Chapter 2 From Zero

"Ah…"

Opening his eyes, Xuan found himself staring at the plain white ceiling of his room in the real world. He had already gotten used to seeing a luxurious circular bed canopy when he woke up in Xianxia Online within The Asura God's Palace, so this sight was quite the fresh twist—even though it shouldn't have been.

Gently, he removed his VR headset, and instinctively moved his fingers to readjust his long, elegant white hair… only to realize that it did not exist. He'd been living in the game world of Xianxia Online for so long now that he forgot that handsome, striking appearance of his was not his real one.

Right—here in the real world, he was just a pathetic average otaku NEET with messy black hair and a slim, skinny body. Xuan was reminded of that fact quite brutally. If one looked closely, however, they could see that the relentlessness, cruelness, and dark humor in those striking red eyes was the exact same as in-game's Zero… not that many have seen Zero's true face and lived with their memories intact.

As he peered at the mirror across the room and was once again confirmed of his real life appearance, Xuan sighed.

"Yeah… I like that world better."

It's not that he was ugly, particularly. In fact, if he just tidied himself up a bit and put on some half-decent clothes, he could even pass for handsome. But of course, as a man who was married to video games and half-naked 2D anime figurines, with manga as a side chick and his phone as a mistress, doing that just didn't seem very necessary.

"… Hm?"

"Still taking my time to perfect the meat… And I still got love for the sheets, it's the P-I-V…"

Xuan heard the familiar sound of his custom phone ringtone and walked over to his desk before looking at the name. It read <Loud Fuck>. Naturally, he knew who he'd set this alias for. No matter how much time he spent in the game—nearly a thousand years (3 years in the real world), even more if counting time-warped places like the Grand Time Temple and the Shattered Void Realm—he'd never forget this nickname.

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Taking a deep breath, he distanced the phone from his ear, holding it at a whole arm's length away, turned down his phone volume to the lowest possible setting, and reluctantly pressed on the answer button.

"Hello, sis?"

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

Ouch. Xuan felt a terrible wind blow onto his face, somehow even worse than the Heavenly Tempest Tribulation he'd faced when breaking through to the Origin Emperor Realm in Xianxia Online. This was impossible. This woman must be a fellow cultivator, to be able to pull off something as nonscientific as yelling hard enough to transmit sound in the form of howling wind through a virtual medium like a phone.

"Sorry, but I am not a fan of Rihanna," Xuan replied calmly, still wisely keeping the phone away from his ear. "Nothing personal. What do you want?"

"I finally got through to you, dammit," the female voice on the other end growled in anger. "Do you know how worried mom and dad are? Have you even seen the news lately, or were you too invested in that stupid video game of yours?"

"The same video game that you all are about to enter as well in a few hours?"

"Yes!"

"…"

'Truly, a strong opponent,' Xuan thought in his mind. 'The ability to shamelessly reply like so despite me pointing out such an obvious flaw in her words… yes, she is a powerful foe indeed. Worthy of being my sister.'

"… In any case, I just arrived at your apartment. Hurry up and get your ass down here so I can take you to the invacuation site, or I'll personally make sure you regret ever being born into this world."

Xuan considered replying with some sort of witty comeback, but ultimately decided to be the bigger of the two and let the matter go. He was past the point of responding with those lame comebacks. Through his collective years of cultivation, he'd grown much more mature, and his temperament had changed accordingly. After all he's been through, there wasn't much that could faze him.

"Don't make me repeat myself," his sister, Lan, snarled angrily like a tiger. "… Mom and Dad are waiting."

"… On my way."

Not wanting to continue this conversation any further, Xuan ended the phone call with those words and headed into the bathroom. His apartment was quite small and cramped, but since he spent most of his time living in XO anyway, that was of little concern.

After brushing his teeth and taking a shower, Xuan slipped on a fresh set of clothes and headed for the door. The rest of the apartment was completely vacant, its inhabitants having already left for the invacuation spot. He was the last.

