Sky Curtain: The Darwin Incident at the outset, the Declaration of the People's League

At that time, perhaps they could destroy a tank with just an ordinary stone spear.

In the scene, a primitive man holds a stone spear and with a gentle poke, the armor of a starship tears like paper.

A single ordinary warship can destroy a civilization.

In another image, a small fishing boat hurtles towards a planet, which then disintegrates upon impact.

They will possess unlimited energy and resources, creating something from nothing—something that only they possess and no one else can take away.

The screen flashed with countless resource icons, all displayed as: ∞.

unlimited.

Endless.

Only players can own it.

Others can't even see it.

The Fourth Calamity doesn't need to know the cost.

To them, everything is just data.

Everything can be done spontaneously.

Even with the Ether Engine, which only has a 30% chance of successful ascension—

The scene then cuts back to that colossal structure that sends shivers down the spines of countless people around the world.

Numerous instances of this can occur simultaneously.

Most of the time, the ending is simply destruction.

For the players, this is 100%!

The screen flashed a series of save/load, retry, save/load, retry—

Twenty times. Thirty times. Fifty times.

Every failure is a rollback.

Every rollback is a new attempt.

finally--

[Ether Engine Startup Successful]

Golden light engulfed the entire galaxy.

Players will not fail!

Players can be arrogant!

They have every right to be arrogant!

All the heavens and myriad realms were utterly silent.

That deathly silence was deeper, colder, and more complete than ever before.

Because at this moment, they finally understood how terrifying the players were, and why they were called the Fourth Calamity.

That empire is not scary.

Those weapons are not scary.

Detonating stars, conquering virtual realms, tearing apart reality—none of these are scary.

What's scary is—

They can start over.

But you cannot.

They can fail countless times.

But you only get one chance.

They can be arrogant.

And you don't even have the right to be arrogant.

Chapter 30 Cherish Life

—The World of Rick and Morty—

Rick let out a long burp, the bottle in his hand hanging in mid-air.

"...Ha, player, the Fourth Calamity...the name is quite good, but it's nothing special."

His voice lowered, as if he were talking to himself.

"Everyone's like that, every world's like that. You think you're important? You think your adventure is unique? Fuck—"

As he spoke, his emotions gradually became agitated, and the bottle in his hand trembled slightly.

Morty huddled in the corner: "Rick? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Morty."

Rick slammed the bottle down on the table: "I've had this idea for a long time—our story, our tragedy, those damn adventures, those inventions I thought were so cool..."

He paused, a rare look of weariness flashing in his eyes.

"It's just a picture on some audience member's screen, or a save file on some player's hard drive."

Morty opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

Rick stood up and staggered toward the laboratory door.

"Let's go, Morty. We won't be taking any more risks for the next few days."

Why?

"because--"

Rick glanced back at the sky: "I suddenly want to try what it's like to have a day without a script."

——Ultraman World——

Father of Ultra's cape trembled slightly in the cosmic wind.

Behind him stood countless Ultra Warriors—giants who had once protected countless planets.

"That 'rollback' ability..."

"I heard you."

"If the enemy can regroup indefinitely, then every battle we fight—"

“Every battle is the first time,” Father of Ultra interrupted him, “and also the last time.”

Ultraman fell silent.

They have protected the Earth for so many years, fighting with all their might every time, and risking their lives every time.

But they never backed down.

But if you put yourself in their shoes, your enemy could start over infinitely, and with their memories intact...

Even those who have virtually no rivals in the universe tremble with fear.

—DC Universe—

Superman stared at the reversed images on the sky, looking thoughtful.

Batman sat at the console, his fingers hovering over the keyboard, but he didn't press any keys.

“Bruce,” Superman’s voice was soft, “Do you have a plan?”

"Dealing with enemies who can rewind time?" Batman gave a rare wry smile: "No."

To be honest, he would also like that ability if he could.

Unlimited trial and error costs ≈ more information.

As everyone knows, Batman with intelligence is invincible.

Even Superman couldn't beat him.

His warehouse full of kryptonite was always ready to be used.

—Marvel Universe—

Tony Stark, unusually, didn't joke around.

He sat at his workbench, staring at the sky, having long since put down the screwdriver in his hand.

"On Friday, let's calculate our chances of winning against an enemy that can rewind time."

There was a few seconds of silence.

[Calculation complete. Win rate: 0.000000001%.]

Tony smiled.

His smile was bitter.

"0.0000001... which means basically none."

Steve Rogers walked in through the door.

"Tony."

"team leader."

What are your thoughts?

Tony stood up and walked to the window.

“I was thinking,” he said, “that we’ve fought so many wars, lost so many people, and fought with all our might every time—while they can just start over with one click.”

He paused.

"But precisely because they can start over, they will never know what it feels like to lose someone."

Steve remained silent.