2. A new way of living

Nevertheless, humankind persevered. In mother nature, humans are vulnerable compared to other primates. Despite this, the wisdom that humankind accumulated by thriving for thousands of years kept them from losing their hope.

However, the disaster had just begun. The sky was covered by dust. The world became dark. The earth’s surface dropped to -7 Celsius, creating a layer of thick ice.

The nitric oxide level sharply increased, leading to the destruction of earth’s ozone layer. The earth became exposed to massive amounts of the sun’s UV, leading to a mass extinction of living creatures on earth. Plants mutated and the extinction of plankton in the ocean led to the collapse of marine life. The pouring acid rain prevented the cultivation of crops, resulting in a shortage of food. Scientists predicted 2 years until the end of life on earth. The human civilization was forced to find a new way to preserve life.

“Surreal”, the multinational company that created the largest cloud server and metaverse engine, showcased a plan called "Project Gaia", an adaptation plan for when mankind became endangered. Also known as Earth Cloning, it required uploading earth in its healthy state along with the remaining humans into the metaverse.

Critics of this plan labelled this as an escape from reality. However, the forecasted collapse of the ecosystem quickly became a reality, and within 2 years, the earth was covered in a nuclear sandstorm, creating large deserts and glaciers unfit for mankind. Ironically, those that criticized the plan were the first to try and enter the metaverse.