread throughout the community.

From his position, he could see the entire neighborhood.

Four enormous spatial rifts hung in the sky, like four wounds that would never heal. Things kept falling out of the rifts—some were living beings, some were fragments of buildings, and some were pure energy clusters.

The fighting is taking place in every corner of the neighborhood.

The Zerg vanguard had already clashed with several groups of invaders, dark golden energy and attacks of various colors crisscrossing the streets. Explosions, screams, and roars mingled together.

This is war.

This is not the kind of war with rules and punishment mechanisms like in games, but a real war where it's a matter of life and death.

Lin Yu took a deep breath and jumped off the edge of the rooftop.

He landed at the entrance to the eastern section of the residential area—the direction where the Red Demon was located, and also the area where the battle was currently most intense.

A group of silver-white mechanical creatures, resembling rhinoceroses in size, were engaged in battle with the vanguard of the Zerg. These mechanical creatures had extremely hard exoskeletons; the sickle-like limbs of the Bladebugs could only leave a white mark upon impact, and the acid spray from the Spikebugs could only corrode a thin layer.

But their attacks are fierce—a single energy cannon shot from their heads can shatter a heavy beetle, and when they charge, they can knock down an entire row of Zerg units.

"These are the iron lumps." The Red Demon's voice came from the center of the battlefield.

Lin Yu looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Chi Gui was surrounded by more than a dozen mechanical creatures. His body was engulfed in crimson flames, and every punch he threw carried a scorching shockwave that burned a charred crater into the shells of the mechanical creatures.

But there were too many mechanical creatures, and they were fearless; as soon as one was destroyed, another would take its place. Although the Red Oni had the upper hand, it couldn't break through anytime soon.

"You've come at the right time!" Red Demon grinned when he saw Lin Yu. "Help me clear out these metal shells; my hands are getting sore from typing!"

Lin Yu didn't waste any words.

The azure rose is raised.

Charged-up fire - Level 2.

Demon fire.

"Bang bang bang bang bang!"

Six shots in a row.

Six bullets imbued with blue hellfire were fired, striking six mechanical creatures. The blue flames ignited instantly upon impact, clinging to the creatures' shells and burning fiercely. The silvery-white shells rapidly turned red, softened, and then melted in the hellfire.

Within seconds, the six mechanical creatures turned into six puddles of molten iron.

The remaining mechanical creatures seemed to sense the danger and turned to Lin Yu, their head-mounted energy cannons beginning to charge.

"Want to hit me?" Lin Yu sneered.

Space blockade.

Golden light spread out, enveloping all the mechanical creatures. Their energy cannons stalled halfway through charging—the space was sealed, and energy could not flow normally.

Seizing the opportunity, the Red Demon unleashed a burst of flames, smashing the sealed mechanical creatures one by one with a single punch.

In less than five minutes, all the mechanical creatures in the East District were eliminated.

Red Demon shook his burning hands, walked up to Lin Yu, and looked him up and down: "Not bad, kid, you've gotten even better than last time I saw you."

"You're not slow either," Lin Yu said.

"Enough nonsense." Red Demon snorted. "What's going on? I was fighting, and half of the system panel went gray, then the sky cracked open, and a bunch of metal lumps fell out of the crack. Is this an update or a bug?"

"None of those." Lin Yu briefly explained the situation of system failure, boundary collapse, and invasion from multiple worlds.

After hearing this, the Red Demon remained silent for a long time.

"So... the system is going to be gone?" His voice was much lower than usual.

"Highly likely."

"And what about us players?"

"I don't know," Lin Yu said honestly. "After the system crashes, nobody knows what will happen to the players. They might become independent beings, just like the native creatures of the game world. Or maybe..."

He didn't continue.

The Red Demon did not press further.

He simply looked up at the crack in the sky, then stretched his neck, making a cracking sound.

"Who cares?" he said. "If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. All I want to know now is—who's next?"

Lin Yu looked at him, a slight smile playing on his lips.

This is the Red Demon.

Even if the sky falls, I won't panic, as long as there's a war to fight.

"Let's clear out the intruders from the neighborhood first," Lin Yu said. "Then we'll establish a defensive line, and once the other legendary-level members have all arrived, we'll discuss the next steps."

"Alright." The Red Demon clenched his fist, flames escaping from between his fingers. "Let's go, don't keep me waiting too long."

The two walked side by side into the depths of the battlefield.

The next six hours were the longest six hours Lin Yu had ever experienced since he came into this world.

He and Red Demon split into two groups, shuttling back and forth across the various areas of the community, clearing out invaders and rescuing trapped players and residents. Under the Queen's command, the Zerg's defenses gradually solidified, keeping most of the invaders at bay on the community's outskirts.

But there were too many invaders.

The four rifts were like four bottomless pits, constantly spewing out all sorts of things. There were mechanical creatures, magical beasts, undead, cultivators, space warriors, magical creatures... almost every kind came from a different world, with completely different fighting styles and rules.

Some are very weak and can be dealt with by ordinary players.

Some are very powerful, requiring epic or even legendary strength to deal with.

The most troublesome thing was a giant beast that fell out of the crack in the north—it was as tall as a three-story building, and its body was made up of countless corpses. Each corpse was making different sounds; some were crying, some were laughing, and some were chanting scriptures that Lin Yu could not understand.

Its aura has reached the legendary level.

Moreover, it's not just any ordinary legendary-level item; it's mid-tier legendary.

The red demon's body was corroded by its corpse energy, and it took a while to recover.

Of course, what alarmed Lin Yu the most was not this giant beast.