The apocalypse begins with a dungeon game.

Looking at the serial number, I should be the 23,000th person detected by this machine at the First Base.

"It seems that the original base had quite a few survivors under its control until the very last moment."

The garbled cloud cautiously drifted over again, seemingly having a grudge against the machine, angrily ramming against the popped-up crystal chamber lid.

Then, under some unknown force, it was detected by the machine and became a human, and was subsequently locked inside.

Fortunately, even in its shrunken form, the space, which is only big enough for one person to lie down in, can still be squeezed in.

Just as it was about to unleash destructive damage and run out of there, Li Can quickly stabilized it.

"It's nothing scary. Just lie in there quietly for a while and you'll be out, just like I did just now."

He spoke in a gentle and patient tone, as if he were comforting a child who was only a few years old.

It's a joke, but Li Can couldn't possibly let the gibberish cloud run rampant at this point. He only had this one useful machine right now, and if it got broken, he didn't know where he'd find another one.

Besides, we've already taken out all six crystal cores, so testing one more cloud wouldn't be a waste. Even though it's not exactly by myself, I might as well go in and experience it.

If nothing was detected, fine. But if something were detected, Li Can would be even more curious about Luanma Yun's physical data than his own.

"Humans, do you just lie there with your eyes closed, waiting to die like them?"

Li Can tried to keep her tone gentle, "No, it's not like you're just waiting to die. Lie down and rest for a while, and you'll be fine soon. Be good, and I'll take you out to chase zombies later."

"...Okay." Luanma Yun was also taken aback by Li Can's tone, and after a short silence, she finally agreed.

Li Can covered half of her face with one hand, her expression almost out of control.

"Beep beep beep." The instrument finished its test, and the hatch opened again.

The garbled, squashed cloud didn't leave the cabin immediately; instead, it seemed to have found a comfortable place and was showing signs of falling asleep.

The mechanical voice continued to broadcast in the room, and Li Can felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at the newly generated data on the screen.

"Current testing personnel, number 23118."

Vision: 10000 points

Listening: 10000 points

Mental Strength: -10000 points

Stamina: 10000 points

Endurance: 10000 points

Strength: -250 points

Health Points: -4444

"Special Ability Attributes: All elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth"

"Special Ability Assessment: Unknown Fault"

"Note: The current instrument detection limit is 10000 points. The higher your detection point count, the stronger you are. However, please do not rely too much on the experimental data. Everything is for reference only. First Base is dedicated to serving you."

Despite the similar ending, Li Can gained a different understanding of the garbled cloud.

Except for a few items that turned negative, the rest have reached the machine's limit, or even exceeded the limit by an unknown amount.

The mental strength with the largest negative value directly represents the mental state of the garbled cloud at this moment.

"No wonder it's acting so erratically. If I had that much mental energy, I probably would have gone completely insane by now... Although it can't speak normally, at least it's quite restrained."

Looking at the health points above, Li Can was initially a little upset that he had 66 points, but now, compared to that, the garbled cloud had a whopping -4444, making it even worse off.

I felt a little better after being comforted.

He also estimated that if one day, the scrambled cloud's life points and mental energy were all converted back to normal, the ancient, simple cloud that was once in normal condition would return.

"This ability is quite interesting; it's the same as mine."

Li Can guessed that his ability to possess all attributes was related to the random rewards from the gacha machine. If applied to the Random Cloud, it might be its inherent strength... It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was omniscient and omnipotent...

However, that was all based on normal circumstances. Now that he's in this state, no matter how many points he has, he can't use them.

It couldn't even save itself.

"Really asleep?" Li Can withdrew his searching gaze from the display screen and waved his hand above the scrambled cloud that was curled up and squeezed inside the crystal pod.

Despite his attempts, the garbled cloud remained unresponsive.

"Oh no, could he be dead?" This time it was Li Can's turn to say that.

He was genuinely worried that it would die.

But Li Can felt relieved when she saw its body rising and falling with its breathing. However, she couldn't tell where the eyes and mouth were on its wrinkled body.

"Alright, then go back to sleep."

Most of the puppets that were released have been fully upgraded. Currently, the maximum level of puppets can only be upgraded from the basic level to the advanced level; the rest have not yet been unlocked.

Once a puppet reaches a high level, earning gacha coins will require developing new beginner puppets, which still presents many limitations.

Li Can leaned against the crystal core cylinder in the corner, consolidating the gashapon coins from hundreds of puppets.

In the consciousness space, there were more than 80 gashapon coins, which, if converted into near-death value, would be about 8000.

Each gashapon coin is equivalent to 100 points of near-death value.

Li Can looked at the small pile of gold coins accumulating in his consciousness space and chuckled. He planned to increase his bets and accumulate more capital while he was still on Earth before entering the dungeon.

Save up 70 gold coins first. You can use them later to draw for power eggs and resource eggs. Those things can save your life in critical moments.

The rest were all invested in the puppet gashapon machine to continue investing in puppets and make money from money.

Getting near-death points isn't easy, but getting some coins is still quite simple.

"Come on, witness the moment of miracle." Li Can confidently inserted more than a dozen gashapon coins into the coin slot.

The machine stopped responding the next second, and even seemed to be on the verge of breaking down.

"No way, you have to hold on!" Li Can's avatar in the consciousness space grabbed the puppet gashapon machine and shook it.

It seemed to want to shake out the gold coins it had swallowed.

Meanwhile, a new notification message suddenly popped up behind him in the space:

[The gashapon machine's trial operation period has ended. It is now officially undergoing integration and upgrades. The update is expected to take fifteen minutes. Please stay tuned.]

"I'm looking forward to it... damn it..." Li Can could only watch helplessly as the machine that had swallowed more than ten of his gashapon coins began to upgrade.

In the space, the gashapon machines that were originally scattered in front of us, under the light source, lingered and dissipated towards the center.

Strands of color were drawn from them and then gathered together to form a brand new giant gashapon machine.

However, the whole process didn't take 15 minutes, which is quite fast.

On the smooth, rounded glass sphere of the newly created machine, a series of prompts appeared:

[The official version of the gacha game is now available!]

[The game shop is now open. Every 10 points of near-death value can be used to purchase one empty gashapon shell. You can then assemble the inner model yourself, with no restrictions on the type.]

The three categorized gashapon machines have now been merged. Each 100 points of near-death value allows for one draw, with the gashapon dropping randomly in a mixed manner.

Enjoy the game!

Li Can: "..."

Li Can silently raised his head only after the subtitles disappeared completely.

Is this a positive upgrade or a negative upgrade?

In this way, although the points and coins you get from each gacha pull are fixed, it becomes much more difficult to accurately obtain a specific item.

Now, he seems to miss the gashapon machines from the trial period, back when he even complained about their randomness...

"Whoosh." The dozen or so gashapon coins in the void were spat out by the machine again.