Years later, people had grown used to the way things were.
It all began that night at 3 a.m., when a mysterious app appeared on every smart device worldwide.
The icon was a spinning black vortex, with a name written in just two words, "Abyss Gate".
There was no download record and impossible to delete or remove. Even after rebooting, factory resets, or smashing the phone, it would reappear on the next device linked to your account.
People began to panic.
Some people believed it was a virus attack or hacker intrusion. The government issued an emergency notice, but no country, corporation, or agency acknowledged the source of this app.
Then, the first person "enters" the game.
She was trying to forcefully uninstall Abyss Gate, but the moment her finger swiped across the screen, she was sucked into the phone and disappeared in front of family members at home.
Ten minutes later, her corpse reappeared in her living room.
Her heart had ruptured. Her body was burned beyond recognition. She… had failed the game.
"Those who fail to clear the level will never be able to escape the Abyss Gate."
—The only message left on her phone screen.
In the next 48 hours, 127 people around the world were pulled into the game. 93 died, and each death was uniquely gruesome.
When the survivors returned to the real world, their eyes were bloodshot and their expressions were dazed.
But they had changed.
Those who cleared certain hidden quests claimed they had a chance to obtain strange items that dramatically increased their odds of survival.
These items gave off a faint glow, as if they didn't belong to this world.
They were useless in the real world, but inside Abyss Gate, they marked the line between life and death.
Reportedly, these "power props" could open secret paths, fight monsters, and even reverse death once.
Yet each item only bonded to one user and could not be transferred.
Abyss Gate offered no guidebook and provided only these chilling lines:
To enter, you must pass the level successfully.
If you fail, your life ends here.
If successful, the winner will gain wealth, superpowers, and wishes.
Scholars and scientists tried tracing the app's origin, only to find its signal came from a "nonexistent frequency"— something that should not exist in our reality.
The Global Security Council convened an emergency summit, classifying Abyss Gate as an "unidentified extreme threat to human survival."
Various countries sent out special task forces to attempt to crack its program structure, but the app's code resembled no known human language. It operated like a living logic, constantly evolving.
Panic gave way to prophecy. Religious leaders called it "the Final Trial" or "God's Selection."
From that moment onward, the world of humanity changed forever.