Once he arrived downstairs in the main lobby of the condo, he immediately spotted his sister Lan's luxury white convertible, flashy as usual. With a sigh, he activated his secret technique—the Dao of 'pretending to listen without actually listening'.

There once was a man who told him something interesting. He was the inventor of this art. Basically, the gist of it was this:

There once was a famous Japanese proverb stating that when three women got together, things became noisy. Xuan believed this to be false—one woman alone was enough for things to become noisy. His sister, Lan, was a perfect example of that.

Men, on the other hand, were far more simplistic and straightforward creatures. In their conversations, step one was for both parties to efficiently communicate their business to the other. There was no step two.

Women, however, were different. Before they got to the main topic of the conversation, they must first discuss everything from politics to daily neighborhood gossip. By the time they were done, they had most likely already forgotten what the initial point of them talking was.

As such, that man, inventor of the miraculous Dao of 'pretending to listen without actually listening,' came up with a genius plan for any poor souls who ended up stranded in the verbal onslaught between such people. Essentially, all one had to do is shut their brains down, and whenever they sensed a pause in the conversation, they needed to reply with either "I see", "Amazing", or "Not your fault". And now… was the perfect time for Xuan to employ this strategy against his sister.

"… Took you long enough," Lan muttered as she shot a glare towards Xuan, who approached her car. "Get in the back. The seatbelt is automatic."

"I see."

Revving up the engine, Lan stepped on the gas pedal and boosted the car forwards, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Gosh… Xuan, you're already 18, but you still act like a spoiled child. Do you have any idea what the consequences of your actions are? Mom and dad both called you so many times, but you never picked up. They're worried sick."

"Amazing."

Lan, sensing something wrong, arched an eyebrow in suspicion and looked in the rearview mirror at Xuan.

"Uh… are you alright?"

"Not your fault."

"Ah… well, either way, once we get to the invacuation site, the first thing you're going to be doing is apologizing to mom and dad, got it?"

"I see."

"Oh, and if you dare to give them a half-assed sorry with no intent behind it, I'll make you wish you were dead, understand?"

"Amazing."

*****

Soon, after various repetitions of 'I see', 'Amazing', and 'Not your fault', Xuan found himself staring at an enormous hole in the ground, leading downwards into a large metal bunker through a descending linear staircase. Lan killed the engine in her car and stepped out of the vehicle, with Xuan following behind her, silently observing his surroundings.

He didn't use to be this quiet. But after spending nearly thousands of years in practically solitude as a lone cultivator—a cultivator who did not belong to any sect or organization—his personality had changed quite a bit.

In front of the two of them, a crowd of people stood, neatly organized into three lines at the behest of several authoritative officers dressed like police. In front of each line was an automatic ticket gate, like those found in subway stations. From what Xuan could see, the people passing through the gates seemed to be scanning their ID cards on the scanners of the machines before being let through by the metal bars. On the outer left side and outer right sides of the ticket gates, there stood a security booth each, with a police officer sitting inside to monitor the process.

There was just one problem.

"… I didn't bring my ID card, Lan."

In response, however, Lan only gave a sigh and reached into her pocket before handing Xuan none other than his own ID.

"I knew you wouldn't remember, so in preparation for a situation like this, I already took your ID card and made a backup copy a long time ago, just in case. Here. If they don't accept it for whatever reason even though it's a legal copy, you can go to one of the security booths. They'll sort it out… hopefully."

"… Huh. Thanks."

Slightly surprised by this act of kindness and cleverness from Lan, Xuan pocketed the ID card and patiently awaited his turn to go up to the terminal. He tapped his ID card on the scanner when his turn came, and after a beep, the rotating metal bars in front of him moved, and a short receipt with a single number printed on it was outputted: 8674. Taking the small piece of paper and stuffing it in his pocket, he followed after Lan who went before him.

Down they went, descending the wide linear concrete staircase. The large bunker doors were wide open due to the constant flow of people entering, and revealed a broad straight hexagonal corridor leading deeper inside. It was illuminated by bright white lights on the ceiling, and its strange shape actually made it feel more spacious than a regular hallway, which was good considering how many people were passing through here.

