When the game shut down, I took my skills with me.

Holding the "A5 grade Wagyu beef (a gift from the gods)" that Lu Yuan had casually tossed to him, Ye Tian was caught in a mental struggle.

The perfect snowflake-like texture and the subtle energy fluctuations it emitted all proved that this was a top-tier ingredient capable of driving any player crazy. Based on his experience, the energy contained in this piece of meat could at least allow him to level up three times.

Eat it, and you'll rise to the top in one step.

If you don't eat it, you can keep it as a family heirloom to bless your descendants.

As he was struggling with this decision, he suddenly felt the light around him dim.

Ye Tian looked up and was instantly stunned.

The once clear, azure sky was now shrouded in a layer of eerie, multicolored clouds. The clouds swirled slowly, like a giant vortex covering the entire planet, exuding an ominous, chaotic, and unsettling aura.

Then, it started to rain.

The raindrops were not transparent, but rather carried a faint, rainbow-like color, refracting an eerie light in the sunlight.

"What a disappointment." Lu Yuan frowned, looking at a drop of colored rainwater that had just stained a skewer of star-shaped eel meat he had just grilled.

"Sizzle—"

The perfectly roasted meat was as if it had been doused with concentrated sulfuric acid; it instantly emitted a wisp of blue smoke, and after a slight pixelated flicker, it disintegrated into the most basic data stream and disappeared.

Lu Yuan knew that this was one of the most troublesome world events in "Gods and Demons Era"—"Elemental Rampage".

When the underlying data rules of the world become unstable, this "data rain" will fall. The rain has little effect on players and monsters that have already been digitized, but it has a terrifying corrosive and decomposing effect on substances in the real world that have not been "digitized".

It forces the transformation of "reality" into "data" and then erases it.

Before Ye Tian could even mourn for the skewer of grilled meat, he saw raindrops falling on the beach outside "Divine Realm No. 1." The ordinary rocks and seawater began to show a similar pixelated decomposition phenomenon the moment they came into contact with the raindrops.

Strangely, all raindrops within a hundred meters of this beach seemed to be caught in an invisible force field, instantly evaporating without even a trace of moisture penetrating. This place seemed to be an absolutely tranquil haven in the eye of the storm.

Ye Tian felt a chill run down his spine and quickly turned on his communicator, connecting to the Dragon Shield Bureau's global disaster monitoring channel.

On the screen, a series of apocalyptic scenes filled him with dread.

In New York, the Statue of Liberty slowly "dissolved" in the colorful rain, countless codes emerging on the surface of the huge bronze statue before collapsing like sand.

Egypt, the ancient pyramid complex, those megaliths that have stood for thousands of years are breaking down into pixelated blocks, revealing the empty void behind them.

Around the world, countless skyscrapers, bridges, roads, vehicles, and airplanes were silently "deleted" in this eerie rain.

Panic spread instantly.

"It's raining! Hurry up and bring in the laundry!" Some ordinary tourists, unaware of what was happening, shouted from the beach not far away.

Ye Tian watched helplessly as a tourist's T-shirt, which had just been taken away, instantly turned into invisible data the moment it touched the rain, just like the skewer of grilled meat. Immediately afterward, the tourist let out a terrified scream, and his arm began to show signs of data transformation.

……

On the Dragon Shield command ship, the alarms were blaring at maximum decibels, and the red warning lights made everyone's faces look extremely solemn.

"Report! An unusual celestial phenomenon has occurred globally! Unknown energy readings have been detected in the atmospheric composition!"

"Report! A 'data rain' is falling globally! All unprotected modern buildings and facilities are being rapidly eroded and disintegrated! Civilization is being physically wiped out!"

"This isn't rain! This is the end of the world!"

Qin Shiyue stared intently at the images on the screen showing city buildings around the world melting away in the rain, feeling his heart clench.

"Sir... how is it on the other side?" he asked in a trembling voice.

"Report! 'Divine Realm Number One' is completely unaffected! Rainwater evaporates automatically within a hundred meters of the beach! The spatial parameters there are as stable as an independent universe!"

Qin Shiyue, as if grasping at the last straw, immediately rushed to the communications station.

"Comrade Ye Tian! Please report the situation to the Master immediately! Human civilization is facing an unprecedented catastrophe!"

