It's almost twelve o'clock.

As an experienced netizen, I've always been highly qualified. Even though I have to clock in for work every day, I won't crawl into bed before midnight.

But what should I do now? Over the past two years of working, I've had neither the time nor the interest to pursue new games, nor the money to upgrade my computer for them. So, besides the ever-popular Dota, I haven't played any other games.

I sank into the recliner and stared blankly at the icons scattered on my computer screen, my gaze inadvertently drifting to a corner.

There, a fierce demon's head stared back at me, labeled as Diablo2. Yes, it was the icon for Diablo, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, a masterpiece that had accompanied me for over a decade but had been forgotten for equally as long. To my surprise, I still had it on my computer.

My passion was ignited by those dust-covered memories as soon as I stared at that icon. With eager clicks of the mouse, I hurriedly accessed the familiar startup screen.

Wait, I still have a lot of modifiers for Diablo. Considering that I hadn't ventured in the world of Diablo for a long time, and the hellish monsters and the deadly penalty of -100 to all resistances, I shivered. Then I quickly switched out, and struggled to find the modifier somewhere on my computer.

Of course, the first step was to create a character, which could also be done directly through the modifier. Hmm, as for the character's name, I'd use the name of a Scorpio Saint, Milo.

Then came the crucial choice of class. Diablo II offers seven classes: Paladin, Sorcerer, Necromancer, Amazon, Druid, Assassin, and Barbarian. Since it's been so long since I last played, so it does not matter which class I chose, they are all fresh to me. Then, which profession would provide me the most experience of the game? The answer was Druid, who could play with elements, summon creatures, and even transform to perform melee combat. Although none of these abilities are top-tier, it doesn't matter; I have modifiers, right?

Yes, Druid it is!

Now comes the equipment. That is the key for editing. However, I still want have some gaming experience, so just one bug charm is enough: the Annihilus, but the edited version: +3 to all skills, +50 to all attributes, all resistance +50, a 300% increased chance of finding magic items, and +30% to experience gained. Alright, with such a Annihilus charm, other unique or sets equipment will come eventually, sparing me the trouble of small backpack.

Character created! Well done!

I hurried to switch back to the game and double-click my character to start the journey.

The scene changes to the opening gate opens, as I was eagered to enjoy my precious charm in the game.

Yet, instead of the scene of Rogue Camp, the entire screen remained eerily dark, with only two large buttons left.

"Yes"

 "No"

I rubbed my eyes astonishingly. What happened here? Game corrupted or striked by a virus?

I gazed at the two buttons, and hesitated for a long time, wondering if it was a virus or not.

The mysteriously appearing "Yes" button, emitting strange glamour, constantly attracted me. At some time point, I forgot the possible danger, and clicked "Yes".

Suddenly, a huge black vortex emerged from my screen, and engulfed all my consciousness. Everything went dark in my eyes, and I was pulled into the vortex. My body disappeared from the computer desk, leaving only one thought in my mind: I won’t ever cheat again.

"Ooof"

A chill shiver ran over me. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a dark, gloomy sky, with fine rain falling from the boundless iron-gray clouds, dotting on my body and face. I shivered as my leather jacket was all wet and clinging tightly to my skin, transmitting a chilling cold straight to my heart.

Wait, a leather jacket? I remembered I was wearing a sport suit. And I should definitely at home just now. How did I end up in this creepy place?

Breaking out in a cold sweat, I sat up and scrutinized my surroundings.

I was surrounded by a thin fog, allowing me to see only about 100 meters. I was sitting on slightly damp grass, with patches of exposed hard earth nearby. In my vision, there were only two colors: the green unknown weeds and the brown soil.

"Was that a dream?"

I muttered to myself, with a dazed mind, rubbed my eyes, and lay back down again.

"Wake up! I shall continue playing my Diablo..."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Well, some time passed. And yet the rain in my dream seemed to get heavier and heavier, with piercing cold on my body.

It wasn't a dream!

I opened my eyes again and gazed at the iron-gray sky.

"What kind of hellish place is this? I was definitely playing computer game at home, how did I suddenly end up here?!!"

I sat up arduously, and desperately tore my hair. I looked around this wilderness with terror and panic, with only the sound of rain in my ears. The last scene slowly emerged in my mind: at the last moment, it seemed like there was an eerie choice on the computer. After clicking “Yes”, I blacked out and ended up here.

Thinking of the countless time-travel fictions I had read online, a wave of fear swept over me. All of a sudden, I am one of them?!

SHIT NO!!

I looked up at the sky sadly. In the wilderness, there was no house, no food, and even no shelter from the rain!!

