Noises erupted from the first-floor living room, rapidly spreading through the entire inn.

Hasty footsteps, shouts, and cries mixed together, but were soon drowned out by the wind howling outside.

The windows in the corridor had been shattered by the fierce winds.

The sound Fatty had just heard was a window breaking.

At that moment, a violent wind, carrying a downpour, swept through the entire corridor. People temporarily resting there screamed and ran towards the staircase. The doors at the stairwell were continuously blown open and slammed shut by the gusts, striking the walls and making a considerable racket.

Heart pounding, Fatty peeked through the peephole. "The entire city has lost power—is it temporary?"

Gu Mian shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

Just then, a bolt of lightning suddenly flashed, striking near the roof of their dilapidated building and making Fatty tremble.

Naturally, this terrifying thunderclap also startled others. Gu Mian heard panicked cries from the first floor; the sounds rose and fell with a strangely melodic quality.

This was quickly followed by the innkeeper's voice, "Everyone calm down! Don't panic!"

Gu Mian looked outside again.

The wind that night was incredibly strong. The streets resounded with continuous crashing and banging as heavy objects were blown about.

Taller trucks, likely due to their large surface area, had toppled and crashed onto the roadside. As for the small three-wheelers and electric cars, they were being blown about as if driven by ghosts.

The windows kept vibrating, as if they would shatter at any moment.

Fatty reached out to pull Gu Mian back. "Doctor, stay away from the window..."

Gu Mian took a step back, then looked at the game's announcement panel.

There was nothing on the announcement panel.

Just then, a sound like something collapsing came from the distance. A heavy THUD echoed, quickly followed by several more similar sounds.

"Damn it!" Fatty cursed. "It's really a typhoon! Isn't it abnormal for a typhoon to occur this month?"

Gu Mian rubbed his chin. "When things go against the norm, there's bound to be mischief afoot."

Gu Mian glanced at the wall clock. It was 2:35 A.M., usually the perfect time for sleep. However, he suspected no one could rest now.

Thinking this, Gu Mian turned to Chu Changge and Fatty. "Do any of your player friends live outside this city?"

Fatty thought for a few seconds. "There's that female celebrity... Xiao Qiao. She should be in the capital right now."

Gu Mian nodded. "Ask her about the situation there."

Fatty worked with great efficiency and immediately brought up the friends panel.

He clearly hadn't expected the other party to be just as efficient. Not even five seconds after he sent the message, a reply came.

Xiao Qiao: Our area is being hit by strong winds, and it's raining.

Xiao Qiao: The whole building I'm in has lost power, and there's nothing that emits light within my field of vision except the in-game supermarket...

Seeing these two messages, Fatty's lips trembled.

At this point, Gu Mian was also sending messages to his friends.

He didn't have many player friends, but he could always think of one or two when needed. Captain Feng from the Lianhua City police station was still on his friends list.

His reply was also immediate.

Just as Gu Mian finished asking about the situation, Captain Feng's reply arrived.

Lianhua City East Police Station Captain Feng: Don't even get me started. I was asleep and got woken up by a dozen or so people all messaging me about strong winds and power outages.

Lianhua City East Police Station Captain Feng: This fierce wind started suddenly tonight, like a typhoon. It was so abrupt; we've never had anything like this here. Now, all of Lianhua City has no power. From what you're saying, it sounds like you're experiencing strong winds too?

Gu Mian looked at these two messages, thought for a moment, then closed the friends panel.

Fatty, still in shock, remembered to nag him, "Doctor, you haven't replied to him yet..."

Gu Mian: "..."

Chu Changge's voice came from the side, "It seems this is a large-scale typhoon combined with a power outage. It could be a regional blackout, a nationwide one... or even more likely, a global blackout."

Meanwhile, the noise from downstairs was still very loud.

Gu Mian could hear the innkeeper desperately trying to maintain order, but curses and cries kept erupting, for a moment almost drowning out the wind outside.

Fatty got goosebumps. "A global power outage... what's about to happen?"

What was going to happen?

It was obvious.

Gu Mian rubbed his chin. "Typhoons making landfall simultaneously in vastly distant locations across the country, followed by total power outages..."

What could it mean?

Heavy rain pounded against the windows. The sky was occasionally illuminated by menacing lightning, its flashes lighting up Xiao Hong's face on the sofa, making the atmosphere even more terrifying.

Chu Changge looked at the windows, which were continuously vibrating under the battering winds. "This power outage, I'm afraid it won't be restored."

Fatty scratched his scalp nervously. "Without electricity, wouldn't people start dying?"

Modern human life is almost entirely reliant on electricity. A life without it... was simply unimaginable.

Chu Changge continued, "This is Earth's doing."

Of course, this global game could influence the real world; it was just that most people hadn't considered it from this angle.

Gu Mian touched his chin again. "I guess there should be some interesting new items in the supermarket related to this power outage."

At this, Fatty seemed to understand something. "Electricity?"

Gu Mian lowered his hand. "Most likely. But of course, they won't sell electricity directly. Only the Thunder King would do that. I estimate power will be available in another form... like power cards, for example."

Of course, such items might not be available in the supermarket and could only be obtainable from instances.

Gu Mian remembered the game's original purpose: to facilitate human evolution. Humans evolved from apes due to danger and resource scarcity, and it seemed Earth intended for humanity to repeat that path.

In an era of scarce resources, people would fight for supplies, continuously developing their physical potential to achieve evolution.

Chu Changge glanced out the window again.

The wild wind and heavy rain showed no signs of stopping, each seeming to outdo the other, neither willing to abate. The unfortunate players could only huddle together, shivering in terror on this horrifying, rain-lashed night.

Gu Mian felt his chin once more. "This time, it's electricity."

Fatty was stunned for a moment, then repeated, "This time?"

"Yes," Gu Mian nodded. "I suspect Earth will continue to reclaim things. Eventually, we'll only be able to get necessary supplies from the supermarket or instances. This time it's electricity. What's next?"

Fatty gasped. "Speaking of which... with this typhoon hitting such a large area, won't a lot of crops be destroyed?"

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