Soon, Xuan reached the end of the tunnel, and was invited into a large, open room that had to be at least four football fields in length and just as wide. He'd never seen any single chamber bigger than this before, even in Xianxia Online. Moreover, despite being underground, the air inside this place was cool and filtered. Xuan deduced there was probably some sort of ventilation and filtration system in place here, taking air from the surface and channeling it here. Equipment like that still worked despite the changes to climate, much like electricity generation means such as wind and solar panels.

"Mom and dad are this way," Lan said. "What's your number?"

Xuan, recalling the number on the small piece of paper he'd received earlier, replied, "8674."

"8674, and I got 8673… so it really is by sequential order. That's very far away from our parents' locations… though that's to be expected, considering how late you were. Come meet with them first, then we can go to where our beds are."

Xuan silently gave a nod and trailed after her, brushing past the sea of people. It was a bit difficult to keep up with his sister with the crowd around, but since she'd gone as far as to sacrifice her own early arrival to pick him up, it was only natural for him to at the very least do his best to keep up this way.

After meeting their parents and catching up with them for a while—Xuan's most sincere apology included—he and Lan headed for their own beds based on the numbers labeled on the side of the furniture.

*****

- Several Hours Later -

Night had fallen, and all the invacuation sites around the world were beginning to close. The remaining few people who still had not arrived at an invacuation site were being brought in by search squadrons all over the globe, and the United Nations were making their final preparations to set the plan into motion.

Within the safety bunker Xuan was placed in, nearly all of the beds had been filled. Every person had their own, and the patrolling security staff made sure no one got out unless it was to use the bathroom. They were served food and water as needed as well, all to keep things tidy and organized. After all, there had to have been a dozen thousand people in here, if not over a hundred thousand.

According to his sister Lan, every large city had its own safety bunker like this, and they were all constructed with the municipality's population size in mind. Smaller cities and towns were grouped together into one, of course, to save construction time, but the district Xuan lived in was quite the urban and crowded place.

Suddenly, while everyone was busy amidst their own conversations, a loud voice cut through using the PA system of the bunker, deep and authoritative.

"Good evening, everyone. I thank you all for your patience up until now. The final few missing individuals have been gathered and brought here, so I am finally able to begin my explanation. I am sure many of you are already aware of the basics from the news and Internet, but for those who are not particularly interested in watching the headlines every night, allow me to explain."

Finally, the moment of truth. Lan had told Xuan a little bit about what's going on earlier, but he didn't get the full story—after all, neither did the general public, his sister included.

Immediately, the crowd settled down into silence, waiting for the announcement to continue. It was quite impressive how obedient they were, actually… but Xuan supposed this was a matter concerning the entire world, and everybody wanted to know what was going on. He too was curious—he'd heard a little bit from the global chat in Xianxia Online before logging out, but that didn't cover the 'why' behind these actions.

Usually, he wouldn't care about such things even if the other half of the world was on fire, but since this was a matter that impacted his daily gamer life…

… Xuan decided to pay attention.

"First off, allow me to introduce myself—I am Zhen Xu, the Chinese delegate for the United Nations," the man over the PA said. "As some of you may have already heard, meteorology experts in the UN have determined that it has become too dangerous for humanity to continue living on the surface of the planet as a result of too much UV radiation from the sun trapped in Earth's atmosphere due to greenhouse gases.

"Our response to the rapidly changing climate has been a slow one—and for that, we face the repercussions of our actions. It is too late to fix the problem now. The unfortunate truth is that we must run, from this dying planet and all that we have done to it. Should we stay on the surface for any longer, scientists have calculated that newer, more fatal, and overall more dangerous forms of skin cancer will be created from prolonged exposure to the reconfigured Earth's atmosphere, with no medication able to help it."

A brief pause. Then, continuation.

