Episode 1

Earth, Jakarta, 4 PM.

Seo had a half-smoked cigarette in his mouth, wearing a casual suit with a floral shirt underneath it, and stood with his hands in his pockets by the roadside. He casually glanced over at a nearby girl on the pavement dressed in cool clothing.

As it was the height of summer.

In modern cities, there are no ugly women in the summertime.

They just put on makeup, wear sunglasses, and summer dresses. Even if they are not particularly attractive, they can transform themselves into stylish urbanites by wearing a mask and applying eye shadow.

Some of the girls who noticed Seo's gaze didn't show any displeasure. Instead, they teased him by sticking out their tongues and throwing seductive looks at him.

However, there was a slight sense of fear in their eyes, along with the red blood vessels that filled their pupils.

Making the scene somewhat off-kilter and eerie.

Everyone on the street was chatting.

Even two strangers walking side by side to work were chatting like old friends.

Seo flicked the cigarette butt into a nearby trash can, and casually glanced back at the two strangers walking together behind him, finding their conversation very interesting.

"Have you eaten?"

"Yes, I have."

"What did you eat?"

"Well, actually, I haven't eaten anything. How about you?"

Obviously not a normal conversation. This kind of senseless conversation was happening everywhere on the street.

Although people were talking.

It was obvious they weren't really listening to each other. They were just talking about themselves, seemingly with a lower IQ than the AI intelligence level of a trashy online game.

The whole world gave the feeling of an abandoned wasteland that had not been maintained for a long time.

At that moment -

The cleaner standing nearby walked over and picked up the cigarette butt that Seo flicked onto the ground earlier, muttering to himself.

"Thank you, you really tossed that cigarette butt well."

"This looks like an expensive cigarette!"

"Do you know, I'm already 67 this year. I used to be proud of it as living a long life is a good thing, isn't it?"

"But now, I suddenly feel that living too long may not be a good thing. Have you lived a long life?"

After saying that.

The old man lifted his head and stared at Seo with a hopeful and urgent expression as if waiting for something.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Seo took out another cigarette from his pocket and lit it, "Old man, this is the cheapest street cigarette. It's a pile of crap. Your eyes are not good."

"Go get your eyes checked."

It wasn't a very polite thing to say.

Especially to an elder.

But the old man didn't get angry after hearing that, instead he breathed a sigh of relief and walked away with his broomstick over his shoulder, "Good, good. My son also loves smoking this cigarette."

"You should also get your lungs checked. You and my son will die from smoking soon."

"If you both die together, I can save some money on the funeral."

"..."

Seo sighed lightly, feeling a bit annoyed as he looked down at his watch. He absentmindedly flicked the cigarette ash on the ground.

On the garbage bin, there were two eye-catching and glaring signs.

"Do not throw garbage into the trash bin, violators will be held responsible!"

"Cigarette ashes must be flicked on the ground, violators will be held responsible!"

Aside from these slogans, there are various other giant slogans on the exterior walls of high-rise buildings throughout the city.

"Cannot refuse conversation with any strangers!"

"If someone approaches you, you must respond!"

The entire city appears especially strange amidst the hustle and bustle!

While most people appear to be in high spirits, the bloodshot eyes betray that most people are on the brink of a mental breakdown.

Seo stood in place, growing impatient while waiting, without speaking.

Two months ago, this world was forever changed.

Everyone remembers that day clearly.

Two months ago.

A voice rang out in the minds of people all over the world.

"Game update announcement!"

"The new Earth 4.0 version will start updating without stopping from April 1st at 12:00 AM. The main content and adjustments of this update are as follows."

"1. Optimize servers and improve stability."

"2. Add this month's rule 'Active Experts': all players must talk to others 1000 times per day. Those who violate this rule will become mute and the rule will be canceled after two months."

"3. Optimize the sea level on some maps."

"4. All players can activate a visualized personal panel."

"The Snow Sea Project Team wishes all players a happy game in version 4.0."

"P.S. In the next update announcement, the project team has decided to add the 'horror' element as the monthly rule. Please stay tuned, players."

...

Just a few simple sentences.

It seems like an ordinary game update announcement, but the problem is that this isn't a game; it's happening in reality!

April 1st is also known as April Fools' Day.

The sudden sound ringing in the ear and the panel in front of me felt like an April Fools' joke.

At first, most people were confused and didn't know what was happening.

That was until the next day after that day passed.

Almost 20% of the world's population became mute.

And then humanity realized that this darn version update was actually a genuine supernatural event!

Although many people had the wishful thinking that it was real and went to complete their daily rule tasks on the first day.

But----

Not everyone had the chance to talk to someone else for 1,000 sentences every day.

This included mute, vegetative, severely brain-damaged, children who were unable to talk, and more.

In just one day, nearly 20% of the world became mute.

Fear quickly spread across the planet.

This unknown and mysterious force allowed various conspiracy theories to spread through multiple channels!

No one knew what had happened, but they knew that they had to talk to someone else for 1,000 sentences every day.

Even if it was meaningless chatter.

Otherwise, the consequences would be permanent muteness.

Without any reason.

Of course... From a certain perspective, people who were already mute seemed to be able to ignore this punishment, and they didn't need to complete the daily rule task, so they could avoid this punishment.

It was good news to hear, right?

However, even if they faced such a disaster, humanity quickly adapted to it and developed various regulations, including ensuring that everyone could talk to someone else for 1,000 sentences every day as much as possible.

For those who are facing difficulties, they can seek help from the government, which has set up an emergency assistance hotline for this purpose.

The upper echelon of society is earnestly discussing the matter while trying to maintain social stability and gradually searching for a solution.

It is a terrifying thing when all of human power is mobilized.

The slogans on the outer walls of these skyscrapers are the product of the first month.

However... just when humanity seemed to have become accustomed to this mode of operation and believed that things could not get any worse.

The second month arrived.

On the first day of May, that voice once again resounded in everyone's ears.

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