Today marks the tenth year anniversary of the gacha game, [Cyber World Online].

And at the same time, the last day of its live service.

I stare at my PC screen blankly,  as the girl in techwear smiles at me while striking an idle pose. 

I have done everything there is in the game. Collected every resource, unlocked every zone, completed every puzzle, opened every reward.

900,000 Z-Chips, or premium currency. Max rank facilities, max rank production levels, max level characters. Part of the top 10 PVP guilds “Synthetic”. My account was one of the very best in the world. But all of that will disappear today.

How much money have I spent on this game? How much time?

[Doctor~]

[Doctor, my tail… please don’t touch it…]

[Doctor, you p-pervert!]

I tapped the girl on my screen repeatedly to hear her voice lines.

The time is… 10.59PM.

Scratching the side of my arm listlessly, I recalled the final livestream from the developers a week ago.

Thank you for your support for all these years. 

To go out with a bang, we are giving all players a surprise in the final hour of the game!

Naturally, this came as a complete surprise to everyone. None of this information was leaked at all. As a result, the remaining Doctors, no, players of the game stayed together to witness the “surprise”.

11PM.

A system notification appeared in the [Events] UI.

"...77th character. Wanderer of Another World." My eyes widened, as I read out the description of the new gacha character.

Her banner was displayed at the forefront of the event summoning page.

[Lucid] ★★★★★★★

“This world is fated to end. But I'll gladly spend the rest of its days with you, Doctor.”

The first 7-star character in the game. Had the developers prepared something like this in secret all this time? A kuudere-type, her face seemed devoid of expression. I glanced at the live forums on my second monitor. 

>Wow… 7 stars?

>This is a first. Well they just had to shut down the game. We only have an hour to play with her.

>Prefarming is pretty much impossible. Whales, take over.

>Cool beauty.

>Damn her numbers suck. So much for a 7 star. Well, at least she looks cute.

>you’re supposed to max her breakthrough, idiot.

>^

>^^ it says there on her Unique Attribute too.

>speaking of, any lore guys here? Some of Lucid’s lines sound like we’re missing some context. Did we ever see this “Gate” she keeps talking about?

>must’ve fleshed out the character before the story was finished.

>yeah. It’s probably unfinished.

>Wasted potential. We didn't even see the ending of the story.

>I’m going to miss this game.

>Lucid… what a grand send-off to any game I’ve ever seen.

The chat slowly moved on to her gameplay.

>Whale here. Took her out for a spin. First thoughts, hands down the strongest unit in the game.

>[Video] Here I’m not even using Senett’s buffs.

>Holy shit. That damage.

>Wow.

>Isn’t that just… broken? 

>Powercrept Xanshu LOLOLOL! How many dashes was that?

>I counted 8 in one rotation. Which means she can dash indefinitely off cooldown.

>Yeah, rip Xanshu.

>seems like she can self-sustain too. 

>heal, tank, dashes, CC, high burst. It’s that, isn’t it?

>Birth of the first solo character, officially.

>Yeah, if it’s her, she can definitely clear Stage 50 solo.

>Crazy good.

>Her multipliers are insane. That range and AOE too…

>As expected of a 7-star.

>No augments, OP?

>No augments, this is just the one copy. Her augments are insane too though.

>Damn, I just took a look at her augments, she becomes god mode.

… …

>Get a taste of this, guys! I maxed Lucid out and guess what? BREAKTHROUGH.

>[Screenshot]

>????

>For real?!

>BREAKTHROUGH TO LEVEL 100?!

>OP, show her abilities.

>[Video]

>...

>Breakthrough…

>They’re doing this because the game is ending, right?

>Fuck, you’re right. This game dies in an hour.

>Got too hyped and forgot we were doomposting.

… …

Lucid… Well, might as well spend all these premium currency that’s going to waste.

I moved my mouse to the button [10-pull], and clicked it.

[You have spent 1,000 Chips.]

An animation of a satellite beaming down a human capsule flashed on my screen. The camera zooms into the trail of light as it reaches the earth’s surface. …Golden. I’ve never seen this color indicator for any 6-stars. So this must be it.

On my first 10-pull?

[Dull Knife]

[Package A]

[Emergency Rations C]

[Nightvision Goggles]

…

…

[Lucid]

A brilliant glow and introduction of the character appeared on my screen.

With shoulder-length ash white hair, and bright blue eyes. A skintight outfit padded with a black plated tech-armour. Her body was sculpted to perfection, I could tell the work put into this character was nothing short of impeccable. It was the love letter from the devs to us fans.

One word, ethereal. Lucid looked like a fairy in a sci-fi world.

[Cyber World Online] was sci-fi themed, so characters often came with various visual gimmicks that made them cool. For Lucid, she was just an armour-clad character with no attachments. As a starting character, she didn’t have the best stats either.