"The United Nations, after discussing this topic some time ago, have come to the conclusion that constructing an entire civilization underground is not feasible even with our modern technology, nor are there any suitable planets we can reach with our limited resources for sustainable inhabitation. As such, we have formed a deal with the company Nirvana, whom many of you may recognize as the creator of both the top video game in the world right now, Xianxia Online… as well as their own special VR equipment technology that allows for players to, in essence, live inside the game."

Another pause. By now, many in the audience have probably already guessed what the 'deal' was meant to be. However, to clarify to the minimal few who still did not, Zhen Xu gave his final verdict.

"… We, the United Nations, have made the decision to transfer all of humanity into the virtual world of Xianxia Online."

Chaos erupted. Noises of shock, joy, and terror all mixed together, as well as frustration, bewilderment, and disbelief. Everyone had different feelings on the matter, and for good reason. Some complained, others cheered. Some offered alternative solutions, but who were they to speak when the UN themselves have spent so long trying to think of another resolution to no avail?

Of course, parts of the crowd had already seen the headlines on the news several days before—but due to the nature of the Internet and social media, it was difficult to discern whether or not the information was actually true. But hearing it straight from a UN delegate's mouth… well, even if they didn't want to believe it, they had to.

The very idea of it was ridiculous—hence why many did not trust the news at first. Moving all of mankind into a virtual reality? A video game of fantasy and fighting, no less? Simply absurd. But desperate times called for desperate measures—and the UN were nothing except desperate.

"Please, calm down," Zhen Xu urged, having expected a response like this. "I understand how you all feel. However, know that the United Nations have truly considered every other possibility within the range of humanity's current power, and reached no fruition. This is truly the only option we have."

At this, the crowd settled down a bit. This man was from the United Nations—the international organization that acted like the world's leading government for many, many years now. If the people didn't place their trusts in them, who would they place their trusts in instead?

"Of course, the United Nations will not force you to do anything. Despite the circumstances, each and every one of you still retain your right of freedom, and are free to choose to leave if you so wish. However, realize that all the federal governments across the globe have already approved of this method, and once you leave this safety bunker, you will be completely on your own. Life… death… it is all in your own hands. If you so choose, the door is right in front of you."

He waited. No one dared to get up and leave. As ridiculous as this idea sounded, it truly was the only option open to them. What was waiting for them out there on the surface was only death—compared to that, this all of a sudden didn't seem that bad.

… That is, until Zhen Xu's next line.

"Nirvana may have agreed to help mankind through this calamity, but with one condition that must be known by everyone. In order to preserve the natural order of life and death… in the virtual world, everyone will still only have one life. If they lose it… they will die in the real world as well."

Instantly, the crowd stormed in outrage once more, utterly stunned at this completely ridiculous condition. One didn't need to play Xianxia Online to have heard stories about it, given all its popularity. That game was famed for its realistic world, filled with countless surreal dangers found in Eastern Fantasy fiction. Even before all of this, players only had one life—if they died, they would need to restart all over from the beginning again, with no memories of important locations, NPCs, and a hazed memory of their past life as punishment for dying. Of course, this also meant they lost all inventory items, pets, secret techniques, power, and just about everything else.

But this… was on a whole different level.

"Please, calm down!" Zhen Xu boomed, instantly grabbing the attention of everyone once more. "I understand how ridiculous this sounds—but consider it. Even if this is a virtual, game-like world, the dangers of overpopulation still exist if everyone had infinite lives, since childbirth is part of the game world. Too many people may result in increased conflict, ecological degradation, and the like. Not to mention the possibility of a server overload, which may result in the game world shutting down forever. If that happens, we will truly be out of options. This is humanity's final stand."

After hearing these words, the smart, rational ones settled down, accepting their fate, while the more idiotic ones continued yelling in rage. Xuan was part of neither group, and instead merely gave a chuckle.

"… What's so funny about this?" Lan, beside him, shot him a glare.

"Oh, nothing. Don't mind me."

