NFBE Chapter 1 Rebirth, Two Hours of Limits
Chapter 1 Rebirth, Two Hours of Limits
Lin Mo suddenly opened his eyes, his heart pounding.
The screen was still flashing with dense code, and the keyboard still held the warmth of his palms. He stared blankly at everything that was both familiar and strange: the workstation partition, the dual monitors, and the nearly withered pothos plant on the corner of the desk.
He glanced at the date and time displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen.
stunned!
This was... three years ago.
"Lin Mo! Have you finished revising the requirements? The client is waiting!"
The project manager's voice boomed from behind, but Lin Mo didn't respond hastily as usual. His pupils trembled slightly, his mind flooded with too many things: overwhelming monsters, the ruins of a collapsing city, and the screams of countless people being torn apart in the streets.
And then there was himself, huddled in the basement, listening to the roars overhead, enduring three years of living hell, before finally dying under the claws of a vampire.
Global upheaval, the arrival of the game.
And now, he's back.
Lin Mo suddenly raised his hand and looked at his watch; it was 2:03 PM.
The game world and reality will merge at 4 PM today.
There are less than two hours left.
"Lin Mo!" The project manager had already walked up behind him, his face ashen.
Lin Mo slowly stood up, staring at the man who had been torn apart by gargoyles on the very first day of the cataclysm in his previous life, and suddenly smiled. He said nothing, grabbed his phone and wallet from the table, and turned to leave.
"Where the hell are you going? Don't you want to work here anymore?!"
The sound of a mouse being slammed came from behind him, but Lin Mo didn't even turn his head.
Don't want to work anymore? In less than two hours, the world won't need to "do" any work at all.
Rushing out of the office building, Lin Mo squinted at the blinding sunlight. The streets were bustling with traffic and pedestrians, with delivery drivers weaving between electric bikes—everything seemed normal.
No one knew that the world would undergo a dramatic change.
Lin Mo rushed into the R's Coffee shop on the street corner, ordered an iced Americano, and took two big gulps. The bitterness completely cleared his mind. He found a corner to sit down, pulled out a tissue, and began to quickly write down the key information from his memory.
After the game world arrives, reality will merge with the world of Heroes of Might and Magic III: Shadow of Death, and maps, creatures, treasures, magic, and buildings will all arrive.
The first few hours are the "golden period".
Because many treasures and buildings are ownerless.
Lin Mo closed his eyes, frantically searching his memories. In this city... right, in the southern development zone, an unguarded gold mine will appear. In the abandoned factory in the north of the city, an unguarded fairy garden will appear.
Once you find the land deed and write your name on it, you become the owner.
But Lin Mo opened his eyes and shook his head.
not enough.
This advantage is simply not enough.
In his past life, he had seen too many "chosen ones." Some people found magical treasures in their own toilets, some gained the allegiance of unclaimed creatures as soon as they stepped out of their homes, not to mention those lucky ones who got level 2 creature building blueprints right from the start.
If I'm only satisfied with this after being reborn, what's the difference between me and the cowardly person I was in my previous life?
Lin Mo's pen tip moved quickly across the tissue.
There's a level 2 strategic treasure chest in the next city. There's a thief's tower in the next province. But these will take time to find, and their value is limited.
Suddenly, his hand stopped.
A name emerges from the depths of memory.
Hammer!
North America, King Hammer.
A top-ten player in the world in his previous life, he rose from the ruins of Mississippi with just a treasure and a blueprint he obtained at the beginning, and eventually became the undead overlord of the North American continent.
That opening move was assessed by countless experts as "theoretically the best opening move".
The Undead Amulet comes with the Necromancy spell and increases its effectiveness by 5%. Additionally, there's a level 1 Graveyard blueprint; once built, it can produce skeletons from the start.
The Undead Amulet is also one of the three components needed to synthesize the high-level treasure, the Ghost King's Cloak.
Lin Mo's breathing became rapid.
He remembered the location of that Pandora's box. Hammer had boasted about it in an interview in his previous life, "In the cellar of the church in Hasburg, I opened it and saw that golden box. God help me, I guessed the right answer."
But Lin Mo is currently in H country, in an eastern coastal city.
It is more than 10,000 kilometers away from Hasburg, Mississippi, North America, as the crow flies.
Fly over? Obviously not.
Lin Mo took a deep breath and began to calculate.
Oh, right, the portal!
After the game begins, numerous portals will spawn around the world, connecting different regions. In his previous life, he had traveled to North America, using these portals as transit points. He would first travel from his city to the outskirts of a neighboring city, then from there to an island nation, and finally from the island nation to North America.
He remembered the locations of those teleportation portals.
A crazy idea popped into my head.
Lin Mo suddenly looked up at a young woman at the next table who was drawing on a tablet.
"Excuse me, could I borrow a piece of paper and a pen?"
The young woman paused for a moment, glanced at the young man who was covered in sweat but had an unusually calm look in his eyes, and took out a notebook from her bag and handed it to him.
"Thank you." Lin Mo took it and quickly drew the map from his memory.
The first portal is in the distorting mirror room of an abandoned amusement park in the suburbs of the next city.
The second portal leads to the bottom of a deep crater in the underground parking lot of a certain island nation's capital, which collapsed after the earthquake.
Two portals, one transfer, and you can reach North America.