Lucid was a one-handed weapon user. She came equipped with a default metal bat.

At first glance, she didn’t seem like a fighter.

But we were encouraged to reveal her “true form”. As if paying respects to the final moment of the game, Lucid had to reach the limits of this game, in order to break them.

[Ascend]... [Ascend]... [Ascend]... I had all the materials in the world to raise her to the maximum level. As I broke through her levels in succession, her abilities were unlocked one by one. And finally, level 100.

[Breakthrough Ultimate unlocked!]   

[Lucid has learnt Form Change!]

I smiled in satisfaction.

“Well, let’s take her out for a spin.”

The hardest content in the game: [Enter Stage 50].

… ….

My thoughts as a professional player for 10 years: Lucid was extremely fun to use. As expected of a 7-star, she felt and played like an end-game character. The indignation, passion could be felt from the developers. 

Every slash animation, dash, wall-climb, parry… Lucid could perform demanding movements without pause.

At the peak of the game, it seemed like they had finally perfected the sight awkwardness of the combat system of older characters.

The devs… CyberSoft, I heard they're shutting down after today.

"Really... what a pity." I watched as Lucid sat atop a mountain of robot corpses. 

An hour goes by quickly, and soon… Lucid and the world disconnected.

And as if it had been scripted, Lucid looked towards the player, and bowed.

[It was a short time, but I’m glad I met you.]

“…”

[Thank you for playing Cyber World Online]

The game forcefully closed. When I tried to open the game again…

[Thank you for playing Cyber World Online]

Tears almost fell out. I didn’t realize I was this attached to the game. The memories of the glory days still remained in me.

But of course, this was how it ended. I expected as much, but it still made me feel a little empty.

To be honest, I felt a little betrayed. I left the apartment silently, submerging myself in melancholy.

What’s next? I sighed. CWO was the only game I’ve played all these years. 

…Games, should I even continue playing games? I’m already 20.

I opened a pack of smoke at the convenience store, and sat on a bench nearby. Gazing at the still lake in front of me, I thought about various things.

The white haze floated up into the darkness above.

“Haaah…”

Vrrrrrrr…

What’s this now, interrupting my time to weep over my passing days of youth. …My phone? Fishing out the vibrating device in my pockets, I unlocked it and read a strange notification.

[Congratulations. You have been selected—]

—The screen flickered for a moment, and turned off. 

What was that? Congratulations?

—Rumble…

The ground trembled all of a sudden before I could finish my thoughts. An earthquake?

“It… stopped?” I stared back at my phone in confusion.

Ah drats. The phone went flat… 

I forgot to charge it. 

Then again, another tremor happened.

“What’s happening?”

The tremors were consistently occurring every minute. …Didn’t seem like a normal earthquake.

Something feels off. Going by a movie, this would be the precursor to something bad happening.

It can’t be, right?

Feeling a strange sense of uneasiness, I returned to the convenience store. If I recall, they played the radio station over the speakers.

“Welcome…” A tired voice greeted me.

The girl at the cashier took a look at me, before staring back at her phone. It seemed like she was still watching her show from when I bought the pack of smoke.

I walked along the aisles, pretending to buy something. But I kept an ear out, as the radio channel continued to play music in the store.

A minute passed, the tremors stopped. Nothing seemed to be playing on the news…

Was I being too paranoid?

...As I was about to leave, the music stopped.

"We bring breaking news! Everyone tuning in, please listen carefully."

My feet paused by the entrance.

“Currently, an unidentified infectious disease is breaking out simultaneously worldwide. Infected individuals lose consciousness and exhibit intense hostility towards living people…”

“Nation leaders have convened and following a worldwide state of emergency, this infection is known as the Z-Virus. Citizens, please take your evacuation supplies and move to the nearest shelter…”

You're kidding, right? Z-Virus? Zombies?

No, calm down.

First, supplies. Right, survival first. Questions, to hell with questions right now.

I took a nervous look at the girl, who seemed to have her earpiece on. She doesn’t seem to have heard the emergency broadcast.

I hadn’t had the slightest intention of explaining it to her.

“We repeat, this is not a drill. This is an ongoing pandemic that is threatening mankind. Please evacuate immediately.”

I hastened my movements, as the reminder sounded out again. The radio host sounded like he was in quite a panic. He’s probably thinking to escaping himself too, I’ll bet.

Finally after a few minutes, I approached the counter with bags full of supplies.

The girl looked at the things I had bought, and nodded without questioning me.

“By card please.” As I paid for everything, I left the convenience store quickly, my destination was my apartment.

I had no plans of following that broadcast’s recommendation. Evacuate the city? I don’t have transportation. Relying on others in a group… that sounds rough. I can’t do it.

…Yeah. I’ll just hole up in my apartment and hope for the best.