Xuan waved her question off and fell into his own thoughts once more. It was truly interesting—the majority of the crowd seemed to have accepted Zhen Xu's words just like that, but really, it made no sense whatsoever. Before, the game could theoretically have infinite amounts of people inside it, since players were not restricted to only one life but were rather more or less 'reborn'. Overpopulation was a constant threat, but nothing was ever done to counter it.

Why?

Because it wasn't one. Anyone who played Xianxia Online should know—that world was immensely huge, and some even claimed it was infinite. New areas were constantly being discovered, and many wondered if all these places were already there when the game first launched rather than being added in as part of an update later on, since the addition of new areas was never mentioned in any hotfix patch notes. Not only that, but high-level players had their own Domains, which were essentially small worlds in their own right, able to fit many, many people.

At any rate, overpopulation certainly was not a concern. This excuse the United Nations came up with was truly lacking in strength.

Still, given the urgency of the situation and the bizarreness of it all, it was only natural some would miss this tiny detail. Xuan, on the other hand, was observant, calm, and collected enough to withstand such levels of pressure with ease. What he did not want to hear, however, was Zhen Xu's next sentence.

"… In addition, authority figures such as government officials, police officers, and the like will be starting out with high level equipment and weapons to begin with so they can continue upholding the law even in the other world. Therefore, to make sure current high-level players cannot abuse their power… any and all players of Xianxia Online will have their profiles wiped and reset in order to maintain peace and order."

"…" Xuan narrowed his red eyes in silence at those words, fists clenched. He'd expected something along those lines to be set in place after hearing the explanation of the situation, but… hearing this confirmation still made his blood boil a bit. All those years of cultivation, deleted? All the time, effort, and hard work he put in, gone?

Even though Xianxia Online was a virtual game, the technology Nirvana employed was advanced enough for players to feel pain, starvation, and death. Xuan had experienced all three of those—yes, even the last. Albeit at the time, he had a revival artifact, so his character was not gone, but he had still felt the agony nonetheless.

After all that torture, his other self was getting erased, just like this?

… Well, fine. It's not like he could do anything about it. A true cultivator would be able to climb back to the apex, no matter how many times they fell all the way back down to the bottom. If this was the challenge he had to overcome, so be it. Standing at the peak, above everyone else, had become a little boring anyways.

And besides… even if his physical form was being deleted, so what? He still had all his years of knowledge and experience, along with several hidden treasure stashes all around the world of XO. They would most likely be deleted along with the character wipes—otherwise there'd be no point—but a man could dream.

"… If everyone has made up their mind, then we will begin the transferring process shortly," Zhen Xu said over the PA. "Do not leave your beds unless you are choosing to leave, and do your best to remain as calm as possible. That is all."

With that, the series of announcements ended, and the entire bunker fell into an odd silence. No one spoke loudly, and instead conversed in whispers with their friends and family. No one got up from their beds either—it would seem they all chose to die with a chance of living rather than die now.

"… Xuan," Lan suddenly said, and Xuan turned to look at her.

"… What is it?"

"Over in that other world… you'll protect us, right? You have lots of experience with the game, after all… whereas Mom, Dad, and I have none."

Xuan gave a nod. "Of course. I didn't let you all raise me for nothing. My time to shine has arrived."

"Can you not say that with such a blatantly deadpan expression on your face…?" Lan sighed deeply. "Seriously, cracking a joke even at a time like this…"

Xuan blinked at her, then turned away. "You'll be fine, Lan. If my guess is not wrong… the United Nations should've set up some sort of safe haven already in the game world. There's a lot they haven't told us still."

At this, it was Lan's turn to blink. "Eh? What makes you say that?"

"Think about it. Nirvana had a condition in this deal with the United Nations, correct? If that's the case, then it only makes sense for the United Nations to have a condition in return as well. Knowing them, they would never agree to something as absurd as everyone only having one life each in a world as dangerous as that. The condition they made should be something to counter Nirvana's… something along the lines of an ultimate impenetrable area, where those who simply wished to lead normal lives could stay."

"Huh…" Lan nodded in agreement with Xuan's logic. "You're smarter than you usually let on. The last time I spoke to you about three years ago, you were an idiot."