……

On the beach, Ye Tian looked at Lu Yuan, who was still leisurely setting up a huge parasol and fiddling with the barbecue grill, and was so anxious that he almost cried.

"Sir! Something terrible has happened! There's something wrong with this rain! The whole world is melting!"

"I know." Lu Yuan pulled a parasol from under the beach chair, opened it, and perfectly covered him and the barbecue grill. "Elemental rampage, it happens every two months in the game, you'll get used to it."

You'll get used to it?

Looking at the crowd in the communicator—people wailing and running in the rain, some even experiencing digital breakdowns—Ye Tian felt like he and this big shot lived in two different worlds.

"Then... what should we do?"

"What to do? Just deal with it." Lu Yuan pulled another spotted eel from the waterproof bag and skillfully began processing it. "It'll be fine once the rain stops. Or, we can make some 'elemental resistance charms' and give one to each person."

Ye Tian's eyes lit up: "A talisman? You can make that?"

"A little gadget." Lu Yuan didn't even look up, as if he were talking about something trivial. "But we don't have enough materials. Go tell them to prepare 100 tons of copper wire, 5 million glass beads, and 1 million pieces of ordinary quartz. Oh, and some red string too."

Ye Tian was stunned.

Copper wire? Glass beads? Quartz? Red string?

What are all these things? Compared to the "Star Pattern Ironwood Charcoal" and "Millennial Earth Fire Crystallized Salt" we just saw, this is simply a pile of industrial waste!

But he didn't dare ask any more questions. He immediately ran to the communicator and relayed the list to Qin Shiyue verbatim.

"...The gentleman said he needed copper wire, glass beads, quartz, and red string."

Inside the command ship, Qin Shiyue listened to the list and fell into deep confusion.

What is this?

Faced with a cataclysmic disaster, what the gentleman wanted was not magical artifacts, but a pile of industrial raw materials and handcrafted supplies.

The chief strategist muttered under his breath, "Isn't this a bit too frivolous? Has the master been affected by this disaster and started talking nonsense?"

"Shut up!" Qin Shiyue turned around abruptly, but his eyes were not filled with anger, but with a kind of enlightened ecstasy.

"I understand! I really understand this time!" He paced back and forth excitedly, his voice trembling slightly with excitement.

"The greatest truths are the simplest! Return to simplicity and authenticity!"

Dr. Chen instantly realized, his hand trembling as he adjusted his glasses: "That's right! At the level of the Master, everything in the world is just the most basic particles and data in his eyes! Using 'Star Pattern Ironwood Charcoal' on him has the same effect as using ordinary charcoal on you! The price of materials is meaningless to a god!"

Qin Shiyue continued, "The first time he asked for top-grade materials, it was a test of our 'piety'! To see if we were willing to offer our best! This time, he asked for the most ordinary materials to test our 'comprehension'! He is enlightening us, telling us not to be attached to external things; true power comes from creation itself! God can create the greatest miracles with the most ordinary things!"

"God created man from clay, and the Master saves the world with mortal things!" The chief strategist slapped his thigh, completely understanding. "What a profound understanding! What profound compassion! He is using this method to give us mortals the opportunity and glory to participate in 'saving the world'!"

Qin Shiyue took a deep breath, his eyes filled with boundless hope for the future.

"Pass on my order! Mobilize the entire nation! Spare no expense to meet the Master's needs! This is not a simple matter of resource allocation; this is our only chance as mortals to participate in 'creation'!"

The power of the entire Chinese nation was mobilized once again.

Countless long-dormant factories were urgently restarted, and workers braved the rain of data to work overtime in makeshift shelters to produce copper wire; countless warehouses were opened, and the military even dispatched heavy troops to escort batches of glass beads and quartz to the front lines, a scene more tense than transporting nuclear warheads.

An hour later, Ye Tian stared in disbelief as transport ships, like dumplings being dropped into a pot, respectfully piled boxes of the "junk" he wanted on the edge of the beach. The sheer number of boxes formed a small mountain.

Lu Yuan looked at the mountain of ingredients, then at the grilled fish in his hand, and sighed.

It seems this meal is going to be anything but peaceful.

He stood up and said to Ye Tian, ​​who was looking at him with admiration:

"Let's go, stop looking."

"Our grocery store is opening soon."