He quickly calculated the time. The straight-line distance from his current location to the suburbs of the neighboring city was 100 kilometers. Taking the highway without traffic jams, he could get there in an hour. Once the portal appeared, he would enter immediately, then sprint 800 meters to the second portal location after arriving in the island nation. After crossing through it, he would arrive in North America around 4:40 PM.
It was at least an hour earlier than Hammer, that lucky guy.
enough.
Lin Mo raised his head, his eyes brighter than ever before.
He had to open that Pandora's box before Hammer could.
"Thank you." Lin Mo returned the notebook to the young woman, then suddenly remembered something. Staring into her eyes, he said, word by word, "In a little while, no matter what happens, don't stay upstairs. Find a closed room to hide in and lock the door. No matter what noise you hear, don't come out. At least wait until it's completely quiet before you think of anything."
The young woman was stunned by his words: "What...what are you talking about?"
Lin Mo didn't explain and turned to leave.
He has already given advice; whether the other party listens or not is their fate.
As Lin Mo walked out of the coffee shop, he glanced at his watch; it was 2:11.
One hour and forty-nine minutes remain.
He rushed to the roadside, flagged down a taxi, opened the door, and got in.
"Driver, it's 100 kilometers from the XX Amusement Park in Cangnan County, the next city. Can you get there in an hour?"
The driver glanced back at him: "That place? What are you going there for in the middle of the afternoon? And driving 100 kilometers per hour is a bit risky..."
Lin Mo took out his wallet, pulled out all the cash inside, about two thousand yuan, and slapped it on the dial.
"We're here. All of this is yours."
The driver's eyes lit up, and he floored the accelerator.
"Hold on tight!"
The car sped off, and Lin Mo leaned back in his seat, his heart pounding.
The city street scene outside the window rushed past, and sunlight shone on his face through the glass.
One hour and forty-five minutes remain.
He silently planned out each step in his mind: the location of every portal, every route, and every potential danger.
In his previous life, although he did not reach the top in the past three years, he had become thoroughly familiar with the basic rules of this world.
After the game begins, wild creatures will spawn randomly. Most creatures are territorial and will not attack unless approached. However, some creatures of chaotic factions, such as orcs, undead, and evil mages, will actively hunt humans.
When ordinary people encounter those kinds of things, they're just easy prey.
Lin Mo is currently incapable of fighting; even a farmer could take him down.
Therefore, he must avoid all possible conflicts and reach his destination as quickly as possible.
"We've arrived!" The driver slammed on the brakes. Lin Mo glanced at the time: 3:02.
The journey, which should have taken one hour and forty-seven minutes, was compressed into a full hour.
"Thanks." Lin Mo pushed open the car door, got out, and rushed into the abandoned amusement park without looking back.
A rusty carousel, a collapsed Ferris wheel, and a cement road overgrown with weeds. Following his memory, Lin Mo walked through a patch of withered bushes and found the dilapidated bungalow.
Pushing open the creaking wooden door, one finds a dozen or so funhouse mirrors, their surfaces covered in dust, reflecting his distorted image.
right here.
The portal will appear in front of this largest funhouse mirror.
Lin Mo glanced at his watch; it was 3:08.
Fifty-two minutes remaining.
He leaned against the wall to calm himself down and began to check his belongings: his phone, wallet, lighter, a set of keys, and the half-smoked pack of cigarettes in his pocket.
and many more.
Lin Mo suddenly opened his eyes wide.
He overlooked a fatal problem.
Wild creatures will very likely spawn around the portal, or even on the other side of the portal.
How did he get there?
At this stage, as an ordinary person, he would only be killed by the lowest-level skeleton soldiers.
Lin Mo broke out in a cold sweat instantly.
He was so focused on the route and the time that he forgot about the most basic issue of survival.
We must find a way.
He rushed out of the room and looked around. The area outside the amusement park was a rural-urban fringe, with a few self-built houses and a small shop in the distance.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of firecrackers.
In the open space not far away, several children were setting off firecrackers, which made a loud banging sound.
Lin Mo's eyes lit up.
firecracker.
His past life experience told him that most low-IQ wild creatures have a natural fear of loud noises and flashes of light. Although it couldn't be guaranteed to be 100% effective, it was better than nothing.
He rushed over and stopped the children: "Does any of you have firecrackers? Double-bang firecrackers, string firecrackers, anything is fine, I'll pay for them."
A boy of about ten years old pointed to a self-built house not far away: "My family has some left over from the New Year. How much do you want?"
"I want them all."
Ten minutes later, Lin Mo returned to the Mirror Room carrying a string of 1,000 firecrackers, six double-bang firecrackers, and a lighter.
He disassembled the firecrackers and clipped the double-bang firecrackers to his belt.
Time passed by, second by second.
Three forty.
3:50.
Three fifty-eight.
Four o'clock sharp.
boom!
The earth shook violently, and Lin Mo nearly fell. Outside the window, the sky darkened at a visible speed, plunging directly from daylight into night.
The starry sky overhead was so dazzling it seemed unreal... Purple nebulae, red star clusters, and three moons hanging in the sky.
The game world has arrived.
Lin Mo stared intently at the funhouse mirror in front of him.
The air began to distort, as if an invisible hand had torn open space. Light poured out from the cracks and gradually condensed into a smooth, mirror-like portal that hovered in mid-air.
The edges shimmered with a bluish light, reflecting Lin Mo's image.
He took a deep breath and gripped the firecrackers and lighter in his hand.
Rush in and grab the magic box before everyone else.
Lin Mo stepped into the teleportation portal.