"Well. A lot has happened in those three years."

'More like thousands of years,' Xuan thought in his mind.

But… he wasn't exactly telling Lan the whole truth either. While he was fairly certain the UN did set something like that up, it would hardly be impenetrable. He didn't know why Nirvana insisted on the condition of every player only having one life, but he did know that nothing in that world was for certain. An 'impenetrable' defense could always be broken by something stronger, and an 'unstoppable' offense could always be nullified by something more powerful. It was simply the law of that world, where dog eats dog and strength is the only thing that mattered—much like in Eastern Fantasy fiction novels.

Of course, Xuan couldn't tell Lan that lest she become worried, so it was better to just let her be at ease with those words. Yes, he believed the UN's defenses were not impenetrable, but they should at least be strong enough to withstand some pressure. Nirvana's motives were still unknown, but they were still a publicly renowned company. Even if the virtual world they created became humanity's real world, their own employees and the like have to enter as well. They wouldn't go back on their agreement with the UN too much, or else they'd have to face the consequences.

All that aside, preparations for the move seemed to have been completed. All around the bunker's walls, several doors suddenly appeared and opened out of nowhere, revealing narrow corridors behind. From them, dozens of nurses and doctors emerged, moving to the different beds in the room and pushing them towards their destination. While all this was going on, the PA system sounded once more, and Zhen Xu's voice boomed through the enormous chamber.

"All citizens, I trust that you have already made up your minds. The nurses and doctors coming your way will escort you to your respective private rooms to enter the virtual world and set everything up, so you need not worry about anything. Simply remain on your bed—that is all."

'So… this entire bunker was nothing but a place to gather everyone for announcements, and everyone actually had their own private room to use the VR gear in?' Xuan thought. 'Interesting.'

Before long, it was Xuan and Lan's turns. Their parents had already gone in a separate corridor due to the distance between them, but they were going to see each other very soon again—just in a different world. The nurses and doctors assigned to them gently pushed their beds towards the same corridor, one after the other.

"… I'll see you in a bit, Xuan," Lan said softly as she was taken into the room across, and Xuan gave a brief nod as he was rolled into his own. Once there, the doctor who'd pushed his bed all the way here retrieved the Nirvana-made VR equipment from the corner of the room and moved to help Xuan attach it, but…

"No need. I can do it myself."

Xuan cradled the helmet in his hands and gently placed it on top of his head, adjusting the tightness and expertly securing it in place. The doctor looked at him as he did so, not saying a word, and once Xuan was finished, he confirmed everything was put on right, and moved to the computer terminal on the other side of the room.

"Are you ready?" He asked. "Your consciousness will fade to black for a moment before waking up in a calibration sequence. Once that is complete, you will be brought to the game world. If you understand and are prepared, nod."

Xuan nodded as told, closing his eyes, and the doctor activated the process. Instantly, he felt his consciousness plunge into a deep black darkness, but he didn't particularly feel concerned. He'd already experienced this before—it was no big deal.

Then, a bright white world, with nothing except himself. It was then that he realized he was standing. He blinked a few times, adjusting to the sudden change of scenery, and looked around. It was a perfect pitch white void, with nothing but infinity extending in all directions. Naturally, this was the calibration room the doctor had mentioned—Xuan had also experienced this before already, so he wasn't surprised at all.

And at last, finally, paired with calming synth-style background music, the gentle voice of a young woman spoke.

"Welcome, player, to the world of virtual reality. The calibration process will now begin."

Xuan closed his eyes, feeling the darkness once more.

He used to be the top player of Xianxia Online, standing at the peak of a mountain no others could reach. He used to be a legend, spoken of only in myths and stories. He used to be an anonymous booster, helping low-level players for real world money.

He used to be Zero—the Blood Demon Asura Godking, a peak Heavenly Transcendent stage just one step away from Godhood.

And now… he was going to be nothing.

A mere mortal, restarting all over again in the same world he once conquered.

He was going from Zero… to zero.

How ironic indeed.