I picked up my pace.

… …

…

“They’re all trying to leave…”

I arrived at the lift lobby, only to find that both elevators were stopping on each floor as it made its way down. 

…The civilians are acting really quickly. The situation seen on TV must have been really serious.

…Of course it was. The world’s nation leaders have already announced a state of emergency. 

But if the world is plagued, where else is safe? My mind wandered endlessly, as I decisively moved up the stairs to avoid waiting. The supplies on my hands were commodities.

On the way, it seemed like there were a few others who had the same idea. A middle-aged man with someone who looked like his wife passed me by.

Their eyes caught onto my bags of supplies, and seemed to want to say something.

“There’s no one there yet. You should hurry.” I whispered under my breath. I didn’t maintain eye contact, so I wasn’t sure how he looked when I said those words. 

Regardless, those words seem to trigger something in them, as they no longer stopped me and left in a further hurry.

The next one was a pair of high-school girls. Their skin was tanned, and the various fashion accessories clipped around their bodies made them look like delinquents. 

Even without zombies, this was a pandemic. And from their slow walk down the stairs, I realised that they didn’t feel a shred of urgency in this situation.

Ah, they spotted me.

“Ah Remi, there’s a gloomy bastard coming up this way!”

“Yuck. Look at those eyes, must be a sex offender.”

“Oh he’s carrying Pocky. Hey nerd, hand that…”

I grabbed the wrist reaching towards my bag strongly.

Trying to steal shit? 

“Creep! Get off me.”

“He’s probably one of those zombie-obsessed freaks you see online… Remi, l-let’s go…”

“Damn four-eyes… just you wait. If my boyfriend hears about this, you’re dead meat!”

You silly goose, everyone’s going to turn into dead meat.

Ignoring the glares behind my back, I safely reached my apartment, locked myself in.

I quickly placed my phone on a fast-charging port, and turned on the news while waiting. It turned out that the situation was more dire than I anticipated. The death count has reached a recorded five digits in our country alone. Many reports were coming in from familiar parts of the city, as they showed various levels of destruction caused by the panic.

[...live on the scene… explosions simultaneously… people displaying unusually high levels of aggression…]

Click.

[...This phenomenon can be likened to rabies. In other words, they have become zombi…]

[...not a drill, we repeat…]

Click.

[...are advised to take shelter immediately. The government has issued…]

I turned the news off, as the empty screen now reflected my face.

[Up just ten meters from here, you see the grey-skinned man? That’s a real zombie…! And now we try to get closer…]

The situation felt more real, now that they’ve televised dead bodies and real-time footage of a zombie attacking.

[Eh, hold on. They just turned towards us. You don’t think they… SHIT, THEY’RE REALLY COMING OVER HERE! They’re fast!! Oh god, heavens no… no, no!! Run! Ruuun! Aahhh- AHHHH!]

That reporter met his end.

Infectious disease. People dying left and right. The dead attacking the living.

Happening all over the world. No place is safe.

…Haha… …It’s the end of the world. How much worse can this day get?

“Zombies…” I laid back on the couch and muttered.

In this situation… maybe…

“Status Window. ...Nothing huh. Hehe, didn't hurt to try.” 

I closed my eyes, tired of the strange atmosphere. This world has gone to shit. In the foreseeable future, water and electricity is going to be a problem. Even the internet… Imagining all sorts of doomsday scenarios, I sighed again. If this was going to happen, I wish the game could continue running too. At least I could stretch out a few months playing till death.

Ah… it’s only been for a bit, but I’ve already grown attached to Lucid. The loneliness kept within all these years, burst out at the realization that I did not have long to live in this world. I was going to die a virgin.

I looked up at the ceiling with dead eyes. Before I die…

“...If only… I could talk to Lucid in real life.”

[You have awakened an ability in response to your earnest desire.]

[Your ability is Cyber World.]

“Uh…?” 

You have used the one-time ability: [Cyber World]

You have gained the ability: [Gacha Pull]

"What in the fuuuuu—?!" 

My field of view changed drastically as a sharp pain pierced through my head.

I tumbled onto the floor in confusion. Words appeared all over my head. It took a few seconds but when the pain cleared up, something extraordinary happened.

Within my sight, several UI appeared, almost as if the game I’d known all this time, had become augmented reality. No, there were some changes. Many of the utility icons were gone, leaving the one thing that all players were most familiar with.

The screen of both heartache and joy. As if drawn to that fact, my finger moved without hesitation to the icon.

With a tap on the screen, the UI opened up.

"...It can't be... this is... ...the gacha pull screen?"

[Featured Banner: Lucid]

There she was. The white-haired battle maiden.

Possessed, I tapped on the 10-pull button.

But—

[Insufficient Z-Chips.]

“...You're kidding me.”

What do you mean I don't have enough currency?!