The Systems Challenge - Chapter 43: Elmo’s Backstory: Shopping Trip

In the midst of the blue and purple neon lights, under the gray, metallic sky, it is the frontier of all data, the aftermath of a scientific revolution, also the border of fiction and reality.

Steel versus body; the past and the future.

Here, the Outer World and the Inner World exist alongside each other. It seems like the wall of time is right in front of your eyes.

Darkness gradually swallows the world.

But listen, my friend, we cannot use kindness to survive the darkness. We need fire.

When natural disasters rage, extreme cold and storms spread infinitely...When global mutations occur, zombies flood like tides, and horrific anomalies appear...When the apocalypse arrives, massive devouring abysses with diameters of hundreds of kilometers begin to appear around the world...When people look up to the atmospheric clouds and see the slowly emerging giant corpses of evil gods...From that day on, people started to notice that the time of sunrise became later and later,until the sun no longer rose, and what awaited was an endless polar night.To survive, on that day, the doomsday broadcast announced to the world for the last time:Everyone, head east, escape the dawn!...Lin Xian awakens the “Mechanical Heart” ability, allowing him to devour machines to gain various mysterious skills, scan machines for blueprints to create new machinery, and even use his mind to synchronously drive various machines.Thus, he finds a 200-ton heavy gas locomotive, pulling specially modified storage, planting, production, medical, and living carriages, embarking on a 320,000-kilometer journey along the star orbit, charging eastward!

Starting over once more, he has entered this “living game” again in order to control his own fate.

This time, he will not be controlled by others.

Previously the Level 200 Sword King, he will rise to a higher peak in this life.

Methods to earn money! Dungeon conquering strategies! Legendary Quests! Equipment drop locations! Undiscovered battle techniques!

Even the secrets Beta Testers were unknowledgeable of, he knows of them all.

Massive wars, life advancement, entering Godhood, sword reaching to the peak; a legend of a man becoming a Sword God has begun.

- Description from Novelupdates

For as long as he could remember, life had always been cruel.A young man in his early twenties—his name now lost to the past—was dealt a life filled with misfortunes.A cold, empty apartment, a soul-crushing job, and, finally, a terminal diagnosis.With nothing left to live for, his only comfort had been escaping into the fictional world of Path of the Elemental Sage, a story of heroes, magic, and survival.But fate had other plans.When death finally came for him, he didn’t fade into nothingness.Instead, he awoke in the world he had only read about—a world of chaos and danger where death lurked around every corner.The air smelled of magic, the sky was filled with possibilities.{«[Status Window]»}[Name: Lyrium Blackwood][Age: 16][Rank: D-][Skills: None][Elements: None}At first, confusion filled his mind.Who was Lyrium Blackwood?Why was he here?And why did this body feel so different?But as his memories returned, so did the realization: this wasn’t some blessing or second chance.He wasn’t reincarnated as the protagonist.No destined savior.No cheat abilities.No grand fate.He was just another mob, a face in the crowd meant to exist and die without leaving a mark.But this young man—the one who had left his old name and life behind—wasn’t the kind of person to roll over and accept his fate.“This world is dangerous. The protagonist isn’t the only one fighting for survival here,”he muttered, his red eyes deep and sharp.Unlike the naïve characters in the story, he knew the stakes.He’d read the web novel.He’d seen the carnage, the betrayals, the disasters that wiped out entire cities.And if there was one thing he refused to be, it was a pawn in someone else’s game.“I don’t care about glory. I don’t care about saving the world. All I care about is surviving—no matter what it takes.”Lyrium Blackwood wasn’t planning to live quietly or avoid danger.The only way to survive in this brutal world was to rise to the top.To be strong enough to stand above both heroes and villains.Using his knowledge of the story’s events and his iron will, Lyrium sets out on a relentless path to surpass the protagonist.Whether through clever manipulation, brutal training, or sheer desperation, he’ll climb higher and higher, leaving nothing to chance.But the deeper he gets, the more he realizes that this isn’t just the story he once read.As fate pushes him closer to the heart of the narrative, Lyrium begins to suspect that his reincarnation wasn’t an accident—and the world itself might be watching him.“I don’t care who or what stands in my way. If the story wants to kill me, I’ll rewrite the ending myself.”----------------------------------I apologize for any mistakes in this story, as it’s my first attempt at writing a novel.