A gust of wind brought piercing cold to my body. The rain-soaked leather jacket clung to me like ice. Meanwhile, I felt hungry, too. It turned out that the so-called time-travel was not a fairy tale as imagined. Warm home, food in fridge, bed with dry and clean quilt, all these things that I had taken for granted, were now the most precious.

“God, please, send me back!!”

The dark sky just lit several dazzling lightnings to mock my weakness.

After quite a while, I finally stood up from the ground blankly, like a puppet. But the coldness on my body and my growling stomach made me realize the cruel fact: Staying in this hellish place any longer would only lead to death.

I looked around. The heavy rain had dispersed the mist, but the visibility was even lower. Where could I go in this deserted wilderness?

The desire for survival finally motivated me to start walking towards one random direction.

I didn't know what was ahead of me, perhaps a city, perhaps a man-eating beast, or maybe just endless wilderness. Yet I had to keep walking, even if there might be only a glimmer of hope.

I don't know how long I walked. My feet became numb and my vision blurred. My body almost reached the limit. Perhaps the place not far ahead would be my end.

"Well, maybe I would travel back again..." I whispered to myself, trying to seek joy amidst sorrow.

The heavy rain stained the horizon into an endless grayish-white, and the only sound in my ears was the squishing of my feet in the mud and grass. I stared at the ground with glassy eyes and stood there for a moment. Finally, the irresistible hunger drove me to kneel on the ground, slowly grab a handful of grass tremblingly from the ground, shake off the mud on the roots, regardless of the remaining mud and sand, and stuff them into my mouth along with the rain. 

The bitter, astringent, and fishy taste gradually numbed my taste buds, which made me gradually ignore the feeling of chewing mud and sand.

I pulled handfuls of grass and stuffed them into my mouth. Bitter tears soaked my entire face, leaving muddy tear tracks on it.

Once upon a time, I threw away a McDonald's that I had only eaten one-third of into the trash casually, or I poured the remaining half of my milk down the drain...

"Ugh..."

Finally, I could not bear the fishy taste of mud and sand in my mouth any longer and retched loudly. But thankfully, at least I was not that hungry, and gained a little strength in my feet. This was a ray of hope in despair. Yet I knew that if I couldn't find shelter from the rain soon, I would be frozen to death. So I continued this unpredictable journey with heavy steps.

I lost all sense of time again when I was about to give up, a blurred figure emerged through the heavy rain.

"Hey..."

I shouted ecstatically, waving my arms hard, without confirming if it was an illusion or not, if that “person” could hear me or not, or even if the figure was a human or a beast. It was the glimmer of hope in this endless wilderness. Having endured loneliness, hunger, and the creeping despair of death, once freed, I was refilled with illusory energy.

I waved my hand and ran towards the figure with long strides, getting closer and closer to the figure. The figure in the rain also seemed to sense something. It turned slowly in the blur and looked towards me.

It was a human figure.

"Here, I'm here!" I waved my arms hard and shouted loudly. At this moment, I forgot to consider if “he” could get my word, if “he” would accept me, or if “he” was hostile to me.

The figure seemed to have really seen me, and slowly walked towards me step by step. His hunched posture and slow motion indicated that he was probably an aged person.

I didn't find it strange why an aged person lingered in such a rainy wilderness, as my joy had got the best of me.

Finally, it was close enough to get a clear look at the figure. I wiped off the sweat from my eyes, and witnessed a scene that I would never forget in my lifetime just as the “old man” slowly raised his head. 

It wasn't a man at all! The face of that creature was terrifying: the bald head had been sliced in half, with yellowish-green brain matter constantly spilling out with the rain and flowing into its eyes and mouth. Its left eye was already white, while its right eye had fallen out, with only a bit of flesh still connecting it to the socket, allowing the eyeball hanging on the face. From the hollow socket, I could even see the flesh and blood inside. The lips had started to decay, exposing half of the yellowish-brown teeth that constantly rubbing against each other. The slightly grinning mouth seemed to make a smile. Even in such heavy rain, its body was so dry and thin as it had just been dehydrated. The flesh appeared to stick on the body piece by piece, and might fall off at any moment. There were large holes in the abdomen and the right thigh. The decaying organs and muscles were crawling with disgusting maggots.

"Ugh..."

I vomited again, even spitting out the grass and mud I had just eaten.

This was no human, but a "living" decaying corpse!

The decaying corpse “smiled” at me, and it slowly reached out towards me with its withered, bony hands.

"Ah..."

My only hope turned into despair. I stumbled backward a few steps and sat down on the ground. Then, I scrambled to my feet and ran aimlessly, just running like a madman...

I didn't know how long I ran. The intense activity drained the last ounce of my strength. With a thud, my legs gave out, and I fell into a small mud pit. The splashing mud gradually drowned all my senses.